The Currently Reading Thread v. A Clash of Kings

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I TOLD YOU

it was really brutal. the basement part especially. what's the next cormac i should read?

[hefdaddy42]

it was really brutal. the basement part especially. what's the next cormac i should read?

What have you already read besides this and Blood Meridian?

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

What have you already read besides this and Blood Meridian?

Those are the only two

[hefdaddy42]

IMO, the best of his remaining books is All The Pretty Horses.  So that would be my recommendation.

Of course, it's the first book of the Border Trilogy, so from there, read The Crossing, and then Cities of the Plain.

[hefdaddy42]

Six From Sirius by Doug Moench & Paul Gulacy

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

IMO, the best of his remaining books is All The Pretty Horses.  So that would be my recommendation.

Of course, it's the first book of the Border Trilogy, so from there, read The Crossing, and then Cities of the Plain.

Will do, thanks

[hefdaddy42]

Will do, thanks

[hefdaddy42]

She-Hulk: Jen Again by Rainbow Rowell, Roge Antonio, Luca Maresca, and Rico Renzi

[hefdaddy42]

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington

[Kwyjibo]

Missing. New York by Don Winslow

[chknptpie]

April update!

Here are my 2024 books so far:
The Measure by Nikki Erlick - 4.0
The Poppy War #1 by R.F. Kuang - 3.75
Upgrade by Blake Crouch - 3.5
Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Butler - 3.0
Long Chills and Case Dough by Brandon Sanderson - 4.25
Iron Flame - The Empyrean #2 by Rebecca Yarros - 4.0
A Conjuring of Light - Shades of Magic #3 by V.E. Schwab - 3.25
The Gathering Storm - The Wheel of Time #12 by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan - 3.75
The Will of the Many - Hierarchy #1 by James Islington - 5.0
Six of Crows #1 by Leigh Bardugo - 4.0
Towers of Midnight - Wheel of Time #13 by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan - 4.0
Shadow and Bone #1 by Leigh Bardugo - 4.5
The Witch of Duva - Grishaverse #0.5 by Leigh Bardugo - 4.0
Howling Dark - Sun Eater #2 by Christopher Ruocchio - 1.5
A Memory of Light - The Wheel of Time #14 by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan - 4.25
Abaddon's Gate - The Expanse #3 by James S.A. Corey – 3.75
Stephen Leeds Death and Faxes by Brandon Sanderson, Michael Harkins, Max Epstein, David Pace – 3.75
Children of Blood and Bone – Legacy of Orisha #1 by Tomi Adeyemi – 3.75
Cytonic – Skyward #3 by Brandon Sanderson – 4.0
The Churn – The Expanse #3.5 by James S.A. Corey – 3.75
House of Flame and Shadow – Crescent City #3 by Sarah J. Maas – 3.25

April:
The Fragile Threads of Power #1 by V.E. Schwab - 4.25
I didn't really love how the last book ended, but this was a great start for a new series with same (and new) characters. Looking forward to how this goes.

New Spring – Wheel of Time #0 by Robert Jordan - 4.0
Lovely prequel and nice to visit this world again. I wish there was a whole series just about Lan and Moraine's travels.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - 3.5
People love this book.... Meh for me. Weird, intriguing, short and quick. You're confused purposefully.

All Systems Red - Murderbot Diaries #1 by Martha Wells - 4.5
Fun, short, and interesting world. Definitely looking forward to reading more of these.

Hyperthief - Skyward #3.6 by Brandon Sanderson - 3.75
15 pages of awwww

Defiant - Skyward #4 by Brandon Sanderson - 4.0
Overall a decent series and a nice finish. Definitely on the YOUNG side of YA but still fun and good characters. Looking forward to another series in this world.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang - 3.25
I struggled with this one because the main character is purposefully awful and its from her POV. I think I've learned that I prefer to read a single POV of someone I like or at least multi POV if one is the villain. Story and writing were good though.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance - Legacy of Orisha #2 by Tomi Adeyemi - 3.5
This one was also a struggle. Plot didn't really go anywhere until the last 10%, love triangle is expected, and the characters can never catch a break. I liked it enough to plan to read the next one when it comes out.

The Final Empire - Mistborn #1 by Brandon Sanderson - 5.0
With the slew of tough reads I wanted to revisit some old friends and comfort re-reads. I will always recommend this one.

