Olli
(he/him)
Yes! It had so many different themes and they all fit together seamlessly. One of the best books I've read in a while.
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What'cha Reading?
- Thread starter Falselogic
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Mothra
(he/him)
I've recently downloaded Libby and Hoopla, and have been burning through my book backlog at a pretty wild pace. I'm typically a slow reader, easily distracted, so it helps a lot to have someone reading an an unwavering pace. I also feel like the tone of the reader helps convey information that you have to otherwise color in yourself, sometimes after a statement has been uttered.
I promised two different friends I would check out Gideon the Ninth so I'm working through that now.
Pretty good! I’m glad I read it. Here's my review of the book.
I did not necessarily enjoy reading this book but I’m happy I ate my vegetables with this one because there was a whole lot about the origins of many staple American foods, grains, greens, meats, and so on that I didn’t know the first thing about.
I started reading it because a friend had recommended it when I asked about books that talk about the act of cooking itself - like of preparing, cooking, and presenting the food as a “creative” act, in the moment of making it into a meal - and it is absolutely not about that at all, so, I had to sort of give up on that expectation early and let the story take me where it wanted.
It is largely about how soul food, southern cooking, black cooking, all cannot possibly be separated from the history of slavery and forced labor on which the nation was built, and it’s real interesting seeing the origins of a lot of dishes we consider traditionally American. Things like how French cooking would be taught to enslaved chefs so they could cook those things for the plantation owner, and how those cooks would then pass on that knowledge through their family, adding French affects to the unique meats, greens, grains, and beans of America.
A lot of it is about the institution of slavery and the unimaginable suffering brought upon the enslaved, the countless angles of horror to it all, and the utter indifference shown by their keepers. Through this nightmare, cooking and eating were often the merciful moments, these snatched-away pleasures black communities made the most of.
So yeah I didn’t get what I was after but it was a good book!
A few friends helpfully suggested that some cookbooks might be closer to the act of creation itself than the narrative books on cooking - Hetty Lui McKinnon, Asako Yuzuki, Samin Nosrat, authors in that vein.
I did not necessarily enjoy reading this book but I’m happy I ate my vegetables with this one because there was a whole lot about the origins of many staple American foods, grains, greens, meats, and so on that I didn’t know the first thing about.
I started reading it because a friend had recommended it when I asked about books that talk about the act of cooking itself - like of preparing, cooking, and presenting the food as a “creative” act, in the moment of making it into a meal - and it is absolutely not about that at all, so, I had to sort of give up on that expectation early and let the story take me where it wanted.
It is largely about how soul food, southern cooking, black cooking, all cannot possibly be separated from the history of slavery and forced labor on which the nation was built, and it’s real interesting seeing the origins of a lot of dishes we consider traditionally American. Things like how French cooking would be taught to enslaved chefs so they could cook those things for the plantation owner, and how those cooks would then pass on that knowledge through their family, adding French affects to the unique meats, greens, grains, and beans of America.
A lot of it is about the institution of slavery and the unimaginable suffering brought upon the enslaved, the countless angles of horror to it all, and the utter indifference shown by their keepers. Through this nightmare, cooking and eating were often the merciful moments, these snatched-away pleasures black communities made the most of.
So yeah I didn’t get what I was after but it was a good book!
A few friends helpfully suggested that some cookbooks might be closer to the act of creation itself than the narrative books on cooking - Hetty Lui McKinnon, Asako Yuzuki, Samin Nosrat, authors in that vein.
(I know, why is the title like that? This feels very 'Publisher thought this would make it pop' to me.) Heat was about 50/50 me reading it and me listening to the author read the audio book. Here's a review I wrote up.
This book annoyed me a whole bunch. The humor didn’t land, the author wasn’t as clever as he thought he was, the main guy he worked under and writes about - Mario Batali - is a sexist pig who had a whole slew of sexual harassment allegations recently, and there’s a whole lot of tangents in here about things I couldn’t really bring myself to care much about about. Things like what Tuscans arbitrarily consider pure or impure, the exact history of how certain dishes left Italy and evolved, or anything involving the Food Network celebrity era.
