There’s a thread about how people find new books, and one of my favorite ways to find things to read was browsing comments from the weekly ‘What are you reading’ threads in r/truelit and r/books. So what is Lemmy reading?
I’m finishing The Passenger, and about to jump into John Williams’ Stoner. Excited to see what is next!
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I love reading science fiction from people with engineering and science backgrounds. Another good book I finished recently was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
Project Hail Mary was such a fun read for me! I loved how concrete the engineering problems were throughout the book. It kept me tied to the stakes of the story.
Haven’t been able to finish Three Body Problem, unfortunately, it kind of lost me within the first 100 pages. May have to give it another shot! I hear a lot of good things about it.
I personally think the author wrote The Three Body Problem as a prequel to set up for the sequel book, The Dark Forest. Maybe I was just more invested in the world they built at that point?
This book seems to have an equal measure of haters to fans but I loved the entire series. As it goes on it gets weird but imo was soo worth the read. Enjoy!
If that’s your vibe, try Blindsight by Peter Watts. It’s a very technical examination of the phenomenon of consciousness which isn’t afraid to get into the weeds, but never quite gets lost in them.
Blindsight was great, I need to read it a second time.
Right? It just slaps so hard.
Do we perhaps know each other IRL? Blindsight was great, but I still have the nagging sense that I missed a big portion of it. Definitely mind expanding.
That book (three-body) was weeeeird. Really thought it was going to go in a very different direction during the introductory chapters.
I don’t know if I liked it but it sure made me think about stuff!
I still haven’t finished it so I am still forming an overall opinion, but its certainly interesting so far.
Yeah - the opening section really sets you up for something entirely different. I’m glad I stuck with it. 3 Body & the sequels kept me thinking new things during the pandemic
Man - 3 body problem (and the whole series) were a great read. What kind blowing shifts in perspective.
Greg Egan is another great author like that. Diaspora is a posthumanist acid trip with a ton of esoteric math thrown in. Absolute blast.
Awesome, adding that one to my reading list!
Noted
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You’re a few ahead of me on the re-read; Lords and Ladies is my next one. I’m taking my time though, I started in 2019.
GNU Terry Pratchett.
That’s great! Whenever I’m feeling down, his books are mental comfort food that help me re-center. GNU sir Pterry!
I just picked up a copy of house of leaves. Saw it referenced a few times in some other media I liked and figured I may as well check out the book itself.
One of my favourite books of all time. Do you have the full colour edition?
Yes! I splurged for the hardcover because I thought it would be a book I’d want to go back to a few times later on, and I’m really happy with how high quality it is.
I don’t even know if “reading” is the right verb for engaging with that book. It’s practically a different kind of activity.
It’s a dense read, but I enjoyed it. I’ll admit that I enjoyed it more when I became willing to skim over spots when it got a little too tedious. I’ve got my own theory on what’s going on, and I’d talk about it if I knew how to insert spoilers.
I feel like this is gonna be one I’ll need to make a few passes on to really get everything that’s going on
I just finished up reading The Return of the King for the first time since childhood. I like it a lot more than I remember. I think two things stuck out at me most: how dense it was compared to modern fantasy and how great the hobbits were portrayed. Fantasy tends to portray great heroes that came from nothing (ex. the chosen one/orphan trope). However, the hobbits were solely because they were common that they were able to do things the great heroes of their age couldn’t.
Since then I’ve started reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. I kept hearing Pynchon’s name come up for about a month at random and figured I should pick up one of his books. He has a very frenetic style that can be a bit difficult to parse but I’m loving his sense of humor.
The Expanse, the whole book trilogy!
It’s a bit more than a trilogy lol. It’s a nonology!
Amazing series, be sure to check out the novellas as well! There are some guides online that will tell you where they happen chronologicaly
I’d highly recommend We are legion we are Bob and off to be the wizard to any fellow tech nerds
We are legion we are bob is about a guy whose brain is uploaded as an AI into a Von Neumann probe and sent into space to explore the universe.
Off to be the wizard is about a guy who finds out the world is some kind of simulation, and there’s essentially one big file detailing absolutely everything that can be edited, uses it to go back in time and live as a wizard and make spells with his programming skills
Both of them have plenty of nerdy references and humour
Adding to my tbr - not usually into that kind of genre but that piqued my interest! Thanks for the rec!
Both of them are fairly sci-fi/tech themed. Not for everyone but for those who are into that stuff it’s great
Yeah, that’s the one. Fantastic book, listened to it with my family on long car trips, good memories
I made the mistake of picking up these books on a busy work week. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep between working and finishing four books in as many days.
Haha I’m sorry my friend but I’m glad you enjoyed them, those books are something special
Just started book 8 of The Expance series
Just finished Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Absolutely amazing uplift-scifi, but you better stay away from it if you have arachnophobia
I really enjoyed that series, particularly the first book. I’m nearly finished with The Final Architecture series as well and while I haven’t seen as much praise for it I’ve been really enjoying it.
Good novel but I have to say I was a bit annoyed with it by the end. Not quite sure why but for me it slightly overstayed its welcome.
Yeah! Its amazing. I love the ending!
Really enjoyed this series!
Making my way through Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. Really enjoying it so far.
What a fantastic book! It is a really great read!
Currently I’m finishing the fifth book of the Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan. Next will be the sixth book of the Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan :)
@Kebab
Heck yeah! Books 5 and 6 are among the fan favorites.
Just got a few books from my local library that I’m excited to start. I’m starting off with “Focused Forward: Navigating the Storms of Adult ADHD” by James M. Ochoa which I picked out because it was the smallest book in the ADHD category, ha.
I also got a book on Linux/Unix, Diabetes, a workbook for Bipolar, a healthy snack book, and an organization book. Not too too sure if I’ll be able to finish it all by the time they’re due, but its a nice varied selection.
That second paragraph is peak ADHD lol.
I mean you aren’t wrong! Hahaa.
Just finished Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (loved it, just discovered the “new weird” genre and it’s totally my vibe). Now started reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, the structure of the book and the setting seems cool and intriguing.
I also just finished it
Man, I read the book maybe two years ago and it just… sort of left no impression. The world was neat and weird but fuck it was weird. Maybe I need to consider a re-read at some point.
Both great reads. I’d also recommend the second and third books following Annihilation, just know they are quite different. Good, but different.
Though I’m not much of a reader anymore, my wife has been absolutely obsessed with Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series. I enjoy listening to her talk about it and sum up the stories, wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up on Netflix soon.
Any recommendations for audiobooks to listen to at work? I’m big on science/science fiction and philosophy, anything that challenges my way of thinking really.
All hail SJM 😂 I love the theory (quickly becoming canon) that TOG, ACOTAR and CC are connected. I’m so excited for the future of the universe.
Recommend Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - changed my outlook on life. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor e. Frankl had me ugly crying - and again, changed my outlook.
Since November I’m slowly working through the The Witcher books. Just finished the 5th book recently and currently looking for a book I can read before I continue with the 6th book. Normally I read mostly in german but I’m thinking about picking a english book as my next book.
I need to give those a re-read soon (but i have such a list already lol). For your next book in english, I’d like to suggest The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. It’s a fantasy novel (yes, King doesn’t just write horror, crazy i know) that draws from European fairy tales. I enjoyed it immensely, and according to my e-reader history, it was actually my very next book after The Witcher series!
Thank you for the suggestion! I was actually thinking about picking something from Stephen King since I never really read any of his books but they seem interesting. The Eyes of the Dragon is definitely on top of my list now!
I really enjoyed the Expanse books, so just started one of the Author’s other series, the Long Price Quartet
