RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

[quillpunk]

Time has continued ticking, and it is once more Wednesday.

What are you reading? 👀

Comments

[sixbeforelunch]

I’m in a bit of a dry spell this week as far as reading goes. Nothing has been keeping my attention. I wiped the slate clean and DNF some stuff (my new resolution is to DNF ruthlessly—life is too short to slog through books I’m not enjoying) and last night I started City of Bones by Martha Wells. I’ve only read 3% so far but it’s piqued my interest so I’ll keep going.

[quillpunk]

Honestly, same. I feel like I haven't read a page in a week, LOL. There's nothing wrong with the books I'm ostensibly reading, there are just other books I want to read more--and I should maybe really just put aside one of these 'official' reads so I can pick up that one instead.

DNF'ing is definitely a good skill to have; there's no reason to lock yourself into a book that doesn't spark joy. (I say, doing that exact thing for my reading challenge 😰--I thankfully don't actively dislike them, I just really want to read that other book too)

Good luck with City of Bones!

[white_aster]

(my new resolution is to DNF ruthlessly—life is too short to slog through books I’m not enjoying

Go you! \o/ Take back that time!

[wearing_tearing]

my new resolution is to DNF ruthlessly—life is too short to slog through books I’m not enjoying
Yes! I used to feel guilty about it, but now if I'm not into a book around 3 chapters in? It's a DNF.

[goodbyebird]

DNF is a good call to make, hope the slump has been ended by Wells!

[rekishi]

DNF is a skill I'm really trying to develop more, because you're right, life is way too short to slog through something.

[goldentunes]

DNF! That's a good one! I really dislike leaving anything halfway, sometimes I put down a book and come back to it later (sometimes a year, two years, yeaaaars later...) but I have learnt that sometimes some things just have to be left.

The best part about leaving a book though is that it instantly frees up time for a new one!

[petrea_mitchell]

Nearly done with a reread of The Goblin Emperor, which remains such an amazingly good book.

[white_aster]

I loved that book. :)

[quillpunk]

That's on my TBR list :D

[wearing_tearing]

The entire series is incredible <3

[sixbeforelunch]

Excellent book! I need to reread it one of these days.

[goodbyebird]

Been on my TBR for so long; from what I've gathered, it would be a marvelous re-read book.

[rekishi]

I really need to get to that at some point. It's supposed to be so much different than her Melusine series, I just can't seem to get over it. (And my TBR list is a hundred kilometers long, so nm maybe)

[white_aster]

What I finished:

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer. I did end up liking it ok, though there were long stretches where I just did not know enough about the people being discussed to judge what she was saying. But, some good stuff in there about the relationship between fans and creators, and food for thought.

Armageddon Science: The Science of Mass Destruction by Brian Clegg. I HAVE WON. VICTORY IS MINE. I don't recommend this book. Surprisingly boring and dated, at this point. Also odd swipes at both the Middle East (it's a post-9/11 thing) and autistic folks.

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes. I really liked this! Billed as space horror, as a small crew attempts to salvage a lost luxury ship, it's more creepy psychological horror/thriller kind of thing. But, it was quite creepy all the way through, and though it was a bit repetitive and there were some odd structure choices that kind of awkwardly broke up the narrative, I still ended up liking it. Stole some beats from Aliens, no question there, but like Aliens it had heart.

What I'm reading now:

A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett. It's ok. Short stories aren't terribly my thing, and these aren't the world's best of Pratchett's work, but they're not bad.

What I'm reading next: Physical book next. Gonna pick me out a writing book, probably, or maybe poetry. It's been forever since I wrote any poetry.

[dirty_diana]

I started Kushiel's Dart, but I think it may not be for me. I'm halfway through a Star Wars High Republic book, The Rising Storm, and also halfway through Among Thieves by MJ Kuhn, which so far is an okayer Six of Crows.

[wearing_tearing]

Currently listening to Death In The Spires by KJ Charles and it's pretty great! I always like the relationship dynamics in Charles' works and the mystery is also fun.

Also started Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard in an attempt to finish some of the series I have going. First half was basically action-action-action, which I wasn't expecting! I hope the second half brings some actual plot resolution instead of people just going from one place to the next and fighting.

[bluedreaming]

Still reading volume 4 of Junjou Romantica..I get a bit stuck because there are currently 28 volumes (I really should order more) and part of this (not sure how much) is reread, which I don’t remember much, and also mixed in vague recollections of the anime, so I’m finding it a little tough to anticipate. I really just need to power through and get to what I know is new stuff. (Also, the fact that it’s in French and thus a bit of a brain exercise makes it both more satisfying but also more difficult.)

