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Just finished Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami.
I really enjoyed it - it's maybe not up with his very best stuff, but it still has that familiar slightly unreal tone, and some wonderful moments.
I'm now onto If On a Lonely Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. Very weird so far, but enjoying it!
I have seen "Haruki Murakami" mentioned a few times, any recommendation for which one to start with?
Hard to say - I've read quite a few of his books, but not all of them (yet).
The one that got me started was a short story collection, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, and I just fell in love with his writing.
My favourite so far is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but others are pretty great too, Norwegian Wood, 1Q84, Sputnik Sweetheart, and Men Without Women (another short story collection).
His work sometimes gets kind of weird and unreal and unsettling, but in a good way, kind of like David Lynch's best work, at least in terms of the feelings of unease it can provoke. Or, if you've ever seen Meshes of the Afternoon, that's got a similar eerie feel.
Hope you enjoy!
Thanks for the reply. Will check which ones are available at my local bookstore.
Currently reading Consider Phlebus. Read the entire series years ago but thought it was worth re-read. Just as good as my first time!
Excession and Player of Games are my two favourite Culture novels.
Seconding these, The Player of Games is my favorite book and I love to see it called out.
I just started Polostan (2024) by Neal Stephenson. I saw an interview where he said he's been sitting on the idea for a new trilogy for years and finally sat down to start it with this book.
Next on my list!
"Harlem Shuffle" by Colson Whitehead.
It's the 1960s and this dude is trying to make a go of a furniture store on 125th Street. He's an honest businessman who wants to help people in the community get good products at a reasonable price, and provide for his wife and kids.
Of course, being an honest businessman in 1960s Harlem is a bit different from being an honest businessman in say Darrian, CT. So what if he's doing a little fencing; hanging out with stickup men; aiding corrupt police, and suchlike?
Great depictions of the neighborhood with lots of action.
Sounds pretty interesting.
I picked up Project Hail Mary from the library this week. Only just started but I'm enjoying it so far.
I just finished Stephen Baxter's World Engines: Destroyer and while it was OK, I have the uncomfortable feeling that I'm discovering unsavory things about Baxter. There are commonalities in his main characters that are... unattractive? One main character, fine. But when the main character is basically the same character in different settings and with different names; and when the story literally contains "and then, everyone clapped"... well, I don't know. The writing is better than I could do, and I'm interested to see where it goes, but I don't know if I can enjoy the libertarian fantasy overtones. I'm torn.
I'm a couple chapters into A. Tchaikovsky's Shroud, and have great expectations. I know I like Tchaikovsky's world building and writing, and this looks so far like another novel (innovative?) premise from a great author.
Yeah, Stephen Baxter is somewhat sus. I liked his collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke, and I really liked reading his books when I was a kid who couldn't really understand the politics. He has some really interesting concepts (Manifold: Time fucking BLEW MY MIND when I was like 12), but yeah, he has some very libertarian politics that lead to some, uh, interesting plot points.
Sundial by Catriona Ward. No spoilers but its a very dark psychological horror. I'm not far into it but I'm already hooked.
I finally made it to book 2 of Sanderson's Stormlight Archives.
How are you liking it so far?
So far, good. Not great, but quite good. It feels like a lot of setup and teasing of things to come without actually getting there, which is fine for the first book but I am 2/3 through the second book. Still, the writing is enjoyable and the books, although long, are not boring.
I'm listening to Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson after finishing Red Mars
This kind of thread is really bad for my wallet.
So it's working! Mwahahaha!
I am about 7 chapters in to The Brothers Karamazov. I had heard a lot of good things prior to reading it and knew it was a classic, but god damn is it good. Dostoevsky is an amazing author who can make you feel the essence of the scene he’s describing.
I am glad I started reading it when I did, any earlier and I don’t think I would have the same appreciation for it.
Having recently finished Stormlight, I am very curious to read the Sunlit Man now!
