What are you reading now? Provide links PLZ

[Ikoma]

First, it pains me to report The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein completely fell apart. About the 3/4 point, it reveals that the original source novel is a fiction and the new novel doesn't stick to it. The book completely ignores/changes the original to fit it's ideological concerns. Characters act different than they have for the first 3/4. It tells without showing. It's not even consistent with it's own descriptions. It turns into an feminist revenge fantasy. I was very disappointed. It had been so good for so long.

Now I have a new problem. I started Vita Nostra unaware that it was [A] the first book in a trilogy and, [B] the second and third books have not yet been translated into English and/or been recorded as audio books. The book itself starts great. I'm only about 20% if the way in and I'm hooked. The best way I can describe it is as an ominous Russian Harry Potter, but that does not giving this book the complexity it deserves. No one would want to be admitted to the Institute of Special Technologies the way people wish in their hearts they could get into Hogwarts. No one would want to be forced to take the tests to get into the school. I cannot wait to see where it goes.

[N00b13]

Underqualified Advice: (and Other Amusing Diversions) by Drew Hayes. A nice mix of crazy stories good short fiction and real advice for Authors or just people.

[John]

The Decadent Society

Pretty good so far. Most of it deals with heavier examples than Star Wars and Game of Thrones but the author is a nerd and uses nerd material to express the sense of unease that some millenneals and gen X have been feeling about the fact that our moment in the cultural sun is being spent on endless remakes of material from earlier times.

He's definitely freefolk...

This transition to decadence can even happen midshow, as it did in the concluding seasons of Game of Thrones, whose showrunners rushed to the finish line because they hoped to helm (what else?) another Star Wars sequel, and whose source material dried up because George R. R. Martin became too rich and famous and in demand to do the hard work of invention—leaving his attempted revision of J. R. R. Tolkien’s great original to languish, a victim of its author’s overwhelming, creativity-swallowing success.

[Ikoma]

Finished the first Fletch novel. (Thanks for letting me know they exist, Chad!) It was an interesting experience... I enjoyed it but again and again, I could see how the movie handled things. I kinda knew what to expect thanks to having seen the movie years ago so it made the mystery easy to 'figure out' since it was more jogging my memory than actually putting the pieces together. Fletch is a complete and utter asshole so that is fun as your protagonist. And I can see why Chevy Chase was drawn to the role. I'm looking forward to the second one (Utah's Online Public Library seems to have ALL of them in audiobook format) so we'll see if it holds up when it's fresh.

Also, almost done with the Temeraire season. Every time I listen to a new one, my desire to someday see this series as a prestige TV show grows stronger.

[Ikoma]

I started Vita Nostra unaware that it was [A] the first book in a trilogy and, [B] the second and third books have not yet been translated into English and/or been recorded as audio books. The book itself starts great. I'm only about 20% if the way in and I'm hooked. The best way I can describe it is as an ominous Russian Harry Potter, but that does not giving this book the complexity it deserves. No one would want to be admitted to the Institute of Special Technologies the way people wish in their hearts they could get into Hogwarts. No one would want to be forced to take the tests to get into the school. I cannot wait to see where it goes.

Oh, I wanted to report on this. It was amazing! Really interesting ideas. Totally different flavor. I cannot think of anything to really compare it to. I am still crossing my fingers we get the second and third books translated as English language audiobooks.

[Chad]

Finished the first Fletch novel. (Thanks for letting me know they exist, Chad!) It was an interesting experience... I enjoyed it but again and again, I could see how the movie handled things. I kinda knew what to expect thanks to having seen the movie years ago so it made the mystery easy to 'figure out' since it was more jogging my memory than actually putting the pieces together. Fletch is a complete and utter asshole so that is fun as your protagonist. And I can see why Chevy Chase was drawn to the role. I'm looking forward to the second one (Utah's Online Public Library seems to have ALL of them in audiobook format) so we'll see if it holds up when it's fresh.

Also, almost done with the Temeraire season. Every time I listen to a new one, my desire to someday see this series as a prestige TV show grows stronger.

I'm thinking of picking up the series, I only read 1, 2, or possibly 3 of them (and I didn't read the prequals nor the spin offs) and I only remember the 1st. I'm nearing the end of what's written for Longmire and am looking for another good, fun series to balance out the non fiction I read.

[Chad]

Finished the first Fletch novel. (Thanks for letting me know they exist, Chad!) It was an interesting experience... I enjoyed it but again and again, I could see how the movie handled things. I kinda knew what to expect thanks to having seen the movie years ago so it made the mystery easy to 'figure out' since it was more jogging my memory than actually putting the pieces together. Fletch is a complete and utter asshole so that is fun as your protagonist. And I can see why Chevy Chase was drawn to the role. I'm looking forward to the second one (Utah's Online Public Library seems to have ALL of them in audiobook format) so we'll see if it holds up when it's fresh.

Also, almost done with the Temeraire season. Every time I listen to a new one, my desire to someday see this series as a prestige TV show grows stronger.

I'm thinking of picking up the series, I only read 1, 2, or possibly 3 of them (and I didn't read the prequals nor the spin offs) and I only remember the 1st. I'm nearing the end of what's written for Longmire and am looking for another good, fun series to balance out the non fiction I read.

I wish Dexter stayed good. That one was a super good mystery series until urban fantasy took off and Dexter's mental illness turned into a literal demon possessing him and he was fighting a cult that conducted a magical ritual that stole his demon.

The author took a lot of backlash, the book after that didn't ignore the magic and did a nod to it but just didn't bring it up. That might have been the last one before he dropped it.

Looking it up it looks like he ruined the series on the 3rd book. I skipped that one and went to the 4th which felt very flat.

[tombombodil]

I've been binge re-reading all the discworld books. Man, I know I'm preaching to the Dalai Lama here but Pratchett's work is peerless. Every single page is so funny and thoughtful and creative. I've never read something by someone so brilliant that was so NOT full of itself, but it's also not irreverent either.

I feel like I have a lot to say about it but don't even know where to start.

I love the immensely unique and creative world-building concepts that he just drops in fully-formed in a couple paragraphs but doesn't belabor or overindulge because the characters and their stories are more important. He's brilliantly creative but never feels the need to bask in his own creativity; it's all just a current of uniqueness and color that runs underneath the narrative.

I love how all the characters, even the small bit-parts, are so well characterized and 3-dimensional. I also love how Discworld is a fantasy setting where absolutely no one is obnoxiously model-gorgeous; everyone is quirky and kind of funny looking even characters that are the subject of deliberate, lampshaded, story-book romance. I get that it's in service of the comedic tone, but it helps to make the character's all feel very human and relatable.

I love how funny it is. This one is obviously subjective as all hell, but if you're on the right wavelength, these are some of the funniest books in the world. Almost every page contains some dry in-narrative joke, or almost editorial jibe that warrants an out-loud chuckle. Sometimes it almost reminds me a bit of Voltaire's wry humor-as-commentary.

I love that the books aren't any longer than they need to be, and that while there are recurring character's and themes every story stands pretty much entirely on its own. Every book I start by missing the main cast of the last, but by the end I've pretty much fallen in love with the new cast: rinse and repeat. I miss the days when fantasy/sci-fi novels just told a story, and then were done and resolved by the end. Instead of every book being part of a tightly-knit trilogy of long-running series where you don't really get a satisfying ending until the very end of the last book.

Anyway. Hot take: discworld much good

[John]

I've forgotten 15 books with of prior material in the ~7 years since the last one of these came out, but they're still fun.

Dresden Files

[sbonner]

Also just finished it. Thought it was quite good.