Good Morning Blue Sky! Hope you’re all ok? Today I’m currently reading the SF novella Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard. What are you reading at the moment?
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Morning Womble! I've just finished reading Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings (a lovely hopeful space opera with time-travel shenanigans, a bit Star Trek, a bit Becky Chambers) and have yet to decide what to read next.
Morning Womble, just started Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee, on the recommendation of @ohmz.bsky.social. Well I'd bought it myself a while ago, but he pushed it up the TBR pile.
Hi Womble! I'm nearly finished with Robert Jackson Bennett's The Tainted Cup (mystery/fantasy). I'm not going to evangelize for it as much as I did for City of Stairs, but it's a solid, entertaining read with some interesting ideas.
I'm currently reading an ARC of the upcoming re-release, Miserere by T. Frohock.
As for audiobooks, I'm currently between two and haven't picked my next yet.
Good morning Womble! Still reading the 3rd Stormlight Archive book Oathbringer. About halfway through this 1000 page monster, and I’m still having a delightful time making my way through this long journey. The fifth book is out and in my hands and is giving me the incentive I need to keep at it!
Morning Womble, a good week for reading; I've just finished Blackdog from @kvjohansen.bsky.social - excellent silk-road fantasy that opens a series but works as a standalone story - and I'm almost at the end of Witch King on audio which is another super-fun story from Martha Wells.
Good morning, Womble! I’m reading “Babel: An Arcane History” by R. F. Kuang. I’m enjoying both the history and the etymology; it’s tempting me to buy Thony Games’ “Dialect” to play this winter break.
Strong recommend Ministry of Time - the spy story x romance x time travel x satire of bureaucracy which you k=didn't know you needed, but you do.* Haunted Tales by Adam Macqueen is a good collection of ghostly stories. Just opened Starter Villain bt Scalzi and he has my attention.
Afternoon Womble! I am now close to the end of The Two Towers - further than I've ever read - and I am definitely finding that in appreciating it more as an adult 😊
Morning! I'm reading The Factory Witches of Lowell by CS Malerich, and the fourth Boudica book by Manda Scott. Both depict groups of people resisting under huge pressure from their oppressors - v interesting to have them side by side.
Agree with the other comment, what a cover! I saw Kirsty Logan speak a few years back and have been meaning to read some of her work ever since. Would you say this is a good one to start with?
I think so, if you’re into a dark, fairytale sort of vibe. If you prefer horror, her short story collection Things We Say in the Dark is also excellent - that’s the one I started with.
Oh no I thought I posted my reply here and not that other place, ugh. -
Morning Womble, finally finished two big chonks and am now starting on Christmas and Other Horrors (great so far) and Project Hail Mary (brilliant so far).
Good morning Womble. Just getting ready to start Beware of Chicken 4 by Casual Farmer. Waiting for Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis from the library.
Someone gave me The Autobiography of James T Kirk, by David A Goodman. I wasn't too interested, but I picked it up last night and read the foreword (by McCoy) and Prologue (remembering Edith Keeler's basement in City at the Edge of Forever), and I'm hooked!
Good morning! I’m reading Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (part of my Hugo/ Nebula winners reading project). It’s the second time I’ve read it, and the parts in the present time with the pandemic hit quite differently now.
Loved that book! I remember a lot of people on Book Twitter were reading it in 2020, and I was tempted to do a re-read then too, but…ultimately decided No.😬 Maybe soon, though!
I think it would have been hard to read during 2020 - I’m finding the sections during the 2050s pandemic a bit tough to read, even now. I’ve read a couple of books set during/ post-Covid and it’s quite odd to read about.
Morning! Still on Joe Abercrombie's The Wisdom of Crowds. It doesn't normally take more than a week to read one book, but it's been one of those weeks...
I just finished BABYLONIA: A NOVEL by Contanza Casati. It's the story of Semiramis. There's a leopard in it (hey @cherylmorgan.bsky.social you might like that)
An Arthurian knight raised from the earth to fight for England whenever it's in peril. But now he's in the modern day trying to figure out how to solve climate change and extremism.
