Books Read 2024

[YellowKing]

Finished off another batch:

The Dancing Plague 2 - Jeremy Bates - I've sung the praises of Jeremy Bates before. He just writes simple, dumb, fun horror stories. This is the follow-up to The Dancing Plague and I'll just say it's not about what you think it's about. I'll continue to read everything he writes because I like dumb horror movies and that's what these are in book form.

Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett - This is the third book in the Discworld series and I found myself enjoying this one much more than the first two. The writing is sharper, the humor is sharper, and the world building is a bit less silly. I'm not a huge fan of Discworld yet, but I have the feeling it just keeps getting better so I'm sticking with it.

The Silent Blade - R. A. Salvatore - Continuing on with my Drizzt novels, this one was a big step up in writing and maturity. It's a much darker book than most in the series that came before it. Enjoyed it a great deal, as I was getting just slightly burned out on the 6th grade D&D feel of many of the earlier novels.

Magic is Dead: My Journey into the World's Most Secret Society of Magicians - Ian Frisch - This was a really fascinating non-fiction account of journalist Ian Frisch going from writing about magic to being inducted into one of magic's most exclusive clubs. There are tons of stories about his interactions with famous magicians, how they develop tricks, etc. If you're into magic, it's a really neat behind-the-scenes look into the modern magic scene.

Quantum Shadows - L. E. Modesitt, Jr. - This is the second sci-fi book I've read by (primarily) fantasy author L.E. Modesitt, Jr. and the second one I've found completely incomprehensible. It's something about a guy with powers who is on some version of Earth where everything is religion-based, and he's going around looking for someone but enjoys fine dining so every place he stops at he takes great care in ordering really good food. I didn't understand a damn word of it. From now on I'll be sticking to his fantasy. His sci-fi worlds seem to be places that plop you into the middle of a strange culture but, unlike other great sci-fi novels, never really teach you anything about the world you were plopped into. Frustrating.

Goodreads Challenge - Read 60 Books in 2024. Currently 4 books ahead of schedule.

[LordMortis]

Magic is Dead: My Journey into the Worlds Most Secret Society of Magicians

Sounds like a contemporary Anime title.

[Scuzz]

I believe you.
I believe you.

Don’t know why that got posted twice.

Don’t know why that got posted twice.

[Kurth]

Red Rising, Pierce Brown.

If Game of Thrones and the Expanse had a baby and that baby grew up to take part in the Hunger Games.

I read the first book of this series last week and ordered the second and third books immediately. Very entertaining. Good cruise/beach/vacation book.

Also just finished Burn Book - A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher.

If you're at all interested in tech and some of the personalities behind some of the biggest companies, Swisher's memoir provides some great insights into Silicon Valley and the big personalities of Jobs, Gates, Zuck, Musk, Brin, etc. She's also a very entertaining author. She's kind of obnoxious and annoying, but I think she'd be a lot of fun to have a drink with.

My only negative was an extreme overuse of the word, "grok."

[Isgrimnur]

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears)

[Zarathud]

I’m hoping that you’re finding Terry Pratchett’a books fun. Some are much better than the others, but the world and characters are just so fun.*

* Particularly using a definition of fun found in the comic (not sans) footnotes.

[TheMix]

My favorites were those involving either Rincewind or the guards. Especially the guard captain. Though I thought his treatment of Conan was pretty solid as well.

[Isgrimnur]

I’m hoping that you’re finding Terry Pratchett’a books fun. Some are much better than the others, but the world and characters are just so fun.*

* Particularly using a definition of fun found in the comic (not sans) footnotes.

So do I, as I bought the Humble Bundle.

My favorites were those involving either Rincewind or the guards. Especially the guard captain. Though I thought his treatment of Conan was pretty solid as well.

*Cohen

[YellowKing]

I just started Book 4 and his writing definitely improves after the first two books.

[TheMix]

I’m hoping that you’re finding Terry Pratchett’a books fun. Some are much better than the others, but the world and characters are just so fun.*

* Particularly using a definition of fun found in the comic (not sans) footnotes.

