Book 'em Up

[Doomy77]

A friend was asking for Audible recommendations so I had a wee trawl through my library.

 

This list focuses on nonfiction, popular science and trivia with a fair bit of comedy.

 

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Histories of the Unexpected by Sam Willis and James Daybell
Simon Evans Goes to Market by Simon Evans and Tim Harford
Ramble Book by Adam Buxton
Cunk on Everything by Philomena Cunk
Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign by Johnathan Allen and Jamie Parnes
How To by Randall Munroe
What Seems to be the Problem by Adam Kay and Mark Watson
Fry’s English Delight by Stephen Fry
Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger 
The I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue Treasuries (three of these)
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Mythos and Heroes (two books) by Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry’s Victorian Secrets
Paradise In Chains: The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia by Diana Preston
Ancient Mythology by Bernard Hayes
Command and Control by Eric Schlosser
The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan
Finest Years by Max Hastings
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The Infinite Monkey Cage (BBC)
The Museum of Curiosity (BBC)
The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker
Human Universe by Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen

[Rymdkejsaren]

I've been listening to audio books lately, they're good for when I need my hands free for chores. :)

 

My favourite so far was Gideon the Ninth, an amazing science fantasy (necromancers in space!) made even more so by Moira Quinn, the narrator, who does an amazing job. Now I'm listening to The Quantum Magician and its sequel, also good, more epic sci-fi with a lot of interesting ideas (even though it's based on a premise in quantum physics that's now more or less discarded).

 

And I'm on book 6 in The Expanse series. Book 5 was excellent, much better than 4.

 

On the non-fiction front I'm reading about quantum mechanics and parallel universes. Mind-bending. Currently it's The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene and Out There by Micheal Wall. The first has taken me weeks already because it's so indepth and mind-breaking, the second is more a light read with general information about space, the potential for alien life, etc. which is mostly just putting a bunch of new books on my to-read list.

[Bouffon]

Speaking of audio books. Audible released Neil Gaiman's Sandman as audio book, but it is more like radio play. I've listened first three stories so far while reading the comics and it works really well.

 

I also noticed that Audible has A Place of Greater Safety, a great historical fiction book about French Revolution, focusing on Robespierre and Danton. I read it years ago and have thought about rereading it. Might as well listen it.

[Barristan]

3 hours ago, Bouffon said:

A Place of Greater Safety, a great historical fiction book about French Revolution, focusing on Robespierre and Danton. 

I've read that one, and did enjoy it too. Seconded.

[Javelin]

19 hours ago, Bouffon said:

Speaking of audio books. Audible released Neil Gaiman's Sandman as audio book, but it is more like radio play. I've listened first three stories so far while reading the comics and it works really well.

 

I also noticed that Audible has A Place of Greater Safety, a great historical fiction book about French Revolution, focusing on Robespierre and Danton. I read it years ago and have thought about rereading it. Might as well listen it.

 

How are you enjoying the audible Sandman? I'm interested in getting it but I frequently don't like audio presentations that are too busy like audio plays. I tend to prefer just a good narrator and not a lot of sound effects and other such stuff.

[Bouffon]

Sound effects are quite minimal, but there is background music that gets a bit overt at times. Not enough to disturb me, but I guess it might annoy someone. Most of the scene setting is however done by the narrator who is, I understand, Neil Gaiman himself reading somewhat modified comic book scripts.

 

So I'd guess you'd like it, but I can't be sure.

[Doomy77]

I have convinced @Rymdkejsaren to give the War Dogs audiobook a shot - I think it’s excellent and I also would like to refer all of you back to my more general reading list I posted here a while back. There’s some good shit on there.

[Doomy77]

On 7/18/2020 at 11:12 PM, Bouffon said:

Speaking of audio books. Audible released Neil Gaiman's Sandman as audio book, but it is more like radio play. I've listened first three stories so far while reading the comics and it works really well.

