Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

On to book 3 of the Saxon Chronicles/The Last Kingdom.

It is so much more brutal than the TV adaption, but I still don't feel like the show is any worse for not quite going there and rearranging plenty of stuff. It is actually making it like a whole new saga and I will probably go back and watch the show a second time when I'm done with the books and treat them as seperate histories of the fictional characters within the real history of the time that remains largely unchanged.

Book 3 had me absolutely hooked for the opening few chapters yesterday though. Good stuff

Finished Jon Fosse's Septology ,thought it was a masterpiece and thoroughly deserving of winning the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. Highly recommend. Quite an emotional book, quite stirring and moving.

Now onto "Within a Budding Grove" the second installment of Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past ,I had read the previous volume, "Swann's Way" before, I intend to finish the entire saga at some point.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Glad you enjoyed Fosse, he is obviously very talented. If only he didn't write in a gobbledygook made up language that no normal human can understand... 😁

@FuriousMachine Haha yeah, obviously there's the English translations, if you can get your head around reading a Norwegian writer in English, that is. And have you heard of Karl Ove Knausgard or Sigrid Undset? Allegedly very good Norwegian writers that I have recently added to my list.

I recently finished the second novel in N.K. Jemesin's "Broken Earth" trilogy, The Obelisk Gate and the tale of the Broken Earth continues to fascinate, with deeply interesting characters and fascinating lore. I'm not awarding this the full five stars as it felt like it was spinning its wheels a little bit this time, though it is never boring so it's a minor quibble. Looking forward to the conclusion! Four and half stars.

Also been reading a few shorter works. Stephen King's The Boogeyman, from his Night Shift collection, is a good short story about a loathsome man explaining to a therapist how the Boogeyman killed his three children. Four stars.

I also started Martha Wells' "Murderbot Diaries" with the novella All Systems Red (which also is the basis for the new show on Apple TV+, "Murderbot"). It's a quick and highly entertaining read; Murderbot is such a great character and this novella is suspenseful and fun and even quite funny at times.

So much so that I immediately followed up with the second novella, Artificial Condition, where my new favourite SecUnit continues to evolve and even makes a new friend. I'm loving this series so far!
Both Murderbot novellas get the full five stars from me.

Now it's over to lengthier and more serious (but no less excellent) fare with The Stone Sky, the conclusion to the Broken Earth saga.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Yeah, I may very well do that one day. I'm more likely to read Knausgård, though. I'm actually considering adding his magnum opus, "My Struggle", to my reading list, though I may try one of his novels first (some felt that maybe him releasing a six volume fictionalised autobiography spoke more of his ego than his talent, but those critics have largely gone silent as he apparently had the talent to back it up). Apparently, he is very good at making mundane stuff interesting and compelling. A friend told me he read someone write the following about the third volume in his "Morningstar" trilogy: "Here we are, 1832 pages into a trilogy and jack all has happened so far. I love it!"

Undset is another case of "homework" for me, so I can't speak to her works (other than that literary types love her and there is probably not a Norwegian alive who hasn't heard of her and her "Kristin Lavransdatter" series). Another Norwegian "homework" author the literati fawn over is Herbjørg Wassmo, in particular her "The House with the Blind Glass Windows" (i always mix them up and think "...Glass Windows" is Undset's work, which is why I brought this up now. Have no idea if they have anything in common other than they are both written by Norwegian women long before I was born)

Finished 'Snake Head' last night. @FuriousMachine that was quite the read. I would dive into 'Runner' but I picked up my wife's books from the library and ended up coming away with 'The City & The City' by China Mieville so I guess I start that today.

@MightyDemon82 Yeah, it was a good one. Only a couple of niggles; I felt it got a tiny bit less interesting by moving the action to the US, the setting was one of the bigger differentiators from other crime novels, after all. Also, the fact that Margaret & Li's relationship was reset again irked me somewhat. Still, despite that, I enjoyed it a lot and I thought The Runner was even better.

Have you read any Mieville before? I'm interested to hear what you think of him. I've only attempted Perdido Street Station, but I couldn't finish it. My memory is hazy as to why (this was before I started writing notes on what I thought), but I think it was a combination of a story that didn't appeal and writing style. I haven't tried any of his other stuff and I've wondered if that was a mistake.

@FuriousMachine I look for to reading the next one then. The City & The City will be my first. I'll let you know how I get on with this one. I hear some good things and the word WEIRD is mentioned a lot so that's a draw for me.

@FuriousMachine Sorry for the belated reply, old chap.

I'll have to look into Herbjørg Wassmo, in greater detail, as I haven't heard of her before and am curious, from your description, about her work. I am making slow but steady progress with the second volume of Remembrance of Things Past ,and am quite enjoying it, apparently it's quite hard to read, but I don't find that at all, if you just follow the pacing of the writing, and read it slowly. It's written in quite a "relaxed" style.

How is The Stone Sky treating you?

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN No worries, mate 🙂Proust has always been something I've considered outside my range, but checked out this one nonetheless. Read someone say "Proust is unquestionably brilliant, although not for the lightminded reader by any means" aaaand I'm out 😆
Some claim that there is only one translated version - the Moncrieff/Kilmartin translation - worth its salt; is that the one you are reading?

