RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

[quillpunk]

It is a Wednesday. What are you reading? 👀

Comments

[goodbyebird]

Supposedly Bardugo's The Familiar, but I haven't picked up a physical book for over a week 😬

It's been all games and comics round these parts. Last read was Hellblazer vol1 (new run), currently reading the two Nubia trades & the Amazons/Queen of the Amazons. Next up is either Batgirls, Poison Ivy, or GCPD: The Blue Wall. That's what happens when there's a decent Pride sale I guess lol

[quillpunk]

yay for sales, lol. i hope they're good reads :D

[sixbeforelunch]

Nothing much :-/

In theory I'm still reading King Leopold's Ghost but I haven't actually picked it, or any other book, up in days.

I'm looking through my library's selection of Star Trek comics hoping that one of them might get me reading again. The Defiant series looks interesting.

[quillpunk]

sometimes reading just Be Like That™ there are so many things i'm reading in theory, and yet haven't touched in months, sigh.

good luck <3

[white_aster]

What I finished reading: The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey. Really excellent informative book on the deep ocean and exploration of such, with a good balance of information vs. personal storytelling about being on the exploration support ships and actually being down in one of the subs. I mean...it made me want to go down there, someday, and I am not an adventurous person.

What I'm reading now: The library holds, they are never-ending. This week I'm plowing through Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher, which I'm enjoying as much as the other Saint of Steel books (weird pacing, though, like some of her books - I feel like it went like gangbusters for a bit, and now we're...leisurely traveling the countryside and I am hoping it picks back up soon.) I also picked up Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton, which is about an AI who gets themselves stuck in physical space (specifically, a cyborg body but it's clear they're going to have to jump to something else fairly soon) and needs to navigate trying to get back to infospace and also the people they run into and who help them. I loved Mickey 7, which was a previous Ashton book, and love Murderbot, so this was a no-brainer pickup for me. I'm enjoying it so far, though some things feel subtly off in a way that could either be wonky characterization OR could be Secrets that will be revealed later. Could be either, with Ashton, so stay tuned.

I'm also taking a leadership course that pointed me to Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life by Alan Deutschman. His thesis is not terribly groundbreaking (you need to have real belief that you can change, form a plan/get training to form a solid new habit, and have that reinforced by a community you surround yourself with), but eh, it's short and not the worst book of its type I've read.

And :sigh:, also haven't picked it up this week, but Fool's Run by Patricia McKillip is still in progress.
I imagine I'll be finishing these up for the next week.

[scifirenegade]

Recently started Grosses Kino: O Cinema Mudo Alemão em Portugal (German Silent Cinema in Portugal). It made me desperately want a more updated digital hemeroteca with all the magazines the author keeps referencing.

[quillpunk]

Th Attic by A.M. Burrage, and Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.

[gloss]

This past week, I finished Blackcurrant Fool by Victoria Goddard and Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller -- yet it's only now as I'm typing this that I see the commonality of "black" in the titles.

Currently, I'm reading an ARC of One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun and I also resumed Vance's Lyonesse.

[rekishi]

For a few weeks now, I've been making my way through "A Thousand Steps Into Night" because the title is cool and theoretically it should appeal to me.

But it's such a slog! We're now going through the exact same events we went through already but from a different pov (sorta), which does inform us about the why and how but omg I already read this once.

So this may become a DNF, it's just not gripping me at all. The reason why I haven't put it aside it is that the chapters are shot and I don't need to think about it.

reading

[dialecticdreamer]

Last week was productive; I'm back to a book a day, hopefully until the new year.

Finished:
Aging Agelessly by Tony Buzan and Raymond Keene
Start With Why by Simon Senak
Fresh Food from Small Spaces by RJ Ruppenthal
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono
Words Can Change Your Brain by Andrew Newberg
The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha


A metric ton of fanfic-- in electrons, not printed. LOL

Just began today:
Sustenance by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Fiction, and I've loved her work since I was a teen)
The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey

Also, about an hour of reading assorted fan fiction, some of which got back-buttoned so hard I think they ricocheted, but the rest are bookmarked for future reading, sorted by time it'll take to read (10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, more than) so I can choose based on both mood and the scrap of time I'm filling up.

If anyone would like recommendations, my favorites were Six Thinking Hats, Wild Fermentation, and Words Can Change Your Brain. One is "management"- but the techniques work for an individual, the fermentation book is the reason that I've got both apple cider vinegar and pineapple vinegar fermenting on my kitchen counter, and the last is a fantastic, really intensive exploration of the physical effects of communication on the human brain. Including positive versus negative words!

[wearing_tearing]

I'm about to finish Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs, the most recent Mercy Thompson book! A pretty solid installment, but the interludes bothered me a little bit.

