Read My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine.
It’s a rom-com, which I don’t generally read, so I can’t judge if it was actually good or not. Personally, it felt too much like one of those K-Dramas, where a poor girl meets super rich guy, who is super handsome, and she keeps thinking about her all the time. Except this one has a Vampire. Not a big fan, but overall it was a fine time pass.
Bingo squares: Jude a book by its cover.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.
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Currently reading “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami. I’m about a third of the way through it, great book so far, highly recommend.
I just finished reading Foreigner, by CJ Cherryh, which I thought was a fantastic book about first contact and understanding vs communication between alien races, though the main character can sound more than a little petulant as he gets jerked around, then because he can’t relax he whines (a lot) about not having his human-goods catalogues so he can at least see a human face once in a while. Dude had a lot on his mind, so you know, I get it. For the book bingo I went with one book per square, and to be honest that was my free square because I bought almost all the books in the series and wanted to get reading them. Glad I did.
Before that I read By the Sword, by Mercedes Lackey; I’m lukewarm on it. Interesting world, great action-adventure stuff, and the main character is a likable, emotionally-mature woman leading a mercenary life in a rough world - it has its good points, but the overall tone of the story itself felt flat for me. I didn’t know it’s one of a bajillion books in the same world that Lackey wrote in, so IDK, might try another book from that pile sometime. For the bingo it satisfied the “Orange Cover Art” square due to lots of yellow leaves and hair in the art. Kind of a stretch, but I really couldn’t find something more orange-y in my collection.
I’m currently reading Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny. It’s a really creative take on modern faerie-realm stuff that feels more like it pulls “modern day” back into European mythology rather than the way urban fantasy feels like it pulls fantasy into a more modern realism. The plot is fairly simple so far, but it’s the first in a series of relatively short novels, so I might just read a few more of them in a row and see where it goes. For the bingo, this was the “Title with a Number in It” square.
This has been such a fun way to cut into my oversized library of books I haven’t actually read yet.
CJ Cherryh and Roger Zelazny both are on my list but haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. Don’t see them getting mentioned these days either.
I have been reading The Way of Kings for what seems like the past ten thousand years. Why are these books so long???
… you do know that every subsequent book in the series longer than the previous one, right? ._.
I do. Thankfully I’ve really enjoyed it so far, but I have to put it down for extended periods from time to time because of fatigue. I started it in late April and I have about a fifth of the book left.
Slow and steady wins the race! 😀
I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude recently and really loved it. The blend of real life events and magical elements was beautifully done. It felt like an elderly relative was recalling their memories whilst embellishing them with little touches of magic. SO MANY family members, but each of them was unique. In terms of the Bingo, I’ve added it to ‘Set in War’ (though it would have also fit in several other categories).
I’ve just started The Wager by David Grann. It seems really fascinating so far and has already given me quite an insight into maritime life. I didn’t realise until now that it recounts a true event!
I read Gabriel’s Love in the time of Cholera, and while I don’t remember much about it now, I loved his writing. It was one of the major reason I started learning Spanish (but never got around to properly study and reach a level where I could read a book), cause I wanted to experience his writing as he has written them.
Should just read it now. Even if I learn Spanish, to be able to reach a level where I can read a book of this caliber and fully enjoy the writing, it would take a long time.
I’ll have to give it a go! He has a lovely way of writing, really capturing those little details of people and places.
Would love to hear what you think about it.
Unfortunately it won’t be any time soon, I have a huge backlog of ebooks to get through xD
Heh, no worries. Take your time!
This year I have been catching up with some SF: broadly alternating Banks’ Culture series with others. A few weeks back, after finishing Use of Weapons, I read McCarthy’s The Road - which kinda counts as SF - and that spoiled other books for me for a while. His excellent, sparse use of language topped off a brilliantly understated and impactful tale.
Life got in the way for a bit following that, and rather than going into the next Culture novel, I happened to have Niven and Pournelle’s The Mote in God’s Eye to hand and so started that, but not only was the writing extremely mundane compared to McCarthey, but the setting of “Nelson’s navy in space” left me comparing it to O’Brien’s Aubrey and Maturin tales - and it didn’t do well on that front either.
