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I can keep a tally of users and total books they've read, just drop in here and say what you read and what you thought about it, should be a fun discussion I think. Oh, and I guess let me know how many systems you own or something. Maybe you'll win a prize! Probably not. Read books because it's the Chad thing to do on a website about trading videogames.
Just finished book 8 of Cradle. The longest book of the series (500 something pages compared to 300) With book 7 not ending how I wanted initially, it really payed off
I'm somewhere in that middle gray too. I've bounced off of Joyce's Dubliner's twice and this was my second stab at reading through To the Lighthouse. I think maybe it's all about timing for me. The first time I tried, we had just had our first kiddo, bought our first house, and were in general trying to adjust to a new life. I wasn't in the appropriate headspace to stumble through heady writing.
Woolf must have just been a wildly empathetic person to write from so many unique perspectives simultaneously. To the Lighthouse ends with almost a fizzle. When I initially finished it, it felt like "huh. not bad. interesting." but the more I think on it, the more I enjoy it.
This is a cool thread. I have had class so much less time to read anything on the side. That said, this is what I have read in 2024 so far and actually finished:
1. Rise of Endymion - sci-fi novel - fourth and final installment of the Hyperion Cantos. I thought it was the weakest of the four novels, but it tied up loose ends and was still overall a good read (too many potential spoilers to dive into any plot) 2. Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask - I wanted to return to my childhood. It was a fun popcorn read, but the plot about a girl plotting revenge and getting stuck in a living mask was surprisingly well written for a kid's horror book. 3. Judgement at Tokyo - non-fiction account of Tokyo Trials after WWII - This an absolutely fantastic read that not only covers the trials but also goes into the American occupation, the American perception of Japan at the time, and the lasting impacts/ethical conundrums of the trials.
Started and dropped a few others, but will catch up on reading more after May :)
Holy crap, I beat the challenge without resorting to reading 2K manga pages
Mr. Mercedes (Stephen King) - Very good book. Weird perspective, I don't read much Third Person Present Tense (Black House shifted to that after The Talisman, and I fudging hated it). Also didn't know they made this into a miniseries, might have to check it out, but that'll wait until after I decide if I'm going to get into Holly, in case it skips around or spoils it. Speaking of spoiling, towards the start of the book (this isn't a spoiler so much as it turns out) there was a discussion going on that made me for some reason think the full name they were referencing was a pop culture person I wasn't aware of (didn't click that it was the full name of one of the current subjects), so I highlighted it to Google it and before I could, the Kindle app helpfully informed me that this was in fact the antagonist of the book, so I made sure to give some feedback on how helpful that was. On the next page they spelled it out and obviously in context I was already getting an inkling that the perspective shift was now dealing with the titular character, but I was still pretty pissed in the moment.
Stephen King's a sick fudge. I've got about a 50/50 love hate relationship with his work, but this one had a good hook and about as solid of an ending as you could get, and I'm interested to see where it goes from here.
Edit: Oh wait. looks like Holly may be skipping ahead a bit, may have to release that hold. Why the fudge did they put a sneak peek for a spinoff at the end of the first one, butt-holes
The Gate of the Feral God's - Dungeon Crawler Carl #4 by Matt Dinniman - Audiobook. These are the best audiobooks I've listened to. It's one guy who does all the voices. Even the female voices are great, most audiobooks I listen to, men suck at female voices and vice versa.
Taking a break from Sarah Maas and got the new graphic novel version of 1984. It's just a 3.5hr listen and I'm enjoying it. So far great performances! Should have it finished by next week or less (only listen to it during commute.)
Yes, I didn't know graphic audio books were a thing until recently. Basically full on cast, sound effects, etc. It shortens the book because instead of reading how things sound, you hear them while the characters are talking. So it's a nice change of pace.
I believe they used to call these "audio dramas" but I can see how kids would relate to "audio graphic novel" a bit better :p
Listening to Finders Keepers now, took like four hours until they reintroduced the main protagonist of the series, that was interesting. The pregame was actually very good storytelling of course
28. Witch Hat Atelier (vol. 1-5) - Read the first five volumes of Witch Hat Atelier this week, which is a moderate change of pace. I've not read much manga, but I have read loads of Western comics over the years. Got a Kodansha collection in a humblebundle a while back. (Vol 1-11 of Witch Hat, plus several more series.) Went into this totally blind and then immediately ran into a tale revolving a magic system that was particularly exciting to me. Lovable characters, a bit Ghibli-esque, and the art is so. stinkin. good. I'm really enjoying these.
Finished listening to Finders Keepers, a book that barely features the protagonist of the trilogy and instead mostly shifts between the perspectives of a young kid who gets in trouble supporting his family, a life-served convicted man out of prison and their shared experience with the works of a deceased literary powerhouse that draws them violently together. I’m not smart enough to pick up everything that was being laid down, but there was a clear duality being played out between them; the old man who drew parallels to one of the author’s best known work’s protagonist with himself, angry that the author turned the hero into a normie, who puts the work on a pedestal above and beyond the flesh and blood in his life, and the kid equally enamored with the work but short of treating fiction more friendly than reality. The old man who blames all his problems on external elements and the young kid who understands the trouble he’s brought upon himself, both of them angry and trying to save what they find important.
