Book Recommendations?

Another fan of InCryptid here. I haven't jumped in to Calculated Risks yet, but I'm a solid fan of the series. One thing I've read recently that gives me joy is Sarah Gailey's When We Were Magic. it's a high school drama about a coven of witches, but what makes it work is the character building and the emotional insight of the author. Gailey is fairly new on the scene, but they've landed real hits in a number of sci-fi sub genres. Clearly they are going places. It kind of feels like Seanan Maguire in 2012 when she hit scene. Her new novel The Clone Wife is really good, but I LOVED Magic for Liars and When We Were Magic.

I'm currently reading Butcher's Battle Ground. Dresden is a great protagonist and the series is good, but I think we've seen everything Butcher has to offer as a writer. (Not a criticism, I'm grateful, it's just that the structure of the series has Harry growing up and he's grown as far as Butcher can write him. I'm enjoying visiting Harry's Chicago, but I'm bored with Butcher's apocalypse. What I'd really like to read is just a bunch of average case files from early in the series. Giving everybody super powers really took a lot of the charm out of the stories and now there's nowhere to go but for bigger and in this case bigger is less fun than the buildup was.

I can't find any mention of "The Clone Wife". Are you sure it is out? Or maybe you mean Gailey's "The Echo Wife"?

Oso wrote:

Another fan of InCryptid here. I haven't jumped in to Calculated Risks yet, but I'm a solid fan of the series. One thing I've read recently that gives me joy is Sarah Gailey's When We Were Magic. it's a high school drama about a coven of witches, but what makes it work is the character building and the emotional insight of the author. Gailey is fairly new on the scene, but they've landed real hits in a number of sci-fi sub genres. Clearly they are going places. It kind of feels like Seanan Maguire in 2012 when she hit scene. Her new novel The Clone Wife is really good, but I LOVED Magic for Liars and When We Were Magic.

I'm currently reading Butcher's Battle Ground. Dresden is a great protagonist and the series is good, but I think we've seen everything Butcher has to offer as a writer. (Not a criticism, I'm grateful, it's just that the structure of the series has Harry growing up and he's grown as far as Butcher can write him. I'm enjoying visiting Harry's Chicago, but I'm bored with Butcher's apocalypse. What I'd really like to read is just a bunch of average case files from early in the series. Giving everybody super powers really took a lot of the charm out of the stories and now there's nowhere to go but for bigger and in this case bigger is less fun than the buildup was.

I've had the two new books sitting in my audible for ages, and just haven't been motivated to start them.

Anyone read the new Star Wars book set in the High Republic era yet?

Edit: light of the Jedi [Amazon has it half price in Australia]

Bfgp wrote:

Anyone read the new Star Wars book set in the High Republic era yet?

Edit: light of the Jedi [Amazon has it half price in Australia]

Yes all the High Republic books have been great so far.

Robear wrote:

I can't find any mention of "The Clone Wife". Are you sure it is out? Or maybe you mean Gailey's "The Echo Wife"?

Oops, that's the one. It's really quite good, I was just completely taken w/ When we were magic, which I read immediately before.

I read Light of the Jedi. Good start to the era. Tries to cover a lot of ground with a lot of new characters. That can be good and bad. But it's telling the story of an event that I assume will shape this era of the canon.

Haven't read any of the other two or three out yet.

karmajay wrote:
Bfgp wrote:

Anyone read the new Star Wars book set in the High Republic era yet?

Edit: light of the Jedi [Amazon has it half price in Australia]

Yes all the High Republic books have been great so far.

Yea i had to swap to the Kindle for it because the narrator was probably the worst i've ever heard for an audio book.

ranalin wrote:
karmajay wrote:
Bfgp wrote:

Anyone read the new Star Wars book set in the High Republic era yet?

Edit: light of the Jedi [Amazon has it half price in Australia]

Yes all the High Republic books have been great so far.

Yea i had to swap to the Kindle for it because the narrator was probably the worst i've ever heard for an audio book.

Hah. I know a lot of people talk about how good the Star Wars books are for all the sound effect production but I've never liked that. All that distracts. Then they don't get the best narrators in a lot of cases.

Is there anyone here who liked reading "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White? I finally managed to wrap it up after two excruciatingly long weeks and whereas the first part "The Sword in the Stone" was funny and mostly lighthearted, the other three "books" are just a drag. I appreciated the anachronistic comments of the narrator that popped up from time to time in those too, but the tone was so different that I almost felt tricked into reading the rest after I had finished the first part.

I finished it for an English assignment. That may have marred my experience. I don't remember enjoying any English reading assignment with the exception of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Brainsmith wrote:

Is there anyone here who liked reading "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White? I finally managed to wrap it up after two excruciatingly long weeks and whereas the first part "The Sword in the Stone" was funny and mostly lighthearted, the other three "books" are just a drag. I appreciated the anachronistic comments of the narrator that popped up from time to time in those too, but the tone was so different that I almost felt tricked into reading the rest after I had finished the first part.

