The Currently Reading Thread v. A Clash of Kings

[SoundscapeMN]

I am not yet, but I just noticed Charlie Kaufman wrote a novel titled "Antkind" that was published and released in July.

There are a lot of reviews that either love it or hate it, but I'm hardly surprised by that given his history.

1 though compared it to being kind of a Hitchiker's Guide for the Twitter generation.

[hefdaddy42]

How the Bible Actually Works by Peter Enns

[masterthes]

Jade War was a bust unfortunately. Couldn't get into it. Going to switch to biography, and read Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly

[masterthes]

Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from the Bronze Age to the Silver Screen by Greg Jenner

[Podaar]

The Baron of Magister Valley -- Steven Brust (one of my all-time favorite authors)

[The Walrus]

After many years I finally stopped being lazy and downloaded Audible. I always put it off because I have enough podcasts on Spotify, and enough music, to listen to. But since the act of reading a physical book just makes me sleepy, and restless because I must multitask, this is awesome.

With that said, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

[masterthes]

Here's my August wrap up. I'm at 120 books for the year so far

August (15)
The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way 8/1 **
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson 7/30 - 8/3 ***
An Impersonal History of the Hugos by Jo Walton 8/3 - 8/6 ****
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin 8/6 *****
Jade City by Fonda Lee 8/7 - 8/11 ****
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher 8/12 - 8/13 ****
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley 8/13 *****
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by Bryan Lee O’Malley 8/13 *****
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey 8/13 - 8/17 ****
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester 8/17 ***
Changes by Jim Butcher 8/20 - 8/21 ****
Side Jobs by Jim Butcher 8/22 ****
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher 8/22 - 8/25 ****
Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly 8/27 - 8/30 ***
Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen by Greg Jenner 8/30 - 8/31 ***

[masterthes]

Getting back to Dresden, with Cold Days by Jim Butcher

[Evermind]

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

You were right masterthes, this was delightful. I had trouble putting the book down. Somewhat weird and random in places, yet endearing in a good way. Additionally, the short bits of talking to cats were loads of fun, like this little one:

"Birds taste good," Berkley observed, bouncing on his front paws a little. "They flap around and try to fly out of your paws. They are like toys with meat inside."

Man, I liked this book a lot. Went to check Goodreads and there are plenty of scathing one-star reviews calling the book inane and boring. What the hell? Whatever, I really liked it.

Either doing Cryptonomicon or Anathem by Neal Stephenson next, haven't decided yet.

[hefdaddy42]

Here's my August wrap up. I'm at 120 books for the year so far

August (15)
The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way 8/1 **
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson 7/30 - 8/3 ***
An Impersonal History of the Hugos by Jo Walton 8/3 - 8/6 ****
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin 8/6 *****
Jade City by Fonda Lee 8/7 - 8/11 ****
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher 8/12 - 8/13 ****
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley 8/13 *****
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by Bryan Lee O’Malley 8/13 *****
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey 8/13 - 8/17 ****
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester 8/17 ***
Changes by Jim Butcher 8/20 - 8/21 ****
Side Jobs by Jim Butcher 8/22 ****
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher 8/22 - 8/25 ****
Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly 8/27 - 8/30 ***
Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen by Greg Jenner 8/30 - 8/31 ***

Maybe you've already covered this, but how in the exact fuck are you doing this?

[masterthes]

I work in the school system, so a. I've been out of work since March and b. I'm an aide, which means I don't teach. All I've been doing has been reading (except for also watching stuff on Netflix and such) and c. I'm a pretty fast reader. If I like a book well enough, I can probably read at least 200 pages a day

[The Walrus]

Permanently Suspended: The Rise and Fall... and Rise Again of Radio's Most Notorious Shock Jock by Anthony Cumia

[Evermind]

Just realized I had this book on my to-read shelf and it's fairly short, so before diving into Stephenson's work, I'm going with

Angelfall by Susan Ee

[masterthes]

Skin Game by Jim Butcher. Can't believe I'm almost caught up

[ozzy554]

Just read Red Dwarf (books 1+2) By Rob Grant & Doug Naylor. Didn't know what to expect going in but I really enjoyed it. At first I was a little disappointed that the first section of the book was pretty much a straight forward retelling of some of the episodes with some extra details of course. After that it really opens up and does it's own thing. It re-imagines a lot of ideas from the show and shuffles the order around to really be something different but with things fans would recognize from the show. The expanded Better than Life part of the book could've been a stand alone comedy horror novel.

Highly recommended for fans of the show and if you've never seen the show you won't be lost.