So I will not continue with that one and will be starting Excession - which I believe many find to be the best of the Culture books - shortly.
Any favourites in SF, from this year’s reads?
The first three of Dennis E Taylor’s Bobiverse tales, definitely: easy reads and the most compelling that I have read for a long while. The next ones may be too - I just decided to take a break before continuing.
Also Dan Simmon’s Hyperion for it’s breadth of styles if nothing else.
The early Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells. After the first five there were some elements that started to get a little repetitive, so I took a break there. I expect to enjoy them again when I restart though.
And then The Road, of course, which is by far the most literary, and probably The Player of Games so far from the Culture tales.
The least favourite would be This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, which I found naïve and unconvincing.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Dan Simmon’s Hyperion is often mentioned here, should move them to top of my wishlist.
Working my way through Hyperion again! Never finished it, lost interest pretty fast, but now I want to see how it all ends.
Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian.
A motley crew of misfits follow a witch hunter through the old West to collect on a bounty. Supernatural shenanigans ensues.
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves
A personal British view of WW1 from the trenches. It is interesting because of its personal account of things which I only know about via histories. Have read Graves’ I Claudius previously, which is also a great read. The writing is different but the voice is familiar.
- Rebecca Kuang: Babel, or the Necessity of Violence
- John Crowley: The Solitudes
- Wu Cheng’en: Journey to the West (Arthur Waley’s abridged translation)
Haven’t seen the name “Abou Ben Adhem” in a long long time.
Is that your real name or are you one of those who loves the God’s people (or however it was mentioned)?
Ok I can’t stand it anymore.
Love the thread, but can you please put the word “to” after “listening”?
Again, with love…
Made it to the 4th book of the Temeraire series before needing a break (the 3rd book felt a little slow/less engaging than the first 2, and it probably isn’t, I just need to read something else for a bit), and my new library holds arrived, so I read Murder at Haven’s Rock by Kelley Armstrong last night. It’s a spin-off or sequel series to Rockton, and revisiting the characters was a treat.
The final book of the Dark Tower series! Been slowly working my way through them, and just started the seventh volume.
“One more turn of the path, and then we reach the clearing.”
You should write and let me know what you think of the end!
I’ve been working my way through the chronicles of the Black Company, currently on Silver Spike. I do love grounded, grim high fantasy with a mouthy but self-deprecating protagonist, might be my most pumpkin spice opinion ever
Recently finished Stephen Fry’s Mythos audiobook, which is incredibly lovable. I listened through it twice in a row.
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
There was someone here reading about Fungii recently, and now we have moss. Are you the same person?
Nope. Just a guy who had some moss volunteer in his garden last year and found a new passion.
Trying to finish all of Hyperion again. Love Dan Simmons, and he’s masterful at writing from different points of view, but I got bored around book 2 or 3. On 3 now!
Speaking of Simmons, Song of Kali is straight unnerving.
I definitely bounced off book 2 at first because they’re so different. Once I’d accepted the choice it was a great read though
I’m at the end of Hyperion right now, and it’s pretty fun. He really does a good job with different styles and voices.
I might get Song of Kali based on this recommendation, thanks!
Audiobook: The Wandering Inn, book 13 by Pirateaba … Kind of a standard “got sent to another world” litRPG, but it’s quite fun with a well developed world and Andrea Parsneau brings life to every character
eBook: The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy (book 3 of Danielle Caine) … Not far in yet, but the series has been weird and good so far. A punk, queer, perpetual hitchhiker got introduced to magic by seeing a dead deer stomp a man to death and eat his heart. If that doesn’t make you interested, the series probably isn’t for you.
I read more than half of the first book, but found the main characters pretty annoying. Both the Inn lady and the runner.
I can see that, honestly :-D
I don’t know if this will change anything, but, there was apparently a re-release of book 1 where the author re-wrote parts of it to bring it into quality standards with the rest of the books … not sure which one you read, but, maybe it would make a difference? I got interested in it after the re-record, so, I dunno how big the differences are.
With that said, these books are around the size of The Stand by Stephen King, each, so, if you read half of it, you definitely gave it a fair shot, lol
I read it online recently, so should be the latest version.
I enjoyed the world building, and the writing is good, it’s just the two main characters that I have some issue with. Probably just not for me.