 

I also noticed that Audible has A Place of Greater Safety, a great historical fiction book about French Revolution, focusing on Robespierre and Danton. I read it years ago and have thought about rereading it. Might as well listen it.

 

It’s worth mentioning that if you see the name Dirk Maggs attached to any of these products (such as this one)  you can expect a certain level of quality- he’s a specialist in audio spinoffs from popular IPs and has been doing it for decades.

[Bouffon]

I am not really into audio dramas and am really bad with names, so Dirk Maggs says nothing to me.

 

Anyways, I listened it to the end and I think I even overstated the music problem. Perhaps the first issues magical chanting stuck with me or something.

[Doomy77]

On 7/27/2020 at 7:24 PM, Bouffon said:

I am not really into audio dramas and am really bad with names, so Dirk Maggs says nothing to me.

 

Anyways, I listened it to the end and I think I even overstated the music problem. Perhaps the first issues magical chanting stuck with me or something.

Reached the end now and listening to the credits. Some real heavyweight names in there!

[dode]

Reading Three Body Problem atm.  Really interesting.

[Suido]

3 hours ago, dode said:

Reading Three Body Problem atm.  Really interesting.

 

Two things that stand out in my memory of that book:

• the physics went from yeah, no probs, I've got this, to holy batshit quantum wtf?
• the feel of the translated language and cultural setting were different to any other book I've read

Chinese culture and quantum physics - similarly interesting and baffling.

[Rymdkejsaren]

8 hours ago, dode said:

Reading Three Body Problem atm.  Really interesting.

 

Enjoyed the series, particularly the first book where it's so closely tied to Chinese history.

 

I'm on book 8 of the Expanse, up to 7 they've been great overall with a few exceptions (yeah, I'm looking at you, book 4). Also thoroughly enjoying the Dogs of War audiobook by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Very different setting from Children of Time and Children of Ruin, yet along the same theme.

[Barristan]

I've finished Children of Earth and Sky and am reading A Brightness Long Ago, both by Guy Gavriel Kay. He's a great story teller and the blend of historical fiction with very developed characters and a light dash of fantasy works wonders for me. I'd recommend anything by him apart from his first trilogy (Tolkien fanboyism to the extreme and not well written, it's got literally nothing to do with everything he wrote after). 

[Javelin]

1 hour ago, Barristan said:

I've finished Children of Earth and Sky and am reading A Brightness Long Ago, both by Guy Gavriel Kay. He's a great story teller and the blend of historical fiction with very developed characters and a light dash of fantasy works wonders for me. I'd recommend anything by him apart from his first trilogy (Tolkien fanboyism to the extreme and not well written, it's got literally nothing to do with everything he wrote after). 

 

I remember really enjoying the Fionavar Tapestry, but it has been more than 20 years since I read it.  Tigana is still one my favorite novels.  He does create very real characters where there's little separating the good guys and the bad guys other than a point of view.

[Suido]

Just started the Black Prism series.

Flicking through various pregnancy/child care books/install manuals for car seats - wife starts 12 months of mat leave this Saturday.

Voraciously devouring content on new BB rules 

 

[Barristan]

21 hours ago, Javelin said:

 

I remember really enjoying the Fionavar Tapestry, but it has been more than 20 years since I read it.  Tigana is still one my favorite novels.  He does create very real characters where there's little separating the good guys and the bad guys other than a point of view.

 

 

Maybe I should read the Tapestry again but I was sorely disappointed after Tigana, didn't even seem like the same author. His characters are great; amusingly enough this could be the closest thing to a flaw for me though, they are a little bit too awesome at times (not in a Mary-Sue way mind). Of course considering the historical narrative it can be passed as expected.

[Javelin]

1 hour ago, Barristan said:

 

 

Maybe I should read the Tapestry again but I was sorely disappointed after Tigana, didn't even seem like the same author. His characters are great; amusingly enough this could be the closest thing to a flaw for me though, they are a little bit too awesome at times (not in a Mary-Sue way mind). Of course considering the historical narrative it can be passed as expected.