If the description isn't enough of a recommendation maybe this review is:
Good morning Book Tempter! Today's treat is a kinda fantasy-cum-alt-history-steampunk story of a non-binary artist, enemy duelist and pacifist mecha-dragon. Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee. It's very Lee and very good. Enjoying it a lot.
Just finished Saturnine by Dan Abnett, and if you’re into the Horus Heresy its a magnificent book, if not it would still be really good - some of the writing is really visceral and compelling. Next up, Graham MacNeills Fury of Magnus
Good Morning! Reading Traces, Poems and Essays by @jackielynam.bsky.social, started last night & loving it. A mix of poems and essays about being female, families and music, a great read
Oh and ongoing, a page or two every night. The Bruce Trilogy: "Steps to the Empty Throne", "Price of the King's Peace" and "Path of the Hero King" massive 1K+ pages. An ancestor so gotta keep plowing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ooh, this looks really interesting, and I hadn't even been aware of it coming out. I liked Ghosh's works a lot back in the 90s, but I didn't keep up. Time to reconnect, I think!
I'm about to start Wildwood, by Colin Meloy (illustrated by Carson Ellis). Looks like my kind of children's book - magical adventure with a rescue, but also written with some depth and complexity and a sense of real enchantment.
Still audiobooking the Thomas Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel, I'm halfway through Bring Up the Bodies. Starting to believe that things might not go very well for Anne Boleyn.
Hello Womble! Aliette de Bodard is on my list of authors to try at some point. So much to read! I'm rereading Conn Iggulden's Emperor: The Gates of Rome right now, as I'm also watching the series Rome with my fiancé who's never seen it, and I need more Caesar!
Good morning! I am reading Count Alberic's Scrap Book by MR James and The Burglar's Christmas for book club & Noreen Masud's A Flat Place for me. It's non-fic & rec if you're interested in post-colonial multicultural immigrant stories or for a real world touch on landscape in gothic writing
Morning Womble!
Just finished Honeymoon for One by Rachel Bowdler, still reading a story from the anthology The Advent of Winter daily. Also reading Land of Lost Things by John Connolly for your challenge and have started my annual Hogfather reread. Just started The Socialites by Caroline Lamond
Good afternoon, Womble. I've just started Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado. Also reading Moby Dick (still), and the Spider-Man Newspaper Strips by Stan Lee and John Romita.
I've just finished Godkiller by Hannah Kaner. I almost didn't start it - I borrowed it from the library on the strength of the amazing cover art, but only had a couple of days before it had to go back. I'm so glad I did, it was absolutely brilliant!
I've got 3 books on the go at the moment:
The Winter Spirits anthology,
Kindred by Octavia E Butler, and, started today, Half a War by Joe Abercrombie.
IMHO the funniest and best writer in the English language throughout the twentieth century. And I include PG Wodehouse and Alan Larkin in the lesser list.
Happy Sunday Womble! Having one of those ‘old enough to put my back out on my sleep’ Sundays, which sounds like the perfect excuse to spend it immersed in CJ Cooke’s A Haunting In The Arctic
Good morning, Darth Tobermoriarty. Hope you have escaped Stork Darragh unscathed. I am half way through Gorse by Sam K. Horton, which is a historical folklore horror/dark fantasy. Very much enjoying it so far - the language is particularly lush.
Morning Womble! I'm reading Dan Abnett's The End and the Death (Part III), the final book in the Siege of Terra series (and the wider Horus Heresy series) 🤩
Evening Womble! I’m almost done with @kitwhitfield.bsky.social’s excellent All the Hollow of the Sky. Kit wrote maybe my favourite child character ever.
Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Which reminds us how the vast majority of ethnic cleansing the world has seen, was instigated by two authoritarian dictators in Eastern Europe for decades. A warning that Putin is repeating what they foisted on the world, while the west appeased it.
I sort of want to read this and I also really don't want to (if you know what I mean)! Maybe one of these days I'll get up the courage. Timothy Snyder is brilliant.
It’s taken me 6 months to read, well I’m at the conclusion, but it’s very well referenced and a stunning bibliography. However, you might need to learn a few languages to get to the source material. I did his History of Ukraine course last winter, it’s on YouTube, well worth delving into that.
