What book(s) are you reading right now?

[BurnItDwn]

Reading an English translation of The Count of Monte Cristo. So far so good, around 350 pages in.

 

[Brainonska511]

"We Have No Idea" by Jorge Cham (of PhD comics) and Daniel Whiteson. It's a fun read with lots of ridiculous imagery as it tries to break down what we know and don't know about the universe in relatively simple terms.

 

[IronWing]

Reading an English translation of The Count of Monte Cristo. So far so good, around 350 pages in.

I was thinking about reading that last year. I read the plot summary on Wiki, holy crap! Do you keep a chart of who's who?

 

[mikeymikec]

I was thinking about reading that last year. I read the plot summary on Wiki, holy crap! Do you keep a chart of who's who?

At any given time there's not many relevant characters. It's probably been at least a few years since I last read it and I bet I could write out a >90% accurate list of characters and their relationships without referring to anything. One thing I think makes it easier for English readers is that the names aren't particularly outlandish for us. The other thing is that while the book often changes from one arena to another, it doesn't chop and change rapidly. IMO it would only be hard going if one tried to read a bit of it then put it down a for a few months, read a bit more, rinse and repeat.

IMO it's an enjoyable read. I don't think most of my family agree with me though, and I'm not sure why.

 

[clamum]

Haven't gotten to Fall of Giants yet. I'm really lookin forward to it, I just ended up reading other stuff in the meantime.

Just took a break from Song of Ice and Fire on audiobook (with now just the last book left) to listen to the Zombie Rules series. My co-worker liked it and talked about it so I've finally decided to check it out, cause my local library finally works with Hoopla which is awesome.

I'm just about done with Grant Takes Command as far as ebook/Kindle. It's really quite good. It's detailed but doesn't go as apeshit as some war books with tons of little unit numbers and stuff like that. However, place and river names are constantly mentioned but the couple included maps are complete shit so it makes it hard to picture where movement takes place unless you look it up on your own. Overall, definitely recommended for military history people.

Oh man, I got so much shit to read, and listen to, I dunno what I'm gonna go for next. It's a great issue to have.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I was thinking about reading that last year. I read the plot summary on Wiki, holy crap! Do you keep a chart of who's who?

That would be a good idea, but no. Also, I have never read this before. I do have trouble keeping track of all the characters, it's like how when I meet a bunch of new people and can't remember any of their names.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I just finished the entire Wheel of Time series on Audiobook. I had read up to Knife of Dreams as they were published. I actually started Eye of the World in 1991 about a year after is was published, and bought each other book in hardcover the day they were published, and re-read the entire series before each new book, up until Knife of Dreams. When Jordan died I was not sure I wanted to read WoT books written by someone else. So, it took me this long to decide to give Sanderson's' books a try. So, I bought the entire series from Audible and started listening to them during my commute. It took me most of a year, but I finally finished. I have to say, Sanderson did the series credit. I really enjoyed the last three books he wrote.

I've managed to read a handful of other books while doing that, I'll list some and my thoughts on them below.

I finally caught up on the Sandman Slim series by Kadrey
The Perdition Score - By far the weakest of the Sandman Slim novels. James is a whiny little bitch throughout the novel. I start to understand why no one likes him.
The Kill Society - This is more like it! I think this is the best Sandman Slim since the first!

The Forever War by Haldeman - I'm a sucker for a good Space opera, and The Forever War is a classic. It was my first time reading it, and I enjoyed it. It definitely is a product of it's time though.

The entire Worm web serial - A really well done, if a bit amateur, superhero story. For how long it is (and it is prodigiously long) it manages to maintain a high level of interesting storytelling and character right through to the end. I felt that there was little in the way of useless filler like so many long series (George R.R. Martin I'm looking at you! (Yes, yes, Jordan was guilty of this too)) tends to fill pages with.

Swallow the Sky by Chris Mead - Very fun space opera with interesting technology, nice world building, but rather shallow characters.

The Art of Arrow Cutting by Dedman - Kind of urban fantasy lite. It was an okay story, overall forgettable though.

Yesterday I stared the Rivers of London series by Aaronovitch, the novels not the graphic novels.

Those are just the fiction books, I'm almost certainly forgetting a dozen other books. It is rare occasion when I don't have a book in my hand.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
100 pages in and I'm hooked.

"It’s been thirty years since the apocalypse and fifteen years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Humankind is extinct. Every man, woman, and child has been liquidated by a global uprising devised by the very machines humans designed and built to serve them.

Most of the world is controlled by an OWI—One World Intelligence—the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality—their personality—for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. These intrepid resisters are outcasts; solo machines wandering among various underground outposts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs in the wasteland that was once our world.

One of these resisters is Brittle, a scavenger robot trying to keep a deteriorating mind and body functional in a world that has lost all meaning."