But, ended up really liking the nitty-gritty “dirty realism” (his phrasing) of his day-to-day in each kitchen, in pasta-making and in butchering. He doesn’t just take the performative and boastful chefs/personalities at their word, he is curious, he digs, gaining an actual understanding of the whys and the hows, diving into the history and the real reason recipes and techniques are the way they are. I found all of this very interesting and well worth the read.
Also appreciated him spending chapters just talking about what is involved in carving up meat, or in creating the perfect length pasta, or in developing a “kitchen awareness” that lets one sense when something needs attention or has finished. All of that was great, and is the kind of thing I was hungry for when looking for writing about the act of cooking.
So I ultimately am glad I read it and think it was a useful read, but didn’t really enjoy reading it much. Another “eating my vegetables” book.
This book annoyed me a whole bunch. The humor didn’t land, the author wasn’t as clever as he thought he was, the main guy he worked under and writes about - Mario Batali - is a sexist pig who had a whole slew of sexual harassment allegations recently, and there’s a whole lot of tangents in here about things I couldn’t really bring myself to care much about about. Things like what Tuscans arbitrarily consider pure or impure, the exact history of how certain dishes left Italy and evolved, or anything involving the Food Network celebrity era.
But, ended up really liking the nitty-gritty “dirty realism” (his phrasing) of his day-to-day in each kitchen, in pasta-making and in butchering. He doesn’t just take the performative and boastful chefs/personalities at their word, he is curious, he digs, gaining an actual understanding of the whys and the hows, diving into the history and the real reason recipes and techniques are the way they are. I found all of this very interesting and well worth the read.
Also appreciated him spending chapters just talking about what is involved in carving up meat, or in creating the perfect length pasta, or in developing a “kitchen awareness” that lets one sense when something needs attention or has finished. All of that was great, and is the kind of thing I was hungry for when looking for writing about the act of cooking.
So I ultimately am glad I read it and think it was a useful read, but didn’t really enjoy reading it much. Another “eating my vegetables” book.
Specifically, I listened to the very very well-done audio book read by Pippa Bennett-Warner. She is far and away the best audio book VA I’ve heard.
I’ve had a string of pretty unsatisfying reads, so this was a welcome change in that the narrative here was full and weighty and about shit. There is not simply description there is observation and judgement and affection and emotion, I loved it. Really love how Smith writes, it’s such a treat. Here’s my review.
Now did I actually like the story? Eh. I think it does the trick in terms of being a reason for the narrator to travel through the world and face the consequences of class, race, wealth disparity, ignorance, history, all that human stuff. I didn’t necessarily like the way the narrator just endured and had things happen to her, rather than make strong choices, but I definitely understood her reasoning and it’s a very realistic character, like all of them are.
The meat of this thing is in the way it’s all described and pondered and processed, it’s very flavorful. That’s the stuff that sticks with me. It’s an enormously sad book and I really enjoyed how you live through that sadness, in a million different mundane ways. I could read this author write about anything.
Definitely intend to tackle another of her books in the near future, this was a very refreshing book.
I’ve had a string of pretty unsatisfying reads, so this was a welcome change in that the narrative here was full and weighty and about shit. There is not simply description there is observation and judgement and affection and emotion, I loved it. Really love how Smith writes, it’s such a treat. Here’s my review.
Now did I actually like the story? Eh. I think it does the trick in terms of being a reason for the narrator to travel through the world and face the consequences of class, race, wealth disparity, ignorance, history, all that human stuff. I didn’t necessarily like the way the narrator just endured and had things happen to her, rather than make strong choices, but I definitely understood her reasoning and it’s a very realistic character, like all of them are.
