I'm on book 12 of The Wheel of Time, The Gathering Storm. So far not seeing the changes of Brandon Sanderson's writing in how this book is written but I am still enjoying it. Maybe his writing is more apparent in the later parts of this book. Either way, the ending of 11 got me really excited for what is to come in the final parts of this epic story.

Finished Crossbows, an excellent tome on the history and construction of crossbows (and as a bonus, siege engines). A friend suggested it during a conversation about D&D.

Also Witch King by Martha Wells. Fantasy. Very different from the Murderbot diaries. Very good.

桃花扇 (Táo Huā Shàn / "The Peach Blossom Fan")

Though this particular translator chose to render the title as Peach Blooms Painted with Blood, the literal and most common translation is the one I gave. It's effectively the life's work of 孔尚任 (Kǒng Shàngrèn), a 64th generation direct descendent of 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ or Confucius). Writing it was a 20-year effort ending with its first performance in 1699 to widespread acclaim. It is considered a peak of Chinese historical drama and has been transformed and reinterpreted in many forms and many ways across its over-three century history.

The plot revolves around the romance between a scholar and a courtesan in the face of competition from corrupt officials atop a backdrop of the decline and fall of the Ming Dynasty. It features historical figures prominently with a rather pointed "J'accuse" at several of them for causing and/or hastening the decline.

This being a Chinese romantic drama, one of the two traditional ends befalls the lead characters: the courtesan becomes a nun, and the scholar a monk. (The other traditional end is that the leads die.)

Finished The Alchemist’s Secret by Clare Marchant. Now I’m reading Ask For Andrea by Noelle Ihli.

The Fall of Hyperion

I read Hyperion recently and for the most part really liked it, it’s written in the style of Canterbury Tales - although the first tale was BY FAR the best and the book really should have stayed on that train of thought - and ended on the biggest cliff hanger

Book two so far is paced and structured really differently so I’m struggling a bit but damn I need to know what’s going on with those time tombs!!

Started 5th book in Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and am really enjoying it.

Also started Queens of the Crusades by Alison Weir. Its the second book in her series about medieval queens of england. Has been interesting and maybe not as in depth as i might hope but still a lot of detail

I’m on my third run through Dungeon Crawler Carl (the audiobook is my background noise now - it’s replaced the Office and Parks and Rec).

And now I’ve started on Wool by Hugh Howey. I watched Silo recently and wanted to get ahead of the show before it comes back.

Through 4 of the 8 released Dungeon Crawler Carl books - they’re so fun

Rereading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. It's one of the longest series I've read but the payoff is oh so worth it. Even though the last 3 books had to be finished by another author after Jordan's death, Brandon Sanderson managed to keep up quality while not trying to mimic Jordan's style and that eventually got me into Sanderson's other books.

Slow rolling my way through the latest Dungeon Crawler Carl. I've also got Burden To Bear from Gregory Amato to finish up, but it isn't really grabbing me.

Living my life by Emma Goldman her autobiography basically and it is a good look at her life and thinking and in a broader way the state of radical politics in America especially in immigrant communities in late 1800's early 1900's would definitely recommend it.

The other day I finished The Two Towers, it was great. Right after that I binged all of Skin Game (Dresden Files 15) in one day which has been my favourite in the series since the first time I read it.

Now I'm just cleaning up a couple of random things I've had on the backburner, then it's Return of the King, Peace Talks and Battle Ground as soon as possible so that I can get to Twelve Months.

Other than that, I've picked up my The Wise Man's Fear audiobook again now that I'm working out regularly again because it was my gym noise back in... wow late 2024. Time flies.

Apparently Michael G Manning's latest book came out a couple of weeks ago too, but I haven't had any luck finding it for some reason, no idea what's happening there 🤷‍♂️

I finally got around to the Psy Corps books in the Babylon 5 universe. Interesting that we only discovered teeps in humans because university students were told to find something absurd, study it clinically, and write a paper on it because you all need to learn how to write scientific papers.