😀I listened to his course in podcast form in 2022, and did a lot of the reading for it—didn't have access to the journal articles, but I read most of the books. And yes, it was well worth the time!
Morning Womble. Hoping you've not been blown away or lost your hat while tidying. Not a day for holding onto to umbrellas.
Currently reading The Djinn waits a Hundred Years and listening to The Trick to Time by @kitdewaal.bsky.social
Morning Womble, I just finished an amazing dark fairy tale. Bailuchien by Rebecca Crunden @bookspotlight.bsky.social Young girls call on the a spirit of the forest, Bailuchien, for protection but that protection comes at a cost.
Greetings, Womble! I'm in between Smiley novels (next up, The Looking Glass War) and in the middle of a head cold, so I'm comfort re-reading Alix Harrow's Starling House.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is up soon for me! I'm hoping it's in a similar vein to Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop and What You Are Looking for is in the Library, both of which I really enjoyed.
Hello Womble! I'm reading some Bosch shorts by Michael Connelly (Suicide Run), rereading some Asterix too. I'm in the early chapters of The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett. I'm trying to decide if I'll start D.V. Bishop's City of Woes now, or read Tchaikovsky's Days of Shattered Faith first
Hi Womble! I liked Skyla Dawn Cameron's "The Taiga Ridge Murders" so much I started re-reading it immediately after I finished. It's one of those books where you have to go back and see everything with new eyes once you know what's going on!
Morning Womble, still reading Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson but getting very close to the end. I may finish it today, but being so epic, 15% to go is still over 3 hours 🤣
Got far too much trying to finish by the end of the year
Currently on:
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acvedo
Light A Last Candle by Vincent King
Niya: Rainbow Dreams by Fabiola Joseph
Seasons in the Sun by Dominic Sandbrook
X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance
'Afternoon friend Womble, I'm having lunch with Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto, a space set prisoner is released early but feels the pull of a job as they are blacklisted from work by the corporate giant they crossed
I am dual wielding books today! I have been listening to Fallen Angels (another Horus Heresy book) whilst doing house work, and reading The Crystal Shard when relaxing! Hope you're having a good day!
Morning, slow progress reading due to *vague stuff* Beyond the Light Horizon by Ken MacLeod has gone a bit wild (in a good way?). Swapped from ARC to the audiobook of Red Sonja Consumed by Gail Simone (narr. Felicia Day), I'm very curious about where each thread is going.
Good morning Skylarks. Just finished "The Dark Side of the Sky by Francesco Dimitri". Love it when friends recommend a book and urge me to not read what is it about. Thoroughly enjoyed the twist and turns and mind bending.
Reading the breath of the sun by Isaac Fellman and my god can he spin a tale. Love a fantasy travelogue, morbidly fascinated by death zone mountaineering, it has FOOTNOTES from a later reader: this book and I are meant to be
Days of Shattered Faith, the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Tyrant Philosophers series. Enjoyed the first two, so I’d pre-ordered and was very happy to see it appear this week. Definitely a good read.
Good morning Womble! Currently reading THE OBSIDIAN TOWER by Melissa Caruso and I'm really enjoying it so far. Some cool magic and wonderful political intrigue!
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I can't put it down. I do love a book with a dramatis personae, 2 entire family trees and a timeline in the chapter contents.
It was on mine for ages as well, and I recently asked for recommendations on here and @chloroformtea.bsky.social gave me a nudge to bump it up. So far it's delivering on the promise of smooth prose, action, and good characterisation that I was after.
Just finished Star Trek : Enigma Tales by Una McCormack. Set on Cardassdia several years post DS9 and featuring Garak and Pelowski. Very enjoyable, and suitably twisty given the title as it refers to the very twisty Cardassian literary genre of Enigma Tales and how they have evolved post occupation.
Currently in a two day power outage with my kindle reading Cosmic Widow which has wobbled a bit at times but is still good. Should finish it later if the battery holds
Good morning! Hope you're well. Currently have three on the go - a reread of The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett, just started We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson, and need to finish The Return by Rachel Harrison, which I've had out the library for ages.
