I’m nearly finished with 14, Peter Clines, which has turned out to be great! Nice and slow burn of strange things happening in an LA apartment building, and slice of life of the protagonist, which has turned into truly out there concepts and strangeness. Would recommend to anyone who likes weird fiction and mysteries.

I’m also working my way through Shorefall, Robert Jackson Bennett, the second book in The Founders trilogy. It continues the interesting magic-hacking from the first book, but I still don’t think Jackson Bennett has his dialog feet under him yet. I found that The Tainted Cup felt much more natural than this series. Overall still fun!

Brian Wilson’s autobiography.

Finished Iron Council by China Mieville recently. What always does me in with the bas-lag books is how unsatisfying and “unclean” the endings are, and iron council certainly takes the crown.

Now i’ve read pretty much everything by mieville besides his shortstories, and im coming up short on what to read next. Any recommendations similar to mieville?

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Really charming and witty, with lots of references to classic Russian literature.

Neuromancer

Still reading red rising - light bringer. Started amazing, but it’s getting to get to be a bit of a slog.

Taking a break now, reading the bobiverse books, I’m already in the 3rd book, so far I love it.

I’ll come back to red rising, eventually.

Still reading Helm by Sarah Hall. It’s good. I’d never heard of her before until I saw this book at the local bookshop and was intrigued. I’m glad I bought it and will probably read more by her.

It’s a slow read though. Partly because there are more words I don’t know than in other books, and partly because I just wasn’t to savour it.

I just finished The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie after bouncing off a couple of times over the years, and I enjoyed it.

While looking for my next book I decided to try this Dungeon Crawler Carl everyone’s constantly banging on about, but reading the synopsis reminded me why I always change my mind at the last minute and find something else. I know you all love it here but man it sounds awful.

Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and its Struggle to Survive by Chris Horton. Being a student of Taiwan history, there not a whole lot in it that I wasn’t already aware of, but the writing is simply excellent. He’s a great explainer and he deftly weaves the events that shaped history into a compelling narrative. Also, he was able to get sit-down interviews with some of the giants of Taiwan’s democratization movement before they passed away, so the stories are first hand. This book is a gem so far.

Still working through the Mattiemo redwall book. Show going since it’s one I’m only reading at home before bed.

I’m also reading Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur.

Just finished Gridlinked which was the earliest Polity book I could find.

It still felt like I was reading a sequel. Apparently Asher published some short stories before this one…ugh.

Entertaining, though. It partly had a “007 in space” feel, mixing in a subplot with an alien intelligence manipulating the main character, a villain hell-bent on revenge, and even a surprise (and surprisingly heartwarming) romance between two supporting characters.

I’m in the middle of Restoree by Anne McCaffrey. This one has some elements of mystery, mistaken identity, and political intrigue. It’s painfully 60s (which, ok, fair, that’s when it was published).

I’m about to start another Robin Hobb “Assassin” novel (part 2 in the last trilogy), and I have Resolute by Jack Campbell queued up. It’s another entry in a long line of what I call “Space Captain Popsicle” when talking with my wife. The basic premise is that the main character was in a coldsleep escape pod from his starship for about a century. He gets picked up before its power fails by an allied battle fleet and ends up commanding the fleet in a desperate flight from deep inside enemy territory. Great space battles, infuriating interstellar politics, fascinating glimpses of aliens in a few spots. It’s quite a lot of fun :D

East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

It is a bit lengthy, but it seems like each interaction is written around pithy wisdoms interwoven into the lives of interactions of the characters.

Each time it happens, it’s like stumbling upon on a gemstone by a river, and keeps me anticipating the next unfolding of the plot.

Finally got around to start The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Started and continuing as audiobook, but additionally I got the digital at about 10% in, to reread some passages.

Also, just yesterday, I picked up This is how you lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Tried to go in as blind as possible and I’m so glad I did. Really enjoying myself here.

I’m close to finishing The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This month has been a bit rough in my personal life and I haven’t, perhaps, been quite feeling it. Luckily, there’s always next year.

I don’t know what I’ll read next.

Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Gate of the Feral Gods

The whole series is excellent thus far. Definitely recommend it