I'm reading Martha Wells, The cloud roads. I think she's going to be my new obsession for a bit. I want to wait till they've finished making telly shows of her Murder Murderbot series before I read them, books are always better, so I digest the worst first.
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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I'm nearly finished with 14, Peter Clines, which has turned out to be great! Nice and slow burn of strange things happening in an LA apartment building, and slice of life of the protagonist, which has turned into truly out there concepts and strangeness. Would recommend to anyone who likes weird fiction and mysteries.
I'm also working my way through Shorefall, Robert Jackson Bennett, the second book in The Founders trilogy. It continues the interesting magic-hacking from the first book, but I still don't think Jackson Bennett has his dialog feet under him yet. I found that The Tainted Cup felt much more natural than this series. Overall still fun!
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Really charming and witty, with lots of references to classic Russian literature.
Finished Iron Council by China Mieville recently. What always does me in with the bas-lag books is how unsatisfying and "unclean" the endings are, and iron council certainly takes the crown.
Now i've read pretty much everything by mieville besides his shortstories, and im coming up short on what to read next. Any recommendations similar to mieville?
If you're looking for more weird fiction, someone created a thread asking for similar recommendations
Thanks mate, looks like a good post to come back to
Brian Wilson's autobiography.
Neuromancer
Still reading red rising - light bringer. Started amazing, but it's getting to get to be a bit of a slog.
Taking a break now, reading the bobiverse books, I'm already in the 3rd book, so far I love it.
I'll come back to red rising, eventually.
Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and its Struggle to Survive by Chris Horton. Being a student of Taiwan history, there not a whole lot in it that I wasn't already aware of, but the writing is simply excellent. He's a great explainer and he deftly weaves the events that shaped history into a compelling narrative. Also, he was able to get sit-down interviews with some of the giants of Taiwan's democratization movement before they passed away, so the stories are first hand. This book is a gem so far.
Still reading Helm by Sarah Hall. It's good. I'd never heard of her before until I saw this book at the local bookshop and was intrigued. I'm glad I bought it and will probably read more by her.
It's a slow read though. Partly because there are more words I don't know than in other books, and partly because I just wasn't to savour it.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
It is a bit lengthy, but it seems like each interaction is written around pithy wisdoms interwoven into the lives of interactions of the characters.
Each time it happens, it's like stumbling upon on a gemstone by a river, and keeps me anticipating the next unfolding of the plot.
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I just finished The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie after bouncing off a couple of times over the years, and I enjoyed it.
While looking for my next book I decided to try this Dungeon Crawler Carl everyone's constantly banging on about, but reading the synopsis reminded me why I always change my mind at the last minute and find something else. I know you all love it here but man it sounds awful.
Hehe, I have been thinking about reading Dungeon Crawler Carl too, because of all the mention it gets here. What about the synopsis turned you off?
I read and like lots of web novels so probably won't have any issue with the theme, but will have to start before I can say anything.
I hadn't really thought about it, I just got negative vibes I guess. Since you asked I went back to reread it and examine what I was feeling.
It's the most-watched game show in the galaxy!
Straight away, the framing of it is that it's all a big game, which combined with the general opinions being about how it's so funny and that it's "popcorn" and whatever puts me off because I read this as it being unlikely to take anything seriously.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth--from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds to all the trucks and cars--collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside, they've all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Great. If this were it I'd be in.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your views and your followers. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following.
Now it's a battle royale game, which I'm not into, and it's all about this streamer/reality tv culture that I'm really not into. Like the very first line this screams to me that there won't be much weight to anything. The comedy and fighting will all be over the top just for the shock factor which means it'll probably have to escalate more and more each time.
That's the only way to truly survive in this game, with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
And then finally, I read this as "Do you like dei ex machina? We've got 'em!" Can't say I do.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.
It just sounds like it'll all be intolerable reddit-humour. Am I wrong? Sure, probably 🤷♂️ But with essentially infinity books to read, I'm fine with judging them by their covers sometimes. And again, I wouldn't have gone into detail because I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, but I did get asked.
I put off DCC for a bit. Finally took the plunge. Do the audiobook.
I'm reading The Heroes, which is in the First Law Universe. I like them, very dark.
Finally got around to start The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Started and continuing as audiobook, but additionally I got the digital at about 10% in, to reread some passages.
Also, just yesterday, I picked up This is how you lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Tried to go in as blind as possible and I'm so glad I did. Really enjoying myself here.
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I'm close to finishing The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This month has been a bit rough in my personal life and I haven't, perhaps, been quite feeling it. Luckily, there's always next year.
