Reading Frostbound Queen. Um, idk if I'd recommend it. It's ok. Very "BookToc".
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. Great story, easy reading, relatable characters, and soon to be made into a series. There are 7 books so far, but rumors say there might be up to 10 eventually.
Second this. The audio book is the way to go on this one.
If you like horror I can highly recommend the Christopher Snow Novels by Dean Koontz.
I reread Seize The Night almost yearly.
Just finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It made me go hug my partner very tightly.
The Last Juror by John Grisham
Just finished the A Land Fit For Heroes trilogy by Richard K. Morgan and it was badass.
Not reading it right now, but I'll take this opportunity to recommend people read Project Hail Mary before watching the trailer for the upcoming movie adaptation which spoils major plot twists.
Having read it multiple times, the trailer pissed me off because of the spoiler. I'd honestly say for anyone, whether you've read it or not, don't watch the trailer.
My partner hasn't read it, and I said they shouldn't watch the trailer. We're gonna see the movie and I don't want them to get spoiled
Yeah I'm glad I read it before watching the trailer. It's a great sci-fi book!
Finally got around to the Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan and it's more relevant than ever. It absolutely predicted the world we're in politically now and has some insight and analysis as to how and why and what to do to help. Definitely worth a read or reread if you haven't read it or it's been a while.
I own this book. I've read it three times now. I think I will read it a fourth.
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For the past, idk, one or two decades I have only read books very sparingly and if I did, it was fantasy. Right now I am devouring The Expanse books and having a great time. I watched the tv series first (awesome) but was somewhat bummed by the ending.
Love those books. Extremely easy to read and reread and set the standard for modern hard sci fi.
Yes! Got any recommendations for when I am finished with them?
I quite enjoyed Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series, which is also (relatively) hard-ish sci-fi and has a creative and interesting exploration of non-human intelligences. I enjoyed the first two books but was meh on the third. Certainly would still recommend them but they don't scratch quite the same itch the Expanse does.
Another series I devoured and then re-read a year later was the Murderbot Diaries. It's dystopian but also kind of hopeful, it's a story about realizing one's personhood and self determination and making a life for yourself, with a very dry sense of humor. It's a great audio book read, (the Kevin Free version) and was recently turned into a series on Apple TV.
Thats the second time I have heard about Murderbot, so that is going on the list haha Thank you!
Blindsight by Peter Watts is also on that list. Don't know anything about it, other than it being hard sci-fi tho.
A few scifi books i enjoyed: Quantum magician series Pushing ice Project hail Mary Revelation space series
Murderbot is great, I'll second that rec. I also really enjoyed the Revelation Space series.
Revelation Space series (specifically the "future" part: Revelation Space, Chasm City, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap) might not have the best writing, but the wild (and sometimes insane) ideas and scale of everything is great.
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In retrospect would you say read the books first or no?
For me it works really well. My AuDHD brain is very happy to put established voices and faces to some of the characters. I also really liked the visuals and general feeling of the show.
IMO the show did not do a good job introducing characters and settings, and failed to do a lot of "screen writing 101" stuff like establishing who the characters are and their relationships to each other in the first few episodes. It also failed at using visual language or motifs to define the different settings and distinguish them which was frustrating and confusing. I started the show first and was intrigued enough to pick up the books, but absolutely reading the books gives you a shortcut past all of the "who's that guy?" and "wait, I thought those people were in the same place" type moments of confusion. I still really enjoyed the show and I figured everything out eventually, but yes it benefits from a read-through.
I read primary scientific literature for work. If I am reading for leisure, fantasy is the absolute best. I can’t waste my time reading nonfiction.
Rereading Le Guin’s Earthsea saga.
Personally, I think she might be on par with Tolkien and actually surpasses him in a few ways. The 4th book (about a tired mom just trying to get by and care for people in a fantasy world) is the best one, but you need to work your way there.