So do I, as I bought the Humble Bundle.

My favorites were those involving either Rincewind or the guards. Especially the guard captain. Though I thought his treatment of Conan was pretty solid as well.

*Cohen

Fair. But it's pretty obvious what the source material was.
Note, I probably haven't read any of those in well over a decade. Probably two.

[Jaymann]

bellwether by Connie Willis



I think this was mentioned by someone here so I bought a used copy. Fittingly it is an unreturned library book. I was reading this on and off as filler between larger books, but it grew on me and I stayed up late to finish it. It is mostly a story about fads, chaos theory, office politics, and the mysterious i on foreheads. Written in 1996, it still seems very relevant today. I expected several threads would remain unexplained, but somehow it all ties together in the end. I found out Willis is an accomplished author with Hugo and Nebula awards to her credit. 7/8 rolls of duct tape.

[Hipolito]

The Green Bone Saga, Book 2: Jade War by Fonda Lee (audiobook): I liked Book 1, which had a slow first half but a rocking second half. I was hoping Book 2 would keep the fast pace. Instead, it downshifts back to slow and mostly stays there, though the last few chapters are fun and tense.

Some themes I liked:

• The story now includes other countries besides Kekon, and one country considers banning jade for civilian use before things get out of control. This reminded me of how plasmids in the BioShock games became a public menace because anyone was allowed to use them.
• There is a good demonstration of how a superpower tries to manipulate a smaller country with leverage, promises, fearmongering, exaggeration, and making unreasonable demands in order to steer the smaller country to agree to something else.
• There is interesting commentary on the complexities of emigration, immigration, and ghettoized communities.
• Poverty, bereavement, and displacement can make people bitter, crazy, and bigoted.
• People in power make decisions based on weighing all the factors they see and hoping things play out a certain way. But, of course, no one can see all the factors.

With "War" in the title, I was hoping for pages and pages of Asian gangsters murdering the shit out of each other. There wasn't enough of that. 4 out of 8 jade chokers.

[Isgrimnur]

Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time 10) - Robert Jordan

[Hipolito]

The Green Bone Saga, Book 3: Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee (audiobook): I liked Book 1 and was disappointed by Book 2. This final book lands in the middle.

I struggled to stay interested for the first two thirds of the book, but the last third hooked me. There is good drama throughout, showing how a family reacts to triumph, tragedy, and changing times. There aren't many scenes of violence, but what ones are there are horrific and highly consequential. There is too much bureaucratic shoptalk, with dialogue that reads like Wikipedia articles.

The political and social satire is a bit much, but it does do well with these themes:

• The myth of the self-made man is used to hide many misdeeds.
• A country can practice both cultural appropriation and cultural denigration against the same culture, harming the culture in two ways simultaneously.
• An immigrant community has to struggle between maintaining their old customs and values and embracing those of their new home. They have to do the latter if they want to succeed, but to what extent can they afford to sell their souls?

The trilogy culminates in a clever conclusion that reflects the struggle of balancing one's ideals with one's true nature. The narrator Andrew Kishino did a fine job, giving voice and emotion to each character. I'm now going to read the prequel books. 5 out of 8 bottles of hoji.

[Hipolito]

The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett (ebook): There are lots of guides on which order to read the 41 Discworld novels. The consensus is that you shouldn't start with the first two books as the author hadn't hit his stride with them. However, if you can forgive their flaws and not let them turn you off from the rest of the series, they do provide helpful foundational lore. Completionist that I am, I decided to begin at the beginning.

This book is a fantasy buddy comedy about the cowardly failed wizard Rincewind who has to escort the naive and extremely wealthy tourist Twoflower. The many cool ideas and funny, madcap misadventures reminded me of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (though that book is much more readable). I found the story of Tethis the troll especially fascinating.

The prose does get in its own way a lot by using awkward wording to explain simple concepts. This made the book hard to get through. But I did enjoy The Color of Magic enough that I'll continue to book 2, The Light Fantastic. 5 out of 8 imagined dragons.