Currently 3/4ths of the way through this monster of a collection, containing every Doom Patrol story Grant Morrison wrote, with mostly Richard Case on art duty.
I’m reading The Lighthouse by P. D. James. She is a great crime writer but has a thing about describing the breasts of every woman character. I think she wasn’t straight
It's been a week of TOO MUCH NEWS (Syria, South Korea, US politics, etc.) so I’m burying my head in the past (sort of) with Ithaca by Claire North, first of the Penelope trilogy. I’ve been saving these books for a Time of Need, and this feels like that time! Go away now, news, I'm reading.
When Ithaca came out I was really annoyed that she was doing a trilogy, because I always prefer to wait and read all the books together. i love North's work, and I didn't want to wait years to read the next thing! But now that the trilogy's complete, I'm glad there's so much of it to read. 😍
I know what you mean - I got very angsty when Robert Harris took his sweet time with the third book of his Cicero trilogy, but he came through in the end 😅
Been busier than expected, so only about halfway through Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill but enjoying it immensely. Also similar for The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden but not so impressed by that one and might DNF.
Morning! I'm reading Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, the third novel of The Stormlight Archive. First time reading the series and it's been a joy since I started page 1 of book 1
Actually rereading one of my own at the moment, my first novel (The Last King of Lydia). Slightly nerve wracking reading a book I haven't touched in ten years, but cautiously enjoying it so far.
Just finished P. Djèlí Clark's Dead Cat Tail Assassins, which was pretty silly but inarguably fun, now relishing the self-conscious weirdness of Noah Medlock's A Botanical Daughter, finally got hold of Tashan Mehta's Mad Sisters of Esi and eyeing that for my next up
Good morning, Womble! Currently reading the Star Trek novel The Pandora Principle for a future episode of Mike's Book Report. I'm finding fascinating insights into Saavik and her origins, and a really weird one-off character who is like a proto-Teletubbie. Good stuff.
I've spent this week enjoying what might be my new favourite comfort read - Rumpole stories.
After John Mortimer's Paradise Postponed blew me away, I thought try his greatest hits. And, blimey, they do not disappoint.
Hilarious. Smart as a whip. Addictive.
I'm going to need to find some more these.
finished SUNSHINE yesterday, trying to decide whether to start Gerardo Sámano Córdova's MONSTRILIO or Yume Kitasei's THE STARDUST GRAIL next (super excited for both, making the choice delightfully hard)
Good morrow! Today I am taking a diversion from SFF to read Bob Mayer's thriller Bodyguard Of Lies. I've enjoyed his romantic comedy thrillers with Jennifer Crusie, so it's interesting to read one of his solo books.
Dear Womble this thread is a credit to you and all who contribute. It is an upbeat and positive endorsement of the joy of reading. It brings me great pleasure every Sunday and I felt this needed to be said. Thanks to all.
Good afternoon all. Just finished @lairdbarron.bsky.social Not a Speck of Light collection. Very enjoyable. Several very creepy stories here and some cosmic horror. I Shall read Laird's Isiah Coleridge novella next.
Just finished the fantastic A Month In The Country by J.L. Carr (need to check out more of his work) and I’m now two stories into the horror short story collection North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud. Based on a recommendation by @sdorward.bsky.social
Liking it quite a bit.
Afternoon Womble! I’m just starting Private Rites by Julia Armfield - I love all her other work, so I’m hoping for another book full of gorgeous prose and emotion.
I love this book. And I love how the two great spy writers of the 60s, Le Carre was in intelligence, and Deighton made it all up with no inside knowledge. And it's still brilliant.
Just started The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri, the second book in her Burning Kingdoms trilogy
The book I've just finished was Blood Sweat Glitter by Iona Datt Sharma, a lovely F/F romance set in a London roller derby team, with themes around trauma recovery
Good afternoon! I spent the morning reading a bit of Dungeon Crawler Carl in bed. It's good fun though whether I want to read a whole series of it I'm not sure.
Good morning! Aside from reports about the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, I’m reading James SA Corey’s Persepolis Rising (it’s set how long after Babylon’s Ashes?!?), Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped & John Prebble’s Culloden. Taking a break from The Dawn of Everything (Graeber & Wengrow).
