What are you READING right now?

[2Cent]

As a reader of free webnovels. Mother of learning is one of my favorites: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning
It's a sort of Harry Potter like setting, but less focused on the school part. The great thing about this story is that it is very long, but maintains consistency and remains interesting until the end. The ending is also not too rushed or contrived but fits very naturally and is satisfying. The audio book is really good too.

[merula]

Taking a recommendation from @merula, I’m going to get started on ‘The Elements of Marie Curie.’  There’d better not be any surfing.

I can confirm, there is no surfing. Way more months-long vacations in the Alps or on the coast than I would've thought, but no surfing :D

[Just_Me]

I'm currently reading Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death by Susanna Monsó.

She's a philosopher and takes a pretty sharp knife to how we've put a human bias into interpreting animals' understanding of death. She defines a minimal concept of death, goes through why grief reactions are not a good indicator of whether animals understand death, and then goes through just how well the concept of death is grasped by animals.

It can feel very explainy at times but it's not overbearing. It's an interesting read if you've never dove into "comparative thanatology".

A couple of fun quirks - The book jacket is purposefully pink, and she uses the "she" pronouns to when animals' gender is indeterminate.

[desertadapted]

Absolutely loved ‘Interior Chinatown.’  One of the most inventive books I’ve read in a while.  Manages to be funny and sad, often on the same page.  Thrilled to have had the chance to experience it.  It’s also maybe a three-hour read, and so the unique conceit doesn’t have a chance to wear out.   

Also enjoyed the similarly short ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’ by Sedaris.  About 80% of the stories land for me, and when they do the folks near me wonder why I’m giggling so much. 

In the fantasy space I read ‘A Shadow in Summer,’ the first book of the ‘Long Price Quartet.’  Really reminded me of ‘Windup Girl’ for setting and the lack of action and focus on intrigue.  I’m going to give the series a shot. 

I’m just starting ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ to hold me over until Libby lets me borrow ‘Marie Curie (and her many long Vacations in the Alps).’  I couldn’t read it when it popped up and I got bounced further down the queue than I thought – I don’t always understand how Libby works. Summer reading fun!  But not in the Alps. 

[Raenia]

In the fantasy space I read ‘A Shadow in Summer,’ the first book of the ‘Long Price Quartet.’  Really reminded me of ‘Windup Girl’ for setting and the lack of action and focus on intrigue.  I’m going to give the series a shot. 

I loved this series, very deliberately paced, character and intrigue driven, and very interesting world building. Abraham deserves more credit for his solo works, with the way Expanse took off I'm surprised more people aren't reading these.

[Road42]

In the fantasy space I read ‘A Shadow in Summer,’ the first book of the ‘Long Price Quartet.’  Really reminded me of ‘Windup Girl’ for setting and the lack of action and focus on intrigue.  I’m going to give the series a shot. 

I loved this series, very deliberately paced, character and intrigue driven, and very interesting world building. Abraham deserves more credit for his solo works, with the way Expanse took off I'm surprised more people aren't reading these.

Adding to list!

I’m in the middle of “Get in Trouble” by Kelly Link - short stories about modern life with magical realist elements. I like it, but prefer Neil Gaiman or George Saunders for a similarly destabilizing vibe.

I also finished “This Strange Eventful History” by Claire Messud. Really enjoyed the beautiful writing and the weird skips back and forth in time. If you’re into realist novels about multiple generations of a family, this is a good one. I’d compare it to “The Covenant of Water” not in terms of plot, but because both are about how parents influence children and how the grand sweep of history affects individuals.

[desertadapted]

@Raenia Just to dig into this a bit more.  I had a frustration with ‘Shadow’ that I also experienced in the Expanse series. In both cases I felt the author’s choices fell short of the intense realism that the setting implied.  In the Expanse (being oblique) it arose for me with how formidable the Free Navy was, and its arming by the collapsing Mars.  It felt ‘unrealistic.’  Even with the Soviet collapse, arms disappeared, but not capital ships, and certainly nothing that could challenge the hegemon.  With all of its fantastical elements, the core attraction of the Expanse (to me) was how realistic the politics and political realities felt.  The action leading up to the ‘asteroid’ just left me feeling unmoored.  Similarly in ‘Shadow,’ the free reign afforded the poet by the state fell flat for me.  If the continued survival of your entire state relied upon a single person, already demonstrated to be vulnerable to treachery, the idea that they would wander freely and without security rang false. I mean, I’m cool with dragons and magic and hyperspace – love it, in fact.  But I struggle when authors assume the realism mantle and then insert plot points that seem contrived or inadequately explained away.  Just a nit, as I’m still going on to ‘Betrayal in Winter’ next week.

[turketron]

  In the Expanse (being oblique) it arose for me with how formidable the Free Navy was, and its arming by the collapsing Mars.  It felt ‘unrealistic.’  Even with the Soviet collapse, arms disappeared, but not capital ships, and certainly nothing that could challenge the hegemon. 

