Books

I'm not a big YouTube guy, but this is interesting, and I know a lot of people in here are reading/looking forward to reading Wind and Truth. Her end result is some beautiful (obviously impractical) books that make the regular giant hardcovers look like little baby books.

If you ignore the handful of YouTube-isms it's a pretty cool video.

edit: adding screenshot of the books compared to the regular ones.

This is a major issue for me as a non-native English speaker (it even happens in my own language, but the effect is not as bad). Why do some authors go out of their way to make their books very convoluted? Like they make it so hard for you to connect the dots from different chapters or even the same chapter. What's the point? Do some readers actually enjoy this? Or is it the author trying to show off/feel superior? (This is not meant as an insult, just an assumption/opinion?). I've read several Stephen King books and they're mostly easy to understand, but sometimes he'd go on tangents where shit doesn't make any sense. I just skip all that "filling", as a I call it. Like who's whom, and what's just happened? Where did this come from? And so on. Tried with the Malazan book of the fallen, and holy shit. The beginning of the first book was a major pain to understand, so I stopped and I've been reading more English books so I can get better then go back to it. On the other hand, my wife has introduced me to this writer, Freida McFadden. The lady has the most straight forward books I've ever read. You read and you understand everything from start to end. I don't even find myself getting distracted like I do with the books that I have a hard time understanding. Her books are very clear and the English she uses is very simple in terms of vocabulary. Vocabulary...... That's another can of worms that I don't want to open.
Thanks for reading my rant.

Looking for books or authors that have similar books to Sandersons cosmere books and Mcellans shadow of lighning and powder mage trilogies.

Mostly looking for good world building, unique magic system.

(I did not like Lee's jade books)

I love books about advanced technologies that aren't real (you know, made up in those books). Not sure if that is just science fiction or not, but I love books that talk about technologies that don't exist and are fascinating. Please give me some names of books that kept you interested, immersed and amazed.
Thank you

Still reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 in the series. I am more than halfway through, so should be able to finish it this week.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

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There's a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven't started this year's Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining!

For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.

Not to spoil the buck but he talks about in all literature there is a hero and goes on a journey. Always wondered if that can't be applied to religious texts.

Read Die Trying by Lee Child. Book 2 of Jack Reacher series. It was a fun book, though I wasn't fan of how passive Reacher was in most of the book, most of the action happens near the end. Was hoping for more action throughout the book. Still fun though, going to get more of these.

Now, continuing with my Mistborn re-read. Started The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. It's Book 2 in the series, and for some reason I don't recall much of what happens in this one. While I didn't recall the details of the first one either, I recalled most of the plot, for this one though, I only remember the ending, and maybe one other scene. Everything else I thought happened in 2, would happen in 3. So, looking forward to reading it and finding out!

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

(No bingo squares this week)

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There's a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven't started this year's Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining!

For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.

For reference, I like most of the series by KD Robertson. The harem doesn't need to develop right away, but it shouldn't take forever (like I would consider that the harem in wheel of time develops too slowly).

Finished Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. It was a surprisingly easy read, and while I remembered the main plot, I didn't remember any of the details, so enjoyed the whole read.

Just finished the book moments ago (which is also why the thread is late), so haven't yet decided what to read next.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

Covers What's Yours Is Mine (Hard mode) and Mashup Bingo squares

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There's a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven't started this year's Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining!

For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.

I'm looking for book recommendations in the topics mentioned in title.

I often find myself feeling down and not being able to accomplish anything, and the tendency has been increasing.

I cannot even work on my hobby projects, because I'm just staring at the screen and my brain is not functioning, which leads to launching a game or watching YouTube videos and waste time.

I cannot find the way out of this madness, and my last resort is to find some books that might help with my issue.

I don't wanna rely on search results on the internet, because I don't trust random compilations of "read these 10 books to be productive".

Well, this is optional, but in case the book you recommend indeed helped you, I'd be curious how permanent the impact was for you, if that makes sense. I know mostly it depends on the person; it's me who has to make the effort, not the book. But I'd be curious how easy it is for you to consistently maintain what you learned from the book.

Regarding the format, it has to be in epub. And I'd very much prefer DRM-free books, price doesn't matter. If the only good books are all DRM-enshittified, that sucks, but I'll consider that too if I have no other choice.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help with recommendations!

Any Arabic folks around here? I'm looking for Arabic books that are similar to Stephen King's style. Doesn't have to be 100%, horror or some fantasy. I've found some of his books translated, but I'd like to read those genres written by actual Arabic writers. I've been away from that part of the planet for around 15 years and I haven't been following our modern writing to be honest. I've read many books for older novelists like نجيب محفوظ and طه حسين and some others, but I'd like to catch up on any new ones.
Thanks in advance.

Isobel: I’ve been working on a lot of stories about tech elites, the technopoly and so on. And something I’ve come across again and again is a “bunker mentality.” This idea that the tech bros have that they want to create their own jurisdictions, their own walled-off communities that will protect them from government regulation — but maybe in the future will also protect them from apocalyptic climate chaos, or the ravages of societal breakdown. Can you explain this mentality?

