There’s a thread about how people find new books, and one of my favorite ways to find things to read was browsing comments from the weekly ‘What are you reading’ threads in r/truelit and r/books. So what is Lemmy reading?

I’m finishing The Passenger, and about to jump into John Williams’ Stoner. Excited to see what is next!

  • @FearTheCron
    link
    182 years ago

    The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I love reading science fiction from people with engineering and science backgrounds. Another good book I finished recently was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      62 years ago

      Project Hail Mary was such a fun read for me! I loved how concrete the engineering problems were throughout the book. It kept me tied to the stakes of the story.

      Haven’t been able to finish Three Body Problem, unfortunately, it kind of lost me within the first 100 pages. May have to give it another shot! I hear a lot of good things about it.

    • @Higlerfay
      link
      42 years ago

      This book seems to have an equal measure of haters to fans but I loved the entire series. As it goes on it gets weird but imo was soo worth the read. Enjoy!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      32 years ago

      If that’s your vibe, try Blindsight by Peter Watts. It’s a very technical examination of the phenomenon of consciousness which isn’t afraid to get into the weeds, but never quite gets lost in them.

      • @FearTheCron
        link
        22 years ago

        Blindsight was great, I need to read it a second time.

      • dave_r
        link
        fedilink
        12 years ago

        Do we perhaps know each other IRL? Blindsight was great, but I still have the nagging sense that I missed a big portion of it. Definitely mind expanding.

    • Sneezycat
      link
      fedilink
      32 years ago

      That book (three-body) was weeeeird. Really thought it was going to go in a very different direction during the introductory chapters.

      I don’t know if I liked it but it sure made me think about stuff!

      • @FearTheCron
        link
        22 years ago

        I still haven’t finished it so I am still forming an overall opinion, but its certainly interesting so far.

    • dave_r
      link
      fedilink
      32 years ago

      Man - 3 body problem (and the whole series) were a great read. What kind blowing shifts in perspective.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      22 years ago

      Greg Egan is another great author like that. Diaspora is a posthumanist acid trip with a ton of esoteric math thrown in. Absolute blast.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    112 years ago

    I just picked up a copy of house of leaves. Saw it referenced a few times in some other media I liked and figured I may as well check out the book itself.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        22 years ago

        Yes! I splurged for the hardcover because I thought it would be a book I’d want to go back to a few times later on, and I’m really happy with how high quality it is.

  • @adi
    link
    92 years ago

    Just finished Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (loved it, just discovered the “new weird” genre and it’s totally my vibe). Now started reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, the structure of the book and the setting seems cool and intriguing.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      32 years ago

      Both great reads. I’d also recommend the second and third books following Annihilation, just know they are quite different. Good, but different.

    • dave_r
      link
      fedilink
      22 years ago

      If you liked Anniliation and the rest of the trilogy (well worth it!), Check out Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfeild.

    • AnonStoleMyPants
      link
      fedilink
      22 years ago

      Man, I read the book maybe two years ago and it just… sort of left no impression. The world was neat and weird but fuck it was weird. Maybe I need to consider a re-read at some point.

    • Deebster
      link
      fedilink
      English
      52 years ago

      You’re a few ahead of me on the re-read; Lords and Ladies is my next one. I’m taking my time though, I started in 2019.

      GNU Terry Pratchett.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      32 years ago

      That’s great! Whenever I’m feeling down, his books are mental comfort food that help me re-center. GNU sir Pterry!

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    82 years ago

    Just got a few books from my local library that I’m excited to start. I’m starting off with “Focused Forward: Navigating the Storms of Adult ADHD” by James M. Ochoa which I picked out because it was the smallest book in the ADHD category, ha.

    I also got a book on Linux/Unix, Diabetes, a workbook for Bipolar, a healthy snack book, and an organization book. Not too too sure if I’ll be able to finish it all by the time they’re due, but its a nice varied selection.

    • @ice9
      link
      42 years ago

      Amazing series, be sure to check out the novellas as well! There are some guides online that will tell you where they happen chronologicaly

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    62 years ago

    I just finished up reading The Return of the King for the first time since childhood. I like it a lot more than I remember. I think two things stuck out at me most: how dense it was compared to modern fantasy and how great the hobbits were portrayed. Fantasy tends to portray great heroes that came from nothing (ex. the chosen one/orphan trope). However, the hobbits were solely because they were common that they were able to do things the great heroes of their age couldn’t.

    Since then I’ve started reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. I kept hearing Pynchon’s name come up for about a month at random and figured I should pick up one of his books. He has a very frenetic style that can be a bit difficult to parse but I’m loving his sense of humor.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    6
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    H.P. Lovecraft - Tales of Horror

    I’ve been blown away by all of this, up until the one I’m currently powering my way through (*Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath). It isn’t terrible, though. Just feels very out of place after the overall tone and flow of his other work within the volume.

    • fraser
      link
      fedilink
      12 years ago

      I love his dream cycle stuff, it’s so vivid, but it’s definitely jarring read alongside the horror.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        22 years ago

        It certainly has its moments, when his description of something really stirs something inside of you and lights up your imagination. I loved this one:

        “There is a great canal which goes under the whole city in a tunnel with granite gates and leads to the inland lake of Yath, on whose farther shore are the vast clay-brick ruins of a primal city whose name is not remembered. As the ship drew into the harbour at evening the twin beacons Thon and Thal gleamed a welcome, and in all the million windows of Baharna’s terraces mellow lights peeped out quietly and gradually as the stars peep out overhead in the dusk, till that steep and climbing seaport became a glittering constellation hung between the stars of heaven and the reflections of those stars in the still harbour.”

  • @B4tid0
    link
    62 years ago

    The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, a

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    52 years ago

    After quitting Reddit finally getting to my book backlog. The Expanse: The Sins of Our Fathers and then got to pick another old Star Trek book.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    42 years ago

    Currently reading “Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West,” by Calder Walton.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    42 years ago

    I am deciding between finishing the long way to a Small angry planet or starting howls moving castle