What are you reading? (& general book discussion)

I haven’t read anything for a long time and would be happy to take note of some good recommendation.

@Background Pony #8201
What books have you enjoyed in the past? If you’re into TV, which genres of show do you enjoy?

Personally, I’d recommend going to a library. Many books for free. If you got an afternoon to spare even, you don’t even have to check them out physically to try them out. Grab a couple and sit down in a chair and see if anything clicks. Especially if you know what you like.

There’s a bunch you can find online if you know how to look, and they may not necessarily be out of copyright. I know I found a full pdf of American Psycho once in Google, first result then; don’t know if it’s been taken down yet.

Currently reading American Psycho. Time restraints make it difficult because I was knocked off my habit of reading probably about a year ago by now and ADD has made it hard to get back on, but I am really enjoying it. It’s a great book. Bateman is 100% more of a bitch in the book than the movie. It’s amazing how much Brett Easton Ellis uses products as a stand-in for a personality for Bateman, which underscores how much of a bitch he is in the grand scheme of things. The movie is still brilliant, but the book is a world of its own. It’s incredibly fun and funny to read.

Managed to claw back a regular reading schedule and feeling proud of it. Since the last post:

Finished American Psycho, and my big take away is:
lmao everyone who do be pointing at Patrick Bateman and saying “wow that’s me” is right in the absolute way you did not expect. He’s revealed by the end to be a complete fucking loser. It’s great. Excellent. 10/10. Would not read aloud to kids or read in public unless you’re turned with your back to a corner

I’ve also started and finished a biography on Napoleon with the thematic conceit it’s a study of Napoleon’s person as it pertains to essentially quiet family life; the gardens he moved through in his life and career and the characters who were otherwise third or fourth rate in any other biographical work. I thought it was very good.

And currently reading a book about Spanish labor from the 16th to 19th centuries, since while reading the Napoleon bio I had been talking to a Spanish friend and suddenly found myself incredibly curious about Spain. Since, as I’ve put it: the American education of Spain at least is very, “It exists there, it colonized America first, Mexico happened”. At best the Spanish-American War is acknowledged but never really explored. And in popular consciousness the Inquisition is known to have existed. So I went to the nearby college town and filled my bag from various used book stores.

I’ve been collecting junior novels of movies I’ve seen. I just got finished reading “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and compiling a list of copyrighted material from the movie that remained in the book, such as eBay.

The Diaster Artist. Its interesting to see how the moviemaking buisness works and Wiseau’s a fascinating character more fascinating than his picture perfect character Johnny.

Moved on to some light reading

Hooligans of Kandahar, the memoir of Joseph Kasabian’s last tour of duty in the US Army in Kandahar province in I think 2013-2014 and his squad “The Hooligans”

Joe would later go on to a writing career, getting a history degree and be basically a genocide scholar, and during this and in recovery from the army in general start the podcast Lions Led By Donkeys and discuss historical fuck ups in military history and atrocities carried out by historical military leaders and organizations.

I am well behind my expected 2023 reading goals. As it turns out, taking an internet hiatus for three months doesn’t cure one’s addiction upon return to the normie world. That and my most-active social groups being Discord servers consistently suck me back online when I check back with them.

My book acquisition habits remain as compulsive as ever, as my bookshelves are ever-more overburdened with to-read certified pre-read hardcover books.

I’m gonna start going to used-book stores more often to find more novelizations.

Taking the last hour or half an hour I sometimes have at the end of my shift and using that to read has been helpful, at least on my end. But I also don’t have any specific reading goals except to just sort of generally get through my books.

One of the strangest things I’ve read is that the “Super Mario Bros. Movie” novel ends after Mario, Peach, Toad and the Kongs get their karts ready to go to Rainbow Road. You think it’s either an accident or a deliberate attempt to bring more money in by encouraging readers to see the movie to find out how it ends? (And as a result, the books have gotten negative reviews)

I just got junior novels based on The Bad Guys, Scoob! and Teen Titans Go! to the Movies

In short, all the junior novels I’ve gotten recently:

Elemental
Encanto
Inside Out
Luca
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Ratchet & Clank
Raya and the Last Dragon
Scoob!
Soul
Teen Titans Go! to the Movies
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The Bad Guys
Turning Red

I also have the novel of “The Little Mermaid” (remake)

Ian Banks’ Use of Weapons, the third Expanse book, and a couple of non-fiction books that a certain subreddit that me and the OP frequent recommended. The Culture and Expanse books have been great reads, and for the latter I can’t understand why show fans look down on the books.

I just ordered junior novels based on Hotel Transylvania 3 and 4. (aka “Summer Vacation” and “Transformania” respectively)

@PUBLIQclopAccountant
I “read” four adult picture books (a.k.a. coffee table photography books) to juice my stats. Mostly took inspiration from some of their pictures and the “about this photo” sections at the end.

In more substantial news, I finally finished James Gleick’s Time Travel. I have no good excuse for why it took me so many disjoint sessions to read it. It’s a thoroughly engaging book and its ideas have been foundational on a pony fiction I may never write due to scope creep.

OK, what’s this book about?
It’s an exploration of the history of time travel in fiction. As it introduces in chapter 1, stories explicitly set in the future are a relatively recent innovation to human literature. For that matter, both the ideas that the past and—more so—the future are notably different places than the present are new to human civilization.

Blessedly, this is one of the few history of science (or, in this case science fiction) and big idea books that does not suddenly stumble in its final chapter. So many other good nonfiction books lose their momentum when the author makes an attempt to speculate about the future or connect the book’s themes to current events. They go from tightly-researched historical narratives to idle speculation. This book is one of the few which nails the landing. In the six or seven years since publication, Mr. Gleick’s hypothesis of the eternal now of social media remains as relevant as in 2016. The only thing that’s changed is that Twitter collapsed and rebranded. The internet combines past, present, and future into an indiscriminate mix.

Finally, while most history of science (fiction) books are organized chronologically, this one is organized thematically, mostly by exploring the different metaphors humanity has used to understand the passage of time. While it does start from the beginning in chapter 1, the chronological narrative resets with each chapter, appropriate for a book on time travel. Another notable book that organized itself by theme was a history of the discovery and sequencing of human DNA, which had a chapter for each chromosome.

Although it’s not officially published and won’t count toward my Goodreads, I may read a hardcover anthology of pony fiction next. Either that or save that book for some beach reading over the winter and read Farewell to the Horse next, a book about the mass layoffs and unemployment of working horses in the early 20^th century.

I wouldn’t recommend the Junior novel for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” as the book ends with SuperFly’s first defeat, cutting off the entire climax where he mutates into SuperDuperFly and the turtles and mutants bands together to stop him while April overcomes her anxiety to tell New York that they’re the good guys

I finished Sleepy Hollow. Feel bad for Ichabod and loathe Brom Bones and want to see vengeance inflicted upon him.

Currently reading Brian Jay Jones bio of Washington Irving. Truly fascinating and underrated author. His shear inagination is inspiring and he was a witty man.

He was also the guy who made up the idea that medieval people before Colombus thought the world was round. But a little legend does make for good stories.

I’ve finally started reading Shift Happens. Also, every single page of Invisible Cities can serve as a writing prompt for a novel.