Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@MightyDemon82 Yeah, I get those slumps sometimes, too. Thankfully, they never last long. Good to have you back, buddy

Love that "Empire..." is good; been very unsure of it, but have had so many recommendations that I figured it should be pretty decent. Great to have that confirmed from a trusted source

Just finished Michael Connelly's The Wrong Side of Goodbye (Goodreads page), in which Bosch returns to tackle two wildly different cases: Determining if a dying billionaire has a living heir and tracking down a serial rapist. Unfortunately, both of these were adapted in a season of the TV series "Bosch: Legacy", so I already knew most of what was going to happen going in. Luckily, there were enough differences to keep it interesting and it's also a testament to how riveting I find this series that it was a highly enjoyable read, even though I knew the ultimate outcome. Four stars

Now it's time for another non-fiction entry, Kara Swisher's Burn Book: A Tech Love Story (Goodreads page). Swisher is a journalist who's covered tech since the internet was just a baby, and has interviewed pretty much every game changing and disruptive tech head out there and making them "sweat—figuratively and, in Zuckerberg’s case, literally.", as stated in the blurb.
Should be interesting

@FuriousMachine It's good to be back. "Empire" is getting better the further in that
I get, I'll have a good chunk of it done by the end of today!

@MightyDemon82 I assume there's a third book on the way, so I will let the series cook a little longer before diving in... or, rather, I'll try, because this is very much in my wheelhouse, so I may break down and just push it to the top of the list before long

Finished Kara Swisher's Burn Book: A Tech Love Story (Goodreads page). This is more of an autobiography than an exposé/burn book of the tech moguls Swisher has covered during her time in tech, and is better for it. There are quite a few interesting anecdotes and tidbits about the various characters, but there's nothing revelatory here for someone who's had an interest in tech since the early 90's. Far more interesting is Swisher's own story and her take on the Silicon Valley weirdos and clowns, and this book definitely delivers on that. Three stars

Yay! Time for John Cleaver again, in Over Your Dead Body (Goodreads page), the penultimate novel in Dan Wells' excellent series

Am currently re-reading Die Leiden des Jungen Werther by Goethe, but in German (as you can see by the title haha). My Deutsch is a bit rough so I'm using an English companion, an old Penguin published version to assist in this matter, but I'm managing well so far given it's a more advanced text in its original tongue. It's in attempt at pursuing a better competency in German again, while also learning French at this time. I told a friend the other day if I could read Camus without difficulty in French, I'd die a happy man. The culture, history, and understanding of a community becomes a part of you when you read a great work in the original language.

I'm also having a phase with History again, reading The Weimar Republic by Eric Weitz and At The Sharp End by Tim Cook, German and Canadian History texts respectively. I avoid Twitch and YouTube streamers like Covid in respect to socio-political content because it is so drained of authentic historical inquiry. I've even caught them in the past lying about a source in real-time as I went to my books after a claim to see it was blatantly mistaken (not naming names here). Point - don't watch streamers for education, it will hurt you. Read and study for yourself, accompanied by expertise through Google Scholar, academic articles, etc. It's not only more gratifying, but fulfilling to know you're immersing yourself in the written work of organic wisdom.

Otherwise, reading a bit of Shakespeare and attempting to commit some lines to memory, with a current focus on Macbeth with the iconic "tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquey (5.5.16-27). It is said by literary critics like Harold Bloom that memorizing and reciting poems and plays has a way of making it a part of you, and eliciting an understanding of humanity within that passage's purpose. Will continue this with Romeo and Juliet after, along with my favourite play ever, Hamlet.
Happy reading all!

Just finished Over Your Dead Body (Goodreads page), and this is the first of Dan Wells' John Cleaver novels that doesn't get the full five stars from me, but that does not mean that it's not a great book; not by any stretch of the imagination. It simply wasn't quite as stellar as the previous entries, so I felt it didn't warrant full marks. Once again, Wells manages to evolve the story of everyone's favourite sociopath and the characters within and I am very excited to see where it goes for its final entry. Four and a half stars.

For the remainder of the year, I'm going to put my planned reading list aside and jump straight to the final entry in the "John Cleaver" series Nothing Left to Lose (Goodreads page), after which I'm planning to read Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn books in preparation for Percival Everett's "James", of which I've heard many great things, including from many on this very forum
I saw an interview with Everett the other day and that prompted me to push it towards the top of my list.

@FuriousMachine I hope you enjoy James by Percival Everett, I had a great time reading that book.

I finished The Portable Chekhov , published by Penguin, this morning. I thought the short story section was the best part of it, with the plays and letters sections being close seconds. I also thought that the philosophical and psychological elements within the short stories were positively captivating.

Just started The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe, seems promising so far.

Edit: This guy is definitely the Hidetaka Miyazaki of Literature. His work, thus far consumed, seems initially challenging yet, later reveals itself to be sublimely addictive.

Edit II: About halfway thru the Kobo Abe book now, my comparison to the Souls games is definitely fully supported now. After an initially challenging beginning, a whole world of art opens up before your eyes.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Thanks, all signs indicate that I will

Finished The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe, and it's safe to say that it's a flawed masterpiece. And that is the highest compliment I can give it, in the sense of Melville's concept of a a true masterpiece, i.e one with an inherent flaw that only highlights the remaining perfection, distinguishing it from 100% masterpieces, i.e making the quality of the remaining 99% something truly special by contrast.

Nothing Left to Lose (Goodreads page)... and so the saga of John Cleaver, teenage sociopath, ends. I must say, I didn't expect it to end this way, but it was incredibly fitting, considering the themes of the entire series and it well and truly worked. I really can't praise this series enough; it's been a pure joy to read.

Now it's time travel back in time with Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Goodreads page)

Onto The Portable James Joyce now, I've read his earlier work years ago, and his latter output more recently, so it's just a case of refreshing my memory of his early material, before moving onto the next book.

@Enriesto Commendable reading Shakespeare, let alone trying to memorise the lines, my friend. Hopefully there will be a game based on the Scottish play, one day, or at least based on Hamlet. If you've ever seen the movie Excalibur then you'll be able to appreciate a visual representation of a similar story to Shakespearean material, it's obviously based on King Arthur, but done in a very high-stakes, dark fantasy tone.

So, to prepare for the much lauded "James", by Percival Everett, I decided to read Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Goodreads page) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Goodreads page) first, for context, as I couldn't remember anything but fragments of their stories from when I was a young lad. I wasn't far into the first book when I started to question that decision. The language was unfamiliar, but that was OK; what gave me pause was the fact that I almost immediately took a dislike to the main character. I mean, he was quite the insufferable little *****.
I stuck with it, though, and as the young bully grew into a more thoughtful young boy, so did my enjoyment of the book, and this was most likely Mr. Clemens' intent all along. When all was said and done, I found I had quite enjoyed reading this classic tale, so I'll move straight on to the next one.