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Our Bingo for 2026 is Live! You can check Official Bingo Challenge Post and the accompanying Recommendations Post.

Big thanks to @JaymesRS@literature.cafe and @misericordiae@literature.cafe for all the work they do to arrange these!


As for books, reading Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (first book in her October Daye urban fantasy series). Didn't get much time, but slowly making progress.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

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[–] WandowsVista@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I finally wrapped up all 7 books in Asimov's Foundation series and shew, what a chilling ending. highly recommend.

picked up a copy of The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey (the writers of The Expanse series) and finished it in absolute record time. I'm hooked. now on to book 2, The Faith of Beasts!

Just finished "service model" and halfway through "when the Moon Hits your eye" by Tchaikovsky and Scalzi respectively. Both are good, not great.

Starting "Platform Decay" today! Very excited for more Murderbot!

[–] OmegaMouse@pawb.social 1 points 2 days ago

I've made a start on The Lies of Locke Lamora! It's been fun so far, with some really great worldbuilding. The last few days I haven't had much time to read unfortunately - but hopefully come the weekend I'll get more of a chance.

[–] Alien_Mortice@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Just started House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski yesterday.

Finding it a little difficult to get into at the moment but will stick at it based on the book’s great reputation.

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I'm reading Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan. An old favorite of mine, this comic book, heavily inspired by Hunter S. Thompson, has many themes that are all too relevant even today.

[–] g5pw@feddit.it 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Man, I have it, read the first chapter, but it failed to grab me :/ will retry though, it’s a trip!

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I mean, I love the series, but its brand of chaos, insanity, humor and obscenity is definitely not for everyone. If you can accept it and go with its flow, there's some really good bits in there.

[–] misericordiae@literature.cafe 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I started The Pastel City by M. John Harrison last night; it's been on my list for so long I don't remember why it's there. Kind of a Dying Earth setup, where it's thousands of years after the fall of civilization, and a medieval-style society has blossomed in a world full of rusting. ancient tech. I'm barely out of the prologue, so no real impressions yet.

__

Finished Extremity by Nicholas Binge, which is about a police investigation into a billionaire's death that goes sideways in very scifi ways. It sounded really good, but it wasn't really a mystery, wasn't long enough to lean into the tension it tried to do, and swerved into a subgenre I'm not fond of. It's not bad, just not for me.

[–] MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The Pastel City sounds pretty cool, I'll add it to my list!

If you like that genre (post-apocalyptic future) you may want to give Davy by Edgar Pangborn a shot too.

[–] misericordiae@literature.cafe 2 points 2 days ago

I'll give it a look, thanks!

[–] dkppunk@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago

About 70% through Chaos Vector by Meghan E. O’Keefe

This series is great! It’s really scratching the Expanse itch I’ve had since I finished the last book 4 years ago.

[–] g5pw@feddit.it 2 points 2 days ago

Finished “A canticle for Lebowiz”, the ending was tough, and for some reason i decided to listen Endless Nights by Agatha Christie, and wow, talks about double whammy, both were very bleak…

[–] notwhoyouthink@lemmy.zip 10 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Started Starship Troopers and couldn’t get through the first chapter. Not for me, as warned by others in this sub it was quite dry and a mere inspiration for the movie.

Now I’m on to Neuromancer, which is already much better. First time read for me so no spoilers please if you choose to comment!

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Hey! I'm one of the people who commented about Troopers. I don't fault you for stopping it, there's a whole chapter in the middle of it where they flashback to gradeschool and all of the kids agree with the teacher that corporal punishment for adults is really the only way to ensure a society doesn't fall apart

Neuromancer is great though! If you ever feel like you don't really understand what's going on that's pretty normal. It takes a couple of reads and even then a lot of the concepts are abstract rather than concrete

[–] notwhoyouthink@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 days ago

Thanks for your comment! It was just too military heavy and dry. I’m a very visual thinker and the writing was quite dry and didn’t grab me at all.