Just finished 'Children Of Strife' the fourth book in the 'Children Of Time' series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

One one hand, he has a trope he keeps going back to, on the other he makes it work pretty well.

I'd suggest starting with the first book, and reading the whole series.

Classic.

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett.

This book created the whole noir genre. The plots been used and reused dozens of times, but it's good to go back to where it all started.

A tough private detective is dispatched to a corrupt mining city. It's full of warring gangs and our hero is going to clean it up, no matter how many murders it takes.

Just began Demon in White. The 3rd book of The Sun Eater series. In the very beginning but ok so far. Will see what adventure Marlowe get into this time.

An Isaac Asimov collection called “The Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction - Intergalactic Empires I”

It covers some stories about Empires, that he quantifies as having a “rational historical backround” and says his Foundation series is the first to do so in 1942.

One of the stories is his own, and is Foundation adjacent, just takes place in his universe, it’s titled “Blind Alley”

Linky

After this it’s the next Star Wars book which is “Children of the Jedi”

I'm on The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey. This is my 6th Pern book. It's not my favorite, but overall I am still greatly enjoying the world. The main character is in an interesting predicament and so far I've found the way he navigates it to be relatable. His characterization also feels quite realistic for an 18 year old brought up in his circumstances.

Reading Dracula through Dracula Daily

I finished Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams. As bad as I thought Facebook was, it was actually worse. It was an awful but fascinating read.

The one thing that stood out to me was how the author seemingly failed to grasp that she is just as bad as all these other people at Facebook she was writing about. There was zero self reflection or admission of her massive part in making Facebook what it is today (she was Director of Global Public Policy). From the way the book is written, if she was called out on her part in Facebook's rise I would expect a Nuremberg defence.

Currently reading "the atrocity engine" by Tim Waggoner. I think it was mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to try it out. I'm about half way through, and still undecided.

I started One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston and I think I’m going to take it slowly. I’ll probably start It Rhymes With Takei by George Takei for my book club this week.

Just finished Ella Minnow Pea because of someone's suggestion here of good epistolary novels. It was great! Highly recommend.

Reading Woodworking by Emily St James currently. It is also incredibly good! I can't put it down.

Just finished My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall and started A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston

Still listening to Echoes of Worlds by M. C. Carey.

Reread through Flood by Stephen Baxter. Now a third or so through the sequel Ark. Read them years ago, remembering stuff a bit as I go back through it, but seeing it anew as an starting author, and comparing writing and such with what I have. Did that earlier with Artemis. Made me feel a bit better for my writing, even though I do have a ways to go editing.

The Deluge by Stephen Markley

What the fuck is our future. I've been describing this book to people as climate change horror.

Uprooted by Naomi Novak as an audio book

The fire next time by James Baldwin

Having finished the Complete Lovecraft I decided to move on to something light; Dark Fantasy is a 1988 horror anthology, whose stories range from Urban and Folk horror, to psychosexual and domestic horrors. I'm 100 pages in so far and it's got some promise, some genuine chills Life Line was especially alarming in this age of AI companions, but Iike all anthologies there's good with the bad, Charley was kinda mean spirited and uncomfortably sexualised.

Recommended only if you find it in some dingy bookshop for less than £2.

Just finished two books by Katherine Addison — The Goblin Emperor and Witness for the Dead. Both were enjoyable!

Piranesi

and

Operation Bouncehouse

Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence by Judith Herman.

It’s been a slow reading week, but I’ve at least gotten my 10 minutes of reading before bed each night.

Still working my way through Catalyst Gate by Megan E. O’Keefe, the 3rd book of The Protectorate trilogy. It’s really good and I’m excited to see how the series ends.

I'm 80% of the way through Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. I found a lot of time to read over the weekend, but now that I'm at the climax and dying to find out if my guess for the bad guy is right, I'm back to a little bit every night. My thoughts so far: it's evenly paced, but I do kinda think the first 60-70% could've been shortened a little.