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I'm currently reading an ARC of the upcoming re-release, Miserere by T. Frohock.
As for audiobooks, I'm currently between two and haven't picked my next yet.
Collection -
Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny by KC Grifant
....
Morning Womble, finally finished two big chonks and am now starting on Christmas and Other Horrors (great so far) and Project Hail Mary (brilliant so far).
An Arthurian knight raised from the earth to fight for England whenever it's in peril. But now he's in the modern day trying to figure out how to solve climate change and extremism.
If the description isn't enough of a recommendation maybe this review is:
There are no Cadfael gifs!
Bouncing between these two:
The Colorado Labor Wars: Cripple Creek, 1903-1904 (Regional History Series) Editors: Tim Blevins, Calvin P. Otto, Chris Nicholl
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
I found the first two-thirds of the book to be really slow. The last one-third is engaging and compelling and worth sloughing through the first parts.
Just finished Honeymoon for One by Rachel Bowdler, still reading a story from the anthology The Advent of Winter daily. Also reading Land of Lost Things by John Connolly for your challenge and have started my annual Hogfather reread. Just started The Socialites by Caroline Lamond
In the eyes: Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
In the ears: Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
the time of YOUR denouement...
I'm in a Victorian mood so I'm currently rereading Barchester Towers and working my way through the works of R Murray Gilchrist
The Winter Spirits anthology,
Kindred by Octavia E Butler, and, started today, Half a War by Joe Abercrombie.
The ongoing reads are:
The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice
I’m currently forcing myself to alternate Diskworld books with TBR new books. Or is be all Pratchett all the time.
Frankenstein.
Always, again and again.
I had this on kindle but my partner surprised me with an early Xmas present, so I'm reading the paper version while listening to the wind and rain.
I've just started on The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed. Been looking forward to this for a while.
Currently reading The Djinn waits a Hundred Years and listening to The Trick to Time by @kitdewaal.bsky.social
I’m currently reading After Atlas, second in Emma Newman’s Planetfall series.
This reading milestone is also worth mentioning:
https://bsky.app/profile/lisajune.bsky.social/post/3lcr5bayzts2f
Then I’m not sure what to read next but I’ll think of something.
Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty
Reaper Man by STP
The Bloodless Princes - Charlotte Bond
Currently on:
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acvedo
Light A Last Candle by Vincent King
Niya: Rainbow Dreams by Fabiola Joseph
Seasons in the Sun by Dominic Sandbrook
X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance
I am dual wielding books today! I have been listening to Fallen Angels (another Horus Heresy book) whilst doing house work, and reading The Crystal Shard when relaxing! Hope you're having a good day!
https://www.alexwheatle.com/kemosha
That book is on my TBR pile.
It was on mine for ages as well, and I recently asked for recommendations on here and @chloroformtea.bsky.social gave me a nudge to bump it up. So far it's delivering on the promise of smooth prose, action, and good characterisation that I was after.
Too many new books on my kindle to make up my mind, I'm re-reading Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer.
The big problem with buying lots of new work is there's not enough time for books which benefit from at least one more visit.
I need this on a hoodie 😂
Bsky has arrived 😬
but also
😩
I want it. Also I don't want a random spammer showing up about it.
Also, I am slowly reading through Video Game of the Year by Jordan Minor.
After John Mortimer's Paradise Postponed blew me away, I thought try his greatest hits. And, blimey, they do not disappoint.
Hilarious. Smart as a whip. Addictive.
I'm going to need to find some more these.
My Kindle is about to be quite bust!
Liking it quite a bit.
I have started reading a Cold War classic, The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
Audio: Treason’s Harbour by Patrick O’Brian
Kindle: Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan
Just started The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri, the second book in her Burning Kingdoms trilogy
The book I've just finished was Blood Sweat Glitter by Iona Datt Sharma, a lovely F/F romance set in a London roller derby team, with themes around trauma recovery
It was fine. Did what it said on the tin.
I'm currently reading (and loving) James Bennett's collection Preaching to the Perverted
https://youtu.be/4X6AUQcGwcs?si=Ujdf0t16lMtHb0Op