Books

WE ARE LEGION (We are Bob) - terrible name for a book. Actually enjoyable read.

The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharon McCrumb.

The sheriff of a fictional rural county in East Tennessee is invited to witness the execution of a local man he arrested 20 years ago for a double murder on the Appalachian Trail. He remembers what the then sheriff told him at the trial:

There's only two murder cases in these mountains I'm not happy with. One is the fellow you're about to put on death row, and the other is Frankie Silver.

So he ruminates over both of these cases, wondering if justice was served, or if something was missed. The Frankie Silver case is told through Burgess Gaither, clerk of the court that tried and executed her.

I think I'll count this for folklore (3A) bingo square. The author did significant historical research into Frankie's case which after 200 years is probably more legend than fact. Other of McCrumb's novels might also be good recommendations for this category, or just in general.

I just read 1984 because it feels relevant (unfortunately). Overall, very interesting and obviously bleak…

I am now reading The Poppy War and am enjoying it so far.

Finished Streams of Silver by R. A. Salvatore. 2nd books in Icewind Dale Trilogy (sub series in Forgotten Realms series).

The book is a very quick and easy read. Took me about 2 and half months, but that's mostly because of my personal life, in normal situation, I guess I would've finished it in a week or so, maybe even less.

Thinking about starting the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, I read most of it a long time ago, but didn't finish the series, so thinking about reading it again, and completing it, but I don't have the books, so will start something else if I don't buy them today/tomorrow.

Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio. It's a space epic. Pretty good so far. The first book is a bit of a slog but really picks up in the later 3rd. The second book is much better so far. Still kind of a slow read though. 80 short 10ish page chapters is a slowdown factor for me. If it was 15 to 20 pages it would be paced better imo.

Just finished Pax Romana. Not much that was brand new to me in it, but it reinforced my views on 'barbarian' polities relations with the Empire as dynamic and active, rather than passive and reactive.

On my third pass though of all 41 Discworld novels in the past 18-months. Yeah, turned into a fanatic. So wish I had started years ago. Catching all the jokes, references, etc. might take a dozen readings. I'm sure I'm missing many by virtue of not being British.

Too many quotes, too many favorite characters, couldn't scratch the surface talking about them. The characters and real-world parallels make for the best fiction I've ever read.

If these don't serve to whet your appetite, maybe it won't be your jam.

From the book I'm on now:

“...but what should we do when the highborn and wealthy take to crime? Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger, how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man who breaks the law out of greed?”

Found a related one looking for the above:

“He hadn’t had much experience with the rich and powerful. Coppers didn’t, as a rule. It wasn’t that they were less prone to commit crimes, it was just that the crimes they committed tended to be so far above the normal level of criminality that they were beyond the reach of men with bad boots and rusting mail. Owning a hundred slum properties wasn’t a crime, although living in one was, almost. Being an Assassin—the Guild never actually said so, but an important qualification was being the son or daughter of a gentleman—wasn’t a crime. If you had enough money, you could hardly commit crimes at all. You just perpetrated amusing little peccadilloes.”

A favorite:

Granny Weatherwax, the greatest witch the Discworld has seen, discussing theology with a young priest:

"There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."

"It's a lot more complicated than that--"

"No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts."

"Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--"

"But they starts with thinking about people as things..."

Oh, hell, one more:

“I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs, a very endearing sight, I'm sure you'll agree. And even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half submerged log.

As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature's wonders, gentlemen. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain.

If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.”

Currently reading The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow. Not sure how I feel about it yet. The positivity and inclusiveness were nice at first, but it's being laid on so thick that it's starting to feel uncomfortable. Like fan service in an anime.

It's really good at making you feel like peace and progress are fragile while fascism feels iron-clad.

I just re-read Neuromancer and then read Count Zero for the first time, absolutely loved it. I'm starting Mona Lisa Overdrive tomorrow.

I am also still slogging through the Night's Dawn series by Peter F. Hamilton, and I kind of hate it.

Close to halfway through Sword of the Lictor, book three of the new sun series. Really enjoying the weirdness of the setting. Tons of interesting characters and locations, the main plot moves kind of slowly while the main character gets side tracked or waylaid and those are some of the best parts, especially since they all become meaningful as it goes on.

