I’m reading Kambaramayanam, a 12th century Tamil epic. It’s written in my mother tongue, Tamil, but the language has changed so much over centuries that I am using a guide to understand the old Tamil words and phrases and the nuances behind the verses. I’m really enjoying it so far.
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Two Tamil books in one week!
Languages change over time, and any language that has survived for so long would have gone with many evolution.
Yeah reading the book, I can see how the words from then have evolved to words from now, and it's very rewarding when I'm able to understand a verse without any help from the guide.
Yeah, it must be. I sometimes have trouble understanding words of current teenagers, so understanding something from 12th century must definitely be rewarding.
The Tibetan book of the dead for beginners by Lama Lhanang Rinpoche.
The fifth season by N. K. Jemisin
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Have heard many good things about the Discworld series for the longest time, but never brought myself to read it. Decided to change that with The Colour of Magic. Loving it so far!
:) I started my Discworld journey in the middle with The Truth and since then have zigzagged my way through the entire series, and have never regretted a second of it. The Discworld is a gold mine of history, beliefs, dark humour, and profound thoughts. I'm glad you've found your way to it.
GNU PTerry
Discworld is definitely one of my absolute favourite series. GNU P Terry.
:)
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Finished "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari and didn't like it at all. Next on the docket is "The Republic of Thieves" by Scott Lynch, really digging the Gentleman Bastard Series.
Glad to see I’m not the only one who didn’t like Sapiens. I think it should’ve ended after the first few chapters. I’m terrified to know there’s a sequel where he theorizes about the future.
I think it should’ve ended after the first few chapters
Had the same feeling. At the end, I felt like the author tried to prove a thesis by ignoring any historical happenings that didn't corroborate and stretching the veracity of those that did.
I’m terrified to know there’s a sequel where he theorizes about the future.
I hope that he's better at assessing the future than the past.
It became evident in the later parts of the book that it was more about Harari’s pet theories rather than actual science.
Reading The Three Body Problem, and also listening to Remarkably Bright Creatures
Just finished this book! Hoping I can find The Dark Forest some time today.
It’s taken me a minute to get into it, but it seems to be getting a little easier now that I’m probably a third of my way through
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Been in an 'old gods' mood, so I'm currently re-reading The Child Thief, by Brom. Probably gonna go on to some Neil Gaiman stuff after that. Likely Good Omens
I was recently in the mood for some crime books, but now getting in the mood for more lovecraftian stuff, though haven't looked up anything in that genre yet.
Mistborn 5, I finished Mistborn 3 long ago but couldn't get into the changes Sanderson made in book 4 at the time when it came out, but now I'm really enjoying the adventures of Wax & Wayne, also now I'm really paying attention to the Cosmere related details, but what I'm really waiting for is the next Stormlight Archive novel.
*Mistborn
I haven't started the second era of Mistborn, was waiting to get all the books first. Now that I have the whole series, I am wondering if I should re-read the original Mistborn series before starting the Wax & Wayne. I remember the story, but I don't remember all the characters, and smaller details. Would I miss them if I read the next books without refreshing those details?
Lol yeah Mistborn, thx
Yeah the series constantly references the main characters from the original trilogy.
I read the original trilogy probably more than a decade ago, so I've had to go to Sanders's book wiki and remind myself of some of the details of some of the characters, I also had to do it to get a better grasp on which characters are "Cosmere centric characters" which are the characters that are in both Mistborn and Stormlight Archive, and will probably eventually be in the prequel series Sanderson is writing, which is a pain in the butt since those specific characters have many names.
Thanks for the feedback. Guess I should just re-read the original trilogy first. The books aren't that big so shouldn't take to too long.
Loved mistborn, but couldn't get into the Wax & Wayne stuff. I bought the latest book, but I just can't get excited about it.
See that was my problem when I first picked up #4 almost a decade ago, but now I'm completely into the books rn, there's some really interesting intrigue going on in the series, and the way the powers are evolving in a more modernized society is pretty cool, although Sazed admits in the fifth book that humanity hasn't quite progressed as far as he'd hoped they would.
Also Wayne is a fantastic character, he's not the main character, but the way Sanderson writes him is really fun and interesting.
I'm on the 2nd, the Well of Ascension. It's a bit slow, but I hear it really ramps up!
- Finnegans Wake - my 'big read' which I am doing over the year along with a group over on reddit: one of the only things that still has me dipping into reddit now. Fascinatingly incomprehensible.
- Tchaikovsky's Children of Time - some good, thoughtful worldbuilding and a solid story.
- Robert Brightwell's Flashman's Waterloo - one of his series of Flashman prequels featuring the uncle of George MacDonald Fraser's protagonist. Very well researched and entertaining
- A collection of Neil Munro's Para Handy tales - gentle humour and a glimpse of a very different world - albeit rather stereotypical and patronising in some ways.
However, I don't have a great deal of time to read at the moment, and with several on the go at once, I am taking a good while to get through them.
I have James Joyce's Ulysses in my to-read pile for over a decade, but it looks so daunting, so never started it.
Nice collection of books that you are reading. Have fun!
"The sweet salt of Tamil" by Tho Paramasivan translated from the original Tamil by V. Ramnarayan.
Tamil is the world's oldest surviving language and is spoken by about 90 million people. The author writes so well, you feel like you're chatting with an old friend. The OG version of the book in Tamil, titled Ariyappadatha Tamizhagam (the hidden Tamil country), is a good read too, but a friend gifted me the English version, so this week I'm enjoying the English version of a beloved book.
Surprised to see another Tamil book in the comments. If you're tamil, feel free to join [email protected] and help us get the community off the ground. It's a casual tamil chat community.
Thank for the invite, I'll definitely check it out.
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Michael J. Sullivan JUST dropped the final book of his new trilogy, so I'm going to be diving into that next.
If you haven't heard of him, do yourself a favor and read the Riyria Revelations trilogy. It starts out light and fun, and by the third book you realize that he's no lightweight. There was a well thought out plot and intricate world building that was under everything the whole time.
I love all his series in this universe.
You've intrigued me!
I was just trying to remember the name of these books! I got distracted and never finished the first book but I want to pick it up again
Riyria Revelations is on my wish list. Let's see when I get to them.
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix.
Not a whole lot of spooky stuff happening so far, but I'm pretty happy to be an only child.
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Still reading The Brothers Karamazov. Just started few days back. Like it so far.
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I just finished, A series of unfortunate events #2 - The Reptile Room
I am also re-reading Discworld in order and have read Men At Arms, next its Soul Music
Currently I am reading, John Scalzi - Old Man's War, and so far its a good!
I end up zigagging in the Discworld. One day, I'll have a go at reading it in order.
GNU PTerry.
I have read Discworld both by series (Wizards, Witches, The Watch, ..) and in order, the good thing with reading in order is that you get a break from the different characters and you notice the cameos easier.
I should give it a try.
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I’m not reading it, listening to the audiobook so I hope it’s okay I comment but Project Hail Mary! It’s sooooo good! It’s my first audiobook also
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Jumped back into Mage Errant series by John Bierce. Currently on book 5 out of 7. Light reads, very fun and engaging magic systems! Top tier progression-fantasy. The perfect "popcorn fantasy" where the plot just goes very fast and you turn pages like a mad person
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Currently blasting through (because it's hard to put down) Qualityland by Marc Uwe Kling. A satirical but horrifying take on society that's fully dependent on algorithms. It follows a "useless" person around trying to seek meaning and the overt advertising throughout really feels too close to reality. It's a fun read I may finish in one day, it's well translated and a surprise to find in a dollar tree store.
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