What are you reading?

[Miss Chicken]

I am listening to Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez, narrated by the author.

Currently hearing about the Birka Warrior. The skeleton was uncovered in 1889 and assumed to be a male. Goods found in the grave included a sword, an axe, a spear, armour-piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields, and two horses, one mare and one stallion. For more that 120 years no one had trouble with the goods proving that the skeleton was that of a warrior but when DNA testing proved that the remains were those of a female, the warrior status started to be questioned.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I am listening to Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David k Randall, narrated by Charles Constant.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Currently reading the Frightfest Guide: Monster Movies by Michael Gingold.

 

[cultcross]

Let me know if you make it all the way through. I've tried reading it and listening to the audio book and just couldn't do it. He really needs a better editor.

I got there. It picks up in the final couple of chapters but there is a long-ass slog in the middle where nothing of import happens. With three chapters to go in Dance, the major players are essentially in the exact same place they were at the end of Crows. There's one particularly infuriating bit where Tyrion ends up in the fighting pit in front of Dany, just as in the show, but instead of having the reveal there and then, oh, he just leaves. For reasons.
Then we get a flurry of developments to end on cliffhangers. If we ever get the last books, he's going to have to pick up the pace significantly.

Other recent reading - I read The Handmaid's Tale while on holiday, I have read it before but many years ago and I wanted a refresh before starting The Testaments. It really is a very good book, the way that so much weight of oppression is conveyed through someone who does little but sit in a bedroom and go shopping is extraordinary. Sadly my wife didn't enjoy The Testaments very much, saying it read like a setup for a TV show more than a true sequel to the original book, but I will give it a try myself.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Finished The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp. It's billed as a Princess Bride-ish YA fantasy novel, and I'm not sure how close in style it is to the Princess Bride as I've never read it, but I honestly struggled with this. There were fun moments, but ultimately it was kind of a chore and I couldn't wait for it to end. Well, I don't read much fantasy, so maybe that's why, but I had to imagine that this being a YA novel, that it would have been just as difficult for the target demo to be enthused by it. But maybe it's just me.

 

[Velocity]

fallen by Benedict Jacka --- I have enjoyed this series a lot.

 

[rahullak]

The Book of Frank Herbert.

A nice little selection of short-stories by Frank Herbert of Dune fame.

 

[TheSeeker]

Mistborn - The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonette. About a third of the way through. I had no idea that the owner of Ty Inc who makes the beanie babies is such an arsehole.

I wonder if Funko Pops will end up going the same way as Beanie Babies did? I buy Funko Pops but not not as a form of investment like some people do.

 

[Owain Taggart]

So, I've finished The President is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton, and it was a fairly good thriller. I could see a potential book series out of this as it shows some potential.

I've just started Us Against You by Fredrik Backman, which is the sequel to Beartown which I loved. It's about what happens when a small town hinges their survival on a hockey team and what happens when that hockey team becomes a problem. I could picture this being any small town hinging on any particular sport or industry for their livelyhood. It becomes so much more than just being about the sport, but about the people and how everyone is being affected by it.

 

[USS Firefly]

Time of contempt

 

[Skellington]

I recently finished Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, as translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. The protagonist is an eccentric old woman with a penchant for astrology and for the written works of William Blake. When a neighbor who was fond of hunting is found dead after apparently choking on a bone, she begins to believe that animals could have killed him out of vengeance. Then other members of his hunting club start to meet unpleasant ends. The novel’s humour and quirky philosophising probably went a long way toward its being shortlisted for the 2019 International Booker Prize. Highly recommended.

Now reading Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Us Against You by Fredrick Bachman was so disappointing. First book was great, but this one felt like it rambled on and was anti-climactic.

Now onto Button Man by Andrew Gross.

 

[USS Firefly]

The Tower of Swallows, so far the Witcher novels are very good

 

[Miss Chicken]

I am listening to Unthinkable: An Extraordinary JourneyThrough the World’s Strangest Brains by Helen Thomson, narrated by the author. At the moment I am hearing about people who have amazing memories.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Issue #125 of G-Fan.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I finished Unthinkable which was excellent. The cases discussed in it included a man who believed he was dead, a woman who had gone deaf but heard neverending music in her head, a man who thought he could turn to a tiger, a man who remembered everything.

Now I am listening to The Boys in the Cave: Deep Inside the Impossible Rescue in Thailand by Matt Gutman, narrated by the author.

 

[Nyotarules]

TNG Indistinguishable from magic

 

[Mrs. Silvercrest]

Nancy Drew book the hidden bunglow.

 

[thestrangequark]

I am reading everything. I'm doing a freelance job where I read high school level books, primarily academic nonfiction on specialized subjects (biographies, cultural studies, science, history, etc.), with a few fiction titles peppered in. I'm writing reading comprehension questions for each book. I've been averaging 5-7 books a day. It's a really cool job overall, and I've learned a lot. Some of the books have been surprisingly sophisticated and interesting (the biography of Steve Jobs was an unexpected highlight, as was that of Verdi), but I admit my brain is turning to mush.

Today I've read biographies of Darwin, Lincoln, and Einstein, and a nonfiction book about the history and culture of the Vikings. I'm going to try to get in one or two more books before bed.