IMO they explained fairly plausibly that (spoilers for the later books)

Spoiler: show

 Duarte siphoned off like 1/3 of the Martian fleet (already below full strength after multiple conflicts with Earth) and from that number he supplied the Free Navy with Martian ships in return for letting him slip out to Laconia with his followers. Additionally the Free Navy had taken out Earth's detection satellites and the UNN couldn't rule out that more rocks were coming, so most of the UN Navy was re-tasked with patrolling around Earth to take out any more incoming rocks, which left large parts of the system effectively un- or under-defended. IIRC it was mentioned that Duarte was likely also feeding Inaros intel and strategy too, but it's been a few years.

[BicycleB]

In the fantasy space I read ‘A Shadow in Summer,’ the first book of the ‘Long Price Quartet.’  Really reminded me of ‘Windup Girl’ for setting and the lack of action and focus on intrigue.  I’m going to give the series a shot. 

Interesting description!

I actually liked Windup Girl. Will keep an eye out for the Long Price Quartet.

[Luke Warm]

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. Native American vampire? Interesting so far.

I didn't finish it. I ran out of time on it and it was getting tedious so I turned it back in to the library.
I am now reading The Only Good Indians. So far so good. SGJ is a good writer.

Finished The Only Good Indians. The first half was really good. It creeped me out a bit. The second half not so much. He reminds me a lot of Stephen King. I like his writing but not his stories.

[desertadapted]

@turketron.  Totally respect the perspective, even if don’t share it.  I thought the first three in that series were a revelation.  Stumbled through the fourth, and was actively frustrated by the fifth, after which I gave up on the rest of the series.  I may be in the minority on that.  What’s fairly plausible is subjective, especially in sci fi (because, who are we kidding here?), and I’m glad it worked for you such that you could finish out the series, and really appreciate your engaging with me on it. 

@BicycleB To be clear, it was evocative but not equivalent.  I hold ‘Windup Girl’ in very high esteem.  I would not recommend you reading ‘A Shadow in Summer’ based on similarities unless you got the recommendation from others too.  With that said, just finished book two of the quartet (‘A Betrayal in Winter’) and I’m going to keep reading.

Audiobooked ‘An Army At Dawn’ over the weekend – about US involvement in the North African front during WW2.  Not a fan. Funny thing though.  I was complaining about it not having enough detail, and not enough thematic cohesion.  Then I realized that the audiobook was abridged.  Face, meet palm.  I’ll give it a year or two and then borrow the unabridged book itself. (Shakes fist at sky).

@Road42, ‘The Covenant of Water’ is now on the shortlist, thanks!

[Raenia]

@Raenia Just to dig into this a bit more.  I had a frustration with ‘Shadow’ that I also experienced in the Expanse series.
... Similarly in ‘Shadow,’ the free reign afforded the poet by the state fell flat for me.  If the continued survival of your entire state relied upon a single person, already demonstrated to be vulnerable to treachery, the idea that they would wander freely and without security rang false. I mean, I’m cool with dragons and magic and hyperspace – love it, in fact.  But I struggle when authors assume the realism mantle and then insert plot points that seem contrived or inadequately explained away.  Just a nit, as I’m still going on to ‘Betrayal in Winter’ next week.

To me it didn't feel that unrealistic, I've seen plenty of places in real societies where "it's always been this way" trumps practical considerations. People often underestimate threats, even when things have already started happening. Inertia is a powerful force. Not to mention that the poets are not always the most mentally stable people, and keeping them happy and on your side is at least as big a consideration as security of their person.

But I'm also not the most critical reader, so my opinions may not be of use to you.

[Serendip]

Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

Wow, I loved this book but it wasn't what I expected. Historic investigative journalism with science-y insights and memoir interwoven. Loved the writing and actually improved my outlook (about life) at the end which is not something that non-fiction often does :)

[Luke Warm]

I had never read Desert Solitaire so I picked it up at the used book store for $3. I'm enjoying it so far. I've had a run of not finishing books lately.

[Road42]

In the middle of Sapiens by Yuval Harari - really interesting, slightly unexpected summary of human history, and the prose is just delightful. It’s like a better researched Guns Germs and Steel in terms of entertainment, but I would pair it with David Graeber’s Debt for an astute argument and counterargument about the way humans have wielded power and the resulting systems they’ve created.

[desertadapted]

I was overjoyed in reading ‘A Gentleman in Moscow.’  It was so charming and life-affirming that I found myself smiling or chuckling on nearly every page.  It is a book I can already tell I will return to (God willing and the creek don’t rise). Highly recommend!

I liked ‘The Elements of Marie Curie’ (thanks @merula!).  There was, indeed, no surfing.  I am far removed from my own very rudimentary scientific education, so some of the descriptions of her processes were inscrutable to me, but they are a minor part of an otherwise solid book. I appreciated that the author spent a lot of time on Curie’s protégés – a reminder of the ripple effect of her greatness.  Haven’t read other Curie bios, so can’t say how they compare.  This one definitely shared its lens among many scientists and was consequently lighter on Curie herself.