Red Rising #1 (Graphic Audio) by Pierce Brown - 5.0
With the slew of tough reads I wanted to revisit some old friends and comfort re-reads. I will always recommend this one. Graphic audios are fun, but I can get distracted by sound effects lol

The Well of Ascension - Mistborn #2 by Brandon Sanderson - 4.5
Not as good as 1 or 3, but still worthy.


Currently reading: Okay this list has gotten a tad out of hand, but with purpose
Dracula by Bram Stoker via Dracula Daily emails - https://draculadaily.substack.com/ for anyone interested. Just 3 days in at this point.
The Hero of Ages - Mistborn #3 by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Secret History - Mistborn #3.5 by Brandon Sanderson - reading at the same time as book 3 to since they really happen simultaneously
Golden Son (Graphic Audio) - Red Rising #2 by Pierce Brown

[hefdaddy42]

I gave his The Will of the Many 5/5.

Good to hear!  I am VERY early in this book (the first of a trilogy), but so far, so good.

[Evermind]

I gave his The Will of the Many 5/5.

I just received a hardcover edition which took four months to ship (it's complicated to get books here). Looking forward to start this one next week!

[WDADU]

William Peter Blatty on The Exorcist: From Novel to Screen, by William Peter Blatty.

[ozzy554]

The Crow: Skinning the Wolves by James O'Barr - The Crow brings back the spirit of a man to go all John Wick on Nazis at a concentration camp. Simple story with almost non stop action. Wouldn't mind seeing this one become a movie instead of the Eric Draven story again.

Freddy Krueger's A Nightmare on Elm Street (issues 1+2) by Steve Gerber - A short lived comic series from Marvel that was discontinued after 2 issues after fear of upsetting parents despite the series being explicitly marked for adults only. A shame because it was pretty decent and now ends on a cliffhanger. Only major complaint that even by Freddy standards his one liners could be painfully unfunny.

The Crow: Curare by James O'Barr - After his obsession with a brutal unsolved murder of a child ruins his marriage and career a cop is visited by the Spirit of the victim to help him solve her murder. A very different kind of Crow story where the returning spirit doesn't avenge their death themselves but assists someone else to do so. The hardest to read of The Crow series I've read so far. Now I'm not usually one for trigger warnings but yeah big TW for child abuse and SA here for this one. Not ashamed to admit it made me tear up more than once.

Brain Cheese Buffet by Edward Lee - Next up a dose of Splatterpunk with a short story collection by the author of the Header series. Your typical overly violent and disgusting dark humor you'd expect from this sort of thing. I will say though that 2 stories in particular made me gag a bit. not an easy feat.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday by Andy Mangels - A comic book adaptation of my least favorite entry in the franchise. Despite it being a very direct translation from screen to page I liked this more. This book cuts out the fat and keeps all the action without losing any of the silly plot. Works so much more as a comic book than it does a movie.......still really dumb

Mother's Day (Friday the 13th, Camp Crystal Lake, #1) by Eric Morse - I got curious about those YA books of horror franchises that came out in the 90s so I decided to track this one down. What I did not expect is for it to be a follow up to Jason Goes to Hell and for it to be more unhinged than some of the actual movies. Fast read with some surprises that I would have never predicted.

[hefdaddy42]

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

[hefdaddy42]

Lost Myrtle Beach by Becky Billingsley

[Kwyjibo]

Time for german fantasy, Schattenelfen - Die Blutkφnigin by Bernhard Hennen, which roughly translates to Shadowelves - The Queen Of Blood.

[hefdaddy42]

Batman: The Killing Joke: The Deluxe Edition by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

[SchecterShredder]

HP7 by Rowling.

Couldn't help myself.  Thought I'd flip back to an english  pull (likely a re-read of Persuader so I'm ready for Reacher season 3), but the wizarding world's call was too strong.

[Podaar]

The Book That Broke the World (Book 2 of The Library Trilogy) - Mark Lawrence

[hefdaddy42]

A Face in the Crowd by Stephen King & Stewart O'Nan/The Longest December by Richard Chizmar (double/flip book)

[hefdaddy42]

Barack and Joe: The Making of an Extraordinary Partnership by Steven Levingston

[Cool Chris]

The Secret by Lee and Andrew Child. Something felt different as I was working my way through this one, and it occurred to me that it felt more like a Nelson DeMille novel, specifically one from the Johhn Corey series, only with much less wit, humor, and suspense. I do appreciate them deviating from the formula a bit here, but there just isn't any meat on this bone. Reacher hardly does any butt kicking or detective work. At no point did I really care what happened next.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Finished Martian Time Slip by PKD. Great novel. I've now read over 25 of his books!

