The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

[checkraiseulite]

just read the slap by tsiolkas and thoroughly enjoyed it.

suprised it has a relatively low rating.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Yeah Ligotti’s work was the source of True Detective’s nihilistic tone (the first season). Check out his many short stories. Very weird and a very bleak world view.

I read Conspiracy Against The Human Race which I didn't enjoy as much but that was more of a philosophical bent than fiction. It's not that I necessarily disagreed with his pessimistic views it just felt a bit repetitive and could've been wrapped up in a much shorter span (like essay length).

I'll have to find some more of his short stories to have a crack at.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Recently read a few weird fiction/supernatural type stories - Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (there's a Twilight Zone episode of this which is actually a French film repurposed for TZ), House on the Borderland and The Willows. The Willows was the best, great storytelling and a definite sense of the weird. Owl Creek was good but very short, House on the Borderland was great in parts (especially considering it was from around 1907) but a bit long-winded in others and the ending was a bit meh.

Also just read Vonnegut's "A Man Without A Country" yesterday which was very entertaining in typical Vonnegut style though a series of essays rather than his usual fiction fare.

Just started Napoleon by Adam Zamoyski which I want to finish before the Napoleon movie comes out.

 

[BomberManU]

I've also just read My Work Is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti - I'd heard him referenced on a few podcasts I've listened to (twin peaks podcasts that also delve into weird fiction) and thought it sounded up my alley so would give it a go. Was good, I enjoyed the first part of the book better than the latter part I think, his description of the banality and horror of the modern office job was excruciatingly real. I've got another of his books ready to go, Conspiracy Against the Human Race but I think I'm going to read the Yellow Wallpaper next, another book I've heard referenced on a twin peaks podcast (probably the same pod). I also want to read the Kurt Vonnegut bio Man Without A Country.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a fantastic story, an absolute 'must read'. I also like Ligotti, but definitely in small doses.
Just finished 'Hell House', by Richard Matheson - can't believe I haven't read this before. Really wasn't expecting it to be so...nasty.
Currently reading a collection of stories by Thomas Tessier - 'World of Hurt'. Another highly regarded horror/thriller author who I passed by back in the 80's/90's, for no good reason. Great stuff, so far.

 

[Quokka]

Still bouncing between genres and decades, reading older science fiction, fantasy and crime novels.

The Outward Urge (1959) by John Wyndham was good in parts exploring space travel through its first generations (satellite, moon base, Mars landing and finally asteroid mining) but it ends abruptly and is far from his best work.

Interface (1974) by Joe Gores was stronger overall, all the prejudices of its time are present but once it gets going it reads a bit like the Mel Gibson movie Payback if it was told from the surrounding characters' perspective.

 

[Faz 2000]

I'm getting good mileage out of ploughing through Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander detective/mystery series. Plenty of grisly murders and interesting cases for "every man" Wallander to unravel. They're pretty good! I'm up to the 8th story I think.

 

[Neese]

I'm getting good mileage out of ploughing through Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander detective/mystery series. Plenty of grisly murders and interesting cases for "every man" Wallander to unravel. They're pretty good! I'm up to the 8th story I think.

Try the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Books and movies are great imo.

 

[rank and file]

Just finished The Wager.
True story about a shipwreck in the 1700s.
Brutal tale set in probably one of the most desolate spots on earth,southern Chile near Cape Horn
Written by the same guy who wrote Killers of the Flower Moon,David Grann.
5 stars

Just saw that Scorsese and DiCaprio have teamed up again and there is a movie coming out next year.
Should be epic.

 

[Roobs321]

my 2023 so far, given it's winding down now:

5/5 (outstanding, joins my faves)
1. The Hamlet - William Faulkner

4/5 (excellent, engrossing)
2. The Odyssey - Homer (first time I read the proper text, although been enraptured with versions of the tale since childhood)
3. Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier
4. The Passenger - Cormac McCarthy
5. Blonde - Joyce Carol Oates
6. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

3/5 (good, recommendable)
7. The Town - Faulkner
8. We Were the Mulvaneys - JCO
9. The Letter of Marque - Patrick O'Brian
10. A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
11. To Paradise - Hanya Yanagihara
12. The Short Plays of Harold Pinter - Pinter
13. Requiem for a Wren - Nevil Shute
14. Beasts Royal: Twelve Tales of Adventure - O'Brian

2/5 (passable but probably wouldn't read again)
15. Stella Maris - McCarthy
16. The Little Hotel - Christina Stead
17. Frenchman's Creek - du Maurier

1/5 (unremarkable; tedious)
18. A Farewell to Arms - Hemingway (the novel form as a younger man just wasn't the best use of his writing)

(pre-Xmas) Queue:
The Flight of the Falcon - du Maurier
The Mansion - Faulkner

 

[bojangled]

Just finished the new Elon Musk book by Isaacson. Doesn't pul any punches, it is pretty chaotic which is a metaphor for Elon, but written in an approachable way, in that it doesn't get too technical so you get lost or lose interest.

He is a pants man, I lost count of how many kids he's sired.

Off the back of that, I'm reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I'd never read before. I'm not a fiction reader, but am actually right into it.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

My list of standouts from the books I read this year:

The Sunne In Splendour (I think this one is from the 90s but I only read it this year)
The Bookbinder of Jericho and The Dictionary of Los Words - both excellent
The Marriage Portrait. I gobbled this one up in one night
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing (Matthew Perry). One of the best celebrity memoirs I’ve read.

 

[Shell]

My list of standouts from the books I read this year:

The Sunne In Splendour (I think this one is from the 90s but I only read it this year)
The Bookbinder of Jericho and The Dictionary of Los Words - both excellent
The Marriage Portrait. I gobbled this one up in one night
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing (Matthew Perry). One of the best celebrity memoirs I’ve read.

I borrowed that from the local library and took it on camp with me earlier in the year. Not much to do on those things at night, basically read it cover to cover over those two nights. Great read- sad, funny, frustrating.

He seemed like such a decent bloke.

 

[demondavey]

Try the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Books and movies are great imo.

Have read them. They’re great.

 

[demondavey]

my 2023 so far, given it's winding down now:

5/5 (outstanding, joins my faves)
1. The Hamlet - William Faulkner

4/5 (excellent, engrossing)
2. The Odyssey - Homer (first time I read the proper text, although been enraptured with versions of the tale since childhood)
3. Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier
4. The Passenger - Cormac McCarthy
5. Blonde - Joyce Carol Oates
6. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

3/5 (good, recommendable)
7. The Town - Faulkner
8. We Were the Mulvaneys - JCO
9. The Letter of Marque - Patrick O'Brian
10. A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
11. To Paradise - Hanya Yanagihara
12. The Short Plays of Harold Pinter - Pinter
13. Requiem for a Wren - Nevil Shute
14. Beasts Royal: Twelve Tales of Adventure - O'Brian

2/5 (passable but probably wouldn't read again)
15. Stella Maris - McCarthy
16. The Little Hotel - Christina Stead
17. Frenchman's Creek - du Maurier

1/5 (unremarkable; tedious)
18. A Farewell to Arms - Hemingway (the novel form as a younger man just wasn't the best use of his writing)

(pre-Xmas) Queue:
The Flight of the Falcon - du Maurier
The Mansion - Faulkner

Interesting.

I’ve got a farewell to arms on my list to read.

What didn’t you like?