What are you reading right now?

[Agamemnon Busmalis]

I finished The Gunslinger and now I'm reading The Mist. I like what I'm reading so far, but its a fairly short story for what I'd expect from King.

A lot of people think of his epics like The Stand or the Dark Tower series, but he really got his start with short stories. Probably going on 30 years now of being a fan of his books so always love talking about them.

If you're going to read more of the Dark Tower after Gunslinger, I'd recommend reading a few other books/stories too since they all connect together in that series - It, The Stand, and Salem's Lot are three big ones. I like Peter Straub too and he did some collaborations with King that are a good read.

 

[AnsemSoD1]

A lot of people think of his epics like The Stand or the Dark Tower series, but he really got his start with short stories. Probably going on 30 years now of being a fan of his books so always love talking about them.

If you're going to read more of the Dark Tower after Gunslinger, I'd recommend reading a few other books/stories too since they all connect together in that series - It, The Stand, and Salem's Lot are three big ones. I like Peter Straub too and he did some collaborations with King that are a good read.

I've read It and Salem's Lot and while this might make me sound like a faggot, I just can't re-read Salem's Lot. I loved it, but it was too depressing, especially with one character's death who I thought would live given how the book is basically the American Dracula. I still love it and I know that vampires show up again in Wolves of The Calla, but yeah, it was way too depressing near the end and the vampirized townspeople actually angered me more than Barlow did at points. Like that scumbag pedophile dump custodian who preyed on teenage girls after being turned. I also loved It and I've also read Carrie, The Shining, Christine, Pet Semetary, Doctor Sleep, and many others. One of my nitpicks with King is that he just can't seem to let a couple end in happiness, same problem I had with Christine even though I also loved that book to pieces.

 

[GloriousScarf]

I'm reading 'The New Puritans' by Andrew Doyle. It's about how woke is a religion and how authoritarian they actually are, nothing that will come as a shock to anyone here I'm sure but he lays it all out pretty well.

 

[timewave0]

I’m popping into this thread to once again extol the virtues of Jack Vance. I just finished The Demon Princes series and I loved it, it’s on par with Tales of the Dying Earth and Planet of Adventure. If you have even the slightest interest in science fiction, Vance is a must read.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I’m popping into this thread to once again extol the virtues of Jack Vance. I just finished The Demon Princes series and I loved it, it’s on par with Tales of the Dying Earth and Planet of Adventure. If you have even the slightest interest in science fiction, Vance is a must read.

I'd love to get my hands on the Planet of Adventure collection omnibus in hardcover but the sucker's 100+.

I'll finish Dying Earth+Demon Princes+Emphyrio first though. Then maybe consider Lyonesse or Planet of Adventure depending on which comes cheaper in hardcover.

 

[TETRABAX]

Still fighting my way through House of Leaves. I've sworn to myself I won't read another book until I finish this.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

reading john clute's illustrated encyclopedia of science fiction.

i now know that i want to sample all the writers listed. well, maybe not the one who wrote "The Female Man".

They all seem to be fun works to read. I do wanna find a copy of Day of the Triffids that isn't 10 bucks+ because the book's fairly short. Same with Body Snatchers and Blood Music too. Wonder why the classic SF Horror books seem to be more scarce.

 

[cold comfort]

The Southern Reach trilogy

There's a fourth book coming out in october, called Absolution. I don't remember the second and third one very well, though I think the third was by far my least favourite, so I'm planning on doing a reread in preparation.

 

[PermaLurker69]

Im reading "what are you reading right now" thread on kiwi farms.

 

[BrodyDaMan]

I found this fantastic Japanese author, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, from a translator guy on twitter who calls himself C. Shujin. I decided to buy a collection of his best known work named "Hell Screen" to check out Akutagawa's stories, and have found one of the most fascinating modernist authors who seems to have been forgotten over time even though he pioneered one of the most well known story tropes of all time. Most of you may be familiar with his work due to that trope, since Rashomon was based on Akutagawa's "In a Grove" and its title and other story elements were derived from Akutagawa's "Rashomon".