So far I actually like the ‘dropped in the middle’ effect of Neuromancer, as it can be a bit tiring to read through a ton of explanations early on in a story with so much world building. I’d rather discover concepts through context and ‘living’ in the story a bit first. At this time I’m simply blown away by the fact the story was written over 40 years ago, however it’s still early on so that might change.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

Love Neuromancer have the audiobook.

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[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

I have started a reread of This Inevitable Ruin, Dungeon Crawler Carl #7, just to refresh myself before the new book releases in a ~~few weeks.~~ week!

Path of Daggers (WoT 8) is on a bit of a hiatus, stuck at about 30% done with it, by chapter count anyway. Not that I don’t want to finish it, but have put it off for DCC. WoT will be there, but I don’t want to accidentally get spoiled on the new DCC book haha.

[–] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

DCC or Wheel of Time? Thoughts on either? Haha

[–] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

DCC. I was expecting it to be a little more traditional in terms of 'fighting through a dungeon' but things immediately got more interesting when Carl started engineering exploits and has the added wrinkle that it's also being livestreamed. As someone with far too much time spent in MMOs, this was actually a remarkably realistic take on how someone would approach challenges in the dungeon. Though, it's not as laugh-out-loud funny as I'd hoped, it is amusing.

[–] Billygoat@piefed.social 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I started doing the same thing with the inevitable ruin, then realized I do not remember nearly as much as I should, and started rereading the entire series.

[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

I have just found out there is a recap chapter in my books! Might just have to read all of those haha.

I must have skipped them all on my first read cause it’s before the prologue. And I think my e-reader jumps to the prologue by default.

[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

Yeah…. I should have started a proper re-read a few months back haha.

[–] JaymesRS@piefed.world 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Just got the brand new Murderbot book by Martha Wells (Platform Decay) and I’m excited to tear into it.

[–] TransDesiTrekkie@startrek.website 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I’m currently reading This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El- Mohtar & Max Gladstone.

I really love it and it feels like I’m reading poetry.

[–] JaymesRS@piefed.world 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It took me 2 tries to read it, I knew there was something beautiful there the first time but I wasn’t in the right place mentally.

[–] ImUsuallyMoreClever@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Such a good book. I love the epistolary format.

[–] JaymesRS@piefed.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you love epistolary things, give Ella Minnow Pea a try.

(Also I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention DraculaDaily.com)

That’s understandable. I’m glad you gave it a second try.

[–] slartibartfast141@piefed.zip 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I finished listening to Neuromancer today. Not once did I want to DNF, but I still don't know what the fuck was happening. Just enjoyed the vibes I guess. I'll have to reread, maybe in print next time, to get some more out of it.

Started Reaper Man as well, I've found Discworld to be so comforting.

[–] Alien_Mortice@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I’ve read through the entire Discworld series at least twice over.

I think I’m due another re-read very soon.

[–] Libb@piefed.social 7 points 4 days ago
  • Tolkien, 'The Hobbit'. A re-read, started last night.
  • If I can get my hands on an English edition at a reasonable price, next I would like to read Narnia (the full cycle). As a non-believer myself, I have a lot of respect for CS Lewis as an essayist (pieces like 'The Abolition of Man' is an almost perfect description of why/how most Western educative systems are indeed failing and, well, most of what I've read even when he focuses on spirituality was quite... rich and stimulating), and I would like to see how =I will appreciate his work as a novelist :)
  • Just finished the first volume of the French edition of Cordwainer Smith 'Instrumentality of Mankind' which I started almost by accident and ended-up liking so much I ordered the next 3 volumes of that translation (I was not able to find an English edition). Fascinating work.
[–] herculeskan@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 days ago

I'm reading "don quijote part 2" from Miguel de Cervantes, I'm going on the chapter 30, I really like the don quijote stuff, it's just get better in every chapter, I think is better than any other anime

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Stormlight archive. Again. No, I don't care. Yes, I will reread it many times after.

[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

Journey before Destination.

[–] cinoreus@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Had started foundation by Isaac Asimov, thought it's been a while since I last read it. I am still a newbie reader, but loved it so far. I am pretty amazed by science fiction as a whole in how well politics is written, my last read was first dune book.

