About half-way through Moby-Dick now, and it's certainly starting to shape up well. "Hearts alive, men!" it's also given me a new-found appreciation for Mastodon's "Leviathan" album, which is a concept album inspired by the book, not that I listen to metal any more anyway, but, now those memories of the lyrics have been reshaped and contextualized.
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I do listen to metal, and quite a bit, so I will absolutely check out "Leviathan". My experiences with Mastodon has been a bit hit and miss and nothing has really stood out before. The book has also been on my reading list for a while and it's been a long time since I last read "an oldie", as it were, so I might bump it up a bit.
@FuriousMachine Excellent, I'd be curious to know how you get along with the album. It was previously one of my favourites in the genre
Edit: Further to what we were saying earlier, Mastodon are an odd one in the sense that their career trajectory rightfully followed that of the band they largely succeded in the 00s, the mighty Metallica, i.e their first four albums were aggressive, increasingly technical and thrashy, then they did their sort of "Black Album" with their fifth, arguably more slowed-down and accessible release , "The Hunter" and then I guess what would be called their equivalent of Load/Reload with "Once More 'Round The Sun" then a later return to heaviness, like Metallica, later in their career, who knows where they will go next?
About 2/3 of the way through Moby-Dick now, there have been some exciting action scenes, paced with some more philosophical chapters reflecting on the nature of whaling and whales. Thoroughly enjoying it. Closing in on the end now.
Finished Moby-Dick now and found reading it to be a thoroughly riveting journey, found it to be a true American Classic, a truly epic tale. Now onto Horses of the Sun, a biography of the abstract artist, M.F. Husain.
Just finished Strangers (Goodreads page) by Dean Koontz and first of all, congratulations to Koontz for the award for "Most Uses of the Word 'Moon' In Any Publication Ever", it was well deserved with over 300 occurrences over a little under 600 pages.
This is a very good novel, but I did feel a little bit hit over the head with it at times. Also, the book moves at a snail's pace, but luckily the characters are interesting and the central mystery was compelling enough to hold my interest throughout. Four stars, but just barely
Next up, I'll check back in with John Cleaver, who will no doubt be busy hunting demons and trying not to serial kill anyone
First the novella Next of Kin (Goodreads page), followed by book 4 in the series The Devil's Only Friend (Goodreads page), both by Dan Wells
I just finished up “King Rat” by James Clavell, book four of the Asian Saga. It’s very good; not as great as “Shogun”, but definitely well written characters with wonderful pacing. My next big tackle is going to be Stephen King’s “11/22/63”. I’ve heard nothing but fantastic things about this novel, and it’s a nice departure from his typical horror stories.
@Kraven Have you read any of the other books in the Asian Saga? I love Shogun immensely and realise that the others will be hard pressed to reach the same heights, but are they good?
Looking forward to hear what you think about your experience with the King novel; I've also heard good things about that one.
I've just finished the next two entries of the "John Cleaver" series and author Dan Wells continues to impress. Next of Kin (Goodreads page) is probably one of the best novellas I've ever read. At only 36 pages, this story is so chock full of character, heart and drama that it boggles the mind. It also expands on the John Cleaver universe without necessitating a familiarity with the other works in order to enjoy this. Pure brilliance.
It runs parallel to the fourth full length novel, The Devil's Only Friend (Goodreads page), telling certain events from a different perspective, without feeling like it spoils anything from this entry in the process. And I love how this series evolves, yet still stays true to its central theme and its characters. It is also one of the few series that I've felt that every entry has been consistently solid so far. I would maybe consider this the weakest one and I still think it's an easy five stars. I can only hope that the quality remains as high as this for the final three entries.
Now it's time for The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (Goodreads page) by Grady Hendrix. I've been looking forward to trying a Hendrix novel for a while now, as they all seem to get generally favourable reviews, and this one is close to being adapted into a TV series, so I thought I'd get to the book first.
I read the majority of Horses of the Sun ,now I'm onto The Portable Chekhov ,published by Penguin, which I just opened, seems promising based on what I've read so far, it's a more or less comprehensive overview of his best short stories, novels and plays, from what I have come to understand.
Finished The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (Goodreads page) and it turned out to be quite different from what I imagined based on the title, but I liked it nonetheless. It was far more serious in tone than I expected, but it was a fun read with some excellent characters and it had me squirming at one point, which is quite rare. Still, couldn't help feeling it could have been more than it is, hence "only" four stars
Harry Bosch is up next, with The Wrong Side of Goodbye (Goodreads page) by Michael Connelly
@FuriousMachine Glad you enjoyed Grady Hendrix. I am a fan of his work. One of my favorites is Paperbacks from Hell. It's not a story as it is covers of many older horror titles and brief explanations of the books. The art on some of these titles are fantastic. Horrorstor is also fun. A haunted IKEA. He does have a new book coming out in January Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. I just missed having him in my bookstore. I was amongst a handful of stores for his choices as his book releases. Maybe next time.
I just finished Dungeon Crawler Carl. It was a fun read. I give it 4 Stars. I heard the next 2 in the series are even better. It is a fantasy setting story akin to the movie Running Man. It has the humor of Terry Pratchett and a hilarious cat sidekick named Princess Donut. I'll be reading the second one soon.
@Elodin I'm absolutely going to read more of his work; he's got the most brilliant book titles ever and now I know that he writes entertaining books as well. I think "My Best Friend's Exorcism" will be the next book of his I tackle, as I'm curious to see the movie adaptation (in those cases where I want to read the book, I will always try to get through the book before seeing the adaptation... that way, a dud adaptation won't taint the experience of the book). Too bad he missed your store!
"Dungeon Crawler Carl" has been added to my reading list. I love Pratchett's "Discworld" series and now that I've finished those, there is room for more humorous fantasy in my life
The next Witcher title has been revealed. Out in Poland Dec 1. Worldwide, who knows? Maybe in the new year🤞I expect the official translations happen much earlier in the pipeline when you're already well established and publishers know it will sell in many languages.
It is said to translate to Raven's Corssroads. And there has been some speculation on an English title. But I imagine "The Raven's Road" or "Crossing of the Crows" are in with a shout, as they sound better in English than any translation speculation I've seen so far.
@FuriousMachine Oh yes, I'm eagerly anticipating the English release. Although I doubt any of the covers will match the ones I already have since it will probably have to have Netflix plastered all over it for marketing reasons like most of the current editions that are in print 😭
What language do you read in, by the way? Or do you mix it up depending on what it is, where it's available, which is out first etc?
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
@Ravix Oof, yeah, those "now a hit series on Netflix" or "now a major motion picture from StudioX" covers are abhorrent. Luckily, 99% of what I read is digital these days, so I'm not terribly bothered by poor covers, and when (if) I get a place where I have space for a decent bookshelf again, I will only fill it with special hardcover releases of books I truly adore, so they will typically have decent covers.
Unless a book was originally written in Norwegian (or, occasionally, Swedish), I will read it in English. Most books are more readily available in English, both digitally and in print, even in Norwegian book stores.
I had a wee bit of a slump where I didn't want to read/watch/play anything but now I'm back to normal. Recently finished "The Girl with all the Gifts" which I enjoyed, but it felt familiar.
Now onto "Empire of the Vampire" and flying through it. So good, the world building in this is top notch!
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