What are you reading?

[Jinsai]

Hell House by Richard Matheson. This is a fun book.

[allegate]

For the next >24 hours (I don't know when the sale started) all books by author Will Wight are free on Kindle and then only $2 to add narration via audible. I recommend the Cradle series - the last book comes out next week, hence the sale - if you like fantasy books set in a somewhat feudal China but with magic.

This review sets the series up well enough:

Cradle falls into a genre that I've been aware of for some time, but that I wasn't necessarily sure of a name for, and until relatively recently I'm not sure it even had one that was agreed upon. Now, it does. Progression fantasy. The idea being that it falls into a sub-genre of fantasy in which the main character(s) steadily increases in power and/or skill as the series progresses. You typically see stories like this in anime, in xianxia/wuxia-inspired web novels, etc. So its emergence into the western sphere is more recent, and Wight's Cradle series is often pointed at as a good a place to dive in if you're craving that type of story. I am, in fact, craving that type of story.

Unsouled is not written in stand-out prose. Wight does not have a mastery of language, and he is not writing characters of limitless depth. But what he clearly does have is a mind for stories, a solid foundation for world-building, and a penchant for fast-paced plotting. I say it all the time; not every book has to have everything. Most just have to do one thing well enough to be engaging, and I think Wight achieves that here.

I started reading the series for the first time on March 3rd and finished the last (at the time) book on April 14th so they're very fast reads. If you like over-powered anime fights you will probably like the series. I give them a 3.5 or 4 overall because they are fun, just missing some real stakes at times.

[Jinsai]

I realize I probably read too much Stephen King, but I find his stuff entertaining. I'd never read The Dark Half, and I'm about 75 pages in, but this feels... more twisted from the start than his other stuff. I hear that after writing this, he sobered up. Maybe he was struggling with some really messed up demons when he did this book. I wonder if it's one of the ones he doesn't remember writing.

[leftshoe18]

I lost my copy of The Witcher: Time Of Contempt so I started re-reading Alices Adventures In Wonderland. That book really captures the absurdity of what it feels like while dreaming and I love it.

[elevenism]

My Effin Life by Mr. GEDDY EFFIN' LEE!

I also got the audio version, as it's read by...GEDDY LEE! (and Alex Lifeson).

Good GOD, there's a chapter in there about his family and the holocaust, and it's SO fucking hardcore that there's a disclaimer: Ged warns the reader that the following chapter will be VERY intense, and it's ok to skip it.

I read it, of course, and it had me in tears.

But, yeah. I've honestly been into...well, more like OBSESSED with, Rush, since I was a fucking CHILD: I found my folks' copy of A Farewell to Kings at age 7 or so, was fascinated by the cover, threw that shit on the turntable and that was that. In like, 96, I took the tour book from Test for Echo, cut the pages out, and arranged them as a CROSS over my bed: like, fuck your this is MY religion. So this autobiography is a dream come true.

Here is an interview about the book:

[wampa]

Currently reading Salems Lot by Stephen King but not sure if I'm enjoying it. About 220 pages in.

[Timinator]

I just finished Doppelganger by Naomi Klein. I really liked it.

It's different from Klein's other, more investigative books, it's more personal. She uses the fact that people started mixing her up with Naomi Wolf years ago, then covers how Wolf has slid down the dark hole of right-wing conspiracy theories, and then uses that doppelganger/mirror-image theme to frame the division between the world that most of us live in and the anti-vax/Republican/Zionist "mirror world".

[chuckrh]

Currently reading Salems Lot by Stephen King but not sure if I'm enjoying it. About 220 pages in.

It's a good one.

[leftshoe18]

I reread the first Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book a couple weeks ago. I love that book so much.

Currently reading Salems Lot by Stephen King but not sure if I'm enjoying it. About 220 pages in.

I picked up Salem's Lot from a garage sale last month but haven't cracked it open yet.

[wampa]

I picked up Salem's Lot from a garage sale last month but haven't cracked it open yet.

I ended up enjoying Salem's Lot quite a bit!

[chuckrh]

Southern Man by Greg Iles. Latest in a series that is quite good. This one checks in at a hefty 1000 pages.

