What are you reading?

This morning I finished Lisey's Story, a book from Stephen King written about fifteen years ago or so. For some reason I'd not read this one, maybe it came out during my hey-days with Everquest and I just missed it. Recently I'd seen that there was going to be a telly version of this book produced, so I thought I would grab the book and check it out.

For a King book, it's pretty good yet rather different. You've lots of exposition, which isn't novel for King at all, and tons of dialogue, both spoken and thought. Of course you've a villain and supernatural elements, this is a King tale afterall, though first and foremost this is a love tale. There is violence, and some nods to established King locations/people/events, which all serve to enhance this story. I'm not going to spoil anything here, I'll just say if you've enjoyed other King books in the past, you'll likely have a good time with this one. And I'll be checking out the telly show at some point simply because the cast sounds excellent, and since it appears that King himself wrote the scripts, it might translate rather well.

Next up for me is Death Without Company, book two of the Longmire mysteries.
 
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Gee winkies, and I blew through that Longmire book in record time! I blame the great weather outside, it was just too inviting and I devoured that novel before I knew it. I wasn't expecting so many fatalities in this read, considering the population of Wyoming, seven people dying during the course of one investigation might actually be a chunk of the population. Cady makes a late appearance in the novel, and that's pretty nifty. We also get a bit more backround on the relationship that Walt and Lucian have, and I suspect we'll see more of that in subsequent books.

Up next for me, since I suggested it to someone else in the film thread, is a re-read of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I read this only last June, yet after recommending it in another thread, I realized I'd not object to checking it out again myself. So, now I'm twenty percent in and enjoying the late sixties again!
 
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I only skimmed those posts about the Expanse series, @Carnifex;, but please mind the spoilers. I don't need to know people die or survive, I want to still read these and be surprised.
 
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How to Make the World Add Up by Tim Harford

Just started the book. Still in the "Introduction" with some discussion on how the link between smoking and lung cancer was found. I did not know that people thought the link was between motor cars and lung cancer (before my birth). Loved the way they used 40000+ doctors as the study group. In my opinion Tim Harford is an excellent writer and broadcaster able to make his point in an interesting way.

The book was in the Sunday Times Top 10 bestsellers list in 2020. The focus of the book is about how information and data is misused. That is not new but Tim provides a framework for examining and thinking about such issues. There have been times when I could benefit from a more rigorous approach (and I think the same goes for some other posters).
 
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And Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is done again, this visit was as enjoyable as the first was last summer. This edition, which came out in November has a few more pages, providing even more backround/dialogue than the first book did. If you enjoyed the film, this read would likely enhance that experience by a large factor.

Up next for me is book two of the Red Rising series, Golden Son.
 
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This morning I put Golden Son to bed, book two of the Red Rising novels. This one sees Darrow take some real steps towards changing the society completely, starting by getting behind Augustus as perhaps the next leader of the galaxy, assuming they can remove the current one. Combat and betrayals happen fast and furiously, and even a new friend is made along the way. And more than one perishes.

And so I dove into book seven of the Dresden tales a few hours ago, and it's off to a fantastic start! It seems there's some wanker of a necromancer running around and he appears to have crossed paths with Harry already, not to mention Marva has threatened to expose one of Harry's friends. These books are damn hard to even put down!!~
 
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This evening saw the end of Dead Beat, book seven of the Dresden files. A lot happens in this novel, we see new enemies and some established ones, and Harry winds up becoming a Warden! One missing factor is Murphy gets pretty much side lined in this book, though I'm sure she'll be back in a big way.

Now I've dipped back into the Wild Card series, with book eight, One Eyed Jacks, which is also the first novel of the Triad series. This part of the series was rather divisive back in the day, as the stories went off in some fairly odd directions. Regardless, it's still pretty good, imo.
 
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I finished the book series Malazan: Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot.

Very different from all other fantasy authors I read. No specific protagonist, and not one chosen hero. Instead a large number of characters (confusing sometimes), all with a role to play and all with understandable motivations. All books had very slow starts due to this.

And he's the first English speaking fantasy author I've read in a while who doesn't apply American gender values to the story. A breath of fresh air to not have regular gender comments about differences baked into the story (I'm looking at you Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson).