I’ve been thinking about picking up The Hands of the Emperor again, but I’ll have to think about it. (Somehow it became my “watering-the-garden” book last summer, and it’s too early for that yet.)

[rekishi]

there are....28 VOLUMES OF JUNJOU?!

good lord how long have I been gone (there were like....5? when I stopped? though tbh, I was only ever in it for junjou egoist. I need to track down that storyline somewhere. 28, good god)

(the answer is I've been gone probably 10+ years so yeah)

[olivermoss]

I read Turtles All The Way Down by John Green. I'd never read John Green before and tend to hate coming of age stories, but I really liked this. I was intrigued by hearing him talk about how there is this trope of detectives having OCD being a superpower, but he wanted to write someone with OCD as he experiences dealing with a mystery. Longer reaction at my journal

I have my first official DNF of the year: Cascade Killer by Rob Phillips. I picked it up because I like mysteries, or at least want to. I like Agatha Christie, but struggle to get into any other mystery writer. I DNF'd for two reasons. One is that this reeks of 'I took a creative writing class but didn't understand it properly' He does a lot of unusual word choices to describe things, but they are bad or baffling choices. Pieces of clothing are 'shards of clothing'. He refers to a bear as a bruin. Etc. Second, this POV character works for the Fish and Wildlife Service and he sees himself as a cop, a cop whose job is more dangerous than other cops. His ways of thinking about things was gross. I could be that his character goes on an arc through the book and he isn't a POS by the end, but unless I knew that for certain I wasn't going to hang around to find out.

Speaking of mysteries, I am currently on Mystery of The Blue Train by Agatha Christie, which is on my list of books to read this year. I've heard it's a highly regarded book of hers, but it's very slow to get going.

[goldentunes]

Ooh! I absolutely adore Agatha Christie and have read many of her works, including everything I thought she was most famous for, but I've never come across Mystery of The Blue Train before! Thank you for this, I shall check it out. I hope you enjoy it when you get round to it!

[olivermoss]

I forgot where I heard it mentioned, it was probably in a video about Ten Little Soldiers. I was surprised to see I had the audiobook and had only listened to a bit. The set up is very long, but I am going to get through it this time.

Crooked House and Orient Express are favorites of mine

[goldentunes]

Loved those two! Death On The Nile might be my number one. I also really liked The Murder of Roger Ackroyd but would probably respectfully disagree with everyone calling it her best.

[rekishi]

I'm still reading "Hench"! (3/4 now XD) For various reasons related to work and medical appointments and knitting, I haven't made much headway here. I like it, but I'm not super gripped by it. Which is good, because at the moment it's better if I'm able to put things down. ^^;

Why is knitting and reading not an option? (I have never been very good with audio formats, but I found I can focus on an audiobook when I am knitting... However, audio does not serve the same as reading, so an audiobook is not a solution to this. Sad!)

Current Readin

[dialecticdreamer]

I've been clearing the bookmarked fan fiction that I want to read, finishing about 10K words per day in different stories. (Largely DC universe stories this week, and trimming the random bookmarked list by length.)

However, the majority of reading has been "The Gulag Archipelago" by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. On a reading level, in English, it's roughly middle school vocabulary and grammar. The contents, however, are incredibly complex and must be digested.

The interesting thing is that I can put down a badly written (grammar, spelling, etc.) fan fiction after about the first thousand words, but I cannot do the same (yet) for physical paperbacks. The Gulag Archipelago has to be read at least three hours before bedtime, with some kind of light video before bed, or it sparks bad dreams. Yet I can't actually quit on it.

Here's hoping that the ride is worth the cost of the ticket, after all.

Re: Current Readin

[goldentunes]

Re The Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn: is this a deliberate style that they've written in? I'm really intrigued now I can't imagine a book being published where an editor would have missed tons of basic mistakes!

(Same re fics. If I'm holding a paperback I handpicked out of thousands in the store, I always feel I must be missing something if I'm not really getting into it. DNFing (thread above) is not always easy!)

Re: Current Reading

[dialecticdreamer]

Unclear on my part, sorry. I can put down fanfics with grammar errors and spelling mistakes.

The errors in The Gulag Archipelago are either insufficient facts, misinterpretation of events, or overgeneralizing from the word-of-mouth information that he collected. The book about the Soviet Gulag system was written in a time when NO ONE in the general public could even get information that they existed. The trains weren't even labeled correctly on the official schedules.

So, the errors aren't the kinds of things which could be corrected in editing without destroying the impact of the Gulag system on the average citizen, even if they never actually crossed through a gate into one. Try to imagine someone collecting "this happened to me" autobiographical stories about the people living in Atlanta during the American Civil War, collected both during the war and for fifteen to twenty years afterward. Those are the errors that I meant.