I just finished Assassin of Reality by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko (book 2 of Vita Nostra). It honestly kind of felt like an afterthought to capitalize on the popularity of the first book. I didn't feel like it added much and preferred the open endedness of the first book.
Now I've started Wool by Hugh Howey, the first of the books the Silo show is based on. Too early to give my thoughts but the first few chapters were very closely followed in the show.
Hm, interesting. I wasn't sure I'd like it at first, but I jammed through Vita Nostra, and didn't realize there were already published sequels until a few days ago, when I immediately moved them to the top of my TBR pile. I'll try to lower my expectations to be more in line with reality--thanks for the heads-up!
I am reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I am about 2/3 through and so far I am not really getting it. I don’t dislike it and it is well written but I am not entirely sure what about it is making people rate it so high.
I hate books. I hate books. I hate books. I hate pages. I hate bookmarking. I hate covers. I hate words. I hate passages. I hate authors. I hate reading. I hate left-to-right. I hate shelving them. I hate conversations. I hate twists. I hate mysteries. I hate waking up. I hate my job. I hate being alive.
I decided to start reading John Dies at the End, it's been pretty funny.
Not much reading last week. Read Joe Haldeman's "a separate war". I already commented on the forever war last week, nothing to add to that. Currently reading "furiously happy" by Jenny Lawson. And still listening to "the eye of the Bedlam bride" in my commute. This will take a while to listen to, since my weekly commute time is about six hours, and the audiobook is 20+ hours. It is a good listen though, I read the previous books in the series, but listening is more fun in my opinion.
I recently finished Isles of the Emberdark which is the latest novel by Brandon Sanderson 😁. Really loved it - tons of Cosmere crossover and some interesting setup for the future.
I also have recently read A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. Enjoyed this a lot and am now onto the second in the series, A Gathering of Shadows.
I’m currently reading Star Wars Allegiance
It’s my goal to read all of the Legends or Expanded Universe books in Star Wars, I’m currently over a third done, there’s about 120 books and this is around #44 iirc.
I alternate between a Star Wars and another book when done, my current “other book” is Asimovs universe, I’ve read the Foundation Series and am onto the Robots saga and the fourth Robots and Empire
Any recommendations for Star Wars books?
Anything by Timothy Zahn is solid, especially the original legends Thrawn trilogy.
It’s hard to recommend since there’s so much that covers different eras and genres. You got spy books, horror stories, cops, smugglers, cartels, etc.
Find an era you like, pick a genre, and go? Some arcs are like 10 books though, the X-wing series being one of them iirc, but that’s in the last era so I’m no where close to reading them yet. As I’m reading them in “chronological order” from The Old Republic, where you have great sith lore like Bane and his rule of two, I’m currently between episode 4 and 5 for my current place.
The current Timothy Zahn books I’m reading are essentially a direct sequel with Luke and Han and some storm troopers right after Death Star one destruction.
More than 900 pages into Infinite Jest but i m not sure i like it... Started The Confederacy of Dunces on the side, really funny so far !
Infinite Jest is a challenge for sure, but I love it.
A great resource for explanations, discussion and theories is the Infinite Summer forum. I'm not sure how active it still is (it was started in 2009) but there's some great stuff there, especially the weekly read along threads, where people discuss about 30-40 pages at a time.
I recently got the book, bookmarking the link for whenever I get around to reading it.
Cool, hope it's useful. Speaking of bookmarks - for IJ you're probably going to need at least 2, and safer with 3. There'll be some back and forth... 😁
Heh, will remember that.
Currently reading Robert Anton Wilson's Cosmic Trigger II꧇ Down to Earth. This is a somewhat autobiographical trilogy, though mixed in with a lot of spiritualism, conspiracism, and some philosophy. I am mainly reading it due to my interest in discordianism. If you want to read part of it to check it out I would suggest reading down to earth, as it is far more readable than Cosmic Trigger I꧇ Final Secrets of the Illuminati.