What are you reading in 2023?

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished Strauss' The Trojan War. Barry Strauss does a wonderful job at sifting truth, or as close to truth as you can get, from the stories and archaeological record. And as always, he writes in an engaging, entertaining fashion while not sacrificing veracity.

Now I'm reading Poul Anderson's The Merman's Children.

 

[Richards]

I got about 30 pages into the next Lisa Jackson thriller in my pile of library book sale novels, Almost Dead, when I realized it seemed awfully familiar. I checked my bookshelves and sure enough - I had another copy I had bought some years ago and have already read. So it'll get donated back to the library so they can make some money selling it again, this time (hopefully) to someone who hasn't already got a copy of it.

Therefore, I moved on to the next one in line: Hide, by the same author. This one involves Boston Detective DD Warren (I've read a couple of other novels with her as the lead character), investigating a serial killer who had abducted six little girls over the years and kept them in a secluded pit by an abandoned mental hospital; she's trying to figure out how this is tied into another earlier case, where a similar thing happened to another girl who managed to escape from her pit when it was discovered by hunters, and she later testified against her abductor, landing him in jail. The two kidnappers have a lot in common but the timelines don't match up, and that's been the thrust of the investigation thus far. It's been a gripping ride so far, one of her best; I'm about halfway done.

Johnathan

 

[overgeeked]

I'm doing a short story binge. I'm reading Essential Ellison, Dangerous Visions, and Collected Works of Philip K Dick. I gotta say that the early Ellison stories are kinda hard to read. But then, he was 15 when he wrote them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Now starting Carl Hiaassen's "Wrecker." It's one of his YA novels, but if you know Hiaassen, you know that he doesn't skimp on going after greedy politicians/polluting industries (which in Florida, have a lot of crossover) in the YA books. I've found all of his "kids" books to be nearly as satisfying as his adult ones, and better than a few of the later Skink-obsessed ones.

Also, very satisfying as a fantasy nerd to start a new book that has a great map at the start, in this case, a kids' take on the important locations in Key West.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I'm doing a short story binge. I'm reading Essential Ellison, Dangerous Visions, and Collected Works of Philip K Dick. I gotta say that the early Ellison stories are kinda hard to read. But then, he was 15 when he wrote them.

I've been considering reading Dangerous Visions again. I loved most of them when I was 19, or whenever I read them back in the day

 

[overgeeked]

I've been considering reading Dangerous Visions again. I loved most of them when I was 19, or whenever I read them back in the day

Some of the topics are still taboos. But if you've read them once, I'm not sure if there's any shock factor left in them. Unless it's been so long you've forgot the premises.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Some of the topics are still taboos. But if you've read them once, I'm not sure if there's any shock factor left in them. Unless it's been so long you've forgot the premises.

Ah yes, I do remember teenage me being titillated, but any details are lost in the mists
I guess I'll go in with content warnings enabled

 

[Parmandur]

Finished listening to Dragonebone Chair, starting up Stone of Farewell intermittently.

Picked up my physical copy of Mistborn: The Final Empire and breezed through it foe the first time in ~15 years (when I read it, Brandon Sanderson had only two published novels!!!). Very, very good book, and fairly breezy.

 

[dragoner]

I'm reading the Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu, it has the title story, plus a lot of other shorts, I think it is pretty good so far.

 

[Autumnal]

I closed out the year with three hours of Jeremy Irons reading T.S. Eliot via Audible, originally recorded for BBC radio. It’s good to remember just how superb an actor he is: he makes Eliot’s poetry shine, and it makes him shine.

First book of 2024 will be something about Vikings.