So, What Are You Reading?

I've finished The Peacemakers and started on The Big Short, plus I'm still reading the other three books I was on back in December. I've started on the audiobooks for The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan and A Canticle for Liebowitz.

Finally caught up on Spice and Wolf by Isuna Hasekura. Overall, I'm very happy with how Hasekura has taken the direction of the series. On to Wolf and Parchment, the next gen spin off by the same author. I like Col and I'm intrigued to see how his chosen profession lets us see into a different aspect of this world. Myuri will take some time to grow on me though. ^^"

Edited by Oratel on Feb 25th 2023 at 4:06:45 AM

I finished Water Margin a little while ago. Unfortunately, it was JH Jackson's translation of Jin Shengtan's version, which ends right after all the bandits finally assemble.

Shi Naian does not portray women well. Women are, for the most part, simply absent in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but Water Margin takes a perverse delight in describing exactly how they were cut into tiny pieces for cheating on their husbands.

Jackson's translation is also very slow and plodding, with wooden dialogue and narration. My edition was revised by Edwin Lowe, who switched the romanisation system to pinyin, restored the Chinese cultural references that Jackson swapped out for Christian references, and undid some, but not all, of the bowdlerisation; it's pretty hilarious to see Lu Da portrayed as an uncouth, foul-mouthed vagabond because he keeps calling people "rascals".

All in all, I'm motivated to track down John and Alex Dent-Young's translation.

I've recently started on The Golem and the Djinni, and am enjoying it so far. Chava is such a sweetheart, and Ahmad is hilarious.

I just read the first book in the The Scholomance series by Naomi Novak.

I really enjoyed it a lot.

Honestly, the blurb didn't do a great job of selling me on the book. I've read a lot of fanfiction with similar red flags, and if I didn't read a couple of recommendations about the book and know the author writes good stuff I probably would have passed on it.

I'm really glad I didn't though. I really like seeing El her open up her prickly exterior (slowly) and the Scholomance is a great setting. I also thought the author did a great job at not making the antagonists (aside from the Seniors a little) feel two dimensional. Which I think can be a bit common when dealing with "screw the unfair system" ideas like this book does a bit.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Apr 18th 2021 at 10:08:19 PM

Going through this year's Baseball Prospectus. Frankly, I had no idea the Reds' organization had so many fourth-outfielder types with glaring holes somewhere in their offensive profile. This is the kind of knowledge you can't put a price tag on.

Just finished Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth of Divergent fame. It starts off being about a group of young people who saved the world a decade ago from a supernatural mass murderer and how they dealt with becoming celebrities and such in the aftermath, but then it undergoes a Halfway Plot Switch. Fun book, but part of me thinks the before/after parts are a bit too disconnected.

Finished The Golem and the Djinni a few days ago, and I highly recommend it. A newly-made golem and a djinn who has just been released have Fish out of Water adventures in turn-of-the-20th-century New York, in a story that covers immigration, culture, community, faith, nature, nurture, identity, and the sense of being an outsider.

Started on The Three-Body Problem, and the main thing I'm wondering is how the heck the Chinese Communist Party allowed this book to be published. I looked up Cixin Liu on Wikipedia, and apparently he's expressed support for the party and the reeducation camps in the Uighur Autonomous Region; given how the Cultural Revolution is portrayed, I suspect he's only saying that due to having received a visit from government agents.

Edited by VampireBuddha on Apr 20th 2021 at 6:33:50 PM

I read Iron Prince over the past couple of days.

I heard good things about this a while ago, but ended up taking it off my to-read list after I saw people saying they loved it while also recommended Solo Leveling, which I thought was awful. Also the description on the Goodreads page sounds absolutely awful.

Honestly, while I don't think its amazing it was still a decently fun and lighthearted read with a lot of similarities to battle school anime. I personally mainly enjoyed the interactions between the main characters all striving to get stronger together the most.

I'm a bit leery with the ending though. It seems like the author has set up a situation where Rei is going to start to outpace all his friends by the end of the next book, unless he manages to develop some way to share his growths. Which I honestly think is going to be super boring to read. Since the bits I enjoyed the most was him working together with his friends.