I read it such a long time ago that I'd need to read it again at this point. What I remember liking and respecting were the realistic as opposed to the mythic elements White brought to the legend, even if that made the characters pretty unappealing.

Grenn wrote:

I finished it for an English assignment. That may have marred my experience. I don't remember enjoying any English reading assignment with the exception of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I liked All Quiet on the Western Front.

So I just finished the entire Decameron of Boccaccio for a class I was taking. Doing so definitely put my other reading in abeyance until this monster was finished. I'm very glad I read such a classic, written just after the plague struck Florence almost 800 years ago. Some stories are far better than others, and even though Boccaccio dedicated this work to the ladies and wrote many stories full of female agency, there is still a lot of misogyny, which is hard to take. On the positive side, there is a LOT of sex, and there are some gems that hold up very well today, like this very short comic tale here

I'm looking forward to reading some stories from The Decameron Project.

That is a fantastic series of stories, although as you say, they are of their time. And some do pop up in variant forms in entertainment today. I try to revisit it every few years.

Natus wrote:
Brainsmith wrote:

Is there anyone here who liked reading "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White? I finally managed to wrap it up after two excruciatingly long weeks and whereas the first part "The Sword in the Stone" was funny and mostly lighthearted, the other three "books" are just a drag. I appreciated the anachronistic comments of the narrator that popped up from time to time in those too, but the tone was so different that I almost felt tricked into reading the rest after I had finished the first part.

I read it such a long time ago that I'd need to read it again at this point. What I remember liking and respecting were the realistic as opposed to the mythic elements White brought to the legend, even if that made the characters pretty unappealing.

Well, Arthur is turned into both a fish and then a goose, so I don't know about it being more realistic... I remembered the Disney version of the Sword in the Stone very fondly and I was looking forward to the battle between Merlin and Madam Mim, but that one is only in the cartoon

NathanialG wrote:
Grenn wrote:

I finished it for an English assignment. That may have marred my experience. I don't remember enjoying any English reading assignment with the exception of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I liked All Quiet on the Western Front.

My favourite reading assignment at school was "Die Entdeckung der Currywurst" ("The Invention of Curried Sausage") by Uwe Timm (a post-war Berlin story about the accidental creation of one of Germany's favourite fast food items). Apart from that, our reading assignments at school were pretty mediocre in both English and German classes in general though.

So I finally got around to finishing God's Shadow last night. It was very Europa Universalis.

Thoroughly enjoyed the parts about the Ottoman Empire and Sultan Selim. The parts about Spain, the Reconquista, and Conquest of the Americas was okay but clearly a bit outside the author's area of expertise.

Just finished The Physicians of Vilnoc, which I think is the 8th novella in Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and Desdemona series. If you like Bujold but haven't tried these, you're doing yourself a disservice.

These books are just feel good books for the most part. The world isn't ending. The conflicts are generally fairly low stakes vs most "epic" fantasy. There's enough humor and cleverness to make them fun stories that are great palate cleansers between heavier fair.

The series starts with Penric's Demon:

On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season", and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric. From that moment on, Penric's life is irreversibly changed, and his life is in danger from those who envy or fear him.

Set in the fantasy world of the author's acclaimed novels THE CURSE OF CHALION, PALADIN OF SOULS and THE HALLOWED HUNT, this novella has the depth of characterization and emotional complexity that distinguishes all Bujold's work.

Brainsmith wrote:

Is there anyone here who liked reading "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White? I finally managed to wrap it up after two excruciatingly long weeks and whereas the first part "The Sword in the Stone" was funny and mostly lighthearted, the other three "books" are just a drag. I appreciated the anachronistic comments of the narrator that popped up from time to time in those too, but the tone was so different that I almost felt tricked into reading the rest after I had finished the first part.

Yeah, I'm one of those who thinks White's paraphrase of Mallory is one of the gems of the 20th Century. But to be fair, I hated the non-Sword-in-the-Stone bits until I'd come back to it as an Adult and like my 3rd read.

Guinevere was my first introduction to reading a middle-aged woman who was simply out of f*cks to give. Her character and relationship to Lancelot, Elaine, and Galahad helped me when I had to come to grips with misogyny and feminism. (In my 20s, a long time ago.)

The political allegory is not fun, because it's a tragedy. Mordred wins, Lancelot kills Gawain, the dream of Camelot is shown to by a childhood fantasy that isn't compatible with people as we are. Obviously Martin's Ned Stark ark in the first aSoIaF book owes a a lot in theme to White, but White set us up by telling the story of Robert Baratheon, starting as a kid. (Think about the one-armed armorer on the wall telling Jon Stark about Robert growing up.) Then instead of Camelot we get King's Landing.

What really ties everything together in the political philosophy vein is the Wild Geese short story that is added to later editions. A middle-aged Arthur (or maybe he's really old) meets Merlin one last time and Merlin turns him into a goose for his final lesson.

Anyway, it's a sad book about adult disillusionment and the subversion of our hero worship. There a reason a lot of retellings stop the story when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone. Keeping a kingdom is a lot less fun then winning one. (I've left out the grail narrative, which is another tragedy with themes that achievements are underwhelming and being perfect makes someone boring and dickish.)