[masterthes]

Skin Game was great. Third favorite Dresden book so far. Now reading, Brief Cases by Jim Butcher

[Podaar]

Skin Game was great. Third favorite Dresden book so far. Now reading, Brief Cases by Jim Butcher

Skin Game is a personal favorite of mine. I like the grand heist theme and how Dresden has learned to think ahead and use his connections to rig the game in his favor (much like he did in Turn Coat). Very wizard like behavior. Butcher has done a good job of having Dresden evolve through the series. He still has his reactionary moments (hey, he's still Harry) but it's fun having him succeed with subtlety instead of just brute strength and dumb luck.

[Evermind]

Skin Game was fantastic. I think Jim was on top of his game with Cold Days and Skin Game.

[masterthes]

Oh, I agree. Cold Days might be my 5th favorite Dresden, certainly my favorite in the "Fae" centric books

The stories in Brief Cases were way better than Side Jobs, especially the last story. Going to take a bit of a break from Dresden so I can read Peace Talks and Battle Ground pretty much back to back. Moving on to The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons, the next book in The Chorus of Dragons series

[Cool Chris]

I read a lot

Maybe you've already covered this, but how in the exact fuck are you doing this?

  I think I have asked several times this thread be renamed akin to: The Currently Reading Thread v. masterthes the legend.

I am envious that he 1) has ample time to read and 2) can read as quickly as he does. I am a slow reader and it can take me weeks to finish a book of moderate length.

On recent topic, I want to read one of these Dresden books but they are perpetually checked out of my library.

[masterthes]

I'll be going back to work on Friday, so my reading output will slow down a bit (I won't have the morning hours to read on the weekdays)

[SchecterShredder]

I read a lot

Maybe you've already covered this, but how in the exact fuck are you doing this?

  I think I have asked several times this thread be renamed akin to: The Currently Reading Thread v. masterthes the legend.

I am envious that he 1) has ample time to read and 2) can read as quickly as he does. I am a slow reader and it can take me weeks to finish a book of moderate length.

On recent topic, I want to read one of these Dresden books but they are perpetually checked out of my library.

Just go drop $10 on a mass paperback copy. They're definitely worth the investment

[Evermind]

The first two books are a little rough though, maybe keep that in mind. I had friends giving up after Storm Front. The series get loads better after the first two books though. I was in love with the whole thing after Summer Knight.

[masterthes]

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Volume II by Jody Houser

[Evermind]

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Volume II by Jody Houser

Man I'm envious once again. Can't quite afford to order these books. I'm sure it'll be great though.

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Okay finished this one and ehhhh. I don't think I've read a good YA fantasy book since Six of Crows, I'm taking recommendations if you guys have anything.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Have you read Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer, and the sequel Muse of Nightmares? The teen romance-y bits are a bit much near the end of the first one and the beginning of the second, but the books are so good otherwise it's pretty easy to just skim those and get back to the good stuff.

I've also been rereading Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books, which I used to love checking out from the library when I was a young ninja, and I'm still really enjoying them.

[SchecterShredder]

I'm surprised Butcher hasn't written a pre-quel book telling the story of his tutelage under Justin DuMorne. Just a thought

[Evermind]

Have you read Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer, and the sequel Muse of Nightmares? The teen romance-y bits are a bit much near the end of the first one and the beginning of the second, but the books are so good otherwise it's pretty easy to just skim those and get back to the good stuff.

I've also been rereading Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books, which I used to love checking out from the library when I was a young ninja, and I'm still really enjoying them.

I haven't. Will try to look into them at some point.

[Podaar]

I'm surprised Butcher hasn't written a pre-quel book telling the story of his tutelage under Justin DuMorne. Just a thought

I think he's done a decent job over the years of revealing that story through flashbacks and relating the lessons he learned because of it.

[masterthes]

Anyway, I had to DNF Memory of Souls, which was disappointing because I really enjoyed the first book, but some of the stuff got too complicated for my taste, so instead I'm going to be reading Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

[SchecterShredder]

Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore

[Evermind]

Anyway, I had to DNF Memory of Souls, which was disappointing because I really enjoyed the first book, but some of the stuff got too complicated for my taste, so instead I'm going to be reading Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

I DNFed The Name of All Things I may try it again when I get a chance to get a physical copy, but maybe I won't bother.

Man, Anathem isn't an easy read at all.

[Podaar]

Disloyal: A Memoir -- Michael Cohen

[SchecterShredder]

La Tour Sombre 5: Les Loups de la Calla by Stephen King. Will certainly be breaking this up into sections so I can thread in some english novels along the way. French W&G was such a grind it almost wasn't worth the effort.

[hefdaddy42]

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe