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 AegisGrimm wrote:
I just finished Project: Hail Mary.

My wife was in the hospital for a surgery, and started it in the waiting room, and then after also reading it in the recovery room, I literally read 250 pages of it THAT DAY.

Really great book.

YESSSSSSSsssssssSSSsss!

Hoping the film isn't a total assassination job like World war Z ended up being.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
When in the timeline does it take place?

Pre-saga. It's about Geralts early days as a fully fledged Witcher.

Come Closer by Sara Gran

Short read at 194 pages. Its about a woman who slowly becomes possessed by a demon. It starts with small personality changes and gravitates to much more horrific things as she loses control to the entity inside of her.

Goodreads had it at a rating of 3.66 out of 5 stars and that sounds about right. Interesting concept, but flawed. It was probably for the best that it was a short book.

Reading a trade of Batman: The Dark Knight — The Master Race.

I used to really like Frank Miller. But after the Dark Knight Strikes Again is 2001 was such a dud, my expectations were pretty low for this.

This time around we don't get the subpar art stylings of Frank Miller.

Now we have Andy Kubert aping the style of Frank Miller. Ugh. It somehow looks worse.

This time the villan is not Superman... but Superman's daughter!

Much like the endless Watchmen sequels this is another tired cash-in on a series that was one of the best and did not need a bunch of sequels.

Started on the next Culture novel, Inversions, but I really struggled to get into it. Set it aside for now and gone for a Pratchett re-read instead - Pyramids.

Crispy78 wrote:
Started on the next Culture novel, Inversions, but I really struggled to get into it. Set it aside for now and gone for a Pratchett re-read instead - Pyramids.

A while back I picked up a 3 book box set of culture books (consider phlebas, the player of games, use of weapons). I enjoyed them, worth reading, but I stopped there. I know they have some big fans, but I didn’t feel they lived up to the hype. It might be that I was expecting the next best thing since sliced bread, but instead just got a solid few books. I know there are a lot more out there, just never went looking to get more.

I've enjoyed most Banks books I've read so far - think my favourite was the sci-fi but not Culture book The Algebraist. But this one just didn't hit me right, I think I'm largely just too knackered most evenings and need comfort-reading at bedtime...

The Witcher: Sword of Destiny
finished The Last Wish some weeks ago, and I thought it was great. Sword is definitely a bit different, but I'm on the last story now and each story is for the most part a slow-burn. There's lots of action, but a little less than the first book. Seeing Geralt meet Ciri was interesting, and some of the scenes of the two will melt your heart. Absolutely adorable. Can't wait to get to Blood of Elves.

I'm not sure if I can talk about what I'm reading since taking about it probably violates the forum's rules about religion (and to a degree, politics as it was the go to legal manual for about 300 years).

Let's just say, I'm glad I didn't live in 1484 C.E.

I'm reading the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer) by Inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger.

This book makes me sad that it even exists.

I got a copy of that but couldn’t get very far into it. It was less that it was too horrific and more that it was surprisingly tedious, at least for me.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I got a copy of that but couldn’t get very far into it. It was less that it was too horrific and more that it was surprisingly tedious, at least for me.

Towards the back it gets into the nitty gritty of identifying and then removal.

Some of it varies between Monty Python levels of bizarre to "I'm having trouble believing that people went along with this."

It feels like everything from Hailstorms to bad butter was blamed on witches (and wizards).

Just finished “We Used to Live Here” by Marcus Kliewer.

What I thought was going to be a haunted house or ghost novel turned into a time/space bending cosmic horror. It was weird at times, as you’re never really sure if its truly something otherworldy, or its just a woman with severe mental problems.

Pretty fun read, and supposedly going to be adapted into a movie by Netflix.

Picked up the collected Slow Horses series cheap and enjoying

I was reading The Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean (thank you, Easy E), but then I got After 1177 BCE for my birthday, and it mostly takes place chronologically earlier…

I think Cline also has a new book about AFTER 1177 BCE and another book specifically about the Amara Letters* that you may find interesting.




*= Of course, they are not letters at all but clay tablets that got fire hardened along the way. However, they are everyday correspondence between heads of state, merchants, and others.

Oh man, I know what’s going on my gift wishlist.

Rereading Neuromancer a year later. It's just as fun as it was the first time, and knowing what happens adds more context to scenes and I find myself noticing parts I didn't on my first read. It's also strange remembering just how weird Gibson can be, for example I completely blocked the train scene with the three young women trying to seduce priests with wrist-mounted vaginas out of my mind... eugh.

Still plowing through Foucoult's Pendulum and I am still too dumb for it. However, it is all about occult conspiracy theories and how a group of relatively smart skeptics get pulled into them.

Nice shout outs to Templars, Masons, Kaballa (sp), Rosicurians, and occultists of various stripes. I have no idea how much of this is real and how much is just random bs.

If you want the ultimate nuts conspiracy novel, check out the Illuminatus! trilogy. Warning, it goes hard into sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Just finished The Missing by Daisy Pearce.

Concluding my push of this year to read genres that are outside of my usual lineup of mostly fantasy/sci-fi with some history sprinkled in, I have this mystery/thriller about a troubled teen that's gone missing. Told by two narrators across the span of 20 years, this was a decent read. There are enough suspects and twists that I was never uninterested or bored. And as I was reading and piecing things together, I started to narrow down the suspect that was near to the mark, but ultimately I missed until the mystery was truly solved. A bit of an abrupt ending, but a solid conclusion.

I liked it enough to purchase Something in the Walls by the same author. This one looks to be more psychological/possession horror oriented but its getting decent enough reviews.

Raptor Red.

Paleontologist Robert T. Bakker writes a novel about the adventures of a young female Utahraptor living in the Early Cretacious.

It might be the oddest novel I've read in a long time, but I really enjoyed reading a slice of life tale/travelog of a dinosaur.

Saw a Braciosaur - yum yum yum.

Saw a T Rex - run run run.

Had a poo - bum bum bum.