Happy Thursday! It’s been a bit of a slower week here at diabolical largely thanks to a bunch of other stuff I’ve had to take care of. Tomorrow Film Club #1 kicks off with a review of Judas and the Black Messiah so look for that in your inbox or here on the website.
This Thursday Thread Day I thought I’d see what everyone is reading. I’m currently in-between The Two Towers and a little junk-food break with Lee Child’s Echo Burning, a Jack Reacher novel. I will say this about Reacher books: None of them has been as good as Killing Floor so far. There are so many little things that bug me about Child’s portrayal of people and places (he paints in such broad strokes and often creates such two-dimensional characters) and yet I just really enjoy the protagonist. Reacher is great fun even when the books leave something to be desired. I’m not finished with this one just yet, but I’m getting close (lots of reading time when you have insomnia!)
What are you reading at the moment? Any good recommendations? Shout out in the comments or on social media.
I am slowly slugging through The Wheel of Time series. Currently on book 6. I don't know if I'm too exhausted, distracted, or busy mom-ing, but it's taking me forever to get through them!!
Not sure if you've already read, but what about Ken Follett's Century trilogy? (Clearly, I love long book series, LOL.) I read his Kingsbridge series based on your comment once that Pillars of the Earth was scratching your Thrones itch, and thereby discovered Century. The story follows five families through global world events from 1911 to the 1980s. I really, really enjoyed that series. I've become so enamored with fantasy and historical fiction these days.
I got through the first book of The Wheel Of Time and gave up. I may go back someday. I just don't know. Do you recommend it? Some people swear by them; others seem to agree they're just hard to get through.
I've read about the Century trilogy and it sounds great. I need to read it. But I should probably read more of the Kingsbridge books first! So much to read!
Same here. Got through the first book a long time ago and I just didn't get it. Similar with Sanderson's The Way of Kings which everybody lauds. Didn't really work for me. I prefer The Mistborn books, and Skyward is my fave of his.
I am so torn over this WoT series, to be honest. On the one hand, there's a lot to love and I am always impressed by these fantasy writers' ability to create these amazing worlds and develop stories around them. I 100% respect Robert Jordan for that, and I love the poetry of his words. On the other, I've never felt that overwhelming "OMG, I can't wait to jump back into that book," which must mean something?! He has so many locations and characters--characters that have different names or become "new" characters--and that gets so confusing and frustrating.
Then again, I think back to my discovery of Thrones. My husband and I had a hard time getting into Thrones (the show) because of these same issues. We had trouble following it. But for whatever reason I insisted we watch the entire first season before giving up and once we got to "Baelor," we were hooked! And now Thrones is my fave show of all time (up to now, of course). So, knowing that, it's hard for me to give up on Wheel.
As far as the Century trilogy--I couldn't put any of those books down! Loved em.
I just reread The Stand, but this time it was the complete and uncut edition. My husband is a fan of the Jack Reacher novels and has amassed quite a stack of them since last March.
Oh The Stand. That's one I've tried and failed on, but should probably read someday. I've read some King but not a ton. Most recent was The Outsider (before it became an HBO show).
I finished reading the Witcher series in January which was great! I needed a genre break after that so I read The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac which was good. I'm reading On the Road now also by Jack Kerouac and it's off to a pretty good start.
Nice. I still need to read the Witcher books (have read a few stories) but I read his Tower of Fools and LOVED it. Great read. Super different. I'm a big fan of Kerouac also. I started a band called The Dharma Bums actually, haha. Fun times.
Reading Silence by Shusaku Endo. It's an interesting read into Catholicism/Christianity's introduction in Japan and the extreme about-face of any foreign thought or influence that pervaded until the end of WWII.
Right now, in my fiction pile, I'm reading Matter by Iain M. Banks. This is one of the Culture series of novels and, like all of them, it's equal parts fascinating and terrifying. I'm looking forward to the latest Joe Abercrombie when I'm done...
In my non-fiction pile, I'm working my way through Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton. It's very, very dense, but filled with a ton of interesting stories. Learning more about the founding of our country's political systems and the structure of the debates is highly recommended given the sharpness of today's social and political divide.
Ever since 1999 when I read 'Fight Club' before the movie came out, I've made it a habit to read the book before the movie or show. So I'm reading 'High-Rise' by J.G. Ballard because I just learned there's a movie adaptation with Tom Hiddleston.