I don't know what I'll read next.
Halfway through Dracula. It's strange reading the origin of so much media and tropes, but sometimes the language and hesitation in plot development really slows down the suspense.
I read that when I was 16, and loved it. I still have it today! I wasn't really world wizened enough to realise it was a bit stuttery here and there, at the time, I would have likely thought it was me.
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very recently got an e-reader so that i can get back into reading, i am excited to be able to post something! hopefully i will find some contemporary fiction to read soonish, it's a bit overwhelming right now so i am just reading stuff that has been sitting in my Calibre library. frankly it has been so long that i am not even sure what i like to read anymore.
anyway, last week i read Concrete Island by J.G. Ballard and now i am chewing through the Standard Ebooks collection of Clark Ashton Smith short fiction. i haven't particularly loved either but that's okay!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Clark Ashton smith if you are up to going into more detail. He’s one of my favorites and I so rarely see him mentioned. He was a contemporary and friend of both Robert e Howard and HP Lovecraft, and I personally found him better at sword & sorcery than Howard and better at weird fiction than lovecraft.
ahh that's cool that he is a favourite! i did vaguely know he was buddies with lovecraft but that was the sum of my knowledge about him before this.
i have finished the collection now and very much enjoyed his descriptions of settings and objects, so while many of the stories were not quite my jam i did appreciate his prose and would like to explore more! alas i am not a words person (nor a brains one) myself so that is about all the detail i can give. though i may say it started some cogs turning, i would like to start a drawing based on a setting in one of the stories because it became so vivid in my mind.
Interesting, have never heard of him, going to keep an eye on any response you get.
Great that you started reading again! I had also been on a hiatus for a few years and picked it up again last winter. It took me a while to find stuff I enjoy reading and sometimes I still choose books that aren't right for me, but I've learned that it's okay to just not finish a book. If I'm not enjoying it, why continue? There are so many books out there, there is bound to be a better one.
yeah that's fair! i don't mind not finishing things but i have to be having a bad time and feel like i am getting nothing out of it. mostly i can find worthwhile elements in media that otherwise is not my jam, it is kind of a challenge i give myself, to find buried treasure in a way. if something isn't even fun for me in that way then it is definitely time to hit the bricks tho.
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The Anthropocene Reviewed, by John Green
finished it yesterday actually. The Book is a compilation of stories, memories and thoughts of John Green in the form of short reviews. Quick read, some stories had me laughing others are very touching, revolving around the loss of a dear friend or concerning his mental problems, but it's mostly about how John Green views Humans and Humanity, he appears to be a big fan which is a suprisingly refreshing take.
If you've been keeping up with the vlogbrothers videos (as I have) there's not many stories you haven't heard before; it's fine, but I was a bit disappointed.
yeah, i think almost all the stories from the book where part of the podcast by the same name, but i didn't knew about that before picking up the book. I was vaguely aware of John Green as the author of "the fault in our stars", which never seemed like my jam, and the only other touchpoint i had was the first epsiode of Hank Greens "Humans"-Podcast, which made me think he might have stories i'd enjoy, which i did.
The same book as last week. I don't read that fast!
I'm halfway through "Cibola Burn" (The Expanse #4), it's a real page turner! So far my second favorite book of the series.
I am on the same book from last 3 weeks, and I read kinda fast (not as fast as many people here, bust when compared to "average" people), so don't worry about it.
Just finished Gridlinked which was the earliest Polity book I could find.
It still felt like I was reading a sequel. Apparently Asher published some short stories before this one...ugh.
Entertaining, though. It partly had a "007 in space" feel, mixing in a subplot with an alien intelligence manipulating the main character, a villain hell-bent on revenge, and even a surprise (and surprisingly heartwarming) romance between two supporting characters.
I'm in the middle of Restoree by Anne McCaffrey. This one has some elements of mystery, mistaken identity, and political intrigue. It's painfully 60s (which, ok, fair, that's when it was published).
I'm about to start another Robin Hobb "Assassin" novel (part 2 in the last trilogy), and I have Resolute by Jack Campbell queued up. It's another entry in a long line of what I call "Space Captain Popsicle" when talking with my wife. The basic premise is that the main character was in a coldsleep escape pod from his starship for about a century. He gets picked up before its power fails by an allied battle fleet and ends up commanding the fleet in a desperate flight from deep inside enemy territory. Great space battles, infuriating interstellar politics, fascinating glimpses of aliens in a few spots. It's quite a lot of fun :D
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