Anyway, that's not really what I like about him, what fascinates me about this collection is that these stories, when you look at their tropes, basically tell the story of a man who's lost all hope, grasps to various things in his life to stay somewhat sane and find hope, and as each of them fail him, he starts getting more deranged and suicidal, and in the final story, 'Spinning Gears', which is basically an autobiographical short story that was published posthumously after he killed himself by overdosing on barbital, he says:

I don't have the strength to keep writing this. To go on living with this feeling is painful beyond description. Isn't there someone kind enough to strangle me in my sleep?"

I highly recommend this collection, my version is translated by Jay Rubin and published by Penguin Classics. It's very short but every story in it is amazing, and I haven't forgotten any of them. They're not all morbid either, "Horse Legs" for example is quite funny.

 

[Jewthulhu]

Some light reading for my vacation.

 

[Retreaded Tire]

Ive been on a scifi kick. Just discovered Warhammer novels a couple months ago, I'm up to Prospero Burns (horus heresy). That's what I read at home, and for bus & work I'm reading Nemesis Games (the expanse). As a backup I'm reading Three Body Problem whenever I get bored with the other 2.

There's a fourth book coming out in october, called Absolution. I don't remember the second and third one very well, though I think the third was by far my least favourite, so I'm planning on doing a reread in preparation.

Southern Reach- is that the one with the haunted alien cave that writes on the walls with fungus? Read the first one, forgot about the rest til now

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Finished Stanley Weinbaum's Martian Odyssey today. You can easily find this in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol 1.

It's a fun tale and I can see why it's so beloved and why it's in Gygax's appendix A. It's old but it's a fun story and isn't dated at all. I know the science is old, but that's the charm of these old-school SF stories. I liked how Weinbaum characterizes the very alien minds and yet finds the time to humanize Tweel in a "just enough" doseage.

Pour one out for Tweel .

Working my way through the SF Hall of Fame/Dangerous Visions this year for short story anthologies. When I'm done with them, I'll consider grabbing more anthologies.

When I'm bored of these, I'll swap over to The Black Company to eventually finish that. My next fantasy book after that one will be the first Fafrd & Grey Mouser book.

SF is just Slan->City->Rogue Moon until I finish those three.

 

[Obeah Mon]

Underground comix late 1960's era sold in head shops back then. counter culture

head shop = sold papers an pipes when just possessing paraphenalia was a crime.

the checkered demon niggers dig it google zap comix

if you know someone in they 60's who dont know what these are, i can guarran fuckin t you they were a faggot back in the day

 

[Girahira]

There's a fourth book coming out in october, called Absolution. I don't remember the second and third one very well, though I think the third was by far my least favourite, so I'm planning on doing a reread in preparation.

Really, why 3rd? After the pure static of the 2nd it felt atleast more dynamic to me lol

Dunno about the next one, writing a prequel 10 years after the trilogy ended doesn’t feel right to me, even if there’s great potential in the concepts

 

[BulkForceFive]

I have one book left to go before I am done Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus stories and I am cRUSHED. I need to find more in this vein, or just Britfiction in general.

actually I guess the very last thing I finished reading was Le Carre's "Little Drummer Girl" because I want to watch the BBC miniseries and I always try to read the book before seeing the movie.

 

[themanwhowalks]

I just finished The Brother's Karamazov, working on the myth of the eternal return. I want to read stuff thats less psychologically challenging in the future.

 

[Wimbydong]

Working my way through the James Bond novels, currently on On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Think I'll rewatch the movie after finishing.

 

[glass_houses]

Really, why 3rd? After the pure static of the 2nd it felt atleast more dynamic to me lol

Dunno about the next one, writing a prequel 10 years after the trilogy ended doesn’t feel right to me, even if there’s great potential in the concepts

Cashing in on the movie, most likely. I don't blame him, even moderately well known authors have surprisingly limited income.

That said, I really need to take the trilogy down off of my own shelf and finish it. I finished the first book and... got distracted and forgot to read the others.

I've been seriously considering making a system where I pick specific books for the week and not allowing myself to touch anything else until I've finished. I graze constantly but I'm too easily distracted and very few volumes get completed. Maybe I should up my Ritalin dose or something.

 

[2mm and 99 others]

After reading the Supernova Era, I continue with Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu.
Both of the books are a bit too much military for my taste, but still more engaging to me than the most of current sci-fi, let alone the older. It's very Chinese, yes, but I like the style.