Also currently reading:
There Is No Ethan: How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish by Anna Akbari and once again confirming I have no patience for men. I'm about halfway through the book, but we haven't gotten around to the investigation/reveals part yet and I'm CURIOUS!! And I totally stalled on Evocation by S.T. Gibson because I didn't read the synopsis for the book (I just went on by my love of their debut novel) and two things about the story already squicked me. I'll try to read a few more chapters and see if I'll continue or DNF it.

[exitmouse]

Do you mind going into what squicked you about Evocation? I loved A Dowry of Blood so I was thinking of giving it a shot.

[wearing_tearing]

Sure!

In case anyone wants to avoid details.

The modern setting part with one of the main characters having a day job as a lawyer really threw me off. And the squicks came with the already established marriage between Rhys and Moira knowing the book is going to have a poly romance + the fact that so far (I'm 41% in), Moira and David dislike each other and she pretty much acts like a parent to him and Rhys because they bicker and offend one another whenever they interact.

[azurelunatic]

Fields of Iron -- fun, but not a great bedtime read
The Curse of Chalion (no progress due to other book club member being down with Covid)
Six Geese A-Slaying bedtime audio book re-read

Other book club member has consumed Shards of Honor and Barrayar and has a lot of Feelings about Barrayarans. Mostly that you could not pay them to step toe upon that planet.

[olivermoss]

Same as last week, still working on the Murderbot series and wondering how it's Wednesday again.

I upped my goal on Goodreads from 30 books for the year to 40, to put in more in line with how long my TBR list is and my real goal is to decimate that list by either finishing the books or deciding to DNF them. Also, I am already past 20 books for the year according to GR. But, I sit on a throne of lies because some of the Murderbot books are novellas and GR counts two Murderbot short stories as separate works. I may be 20 'books' down but getting another 20 off my my list by the end of the year will mean ramping up my reading a bit.

[quillpunk]

every wednesday, i wonder where the time has gone *sigh* it feels like i blink and suddenly it's time for a new post, lol.

murderbot is a very series! hope you're having a good time with it :D

good luck on your new goal!

[starfleetbrat]

I think I have started a few books this week but none of them seem to be grabbing me.

Most recent start is Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum. Its ok but a bit slow so far.

[blueshiftofdeath]

Just finished Peak by Anders Ericcson and Robert Pool a few days ago-- I loved it! It's about how people become experts in various fields (it's via "deliberate practice"). I intend to do a writeup on my journal soon but haven't gotten the chance yet.

I have also been listening to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; we're about 80% in and it's just recently taken a turn from atmospheric to thrilling. I'm very excited to find out what happens next!

[soc_puppet]

Audio: Just finished "Bookshops and Bonedust", the prequel to "Legends and Lattes", and I regret taking so long to get to it! It was a lot of fun, with some pretty cool female friendships. Up next, I'm starting the first volume of "Reincarnated as a Familiar"; I've read the first three books of the series already and enjoyed them, so this is technically a re-read until I get to the fourth volume. That said, I'm a little hesitant to get started, because the POV character death in the opening chapter is one of the more traumatic ones I've come across, and I've read a fair few reincarnation isekai books! Honestly makes me miss Truck-kun.

Ebook: I'm currently most of the way through the second volume of "RV-in My Way Into Exile With My Beloved Cat: This Villainess is Trippin'!" The books are fun, if a little on the short side, and I kinda wish the writing were a little... IDK, deeper? Still, I'm enjoying myself, and that's the important part! Up next, I plan to start the fourth volume of "My Magical Career at Court", whose full title is even longer than "This Villainess is Trippin'!".

Manga: I'm on the tenth-ish volume of Wind Breaker! It's not quite following the trope beats I'm used to, but I'm still having a pretty good time with it. Tsubaki-chan is making me scratch my head a bit; the official translation uses he/him, and I'm prepared to accept it, but I've also seen my fair share of not-quite-accurate adaptations with regards to gender. Anyone know what pronouns the cast uses to refer to Tsubaki-chan in Japanese, or what form of "I" Tsubaki-chan uses?

[givemeyourhonor]

3/4's through Garth Nix's Abhorsen. Not sure how we're going to be the bad guy but I'm excited. I've enjoyed the trilogy and found the world-building fascinating.

[quillpunk]

i've heard lots of good things about it, glad you're enjoying it! (worldbuilding is always a fun time :D)

[exitmouse]

I just finished Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser! I actually never read the Little House books and was only a little familiar with them (I read all of the Kirsten books released by the Pleasant Company okay???) along with seeing a couple of the episodes of the tv show based on it, but it was still absolutely fascinating -- if also incredibly depressing because Fraser does give a lot of historical context for things. I cried multiple times, especially near the end.