Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

I finished The Passage late last night. Thanks to @FuriousMachine for the recommendation also curse you as I've discovered it's a trilogy 🤣.

Fantastic book reminded me of a few things. It had The Last of Us vibes and also a bit like The Strain which I also enjoyed.

Next up The Troop by Nick Cutter. Looks like it'll be a quick read. It has been compared to Lord of the Flies, looking forward to diving in!

@MightyDemon82 Really glad you enjoyed it; it's high on my list of favourite series and, yes, "voluminous" and "epic" are both suitable descriptors, I think.
Interested to hear your take on "The Troop". I've heard good things, but another book of Cutter's that I've read, "The Deep", didn't connect with me for some reason, so I'm a bit unsure of "The Troop".

I’m currently reading “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick. It’s been an excellent book, and very well paced. I didn’t realize it was the inspiration for Blade Runner, but it is. If you’re a fan of science fiction, I strongly recommend this book.

Trying to pick up my reading habit big time. For this month:

Finishing up What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula, a light, classic, and very readable summation of essential Buddhist teachings (the actual text itself is done, but the last quarter of this edition includes translated sermons, so I'm working on those. Just completed the Fire Sermon)

After that, I'll move on to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which I'm excited to finally read again.

If I manage to get through those in time, I think I'll try for a third and knock out Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (my only full experience with his work is Breakfast of Champions, a work I admire for how effortless the prose and humor felt).

@Kraven I think reading it as a Blade Runner fan can make it difficult to appreciate. The connections are obvious, but Dick's work is so wildly different from the film adaptation that I didn't end up getting much out of it. I'd like to revisit it one day with fewer expectations and see if I can appreciate it on its own merits.

@Ralizah I'd recommend the 1818 version of Shelley's Frankenstein .Think it's the original draft, I thoroughly enjoyed reading that in my 20s, hopefully you'll enjoy it just as much if you decide to pick it up and if you haven't gotten an alternative - and I'm sure still enjoyable version already.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN It's the version with chapters, so I'm pretty sure it's the revised edition. I do want to grab one of those versions someday that discuss the differences between the releases.

I just finished “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and I found it quite fantastic, and made me contemplate life in different ways. I’m now either going to start “Pet Semetary” from Stephen King, or “King Rat” by James Clavell.

I just started Moby-Dick yesterday afternoon. Loving the prose style so far, and all the love of the sea that the protagonist/narrator seems to be so embroiled within. I can already see why it's hailed as a classic! .

Edit: Read the first Chapter now.

I’m currently reading “Billy Summers” by Stephen King. I read about 100 pages in a single day, and it’s been great so far—a lot of build up and exposition. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds because it’s been compelling from the start.

Just finished Exodus: The Archimedes Engine (Goodreads page) and wow... just wow! What a fantastic universe Hamilton and the people at Archetype Entertainment have created here! I was initially worried about this book as I've previously struggled to keep up with Hamilton's large cast of characters and multiple interconnected storylines in the Night's Dawn trilogy and the reviews of this one seemed to indicate that it could pose the same challenge for me. I am, however, looking so much forward to the Exodus game that I had to give it a shot and I'm glad I did. Not only had I absolutely no trouble keeping up with the many characters, factions and storylines present in the book, but I found them all completely engrossing and incredibly compelling. Also, when finishing a book of this size, I am typically sated and ready for something new, but with this one I'm still craving more and not at all ready to move on to other things. Luckily there is an animated Exodus TV episode coming in December already (as part of the "Secret Level" series) and there will hopefully not be too long to wait for the game and the sequel to this novel (neither of which has a firm release date at the time of writing)
I think this may be one of my favourite space opera sci-fi novels, surpassing even The Expanse series, which I hold in very high esteem.

