Ask Lemmy

1Q84. Magical realism. Bizarre, but can't stop reading. I need to know mooore.

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. It's set in a fantasy medieval Europe. Unfortunately, its not long out and is the first of a series, so I'll have to wait for the rest.

I reread 1984, Animal Farm and Farenheight 451 recently, for no particular reason, but they are more accurate and depressing than ever about current events.

Highly recommended. But be prepared to be angry or depressed.

Project Hail Mary Andy wier returns to the roots of The Martian. Also, movie is coming next spring about it.

Dark Matter Some deep physics stuff occurs, but the story can be followed with no knowledge of super position. Also released as a mini series on some streaming channel

Driving directions to your mom's house. 🥁

I'm on book 3 of the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. It's fantasy, it's weird in a lot of ways, but it's well written for the most part and enjoyable to read. It feels like reading an unfolding story of people in a parallel universe where things are half the same and half completely alien and different, but to them, it's commonplace, and I like that.

I'm reading "don't let him in" by Lisa Jewel, it's great so far, very intriguing (I also recommend "none of this is true" by the same author)

Last week I read "the road to tender hearts" by Annie Harnett and it was very moving. It touches very hard topics with a splash of humor to make it easier to digest

I also recommend anything by TJ Klune. His books are very wholesome, sometimes I just want an easy reading where everything is solved with hugs and love

I'm partway through The Have and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultra Rich by Evan Osnos. It is a collection of essays originally published in the New Yorker dissecting the culture and fads of the modern Gilded Age.

I also STRONGLY recommend the Culture series by Iain Banks. It is perhaps the most realistic and well though out sci-fi utopia.

Just started Exordia. It's great for a particular kind of sci-fi fan. Reminds me of Ian McDonald a little.

Trans liberation: beyond pink and blue by leslie feinberg. Very insightful stories.

Holistic management by Allan Savory. Especially if you are interested in permaculture and regenerative practices, sustainability

Just finished Joseph Heller's Catch-22 for the umpteenth time. Always a classic.

I recently started Blood Meridian. It's too early to tell if I like it yet, but I like McCarthy's other works I've read. I'm also listening to the audiobook adaption of Alien: Covenant. It's part of the Audible subscription right now, so I thought I'd give it a try. I like it a bit better than I remember liking the movie. It's pretty similar, but I feel like it adds a little more nuance to some character actions.

I've already finished it, but House of Leaves is amazing

The Stand by Stephen King.

It's over 1200 pages long and I have always been scared of anything above six hundred pages.

It's so good. It's taking me a long time, but it's worth it. As always, Stephen King never let's you down. I just love his writing.

Just finished them instead of reading them right now, but "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. Le Guin. I liked the world building of the first far better, but it didn't hit at the politics I wanted to read about as much as I wanted, the second being the opposite.

I don't know why, but I just need content wrapped in sci-fi for me to find it enjoyable, and "The Dispossessed" in particular was what I was looking for, an exploration of anarchism grounded in examples and thought experiment.

Both of them are fantastic books, and definitely worth a read for anybody interested in science fiction, sexuality & gender, and anarchism.

The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks

The Golem & The Jinni by Helene Wecker

Reading Anne Leckie's latest book, Translation State. If you're a fan of scifi, and especially space operas, I'd recommend her books, but start off with Ancillary Justice.

Sapiens

Finishing the Imperial Radch sci-fi trilogy (Ancillary Justice/Sword/Mercy) by Ann Leckie. Despite the agender language feature (everyone is addressed as she) the books deal more with colonialism, imperialism, and personal identity, rather than gender. Writing style is very information-dense, lots of thoughts and actions happening simultaneously. Compared to other science fiction that I read, it gets much more into the cultural and interpersonal situations, especially the second book.

Slowly making my way through They Though They Were Free by Milton Mayer. Haunting comparisons to today.

The Great God Pan, which is a terrifying novel by Arthur Machen.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.

It's Not You by Dr Remani Durvusala, which is about how to escape from a narcissist and is the most helpful book.

Lita Ford's autobiography Living Like A Runaway.

The expanse

Bouncing between Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions and The Screaming Staircase.

Algorithms is interesting but the actual algorithms aren't terribly useful so far.

The Screaming Staircase has a very neat world but not very interesting characters. I'm hoping it improves.

I just finished Abundance by Ezra Kline and Derek Thompson. A really interesting read regarding the housing crisis and the policies that have halted develpoment in major cities in America. I highly recommend reading this one. I took notes along the way and basically did a book report.

I'm now reading Casino: The Rise and Fall of the Mob in Las Vegas. A fascinating book that inspired the Scorsese film by the same title. Recommended for anyone with interest in Vegas or the mob. It's written kinda like a series of interviews from the perspectives of the different people involved. The (alleged) mob guys and the FBI agents who were investigating them.

Next up, I'm likely gonna read Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco. I don't have too much insight on this one yet but I've heard it's pretty great

I just finished The Hair Carpet Weavers by Andreas Eschbach. One of the best first chapters I've read in a long time. Really interesting scifi book that I couldn't put down.