What book do you currently read or have read?

[qalavix]

Enjoying first read through Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters.  It's a 'historical mystery' series set in 1140's England near the border with Wales.

[Grey Cloud]

1 minute ago, qalavix said:

Enjoying first read through Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters.  It's a 'historical mystery' series set in 1140's England near the border with Wales.

Historical novels aren't my thing but I have dim memories of a TV series from way, way, back.

 

Holy ravioli, I was right!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadfael_(TV_series)

 

There again, it wasn't as long ago as I thought. ?

[Idyll]

I've a few I can think of which I really enjoy recently, mainly Light Novels and Mangas. Actual Novels I have access to rarely are enjoyable and I limit my selection to real books for that format, so I mainly read LNs or Mangas.

 

My reading method is to sift through as far as the least advanced version released, that way I can enjoy stories for longer and the content or surprise, if any, is still fresh so I can doubly enjoy a story, especially in regards to LNs/Mangas, where I can have an actual imagery of what was described only in words before.

 

Here's two right off the bat, I'll update this into a list at some point in time; you can count them as suggestions.

 

Reading:

- Youjo Senki (The Saga of Tanya the Evil) LN/Manga

Vol. 2 Cover Artwork:

Spoiler

An isekai story set during a seemingly parallel world in the times of WWI, following the very young character Tanya, who was formerly a cutthroat corporate back in our world, as she does her utmost to survive the war now surrounding her and tries to get back at a cosmic entity daring her to survive without its help, nicknamed "Being X" by Tanya who repels the thoughts of deities and instead advocates rationality.

 

 

Read:

- BLAME! Manga

Cover:

Spoiler

(No picture loads)

A story set in a dilapidated advanced "City" of gargantuan proportions called the Megastructure which is composed of an unknown number of levels and occupies much of what used to be the solar system. In this story, we follow Kyllee/Killy (depending on the translator's interpretation), a man of few words - of which little is explained - perfect for the stoic tone of the setting, as he ascends through "The City's" layers in his search for the Net Terminal Genes while fending off the Megastructure's dangers, comprised of cyborgs, dubbed Silicon Lifeforms, and Safeguards, strange killing machines seeking humanity's decline; amongst other things.

 

 

[qalavix]

Finished Cadfael, now reading Medicus by Ruth Downie (it has another name outside the US, can't remember it right now).  Another historical 'mystery' although this seems more like a police procedural, except it's medicine not police, and set in Roman Britain just as Trajan dies and Hadrian takes over.

 

Quote

One of the qualities needed for promotion through the centurionate [Roman military] was the ability to single-handedly compel eighty trained killers to do things they didn't much want to do, and to do them instantly.

Made me chuckle.  It's got some dry humor, and I really like the two main characters so far.  The hospital administrator I bet is going to be a foil during the series, and I already hate him, but he seems like the usual sort of oily bureaucrat who is slithering up the power hierarchy; i.e., well characterized and instantly recognizable as to species while retaining individual markings and behaviors.  I bet he combs his hair over his bald spot.

[Slorm]

6 minutes ago, qalavix said:

Finished Cadfael, now reading Medicus by Ruth Downie (it has another name outside the US, can't remember it right now).  Another historical 'mystery' although this seems more like a police procedural, except it's medicine not police, and set in Roman Britain just as Trajan dies and Hadrian takes over.

 

Made me chuckle.  It's got some dry humor, and I really like the two main characters so far.  The hospital administrator I bet is going to be a foil during the series, and I already hate him, but he seems like the usual sort of oily bureaucrat who is slithering up the power hierarchy; i.e., well characterized and instantly recognizable as to species while retaining individual markings and behaviors.  I bet he combs his hair over his bald spot.

 

I might have a look at that, it sounds interesting.

 

I've not read the Cadfael series, though I do still have the TV series on DVD which were very good.

 

You might like Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave trilogy which is a believable and more down to Earth telling of the Myth of Merlin and Arthur and doesn't sanitise the period as some books tend to do, covering the change over from Roman to Saxon influence. The third book is a bit weaker than the first two in my view, but still worth a read.

[Marie.R]

I am currently reading the books from the white series (specialist books for nursing and elderly care)

[RedHeroTrump]

Since I had a computer, I haven't read many books, and a large number of e-books are full of documents
 

[Popo07]

 A bit off topic ,but burning thru my backlog of LN and manga .One question keeps popping up in my mind "have these authors ever played a fucking mmo?" None of these Iseikai set ups make any fucking sense from a logical view point. "We summoned you to fight the Demonlord ,but never mind that thousands of our knights are dying or injured ,well because your a healer so we dont need you so fuck off out of here". I'm also getting tired of the whole "good guys are bad ,bad guys are good" trope you know what would actually surprise the shit out of me "The good guys actually being good for once ,and the bad guys actually being the bad guys", and whats up with all the "I got This so called shitty skill ,but never mind I can pull any effect out of my ass no matter the situation ,because its a shitty skill". Whew ... breeeath.....end rant.?

