Books: What have you been reading?

[TriggerWarning]

Finished listening to The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. It had good elements but I found myself tuning out a lot. I blame the narration in large part because he's doing an affected medieval voice which just makes everything blur together. I normally listen to everything at 1.5 speed or more and had to slow this down to 1.2 speed just to try and stop the blurring effect.

[DanMad1977]

I agree with this. I used to read voraciously to the tune of at least 4-5 books a month and sometimes more. My senior year of English in high school we had a book report assignment we had to read at least one book. I read 26 that semester. My teacher didn't believe me until she started quizzing me on them and I was able to give plot details of each of them.

Now some 20-30 years later I think I've actually read maybe 3 print books in the last year and each was a chore to get through as I just get distracted by things I'd rather be doing. I still listen to audio books constantly (my job is such that I usually get 4-6 hrs a shift of an audio book done) but other than comics and short attention span news articles on the net I don't read anything.

Good to know that I am not alone with it. I reckoned that a shitstorm would broke loose after I wrote my text.

One book comes to mind that I read this year. Neil Gaimans Norse Mythology: It started well, but the constant exaggeration of the storys turned me off. I almost finished the book...

[The Darknight Detective]

There was a time years ago where I rarely finished a book - I would read half of it and then go on to another one to read half of that one. In recent years, however, I have conditioned myself to the point I read more now than I ever did. In fact, I'm almost finished with those half-finished books!

[The Darknight Detective]

My newest Kindle read is Brood of the Witch-Queen (1918) by Sax Rohmer.

[The Darknight Detective]

Just started reading The Age of Voltaire (1965) by Will & Ariel Durant, the ninth book in The Story of Civilization series.

[Dante Milton]

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders, sci-fi novel about human colonists on a tidally locked planet. Interesting world building and well defined characters, a good examination on relationships and how they change over time and humanity's relationship to their environment. But overall the tone was dour and depressing, it reminded me of the post modern novels I used to enjoy when I was younger, but have little patience for now, where everything seems meaningless. Although, there is a hopeful ending.

I also read the short story Opal by Maggie Stiefvater, set in the same world and featuring some of the characters from her The Raven Cycle series. Enjoyed it and it made me eager for the new spin off series that is coming later this year, I think.

While on vacation a few weeks ago I also read five fun and fluffy novels that are probably not worth recommending, but were enjoyable.

About reading and time, I've found that I had less time to read when I was younger, and read quite a lot more now than I used to. If anything I have to purposely pace myself, because otherwise I tend to binge read novels in a day.

[DebkoX]

Milkman - Anna Burns.

I gave it up after 150 pages. It is written so poorly and the sentences are badly structured. Not an enjoyable book, shocked it received so much plaudits.

[Celgress]

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly

The best book I've read about the Black Death. Impeccably researched and engagingly written. A gem of medical, world and disaster history.

[The Darknight Detective]

Newest Kindle read: Books of Blood, Volume 6 (1985) by Clive Barker, the last installment from the groundbreaking series.

[MajorHoy]

Started reading:

The Black Bat Archives, Volume 2
by Norman A. Daniels
(published by Thrilling Publications)

The cover of this one does annoy me because they reversed the original cover image from the magazine where the first story originally appeared:

[ed2962]

Just finished The Rum Diary by Hunter Thompson


Starting Borrowed Time: An Aids Memoir by Paul Monette

[Deathstroke]

I finished the novella collection Christmas Cocoa Murder.

[Chubistian]

Recently finished Frankenstein. Now reading Dracula

[Malvolio]

Recently finished Frankenstein. Now reading Dracula

Great original novels. Dracula is told in an odd way, though, mostly through letters and newspaper articles.

[The Darknight Detective]

New Kindle book:The Curse of Capistrano (The Mark of Zorro) (1919) by Johnston McCulley.