The meat of this thing is in the way it’s all described and pondered and processed, it’s very flavorful. That’s the stuff that sticks with me. It’s an enormously sad book and I really enjoyed how you live through that sadness, in a million different mundane ways. I could read this author write about anything.
Definitely intend to tackle another of her books in the near future, this was a very refreshing book.
I promised two different friends I would check out Gideon the Ninth so I'm working through that now.
Every cishet man I know has bitched endlessly about how tumblr it is and how annoying the writing is, and like, she does say stuff like "douchebag" and "gangbanged by skeletons" which are hard not to wince at, but the reader of the audio book kinda captures the tone exactly right in that she's trying to avoid thinking about distressing stuff that that's how she laughs it away. I will say that it doesn't really feel like Gideon is the type of person who was raised in a lightless pit shepherded by a cult, but I don't mind it honestly, it's sometimes funny even. Nice to have a more upbeat narrator for once.
You do have to get on Gideon's side to actually enjoy the book, I think that much is essential. Harrow (presumably her love interest) is a very enjoyable kind of character to me, someone who is of this world and has been steeped in it, and is good at surviving it, and I'm excited to see she might even be the POV narrator of the second book. Looking forward to that.
You do have to get on Gideon's side to actually enjoy the book, I think that much is essential. Harrow (presumably her love interest) is a very enjoyable kind of character to me, someone who is of this world and has been steeped in it, and is good at surviving it, and I'm excited to see she might even be the POV narrator of the second book. Looking forward to that.
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Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I've been super mixed on Twitty's writing. Sometimes it is stunning, sometimes I have similar feelings of boredom to yours. I think my biggest disappointment was Koshersoul, it just did not work for me at all. For something lighter but still historically fascintating I'd recommend the Jemima Code, it goes through a lot of historical cookbooks and other media and is just a fantastic overview of black food history in the US from the perspective of cooking and home writing.
Other books that might be of interest are Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America and High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. We read both for TT book clubs years ago.
Mothra
(he/him)
Thanks! Yeah he's extremely knowledgeable and I love how he digs deep and passionately into the history of things that are not well-documented, as they were considered low or invisible to the dominant slavers and imperialists of the time. I found his writing pretty unexciting narratively but I've come to find interesting narration is sort of a random thing, some writers are interested in it, others are more trying to tell you information. Twitty's the latter, but, the information is very interesting.
I might try High on the Hog at some point, in Cooking Gene there seemed to be a lot more to be said the humble pig in American cuisine, it was one of the things that interested me in the later chapters.
I might try High on the Hog at some point, in Cooking Gene there seemed to be a lot more to be said the humble pig in American cuisine, it was one of the things that interested me in the later chapters.
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I'm halfway through Dark Age, but I ended up reading The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson, Remina bu Juni Ito and the first two volumes of One Piece
Yessssssss, one of us one of us one of us
Also the audiobook is one of the best reads I've ever listened to, her performances as each character are so well realized. Enjoy!
Read the third volume of One Piece, will be reading the fourth and fifth soon, but I finished Dark Age. it was very good, but I thought Iron Gold was better. So excited to read Ligtbringer. Now, reading North Woods by David Mason
Oh hey, I just started reading her book Nine Goblins. It's a fun, silly romp so far.
Finished *I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200*
It’s only the start of March but by god, I doubt anything’s going to top that for being my favourite book of the year.
It’s a combination of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Exorcist; about a guy whose side hustle is executing imaginary friends who won’t leave their kids alone after they grow up (it’s hard to go on a date or talk to your accountant when there’s a farting clam dancing around you) but then encounters a kid with an imaginary friend that is outright murderously evil.
(CW for some *heavy* implied and overt child harm, as you might expect)
It’s only the start of March but by god, I doubt anything’s going to top that for being my favourite book of the year.