[Idyll]

26 minutes ago, Popo07 said:

 A bit off topic ,but burning thru my backlog of LN and manga .One question keeps popping up in my mind "have these authors ever played a fucking mmo?" None of these Iseikai set ups make any fucking sense from a logical view point. "We summoned you to fight the Demonlord ,but never mind that thousands of our knights are dying or injured ,well because your a healer so we dont need you so fuck off out of here". I'm also getting tired of the whole "good guys are bad ,bad guys are good" trope you know what would actually surprise the shit out of me "The good guys actually being good for once ,and the bad guys actually being the bad guys", and whats up with all the "I got This so called shitty skill ,but never mind I can pull any effect out of my ass no matter the situation ,because its a shitty skill". Whew ... breeeath.....end rant.?

 

I became really selective about the reads I pick, LN/Manga tend to have similar types of expectable things happening throughout their stories, it's like the majority of creators are wired to work in a single common fashion so I just filter the obviously lesser quality.

 

Manga/LN-wise, it's either overused ideas; ill built ideas that could have been great; ideas there's a wave of authors that felt like "Oh, this seems interesting and sells well, my not even somewhat barely decently bad trash has to be just as popular if I make it!" then they cover the shelves in their feces - which breeds the aforementioned overused ideas and then some; actually good content that's gotten axed for bullshit reasons, I'm still feeling bitter about "Yasei no Last Boss" having its manga discontinued; or rare gems that either started a wave of copycat authors or go unnoticed.

 

With the exception of stories so great they're lauded yet so refreshing and different the copycat river fails to replicate it.

 

 

[Popo07]

56 minutes ago, Idyll said:

"Yasei no Last Boss"

 I'll check that one out.

[Idyll]

23 minutes ago, Popo07 said:

 I'll check that one out.

 

Yeah, it's been nice but I've been lenient in reading it once I found out its manga was cancelled. There's the LN but I'm unsure about it being finished or not. It's a bit like a overlord but with its own flavour. If genderbender isn't your thing, don't worry about it: the MC actually is the jet black wings character, the dude part is just something of a "mind prison cell" so he's a fake persona.

 

 

[Allyson Wonderland]

Reading the SPQR series. They are historical crime mysteries set during the final decades of the Roman Republic.

[Idyll]

1 hour ago, Allyson Wonderland said:

Reading the SPQR series. They are historical crime mysteries set during the final decades of the Roman Republic.

 

Thanks, I'll sift through that and see if I find it compelling, I have a thing for mysteries.

[AKM]

World's Best Science Fiction of 1968 edited by Donald A Wollheim and Terry Carr. c. 1968 (duh)

A collection of short works.  The nice thing about Sci Fi is that it's timeless.  Doesn't matter when it was written, if it's good, that's all that matters.  There's no obvious "Oh, this was obviously written in the past!" about it (usually).

Favorite of the one's I've read so far is Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg, even though there is now an 'obvious' date, as some of the future dates have already passed.  It seems human nature hasn't changed much since 1968.

Synopsis below:
 

Spoiler

Political prisoners, whose ideas are deemed so threatening to the elite that no place in the present is safe with them around, are sent back in time to the Cambrian era time period, before animal life crawled onto land.  Think trilobites and all that.  The leader, who has had an accident leaving him physically crippled, contemplates his kingdom being slowly taken away from him as he gets old, and must cede more and more roles (and with them, power) to the younger, fitter, men. 

A new man, far younger than the usual, arrives, and his story just isn't right, nor are his actions (acting strangely).  They think he's a spy, but it turns out he's a police officer.  The old government fell ten plus years ago, and they've been trying to figure out how to re-rehabilitate the old political prisoners, a growing number of whom are on the verge of insanity, back into the population.  Faced with the threat of losing his status as King, and realizing that, should he go back, he'll be nothing but an old cripple, known to no one, the main character offers to stay behind "to facilitate research", even when time travel both ways (both "down" time, and "up" time) have been figured out, and thus the permanence of banishment to 1 billion years in the past is no longer the case.

 

[Guest]

Working on Stephen King's next-newest novel, Billy Summers. It's been a slog, though. More me than him. Still taking way longer than it normally takes me to get through a King.

[Mrs Taewa]

Am currently collecting Classics, especially Classics on the banned list, so far I have: Banned List; 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies Grapes of Wrath and still a number of more to get. The Classics I have so far; Frankenstein, H.P Lovecraft, Don Quixote and The Arabian Nights. I also have Ovid's Metamorphosis, I have read it a number of times, it's one of my favourite books, but my copy is falling apart now (old), so need to replace it.

 

I was reading both Lovecraft and Arabian Nights, both being comprised of short stories it's easy to jump between the two, but they're on hold now as I am currently reading four books back to back on Microbiome (our Gut Bacteria), given my intense interest in Biology, BioChemistry, Diet and Health. I will go back to the Classics after that.

[Popo07]

34 minutes ago, Mrs Taewa said:

Am currently collecting Classics, especially Classics on the banned list, so far I have: Banned List; 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies Grapes of Wrath and still a number of more to get. The Classics I have so far; Frankenstein, H.P Lovecraft, Don Quixote and The Arabian Nights. I also have Ovid's Metamorphosis, I have read it a number of times, it's one of my favourite books, but my copy is falling apart now (old), so need to replace it.

