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The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

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Wolf Hall - read it a few years ago, I tend to reread a book every 2-3 books.

Just finished Robot by Snerg, a 70s Polish classic. Really enjoyed it.
 
Just finished

Christian White - The Ledge

And now onto

Christian White - The Wife and the Widow

Aussie author who writes very easily digestible, page turning crime thrillers. A bit addicted. Normally I’m a slow reader but got through the first one in about 2 days.
 
reading Rimbaud at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it, might try and grab some Baudelaire next time i'm at the library and see if he can still be my favourite French poet

last one was a collection of Ibsen plays that was kind of boring but not boring enough for me to give up on it. a couple years back i read some Ibsen and loved it though

next up is cancer ward by Solzhenitsyn. absolutely cannot wait for 200 years together which is supposedly being published this year
 
Read Purfume, which had high ratings. Didn't do it for me. The writing style was 80% descriptive, 20% plot which isn't my style. Anyone here liked it?

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ricardogp said:
Read Purfume, which had high ratings. Didn't do it for me. The writing style was 80% descriptive, 20% plot which isn't my style. Anyone here liked it?

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I read it around 25-30 years ago and remember enjoying it alot. The film however was a letdown.
 
The Dice Man said:
The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides. It’s about Cook’s final voyage and is really interesting.

Obviously these days Cook is a bad guy and should be cancelled but his achievements were immense, as was his life.
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Cook shouldn’t be cancelled. It should be understood what he did and how he achieved what he did for his time. All that stuff is really important.
 
demondavey said:
What do you think of Wolf Hall?
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It's quite engaging and enjoyable, although I do think it could have used names more than 'he' or 'him' to make it slightly easier to follow at times, given the number of characters it has. I do enjoy historical fiction as a genre.
 

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demondavey said:
Cook shouldn’t be cancelled. It should be understood what he did and how he achieved what he did for his time. All that stuff is really important.
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I think what people call cancelling is not revering Cook and understanding the role he played in colonization and the deaths of many Indigenous people in multiple countries
 
Demonic Ascent said:
Yeah I did see someone mention the 2nd and 3rd ones were ok but then dropped off immensely (may have been the Dune thread on here).

I finished Kafka on the Shore, I really enjoyed it, I like Murakami's approach to writing - really liked Wind Up Bird Chronicle too, may have to give 1Q84 a go soon.

I just finished Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin, I really liked the Netflix series, very cool concept and was bummed when it finished because I wanted to see where it would head next so picked this up a while ago. Blitzed through it in about 2-3 days, I've been sick the last week so had plenty of time to catch up on reading. I really liked it though the writing was hard to get my head around at times. I'm not sure if it's to do with the translation or not but it felt like there wasn't a lot of meat to it, if that makes sense. For example something may happen and the motivation for the characters decision would be wrapped up in a line or two rather than drawn out. Not necessarily a bad thing, particularly with sci fi where for me it's more about the concepts rather than the characters but it was a bit jarring at first. My son was watching an old Avengers cartoon earlier and it reminded me of a similar kind of dialogue and quick moving storyline. Also some of the scientific concepts seemed pretty far fetched, I'm not too scientifically inclined so not sure how much is "pop" science and how much is based in scientific theory. I also felt like if you started to pull the thread of the Trisolaran civilization it would unravel pretty quickly. But I did enjoy it and interested to see where it goes, I just take accept what is being written without trying to critique it too much. I've started on the sequel now, The Dark Forest and also brought the final volume Deaths End.

Talking about books you've given up on after a little while, I gave up on Infinite Jest after about 100 pages. I will go back to it at some point and try again but I just wasn't getting it. Maybe there was nothing to get and I just didn't enjoy but I will give it another chance as it is held up as some kind of modern classic by certain sections and has been referred to on a number of podcasts I've listened to as well.
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Since last posting I read Dark Forest, sequel to Three Body Problem. Good not great, was harder to get through and so have put off reading the final book in the trilogy. Will get to it though.

Mad Ducks and Bears by George Plimpton was very good, maybe not as good as Paper Lion but still very entertaining.

Fahrenheit 451 was great. Put it off for a long time as thought it might be an inferior dystopian novel to 1984 and Brave New World but this was every bit as good. Very prescient book.

