What Are You Currently Reading?

[Riff Machine 2,105]

On 2/7/2022 at 2:59 PM, Rumelylady said:

 

Chad has been grabbing these whenever they come out and devours them. Such a nerd.

 

Our Christmas book exchange this year was Nevernight by Jay Kristoff for me and Chad got Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (first book in The Expance series). I guess I picked well because he read it in four days and I had to pick up the second book for him from the book store around the corner from work. I've been enjoying Nevernight as well, but had to put it aside for a couple weeks because I had four library holds come available at the same time.

 

So far this year I’ve finished Girly Drinks by Mallory O'Meara (world history of alcohol and the women involved in it), Unraveling Canada by Sylvia Olsen (knitting tour across Canada memoir), and You Feel it Just Below the Ribs by Jeffery Crannor (audiobook), Ararat by Christopher Golden, and on Friday I finished Nevernight. Now on to book two of the trilogy.

Yea, I love those Destiny Grimoire books.  Volume 4 is almost entirely about Mara and Ulldren.

 

After, as Sarah said, blowing through Leviathan Wakes, I jumped to the first book in Mr. Kristoffs new series "Empire of The Vampire" whicih was really friggin good.  Nothing like the crappy twilight series.  Now, I've started book 2 of the expanse, Calibans War and I still have one of Yahtzee Croshaws books on the go called  "Will Save The Galaxy For Cash."  

 

Not too mention the 3 DnD books I've read over the span of the last 3-4 months.

[Antpool84 1,109]

If any of you guys are a fan of Dave Grohl or Foo Fighters I would massively recommend his book The Storyteller. I am only a third of the waythrough but I am really enjoying it. He combines stories from the recent years with the Foo Fighters with some from when he was growing up, and it works so well. It's really funny at points and he also shares some very personal stories from his youth. Deffo worth a read for any fan of his 🙂

[Docwagon 856]

Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind 

 

This is not an easy read, but it's fascinating.  Essentially the concept of what a 'mind' is (distinct from what a brain is) and what that actually means, how it evolved, and how little we actually know about the subjective experience of non-humans. 

 

Same author as an earlier book, which I found to be more accessible:

 

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I've went back and started re-reading The Sword Coast Adventurers Guide, mostly to bone up on the area we're currently in on our D&D live stream of Descent Into Avernus.  It won't help much when we get to hell, but it's good to use for my characters background so I actually have names for the places I write about. Lol!

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I'm reading throw the rulebook for The Witcher TTRPG at the moment, and I'm about halfway through Calibans War.  I'm finding it difficult to keep reading through as it hasn't seemed to pull me in like the first book did.  

 

As for The Witcher rulebook...  Wow.  There is a lot of charts that determine modifiers for certain combats.  Terrain, weather, and light levels are just a few, but this could be quite the complicated rule set for the hardcore players.  

[phil bottle 9,758]

I'm about 100 pages into Kites, by Romain Gary. Has 'Great Expectations' vibes so far but for such a celebrated writer I'm not impressed personally with the writing. 

[Rumelylady 188]

I had to dump two books in a row, which was disappointing. But I finally found what I needed to read right now: Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey and The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. Enjoying them both right now. 

 

One of my friends and I are planning on reading The Witcher books together, so we can have our own mini book club. I.e. we squawk at each other through text messages.

[phil bottle 9,758]

Have now moved onto a book by Philip Ruff - A Towering Flame - essentially some Latvian and anarchist history that briefly connects to London and the famous Siege of Sidney Street. 

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Now currently reading "Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse" the latest D&D 5e book that mashes a few previous volumes into one with race specific updates.  I love reading these books.  

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Finally finished the slog that was Calibans War.  What a dog shit sequel.  Turned me off of the rest of the Leviathans Wake series.  I'm gonna start reading The Shadow of The Gods by John Gywnne and follow that up with Pariah by Anthony Ryan.

[pedjoni 6]

I finally started reading Dune.

 

Just finished the first book and started reading Dune Messiah.

 

 

[Luseth 1,949]

5 minutes ago, pedjoni said:

I finally started reading Dune.

 

Just finished the first book and started reading Dune Messiah.

 

 

 

How does it relate to the film? I.e. is the book better, does the film miss much out?

 

I plan to read through The Scion of Shannara this coming week ^_^ Big fan of the series and just realised to day I have the druid of shannara signed by the author!

 

I'm quite the fan of sci-fi and fantasy material

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I'm currently reading through the latest DnD book Journey to the Radiant Citadel, and also The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Martyr by Anthony Ryan and Will Save The Galaxy For Cash by Yahtzee Crowshaw.

[phil bottle 9,758]

I work in a bookstore on Sundays, England's oldest anarchist bookshop, which has been around since the 1880s.

