Still reading Streams of Silver by R. A. Salvatore.
Also reading some web novels.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
Book Bingo for this year has officially finished. If you participated in it, check out the Turn in post.
Our next book bingo will be starting soon. Both @JaymesRS@literature.cafe and @misericordiae@literature.cafe are hard at work making it the best Book Bingo yet! Stay tuned!
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Ian Fleming’s Secret War:
https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781473853492/ian-flemings-secret-war/
Which I picked up as a sort of companion piece to “Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”:
and “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”:
The true stories of which were adapted into the really fun film of the same name:
Fleming was a bit player in the other books and the film, and I was interested to learn more about what he did during the war.
I’m about 1/2 way through the Fleming book and the answer seems to be “Well, not much, really.”
He had a great idea to capture a German encryption device. The plan was to pilot a captured German airplane over the English channel, find a suitable German boat and crash the plane in the water nearby.
When “rescued”, the soldiers, dressed as Germans, would capture the boat and the encryption device.
Unfortunately on the day of the mission, there were no suitable boats in the channel and the whole mission was scrubbed. :(
The other two books are captivating in their telling, the Fleming book? Eh, not so much. But I’m not done yet, it could get better!
I am reading Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Progress isn’t as smooth as with M&D but there is enough time for me to get used to the style and prose.
Tilt by Emma Pattee
picks & shovels by Cory Doctorow
The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology by Dr. Maximo D. Ramos
I’ve just finished The Rhine by Ben Coates, which was nice, made me really want to book a holiday and go do the same, traveling from Rotterdam to Basel.
I’ve also been playing a bunch of Assassins Creed Odyssey recently so thought I’d start reading Odyssey by Stephen Fry. Only just started so will see how it goes, but I’ve read the previous three and thought they were great.
Still reading “Neptune’s Brood” by Charles Stross, didn’t get to read a lot during the easter weekend. I’m about half way through, and will probably finish it somewhere in the coming week. After that I’ll have several picks to choose from for the next read, I might return to the Dresden files or to Dungeon Crawler Carl, or I could go search for some writer I haven’t read yet.
I just finished Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell. Next up is Cyberlibertarianism: The Right-Wing Politics of Digital Technology by David Golumbia.
Just finished Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros because of the cliffhanger of the last book, but this one just didn’t grab me. It took me a lot longer to get through, and I had a break in the middle where I wandered off and read other books instead.
I started Whispering Wood by Sharon Shinn last night (as the 5th and last book in the Elemental Blessings series) and it’s…all right, I guess. Definitely doesn’t feel like the series will conclude with a bang, but that seems to be the case with her other series as well. Having said that, I really enjoyed her stand-alone book Summers at Castle Auburn and have re-read it a few times.
Just finished Dungeon Crawler Carl, on the lookout for a new series to get into.
Are you looking for more LitRPG stuff or something else?
Could be anything, I prefer SF&F and a well written plot that’s internally consistent.
Have you read any of the following? I’ve really enjoyed them the last few years.
- Murderbot series by Martha Wells
- Saint of Steel by T. Kingfisher
- Temeraire by Naomi Novik
- The Thief by Margaret Whalen Turner
- The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes
- This Quest is Broken! By JP Valentine
- Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnmann
- The Chequey Files by Daniel O’Malley
- Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
- Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
- Libriomancer by Jim C Hines
Heya! Just thought I’d let you know I worked through most of the series you listed, and really enjoyed them all (except Thief which I DNFed).
That’s awesome! I’m curious about Thief and why you DNF’d it. No criticism, just curious about keeping it in my recommendations. It is a pretty slow burn and I’m curious if that was a factor.
It’s not the slow burn, I’m very much into books that focus on worldbuilding. I just couldn’t get past the language and writing style. It read like a 3rd grade kids book to me, and I just kept getting annoyed. Somebody else who doesn’t mind that might like it, just a personal thing.
Finished Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. Discworld books are always a delightful read.
Currently reading London Rules by Mick Herron, which I put down about halfway through, a long time ago, and never got back to. I’m trying to kill time til new bingo starts, and this is going to be the new season of Slow Horses, so I figured now was a good time to finish it. It’s fun.
“On Blue’s Waters” by Gene Wolfe.
If you haven’t heard of the Solar Cycle, or looked into “The Book of the New Sun”, I can’t recommend it enough.
My brother was finally able to finish the fifth book recently after starting the series roughly 10 years ago, and the fact that he immediately started rereading from the beginning is a testament to how well this series sticks with you.
Taking Manhattan by Russell Shorto.
It is a sequel of sorts to The City at the Center of the World.
Really enjoying it. The author has some interesting ideas and is skilled at narrative nonfiction.
Currently reading The king in yellow by Robert W. Chambers for the second time. It’s a collection of unspoken horror fantasy stories from 1895 and it’s influences can be seen in the works of Lovecraft. It still manages to draw me in on my Tram rides. I’d recommend it. Especially since it’s no longer under copyright. Here’s the free digital copy link.
Just starting “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong. I’m going in blind on the recommendation of a friend, so let’s see how it goes.
The children of the sky by vernor vinge. It’s the second book in an intriguing sci-fi series combining a high fantasy future with medieval society. Some things are uncomfortably close to today’s news despite being written decades ago.
I just recently finished Death’s End by Cixin Liu.
Thinking back I thought it was kind of funny that the protagonist spends most of her time asleep throughout the history of the universe. That aside, great science fiction and a great end to the trilogy.
