Mangler's awesome book thread.

[isabel]

I finally read Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind books and Ohhh My Goddd.. it is so so so so good. I can see why some might point to technical problems or some such, but for me both books are total and utter classics that had me riveted and completely lost in them and afterwards looking at words differently.

Recently came across this amazing Swedish writer called Jonas Hassen Khemiri through this short story (translated version) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017 ... d-it-to-me

[Vaen]

Am I the only one reading books this summer?! Some more I've finished recently.

It's been a pretty busy summer and I also just don't browse these boards as much, but since the last time:

The Nonfiction:

Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis - Chronicles Wall Street fuckery guaranteed to piss you off. Sort of hopeful though, because the people exposing this were some of the people that stood to benefit substantially from it.

Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America by Vivek Bald - chronicles an often overlooked period of South Asian immigration between 1890 and the 1950s, where sailors and merchants from the subcontinent settled/intermarried in places like New York, New Orleans, and Detroit.

War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow - I think this is going to turn out to be a very important piece on the 30-year shift away from diplomacy supported by military might to outright military "diplomacy". Farrow was one of Richard Holbrooke's protege's at the State Department and he's got some extremely fair criticism of how Obama's first term essentially accelerated that.

The Fiction:

Sleeping Giants by Sylvan Neuvel - fun listen. The first audiobook I've listened to since World War Z about a decade ago. The format is primarily interview, so it really works with the genre. Ancient pieces of some kind of robot are discovered, shadowy agency rush to recover all the pieces, etc. Pretty obviously a first effort, but still solid. Looking forward to improvements in the second book of the series whenever I get around to it.

The Bobiverse Trilogy by Dennis Taylor - meh. Some interesting high concepts and fun exploration, but some parts (like the uplifting segments) were really cringey.

The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle - another first effort novel I thought I'd give a shot by some random author I found on Amazon. Not terrible, kind of basic, fun yarn. Who doesn't like Atlantis related thriller-fiction?!

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - amazing. I believe I was about halfway through the first book when I posted last time. Some of the best fantasy I've read in the past however many years. Fully deserves to be recognized as the first trilogy to sweep the Hugos.

[Maghus]

q

[Edakim]

Anyone read anything cool lately? I've read the vast majority of stuff on this thread, needing new ideas. I'll read anything but would prefer fiction suggestions just because I've been on a bit of a nonfiction-y bent for quite a few months now.

[Itesh]

I read the first 7 books in Modesitt's Imager series this week. If you like detailed world building they're for you, but Modesitt tends to be a bit like marmite.

[Mangler]

I read the first 7 books in Modesitt's Imager series this week. If you like detailed world building they're for you, but Modesitt tends to be a bit like marmite.

Loving your morality in giant, heavy chunks of barely palatable metaphor I see ? I quite enjoyed the first few but quickly got bored of the repetitive style of these sadly.

Actually had quite a good run of books recently:

Senlin Ascends - didn't know what to expect going into this, but found it a genuinely charming, enjoyable, and eminently readable fantasy/steam punk(ish?) adventure.

The Last Policeman - an interesting cross of apocalyptic sci-fi and police procedural thriller. It's not the heaviest thriller or tightest plot in the world but a compelling page turner.

Kings of the Wyld - only about 100 pages into this but so far loving it, a slightly grimy but rollicking and pacey fantasy with a fairly humerous writing style.

Others I've read recently that I would recommend:

City of Miracles + City of Blades - great fantasy read and utterly fantastic world building.

Black Prism (The Lightbringer series) - just about dodges the cookie cutter fantasy, to make a great world and very well-paced action. Somewhat embarrassing writing of female characters/observations of that jars pretty heavily at times though.

Red Rising trilogy - can't be bothered going back to check, but if I haven't recommended, this is a proper page-turner sci-fi series.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (non-fic) - a book about end of life care, and how society looks at end of life. Quite interesting read, albeit fairly heavily skewed towards the US healthcare system.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (non-fic) - a brief history of human kind, and the evolution of humanity and society. Pretty fascinating albeit heavy at times.

[Madin]

The Murderbot series by Martha Wells (scifi)
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (technothriller)

[Razhak]

Atm am reading Scalzi alot. Both his Old Man's War series and his new space opera.

Also reading Metro 2033, it is better then I imagined

[Maghus]

Skyward and Starsight by Brandon Sanderson. I found a song video that reminds me alot of the books. Here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Q3i5w6-Ug

[Maghus]

Mangler. Have you read Sanderson's recent stuff? Do you like it?