All in all, definitely a popcorn read.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Apr 27th 2021 at 6:09:31 PM

I read Dork Diaries 5 last night.

Edited by Delibirda on Apr 27th 2021 at 10:09:44 AM

After reading the book, I understand perfectly how it got published. And after reading the spoilers for the rest of the series, I suspect he's being sincere about the Ughirs.

Right now I'm reading:

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. It's my first book by the author, and it seems really good... It's also due back at the library in a few days and I'm nowhere near done.

Japanese Destroyer Captain by Takeichi Hara. It's the unoriginally-named memoir of a Japanese naval captain from WWII. It's intersting to see the war from the other side, but the passage where he tries to downplay the Rape of Nanking is... uncomfortable. And the Naval Press Institute needs a better proofreader. EDIT: And he got the sinking of the USS Helena wrong; he alleges she sank during the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. She didn't sink until eight months later, during the battle of Kula Gulf. This might be colored by spite, since the Helena did a number on his ship.

Battle Grounds by Jim Butcher. A Dresden Files novel that forgoes any kind of mystery in favor of focusing on action. A very fun read.

On the Audiobook front:

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. The fourth Wheel of Time book. An enjoyable series that nonetheless has some pronounced flaws.

The Generals by Thomas Ricks. A nonfiction book about the generals of the US army throughout the twentieth century, with a focus on the decline of accountability over the years.

Edited by MisterTambourineMan on May 1st 2021 at 4:22:15 AM

Yeah, I'm in the middle of book three, and yeah, I agree that Liu's statement about the Uyghurs was sincerely meant. That's the impression I get so far, at least.

But back on topic, I'm rereading The Lord of the Rings, and it's amazing how rich a world that book has.

Edited by MichaelKatsuro on Apr 27th 2021 at 3:17:47 AM

I’m making a wiki of my favourite book series https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/MabelJones

Have you read Mabel Jones series? https://www.goodreads.com/series/162615-mabel-jones

Edited by GXuniverse on Apr 27th 2021 at 8:51:18 AM

Finished The Three-Body Problem just now. I still don't understand how Liu was allowed to portray the Cultural Revolution entirely negatively.

Going to start Metro 2033 next.

I got a signed copy of Metro 2033. But I'm not reading it right now; I'm in the middle of Death's End, the final part of the Three-Body Trilogy. (No spoilers, not even minor ones, please!)

I recently started the Skullduggery Pleasant series. The first book is fun, if kind of typical so far of what you'd expect of YA fantasy.

By the way, has anyone on this site heard of The Midnight Library? It's a series of horror story collections in the vein of things like Goosebumps and Scary Stories, but way, way darker and oftentimes just plain tragic. The style is kind of a mix between Junji Ito and various contemporary horror movies. The stories tell of things like a demon-possessed parrot, a painted mural that absorbs anyone who unearths it, a ghostly farmer who reduces you to ash, a faceless monk who stalks your dreams, a girl's online persona becoming a real person, and the Mayan God Ah Puch returning to wreck havoc on the modern world, among many other nightmares.

The books are out of print, but some are available for purchase online and most are viewable free at Open library.org. I definitely recommend if you're a fan of Creepypasta style stories.

Xi Xinping cares more about Han Chinese ethnonationalism than strict adherence to communist doctrine. After all, The book's villains are western environmentalists and Chinese people influenced by them. That by itself was my biggest complaint about the book. And then the sequels are a full-throated endorsement of xenophobia.

Still reading the same dead tree books. Listening to Horrorstor, a horror story set in a knockoff Ikea, and after six months I'm finally on the final disk of The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan.

You mean "Horrorstör", friend. :)

You are correct, friend.

After using a Mac for years, it's hard to adjust to Microsoft's clunkier method for supporting extra characters.

Edited by MisterTambourineMan on May 10th 2021 at 9:52:14 AM

Skullduggery Pleasant definitely improves as it goes along I think.