It’s a combination of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Exorcist; about a guy whose side hustle is executing imaginary friends who won’t leave their kids alone after they grow up (it’s hard to go on a date or talk to your accountant when there’s a farting clam dancing around you) but then encounters a kid with an imaginary friend that is outright murderously evil.
(CW for some *heavy* implied and overt child harm, as you might expect)
North Woods may be my BOTY so far. Currently reading Troy by Stephen Fry and Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams
John
(he/him)
Been a bit since I documented some reads here.
Vampire Hunter D #1: this is a time capsule. Fun to revisit, but wouldn't want to live here. I liked the Dying Earth-esque lived in world better than the actual story, nice amount of lore dropping without overbearing.
Catan: Order of the Ravens: second of a planned trilogy, but Klaus Teuber didn't live long enough to write book 3. It was a fine YA vikings story, a little lighter than the first book. Ended on a cliffhanger, maybe one of Klaus' kids will pick up the torch?
Seven Surrenders (Terra Ignota 2): I liked this one more than book 1. Helped that I was already up on the world after book 1. It still feels like I'm only catching a third of the actual references, but that's fine, the low hanging fruit's still relatively easy to follow.
Neuromancer: I liked this one a lot, first read for me. Makes me wanna play Deus Ex and System Shock.
Chronicles of Amber books 1-3: Fun 70's schlock fantasy, feels like you'd find the paperbacks in the back of a panel van down by the beach. Has the typical 70's masculinity issues but fun as a time capsule.
Mysterious Affair at Styles: Agatha Christie's first published novel was really good! Subtlety isn't her strong suit here, but she's still in her 20's. The narrator's a good That Guy, I'm sure Christie ran into a ton of self assured but incompetent That Guys up to this point to give her the archetype.
Vampire Hunter D #1: this is a time capsule. Fun to revisit, but wouldn't want to live here. I liked the Dying Earth-esque lived in world better than the actual story, nice amount of lore dropping without overbearing.
Catan: Order of the Ravens: second of a planned trilogy, but Klaus Teuber didn't live long enough to write book 3. It was a fine YA vikings story, a little lighter than the first book. Ended on a cliffhanger, maybe one of Klaus' kids will pick up the torch?
Seven Surrenders (Terra Ignota 2): I liked this one more than book 1. Helped that I was already up on the world after book 1. It still feels like I'm only catching a third of the actual references, but that's fine, the low hanging fruit's still relatively easy to follow.
Neuromancer: I liked this one a lot, first read for me. Makes me wanna play Deus Ex and System Shock.
Chronicles of Amber books 1-3: Fun 70's schlock fantasy, feels like you'd find the paperbacks in the back of a panel van down by the beach. Has the typical 70's masculinity issues but fun as a time capsule.
Mysterious Affair at Styles: Agatha Christie's first published novel was really good! Subtlety isn't her strong suit here, but she's still in her 20's. The narrator's a good That Guy, I'm sure Christie ran into a ton of self assured but incompetent That Guys up to this point to give her the archetype.
In my opinion, William Gibson’s books only get better after Neuromancer. The book’s two sequels, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, are very much worth reading—those three make up what fans call the Sprawl trilogy. The Bridge trilogy, which came after, is for my money even better. It’s more of a 1990s view of a cyberpunk future than the Sprawl trilogy’s 1980s view. The first book of the Bridge trilogy is called Virtual Light. Best of all, I think, is the Blue Ant trilogy, starting with Pattern Recognition, which is set in the real world cyberpunk present of the 2000s.
Mothra
(he/him)
Finished Gideon the Ninth! Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, the character work between Harrow (my MVP) and Gideon made it come together for me. It also does a good job with the backstory and the way the necromancy magic functions, so that when they introduce new elements to it, you have a pretty good working framework for it to fit into. Good world-building.
