What are you reading in 2023?

[overgeeked]

A recent Facebook discussion of AI in writing reminded me of a book I meant to read from 2016, The Bestseller Code. A couple of lit majors and computer programmers set various computer programs loose on analyzing the New York Times' bestselling books for the last 30+ years along with a few thousand non-bestsellers to see if there are any predictive elements of a bestseller. Spoiler: yes, there are quite a few exclusive elements that make for a bestseller. Note: this isn't a how to write book.

Having tore through that book in a few days, I decided to try out a NYT bestseller. I picked up a few of James Patterson's Women's Murder Club books. Patterson seems to have cut a lot from his writing to ruthlessly up the pacing. The description is minimalist in the extreme. The chapters are all short scenes of the "start late and get out early" variety. Maybe a few printed pages at most. I'm just halfway through the book but already on chapter 63. When he does transition between locations or times it's with a sentence at most. I can't tell if I like his style or not, but it's definitely a fast-paced, page-turner of a mystery/thriller.

Finished the book tonight.

I still can't tell if I like Patterson's style or not, but I think I've figured out why it's off for me. It's like he wrote this as a screenplay for a TV mini series, then reformatted it for prose with some minor tweaks like adding quotation marks and dialogue tags. Each screenplay scene is turned into one chapter. And the chapters are absurdly short. I read this as an ebook with 349 pages. There were 130 chapters. That's one chapter per 2.68 pages. Tiny. Tiny chapters. His description is about as sparse as a screenplay throughout the novel. There's no transitions to speak of. Not really any deep inner monologue scenes or much in the way of rumination. The story was definitely laden with twists and turns. Every chapter ended with a twist or revelation of some kind. I can see why it's a page-turner and why a lot of people like it. I'm just not sure I like it.

 

[Sacrosanct]

My Appendix N continues with Roger Zalazny

That, and reading Furies of Calderon

 

[Parmandur]

So, this year I got into a reread (through audiobook) of the Wheel of Time series, and hot darn do those books just get better the more Inexperience then, warts and all. Magnificent, ambitious, and now that I know where they are going, even the slog in the middle is interesting. Just finished Winter's Heart today, which ends with a nice bang. They really hold up as prise when read aloud, which I had not cottoned to just reading them.

I also read (on paper) Perenisi by Susana Clarke in March, and @Whizbang Dustyboots is right, that is a stellar piece of work. I preferred Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but I really appreciated how concise and original this was l, leaving me wanting more. Clarke may be one of the greatest living English writers.

I finally caved to my wife's demands to start the stormlight Archives a couple months ago, despite it not being finished, and I'm now all caught up. So now I'm all in, and even despite Brandon Sanderson's absurd work ethic and productivity, I guess that I'm stuck thinking about this through about 2040. These books are a pretty great read, particularly when it becomes clear what he is doing with the structures of each.

 

[Zaukrie]

So, this year I got into a reread (through audiobook) of the Wheel of Time series, and hot darn do those books just get better the more Inexperience then, warts and all. Magnificent, ambitious, and now that I know where they are going, even the slog in the middle is interesting. Just finished Winter's Heart today, which ends with a nice bang. They really hold up as prise when read aloud, which I had not cottoned to just reading them.

I also read (on paper) Perenisi by Susana Clarke in March, and @Whizbang Dustyboots is right, that is a stellar piece of work. I preferred Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but I really appreciated how concise and original this was l, leaving me wanting more. Clarke may be one of the greatest living English writers.

I finally caved to my wife's demands to start the stormlight Archives a couple months ago, despite it not being finished, and I'm now all caught up. So now I'm all in, and even despite Brandon Sanderson's absurd work ethic and productivity, I guess that I'm stuck thinking about this through about 2040. These books are a pretty great read, particularly when it becomes clear what he is doing with the structures of each.

I own two stormlight books.... Still looking at them from the outside only.

I did take the Jack Reacher book out of my little library, and will start it tomorrow

 

[Parmandur]

I own two stormlight books.... Still looking at them from the outside only.

I did take the Jack Reacher book out of my little library, and will start it tomorrow

The Stormlight books are solid reads, kind of intense because they are page turners and also really long.

The first book, Way of King's is, essentially, The Mighty Ducks or Remember the Titans, but with Warhammer style power armor.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

My Appendix N continues with Roger Zalazny

That, and reading Furies of Calderon

I might have to go back and read the Calderon books, I enjoyed them.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished reading Larry Niven's The Magic Goes Away. It's got a lot of modern parallels, with its theme of dwindling resources. The interior art by Esteban Maroto is mostly cool, though the one female character, described as wearing robes and leathers, is depicted in typical chainmail bikini in the art.

Now I'm reading James Branch Cabell's Figures of Earth. Never read any of Cabell, but he comes highly praised, if somewhat forgotten.

 

[Alzrius]

I finished reading Larry Niven's The Magic Goes Away. It's got a lot of modern parallels, with its theme of dwindling resources. The interior art by Esteban Maroto is mostly cool, though the one female character, described as wearing robes and leathers, is depicted in typical chainmail bikini in the art.

Given that Esteban Maroto was the one who made that outfit famous by putting Red Sonja in it (two years prior to when Niven's original short story was published), I'd say it's more archetypal than typical, but YMMV.

 

[Zaukrie]

Finished Sentinel, A Jack Reacher book in no time. First one I've read. Seemed A LOT like the tv show, so I'm assuming they are a formula.

I'll read book two of the Inheritance Trilogy next (got my wife reading the Fifth Season and followups right now).

 

[Richards]

I'm now reading Terry Pratchett's Making Money, one of his many Anhk-Morpork novels, one I haven't read before. But I also went to the library book sale and picked up four more novels, as I have a week-long business trip coming up on Monday.

Johnathan