What are you reading?

[talonius]

"The Brain That Changes Itself" - Norman Doidge, M.D.
Why? Because Neuroplasticity is fucking amazing.

Also, hello all. First post. Nice to meet you.

Howdy, I'd welcome you but I don't have the right -- 2nd post here.

I'll have to pick that up. I hope the brain can change itself. I'm a latecomer to DBT and if it doesn't help, I'm going to be lost.

I'm reading Heaven's River by Dennis Taylor, book 4 of the Bobiverse. The whole series is a rather fun romp, at least if you're old enough to get his references.

[MrLobster]

this is what I'll be reading right after this BattleTech novel is completed... which might be Friday. So... this makes me happy.

[allegate]

this one's probably not getting a special release...

[MrLobster]

Finished: “The Sword And The Dagger” by Ardanth Mayhar … quite good. I wonder why it hasn’t been reprinted. Adds a new perspective to Hanse Davion and the Steiner-Davion alliance.

Starting: “So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish” by Douglas Adams... I had forgotten that I still had to read this one and then Mostly Harmless....

[[parasite]]

my new read…




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[MrLobster]

Finished: “So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish” by Douglas Adams … still delightful, even the ending.

Starting: “Mostly Harmless” by Douglas Adams

[MrLobster]

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Mostly Harmless” by Douglas Adams … you know, in all the ways the series could have ended, I’m still satisfied with it. Just like how it started.

Starting: “Star Lord” by Donald G. Phillips (back into the BattleTech swing of things).

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Star Lord” by Donald G. Phillips … I liked it. Was kind of hoping it was setting up for a sequel but no, it’s probably finished. Maybe Duncan’s Demons will show up again though.

Starting: “Operation Excalibur” by William H. Keith

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Operation Excalibur” by William H. Keith, Jr. … Another fine Gray Death Legion adventure.

Starting: “Bred For War” by Michael A. Stackpole

[elevenism]

I finally got hold of Clockwork Angels, the novelization of Rush's final album, written by Kevin J. Anderson and based on a story by Neil Peart. I'm not expecting literary fireworks, exactly, but I DO look forward to finally understanding the "concept" of Rush and Neil's final statement, a concept that still eludes my understanding, even after hearing the album 100 times or so.

Also on deck is Stephen King's recent novella for Hard Case Crime, Later. I LOVED the last one, called Joyland.

Finally, I've got Warren Zanes' Tom Petty biography and Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch, which I'm certainly willing to check out, but, lord knows what that will be like.

[antediluvian]

“The Lathe of Heaven”, started today, read 20-ish page. Bleedthrough might have had connections with it, but I almost immediately had the feeling that the book somehow inspired the Year Zero universe

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Bred For War” by Michael A. Stackpole … a whole lot goes on in this one. Lots of moving parts in many different aspects of the BattleTech universe. Excited for more. Cover art didn't seem to match any particular scene in the novel though...

Starting: “I Am Jade Falcon” by Robert Thurston

[Jinsai]

I finishing off Such a Quiet Place. It's short, got an interesting enough premise, but I don't know if I'd really recommend it. I've been looking for more female authors writing horror / thriller novels, but this still feels like a "whodunnit" mystery more than anything.

[M1ke]

Just finished "Normal People" by Sally Rooney.

Decent enough book, and seems realistic, but the man is an asshole and isn't good enough for the woman.

[MrLobster]

Finished: “I Am Jade Falcon” by Robert Thurston … lots of interesting bits going on. RIP Natasha Kerensky

Starting: “Highlander Gambit” by Blaine Lee Pardoe

[fillow]

I finally started Dune (with the intention to finish it before the movie comes out) and I can't fucking put it down.

[GulDukat]

Wuthering Heights and I love it. Never read it before.

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Highlander Gambit” by Blaine Lee Pardoe … a satisfying book; lots going on.

Starting: “Malicious Intent” by Michael A. Stackpole

I've read 31 BattleTech novels and have 28 more to go... I'm reading them in date order as per the books (example; December 24, 3056 and the next being March 10, 3057) and not the publication order (June 1996 and August 1995 respectively of the first example). I figured I may as well sort order them that way to see how the over-arching plot(s) develop.

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Malicious Intent” by Michael A. Stackpole. Quite interesting with everything going on. Cover art depicted a scene in the book.

Starting: “Binding Force” by Loren L. Coleman

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Binding Force” by Loren L. Coleman… I liked it. Still don’t really like the Capellans. Cover art sort of shows a scene.

