Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.
I read his previous novels, Consider Phlebas and Player of Games, in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and found them both immensely enjoyable. After around 10 months of having no time to read non-university related material, I picked another book in Banks' Culture series as my first fiction novel of 2020. So far, so good! I'm a bit worried that there's still more than a handful of novels left in this particular sci-fi universe of his, though, since the lion's share of the praise I've seen for the Culture series has been for these first three books (with the occasional shoutout to Excession). I hope the quality doesn't dip too much on the back end of his catalog; I really want to see all the stories Banks had to tell in this world.
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Be sure to check out his non sci-fi works as well, if you haven't already. I consider Banks my favorite author, but the quality of his books is pretty uneven in my opinion. Most of them are brilliant, but there's a couple I found almost unreadable (The Business and Canal Dreams, for example).
As far as the Culture series go, I think you should be in for a treat up to Inversions, after that it gets...shakier.
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Thanks for the advice! I hope to get around to just about everything he's done, eventually; I don't think I've ever been more on board with a writer's creative vision than I am with his. Really like how many cool ideas he inserts into every chapter, how effortlessly he manages his massive worldbuilding, his ability to have extremely funny lines/thoughts/ideas live in harmony with extremely serious and heavy ones, and, IMO, his prose is really good, too.
I just like to pace myself with things I feel like I'm going to be into, so it will probably be a decades-long journey. That's why I was worried about the potential dip in quality. Maybe I'll hold off on his non sci-fi until I get past Inversions, then.
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Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. Should be close to the start of the flashback section which im excited for.
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I'm starting "Peace" by Gene Wolfe.
I found a subreddit where some people said that has a strong "Twin Peaks" vibe. Let's see...
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That sounds like something right up my alley! Please report back (in as vague and spoiler-free a way possible) when you're done with it. "Strong Twin Peaks vibe" is a strong enough pitch to get me to jump into it blind, but books are a pretty big time commitment, so if you don't think it lives up to that description, I'll give it a pass.
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Dune! i may bail, kinda boring. its not that bad, im just not pulled into reading it nonstop like i am with most books. read all of harry potter in like 5 days well i was sick in bed
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Feeling Good, by David D. Burns.
About time I put some cognitive behavior therapy in my life lol.
Not that much of a story since it's a self-help book, but if it helps me write the story of my own life then I'll be pretty satisfied :).
Otherwise I read Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss a few months back and really liked it. Waiting for libraries to reopen to pick up the second book.
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Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, A horror collection call Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti, and a Vampire Hunter D novella Pale Fallen Angel part 3 and 4 by Hideyuki Kikuchi.
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The Magic Shop series by Bruce Coville. I just finished Jennifer Murdley's Toad, which I think so far, is the best in the series. But I do still have two more books to go.
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This thread /unoriginal joke
I currently only read Manga, and even that I do less and less. I used to read books from time to time, but after highschool my enjoyment of reading books disappeared.
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I can't imagine a life without reading books. I can understand being weary after having so called "classics" shoved down your throat at school - reading something that is not grabbing your attention is no fun at all. I think it was a few years after I finished school before I started reading again. Perhaps you have just not found the right book or genre of books that will suck you in.
Here's a small tip that helped get me started on a, so far, life long love affair with reading: Don't be afraid to dump a book if it's not making you want to come back for more! You should know after a few pages, perhaps even a few chapters if you want to read on, but don't fall in the trap of - I started it, so I'll finish it. Life is too short for that and there are soooo many good books out there (good for me at least!).
So start a few books until you find something that won't let you put it down - I promise they exist, but only you can find them!
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Just finished The Singularity Trap by Dennis E. Taylor (who also writes the excellent Bobiverse series); I enjoyed it and highly recommended it if you like modern sci-fi (e.g. newer sci-fi that has decent character and world development as opposed to older sci-fi from the 70-80's that is often very over-the-top stuff with shallow characters)
Just started Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo; not bad so far but only about 5% into the book (judging by audiobook timestamps)
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James S.A. Corey: Nemesis games (fifth book of The Expanse saga)
waiting for the whole story to be over before starting the tv series
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The "Overgeared" Lightnovel.
At the moment it has over 1200 and the story is just so addicting that I can't convince myself to put it down. I fear I will catch up to the translation soon and then have to wait for the new chapters to come out
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The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
(The Ninth Gate)
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Just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It was my first full book in Portuguese so it took me a while even though it's a short book but it was worth it. Such lovely imagery in the book. It's like reading a painting.
I started Dietland by Sarai Walker. Already halfway through because I was really sucked into it. Really different and insightful book about self image, feminism and radical activism.
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It's interesting to see the english title of Szerb Antal's work.
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I've been in the mood for science fiction from the golden age of science fiction lately. Currently, I'm reading the Space Merchants (and the sequel) by Pohl/Kornbluth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants
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My Voice Beacause of You, by Pedro Salinas.
This poet is destroying my soul.
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On the computer i've been reading "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson (Converted from Epub to PDF). Free as well on Project Gutenberg. Did not make it very far though. And it is in english too with some words that are quite hard for me as a non-native english speaker. Those words i learn can also be useful to me on the upcoming university test that i have.
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Good luck on the test and I hope the book helps with your understanding of language.
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Thanks! I'm really nervous about it actually. Because i haven't done such tests for very long. (I have learned that parlor and parlour are two different things, but i never remember which is which ^^)
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I see it's been a while since the last topic on this came up, but I thought I'd ask since I just started a new book myself.
Just started reading The Histories by Herododus. I was interested in this since I love most things about ancient Greece. Probably why I'm still loving Assassins Creed Odyssey. :P But these things are unrelated to why I chose that book.
So, what is SG reading now? Manga does count in this.
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