Here's the part that makes me deeply respectful of the author: He's over 95% right. There may be errors in numbers, generalizing from what he saw on one day at one roll call, but this is still quite a terrifying look at a cotton gin that used up, chewed up, and never actually spit out citizens faster than it would raw cotton!

Re: Current Reading

[goldentunes]

Oh no! Sorry it was ME that was unclear - I can definitely put down fics. I do it very quickly actually. But it takes me longer to do the same with published books.

Gosh, that sounds like a tough read! While I can't say I've ever read anything similar, I have read books previously where I thought "why in the world am I doing this to myself", and then got to the end and immediately put the book on my "will rec to anyone list", so I'm hoping that The Gulag Archipelago will be worth it for you!

Re: Current Reading

[dialecticdreamer]

Books hit differently at different ages. For example, "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle. The first time that I read it, I was six or seven. I read it again in middle school, age twelve, and again when I set out on my own at seventeen. Each time, it felt like an entirely different novel.

Now, middle-aged and with grown children, I can see world history with a bit more interconnection, a bit less egocentric (or nation-centered) analysis, and most obviously, less "right" and "wrong" and more awareness of the complex gears and cogs in motion in any social problem.

I'd read "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by the same author with my youngest in high school, and if you want the same clarity of vision and purpose but in a simplified format, read this instead. The struggle, the effect on people outside, is of necessity less important and more blurred to the characters.

So far, I'd say that the fictionalized story is great reading all on its own, but it also serves as a wonderful introduction to the more intricate, more explicitly terrible stories in "The Gulag Archipelago." It'll be worth it, even if I don't sleep well for a while.

Re: Current Reading

[goldentunes]

I’ll check One Day out, thank you!!

[starfleetbrat]

I'm currently reading:

The House Witch by Delemhach
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61337597-the-house-witch-1

The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre by Cho Yeeun
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209078460-the-new-seoul-park-jelly-massacre

I'm only a chapter into the first one, and about a third of the way through the second. The second one is fun, its told from the pov of different characters, and so far there is a weird guy at a theme park in Korea who is giving out free jelly, and everyone who eats it melts/dissolves into pink jelly.

[goldentunes]

I'm still slowly sloooowly going through The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories. So far the writing (translating) is gorgeous and I really really like how so much attention has been paid to depicting cultural nuances as faithfully as possible.

[suncani]

Currently Reading
Labyrinth's Heart by M.A Carrick - I'm really enjoying this, it's breathtaking both in the sense that things are happening at breakneck speed and the worldbuilding, which even though this is the third book is still on-going. I'm about 40% through and even though one major plot point has happened, there's been several more introduced so I'm unsure how they're all going to get wrapped up in in time.

Scorpions in Corinth by J.M Alvey - This is the second in an Ancient Greek murder mystery. The MC is a playwright who keeps getting mixed up in events beyond his paygrade. This is Juliet E Mckenna's alternative pen name and the same eye for detail in her other novels is brought to bear here. This is my current work audiobook and it works perfectly for that.

Finished
Murder Most Unladylike - Robin Stevens - A couple of things meant I ended up liking this less than I originally did. The dynamic between Hazel and Daisy later on in the book bought back some unpleasant memories, although it made sense for plot reasons. The ending was neatly resolved and overall I enjoy the tone and the combination of genres. It also works well as an audiobook so if my library has the next one, it hasn't put me off trying it.

[einhornmaedchen]

I just started reading "Strega" by Johanne Lykke Holm today. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60372438-strega)

So far I enjoy it, although I have to get used to the writing style, which is kind of...staccato-like I want to say? There's a quote on the back from a reviewer saying it feels like watching a movie more than reading a book and I feel that's pretty accurate. There are some gorgeous illustrations on the first and last pages, at least in the German version.

[phantomtomato]

I started Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It’s popular with a lot of people who are tastes I like! First chapter turned me off, though—I’m going to give it until the 10% mark to grab me. I think the fantasy element might be too much for my preference.

[exitmouse]

Got about 80% through Feed Back by Mira Grant before accidentally DNF'ing (audiobook, via Libby app, I ran out of time on my hold and it auto-returned!) I'll probably go back and finish it eventually but it wasn't really holding my interest. Which I'm pretty sure is a me thing right now. I've got A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper for my book club and I've already read it once and I know I'm going to need to reread it for the book club because my eyes just kept sliding off of it. It didn't help that the character the book was All About was the one I found least interesting so whenever she was the focus (which was most of the time!) I found myself wondering when we'd get back to the others.