[Jinsai]

I’m reading Battle For the Bird by Kurt Wagner, a book about the establishment of Twitter, the rise of the platform, the acquisition by Musk, and the fallout from there. It’s been interesting, sometimes drags on too long… I guess it really depends on how it wraps things up in conclusion. I’ve just gotten to the point where Elon is offering to buy it.

[elevenism]

My Effin Life by Mr. GEDDY EFFIN' LEE!

I also got the audio version, as it's read by...GEDDY LEE! (and Alex Lifeson).

Good GOD, there's a chapter in there about his family and the holocaust, and it's SO fucking hardcore that there's a disclaimer: Ged warns the reader that the following chapter will be VERY intense, and it's ok to skip it.

I read it, of course, and it had me in tears.

But, yeah. I've honestly been into...well, more like OBSESSED with, Rush, since I was a fucking CHILD: I found my folks' copy of A Farewell to Kings at age 7 or so, was fascinated by the cover, threw that shit on the turntable and that was that. In like, 96, I took the tour book from Test for Echo, cut the pages out, and arranged them as a CROSS over my bed: like, fuck your this is MY religion. So this autobiography is a dream come true.

Here is an interview about the book:

I'm replying to myself. (Insanity meter:4/10. Quotes itself.)

But I'm STILL reading the Ged book. I'm only allowing myself a chapter or two per month, tho.

My wife got the audio version of The Stand, and I've listened to bits and pieces of it with her: we're both already Dark Tower nerds who have An-Tet engraved on the INSIDE of our wedding rings, but she'd never read The Stand! And, fuck me- . That one DEFINITELY holds up. @Jinsai when was the last time you read it?

In the meantime, I've been reading, and acting on,.books on like,.food storage. I know y'all think I'm crazy, but,.when NATO starts issuing advisories regarding storing food, water, batteries, fleshlights, and radios, i.damn sure perk up.

Wait...oh shit. I'm scared it might have been FLASHLIGHTS. Anyway, ima do a Public Circus and lay some of these titles on y'all, once my paperwhite is charged.

[allegate]

Currently reading this. As far as I can tell it's not based on the movie but it kind of a prequel, I guess.



Currently listening to this. It's really good, love the characterizations.

[elevenism]

@allegate good GOD, I love Dracula. It's so...well, there's no other way to say it: the thinly veiled sexual metaphors are unreal.

SO.
Ok so, everyone should have, at least, The Survival Medicine Handbook: A Guide for.When Help.ISN'T on the way...and that shit is good to have in GENERAL, especially if you're rural.

When All Hell Breaks Loose by Lundin is at the top of my list for an all around guide. Godfrey's Store This, Not That! is the best food buying/storing book I've found.

I've also been reading (again) the Tao, the few Steinbeck books I somehow managed to miss, some Marcus Aurelius, some Camus essays.because of @burnmotherfucker! , Dark Psychology Secrets (from Tower's Manipulation and Mind Control.series: he's mostly just aping Greene's Amoral Trilogy, but, it's fun).

I've ALSO been trying to work my way through the Nag Hammadi Library.The Collected Works of St John of the Cross, and, of course, as ever, the bible.

Sadly, bits and pieces has been the order of the day for.me, lately, because I am SO FUCKING TERMINALLY ONLINE. Fucking youtube.

[Jinsai]

The Stand! And, fuck me- . That one DEFINITELY holds up. @Jinsai when was the last time you read it?

It’s been about a decade since I read The Stand. I’ve been meaning to re-read it; I’ve got a nice edition of it… It’s one of those early-series hardbacks they printed with the black and white photo art from 1990 (apparently the Pet Sematary one is worth a fortune). I’ve got Carrie, Night Shift, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, and The Stand.

I like nice books a lot. I feel like it impacts the reading experience significantly (I still can’t get absorbed in a book at all on a tablet or Kindle or whatever), and those editions are awesome. The print is large and clear, pages are thick, and the art is awesome.

They’re referred to by collectors as the Holdorf editions. They don’t go for too much, with the exception of Pet Sematary.

I think this should link to the version I’m talking about

Anyway, it’s dope.
And speaking of Dracula, and fancy pants book editions, I got this edition they put out that’s got Edward Gorey illustrations and bound with felt.

It is also dope.
But yeah, I’d like to re-read The Stand, especially now that I’ve completed The Dark Tower.

