- What book is currently on your nightstand?
- Who is the author?
- What genre?
- How do you like it?
- Would you recommend it to others?
I just finished the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I can absolutely recommend it if you love fantasy, mystery and horror. I didn’t not make up my mind what to read next, but the Witcher books are already on my Kindle.
I just finished The Witcher books yesterday. They don’t have the same depth and mystery of the Dark Tower, but they are a fun read.
I know King is popular, and I liked a lot of the ride, but he always seems to go out of his way to write the darkest “there’s no point to anything” anticlimactic endings. It was definitely an interesting premise and world, but the conclusion was super unsatisfying.
It’s one of only a few books of his where I actually loved the ending (well, not those last few pages, but the ending before them, if you know what I mean). Usually I think his endings are pretty underwhelming at best.
I don’t think King is bad. I’ve read a decent chunk of his catalogue and a lot have interesting ideas. I’m admittedly not the biggest horror fan (though it’s because most is super trope-y, which he does tend to avoid), but I just really don’t like how he finishes stuff.
This and 11/22/63 are two where I actually feel like there’s a “message” and I feel were closer to being closed well, but I just don’t like the actual execution of it at all. It reminds me of this one NFL game a long time ago. The Saints pulled off a ridiculous series of laterals on the last play of the game to score the “game tying” TD, but their kicker shanked the extra point and they lost in painful fashion. That’s what the couple books where I feel like there’s an actual theme do. They get you right up to the finish, then botch it.
Maybe I’m being too hard for whatever reason, because I read a silly amount of light/mediocre writing and almost never critique fiction, but he frustrates me because of how close it feels like he got to a great piece start to finish.
Don’t get me wrong–I understand your frustration. My favorite King book, perhaps aside from The Dark Tower series, is The Stand. Of all the books I’ve ever read, it also has one of the most disappointing endings. I just liked the rest of the book enough to overlook it.
I loved the ending. I think it perfectly symbolizes, how the journey is more important than the ending in stories.
I’m currently reading Dune by Frank Herbert. I tried to read it once when I was in my early teens and didn’t finish, but I figured I’d give it another go with all the hype over the recent TV adaptation. I’ve just passed the point where I gave up before (~150 pages) and I’m kicking myself, because it turns out I stopped just short of where all the action seems to really get going. The book is front-loaded with a lot of worldbuilding by way of sci-fi/fantasy terms presented without much context, so I can understand why my younger self got bored and gave up. I’m really enjoying it this time around though, I think I’m a lot more patient as a reader now than I used to be.
I am also reading through dune right now, I’m enjoying it so far. I was fine with the world building, partly because I really liked the sets in the movie and also because I found it novel compared to the very generic space faring stuff or Tolkien rip-off you get as a backdrop in sci-fi and fantasy respectively.
I’m also really enjoying a lot of the environmental musings in the book, after I finish it I will look up more about Frank Herbert’s relation to these topics, I get the feeling there’s something about it.
This is a pretty interesting article that talks about a story that Herbert worked on as a journalist that ties in directly to some of the ecological concepts covered in Dune: https://niche-canada.org/2020/04/24/frank-herberts-ecology-and-the-science-of-soil-conservation/
Thanks for the recommendation, it was just the sort of thing I was looking for!
Environmentalism and colonialism are definitely interesting lenses to look at the story through. It also deconstructed white savior and heroes journey tropes. All of this is explored more fully in the sequel, which I also really enjoyed.
I just finished the Witcher books yesterday and haven’t started the next one yet, but it is already out and ready to go.
Next is The Croning by Laird Barron. He writes cosmic horror. I can’t review it yet, but I’ve enjoyed the couple of his works that I’ve read in the past.
After wrapping up book 6 of Murderbot Diaries I started in on A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I’ve heard the wayarers series was good, have access to the first book so I am checking it out. So far it’s okay.
I really enjoyed the first book, but I was sad to find out that the second book in that series is a whole new set of characters. :-(
Oh well that’s unfortunate. I like series because I like to stick to characters on long journeys, getting to know them and care for them. Only the first book is available on Kindle Unlimited so I guess I just won’t bother reading past book 1.
(The one exception to this so far is Malazan, which has so many characters and so many times those bounce around from being in a books to disappearing for 3 books, only to resurface again later. Malazan is fantastic though, and totally worth it. Erikson managed to make me care deeply about characters that we only saw for half a book. It’s ridiculous.)
