Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@MightyDemon82 Love to hear that the Green Bone Saga is good! It's been on my reading list for a while (how could it not be, when it has been described as " a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu"?)

And now I've added "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" to the list as well. Feels like it could be a fun read

@FuriousMachine I started Jade City at the end of January and finished Legacy last night. It was that good.

I enjoyed Before the coffee gets cold. A nice light read, hopefully Before your memory fades is just as good!

I just finished 'The Aleph' by Borges, it didn't take long, as, unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that most of the same stories are in 'Labyrinths' ,which I read earlier. Now onto 'The Baron in the Trees' by Calvino. Yes, another Calvino book, I know. This one is different to the others I've read so far, good but not spectacular, 'Invisible Cities' is still my favourite.

@MightyDemon82 Wow, that is pretty impressive. Those aren't short books! I may bump them up and put them in the next slot reserved for trilogies (that slot is currently occupied by The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, which I'm also very eager to read).
There a few books lined up before that, however, so I've got plenty of time to decide.

Finished James Clavell's Shogun (Goodreads page) and what a phenomenal novel that was! Wow, what a phenomenally good novel this was! Lengthy, but never, ever boring and never felt drawn out or padded. It took me a month and a half to read it and in that time the characters have taken up residence both in mind and heart. Finished it last night and already I miss them. I have no idea how authentic the historical details are, but it feels very authentic and it's immensely fascinating, regardless (I am given to understand the book is quite historically accurate, though).
This is one of those rare novels that upsets my scoring policy on Goodreads, because 5 stars seems nowhere near enough.
Looking forward to the adaptation coming to Disney+ in ten days

Next up: Wrapping up Geralt and Ciri's saga with The Lady of the Lake (Goodreads page), the penultimate book in the Witcher series (the last book is, as I understand it, a prequel).

@FuriousMachine I have added Shogun to the TBR been seeing that on YouTube channels a lot recently.

This is my current slate along with several manga and hardcover comic collections. Should keep me busy for a while!

@MightyDemon82 That slate looks very promising; plenty of titles there that I'm curious about, so looking forward to hear what you think of them. Sapiens was very interesting and only fueled my barely suppressed misanthropy

I am still reading 'The Baron in the Trees' by Calvino, it's a good read if a little preposterous at times. The whole concept of a baron who lives in the trees is somewhat silly, but Calvino often likes to be a little playful with the sense of reality he presents to the reader. He manages to keep things interesting, despite the majority of the action taking place, as you would expect, amidst the tree-tops.

@Jimmer-jammer How are you? I thought I'd mention you here, as, apart from Sweet Tooth (good memory I know, haha) I don't really know what you like to read? I'd recommend Invisible Cities by italo Calvino to you, I read it recently and some of the 'cities' described remind me of aspects of Lordran and Lothric for sure.

N.B Almost made it to 99 Vit now (95) then just gotta level up End & Str before Allant, (but not nearly to the same extent as Vit) it's costing 200,000 souls apiece now🤣 just in case you were wondering.

@Black_Swordsman Hey! Doing well, thanks. Hope you’re the same. As with most things, my reading tastes are pretty eclectic. I recently power read Dune again in preparation for Part 2 and have been thinking of continuing on through the series, as I’ve never read past the first one. I’ll look into Invisible Cities, thanks. Good luck with Allant!

I am getting ready to move house, so most of my books are packed away, right now.

But what I am reading, is Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. One of the few books that is not packed away. Because it has a permanent place beside my bed.

I know it is a cliche, but if any book can be said to have “changed my life” then this is the one.

Finished 'The Baron in the Trees' by Calvino. Excellent novel. The second 1/4 of the book dragged a bit but the remaining two quarters of the book more than made up for it. Excellent book, possibly my favourite by him, just behind 'Invisible Cities'.

@Matthewnh I never knew Aurelius was a published philosopher (even if that wasn't his attention). I'm usually wary of philosophical works, as I typically find them too heady, but as he, apparently, shares my worldview in that if you expect the worst you will never be disappointed, I shall just have to give it a read at some point. On the reading list it went

@FuriousMachine

I think that “Meditations” was something more like his own private journal. It would never have occurred to Marcus that other people would one day read his journal. He would never have intended that to happen.

Certainly not 1900 years after his death. But if I am honest, he probably would not have cared either way.
But the way the book is written is very straightforward, and down-to-earth. It is like his own dialogue with himself. Not really heavy, weighty philosophy. Just good advice for life.

But I read it regularly, because it helps me to focus, to put things into perspective. To focus upon the things that I can control, and not to worry about those things I cannot control.

That is what stoicism is basically - mastering your emotions, so that your emotions do not control you.

@Matthewnh Yeah, I was intrigued when I discovered it wasn't written to be published. Glad to hear that it's a straightforward read; add that to the fact that it is fairly short and it stands a good chance it might get bumped up on a reading list that is ridiculously long

Was able to get the ARC of "I'm afraid you've got Dragons" by Peter S. Beagle. I'm excited to read it as I enjoyed "The Last Unicorn" by him quite some time ago.

@Elodin I love that title! Need to look into his books, I think

Just started The Portable Mark Twain, a Penguin Classic. It's an excellent book so far, and I believe it has all his best bits. I think Twain, besides Henry Miller, is one of the most amusing writers that America has ever produced. I had previously read A Tramp Abroad by him, highly recommend that as well, but I believe that The Portable Mark Twain could be the essential collection of his work.

Recently finished books are 12 more rules for life by Jordan Peterson, Meat space by Nikesh Shukla and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. 12 rules, I found to be unnecessarily wordy but still an insightful read, with Meat space I got several laughs with the characters antics. Dark Matter was excellent, a real page turner. Finished it in 3 evenings, probably would have read it in a day if I didn't need sleep or to go to work!

I considered jumping straight into Upgrade but decided to go with The Geography of Power as my next read.

@Matthewnh I’ve always wanted to read Meditations, I do feel I’ve absorbed a lot of the fundamentals via osmosis over the years. You’ve definitely inspired me to seek out a copy, to keep the worlds bs at bay.