What are you reading?

[CdnWriter]

I just finished reading "OCD Daniel" by Wesley King and I'm taking a deeper dive into his works. He's a Canadian youth fiction writer.

I really like the way he treats mental health issues and the sensitive topics that develop.

 

[C.L Castle]

I'm currently reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I've tried it a few months ago and reached about 25% on my Kindle when another book made stars twinkle before my eyes. So this time I'll be finishing the series.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I'm currently reading Unruly by David Mitchell, a history of England's king's and queens (up to the end of the Tudors). It's quite amusing.

 

[Dogberry's Watch]

Finally finished Orbital by Samantha Harvey. It was decent, but the profundity felt so forced by the end of it. I'm going to get The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers finished this weekend, and then I'll be tackling the Iliad and the Odyssey as my next books read. It's been a long time since I've read them, and I got two translations I'm pretty stoked about.

 

[Also]

Just read Flesh today, by David Szalay.
Written plainly, dispassionately. Some will ask what was the point, but it paints a life. There's been so much talk about the sex in it, but neither the amount nor the sex itself nor the writing about it seems in any way remarkable — which is just fine. I don't know, is it a new thing for a Booker Prize to go to a book that has sex, or that treats it the way it treats eating, i.e., acknowledges that it takes place and sometimes it's noteworthy, other times forgettable?

The book is not UNdeserving, but neither is it any kind of tour de force, unless perhaps in maintaining a consistently placid tone.

I'm curious to read something else by Szalay — not hypermotivated, but curious.

 

[Night Herald]

Yuletide looms yet again, so I'm reading Terry Pratchett's Hogfather for the however manieth time. It's the one and only Christmas tradition I have for myself. Still finding new things and nuances, little crooks and crevices that I somehow missed on every other occasion. It's gotta be in my top 10 of Discworld books, possibly even top 5. Always a delight.

I've been going to bookstores relatively often lately, which in my historically quite bookstore-less existence simple means that there have been five or six occasions this year where I went to one and brought something home with me. Last time I picked up, in addition to Morning Star, being the third Red Rising book, the Tao Te Ching by one Lao Tzu, as well as Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings. Neither of those were very much on my radar, though I've been aware of them, I just make a point of sometimes branching out in new directions so that my reading life doesn't become just one gigantic rut. Currently I'm trying to create calm evenings for myself, going to bed early and reading a few passages of the Tao. I should spend more calm days and evenings reading, because I know it brings me joy and peace, but I don't wanna force it either.

 

[MzSarken]

This year, I returned to Institute for Writers. One of the books we have to read is one I recommend for both fiction and nonfiction writers.

 

[Dogberry's Watch]

Got started on The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson

 

[defaux]

I'm on to Atwood's The Blind Assassin now, and while I love her use of language I'm not seeing her point yet. I'll see it through and hope things become revealed later.

I couldn't get into that one either. I have it on my shelf and tried it a few times, but it remains on the shelf.

It's her best book, bro.

I couldn't finish it either.

I never reported back, but I did finally finish The Blind Assassin... I think it was over half way through before it started to feel interesting. Once she is old enough and gets married, and the relationship dynamics that come through get complex and tragic... without spoiling, let's just say I enjoyed the latter part of the book a lot more, and it reframes some parts at the beginning that felt a bit opaque initially. Took a long time getting there though.

 

[Sandor]

Just finished "The Middle Ages" by Morris Bishop. It was alright, shows it age: there's been a lot of scholarship done since the 1960s on the subject, and I disagree with a lot of his opinions. A good read though, glad I got it from the library.