And with that, I'll resume my regularly scheduled programming and return to my favourite teenage sociopath, John Wayne Cleaver in Dan Wells' I Don't Want to Kill You (Goodreads page)

I tore through I Don't Want to Kill You (Goodreads page), the third novel in Dan Wells' "John Cleaver" series, in just a few days and it was, like the other two, quite excellent!
My favourite teenage sociopath is back fighting demons and the character keeps getting even more layered and interesting as he grows and learns more about himself. This case wasn't quite as gnarly as the previous one, but it had its share of thrills and spills nonetheless. Additionally, his adversaries avoids being one-note and exhibits individual quirks, personalities and motivations, so I'm very curious to see what's next for the young Mr. Cleaver.

Now it's time to check in with another favourite character of mine, Holly Gibney, in Stephen King's Holly (Goodreads page)

Been a while since I last posted. Don't read The Troop if you find animal cruelty upsetting. I had fun with this one even if non of the characters were particularly likeable.

Really enjoying Lovecraft Country, I should finish that tonight and then it's Interview with the Vampire up next!

@MightyDemon82 The sequel to "Lovecraft Country", "Destroyer of Worlds" is equally as good, in my opinion. I have discovered over the years that I love "Lovecraftian" stories, but cannot abide Lovecraft himself

I've decided to set aside some time on Sundays to read dead-tree editions of books and comics, but I've not been very good at sticking to it. Today I remembered, though, and read the first TPB of Boom! Studios reimagining of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I brought home from my Scotland vacation this summer. It does for Buffy what Marvel did with their "Ultimate" line of comics, and having read the first four issues, I'm not sure it works for me. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. The artwork is exquisite and they capture the likeness of the various actors who played the characters in the TV show incredibly well, sometimes eerily so.
Not sure if the story really does it for me though, but I have four more TPBs on my shelf, so I will give them a shot next Sunday (or whenever next I remember to set aside time for print media)

@FuriousMachine How do you manage to "tear through" books so rapidly? It's quite impressive. I usually tend to spend a longer time on mine, savouring them over a longer period of time, in case I miss anything. You're definitely a voracious reader imo. Which can only be a good thing.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN hehehe, that last John Cleaver novel was indeed a fast read. I typically read on the bus to and from work, during my lunch break and often also during other meals, if I'm by myself. Sometimes, though, a book grabs me so hard that I can spend an entire evening or most of a slow Sunday reading. I'm not a particularly fast reader, though, so how much reading I get done comes down to how I manage my spare time (of which I have plenty). Also, I guess most of what I read could be considered "literary fast food", but I'm there mostly for good stories, not necessarily high prose (which will slow me down considerably)
I average around 13000 pages pr. year, spread out over an average of 30 books, which isn't too bad and with the sheer amount of books I desperately want to read, with this rate, I may get through at least half of them before shuffling off into the great beyond

Darwin's Black Box.

Just finished Stephen King's Holly (Goodreads page), in which one of my favourite King characters, the titular Holly Gibney, returns and it's another solid and delightfully macabre thriller from Mr. King. I really love these characters and hope King will return to them again in the future. I see a lot of complaints that this book was "too political", which it is, and I can only commiserate as I in turn get turned off by novels with a heavy right wing slant. That being said, King is a horror novelist and one of the most frightening lines in this novel were, and I'm paraphrasing, that Trump may return as president in 2024. To me, that's pure horror, but if you're of a differing opinion, this book is probably not for you.

Next, I'll be checking in with good old Harry Bosch in Michael Connelly's The Crossing (Goodreads page)

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari.

Another fast read done during the weekend, as I started and finished Michael Connelly's The Crossing (Goodreads page). Bosch crosses over to the dark side when he takes on an investigation for his half-brother, defense lawyer Mickey Haller. It's always fun when these characters cross paths, but this time around I felt they both seemed a little d-baggy. Not that any of them would win any congeniality awards in the first place, but still. They do make a good team, though, and the story was compelling as always.

Next up I return to my Dean Koontz reading project, with Strangers (Goodreads page), I think this was one of the Koontz novels I read back in the late eighties, but my memory from back then is hazy. Either way, I've been looking forward to this one.