It's a great read and without the flaws of the overrated Anderson and Jordan as you say.
One of the rare fantasy series which even gets better with a reread since there is so much layers and you miss so many things.
 
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Asterix and Obelix and the Griffin. Had not read a comic album since my childhood, so I felt a familiar excitement when I started on this latest album in the series. Was not disappointed.
 
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This morning saw me polish off book eight of the Wild Card tales, One Eyed Jacks, the beginning of the Rox Triad trilogy. We see a very damaged Blaise take some crucial steps towards the living monster he's evolving into, with dire consequences for many, especially his grandfather. Bloat is holding court on his island, trying to carve a place for the jokers that follow him, while keeping the almost-crazed jumper population in check. Re-reading this book brought back all that ancient love for this series, though this trilogy does tend to vex some readers.

Up next for me will be book six of the Flavia chronicles, the Dead in Their Vaulted Arches. I've had three books whip into my kindle from the library so now I must knuckle down and catch up!
 
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Earlier today I completed the Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, a tale of the Flavia saga. I think this was book six, up to this point we've only heard about Flavia's mother passing roughly ten years earlier, in this volume we get to witness a final goodbye for her, as well as learning the destiny of the ancestral home that's been in question ever since Harriet passed. Of course there's a murder to investigate along the way, and also some new family members to embrace/be wary of! At the end Flavia winds up knowing that she'll be leaving the U.K shortly.

So then I dived swiftly into my next read, Proven Guilty, book eight of the Dresden series. I'm about twenty percent in, Harry is already in trouble, and I feel right at home.
 
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It's a great read and without the flaws of the overrated Anderson and Jordan as you say.

One of the rare fantasy series which even gets better with a reread since there is so much layers and you miss so many things.
I imagine especially the first books get better from rereading. They were a bit confusing and heavy reading until I got to know the world as well as how he writes.

I actually really like Brandon Sanderson, but it was fun and interesting to get something very different to his writing: Complex interwoven stories focused more on the similarities between all intelligent life, instead of the differences.
 
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I lost my reading for a bit now, since I started playing Pathfinder:WotR recently. Unfortunately it is hard to find time for more than one hobby at a time.

In theory I could read some more, and I'll likely pick it up soon again, since gaming evenings is bad for my sleep
 
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Finished Children of Dune, which was a good read and showed me how much one forgets after some 30 years after reading it for the first time :)
I like it a lot better than Dune Messiah and am looking forward to God Emperor of Dune, which I remember to like a lot as well.
This also means there are only 5 books to go out of the 21 Dune books (22, including the short stories). If I was @Carnifex, I would be finished by the weekend, but for me it will take at least 3 months or more.
 
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I'm right there with ya, Myrthos, I'm all about re-reading, and especially the classics, like Herbert, Lovecraft, Howard, Asimov, and many others. New books come along now and they yet most of what I tend to read has been out in print for decades, and in some cases, much longer. Enjoy the rest of your journey!
 
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This afternoon I completed Proven Guilty, book eight of the Dresden novels. Right from the start this book goes at full speed and never lets up!! In the end, Harry winds up with a new apprentice, among a few other changes with friends/relations. Honestly, this series seems to be getting better as I go along!

Now I'm dipping back into the Longmire books, with book three, Kindness Goes Unpunished already underway!
 
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This also means there are only 5 books to go out of the 21 Dune books (22, including the short stories).

I'm not sure if most of them are worth reading to be honest. Imo, the original 6 novels by Frank Herbert are great, but the stuff his son milked out over the years is of varying quality at best.
 
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I'm not sure if most of them are worth reading to be honest. Imo, the original 6 novels by Frank Herbert are great, but the stuff his son milked out over the years is of varying quality at best.

At the risk of criticism, I’d go further. I thought the original three books were the best and all the rest $$ making tag-alongs.
 
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I'm not sure if most of them are worth reading to be honest. Imo, the original 6 novels by Frank Herbert are great, but the stuff his son milked out over the years is of varying quality at best. .
I agree the series went downhill after Children of Dune. Though the son did publish novels that were prologues to DUNE, and filled in the gaps for the first three novels.
 
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