Hey Beehaw (and others)! Whatcha reading?
The Will to Change by bell hooks.
One of the best feminist explorations of masculinity, the patriarchy and all that entails being an antipatriarchal man in a patriarchal society.
bell hooks is the only feminist writer I’ve read and felt valued as a person.
“Hopeoitu Vainaja” (The silvered dead??), a collection of Finnish cosmic/occult horror stories.
Also plowing through horror-themed manga. I Am A Hero, Dai Dark, Dorohedoro and Homonculus have been great.
“Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside”
by Nick Offerman. If you like Nick’s humor, chances are you can enjoy this book. It’s easy enough to put down and pick up between chapters, which has been a benefit lately with my sporadicly available reading time of late.
Just picked up the earthsea books (with pictures!) by Le Guin and am having a blast diving back in. I hadn’t read this in a long time, having a great time.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin.
Unix V7 Manual. Life is pain.
Good stuff! (I don’t have this system anymore, though I do still have access to it.)
I’m listening (if that counts?) to Lord of the rings (i’m on Return of the King - book 5). Been really enjoying it so far, there are many more significant differences to the movies than I was expecting.
At the moment it’s easier to get time in for audio books (during late night toddler wakes and car journeys etc)
One of the interesting differences that stood out to me in the first book compared to the film is how long Frodo spends just holding onto the ring before even starting his trek across Middle Earth. In the first film, Gandalf is like “here’s the ring, now get moving”.
I’ve been reading and really enjoying Sweet Land of Liberty: A History of America in 11 Pies by Rossi Anastopoulo and really enjoying it. I was not at all anticipating how far they would dig into how certain pies are connected to social issues, and I’m really looking forward to finishing it
@Kamirose i am currently reading the left hand of darkness, Babylons ashes. And I am listening to the Andy Serkis version of the silmarillion.
Small gods by Terry Pratchett
I think that one is possibly my favourite in the entire series, although I’m also partial to any involving the Ankh-Morpork guards.
So:
- The Wandering Inn - Fun SoL Fantasy, with quality world building
- 裏世界ピクニック - Horror, elements of sci-fi, with references to 2channel creepypastas, and has that atmosphere of unknown, like in Roadside Picnic
- Quarter Share - Sci-fi novel, a bit of weird one, but… a good one.
- ROLL OVER AND DIE - Dark Fantasy Light Novel with lots of suffering, gruesome stuff and such.
I’m also reading the Wandering Inn. I’d never read it before and it’s my go to right now when I’ve got twenty minutes of so to read. It’s very long, which is nice but sometimes frustrating when pacing slows down. At 5.56 G no spoilers!
I am at 3.19 T As much as I do adore action, I also do like the moments when… everything gets slower and such. It just is nice to chill out with.
Oh definitely. The chill chapters are some of my favorites. Where I get frustrated is where it’s high tension but feels like nothing is happening to move the plot forward. It’s only happened a couple times, but I’ve just stepped away from the series for a week or two and come back.
The Fifth Season, it’s an epic fantasy novel by N.K. Jemisin. I originally started it about a month ago but I’ve just been reading it in fits and starts, though it’s not particularly long. The story takes place in a world which gets wiped by a global catastrophe every couple of centuries. Certain people called orogenes have the ability to manipulate the earth in order to bring about or quell earthquakes. They’ve also got some other interesting abilities. Naturally, the regular people, who are the majority called Stills, are fearful of orogenes and they’ve formed society such that they can harness but most importantly control orogenes. Bit of a slow start, but since I’ve made it halfway through, it’s been very engaging.
I was most surprised by how I became emotionally hooked by this novel rather than intellectually (if that makes sense) - I wasn’t as into the world but more the people, which is rare for me in a sci fi/fantasy novel. What a heartbreaker.
I feel the same way. There’s a lot of interesting relationships that are made complicated by who has control and how they wield it.
Just bought Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov. Intend to read it this summer. I read about it in a review and was fascinated by the plot. Here’s the Wikipedia plot description:
The novel follows an unnamed narrator and Gaustine, a psychiatrist who creates a clinic for people with Alzheimer’s disease in Zürich. Each floor of the clinic recreates a decade in intricate detail, aiming to transport patients back in time to revisit their memories. Tasked with collecting past artifacts for the clinic, the narrator travels across countries.Soon, healthy people turn to the clinic to flee their monotonous lives and the idea becomes widespread when more clinics open. Referendums are held across Europe to decide which past decade each country should live in, in the future.
Snuff by Terry Pratchett.
I’d read about 35/41 Discworld books out of order, a few many times, but never a full chronological read through and a couple I’ve missed, so I figured it was time.
It’s my favorite series and he’s my favorite author, so the prospect of finishing and never having any new Discworld books to read is a bit emotional. It’s been a wonderful ride, Snuff is #39 of 41. Thankful there’s a few non Discworld books I do still have to read of his when it finish this run. I may save them for a bit though.GNU Pterry
- AnarchoYeasty ( @AnarchoYeasty@beehaw.org ) English2•1 year ago
I stopped reading for a long while and gave my Kindle to my wife. She just got a new one for her birthday so I got mine back and will resume reading again. I’m starting with The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin. Only a few pages in right now but I’m making some progress
I just finished a reread of World War Z by Max Brooks. I love how the horror isn’t so much from the zombies, but from how humanity dealt with it. Also, I’m incredibly creeped out how the closely the fictional scenario of the zombie plague starting and spreading follows what ACTUALLY happened with covid (it was written in 2006, btw).
Not sure what I’ll be reading next. Maybe something here will look good :)