Well, right now I'm reading J.R. Ward's The Bourbon Kings. It's the first of The Bourbon Kings Trilogy.

So far it's actually really good. I mean, in a really trashy, very 80s primetime soap opera kind of way. It has shades of Dynasty and the like in it. And I'm loving every page I've read thus far.

I'm looking forward to reading Killing Commendatore which is the newest novel by Haruki Murakami. I haven't gotten it yet but I will soon. Murakami is an author that means a lot to me so I'm optimistic.

Going to recommend a book that I think might be a sci fi classic at this point



Yes, I know, the book cover looks like "Oh great, more space opera shit" but stay with me here.

Humans discover there's no alien life in space. So what do they do? Attempt to uplift monkeys (over several thousand years) to sentience. This goes wrong when the entire plan is sabotaged by terrorists, which results in a war on earth that utterly destroys it and leaves the retrovirus thats intended to lift the monkeys to go haywire and instead uplifts the Portia jumping spider. Then the last remaining Ark ship of humanity starts heading towards the planet...

What separates this from a "oh god the horror, giant sentient spiders" story is the spiders are actually treated as protagonists, just like the humans are. The plot also spans hundreds of years as the ark humans on their ship enter and leave cryosleep and the spiders go through their history from the caveman-spider era to several eras that aren't quite like our history.

It's also becoming a movie directed by the guy who directed the hunger games, but I recommend reading it before then so you can join TEAM SPIDER with me.

Now I know that Harems aren't everyone's cup of tea but this one of the best reviewed books in that subgenre.

Its a medieval-future-dystopia where after years of war, America's technology has actually regressed back to 17th century technology and the land is filled with mutants or 'wastelanders' that line up with humanity's idea of mythological humanoids and monsters (Elves, Orcs, Dwarves etc.). And they are largely seen as a menace and traded as slaves by humans.

The main character is a guild adventurer who mainly takes escort and bodyguard jobs. Which puts him in contact with the people of the waste in a way he never thought he could....

If anyone is tired of books with eroticism being dangerously shallow or stupid, I really recommend this series. It's also the first book I listened to narrated with audible and it was really well done. For the full experience I'd recommend it.

(I'm about 20% through the 2nd book).

I have a bad habit where I'll start a book, then move on to other interests and leave it halfway for a month or more. Then I'll eventually come back to it little by little and charge through the ending.

I'm currently grinding through Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings and I have the rest of the Stormlight Archives on standby. But I've been hitting the Del Rey Conan anthologies as well!

I'm reading through Glen Cook's Black Company series recently. I'm up to the first book of Glittering Stone and I'm waiting for the second book to arrive from Amazon. I like the realism of the soldier's lives even though they're in a fantasy world, and I like how magic in this series is an exceptional thing. Having a mage in your group is a big deal and it does change what tactics you used and have used against you. I'm not big into intrigue generally but I quite enjoyed it in this case. In fact, this is probably the first book of this type that I've read and I was pleasantly surprised.

While I wait I've been listening to the Audiobook Second Hand Curses by Drew Hayes. I pretty much love everything by Drew Hayes, The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred from the Vampire Accountant series being a favourite. Second Hand Curses is a little more unrefined compared to his newer work but it's still got tonnes of heart and a really neat world. I'm onto the third mini adventure in it so far.

ya'll don't know Hundred Years of Solitude.



It's got the d i r t

@Mae How is Black Company? You'd recommend it then?

Currently reading through the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson. Great read for those who like urban supernatural lit and the writing is done well.

I'mma bounce back into this thread to make another recommendation, a little more contemporary than Hundred Years of Solitude for ya'll.

But Kenziboru Oe's Death by Water, also known as Sushi in the original Japanese is a great book. It might be more than off putting for most people used to the popular style of say Harry Potter or whatever kids are reading today, because Kenziboru writes in such a minimalist style. Nearly the entire book is written via dialog with scant narrative description. It makes enough to set the scene before it gets the ball rolling. It's something I would have passed off had I not had the enlightening moment I did reading the book, at which point the full scope of it hit me like a rock and I had, shall we say: a zen moment.

I won't spoil it because I don't want to ruin what that was. But I will say it's a story worth its merits. It's initial pretenses do die rather quickly, which is what had me confused at first before it plodded along and I discovered what he was really doing with the story.

@POOHEAD189 Very much so! The first trilogy in particular is very enjoyable.

What have ya been reading lately?

@Mae I've been wanting to read it for years.

Me? I am reading a few things. Mostly I am reading The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge, which is essentially an autobiography of William Marshal, the most renowned Knight in history. But I am also reading Streams of Silver by R.A. Salvatore for fiction. He's my fav author growing up.

The Greatest Knight is fairly entertaining as well as educational, however the author is clearly more of an historian than a writer.

R.A. Salvatore is just a great writer though. Streams of Silver is his 2nd book.

100 pages into Don Quixote rn. This shit is hilarious.

I'm on a poetry binge. Been reading Sally Wen Mao's collection titled Oculus: Poems.

On another note, also just started the final book of the Tao Trilogy/Series by Wesley Chu. All hyped up for The Rebirths of Tao!