 

We had a book event tonight for Tim Wells who writes about skinhead werewolves in East London 😁

 

Freedom Bookshop (@freedombookshop) • Instagram photo

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

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Freedom Bookshop shared a post on Instagram: "This Friday @timwellsauthor joins us in the...

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I had recently bought and just finished The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.  interesting read about a magical covenant that has access to the largest archive of human knowledge kept secret from the known world.  Now, let's get back and finish the other books I've started.  🤪

[Marianna 5]

I started reading Dune

[Greboth 2,721]

I've started reading Leviathan wakes by James Corey as I finally caught up and finished watching the Expanse last year which is a great series and well worth a watch.  Though it only covers books 1-6 in the TV series as there's a time jump between the end of book 6 and 7 so the TV series doesn't wrap up all the story lines and I want to know how it ends so thought I better read the books.  And knowing there are a few differences between the books and the TV series, I also thought it best to start at the beginning.

 

So far so good though only 100 pages in to book 1 of 9 so this could take a while to get through it all 😄 

[phil bottle 9,758]

The Many-Headed Hydra: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic by Marcus Rediker

 

A very interesting read from a couple bottom up type historians, the ones who write history from the perspective of the common people. I've just started, so we'll see if I find anything to critique.

 

The dangers of working in a bookshop on Sundays means I get access to a lot of sci fi, politics, history and more, and from academics rather than some loudmouth on YouTube. It's great. Particularly when we live in a world where some supposedly civilised nations like to ban books these days. It's easier to ban books than guns I suppose 🫡

[Middle Class Caveman 980]

I've read the original Meditations but apparently this translation of them is much more user friendly!

[JM 1,608]

5 hours ago, Middle Class Caveman said:

I've read the original Meditations but apparently this translation of them is much more user friendly!

 

I might give this a go actually! I've heard a few Aurelius quotes, and I've heard his book is really good.

[phil bottle 9,758]

On 8/9/2023 at 1:28 AM, Lurchzy said:

 

I might give this a go actually! I've heard a few Aurelius quotes, and I've heard his book is really good.

 

The Stoicism philosophy is an interesting one. A lot of very right-wing groups pretend to follow it, eventhough their xenophobic politics are contrary to Stoicism. 

Stoicism’s founder, Zeno of Citium, described his utopian vision for the perfect Stoic society as a place where there was no hierarchy, no private property, and no money, where there are no churches (temples), marriages, courts of law, or armies. Pretty close to anarchism funnily enough.

 

Any Aurelius I've come across seems to be standard common sense advice type stuff. 

 

I'd be interested in your takes 🙂

 

 

[Middle Class Caveman 980]

On 8/9/2023 at 1:28 AM, Lurchzy said:

 

I might give this a go actually! I've heard a few Aurelius quotes, and I've heard his book is really good.

You have to just remember that this was written back when civilisation was pretty raw. However, some of his views would help the world a great deal.

[Middle Class Caveman 980]

3 hours ago, phil bottle said:

 

The Stoicism philosophy is an interesting one. A lot of very right-wing groups pretend to follow it, eventhough their xenophobic politics are contrary to Stoicism. 

Stoicism’s founder, Zeno of Citium, described his utopian vision for the perfect Stoic society as a place where there was no hierarchy, no private property, and no money, where there are no churches (temples), marriages, courts of law, or armies. Pretty close to anarchism funnily enough.

 

Any Aurelius I've come across seems to be standard common sense advice type stuff. 

 

I'd be interested in your takes 🙂

 

 

this is spot on @phil bottle and sadly you are right about the right wing groups. What I like about stoicism is that it is very contrary to how life is set up right now. 
 

Most people do not live their life according to a set of values or morals and always seek comfort rather than growth and development. Aurelius was a brutal person but he wanted great things for himself and the people of Rome - that’s what I admire

[JM 1,608]

On 8/10/2023 at 2:56 PM, Middle Class Caveman said:

You have to just remember that this was written back when civilisation was pretty raw. However, some of his views would help the world a great deal.

 

I've been listening to it by the pool this week. Really good.

[JM 1,608]

On 8/10/2023 at 11:12 AM, phil bottle said:

 

The Stoicism philosophy is an interesting one. A lot of very right-wing groups pretend to follow it, eventhough their xenophobic politics are contrary to Stoicism. 

Stoicism’s founder, Zeno of Citium, described his utopian vision for the perfect Stoic society as a place where there was no hierarchy, no private property, and no money, where there are no churches (temples), marriages, courts of law, or armies. Pretty close to anarchism funnily enough.

 

Any Aurelius I've come across seems to be standard common sense advice type stuff. 

 

I'd be interested in your takes 🙂

 

 

 

Here he goes again bringing up his political opinion again 🙄