Starting: “Double-Blind” by Loren L. Coleman

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Double-Bind” by Loren L. Coleman … I liked it. Cover art kind of describes a scene of the book but not really.

Starting: “Impetus Of War” by Blaine Lee Pardoe

[chuckrh]

"Fire & Blood" by George RR Martin. I'm seriously underwhelmed.

[MrLobster]

Finished: “Impetus Of War” by Blaine Lee Pardoe … quite enjoyed it. Cover depicts a scene from the novel.

Starting: “Black Dragon” by Victor Milán

[allegate]

Finished "We Have Always Lived in the Castle". I'm not sure where to put this. It's not a horror story and if you read the afterward it's not considered one. It's a creepy story right up until you get to the part where you realise this is kind of just "The Good Son", which I hope isn't that much of a spoiler but come on, how many people are going to remember that movie unless they saw it - and there wasn't that many people who saw it, it only made $60M - so I'm good with the reference if you are.

The story is very carefully plotted and the way information is given to you is through an unreliable narrator. But also she isn't? I mean the second sentence of the story is "I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance." That's clear from the jump and yet I spent the entire rest of the story imagining her much younger because of how she is shown and she's the one doing the showing. So how can you take her seriously when she is clearly addled in some way?

I don't remember the moment that I thought to myself, "Ah ha, the underlying story/mystery that keeps coming up constantly in fits and spurts is actually _____" but I do know that suddenly a lot more things made sense. The fact that Constance had a weird agoraphobia though I never understood. The afterword says that it's one half of Shirley Jackson's life because she was diagnosed with it late in life but that's too easy, that's just weird story motivation and reading something in real life and making a leap to conclusions mat.

You know, Office Space? ah well.

The book has so much hiding around the corners that you are never given, only hinted at. I suppose this is what makes a compelling short story/novella, the ability to give you a world that feels lived-in in so few pages. It's not just the story that's happening to you at the moment but also the story that you can barely see at the edges. Kind of like in "The Ring" when they find the extra film on the film edge.

[Pillfred]

That time of year it seems.

[Jinsai]

finishing off reading Peril (the Woodward book about how Trump almost destroyed the world a thousand times).

After that I'm going to try reading The Final Girl Support Group again. The concept is nifty, but the first chapter didn't pull me in last time.

[[parasite]]

according to my kindle, i have 4hrs left of Dune


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[allegate]

Magic is real.

Discovered in the 1970s, magic is now a bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in heavy industry and magic in your home. It's what's next after electricity.

Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.

And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...

The part that got me interested up front is that the author is one of the SCP Foundation people so I'm immediately into this. I'm 60% through the book and so far it's pretty good. It has some really hard sci-fi where magic is rooted in quantum mechanics and he doesn't waste any time on "in case you didn't get that" as it just charges forward. The magic language is made-up (more on that later) but has rules, most of which aren't explained but you kind of figure it out. OR if you're like me you just skim those parts of incantation because the language is made up and isn't explained until it eventually is and then you're like well fuck it I'm not re-reading those parts with this knowledge.

There's a lot that I like about the book. I was in the mood for a hard sci-fi story and this started hitting that spot. There's also some things that I'm finding...well, tedious isn't the right word but it's close enough. He does a lot of "this is this scene" and then after that shows you a scene previous to that. Not time travel, just giving you information from the - let's say 80s? - after you were introduced to those character's current iterations. So it's like backstory and motivations being given to you after those motivations have been realized. It's weird, it works, but it's weird.

So let's talk about that made-up language. Total spoiler if I get too detailed so I'll talk around it. There's another book series that I've read that also uses a made-up language for the magic casting, however that one is based on Esperanto - and actual made-up language, but one that people use. Once my brain made that connection - as well as a plot point or two in Ra that popped in the 50% mark or so - the book actually shifted perception for me. A lot more stuff made sense and now I'm viewing what is happening and what has happened differently. I've read a couple reviews on goodreads and I think that a lot of people would have a better time with the book if they were primed like I was with that other series.

Sadly there's no way to suggest that other series without spoiling this book. I mean, the main conceit of that other series is right there in the blurb and title for each book and Ra holds its cards very close to its chest for roughly half the book. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun if you knew the mid-point reveal before you even got there.

Speaking of fun that other series is written from a humorous point of view whereas this one is seriously serious all the time. It's like comparing James Bond and Austin Powers.

[otnavuskire]

I finished reading The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton last night. It's like a groundhog day murder mystery. So good. Highly recommend people just pick it up and read it without reading anything else about it.