 

I was reading both Lovecraft and Arabian Nights, both being comprised of short stories it's easy to jump between the two, but they're on hold now as I am currently reading four books back to back on Microbiome (our Gut Bacteria), given my intense interest in Biology, BioChemistry, Diet and Health. I will go back to the Classics after that.

 Watership Down is another classic that's a good read.

[Idyll]

55 minutes ago, Mrs Taewa said:

Am currently collecting Classics, especially Classics on the banned list, so far I have: Banned List; 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies Grapes of Wrath and still a number of more to get. The Classics I have so far; Frankenstein, H.P Lovecraft, Don Quixote and The Arabian Nights. I also have Ovid's Metamorphosis, I have read it a number of times, it's one of my favourite books, but my copy is falling apart now (old), so need to replace it.

 

I was reading both Lovecraft and Arabian Nights, both being comprised of short stories it's easy to jump between the two, but they're on hold now as I am currently reading four books back to back on Microbiome (our Gut Bacteria), given my intense interest in Biology, BioChemistry, Diet and Health. I will go back to the Classics after that.

 

Huh. I have amassed a near complete collection of Lovecraft's works and even have a Necronomicon of my own making. ?

[IBAGadget]

Mini-Lathe Tools and Projects for Home Machinists

 

Just the latest volume in my selection of Mini-Lathe and Milling Machine books for home machinists.

[Mrs Taewa]

29 minutes ago, Popo07 said:

 Watership Down is another classic that's a good read.

Absolutely ...it's on my list, I found a Bookstore selling many of these Classics in Hardback, all for decent prices, I buy two Books per week and Watership Down is lined up

[Mrs Taewa]

7 minutes ago, Idyll said:

 

Huh. I have amassed a near complete collection of Lovecraft's works and even have a Necronomicon of my own making. ?

I only have the one, it's Cthulhu Mythos Tales, being my favorite stories of his, though I did note at the Bookstore I go to they also have a complete collection and I'm thinking about it. I had a friend many years ago who writes Lovecraftian stories, Ran Cartwright, his published and very good, he might interest you ...Your own Nerconomican ...you use it or just for display?

[Idyll]

2 hours ago, Mrs Taewa said:

I only have the one, it's Cthulhu Mythos Tales, being my favorite stories of his, though I did note at the Bookstore I go to they also have a complete collection and I'm thinking about it. I had a friend many years ago who writes Lovecraftian stories, Ran Cartwright, his published and very good, he might interest you ...Your own Nerconomican ...you use it or just for display?

 

It's a preem set of books, I recommend! And about that friend, I might have seen the name somewhere but I can't remember, it's been a long time since I went to a bookstore - I do write my own stuff too, though I haven't had any published, some of my writs were Lovecraftian in my beginings but I drifted towards something authentic and original from my own mind as I developped my imagination. I'm thinking of publishing it when it's completed and I've yet to do so or even choose a name.

 

It depends, it's pretty awesome when roleplaying and just badass to have on a shelf, I hesitated on making it a simple yet elegant leather cover with the name on top, something regal and fit for an exalted madman or something more vile and sinister, and I ended up with something vile and sinister.

 

Also amazing to seem like a creepy cultist goth girl when some would-be "love-interests" turn out to not fit the bill - that backfired once, the dude was bleaker than he seemed and believed in some never heard of "something-something elderly godly entity of something-something", didn't bother with that and Master had him watch his step on the way out.

 

How I made it...

Spoiler

The cover is made of stitched together semi-irregularly cut and torn treated skins and leathers of which the colours range from dark warm browns to black, with a space for the name in the middle, where I made a contour for engraving and burning "Necronomicon" in a font that seemed really nice I had seen somewhere on a picture; I added my own touch, of course, and made the second "o" bigger and turned it into a circle with inside it a stylized pentagram that's not quite a pentagram but still resembles one. Nice round and slightly thin yet tough leather laces are what I used as strings to stitch/sew/tie the stuff together.

 

I've given an "ancient journal/grimoire" appearance to all the pages by staining them with teaed and/or coffeed water and let them dry - flattened midway with something not too heavy so as to keep the sheets flat, smooth and soft then coloured their edges scarlet in a way that the colour is mostly visible when the book is closed. I've filled the pages with lore, depictions of various monsters and eldritch entities in black and crimson inks, details of rituals and some mojo circles, "ancient texts" written with a quill, giving the letters a flowing sharp and very circular forms as I was trying to give it a feel as though written by a maddened author - the ink for the writs are black though turn redder in some places, as though blood was mixed with the ink or something. It's nice as it enhances the insanity factor when you see those vivid red letters. I also let the pages dip with some ground coffee grains and tea leaves so the pages look like they've been through much and are covered in old dust and filth, to emphasize the vile aspect.

 

It was pretty fun to make, I especially loved to let my quill perform a Danse Macabre on the sheets and drawing, though it's a great project overall.

 

[Clea Strange]

I finished Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson and now working on Stormlight Archive

[Guest]

I started to read "The Handsmaid Tale".
Seem relevant today to me.