A History of Medieval Europe, from Constantine to Saint Louis. by R.H.C. Davis
Also reading some books about C++ and object oriented design patterns.
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2024
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That sounds nice. I have read a few history books here and there, but nothing containing proper history of Europe. How are you liking it?
Oooh, nice. Which design patterns book are you reading? I recently started Design Pattern by the Gang of Four, have studied design patterns, but never read the book, so finally taking care of that.
The history book is excellent. It's so interesting to see how society changes over time, and all the power games. Wow, they were violent though.
I have the same design patterns book. It's actually more difficult than the C++ book. But it makes more sense now that I'm using C++ (I tried reading the design patterns book when I was just using JavaScript and it was harder to imagine how to implement the ideas).
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. The book that inspired the game. All the characters are so, so wordy, but I'm enjoying it.
It's on my wishlist, didn't like the game much, but the lore seemed interesting specially near the end of first game and in second game. Though having straight up Nazis didn't feel very creative, but maybe they make more sense in the books.
I've been thoroughly enjoying the Infinite Series by Jeremy Robinson. It is a masterwork of scifi, spanning several scifi sub-genres. Each book (that I've read so far) is only loosely connected to the other books - it reminds me a bit of early Marvel movies where at the end Nick Fury shows up. I had read Infinite, not knowing that it was the beginning of a series, and then when I found out I decided I would read the next book, but make no commitments to continue the series. I've not stopped and each book just keeps getting better.
I randomly stumbled across the dark which is much later in the series and really enjoyed it. I've now gone back and started from the beginning with infinite and will be continuing in order. I'm looking forward to it!
"Across the Dark", D for Dark, D for Death. Yeah, makes sense that's the one you stumbled upon. 😀
Haven't read the series, but apparently you get crossovers in last few books.
Do RPG and skirmish games rulebooks count? If so, I'm currently spending time with Basic Role Playing and Runequest 6ed (planning a hack/homebrew/adaptation of Elder Scrolls), plus Moonstone (Goblin King Games), Conquest (Parabellum) and Warsurge on the skirmish front.
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Not currently reading anything but just finished The Fisherman by John Langan. I’m just here hoping someone can recommend some good horror from the last few years
I read a lot of horror! Here are some of my recent faves:
- Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
- I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
- Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
- The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
- Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman
What did you think of Ghost Eaters? I found it a bit boring by the end. I finished it and I wouldn't say it was bad but it was a bit of a slog for me by the end.
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I really loathed the fisherman. It felt like a bait and switch, and the framing device felt like I was being asked to accept an insane proposition. Why would they just sit there in that diner for what must have been hours listening to that guy exposit in anachronistic old-timey waffle?
I am baffled by its popularity.
Edit: conversely, and so I’m not being a negative Nancy, The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch was fun and weird and kept me interested.
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I'm still using reading mostly as a means to fall asleep but I finished Slow Horses on the weekend. Even after watching the TV series the books are very enjoyable.
On to the next one!
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I'm reading the Silmarillion, so I can be madder at Rings of Power
How do you keep all the name straight? I have tried couple of times but that's where I got lost. Have been planning to start again, and make a relationship / characters chart as I go along, so that I can remember who's who.
Full disclosure I'm actually listening to the audiobook version read by Martin Shaw. Mostly I've just been going with it, important characters are repeated over and over, less important ones are not. The hard part is not googling names and reading spoilers haha
Heh. Nice!
I just finished Lessons in Chemistry. It started of a little dark but quickly turns into a roller coaster slice of life novel that secretly weaves a series of plot points before coming to a heartwarming end.
I am starting Meditations by Marcus Aurelius with annotations for context.
I’ll probably also read a second lighter book in-between sections of Meditation cuz it’s a dense book.
I am working my way through the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. I'm on The State of the Art which is an anthology. All of the books up to this point have been EXCELLENT, especially Use of Weapons which is one of the best science fiction books I've ever read. Usually with the space opera genre and perhaps sci-fi in general, you land somewhere on a sliding scale between imaginative concepts and good writing, but Banks is one of the few that hits top marks in both areas.
Working my way through book 5 of He Who Fights With Monsters.
Tap for spoiler
Jason has just been diverted from Japan to Indonesia as shit is fucked up.