A Religious Orgy in Tennessee by HL Mencken on the Scopes monkey trial, the teacher who was charged with teaching evolution in high school. Had been wanting to read this for a long time and it was good but not great, probably as it was a collection of articles he had written on the trial rather than a cohesive book. Still very interesting and a slice of history. He was scathing of the religious fundies and hillbillies as he should be.

Also read the five book series of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Have loved the tv show for a long time and been wanting to read this for a while. The series had its leaks and troughs but overall a great, fun read.

Have read the entire Narnia collection in release order (different from the chronological order). I've been wanting to read these since I was a kid, I'd read Lion, Witch and Wardrobe as a kid and and read a couple of others with my kids when they were younger but hadn't read the whole series. These were better than I expected, held up pretty well reading as an adult.

Just finished Mythos by Stephen Fry, very accessible read about the ancient Greek myths. Will read the second one Heroes at some point.

Also been reading The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski in between other books, interesting read on the global world order after the fall of the USSR. Written in the mid 90s but ready saw the issues that would arise particularly with Ukraine, the Central Asian republics, Iran and Turkey.

Next on my list is Come My Fanatics by Dan Franklin a biography of the band Electric Wizard. I've got a bunch of Stephen King books on my kindle to read as well.

I've also re-read some Hunter S Thompson which is my go-to when on holiday. Was in the Philippines in January so sitting by the beach/pool with a bottle of rum, how could I not read The Rum Diary?
 
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Demonic Ascent said:
Since last posting I read Dark Forest, sequel to Three Body Problem. Good not great, was harder to get through and so have put off reading the final book in the trilogy. Will get to it though.

Mad Ducks and Bears by George Plimpton was very good, maybe not as good as Paper Lion but still very entertaining.

Fahrenheit 451 was great. Put it off for a long time as thought it might be an inferior dystopian novel to 1984 and Brave New World but this was every bit as good. Very prescient book.

A Religious Orgy in Tennessee by HL Mencken on the Scopes monkey trial, the teacher who was charged with teaching evolution in high school. Had been wanting to read this for a long time and it was good but not great, probably as it was a collection of articles he had written on the trial rather than a cohesive book. Still very interesting and a slice of history. He was scathing of the religious fundies and hillbillies as he should be.

Also read the five book series of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Have loved the tv show for a long time and been wanting to read this for a while. The series had its leaks and troughs but overall a great, fun read.

Have read the entire Narnia collection in release order (different from the chronological order). I've been wanting to read these since I was a kid, I'd read Lion, Witch and Wardrobe as a kid and and read a couple of others with my kids when they were younger but hadn't read the whole series. These were better than I expected, held up pretty well reading as an adult.

Just finished Mythos by Stephen Fry, very accessible read about the ancient Greek myths. Will read the second one Heroes at some point.

Also been reading The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski in between other books, interesting read on the global world order after the fall of the USSR. Written in the mid 90s but ready saw the issues that would arise particularly with Ukraine, the Central Asian republics, Iran and Turkey.

Next on my list is Come My Fanatics by Dan Franklin a biography of the band Electric Wizard. I've got a bunch of Stephen King books on my kindle to read as well.

I've also re-read some Hunter S Thompson which is my go-to when on holiday. Was in the Philippines in January so sitting by the beach/pool with a bottle of rum, how could I not read The Rum Diary?
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damn, good going.


Reading is so hard for me these days with a couple of youngins. I'm so tired by night time it's hard to get the energy. I've been stuck on Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke for a while now, but getting there page by page.
 
BEaston said:
damn, good going.


Reading is so hard for me these days with a couple of youngins. I'm so tired by night time it's hard to get the energy. I've been stuck on Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke for a while now, but getting there page by page.
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I found I had more time when I stopped watching as much tv especially footy shows like 360 etc and started catching the train to work instead of driving. I go through phases and my kids are a bit older now but it's definitely hard with little ones, forced myself back into reading a few years back and try to mix up some more light hearted reading with the more difficult. I found setting myself a reading goal on Goodreads was a good way to keep myself motivated, try and read 20-25 books a year.

