Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@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.

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.

@MightyDemon82 Happy to hear that you enjoyed Dark Matter! Aside from the Wayward Pines trilogy, it is probably my favourite Crouch novel. And it's not long until the adaptation with Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly hits Apple TV+ (May 8th). Really excited about that one.
In addition to Upgrade, you should also consider putting Recursion on your reading list, if it's not already on there. That was another I really enjoyed.

@FuriousMachine It is now added. It's definitely a book that will be a great T.V. show, that's top actors as well. Is connelly playing Daniela or Amanda?

@MightyDemon82 She plays Daniela and Alice Braga plays Amanda

Just finished Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer's saga with Andrzej Sapkowski's Lady of the Lake (Goodreads page) and I must say I was a tiny bit disappointed.
While the book offers a satisfying conclusion to the series, I found the novel to be... I don't know, unfocused, I guess? I often felt like skipping parts of it in order to get back to the story I wanted to read. For me, the weakest book in the series, but I would still say the series has been a satisfying read and absolutely worthwhile. Also, the book was good enough to earn three stars in my Goodreads review, so it was by no means bad, nor did it dissuade me from reading the (currently) last book about the Witcher either.

Before that, though, I'm going to read A Gentleman in Moscow (Goodreads page) by Amor Towles, a book that came so highly recommended that it went straight to the top of my reading list, which is very rare, if not entirely unprecedented. So, not exactly low expectations, then. Let's see if it delivers

I am still reading The Portable Mark Twain by Penguin Classics, and enjoying it greatly thus far, I think I am in the final third of the book, or thereabouts, and currently re-reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (the entire novel is contained within the 'Portable' book along with selections of his other writings) I find it's social critique of certain aspects of American Culture of the day fascinating.

I Finished up Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth. It explores the relationship of an artist who has been ostracised from her family.

Next up is The Well of Ascension aka Mistborn book 2!

about finished with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

just started re-reading my paperback of Stephen King's Needful Things. re reading it to keep me busy til next month when I get Wheel of Time book 9

I finished The Well of Ascension, looking forward to The Hero of Ages, but going to read some smaller books first. Flowers for Algernon is next up!