Largely liked Muir's writing style, it's playful and evocative, particularly in an action scene, tending to use some nice similes that convey the vibe of the thing being described in a way that matches the necro tone. This makes it absolutely excruciating when she decides to insert a meme or reference into the text, which pulled me completely out of the world time and time again. I think this aspect is not as jarring if you're unaware of the Simpsons or Mean Girls thing they're referring to, but lordy, it's tough to be sucked into the world and then hit a line that you know is Gideon referring to something she of course does not know about in-universe, and it's the author instead talking, and you have to like, mentally edit that out for it to make sense. Ugh... really makes me wish the editor had pushed back more on those ideas, it makes you have to flip between future gal-himbo space orphan Gideon as narrator and 2019 New Zeland Homestuck fanfic writer Tamsyn in a way I wasn't nuts about. Being clever is for sure not a plus if it pulls away from the story. I do appreciate the intended playfulness though, I just wish it had been kept in-character and in-universe.
One complaint I'd heard a bunch was that the book had way too many characters (15ish), which is true, but I also liked them, so it wasn't really to the detriment of the narrative for me. I definitely had a recap and a picture of all the characters on hand throughout the read to reference and understand what was going on, so it can be a bit of a confusing read without a fair amount of outside work. There's things I often pondered would work better as a movie or a show. The audio book reader Moira Quirk does an excellent job making everyone sound distinct, and gets the tone right across the board. I think I personally would not have minded them halving the number of houses and characters, especially as people start getting knocked off.
The story itself was pretty good, it did feel very video gamey in that you were playing a AAA dark souls game where you had to defeat bosses and collect keys, and I didn't super care about the dungeon crawl element. That said, it gave plenty of good reason for Harrow to hide details from Gideon, and for their relationship to be pulled apart then merged back together, which resulted in a lot of juicy character drama. My favorite chapter is probably chapter 32, where you get Harrow's backstory and Gideon's reaction, put that shit right in my veins. Again, loved that it all played by the rules of the necro magic that had been thus-far established.
Definitely going to read the next book, as it's presumably a Harrow POV story, and I loved how this one ended. I'm a little morbidly curious to see how dense the memery is and whether it's handled differently with her way of thinking. Same audio book reader too!
One complaint I'd heard a bunch was that the book had way too many characters (15ish), which is true, but I also liked them, so it wasn't really to the detriment of the narrative for me. I definitely had a recap and a picture of all the characters on hand throughout the read to reference and understand what was going on, so it can be a bit of a confusing read without a fair amount of outside work. There's things I often pondered would work better as a movie or a show. The audio book reader Moira Quirk does an excellent job making everyone sound distinct, and gets the tone right across the board. I think I personally would not have minded them halving the number of houses and characters, especially as people start getting knocked off.
The story itself was pretty good, it did feel very video gamey in that you were playing a AAA dark souls game where you had to defeat bosses and collect keys, and I didn't super care about the dungeon crawl element. That said, it gave plenty of good reason for Harrow to hide details from Gideon, and for their relationship to be pulled apart then merged back together, which resulted in a lot of juicy character drama. My favorite chapter is probably chapter 32, where you get Harrow's backstory and Gideon's reaction, put that shit right in my veins. Again, loved that it all played by the rules of the necro magic that had been thus-far established.
Definitely going to read the next book, as it's presumably a Harrow POV story, and I loved how this one ended. I'm a little morbidly curious to see how dense the memery is and whether it's handled differently with her way of thinking. Same audio book reader too!
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John
(he/him)
Thanks for the recommendations! I read Pattern Recognition but don't recall anything from it. I'm adding more stuff into my queue soon.
Current queue:
Mistborn book 2 (it's the same fantasy popcorn, and that's fine).
Return to the Whorl: Short Sun 3 (read-along with Alzabo Soup, one chapter every 2-3 weeks).
The Will to Battle: Terra Ignota 3: (another Alzabo read-along, gonna kick it off soon)
I'm also reading about a paragraph a night of Interview with the Vampire on my phone, which puts me to sleep quick.