I'm nearing the halfway mark on The Stone Sky and it's very good so far. I'm curious to see if it will hit the excellence of the first in the series, which the second one failed to do. A lot hinges on the conclusion it is building towards and it looks promising. It would really have to drop the ball for the trilogy as a whole to be anything other than a seriously engaging dystopian fantasy saga, though, and I don't see that happening. Jemesin is a very interesting writer and while the parallels to the Black experience during slavery/Jim Crow era USA isn't exactly subtle, it feeds and informs the story rather than dominating it, which makes it very effective, in my mind. Will definitely check out more of her work after this.

yupp yupp, so i finished the Niels Fredrik Dahl book and it was quite good. To be honest i dont always have patience to read fiction, but the book was short and the story was exciting. I have moved on to Sigrid Undsets, Olav Audunssønn and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Olav Audunssøn was published around 1925-1927, this book and Kristin Lavransdatter gave her the Nobel Prize in 1928. So its 100 years since the first book came out. The book is set in 1200-1300 and gives a "mighty representations of the nordic life in the middle ages" (Nobel Committee). Its a love story that goes bad, so i am looking foreward to see what happens. I have just read the first chapter and her writing style is poetic, but to the point. It seems like the story will challenge Olavs family, honour and pride so its a classical twist to how far a man can go before he breaks. The book is set in a landscape that i am familiar with so that is also a big plus. Since i am a archaeologist i will most likely scrutinize her historic facts, but i will be kind since the book is old already and science never rests.

I have special interest in philosophy so Marcus Aurelius Meditations is right up my alley. His take on Stoic life philosophy is interesting, and makes a great read in these troubled times. Marcus Aurelius was a roman emperor and know as one of the five "good" emperors. It all went downhill fast with his son Commodus (Gladiator anyone). Anyways the book is a collections of letters and papers that sums up his life wisdoms. Its interesting reading and quite humbling that a roman emperor actually tried to live by these words. I will continue my reading and report back when i get some free time from life

@FuriousMachine I am indeed, upon just checking, I have discovered, that I am reading the Moncrieff version, phew. But, despite it's inherent (for you, as you put it) unreadability, you may be pleased to know that there is a graphic novel of the book series available, so that might be more up your street.

As Nick Abbot, a Radio Presenter, from the UK, would say "You can thank me later, actually, no, I've changed my mind, you can thank me now!"

The Stone Sky sounds good, even if the parallels to racism sound a little 'on the nose' for my taste. But I'm glad your Readthrough has been enjoyable up to a point.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Yeah, Jemesin definitely walks a fine line, but I think she manages to pull it off quite well.

And Proust will have to wait, graphic novel or not. At this point there are literally thousands of books I want to read, and while I don't mind challenging myself, it must be for something I'm initially interested in (like Dante, for example). But I will thank you immediately, if and when I read and like Proust, regardless of format 😉

@FuriousMachine That's no problem about Proust, I don't want you to feel obligated to follow-up on any of my recommendations, it's completely your choice, of course, what you read. I will tell you ,however, that you CAN get a graphic novel of Dante's Inferno, to peruse at your leisure, if you choose. 😉😂

On an side note, I am currently getting more interested in art books, as I think art is really important and it's lovely when you get an art book which is nicely accompanied by some appropriate text, there is, for example a Cecily Brown (British artist) that I've currently got an eye on in my literary backlog, which is accompanied, I believe, by some poems to enhance and contextualise her work. What are you choosing to read after The Stone Sky from your literary pantheon?

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN hehehehe, yeah, I was aware of the graphic novel, actually, but when the time comes for me to descend into the inferno, I thought I'd try my hand at the newer Robert Pinsky translation, which seems a bit more approachable.

As for what's on deck for me, I will finish the "Murderbot Diaries" series and intersperse it with Broken Ghosts by J.D. Oswald (recommended to me by @MightyDemon82 recently) and the final (or, at least, most recent) Harry Bosch novel. I'm also looking to start in on the Jack Reacher novels, as well as the "Thursday Murder Club" series in the near future. Will try to get to King's The Long Walk before the adaptation comes out this fall, and then there's the new Holly Gibney novel from King along with Joe Abercrombie's latest, The Devils. That should keep me busy for a while 🙂

@FuriousMachine Oh, let me know how you get on with 'Broken Ghosts'.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on 'The Devils' as well. I've only read the first trilogy of his First Law series so far and that was a wee while ago now, need to jump into the others.

@MightyDemon82 Will keep you posted 🙂

I've read all of the First Law books up until the newest trilogy ("The Age of Madness") and I've really enjoyed them (except for maybe The Heroes which just didn't work for me), so I'd definitely recommend jumping back in. Of the standalones, Red Country and Sharp Ends were particularly good, I thought.

As I've alluded to, previously on here, I have more or less run out of things to read, when one only likes the classics and the occasional contemporary title, you have limited material to draw from, and inevitably the well runs dry. After Remembrance of Things Past, Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Melancholy I-II by Jon Fosse ,I am planning ,for the time being, to leave Literature behind in favour of Art books, Newspapers, Magazines and the Wisden Cricketers' Almanacks to maintain my literacy.

In keeping with my plan, I just finished Within a Budding Grove and have thus completed the first volume of Penguin's three-volume set of Remembrance of Things Past ,by Marcel Proust and am now moving onto Grosz, which is an illustrated biography of the artist George Grosz, by Ivo Kranzfelder.

Edit: In addition to that ,I am also reading The Guermantes Way which is the first book in the second volume of the three-volume set, published by Penguin.