$2 on amazon for the ebook version right now if it sounds interesting to you.

 

[jhansman]

"The Devil's Star" by Jo Nesbo. A detective series set in Norway, translated to English. I can't pronounce most of the proper names or places, but the writing is quite good.

And, the person who does not read is no better off than the person who cannot read. But, perhaps, no worse off either? I can't imagine a day without at least an hour's reading.

 

[Aleea]

The Moral Case For Fossil Fuels:
I've been skimming pages, just flipping through. As you might expect a book of this title to proclaim, global warming is 97% made up, a lie.
It's a vehicle for whatever interests paid dude to write it, so they can go on drilling and pillaging.

 

[rommelrommel]

Been reading a fair bit lately, I read the entire dark tower series, stranger in a strange land, the moon is a harsh mistress, and starship troopers.

I think I could read another 10 books fleshing out the dark tower universe, but I’m not sure I want to read King’s horror books.

Heinlein was certainly interesting but I feel like some of the 50-60’s sci-fi doesn’t read as well to a modern audience since so much of it has been ripped off, derived from, and basically repackaged.

I think I’m going to re-read the foundation series by Asimov and see how that’s held up.

 

[shortylickens]

The Origin of Species. Finally decided to check it out.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Ancient Giants of the Americas
by Xaviant Haze

Has some evolutionary myths about supposed human species, but still some good info on discoveries in the past. Got most of the book left to read ... the author's bizarre new-agey name doesn't bode well.

 

[boomerang]

I'm on my sixth in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo.

 

[Brainonska511]

Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

In the preceding week, I read "Shadows of Self" and "The Bands of Mourning" by Brandon Sanderons (two more Mistborn-world novels). I'm finally starting to make a dent in the backlog of books I've had sitting on my "to-read" pile {probably read 5 or 6 books in the last 2-3 months}

 

[clamum]

Finally got to Fall of Giants (Century Trilogy; book 1) by Ken Follett. OMFG... this shit is epic. Like, almost on par with A Song of Ice and Fire. NOT AS GOOD, but almost (to me anyway). I'm totally loving it so far.

It's about several interconnected families and it begins in the early 1900s (the prelude is like in 1903 and the first chapter begins with 1911, or thereabouts). There's a British aristocrat and his wife and progressive sister, a young German aristocrat and father and his Austrian cousin (who is gay), two Russian young men, a British coal miner and his family (mom, dad, grandpa, sister). I think that's who I've been introduced to so far. And the author weaves real-world history into the events. As a history lover I think it's fantastic and would highly recommend it, for fans of history or just looking for an epic type novel in general.

For audiobooks, I'm getting close to the end of the second book of the Zombie Rules series. I think it's quite good. The protagonist is a teenage kid but he's pretty smart. There's been a lot of funny moments (genuine and dumb-funny) and I just take it for what it is, and enjoy it a lot.

 

[DigDog]

What They Teach You At Harvard Business School and What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School

 

[thedarkwolf]

We are Legion We are Bob by Dennis Taylor
Bob sells his tech company for a fortune and decides to sign up to have his head cryogenically frozen because why not and then immediately gets hit by a car. Wakes up 117 years later in a computer and finds out cryogenically frozen people have been ruled not people without rights and they can do whatever they want with their conciseness. Their plan is to use Bob to run a space probe meant to explore space and replicate himself. There is a lot more going on and it is a humorous and interesting book, 1st of a 3 book series.

 

[JujuFish]

What They Teach You At Harvard Business School and What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School

The sum of all human knowledge, or so the joke goes.

 

[DigDog]

i'm halfway through the first book, and disappointed.

 

[dainthomas]

The last of the Aftermath books by Chuck Wendig. Really enjoyed the second one, but this one has started out pretty slow. Hopefully it picks up.

I'll be reading the new Thrawn book after this.

 

[Pheran]

Currently reading The Phantom of the Earth which is a pretty cool SF series that's available for free on Amazon. I have no idea why the author gives this away, it's really quite good. It's a far-future setting where the surface of the Earth has been rendered uninhabitable by an engineered plague and genetically-engineered transhumans live deep underground.

 

[Brainonska511]

Started reading the first book in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

 

[Arcadio]

Reading an English translation of The Count of Monte Cristo. So far so good, around 350 pages in.

This is an amazing book. I'll probably re-read it soon.

Currently I'm reading Mastering Bitcoin and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace.

 

[SKORPI0]

Currently reading The Phantom of the Earth which is a pretty cool SF series that's available for free on Amazon.

Which book? There are 5 in the series.
1- The Song of the Jubilee
2 - The Gambit with Perfection
3 - The Synthesis and the Animus
4 - The Descent into the Maelstrom
5- The Restoration of Flaws