TL:DR it's great, but not a lot of fun. I think the world would be a much better place if more people paid attention to it, it really does include the wisdom needed to live a good life. (Just like real life, be prepared not to like the truth about what being a good person entails.)

Tanglebones wrote:

I've had the two new books sitting in my audible for ages, and just haven't been motivated to start them.

Marster's narration is always a treat and Butcher does some very needed, but almost gracefully performed work in Battle Ground's long denouement that tidy up loose ends and leave Harry positioned to be who he is for a while. I think you'll enjoy them a little when their turn in the queue comes up.

Oso wrote:

Anyway, it's a sad book about adult disillusionment and the subversion of our hero worship. There a reason a lot of retellings stop the story when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone. Keeping a kingdom is a lot less fun then winning one.

Leading us back to Dune: Messiah.

Natus wrote:
Oso wrote:

Anyway, it's a sad book about adult disillusionment and the subversion of our hero worship. There a reason a lot of retellings stop the story when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone. Keeping a kingdom is a lot less fun then winning one.

Leading us back to Dune: Messiah.

Leading us back to A Song of Ice and Fire. Daenerys Targaryen knows about this best.

Thanks for your thoughts Oso. I'm glad to hear someone learned to like "The Once and Future King". Maybe my frustrations will turn into fondness at some point, too. I feel like there are a lot of interesting conversations to be had about TOaFK especially in the context of other fantasy novels.

I re-read "The Once and Future King" and I don't remember having any real issues with it. Of course that was just after reading Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and I can tell you that pretty much anything was a step up from that.

I thought this was an interesting walkthrough of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books. I've read all of these but the latest novella. To be honest I've not done enough deep diving to fully understand where all this seems to be leading. That said, I enjoy Sanderson a lot and will continue reading. Maybe it will eventually become clear to me what he's doing

This is more of a reading guide than something to give you an understanding of the things that tie the books together.

I hadn't realised just how many book YouTubers there were. I've yet to find anyone I actually agree with most of the time, so they aren't usually much use to me.

So I've been doing some diamond painting and cross stitching and these things called "needle minders" are useful for both activities, and I went to etsy today to try to find a good needle case and found one, but then I checked out the needle minders in that same shop and I found a needle minder in the shape of a book with cover art for The Count of Monte Cristo! There was only one left and I got it!

As for actual books, I haven't really read much of anything recently. Just a chapter of a book here and a chapter of another book there. I've also been periodically listening to the audio version of the Mabinogion.

DudleySmith wrote:

I hadn't realised just how many book YouTubers there were. I've yet to find anyone I actually agree with most of the time, so they aren't usually much use to me.

I don't go down that rabbit hole very often. I don't watch reviews. For some reason, he popped up on my recommendations a couple of weeks ago with a video of favorite scifi/fantasy series. I agreed with several of his pics, but now I keep getting recommendations of his stuff.

I've always wanted to figure out the Cosmere ties in all the Sanderson books, so this one caught my eye.

MannishBoy wrote:
DudleySmith wrote:

I hadn't realised just how many book YouTubers there were. I've yet to find anyone I actually agree with most of the time, so they aren't usually much use to me.

I don't go down that rabbit hole very often. I don't watch reviews. For some reason, he popped up on my recommendations a couple of weeks ago with a video of favorite scifi/fantasy series. I agreed with several of his pics, but now I keep getting recommendations of his stuff.

I've always wanted to figure out the Cosmere ties in all the Sanderson books, so this one caught my eye.

The subreddit wiki is pretty comprehensive: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/wik...

bekkilyn wrote:

So I've been doing some diamond painting and cross stitching and these things called "needle minders" are useful for both activities, and I went to etsy today to try to find a good needle case and found one, but then I checked out the needle minders in that same shop and I found a needle minder in the shape of a book with cover art for The Count of Monte Cristo! There was only one left and I got it!

As for actual books, I haven't really read much of anything recently. Just a chapter of a book here and a chapter of another book there. I've also been periodically listening to the audio version of the Mabinogion.

Can you tell us which one? I started one with a narrator I really liked, but the tales began with the Arthurian cycle, not the Four Branches.

Natus wrote:
bekkilyn wrote:

So I've been doing some diamond painting and cross stitching and these things called "needle minders" are useful for both activities, and I went to etsy today to try to find a good needle case and found one, but then I checked out the needle minders in that same shop and I found a needle minder in the shape of a book with cover art for The Count of Monte Cristo! There was only one left and I got it!

As for actual books, I haven't really read much of anything recently. Just a chapter of a book here and a chapter of another book there. I've also been periodically listening to the audio version of the Mabinogion.

Can you tell us which one? I started one with a narrator I really liked, but the tales began with the Arthurian cycle, not the Four Branches.

Yes, it's the one translated by Sioned Davies and narrated by James Cameron Stewart. It's the same as the print version put out by Oxford Press and it definitely starts with the four branches.