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Just finished:

All You Need is Kill - Of the 2 movies and this, this has by far the most compelling ending. I don't really like how the time loop thing is handled but the mechanics aren't the most important to the story

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - I love this series. If you're looking for a modern day Douglas Adams this is pretty close

In progress:

Diaspora by Greg Eden - Woof, this starts dense and I don't have the impression it's going to get easier. I'm curious how challenging it will get. Still, it's a fun start for the story

[–] Alien_Mortice@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

With reference to Will Destroy The Galaxy For Cash, all of Yahtzee Croshaw’s books are excellent.

Have you read any of his non Jacques McKeown books? Jam is particularly weird, you’d love it.

Incidentally, I literally just finished the last Jacques McKeown book, Will Leave The Galaxy For Good, yesterday.

It’s a very nice end to the trilogy and based on the subject matter, very prescient for these days.

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I have, I like Mogworld so I'll have to add Jam to the list

I was excited for good was finally available as an ebook because I don't really like audio books but it looks like I'll have to borrow a friend's kindle to read it because I can't figure out how to load it onto my kobo

It's good to know he keeps the quality up!

[–] yenahmik@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow. I'm about halfway through and it is a very interesting mix of fantasy, time travel, and exploration of PTSD. So far I would recommend if you enjoy folk lore and fantasy.

[–] yenahmik@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

Update: I just finished this book. It is way more complex than I thought when I was first starting it. Highly recommend! I loved it

[–] pancake@sopuli.xyz 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I finished Real Tigers by Mick Herron (Slough House book 3). It was enjoyable and gripping for most of the book. I had a hard time following the final action sequence, but that's a common problem I have in action-heavy books/movies, so doesn't really reflect on the book.

Now I'm reading Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey (Harper Hall of Pern book 2). I've been really enjoying the Pern books so far, especially this trilogy. I find the main character very likeable, the story is simple but compelling, and the creatures are super fun. A great read all around.

[–] Alien_Mortice@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I’ve read the first two of the Slough House series of books, but because I’m really enjoying the tv adaptation I’ve decided to watch through the tv show first until they complete before restarting the book series.

[–] iamthetot@piefed.ca 4 points 3 days ago

After not reading really at all in April, back at it this week. Finishing up The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.

[–] Krusty@quokk.au 4 points 3 days ago

Music, the brain, and ecstasy - how music captures our imagination by Robert Jourdain.

It's extremely well written and starts from a scientific perspective of how our ears evolved over hundreds of millions of years to appreciate music.

I skipped the last book I had for The Remaining after I got maybe 4 hours in. It was a prologue to the main story and I just didn't really care for the american army man crap.

So went back to do some Outlanders for a bit before trying out the Lee Harden series of books (which is more "The Remaining").

Outlanders is good although it is getting a bit wild with many different dimensions going on at the moment.

[–] Catma@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Finished Cult Following: The Extreme Sects That Capture Our Imaginations—and Take Over Our Lives by JW Ocker. Was interesting but at the felt a bit shallow? Maybe i was expecting more of a deep dive on how cults form/beliefs. Not sure was short so maybe that was it. As an aside fuck the guy that ran the ant hill kids cult. That was probably the worst thing I have heard.

This week i started The Enemy Within by Christie Golden its a D&D book set in Ravenloft. Its next one the series I have. Its ok so far.

Also started audiobook of Queens of the Conquest by Allison Weir. Found myself wanting to do more historical/academic books lately at least for audiobooks. Not far into it but it is informative so far.

[–] MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Still reading Esrahaddon. I'm glad Sullivan only strayed from his style for one book (Farilane) and I'm quite enjoying this one. Now that I have more time I should finish it and his latest book Drumindor in a few days.

The hard part will be choosing what to read next!

My list so far looks like:

Eisenhorn / Gotrek & Felix / The Hainish Cycle / His Dark Materials

The Inheritance Trilogy / a random James Herbert book I haven't read yet

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