I'm reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian is a favorite genre, and I'm working through some "best of" lists. Recently finished 1984 by Orwell (finally) and The Dog Stars by Peter Heller which was very well written, and I enjoyed it very much. And being a King fan I've read The Stand, but The Dark Tower series is the quintessential sample of the genre, imho.
3/4 of the way through Oryx and Crake, and I'm undecided on it. It could go either way this last 1/4.
This morning I finished Maskerade, another Terry Pratchett that I needed to read to fill in my gaps, and as it featured the witches it was really good fun, as expected.
I then started reading The Sportswriter by Richard Ford who is a completely new author for me so I've really no idea what to expect so looking forward to it with some trepidation. Fingers crossed.
I'm reading The Stand, The Complete and Uncut Edition. I read the original quite a few years back, and started reading the Uncut after the new CBS mini series fizzled about half way through. Then I had to rewatch "Stephen King's The Stand" mini series to compare with the new one...and in the middle of all that I'm up to page 944 in the book. Next on the list is the Dark Tower series in sequential order. I'm a nerd.
I think the most recent book I finished, sometime late last year maybe, was my reread of the first Witcher book, The Last Wish. The plan was to go through the entire Witcher book series again.
Since I've gotten sucked back into EVE, that's meant less time for reading. Well, except for stuff that I can readily access on PC (e.g., the r/askhistorians subreddit, which I recommend people check out).
I'll probably reread the EVE Online books that I have, too: Empyrean Age and Templar One, both by Tony Gonzales. Both books are very good, IMHO, but do need a bit of EVE knowledge (e.g., when ships are discussed or mentioned).
I also have another EVE book, The Burning Life, but after seeing some negative reviews, I've held off reading it.
Thanks for the reddit recommendation. I never did get into EVE. I tried but it was just too much of a time investment. I was even invited all expenses paid to CCCP HQ but couldn't accept!
Ooh. I would like to see the CCP HQ in Iceland, if not for the EVE/CCP stuff, then...well, Iceland. lol
And, yeah, EVE is a massive time sink. Then again, I guess that can be said of any MMO or online game with persistence (e.g., Destiny 2, Warframe).
That said, even the stories about it are worth diving into. If not the books, then the various trailers/cinematics and even community lore videos (also like Destiny 2: I don't play it anymore, but I still watch the youtuber 'My name is Byf' for his lore videos).
I am slowly slugging through The Wheel of Time series. Currently on book 6. I don't know if I'm too exhausted, distracted, or busy mom-ing, but it's taking me forever to get through them!!
Not sure if you've already read, but what about Ken Follett's Century trilogy? (Clearly, I love long book series, LOL.) I read his Kingsbridge series based on your comment once that Pillars of the Earth was scratching your Thrones itch, and thereby discovered Century. The story follows five families through global world events from 1911 to the 1980s. I really, really enjoyed that series. I've become so enamored with fantasy and historical fiction these days.
I got through the first book of The Wheel Of Time and gave up. I may go back someday. I just don't know. Do you recommend it? Some people swear by them; others seem to agree they're just hard to get through.
I've read about the Century trilogy and it sounds great. I need to read it. But I should probably read more of the Kingsbridge books first! So much to read!
Same here. Got through the first book a long time ago and I just didn't get it. Similar with Sanderson's The Way of Kings which everybody lauds. Didn't really work for me. I prefer The Mistborn books, and Skyward is my fave of his.
I am so torn over this WoT series, to be honest. On the one hand, there's a lot to love and I am always impressed by these fantasy writers' ability to create these amazing worlds and develop stories around them. I 100% respect Robert Jordan for that, and I love the poetry of his words. On the other, I've never felt that overwhelming "OMG, I can't wait to jump back into that book," which must mean something?! He has so many locations and characters--characters that have different names or become "new" characters--and that gets so confusing and frustrating.
Then again, I think back to my discovery of Thrones. My husband and I had a hard time getting into Thrones (the show) because of these same issues. We had trouble following it. But for whatever reason I insisted we watch the entire first season before giving up and once we got to "Baelor," we were hooked! And now Thrones is my fave show of all time (up to now, of course). So, knowing that, it's hard for me to give up on Wheel.
As far as the Century trilogy--I couldn't put any of those books down! Loved em.
