Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@MightyDemon82 ha, indeed. No idea where 1987 came from!

@Thrillho Wow, that does not sound like something I'll enjoy (the whale anatomy thing, I mean). It is not a priority on my reading list as it is and that little tidbit of information did nothing to change that

@MightyDemon82 The Forever War and Childhood's End are both very good; gave them both four stars when I read them a few years back. Looking forward to hearing what you think of them. Forever War was maybe a teensy bit uneven, but still a nice read. And I just realised that I've yet to read the sequels, which are also on my list. Might need to re-read the first one, seeing as it has been around eight years since I read it and, as I may have mentioned, my memory isn't all that sharp these days.

Mischief Acts went on the list

Finished Hellstrom's Hive (Goodreads page) and while it didn't really resonate with me, it was still worth three stars in my Goodreads review.

Now it's time for some non-fiction and behind-the-scenes gossip that's been pouring out on various movie sites since the book was published as I start MCU - The Reign of Marvel Studios (Goodreads page).

I briefly considered moving up Matthew Perry's memoir, but I realised that I'm just too sad about that whole thing right now. Some celebrity deaths hit harder than others and this one packed a punch for me.

Just finished the stories House of Glass & Fox Children in the Witcher Dark Horse first omnibus, I thought House of Glass was slightly better than Fox Children, but they were both still very good.

Edit: Just finished the first couple of stories in the second Witcher omnibus now. Fading Memories is probably the best story arc in both omnibuses thus far.

Read all I wanted to read (all the main issues/story arcs) of The Witcher Dark Horse omnibuses, @Jimmer-jammer they were very good (omnibuses 1 & 2) but if you only want to read one story arc, then get all the 'Fading Memories' issues if you can find it on it's own somewhere - that's the best one by far. I think any one who enjoyed TW3 would love the content in both volumes though.

Recently finished The Forever War, Childhoods End and 1984 all fantastic books. Not sure if I'll read the other books set after The Forever War as it wrapped up nicely.

Next up Terms of Restitution by Denzil Meyrick a Scottish gangland thriller and then The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho!

Italo Calvino's final book, 'Six Memos for the next Millennium' ,incomplete at the time of his death (there are only five memos in the text) was a fascinating yet somewhat impenetrable read, although I did glean some of the germs of his pithy, searching style from the text.

Edit: Now reading 'Numbers in the Dark' ,a much better collection of Calvino's short prose and fiction work.

Just finished MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (Goodreads page), which was an interesting and unvarnished look at the history of Marvel Studios, going all the way back to when Stan Lee first traveled west and chronicling the ups and downs all the way up to today. I was a bit disappointed that the coverage of recent output was somewhat slight compared to the earlier productions, though. Still, informative and fascinating, I gave it four and a half stars in my Goodreads review.

For my next book, I'm returning to Blake Crouch, with his most recent novel Upgrade (Goodreads page)
I've enjoyed many of his previous novels and absolutely loved the Wayward Pines series, so this will hopefully be good as well

@FuriousMachine I had no Idea that the movie was based on a novel. (Did a quick Google to confirm after reading your post.) The film is fantastic, so on to the reading list goes Blake Crouch!

Should finish Terms of Restitution today by Denzil Meyrick, enjoying it so far. Seem to be picking up books by scottish authors that have lengthy detective series, so will probably read his D.C.I Daley books at somepoint.

@MightyDemon82 Think Google might be mistaken, if you're thinking about the brilliant Leigh Whannell movie from 2018. Same title, similar concepts, but Crouch's novel came out last year and is it's own thing (though it has been optioned for a movie adaptation by Amblin Entertainment). That aside, Crouch is definitely worth checking out. The aforementioned Wayward Pines trilogy is awesome, and "Recursion" and "Dark Matter" are cracking good sci-fi reads as well

@FuriousMachine Sounds good. Cheers for clearing that up, will definitely look out for his books.

I just finished re-reading Consider Phlebas, the first book in Iain M Banks' Culture series.

It's just a mad book that goes off in so many directions but is such a great read. For the first book in the series it really goes all in on the universe he builds on over the whole series. I'm glad I enjoyed it second time around still but the way the book ends still feels kind of weird to me.

@Thrillho I enjoyed the Culture series. Finished the last 3 novels at the beginning of the year. I liked the Ending of Consider Phlebas, after watching Disney play it Safe with Star Wars, The Culture novels were just the tonic I needed in my sci-fi.

Use of Weapons and Player of Games were my top 2 of the series but I enjoyed them all.

@MightyDemon82 I’ve read most of them now but still have a couple to get through.

I think Surface Detail was my favourite. Just an absolutely epic book in more ways than one. Player of Games was the first I read and I want to revisit at some point and I also want to re-read Excession as I struggled with that first time round trying to remember all the different ships.

Such a great series though and I love how each book is so separate from each other but with the background universe tying them together.

@Thrillho @MightyDemon82 Oh noes! So, my reading list just grew by no less than ten books... thanks a lot, guys

@FuriousMachine You’re welcome

They are an excellent series though and you can read them in any order as they’re not related, other than for the overall setting with no one book explaining the universe but each one adding to it.

Finished The Alchemist this morning. A fantastic wee read, really enjoyed that one.
Next up Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Then Babel by RF Kuang! Living across the road from a library is both a blessing and a curse 😀.

@LN78 Sounds like a good read, maybe one for when I need something that isn't fiction.

@Thrillho Cool! Are there any character crossover or "cameos" between the books or are they completely separate? (Not that it matters, just curious)

@MightyDemon82 I was about to "complain" about The Alchemist being yet another book added to the reading list, but lo and behold, when I went to add it it was already on there Will keep that on hand for the next time I fall behind on the reading challenge and need a short book to keep me on pace

@FuriousMachine it's a nice read. You could do it in an evening.

The Culture books are pretty much Stand alone. Only one character appears across 2
Different books but it's more of an Easter egg than anything else. The Culture and Special Circumstances are prominent across the books though!