Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@MightyDemon82 great choice. It's selling amazing at my store

@MightyDemon82 Ooh, lovely artwork! Looks interesting, too, so on the list it goes

Having spent the previous week on a late-summer Mediterranean holiday, I finished Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" (Goodreads page), which, while fun in concept, didn't really "click" with me. Not sure why that is, but it was still worth three stars in my Goodreads review.

Now I'm back in the company of Geralt and Ciri and the rest, having read about a quarter of "The Tower of the Swallow" (Goodreads page), the fourth novel in Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher-series. It's a bit uneven so far, but overall I've been enjoying it.

@FuriousMachine @Elodin I finished Godkiller and it was fantastic, unusual to see a modern day fantasy at under 300 pages. I Highly recommend this one and eagerly await February to continue the journey with these wonderful characters!

@MightyDemon82 awesome. Short novels are trending. My store has a table of short novels that continue to sell well. Great for a quick read or help reaching that "read so many books in a year goal". Martha Wells Murderbot series helped me get there. A strong recommend.

@Elodin I didn't really plan on having a goal, but now we are into October and I'll start book 38 today(once I choose my next read). I will be happy if I reach 50 by the end of the year.

I hear about that series a lot on YouTube. Will no doubt read them at some point.

@MightyDemon82 Nice! I have it on my reading list, but my memory isn't what it once was, so I'll hold off on it until we get closer to the publication of the third novel.

@Elodin Also on my reading list; been hearing good things about them I was trailing a bit too much for comfort with regards to my annual 30 book reading challenge as spring turned to summer, so I bumped up quite a few "shorties" of around 2-300 pages, so now I'm currently one book ahead of schedule. Gotta meet that reading challenge. Missed it during the pandemic and it still fills me with shame whenever I see it in my Goodreads profile

Good to know that the Murderbots can assist should I be trailing again in the future

@FuriousMachine aye my book shame comes more when I look at my bookshelves and see all the books I haven't read yet. Do i go to them next too read? Usually no, ill buy the next interesting book and read that lol.
@MightyDemon82 wow 38 is already a great achievement! Closest I got was 35. Im going to make the excuse that many fantasy novels are quite long or games like Baldurs Gate 3 come out and monopolize what little free time i have. Good luck towards 50.

What is everyone's palette cleansing book? As in after you read an amazing book, you almost get a book hangover and it's hard to pickup that next book. For me I tend to reread a Jim butcher Dresden Files book or gravitate to a more light humorous novel like "No Country For Old Gnomes".

@Elodin Thanks I'll give it a good try anyway. I have picked Catch 22 as my current book.

That's a tough question. I mainly tend to go for a manga or graphic novel after a pretty lengthy book. Don't tend to reread books often!

i got the paperback novelization of Halloween Ends earlier today so I just started reading that

also, still busy with the third book of the Shadow Moon Trilogy which is the book series sequel to the classic Willow movie

@Elodin Great question I always have a short story collection going, so whenever I finish a novel, I'll read a short story from whichever collection I'm currently at. However, as the year is winding down and that reading challenge goal looks shaky, I've been skipping them lately and just go straight into the next novel on my reading list (this may also be due to the fact that I've not exactly been blown away by the stories in the current collection so far, so it's been a bit of a chore to pick up)

I am still reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, it is a work of meta-fiction, specifically focused on the act of reading, and draws from a diverse number of sources. Thoroughly enjoying it. Hopefully the other works by the same author are equally captivating.

Just finished "The Tower of the Swallow" (Goodreads page) by Andrzej Sapkowski, the sixth book about The Witcher. The series is still holding my interest and I gave this one four stars in my Goodreads review. I'm looking forward to reading the conclusion (I believe the eighth book is a prequel), but before I get to that, there are a couple of other books to get through.

Next up is another short-ish book of around 250 pages; "Buffalo Bayou" (Goodreads page) by Tom Abrahams, a noir crime thriller.

I've finished Catch 22, It had me laughing throughout at just how daft it was. Next up Fahrenheit 451, I have quite a few classics lined up. Here's hoping they're as good as people say they are!

@FuriousMachine Definitely want to get into the witcher series and Buffalo Bayou sounds good.

@MightyDemon82 Both "Catch 22" and "Fahrenheit 451" are both on my reading list (and I will refrain from making the old joke of not having read all the previous books in the series ). There are many, many classics I've never read and have some lined up. I finally read one of my favourite books, Bram Stoker's "Dracula", in English for the first time a short while back (had only read it in Norwegian back in the late 80's). Also enjoyed Wells' "War of the Worlds" and intended to follow up with Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Melville's "Moby Dick", among others, but got distracted by newer shiny things They're still on the list, though, so will get to them one day.

The Witcher series isn't perfect, but I've enjoyed it quite a lot so far, and it's way better than the Netflix series, IMHO. "Buffalo Bayou" has been quite good so far, too (about halfway through). Proper noir with an appropriately nihilistic main character, as well.

@MightyDemon82
Fahrenheit 451 is one of fave ever books and Catch 22 remains one of the funniest things I've ever read, you seem to have struck quite a gold vein at the moment.

@FuriousMachine
I've read most of the classics you mentioned but despite a couple of attempts haven't managed to get more than a couple of chapters into Moby Dick, it remains firmly shelved as something about it just wouldn't click with me.

Recently finished The Perfect Fool by Stewart Lee. Mildly amusing and weird but nothing exceptional. Cost me about a quid from charity shop and it was probably worth that.

@sorteddan Yeah, "Moby Dick" is actually the one I'm most worried I'll struggle with, but I'm willing to give it a fair shake... one day...

Some classics I didn't finish, because life is too short, are "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac and the works of HP Lovecraft. "On the Road" I simply found exceptionally boring. I really wanted to like Lovecraft as I love the mythos, but I found the dense language and massive casual racism too offputting, so I gave up in the end. Some of the stories were interesting, though.

@FuriousMachine
I've read pretty much all of Lovecrafts stuff too but I usually advise people not to! The stories are good but like you mention the dense, archaic language actually makes it tiring to read, too much like work in my opinion. And I always wanted to get around to On The Road, so hopefully might make it further than you if I ever get hold of a copy.

Moby Dick, however, can remain firmly on my wall (shelf) of shame.

You can have mine