I picked up the newest book yesterday myself.

Although I haven't actually read Seasons of War which came out last year yet. Not that I haven't meant to, it just keeps slipping my mind.

Now I have both of them in my to read pile next to my bed.

Are you just reading everything over my shoulder? I swear we have identical reading lists.

I loved Iron Prince, but I will admit I share your worries about later books. A lot of series in this genre fall into the God-Mode Sue trap, and the summary flat-out says "he will become a god." On the other hand, the emphasis on his friends and teammates in the first book is a good sign. So we'll see.

As for me, I just finished Threadbare and the sequel series Small Medium. LitRPG series with a very interesting setting and excellent background class and advancement system. Short version: Threadbare is about a girl who has to set aside her childish things and grow up to become the rational, merciless ruler that her people need. Her childish things say "that's silly," and go off to rescue her. Small Medium, on the other hand, is basically an MMO from the point of view of the NPCs, trying to survive in a world that has seemingly immortal demigods called "playahs" running around—but the biggest threat is actually the organization hunting the playahs.

I started the prequel series to that, but the real-world plot is putting me off. So for now I've started Septimus Heap.

Haha that's a funny coincidence!

Yeah I totally agree about the "become a god" stuff. Everytime the epigraphs in each chapter start to shill Rei my eyes almost glaze over. I'll probably at least give the next book a shot. Because despite there not really being a way for his other friends to keep pace with him next time, it seems strange the author would develop them so much if they were just going to become spectators in his journey.

Threadbare seems pretty interesting with the whole "childish things" saving the protagonist who attempts to harden herself for rule. I really like the sound of that concept.

I dislike what I've seen of Lit RP Gs so far though. I've enjoyed some LitRPG adjacent stuff like Wandering Inn or Street Cultivation, where the majority of the class/advancement/interface systems are cut out. But nothing that's full LitRPG.

I might give it a shot though, since I do like the sound of the premise.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on May 11th 2021 at 10:10:56 PM

LitRPGs are like isekais; it's easy to screw up.

It's hard to summarize Threadbare's game system, but the short version is that it's difficult to become super overpowered, and everything does feel earned. Threadbare does get a few rare classes, but nothing actually unique, and his build ends up pretty haphazard because he spends most of the first book sub-sentient and just keeps saying "yes" to any class offered to him.

The protagonist of the sequel series is more focused with her build, but she's also a Guile Hero going up against people specced against her best abilities.

There's lots of good focus on advantages and disadvantages, rather than just "whoops, the protagonist stumbled into the best class in the game and is now invincible."

Welp, reading Jeff Vander Meer's Annihilation.

No spoilers, not even to "warn" me about anything.

Began Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard a couple days ago and have been really enjoying it; already a third of the way through. The setting and plot are fairly typical modern-day fantasy fair (medieval European but with magic and saving the world from the great evil, respectively) but Aveyard does a couple things differently that, imo, already makes it a step above similar stories of that ilk. It's the first in a trilogy and this book seems to be about getting the two main pieces together before the real fight can begin.

Edited by Oratel on Feb 25th 2023 at 4:07:50 AM

Still reading Wachter der Schatten It's not bad when the plot actually gets going, but since that only really happens around page 180, it can try your patience. And I'm still reading slower because it's in German.

Still reading Japanese Destroyer Captain.

Just started the book Count Luckner the Sea Devil, a nonfiction book about one of the oddest incidents of WWI, the career of the SMS Seeadler. It's also one of the oldest books I own, being published in 1927.

Starting on Det Konservative Kollaps, a book about the decline of a conservative political party in Denmark. Or at least, I'm trying to read it. I've been studying Danish on-and-off for the last few years, but this is my first attempt at actually reading a book in the language. I really only got it because I found it at a used book store.

On the audiobook front, I've finished up what I was listening to, and now I'm on American Creation, a nonfiction book that aims to show the American Revolution in a nuanced way that avoids mythologizing the era or its leaders.

Edited by MisterTambourineMan on May 18th 2021 at 4:47:02 AM