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I'm currently reading Anthony Beevors 'D-Day'... But I'm also in Normandy, so I just read that book whilst sitting on Omaha Beach, which is pretty special.
im reading slobberknocker by jim ross. very interesting behind the scenes of the wrestling business
Repurposing most of a comment from earlier in the day where someone asked about learning about the Jesus Myth theory that Jesus was originally a heavinly figure and only got turned into a guy with an earthly ministry decades later. This is well supported by the evidence in texts from the start of christianity (epistles, Dead Sea Scrolls).
The Jesus Puzzle, by Earl Doherty. He gets criticized because he’s not a trained scholar, but his work remains compelling and Robert M Price endorses him. I really enjoyed this one.
The Amazing Colossal Apostle - The Search for the Historical Paul, by Robert M Price. He’s a former Baptist minister with multiple degrees in the field, a true expert. He has a bunch of published YouTube interviews talking about these topics as well.
Quick warning: RMP is a Trump supporter. That makes sense. Ministers are rightwing. Coming from believing to realizing that the Bible is a collection of stories rather than history doesn’t necessarily change your politics. He mostly never mentions it, but it’s come out a couple of times in videos. Luckily, he doesn’t say anything further about it. The book is phenominal.
And, if you still want to consider Jeses to be a historical figure, I loved this controversial piece: The Passover Plot, by Hugh J. Schonfield. This book assumes that Jesus was a real apocalyptic Jew who truly believed that he was the messiah and who brilliantly engineered the conditions to fulfill prophecy. It’s a great read. If Jesus was a historical figure, this is the version of him that I think is most likely.
I am currently reading Marcion and the Dating of the Synoptic Gospels, by Markus Vinzent. I’m enjoying it a lot. Marcion was the first “heretic” for his view that Paul was the only apostle who understood the true message: that the creator god of the Jews was a lesser god, which is why there is evil in the world, and Jesus's god would adopt us.
Price is a really wacky guy, and even he will admit he’s very much on the fringe. I would suggest Dan McClellan or Bart Ehrman over him.
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Reading American Midnight, about how civil liberties were absolutely fucked after the US entered World War I.
I just finished Oryx and Crake the first of a trilogy by Margaret Atwood, I quite enjoyed it. It's a short of dystopian sci-fi. I was put off by her at first because I was forced to read her in high school but I'm glad I gave her another chance.
I'm starting Les Misérables in French in the hopes of improving my written French.
Also working my way through Weapons of the weak which is about forms of peasant resistance.
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I'm reading Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. They fit modern fantasy into a British police procedural framework. What makes them exceptional are the characterizations, plus the wit and snark of the dialog. They are both good stories and a lot of fun to read.
"Seeing like a state". It could be half the length without losing anything, but it's a very interesting perspective on states and central planning that I haven't thought about before and am enjoying.
One of my favorite books. Highly recommend
Rereading Berserk Manga(it's a book😤)
Nearing the end of When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi, which came out a few months ago. It's a bit silly but I'd recommend it. The premise can be summed up as, "What would happen if the moon turned into cheese?"
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If you like fantasy and haven't read any Brandon Sanderson then do yourself a favour and get on it!
My personally favourites are the Mistborn books but it isn't exactly an easy choice because literally everything he writes is great in my experience.
I just finished Tress of the Emerald Sea which is a shorter standalone book but still great!
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Re-reading Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" because its the best haunted house novel ever written.
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How to read a book, by Mortimer Adler
"How to read a book." Pg. 1
"Turn back to page 1" Pg. 2
I'm reading the Percy Jackson books with my kid right now and I have to say, they're very well written. For kid/teen literature, i'd say there's a lot to like in the series, fun dialogue, characters with a lot of personality a fascinating and magical, yet recognizable fantasy world. I'm certainly enjoying it much more than I did the Harry Potter series.
Also the percy Jackson TV series is great too. The movies are hot trash though, wouldn't recommend them.
I'm reading how to blow up a pipeline by Andreas Malm, I'd recommend it.
Kangaroo apocrypts.
Yes. They are fun. BUY THE KANGAROOS! JOIN THE A-SOCIAL NETWORK! Spread the Jo-jos!
The Wild Robot Protects
Not quite as good as The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes, but the entire series is an excellent set of children’s novels.