Atossa: I think these tech leaders have convinced themselves that they’re victims, that everyone hates them and they need to protect themselves at all costs. It’s a classic persecution complex seen throughout history among monarchs and dictators. With power comes paranoia.

Hello, fellow readers!!!
Any suggestions on books for an 11 year old little guy? Preferably books with very little number of pictures or not at all.
Thank you

Edit:
I'm reading all of your comments. Thank you so very much, everyone. I really appreciate. Please keep them coming. I'm saving every single one of them <3

Finished The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.

It was a nice book. Kind of YA, but fun to read. Pretty much a typical story of good vs bad, where good characters are super good and bad characters are super bad, with very few gray in between. Worth a read if you want a standalone fantasy novel that's quick to read.

Read The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. My first Scalzi novel and I loved it. A very light and easy to read sci-fi, with Kaiju in them. Going to get other Scalzi novels, may start with Old Man's War.

Finally got my order my Dresden Files comics / graphic novels. So read the first omnibus, which has the original Welcome to the Jungle and graphic adaptation of first two Dresden Files novels, Storm Front and Fool Mon.

Second omnibus has all original graphic novels novels though, but will get to them later.

Just started Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I have read it before, but it has been quite a while, so re-reading it before starting on the sequel series.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

Covers One Less (Hard Mode), Older than You, Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie, and It takes two Bingo squares

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There's a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven't started this year's Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining!

For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.___

Apart from the Warm Bodies series by Isaac Marion because I tried reading that and the zombie named R started getting drunk.

Caught up to side stories in Side Jobs by Jim Butcher. It's a short stories collection in Dresden Files universe. Only 1 short story and 1 novella remaining in the book. Short story is after next the book and the novella is after the book after that.

Now reading The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. I have this book in my library for over 15 years. Bought it a long time ago just by looking at King's name, but then assumed it must be a part of a series (at that time all fantasy I had read were part of series), so left it for later and then forgot. Someone mentioned the book somewhat recently, and I looked it up again and found out it's a standalone book, so finally reading it now.

It's written in very different style from King's usual work, like a tale told orally. It's also a medieval fantasy, with kings, magic and dragons. Also, not as long, less than 400 pages. I am about halfway done, and enjoying the book. Should finish it soon-ish.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

There's a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven't started this year's Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining!

For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.

One of my favorite places to go when I lived in L.A. was The Museum of Jurassic Technology. It’s an almost impossible to describe museum of just weird stuff (unfortunately only open by appointment these days). One example is an exhibit of the parts of the late magician Ricky Jay’s dice collection that were disintegrating because of the material they were made of.

But one of my favorite exhibits was a collection of letters cranks had sent to Mount Wilson observatory from its opening in 1915 until 1935. Happily, I discovered recently that the whole thing was transcribed and I can now read it and, even just flipping through it, I forgot how hilariously funny it is. The addition of photos of the original letters and telegrams along with the transcriptions adds to how much fun it is. The transcriptions are as accurate as possible, including misspellings and sometimes a total lack of punctuation.

Basically, it's what insane people used to do before there was an internet and they could amass a following who would go out and harass anyone who dares to suggest that Saturn is not, in fact, a chili cheese burrito. They just bothered the poor scientists directly.

At least they had to buy stamps.

My favorite so far has been a long screed which begins with, in all caps, "I HAVE THE KEY TO ALL EXISTENCE," and a Christmas card from a Jewish person who stated that Jews would rule the world because of people like Einstein was a real head scratcher.

I'm too lazy to type in what's in the book, but someone on a website transcribed this telegram:

GENTLEMEN. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SEPARATING VALUABLE CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS FROM THE SUNSHINE RAY? WORTH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. APPRECIATE AN AIRMAIL REPLY.

The link is to buy it directly from the museum, which is one of the coolest places you can go in Los Angeles, but it's available elsewhere.

Where did the Tuesday go? Well, as the power vested in me as a mod of this community, I am declaring today a Tuesday! So, without further ado:

Finished The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore. First book of The Icewind Dale Trilogy, and The Legend of Drizzt / Forgotten Realms series (publication order).

Loved the book. A quick and very enjoyable read. If rest of the trilogy is similar, going to get the whole series.

Read Small Favor by Jim Butcher, 10th book in the Dresden Files series. Liked in much better than the previous book White Night. Full of action, without much dull moments. Stakes keep getting higher and higher, but we are starting to see some bigger picture.

Currently reading Side Jobs by Jim Butcher. It's short stories in Dresden Files universe. I started it after White Night, but only reading stories that are before the book I have read, so this will not be completed for quite a while.

These don't cover any Bingo squares, except maybe Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

There's a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven't started this year's Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining!

For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.

Hey everyone!

We're about six months into our first [email protected] Book Bingo challenge. If you didn't know about it, or if you've been debating joining, there's still plenty of time to participate! You do not need to fill a whole card to complete the challenge: 'bingo' is only five squares in a line.

If you're already working on bingo, how's it going so far? Doing any fun challenges? Having trouble with any squares or rules? Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!

We'll be doing another post in a few months for 2025 bingo suggestions, and a turn-in post at the beginning of April.

On behalf of myself, Dresden, and JaymesRS, thank you for being here, and happy reading!