[hefdaddy42]

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

[Kwyjibo]

All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

[chknptpie]

April update a few days late!

Here are my 2024 books so far:
The Measure by Nikki Erlick - 4.0
The Poppy War #1 by R.F. Kuang - 3.75
Upgrade by Blake Crouch - 3.5
Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Butler - 3.0
Long Chills and Case Dough by Brandon Sanderson - 4.25
Iron Flame - The Empyrean #2 by Rebecca Yarros - 4.0
A Conjuring of Light - Shades of Magic #3 by V.E. Schwab - 3.25
The Gathering Storm - The Wheel of Time #12 by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan - 3.75
The Will of the Many - Hierarchy #1 by James Islington - 5.0
Six of Crows #1 by Leigh Bardugo - 4.0
Towers of Midnight - Wheel of Time #13 by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan - 4.0
Shadow and Bone #1 by Leigh Bardugo - 4.5
The Witch of Duva - Grishaverse #0.5 by Leigh Bardugo - 4.0
Howling Dark - Sun Eater #2 by Christopher Ruocchio - 1.5
A Memory of Light - The Wheel of Time #14 by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan - 4.25
Abaddon's Gate - The Expanse #3 by James S.A. Corey – 3.75
Stephen Leeds Death and Faxes by Brandon Sanderson, Michael Harkins, Max Epstein, David Pace – 3.75
Children of Blood and Bone – Legacy of Orisha #1 by Tomi Adeyemi – 3.75
Cytonic – Skyward #3 by Brandon Sanderson – 4.0
The Churn – The Expanse #3.5 by James S.A. Corey – 3.75
House of Flame and Shadow – Crescent City #3 by Sarah J. Maas – 3.25

April:
The Fragile Threads of Power #1 by V.E. Schwab - 4.25
I didn't really love how the last book ended, but this was a great start for a new series with same (and new) characters. Looking forward to how this goes.

New Spring – Wheel of Time #0 by Robert Jordan - 4.0
Lovely prequel and nice to visit this world again. I wish there was a whole series just about Lan and Moraine's travels.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - 3.5
People love this book.... Meh for me. Weird, intriguing, short and quick. You're confused purposefully.

All Systems Red - Murderbot Diaries #1 by Martha Wells - 4.5
Fun, short, and interesting world. Definitely looking forward to reading more of these.

Hyperthief - Skyward #3.6 by Brandon Sanderson - 3.75
15 pages of awwww

Defiant - Skyward #4 by Brandon Sanderson - 4.0
Overall a decent series and a nice finish. Definitely on the YOUNG side of YA but still fun and good characters. Looking forward to another series in this world.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang - 3.25
I struggled with this one because the main character is purposefully awful and its from her POV. I think I've learned that I prefer to read a single POV of someone I like or at least multi POV if one is the villain. Story and writing were good though.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance - Legacy of Orisha #2 by Tomi Adeyemi - 3.5
This one was also a struggle. Plot didn't really go anywhere until the last 10%, love triangle is expected, and the characters can never catch a break. I liked it enough to plan to read the next one when it comes out.

The Final Empire - Mistborn #1 by Brandon Sanderson - 5.0
With the slew of tough reads I wanted to revisit some old friends and comfort re-reads. I will always recommend this one.

Red Rising #1 (Graphic Audio) by Pierce Brown - 5.0
With the slew of tough reads I wanted to revisit some old friends and comfort re-reads. I will always recommend this one. Graphic audios are fun, but I can get distracted by sound effects lol

The Well of Ascension - Mistborn #2 by Brandon Sanderson - 4.5
Not as good as 1 or 3, but still worthy.


Currently reading: Okay this list has gotten a tad out of hand, but with purpose
Dracula by Bram Stoker via Dracula Daily emails - https://draculadaily.substack.com/ for anyone interested. Just 3 days in at this point.
The Hero of Ages - Mistborn #3 by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Secret History - Mistborn #3.5 by Brandon Sanderson - reading at the same time as book 3 to since they really happen simultaneously
Golden Son (Graphic Audio) - Red Rising #2 by Pierce Brown

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Finished Fantasticland this weekend. Really fun book about an amusement park in central florida that experiences severe flooding after a hurricane, trapping in a skeleton crew of staff who after a few weeks of being stranded devolve into a Lord of the Flies kind of situation. Narratively I liked that it was told through "found footage" (transcripts) and interviews with various survivors to piece the story together