I’ve put together a collage of some books from last months What are you Reading? post. It’s mostly random, but the more discussion something gets the more it stands out to me. Going forward I’m going to make a new post every month to talk about what people are reading.
Here is last months post. What are you Reading? (July 2023)
At any rate, what are you currently reading or plan to read in August?
Im halfway through The color of magic by Terry Pratchett, I’ve read a few other discworld books but I thought it was time to start the first book an try to read them all in the “right” order.
It’s probably the weakest of the Discworld books (at least from what I read of them). You can tell that he’s still developing the world and it’s much more just a fantasy spoof as opposed to the social satire masquerading as fantasy spoof that those books then more and more turn into.
I’m about half way through The Fall of Hyperion. It’s great
Just finished Hyperion so I guess that will be soon for me. Might read something else in between first though
The Bobiverse books were great. Can’t wait for more. I’ve been reading Expeditionary Force which is where the Skippy’s come from. Also Rythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.
Fuck, Rhythm of War is awesome. I might have to go back and read the whole Stormlight series with my kids.
4th book was a huge let down. Dragged on and on about really nothing.
I really enjoyed Heaven’s River, but I also enjoy a slice of life book, and really liked all the world building with the otter world, I can definitely see where you are coming from though.
Children of Time - It’s fantastic. Easily digestable space fair about giant intelligent spiders in their war with ants. Humans are involved but I care little for them. Not going to lie, I’m mainly there for the chapters narrated by the spiders and they are expectional.
Loved the children of time! I don’t think I quite have arachnaphobia, but some of the spider chapters really creeped me out! (In a good way!)
I love spiders. One of my fondest spider memories is sitting at the park drinking a diet coke. There was a little jumping spider on the table and he (she?) was sharing the condensation on the bottle. Every time I set it down it would run over & lick the bottle. Cutest spider ever. Loved Children of Time so much.
The Stormlight archive- Brandon Sanderson
Just about to finish the final book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy (Deaths End). Have just picked up The City and the Stars for my August read as Cixin Lui was giving me Arthur C. Clarke vibes with his incredible hard sci-fi epic
About to finish Snow Crash, and I was just thinking about reading Seveneves afterwards. Is it good? How does it compare to Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash (the only other Stephenson books I’ve read)?
Seveneves is fantastic, one of my favorites. My favorite Stevenson books are probably Cryptonomicon>Anathem>Seveneves>Reamde
Just started reading it. What a fantastic opening line! The Moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.
Yeah! I did a doubletake when I read that opener. It was dramatic but also, so what if the moon blew up? Then the implications are laid out and the whole story starts moving pretty quick. Now I have to do a reread!
Oh man, glad to hear that! Going to the bookstore to grab it tomorrow. Thanks for the recommendation mate.
Until I read Project Hail Marry, Seveneves was my favorite book.
The only other Stevenson I got around to is Crypto (really enjoyed, putting a foot into “love”). My friend is a Stevenson nut, and is incredibly lukewarm on Seveneves, and I couldn’t tell you why. Go in as blind as possible (that infamous opening line is fine). It is a RIDE.
Just finished the three body problem. Started recursion and then probably will do the dark forest.
Finished Prelude to Foundation (fantastic!), now starting Children of Ruin (so far so good).
Finished Tiamat’s Wrath last week and have started Foundation’s Edge. The Expanse has been excellent, but i am starting to find The Foundation to be a bit tedious. Second Foundation started to just feel silly with all the psychic abilities just thrown in all of a sudden and all the characters are starting to blend into each other as non-descript 1950’s Americans. That being said i am enjoying Foundation’s Edge a lot more than Second Foundation but am lookin forward to finishing it so i can move on to Dune Messiah.
Just finished Frugal Wizards Guide, by Sanderson.
It wasn’t what I was expecting, but found it weird and fun. As per most of Sanderson’s books, I fell down the sanderlanch, and read it in 2 days.
Just started reading “To Sleep in a Sea of Stars”. (Christopher Paolini)
It’s huge, but so far the pacing moves quickly enough to keep from getting bogged down.
Currently listening to The Dark Tower 7 and about to start The Fall of Hyperion. I’m new to The Hyperion Cantos, but the first book hooked me so I’m looking forward to diving back into it.
I’m half way through leviathan falls. Super excited to get to the end, sad because I don’t know what to read after.
I’m 75% finished with the book myself! Going to jump into the Wheel of Time series after I cleanse my palette w/ some non sci-fi books
I finished shortly after I posted. I’m satisfied with how they ended it; it was a strong finish. I’m reading the faded sun trilogy now; it’s pretty good so far.
Good luck on the wheel of time! I finished that a little less than a year ago. There are some GREAT books, but there are a couple that are stinkers. The fourth book, shadow rising, is so so so good. It’s slows down I think in books six and seven, or maybe seven and eight, then the last few pickup again. Have fun, it will be a journey!
I finished it tonight. I preferred an all or nothing finale and so wasn’t quite as enthused but c’est la vie.
I felt the same about some of the Expanse books slowing down in the middle as well fwiw (maybe slowing down isn’t the right word, but there were 2-3 books where it felt like you had to read 60% of the book before the real problem emerged that made the storyline more gripping and less misc en scene-esque)
Yes, for me the whole free navy plot line could have been way more concise; seemed like it dragged on for much too long. There is a similar show down, or whatever the right word is, in wheel of time.
Regarding the ending, I think I’ve been so upset with endings of other stories so many times that my standard is “satisfied” or “not satisfied”; I would say I’m satisfied with the expanse. I liked the ending, but it didn’t spark joy in me.
Recently finished The Interdependency Series by John Scalzi. Reading Upgrade by Blake Crouch at the moment. I’m a huge fan of Murder Bot Diaries and The Bobiverse as well.