Hell yeah! I will say that Harrow the Ninth is very good but very different to Gideon. The narration style and structure are entirely new. I still really like it and absolutely encourage you to continue, but I've known some people who bounced off the sequel since it was so different so I thought I'd give you some warning just in case. Moira Quirk's reading is just as good for the second book as it was for the first, too.
Finished Stone of Farewell. Definitely the most middle book you can get in a series. The ending was good though. Also finished Rogues. An extremely solid short story collection. Ended up reading The Amityville Horror. That was a big hit. Also, knocked out vols. 7 and 8 of One Piece. Currently working on As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Whoof that was a hard one to read. Haunting and glad I read it though.
Anyway, I read a lot of books on our trip. Since we didn't want a lot of luggage I only took the kindle which is honestly a bit unusual for me. But it was very nice for planes and the couple long-ass layovers for delayed/cancelled flights
All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall - Didn't like this at all. The writing style was weird and I just wasn't interested in what was happening. Also it was a stressful read. Ended up skimming the back half and it seemed to only get more stressful and depressing.
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill - Interesting ideas, but I didn't feel like the characters had a lot of unique voices. The dialogue wasn't bad, just predictable. It's a novella and a debut though, so not a lot of investment and I'd be curious to see more from this author.
The Dragon of Ynys by Minerva Cerridwyn - A fun fantasy middle grade novella but also trying to teach about queer stuff, I guess? It would be moving along as a fun fantasy story but then everything would come to a full stop to explain something. A character literally says "I read about someone like you [in a book]. The writer called herself aromantic. I can look for it if you want to borrow it." The fantasy story was great but the queer education stuff just felt odd, although maybe that's just since it's middle grade? Short novella so not a lot of investment and there is something cool here so I enjoyed it and do recommend it, but has awkward moments.
Foster by Claire Keegan - This was stunning and might end up being one of my top books of the year. Go read it now, also a novella. A story that seems peaceful and where ultimately little happens but there's so much depth here. I might buy this so I can shove it at people to read.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - book club thread here
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto - I did not realize this was basically a romantic comedy when it was recommended to me, which is not a genre I like. But it's also a wacky story about family and sort of a mystery/thriller and has a lot of fantastic characters and all the Chinese-Indonesian culture is celebrated beautifully. There was a bit too much going on, but a fun ride? Honestly I wonder if the romance stuff could be taken out and the book would be better and more streamlined.
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer - I absolutely love her book Braiding Sweetgrass, and if you haven't read that it's a much better representation of her writing. This is more about economics/capitalism.
Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-Reum - Absolutely loved this. A number of short essays on reading and the pressures people put on themselves and how everyone reads differently. Another one I might buy just to lend to others to read.
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant - I did not realize this was a horror novel and immedaitely noped right out after all the gore in the first couple chapters. A few friends recommended it to me and I they might be bummed but I'm a giant baby about horror. Killer mermaids does sound cool though, so if you like horror my friends like this book!
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley - A debut novel that has me interested in future work from the author, but needed an editor to trim things down. Fascinating setting based on the author's Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a lot of great characters, but some that were not well-written. I'm honestly on the fence about recommending it as it was pretty long, but I did enjoy it.
So, I’m not much of a horror reader, either, but I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the books that this author has written under her real name, which is Seanan McGuire. Her book Middlegame is excellent and doesn’t have any gore that I remember—it’s about twins and alchemy and math and language and growing up with a lot of questionable expectations placed on you. McGuire also has a really good YA-ish series called “Wayward Children” about a school for kids who are dealing with coming back to Earth after having adventures in magical lands. There’s a collection of the first three books in the series called Be Sure, which is an important phrase in the world of the book, or you can find the first book published separately under the title Every Heart a Doorway.