Not my usual thing, I'm admittedly a trashy action thriller person, but Yellowface is very much keeping my attention at the moment. It's very well written
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Just finished Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, and haven't picked out what I'm reading next.
I think this is one of those I should have dropped rather than power through. I liked the story, but the writing style just wasn't for me: poetic, but verbose verging on purple, imo. Is all his work like this? I vaguely remember reading "There Will Come Soft Rains" a long time ago, but I don't remember how it was written. Also, I thought this was going to be Halloween-related, but it really isn't.
Bingo squares: Older Than You Are (1962), Family Drama, (maybe) Plays With Words, Bookception (hard), Now a Major Motion Picture, It's About Time, (alt) A Change in Perspective.
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Just finished King's Fairy Tale. Almost started the dark tower series, but then remembered that I needed to read Moby-Dick. So, that's what I'm reading now.
I hope you like in depth descriptions of whales
Hmmm, not interested in that. Lol
Is the book fantasy? Like does the whale talk or something? Or is he just talking about going whale hunting(if that's the word).
Most of the book is descriptions of whales, whaling boats, whale skeletons etc. Some of it can be interesting from a historical perspective. I'm sure it was more interesting when people didn't have access to pictures, but it wasn't what I was expecting, that's for sure.
Well, I can't say anything but thank you for saving me a possible week or two of reading something I really have no interest in. I genuinely thought the whale would end up speaking and some fantasy stuff would occur.
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There's a chapter where Ishmael gets mad that all the whales are named wrong. He spends a while renaming them better.
It's a very odd book. I quite liked it, but it's definitely in the recommend with caution group.
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Just started with Scalzi's Starter Villain. No opinion yet. But it's short, so I should have one soon.
I am slowly going through The Wandering Inn. Without spoiling things I'm loving the utility of a door.
Really enjoying this series, too. (wanderinginn.com) Amazing amount of output from the author, and while there's no way you can enjoy every plot thread (I just don't care for Flos), it's amazing how often I get excited when a new chapter starts from a new perspective.
Personally, I'm also working on "When the Clock Broke" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195790601-when-the-clock-broke and "This America of Ours" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58311951-this-america-of-ours
Both are interesting reads, but "America" is definitely largely lighter material ..(wild, given it's about McCarthy-era politics)
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How are you finding Lovecraft so far? Do you have a favourite out of what you've read so far?
I'm carrying on with Deathlands (of course) but this week I have been throwing in some R L Stine Goosebumps books. I spoke about liking them as a kid with my gf recently and it made me want to revist a few titles I remember as I don't remember the stories themselves.
I have only read a few, there were a couple nice ones, but IMO his earlier work isn't that great.
Though it could just be his use of archaic language that I can't get used to. But I remember liking some of his work that I have read before, so maybe I'll like his later work more.
Do share how the Goosebumps books are, I am constantly looking for books for my kids, that he can read now, and that I can get him in near future
I've read most of his library. Some favorites:
- At the Mountains of Madness
- The Mound
- Dagon
- Shadow Over Innsmouth
- Duma Key
- The Shambler of the Stars
- Nyarlathotep
- Unknown Kadath
- Wanderer in Darkness
- The Temple
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Finished Words of Radiance, started Oathbringer.
They hit pretty hard back to back with the end of one and right out of the gate in the other.
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Cool about Drizzt! I enjoyed (what I read of) The Dark Elf trilogy.. I forget how much I read, but, very cool world-building.
I finally finished books 1 and 2 of The Kingkiller books (Rothfuss) and thoroughly enjoyed them. I'm now onto Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy.
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I'm reading A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time Book 14!). I'm only about halfway through and so far it's been good but I liked the books leading up to it more. We'll see how the second half goes.
I didn't like how the books ended. Felt a bit anti-climatic to me. But at that point I was just glad that we got an ending.
I just finished (audiobook) The Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno. I am not really a regular reader of horror, but I dug this one a lot.
I've checked out (via Libby) Rakesfall by Vjara Chandrasekara, but haven't started it yet.
Just started Blindsight by Peter Watts. Haven't gotten far yet, but so far it seems interesting
The Twisted Ones.
Not a huge fan of how this author writes, but I think it's an interesting enough mystery so far.
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