There’s a loose tie in to the first book but only as a framing for the kid’s upbringing; honestly it’s so barely related to the first that I wouldn’t be shocked if this was reworked to be Book 2 from something else, but even with that possibility I’d say it’s still better than the first book. I liked it a lot, crap don’t mean crap. Will Patton did a fudging excellent job reading it. No failure to communicate here.
That said, I spent 13 hours listening to it, not reading it. So it doesn’t count. Boo hoo. Buuuuut, look what popped up as a Lucky Read, no wait required soon as I turned in Finders Keepers?
i don't remember who else read it, but I just finished Zeus is Dead by Michael Munz. I think it was pretty entertaining and definitely in the comedy style of Douglas Adams. I can see how it would be a bit of a weird read, but listening to the audiobook helped with the pacing a lot
I finished The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst. It's a collection of short stories. A couple were pretty decent, a couple were very skippable. Nothing special really but knocked another book off my list. I had this shelved shelf for years after reading S by Doug Dorst and JJ Abrams with a buddy many years ago.
For a while I was fascinated by ergodic literature / meta-fiction after reading House of Leaves. S. was a really interesting project. Loved the book-within-a-book aspect of it and it was fun to pass it back and forth with a friend over a year or so. Not the best novel, but a fun read that stood out for its creativity. Worth looking into for anyone who has familiarity with House of Leaves and has a similar itch.
I read House of Leaves years ago too. It was decent, though over-hyped by friends of mine, so it seemed overrated to me. Some of it seemed gimmicky too (the nutty text formatting).
Finished up The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. Pretty cool historical fantasy set following an un-retired female psudo-pirate with a lot of supernatural elements
Almost done with the last book of the cradle series (12) and sad that it’s almost over. Gonna miss these characters 12 books in 3 months is insane for me but again, audible plus kindle is a game changer
Just finished book 12. Such an amazing series. I’m sad that it’s over.
For those that have read it
The twist at the end of book 10 was so well done that even when I had a thought of it being a possibility leading up to it, it still caught me off guard. So amazing
I recently found out that the Eragon series, a 4 book series that I enjoyed, had a 5th book released last November, about 12 years after the 4th book. (Interestingly enough, the 4th book was released on November 8th, and the 5th book was released on November 7th)
I had enjoyed the series. Maybe I'll read this 5th book. It's been awhile since I've been able to really get into a book.
29. The Madness of Being (Ron D'Alena) - Collection of short stories, all loosely tied to the same region, as various locations pop up within different stories that starts weaving together a longer community than each short story presents in isolation. I really enjoyed this collection and it came out of nowhere for me. Can't even recall how I heard about it, but I'd recommend. Intimate stories from everyday life.
30. The Island of Doctor Moreau (H.G. Wells) - Classic catch up. I'd heard about the general narrative and have come across enough references in other media that I knew what I was getting into here - just figured I should actually sit down and read it. I was quite meh about it, right up until the end - I think it ends well and Wells pulled it back around differently than I had expected.
31. Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton) - This 'un caught me off guard. Heartbreaking, caught me with a twist heading into the final stretch. Another from playing catch up on classics I've never bothered with - I'd say it's worth your time. Quick read too.
32. People From My Neighborhood (Hiromi Kawakami) - Been trying to post less frequently so as to not clog the feed/update too much and be annoying, but I've gotta mention this one right away. This has been my favorite book this year thus far. A collection of short stories that introduces various characters living within a singular neighborhood. It's weird, sincere, Ghibli-esque, even tender at times. It was just translated into English from Japanese in 2021, I think, and I'm going to have to track down all other translations of Kawakami's writing. It's a bit ridiculous, but I think she's on a fast track now to becoming one of my favorites. Highly recommended.
>> |>> Almost done with the last book of the cradle series (12) and sad that it’s
>> almost
>> |>> over. Gonna miss these characters 12 books in 3 months is insane for me but
> again,
>> |>> audible plus kindle is a game changer
> |>> You finished a 12 book series?! Wow. That's impressive!
>>
>> Audible definitely helps :)
>
> Listen to Dungeon Crawler Carl next. It's amazing. One guy does all the voices and
> all are unique.
After you gave that recommendation not super long ago, I went and found some videos of him doing the actual recordings. You get to see him at the microphone doing all the voices, making modifications to his voice as he records. If he's not happy with something in the way he voiced a character, he goes back. Keeps on making tweaks with his voice. It's really interesting. Cool stuff.
Well, I loved the first 2 books (~25 years ago?), not even sure if I read the last 2.