[elevenism]

Goddammit @Jinsai ....I used to have ALL the first edition sk hard backs, but I gave them all away! You MUST, definitely, read Infinite Jest, tho (David Foster Wallace). You're one of like, ten cats to whom i would recommend it.

The title, obviously, comes from "yes, i knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest and most excellent fancy," but there is SO, SO much more to it than that.

You, too, @allegate r...if you cats haven't already read it.

[Jinsai]

Goddammit @Jinsai ....I used to have ALL the first edition sk hard backs, but I gave them all away! You MUST, definitely, read Infinite Jest, tho (David Foster Wallace). You're one of like, ten cats to whom i would recommend it.

The title, obviously, comes from "yes, i knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest and most excellent fancy," but there is SO, SO much more to it than that.

You, too, @allegate r...if you cats haven't already read it.

I own a copy of Infinite Jest, but I haven’t read it yet. That looks like one of those challenges; like Gravity’s Rainbow or Ulysses.

[allegate]

Slowly plodding my way through this. Kind of a hard book to read when you are depressed, especially as many of the stories are a little too close to home. Not the weird celebrity stuff - I grew up in a place you could barely call a town, more like a hamlet given the sheer (lolpun) lack of size and govt - but the family strife.

[elevenism]

I own a copy of Infinite Jest, but I haven’t read it yet. That looks like one of those challenges; like Gravity’s Rainbow or Ulysses.

dude, i WOULD call it a challenge, but, it's easier to read, and understand, than ANYTHING by Pynchon, and...fuck...yeah: it's far more enjoyable/understandable than Ulysses.
also, imho, it's WHOLE hell of a lot more FUN than, say, The Crying of Lot 49 or whatever.

Think White Noise meets House of Leaves, but, in a more maximalist format than HoL, if you could believe that.

Man. @Jinsai : tbh, i got such a kick out of it that it reminded me of like, childhood "activity books."
And, even if you miss 1% or 2% of it, well, that's what the interwebs are for, right? I damn sure don't think you'd miss much of it, though, and it's nowhere as DRY as the two you mentioned.

It's challenging, yes, but, again, it's FUN to read.

[Jinsai]

@elevenism I’m ok with a literary challenge though. I was a lit major. Generally a huge waste of time and money, but I am equipped to handle Infinite Jest I think

[elevenism]

@elevenism I’m ok with a literary challenge though. I was a lit major. Generally a huge waste of time and money, but I am equipped to handle Infinite Jest I think

Oh, I certainly wasn't insinuating you WEREN'T. I mostly meant to say that it was far more ENJOYABLE, imho, than Pynchon, and quite a bit more easy to penetrate than effing Ulysses, but, it's also THE definition of a maximalist work: some call it encyclopedic.

I hope you didn't think I was discounting your fucking literary acumen when I said "I dug it like a childhood activity book," nor did I mean it was like a kid's book for ME, so you MIGHT understand most of.it: rather, I quite literally,. (no pun intended), meant that THAT'S how much I LOVED reading it. It honestly made me feel a childlike sense of wonder.

Also, there are whole fucking message boards full of people still arguing about what certain parts of it mean (which is what I meant about "not catching" a tiny percentage of it. I allegedly didn't, according to 15-20 assholes).

I GODDAMN sure meant no offense, nor did i mean, at all, that you couldn't handle.it. Trust that i wouldn't
recommend that shit to just anyone.

Let me put it this way, though- you remember that I accidentally speed read?

IJ took me like, three months.

[Jinsai]

@elevenism lol no offense was taken. I was kidding around. I do plan on reading it, just my backlog of unread books is stacking up, and there’s some lighter stuff to go through. I still need to finish reading Ringworld… and I’m now in between reading stories in You Like it Darker and I just started Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay.. First book I’ve read by him, but I’m liking it so far

[elevenism]

@elevenism lol no offense was taken. I was kidding around. I do plan on reading it, just my backlog of unread books is stacking up, and there’s some lighter stuff to go through. I still need to finish reading Ringworld… and I’m now in between reading stories in You Like it Darker and I just started Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay.. First book I’ve read by him, but I’m liking it so far

Hey, I like to.write, when my hands allow it.

My backlog of books is...uhhhhh...idk if it's happening.