Realized by the end of the first book that it's clearly a major influence for the Troika! tabletop role playing game, which made some of the more archaic terminology more familiar. Finally fully understand what an Alzabo is.

I just finished Rick Riordan's Daughter of the Deep - it was really enjoyable. While I doubt the twist is super hard to predict if you try, it really caught me off guard.

I'm about to start the second book in Cinda Williams Chima's Runestone Saga, Bane of Asgard. I really loved the first one, and am quite excited to dig into the next.

Just finished Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.

Now I'm halfway though Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green.

I would highly recommend both books if you like to see how our world is sculpted by generations of racial and political abuse.

I just started Never Flinch, by Stephen King. I'm an absolute fan of Stephen King, so I couldn't not start reading it.

I have a reading book and a listening book on the go. Still working on Stormlight Archive book 5: Wind and Truth. The good guys just experienced another major setback, and the setbacks keep piling up. Makes it a bit hard to want to carry on even though you know most things will turn out in the end.

I'm also listening to Brandon Sanderson's The Reckoners series. I'm on book 3 and been just loving the premise of "What if there are superheroes, but they're all evil? What do the regular people do?".

I finished Richard Vandermarck recently. It's a bit old-fashioned (with a focus on Christian religion), but a good story about a young woman's tragic first love and then getting a second chance with a family friend years later.

I started Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey over the weekend. I’m excited to read what happens in this arc of the story.

I’m also reading All Systems Red by Martha Wells via audiobook for the first time because of the show. I’m really enjoying both the books and the show.

In the middle of The Flux by Ferrett Steinmetz. Liking it better than The Flex, but I wish it had more worldbuilding. Like, what exactly happened to Europe?

I'm currently reading Zero 22 by Chris Ryan. It's about an SAS operative, and is a sequel to Black Ops. I loved Black Ops but thought the ending was naff. It appears he had Zero 22 in mind when he wrote that ending. Still naff, but I'm enjoying Z 22 so far.

I have plenty of books I’m partway through I should be reading, but Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid just came out and instantly jumped to the top of my list. Been looking forward to this one!

I am just finishing up on Sandersons Tress of the Emerald Sea, it is pretty good, usual Sanderson affair and that is never bad!

I also just started reading the English translation of the Angentinian comic The Eternaut. I just finished the TV series which was a random choice not knowing anything about it and I really enjoyed it although it was somewhat unsatisfying in terms of not really answering any questions regarding what is actually going on. So I decided to read the original material to find out!

Should be wrapping up The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold in the next day or two. I like it enough to finish it, but apart from a few sections, it's much slower than I generally care for.

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Read:

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

After an investigation goes sideways, a detective gets relegated to running a cold cases department with just one assistant. They end up looking into a politician's disappearance from 5 years ago.

I enjoyed this (and it was a fast read), but the details of the disappearance are kind of gimmicky. I've since watched the Danish adaptation, which I found kind of disappointing for how much they stripped out and tweaked (although they did tone down some of the stereotyping, thankfully). Planning to watch the new series that came out last week as well (Department Q), to see how it compares.

Bingo squares: continent HM, motion picture, orange, x of y, alliterative, award HM, responsibility HM, jerk HM (maybe?)

Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo

A detective that can see spirits gets involved in a case that's connected to his past, and is forced to team up with someone he hates to defeat the soul-eating monster behind it all.

This was a fun little novella, incorporating elements of Korean shamanism into kind of an urban fantasy with horror elements. It's well-paced, and manages to give you a decent sense of the main characters, despite being plot-heavy. I had a couple of small quibbles with it, but will gladly try more from this author.

Bingo squares: minority author HM, x of y, short, lgbtqia+

Being almost finished with Martha Well's The Murderbot Diaries AS WELL, I just started to read Curse Breaker, which is the first book of Richard Schwartz' Ice Raven Chronicles.

I would've never touched Murderbot if not for the feddit.org hopepunk bookclub, simply because I didn't know it existed. It's such a cool series though, unlike anything I've read before, and I hate they just adapted it into a - probably mediocre at best - TV show. Do you consider giving it a try?

Don't have a strong opinion about Curse Breaker yet, but I'm not sure if it even got an English translation either, so there's that.

Nearly finished re-reading Murderbot as well, currently on book 7. After that I’m planning to check out the Warhammer 40k Dark Imperium series on my wife’s recommendation (she’s listening to Dark Imperium via audiobook now).