What are you reading in 2024?

[Parmandur]

tbh its less capitalism its more an enforced pyramid scheme - a hierarchy that is enforced by magic - its literally called "The Hierarchy". Basically everybody gives half of their magic power to their superior in the hierarchy. At the bottom the people are basically weak husks because they run on 50% of their spirit but at the top the Imperator is a semi-god because he gets tons of magic by the whole population. So its not actually capitalism - but the metaphor to the real world is obvious. The main character is an underdog that tries to fight the system from the inside. Its a lot of fun!

Abounds a bit like Sanderson's Warbreaker

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished reading the Nameless Places anthology. A decent way to end my Halloween season reading. It was a mixture of weird fiction - some cosmic horror, some fantasy, some sci-fi.

I read REH's Worms of the Earth. The short story itself is one of REH's best, a near-perfect mix of horror and fantasy. It's a shame that there are so few Bran Mak Morn stories.

Now I'm reading John Gregory Betancourt's Johnny Zed.

Put off reading the Handmaid's Tale. Looks like that's next on the list.

Same. Just dug out my wife's copy to add to my to-read stack.

 

[prabe]

Everything I've read about it sounds hacky-as-heck to me, but I understand the appeal of The Power better, this morning. (Among other things, I've seen short stories that I thought explored similar themes adequately.)

 

[jian]

Everything I've read about it sounds hacky-as-heck to me, but I understand the appeal of The Power better, this morning. (Among other things, I've seen short stories that I thought explored similar themes adequately.)

The Power is pretty good, I would recommend it. Though the Naomi Alderman book I really enjoyed was The Liars’ Gospel, which is a historical-fiction telling of the foundation of Christianity from a Jewish perspective. That was really informative and enjoyable.

(Her most recent book, The Future, is generally a bit less good - well written but not terribly well informed IMO about climate change, and probably a bit optimistic.)

 

[overgeeked]

I'm also feeling a bit of history and WW2 vibe, so adding Rise and Fall of the Third Reich to my TBR pile. Might need to start Time Ghost's World War 2 series from the beginning while I'm at it. I absolutely loved their Great War series.

 

[Mannahnin]

Strictly Fantasy: The Cultural Roots of Tabletop Role-Playing Games, by Nachtwey. A bit dry so far; it's definitely an academic text, but there's some neat stuff in it. And it's been good for calming my mind before sleep the last few nights.

My re-read of Wuthering Heights is on hold for the moment.

Friends have recommended Octavia Butler, both Kindred and Parable of the Sower, in the last day or so.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Friends have recommended Octavia Butler, both Kindred and Parable of the Sower, in the last day or so.

Parable of the Sower feel frightfully prophetic.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Keeping my Kindle streak alive (while reading Absolution in hardcover) by finally reading more of Preacher. The creative team is great all around, but there are wince-inducing moments of just how dated some of this is, with a bit of casual homophobia and sexism out of the blue, plus the whitest version of New York City this side of Friends.

 

[Richards]

It was another week-long business trip for me, so that meant a lot of time for reading in airports, on planes, and in my hotel room. I finished the Castle book I'd been reading (it was okay), and then I read two sequels to Stephen Gould's Jumper novels I hadn't known existed until last Sunday at the library: Impulse and Exo, dealing with Davy and Millicent (a married couple who can teleport, from the first two books in the series) and introducing their teenage daughter Cent, the main character of these last two novels. They were really good reads, keeping me entertained and really playing nicely off the previous books. Gould came up with some new ways to play around with teleporting people.

And now I've just started Holly by Stephen King, which I bought at the airport and have been waiting to read (but the Gould books were library books which will need to be returned, so they took precedence). This is a novel featuring a character from two of his other books, now taking center stage for the first time, and it's really started off strong, but I'm disappointed to see King has grafted his own politics onto Holly, which I think was a wrong move for her. But this is a sort of horror-without-the-supernatural genre, meaning its about the terrible things people are willing to do to others, and I think overall I'm going to like it.

Johnathan

 

[Older Beholder]

Just picked up the new Jeff Vandermeer novel Absolution
Which is a prequel to the Southern Reach Trilogy