What are you reading in 2024?

[billd91]

I read to my wife nightly. She has trouble reading on her own without using an audiobook because long COVID brain fog makes it hard. Lately, we've read:

Infinite Mass by JK Raymond
Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast by Kelsey Josephson
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Levin
Red Shirts by John Scalzi
Bookshops and Bonedust and Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
And we just finished We Have Always Lived in a Castle by Shirley Jackson. We decided to read it after seeing the movie, which keeps to the story pretty well overall.
Most of these have been pretty good, but some... not. I'm increasingly wary of certain kinds of publishers because they don't seem to do enough work with their authors to properly edit their works. And if any of you think LotR is kind of tedious (I don't, but I know some of you do), just think how it would read without a good story editor working with the author.

We are currently reading The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. The amusing coincidence with this one is that I'm also watching The Terror on Netflix. The coincidence of the Franklin Expedition has entered my life from two different media at the same time amazes me. So, of course, I had to dig out my copy of Pagan Publishing's Walker in the Wastes campaign for Call of Cthulhu for a third.

 

[Autumnal]

I can think of a few authors who manage to write as though they were talking - Emma Southon, Rebecca Solnit, a de others - but it’s hard. And it’s one of those thing where more people notice it when it’s flubbed than when done just right. I wouldn’t have the nerve, and hugely respect those who make it work.

 

[Mannahnin]

I just finished reading How to Get Laid in Fairy Tales, by Dr. Jeana Jorgensen, and my initial reflection is that this is a work which has suffered from its transition from one format to another.

....

Ultimately, however, it's not the irreverant tone that undercut this paper/article for me (though that's something I've complained about before), but simply the overall brevity. Dr. Jorgensen has several books to her name (a few of which are currently sitting on my shelves, waiting to be read), and that's the length that this particular topic necessitates, with what's here being too short to act as anything other than an appetizer to the topic of sexuality in fairy tales.

Yes, this sounds like she's got some good insights and thoughts, but as you say, it's just an intro, really.

If this kind of subject matter is of interest, Morgan Daimler's got an upcoming book on similar themes- Paid With a Kiss: Love and Sex in Fairy Beliefs, though it won't be out until next May. Daimler is excellent IME.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I DNF'ed Mission of Gravity by HalClement. After 50 pages I just wasn't interested. Interesting premise, but at my age now, the premise isn't going to carry the book for me. Also while there wasn't anything directly ick in the book, the characters were just boring.

Now reading The Squares of the City by John Brunner. His work tends to hold up, although I haven't read anything by him in the past 10 years I don't think.

Spoiler: Unfortunately, the forward spoils something

Apparently the movement of the various characters in the book replicate a real life chess game from some time in the past. That's interesting but I would have liked that to have been in the afterword to see if I twigged to it on my own.

 

[prabe]

I can think of a few authors who manage to write as though they were talking - Emma Southon, Rebecca Solnit, a de others - but it’s hard. And it’s one of those thing where more people notice it when it’s flubbed than when done just right. I wouldn’t have the nerve, and hugely respect those who make it work.

I noticed it--at least, noticed some authors do, some don't--working recording audiobooks. I wouldn't say it's a wildly rare thing (I'd add Peter Straub to your list, and plausibly one from Bill's list, John Scalzi) but I wouldn't argue about it being the minority.

 

[Parmandur]

I can think of a few authors who manage to write as though they were talking - Emma Southon, Rebecca Solnit, a de others - but it’s hard. And it’s one of those thing where more people notice it when it’s flubbed than when done just right. I wouldn’t have the nerve, and hugely respect those who make it work.

Actually what I have noticed is how many successful writers talk exactly the way they write. Having met Terry Pratchett, George R. R. Martin, and Robert in person at signings...all three spoke extemporaneously in the exact manner their prose flows. Pretty wild realization

 

[Autumnal]

Actually what I have noticed is how many successful writers talk exactly the way they write. Having met Terry Pratchett, George R. R. Martin, and Robert in person at signings...all three spoke extemporaneously in the exact manner their prose flows. Pretty wild realization

Hmm. Of those, I’ve only talked with George, but with him a moderate amount. (I’m in the A Game Of Thrones acknowledgements for a reason.) to me, his speaking and writing styles are very distinct. But then his speech, like most people’s, gets more prose-like the more it involves familiar subjects discussed many times, for obvious reasons.

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm. Of those, I’ve only talked with George, but with him a moderate amount. (I’m in the A Game Of Thrones acknowledgements for a reason.) to me, his speaking and writing styles are very distinct. But then his speech, like most people’s, gets more prose-like the more it involves familiar subjects discussed many times, for obvious reasons.

It was, perhaps more notable with Pratchett considering how ludicrously funny he was off the cuff, and with Jordan because his languid in-person storytelling style explained a lot about the Wheel of Time.

 

[John Lloyd1]

It was, perhaps more notable with Pratchett considering how ludicrously funny he was off the cuff, and with Jordan because his languid in-person storytelling style explained a lot about the Wheel of Time.

I went to a Con with both of them. Pratchett was great fun. Jordan did a book reading and I almost fell to sleep.

 

[Parmandur]

I went to a Con with both of them. Pratchett was great fun. Jordan did a book reading and I almost fell to sleep.

Dang, I could have listened to him talk for hours. But then, I've both read the entire Wheel of Time (most multiple times) and listened to the whole thing on audiobook again.