Personal reading: Models of the Mind by Grace Lindsay
Good take on the history and current state of modern neuroscience and its interconnectedness with modern machine learning and data science.
Reading to kiddo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
I have a sore throat already from doing all the voices, what with all the shouting from Uncle Vernon and Hagrid in the first few chapters.
Models of the Mind by Grace Lindsay
Thanks for this. I read everything I can find in those areas that looks reasonably coherent and it’s hard to find more without a bunch of fake nonsense drowning it out a lot of the time.
How old is your kid? I want to read Harry Potter but I don’t know if my son is quite ready yet.
Close enough to Harry’s age in the first book. Old enough that we can successfully contextualize the bad behavior depicted in the book.
I’m juggling a couple.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Historical fantasy / horror about a fallen knight crossing a plague ridden France in what feels like the apocalypse, and dealing with demonic entities that mar his path. Really evocative descriptions and concise prose. It feels a bit like Berserk: a novel.
The Way Inn by Will Wiles. A professional convention surrogate is attending a convention for convention organizers, when he becomes trapped in an endless fractal of nondescript corporate mediocrity. Not sure how this one will end up yet, so far it’s a delightful satire with a really dry wit.
I literally just finished The Silence of Bones by June Hur. It’s about a 16 year old Damo, or female police servant, who becomes wrapped up in recent murders involving Catholics in 1800s Joseon Korea. I quite enjoyed it, in spite of the main character being a little idiot sometimes.
I just started Spice Road by Maya Ibrahim, so I don’t have much of an opinion yet. I like the wiring so far, as well as the middle eastern magic vibes.
The Bobiverse books, if you enjoy Sci-fi at all this series is a great read!
Currently reading: Mort (Terry Pratchett) - fantasy/comedy. The story of Death taking on an apprentice. I’m enjoying it so far and would recommend. I’m a later arriver to the Discworld novels. People have been recommending Pratchett to me for years but I made the mistake of trying to read Discworld in release order (which I later realised isn’t at all necessary) and really struggled to get into The Colour of Magic on previous occasions. Finally clicked with it earlier this year and then started moving onto other novels based on recommended reading lists.
Currently listening to: Star Wars: Ahsoka (E K Johnston) - space-fantasy/sci-fi (let’s not get started on the debate about what genre Star Wars is…). I’m not far in but I’m a big Star Wars fan and Ahsoka Tano is one of my favourite characters, so I’m excited to see how it goes. Also the audiobook is narrated by Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka on Clone Wars and Rebels).
Began The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin before moving out to a new rent. With all the fuss with relocation I hadn’t had time to sit down and continue it, but I look forward to do that asap. I really like Liu’s style and how easy to read it is.
“Human need not apply” and “The fourth turning”
The Wanderers by Chuck wendig
I’ve been on a huge post apocalyptic/apocalyptic kick this year (15 novels and counting!)
Liking it so far!
Currently reading The Haunted Forest Tour by James A Moore. The premise is a safari thru a forest filled with horror creatures that goes wrong, and I am LOVING it so far! I’m still pretty early into it, but so far so good. After this, I think I’ll go back to another Agatha Christie whodunnit
That sounds really cool and unique. If you’re interested in joining another book community, you should share a quick review of that with us on m/horrorliterature. Trying to gather us horror fans together!
Currently reading Wool by Hugh Howey. It’s the book that Silo is based on so I was hoping to see how close it is to the show and also read farther than the show got to since season 1 just ended. It’s in the scifi dystopian genre. I would recommend it yes@McBinary@kbin.social
I just finished Caliban’s War [James S.A. Corey] and All Systems Red [Martha Wells] last night. (thanks for the Murderbot recommendation @fax_of_the_shadow and @windchime) Both of these are sci-fi, however the Murderbot stories appear to be more dystopian future sci-fi than ‘high science’. I’d recommend both! All systems Red is a really quick read too, and they even have an audiobook series!
Just started on Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Unfortunately I’m only about 10 pages into it so I can’t recommend it just yet. Just it has incredible mentions by sci-fi fans.
Yeah Murderbot isn’t heavy Sci-Fi, they’re more interesting stories told in a futuristic setting. I finished the 6th one last night and can’t wait for the 7th to come out later this year. I am hooked.