I just reread The Stand, but this time it was the complete and uncut edition. My husband is a fan of the Jack Reacher novels and has amassed quite a stack of them since last March.
Oh The Stand. That's one I've tried and failed on, but should probably read someday. I've read some King but not a ton. Most recent was The Outsider (before it became an HBO show).
I finished reading the Witcher series in January which was great! I needed a genre break after that so I read The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac which was good. I'm reading On the Road now also by Jack Kerouac and it's off to a pretty good start.
Nice. I still need to read the Witcher books (have read a few stories) but I read his Tower of Fools and LOVED it. Great read. Super different. I'm a big fan of Kerouac also. I started a band called The Dharma Bums actually, haha. Fun times.
I’ll check that out, thanks for the suggestion.
Yep, it was just finally translated into English last year. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next books' translations!
My copy of Tower of Fools just arrived. Thanks again for the suggestion.
Nice let me know what you think!
I just finished it, excellent recommendation. I can’t wait for “Warriors of Gods”.
Reading Silence by Shusaku Endo. It's an interesting read into Catholicism/Christianity's introduction in Japan and the extreme about-face of any foreign thought or influence that pervaded until the end of WWII.
I've wanted to see the movie but I wonder if the book is where I should start. Sounds fascinating.
Right now, in my fiction pile, I'm reading Matter by Iain M. Banks. This is one of the Culture series of novels and, like all of them, it's equal parts fascinating and terrifying. I'm looking forward to the latest Joe Abercrombie when I'm done...
In my non-fiction pile, I'm working my way through Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton. It's very, very dense, but filled with a ton of interesting stories. Learning more about the founding of our country's political systems and the structure of the debates is highly recommended given the sharpness of today's social and political divide.
Ever since 1999 when I read 'Fight Club' before the movie came out, I've made it a habit to read the book before the movie or show. So I'm reading 'High-Rise' by J.G. Ballard because I just learned there's a movie adaptation with Tom Hiddleston.
I'm reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian is a favorite genre, and I'm working through some "best of" lists. Recently finished 1984 by Orwell (finally) and The Dog Stars by Peter Heller which was very well written, and I enjoyed it very much. And being a King fan I've read The Stand, but The Dark Tower series is the quintessential sample of the genre, imho.
3/4 of the way through Oryx and Crake, and I'm undecided on it. It could go either way this last 1/4.
This morning I finished Maskerade, another Terry Pratchett that I needed to read to fill in my gaps, and as it featured the witches it was really good fun, as expected.
I then started reading The Sportswriter by Richard Ford who is a completely new author for me so I've really no idea what to expect so looking forward to it with some trepidation. Fingers crossed.
I'm reading The Stand, The Complete and Uncut Edition. I read the original quite a few years back, and started reading the Uncut after the new CBS mini series fizzled about half way through. Then I had to rewatch "Stephen King's The Stand" mini series to compare with the new one...and in the middle of all that I'm up to page 944 in the book. Next on the list is the Dark Tower series in sequential order. I'm a nerd.
I haven't really been reading any books, lately.
I think the most recent book I finished, sometime late last year maybe, was my reread of the first Witcher book, The Last Wish. The plan was to go through the entire Witcher book series again.
Since I've gotten sucked back into EVE, that's meant less time for reading. Well, except for stuff that I can readily access on PC (e.g., the r/askhistorians subreddit, which I recommend people check out).
I'll probably reread the EVE Online books that I have, too: Empyrean Age and Templar One, both by Tony Gonzales. Both books are very good, IMHO, but do need a bit of EVE knowledge (e.g., when ships are discussed or mentioned).
I also have another EVE book, The Burning Life, but after seeing some negative reviews, I've held off reading it.
Thanks for the reddit recommendation. I never did get into EVE. I tried but it was just too much of a time investment. I was even invited all expenses paid to CCCP HQ but couldn't accept!
Ooh. I would like to see the CCP HQ in Iceland, if not for the EVE/CCP stuff, then...well, Iceland. lol
And, yeah, EVE is a massive time sink. Then again, I guess that can be said of any MMO or online game with persistence (e.g., Destiny 2, Warframe).
That said, even the stories about it are worth diving into. If not the books, then the various trailers/cinematics and even community lore videos (also like Destiny 2: I don't play it anymore, but I still watch the youtuber 'My name is Byf' for his lore videos).