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Ditto on this: Middlegame is brilliant, probably the best thing she's written; and I quite enjoy the Wayward Children books. I generally avoid anything she's written as Mira Grant and also bounced off the A. Deborah Baker stuff for different reasons. Seanan is also a very amusing convention panelist/presenter if you get a chance to see her. (Disclaimer: She's also a friend-of-a-friend and has been to my house a couple of times.)
I also read this right before The Night Circus and yeah, being from New York and knowing basically every place they talked about, this one made me incredibly anxious. (But also, I will never pass up a chance to talk about how incredible Bannerman Island is and how everyone should visit if you get the chance.)
Okay, sell me on Seanan McGuire. She's written a bunch of the Magic: the Gathering story over the past few years and I just don't think she's that good a writer, but apparently I'm the only one and I'd love to have my mind changed.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Oh neat! Thank you both, you've also given me something positive I can share with my friends when I tell them I didn't like their recommendation, ha.
Seanan is an Inhuman Writing Machine in how much she manages to churn out; and in turn (and probably by necessity) she's also a very versatile writer. Where some writers, for instance, write a Star Trek novel and you know they'd rather be writing superheroes, when Seanan writes horror it's very different from when she writers escapist fantasy and very different from her Spider-Gwen. As I noted above, there are several things of hers that I've really liked and several that I've bounced off hard. Part of why she uses different pen names is for marketing reasons, but part is to make it very clear that being the audience for one series doesn't necessarily make you the audience for another.
(And that said, I've found most of her anthology short stories lackluster; many of them feel like she was working to fill a slot rather than from a genuine idea. If I judged her on one story from a Mage: The Ascension anthology I'd never have thought she could write Middlegame, and Middlegame is one of the most Mage books ever written.)
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Haven't updated in a while. I enjoyed As I Lay Dying, probably the most dysfunctional family portrayed in literature, or damn near close to it. I finished three more volumes of One Piece, pretty sure I finished the East Blue arc. Finished I Lived the 80s and The Making of Middle-Earth. Finally, returned to Pratchett and read Snuff, which was good, and yesterday finished Odyssey by Stephen Fry
Mothra
(he/him)
Finished Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, listening to the simply excellent audio book edition. What a treat, this book is as good as everyone says it is. Here's my review.
I'm particularly struck by how good of a storyteller Pratchett is. This book goes down very, very easy, weaving through character moments and world-building effortless and with great wit. Having recently read a few books where the author tried and largely didn't succeed at being witty, there's really nothing that repels you more from a book that humor falling flat. I really appreciate how earned the comedy is in this, how much work goes into the setup and the layup and the slam dunk, always revealing something about the character or the world that has meaning. So often humor in these books is this divergence and distraction, the author stopping the story dead to be funny for the sake of wanting to be funny, but with Pratchett, he's funny because the world is quite absurd, and it's the most honest way one could speak of it. Really enjoyed that.
Following my friend's recs from years ago, I'm going to move on to Mort, The Light Fantastic and Moving Pictures.
I'm particularly struck by how good of a storyteller Pratchett is. This book goes down very, very easy, weaving through character moments and world-building effortless and with great wit. Having recently read a few books where the author tried and largely didn't succeed at being witty, there's really nothing that repels you more from a book that humor falling flat. I really appreciate how earned the comedy is in this, how much work goes into the setup and the layup and the slam dunk, always revealing something about the character or the world that has meaning. So often humor in these books is this divergence and distraction, the author stopping the story dead to be funny for the sake of wanting to be funny, but with Pratchett, he's funny because the world is quite absurd, and it's the most honest way one could speak of it. Really enjoyed that.
Following my friend's recs from years ago, I'm going to move on to Mort, The Light Fantastic and Moving Pictures.
It's hard to go wrong with any of the Discworld books, and Mort in particular is a classic, but you might also be interested to know that Guards! Guards! is the first book of an excellent sub-series within Discworld that follows the development of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. The next book in the sub-series, Men at Arms, introduces some of the Discworld's most beloved characters, and offers some incisive social commentary, too.