 

It was also the first GGK book I read, so expectations were likely a bit different.  I read all his novels through Ysabel and then I guess I just dropped off.  Maybe because I liked Ysabel but not as much as his previous novels.

[Barristan]

Ysabel is the only one I've never read (once I'm finished the current one). I'd be hard pressed to say which one I liked the least beyond the Tapestry.

[Soapy]

I'm currently reading Bleak House by Dickens.  I'm about 10 percent into it and it's a riot.  Just not what I was expecting at all.  I only picked it up because I'm reading it in conjunction with Nabokov's Lecutres on Literature so I read each book before I read his lecture segment.  The first lecture was on Mansfield Park and it was very enjoyable, both the book and the lecture.  I never would have read Austen otherwise because I never saw myself as being into regency romances, or whatever this genre is considered, but half way through I found myself totally invested in the characters.

[Barristan]

I'm reading the Stormlight Archive by Sanderson, which may or may not have been discussed here already. I was convinced by the first book and floored by the second, starting the third. I understand why it's popular.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Barristan

[Javelin]

1 hour ago, Barristan said:

I'm reading the Stormlight Archive by Sanderson, which may or may not have been discussed here already. I was convinced by the first book and floored by the second, starting the third. I understand why it's popular.

 

I just finished Oathbringer and have started the rhythm of war.  I think I listened to the first book as an audiobook and I've read the last two.  In my opinion the third entry took a little step down from the first two (with the second being my favorite so far).  It might be mostly because of the characters it focused on.  But it's still Sanderson, who is a very enjoyable author to read.

 

I got my daughter into his young adult series starting with Starsight.  We listen to the audiobook when we're in the car together (slowed down since covid) and we're both really enjoying them!

[Suido]

+1 for Sanderson. I'm up to date on Stormlight and very big fan of his work. Sanderson gets a lot of praise for his creative magic systems, but I'm much more impressed by his character development, particularly with regard to mental illness and/or messy mental/emotional situations, and that really shines in Stormlight because he's used the page count to give his characters so much depth and complexity. Kaladin's PTSD and depression, Navani's imposter syndrome, etc.

[danton]

I just started book two of Stormlight after enjoying book one. My son raved about the books, so I had to give them a go! 

[Rymdkejsaren]

At some point I may have to pick up something by Sanderson again, but I read The Final Empire and thought it was meh: 2/5. But everywhere I see people heaping praise. Maybe that one's a dud... or I just don't see the genius.

 

As for reading classics, I find it's a coin flip. About half of them deserve to be on a pedestal, while the other half are just slogging texts that did something new.

 

But, allow me to catch up since last I posted. I read 90 books last year so let me pick some favourites!

 

Most recently I've been going through the Divine Cities series by Robert Jackson Bennet: City of Stairs, City of Blades, and City of Miracles. They are quite good, I particularly liked the first one and the third I'm currently reading and it seems promising. It's bleak urban fantasy set in an industrial-era original world.

 

I listened to Madeline Miller's Circe which was just as good, if not better, than Songs of Achilles. Greek myths reimagined.

 

Another recommendation is KJ Parker's 16 Ways To Defend A Walled City and its standalone sequel, How To Rule An Empire And Get Away With It. Funny but involving fantasy.

 

What else? John Brunner's The Sheep Look Up was brilliant and disturbing. I wrote a review here.

 

I listened to the excellent but also very demanding Harrow the Ninth, sequel to Gideon the Ninth, about space necromancers. Really good stuff, excellently narrated.

 

Susanna Clarke's Piranesi is another big recommendation. It's a surrealistic tale about a man who lives in a world that's just a giant house.

 

Among non-fiction, one of my recent favourites was Improbable Destinies by Johnathan Losos. It's about just how random evolution really is, and I found it utterly fascinating.

 

And if you're looking for some personal development, you'll do well with The Art of Living by Epictetus and Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl. The second one in particular hits like a brick, written by a compassionate and wise psychologist who survived the concentration camps and went on to create logotherapy.