what are you reading?

[VNVObit]

Just finished the Labyrinth Index (latest Laundry Files)
Nice follow on from the previous book (Delerium Brief)

Brings some supporting cast front and centre with some interesting plot line (Lovecraft Singularity). I have enjoyed all the previous ones in the series and while it isn't about Bob or Mo (main characters from earlier books) the style is still there (essentially a private journal recording thoughts, events, etc.)

have a big back log so not sure which book I will go for next as haven't been good at sticking with books for the last few months (still haven't finished the first book of the Expanse series.)

[Mat]

Huh, didn't even know that was out!
*Adds to list*

Cheers!

[ewan]

There must be something in the air as I'm just almost finished The Three Body Problem as well.

Its been quite fun, certainly getting an impression of what China was like for academics was eye-opening in the least, and makes me quite glad of the time and place we're at just now, no matter what else is going on.

Does anyone have an impression of what the subsequent books in the series are like?

[Mat]

I'm about halfway through the second one, Death's End (it's huge).
It goes some interesting places, but due to the dry delivery can come off quite emotionless when describing events on a massive scale.
It's still a fascinating take on the Fermi paradox mind you, and I'm keen to see where it goes.

It's just really interesting fitting its ideas of what the future of global culture might look like with my own, Western ideas. It's definitely making me wonder how Western media is regarded in the East and whether they have some of the same reservations from the opposite side of the fence.

I also find myself wondering exactly how much it has been edited by the state, or whether the author wanted to go further in criticising China but feared for his life.

One thing's for sure; his female characters appear strong on the surface, but are problematic when examined more closely.

[WiteWulf]

Just finished the Labyrinth Index (latest Laundry Files)
Nice follow on from the previous book (Delerium Brief)

Brings some supporting cast front and centre with some interesting plot line (Lovecraft Singularity). I have enjoyed all the previous ones in the series and while it isn't about Bob or Mo (main characters from earlier books) the style is still there (essentially a private journal recording thoughts, events, etc.)

Yeah, I just got through that a few weeks ago, too. I think Charlie's doing a great job of carrying the series on now he's written himself into a corner with Bob and Mo. He's effectively said that Bob will no longer be a main series character as he's just too powerful, but the "promoted" supporting characters are doing a great job. Oh, and DAMN is this series getting darker as it goes on! There aren't many "humans" left now

have a big back log so not sure which book I will go for next as haven't been good at sticking with books for the last few months (still haven't finished the first book of the Expanse series.)

I've been doing an Expanse novel every other book until recently. They're so deliciously "light reading" that they make a nice break between heavier stuff. Last one I read was Cibola Burn, which was a bit of a departure from the previous volumes as there's a deliberate shift in the cast of characters with it, but I'm looking forward to the next volume once I finish the new Rivers of London book.

[VNVObit]

. Oh, and DAMN is this series getting darker as it goes on! There aren't many "humans" left now
*SNIP*
I've been doing an Expanse novel every other book until recently. They're so deliciously "light reading" that they make a nice break between heavier stuff. Last one I read was Cibola Burn, which was a bit of a departure from the previous volumes as there's a deliberate shift in the cast of characters with it, but I'm looking forward to the next volume once I finish the new Rivers of London book.

yes not many left

I have seen the TV series (well first 2 seasons) of the expanse and it makes the books a little harder going as have the series in my mind when reading and feel I am just catching up.

[zip accident]

I'm currently reading online stories mostly. There are a bunch about, some don't update that regularly, some are now finished.

About a week ago I lost a week (and maybe a couple of days) to this:

https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress. ... -contents/

I'm a fool for being unable to stop turning the next page, and there are a huge number of quite long pages there. Now that I'm up to the current page, it seems to be updating three times a week.

Others that I'm currently reading that do update regularly are:

https://www.parahumans.net/2017/09/11/daybreak-1-1/

Re-reading the start of that, it's really slow, but it does speed up. As they say you could read "worm" first, it's finished so it doesn't update, "twig" by the same author is also done, but it's not the same world, there is another, yet a third world, don't remember the name, finished too.

https://deathworlders.com/page/10/

That page is sort of upside down, the pages on this one update once a month now, but they are huge when they do, a couple of hours per page.

[PFVA]

I finished it a few days ago

Reading

A crime novel but also a very sweet story. It was his last book.

[NorthWay]

I read the Kickstarter PDF pre-edition of "Commodore: The Final Years book", and Ford Fairlane has the perfect summary: So many assholes so few bullets.

[Mat]

Heads up to anyone else reading the Dark Forest trilogy.

The second one really stretched the bounds of plausibility, so much so that I've struggled to even start the third one.
It's a nihilistic novel that introduces increasingly unrelatable and unpalatable scenarios, and along with the author's inability to spin a decent yarn around his interesting ideas, it served as enough to put me off.

Others may fair better, but I found it meandered aimlessly whilst trying to encompass a scope too large for its author to convey with any real warmth.

[MattyP]

Currently reading:-



Applying some of the principles and currently got rid off:-

* 7 bags of clothes to charity shop / clothes re-cycling
* old iMac that I going to "repair when I get time" stripped of parts used to upgrade other halfs laptop and my PC the rest sold off on gumtree
* old Bike - Sold on gumtree
* Given away or sold on any old games I've finished with
* Looking for and removing duplicate items around the house.


And got over £200 from the process to so far. Very very liberated!

Just have a bunch of old games consoles and games that I am going to find very hard to part with but have to be selective. Need to de-clutter!

[PFVA]

Re-reading:

Rainy Day by Mafalda2001, on Flickr

The Taylor of Panama. I read it back in the late 90s but i'm enjoying a lot re-reading it.

[merman]

Movie Geek by Simon Brew/Den of Geek

A superb collection of film trivia and behind the scenes articles, cleverly arranged into sections (pre-production, etc) and filled with great photos.

[The Gardner]

I just finished "No Surrender: My Thirty Year War" by Hiroo Onoda
https://www.amazon.com/No-Surrender-My- ... y+year+war

He was the last Japanese solider to come out of an island jungle after WWII. He came out in 1974, 30 years after he went in. He wrote this book to explain what happened, and it was translated to English. It's pretty fascinating. He essentially had an extreme case of confirmation bias, and maybe a small delusion of grandeur. Japan kept sending search parties after him, who would leave newspapers, and shout through loudspeakers. But he would always find some small flaw that allowed him to believe that this was either an enemy trick, or a secret order to keep fighting, or something. It all reminded me a lot of the backlash effect, where providing contrary evidence only causes someone to harden in their beliefs.

[zip accident]

Read this yesterday, very informal, very funny.



Apparently it's also a classic and recently rereleased.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/081 ... UTF8&psc=1