‘An Autumn War’ was a solid entry in the ‘Long Price Quartet,’ which I’m looking forward to finishing. The more subtle machinations of the first two books are out the very bloody window.  Also benefits from the logic of each character’s motivations finding consistent connection to their actions, which I thought was an occasional weak point in the first two.  The ending left me gobsmacked, with the stakes merely implied in the first two books turned up to a very shocking 11.  Taking a shot break to collect myself before turning to the final book in the series.

I’ve read a fair bit of Murakami, and turned to ‘Norwegian Wood,’ which was a challenging foray into ‘realistic’ Murakami.  The others I’ve read of his have had a strong surrealist/magical realist bent. But, damn. So. Much. Suicide.  I get that Japan has a high suicide rate (highest among G7, I believe), but it still came as a surprise.  To the extent that Murakami books are about any one thing, Norwegian Wood was to me a meditation on the impact suicide has on those left behind.  Murakami is also a horny dude, so there’s a fair bit of that as well, marking a weird juxtaposition.  But frank discussions of sex and attraction are pretty standard fare in Murakami books . . .

Making my way through ‘The Covenant of Water,’ which was a recommendation by @Road42 (thanks!), and really liking it so far.  It’s moving much more swiftly than I’d thought 800 pages could.  ‘Sapiens’ is already on the list, and I’m hoping to get to that this year.

Given that we now have missiles flying and bombs dropping in the Middle East and soldaty in our streets, my whole book-ostrich-of-the-apocalypse approach to 2025 is supercharged. 

[merula]

You're very welcome!

I just finished The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, and I really liked it. I read somewhere that it was "like being wrapped in a fuzzy queer blanket", which is apt.

However, I went to Goodreads to see if I could find the quote I had read, and apparently a lot of people are mad that it was inspired by the Sixties Scoop in Canada, where indigenous children were removed from their families and put into the child welfare system.

I'm going to admit my ignorance, I don't fully understand why it's bad to have that inspiration? Like, the book is very clear about the trauma done to the children characters, and that the adult characters are doing their best for the children despite the systematic bigotry they're faced with, and the way they do that is by fostering the children's sense of self and uniqueness.

Maybe there's an objection to "making light" of a tragedy by turning it into a fantasy book? If so, I don't think that's entirely fair; we don't object to Star Wars as a Vietnam allegory because the droids are silly, and Game of Thrones doesn't detract from the horrors of the War of the Roses by adding dragons. (Although I will admit a lot fewer people are currently still mad about the War of the Roses; my history-buff friends from Yorkshire are hardly representative.)

[desertadapted]

@merula.  Through sad observation, I have concluded that the Goodreads comments section is a hotbed of “get me the manager” umbrage.  For instance, check out the comments on the Marie Curie book.  Many of the more prominent comments are one-star reviews complaining that the entire book was terrible because the author didn’t include Curie’s Polish name in the title – no substantive analysis at all beyond that.   Especially when the first paragraph of the book itself goes on and on about her various names (including diminutives). The “like being wrapped in a big gay blanket” quote is from V.E. Schwab, who totally nailed it.  Haters gonna hate.

[FireLane]

You're very welcome!

I just finished The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, and I really liked it. I read somewhere that it was "like being wrapped in a fuzzy queer blanket", which is apt.

Serendipity! I have this book in my TBR pile. I didn't really know what it was about, just that it got a bunch of recommendations from reviewers I trust.

However, I went to Goodreads to see if I could find the quote I had read, and apparently a lot of people are mad that it was inspired by the Sixties Scoop in Canada, where indigenous children were removed from their families and put into the child welfare system.

I'm going to admit my ignorance, I don't fully understand why it's bad to have that inspiration?

I'd guess that some easily offended people think that it trivializes a real-life tragedy by using it as the inspiration of a book, even if the book makes it clear why those bad things were bad.

Anyway, my current read is Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. A laid-off dotcom-era tech worker finds a job at a mysterious antique bookstore that's the headquarters of either a secret society or a strange cult.

[merula]

I also asked someone I trust who minored in American Indian Studies (in the US, but also in Minnesota, so not unfamiliar with the Canadian situation). His take was mostly consistent with @desertadapted 's, that there are a lot of easily-offended people on the internet.

They may have a point about the allegory changing "Native children" to "magical, non-human/not-fully-human children" being less than ideal, but also, that's what allegory is. If you don't change the details, it's not an allegory, and you lose the opportunity to convert people who are sympathetic to the allegory and then transfer that back to the original tragedy.

Through fortuitous Libby hold timing, I'm just starting On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed. Really looking forward to it, been on my TBR for awhile.

[evme]

I'm reading a new graphic novel called "JOHN MUIR To the Heart of Solitude". About a young John Muir and his travels; great illustrations.