Also started using my kindle which I never liked but found I could download older books for free and found some downloads of others that would've cost me a bunch to buy hard copies of like the Narnia, Hitchhiker books, Stephen Kings catalogue etc

After Come My Fanatics I really want to read Green Mile, Pet Semetary and the Dark Tower books
 
Just finished Pet Semetary, is seen the movie 20+ years ago and had wanted to read this for some time. Outstanding book, couldn't put it down up there with my favourite Stephen King alongside IT and 22.11.63. I also read The Stand a while back but didn't enjoy that as much, The Shining was very good but a step below IT and read Cujo and Needful Things when I was a kid. I want to read a few more of his (Green Mile, Salem's Lot, Carrie) and then get stuck into the Dark Tower series.

Will need something a bit lighter first though so will probably get stuck into Heroes by Stephen Fry, second in the series after Mythos. I bought that along with 1Q84 by Murakami on a whim the other day so have those two on my shelf to get to next.
 
I was a teen when I started reading Stephen King books.

A few good reads over the years:
The Tommyknockers
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Deadzone

Carrie and Misery are must reads. The Green Mile is in a class of its own. I remember buying that book in monthly instalments. Six in all I think.

Short stories:
Skeleton Crew - gold star ⭐️
Different Seasons - gold star ⭐️

Then came a time when I needed to venture out of my comfort horror zone and read books from a few different authors - Wilbur Smith. Historical fiction became a new addictive genre.
WS’s Egyptian series and the Courtney and Ballantyne books are great reads.

Another author I quite enjoy is Conn Iggulden. The Tudor England period is a fav of mine and Conn is one author that does a fantastic job with his wars of the roses trilogy.

Other books I have read and currently reading:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold - short stories by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. All set in a basement cafe in Tokyo. If you like time travel and the opportunity to change a moment in your past then this book is worth a read. But hurry back before the coffee gets cold! 8/10

Into the Deep: A Memoir From the Man Who Found Titanic - Robert Ballard and Christoper Drew.
If you’re into deep ocean exploration then read this. I’m a Titanic fan so this was a must read for me. Great storytelling by a great explorer. 10/10
 

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bommer16 said:
I was a teen when I started reading Stephen King books.

A few good reads over the years:
The Tommyknockers
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Deadzone

Carrie and Misery are must reads. The Green Mile is in a class of its own. I remember buying that book in monthly instalments. Six in all I think.

Short stories:
Skeleton Crew - gold star ⭐️
Different Seasons - gold star ⭐️

Then came a time when I needed to venture out of my comfort horror zone and read books from a few different authors - Wilbur Smith. Historical fiction became a new addictive genre.
WS’s Egyptian series and the Courtney and Ballantyne books are great reads.

Another author I quite enjoy is Conn Iggulden. The Tudor England period is a fav of mine and Conn is one author that does a fantastic job with his wars of the roses trilogy.

Other books I have read and currently reading:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold - short stories by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. All set in a basement cafe in Tokyo. If you like time travel and the opportunity to change a moment in your past then this book is worth a read. But hurry back before the coffee gets cold! 8/10

Into the Deep: A Memoir From the Man Who Found Titanic - Robert Ballard and Christoper Drew.
If you’re into deep ocean exploration then read this. I’m a Titanic fan so this was a must read for me. Great storytelling by a great explorer. 10/10
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I'll add those King books to my list. I'm not a huge historical fiction fan (I love history and love fiction but the two combined have never done it for me) though would be interested in the Iggulden trilogy you mentioned.

I've heard good reviews about before The Coffee Gets Cold from a few different sources and I am a sucker for time travel so will have to give that one a go as well.
 
To sleep in a sea of stars by Christopher Paolini

I will finish it but like the Eragon series, I won’t read any further of his books. A bit more grown up and readable. Like his earlier books… eventually starts breaking too many hard/soft sci fi rules.
 
wannabewinner said:
Same… have a look at

All our wrong todays by Elan Mastai
The first fifteen lives of Harry August by Claire North
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Thanks for the recommendations will check them out

I finished Stephen Fry's Heroes sequel to Mythos which was very good telling the stories of Heracles, Jason & the Argonauts, Theseus and others.

I've started Green Mile now another Stephen King book, started yesterday and already about 20% in, a good read so far.
 

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The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

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