- What book is currently on your nightstand?
- Who is the author?
- What genre?
- How do you like it?
- Would you recommend it to others?
I’m currently reading Dune by Frank Herbert. I tried to read it once when I was in my early teens and didn’t finish, but I figured I’d give it another go with all the hype over the recent TV adaptation. I’ve just passed the point where I gave up before (~150 pages) and I’m kicking myself, because it turns out I stopped just short of where all the action seems to really get going. The book is front-loaded with a lot of worldbuilding by way of sci-fi/fantasy terms presented without much context, so I can understand why my younger self got bored and gave up. I’m really enjoying it this time around though, I think I’m a lot more patient as a reader now than I used to be.
I am also reading through dune right now, I’m enjoying it so far. I was fine with the world building, partly because I really liked the sets in the movie and also because I found it novel compared to the very generic space faring stuff or Tolkien rip-off you get as a backdrop in sci-fi and fantasy respectively.
I’m also really enjoying a lot of the environmental musings in the book, after I finish it I will look up more about Frank Herbert’s relation to these topics, I get the feeling there’s something about it.
This is a pretty interesting article that talks about a story that Herbert worked on as a journalist that ties in directly to some of the ecological concepts covered in Dune: https://niche-canada.org/2020/04/24/frank-herberts-ecology-and-the-science-of-soil-conservation/
Oh, power through for sure! Dune is one of my all-time favorites. When you’re finished with the book, be sure to stop over at the wiki and read about the lore. The lore is deep in Dune and not a lot of it makes it into the movies and doesn’t shrine through in the first book. Especially check out lore on the various factions.
The Bene Gesserit for instance seem like a cult of witches at first read, but they are much, much, more with a 10,000+ year history of eugenics.
I just finished the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I can absolutely recommend it if you love fantasy, mystery and horror. I didn’t not make up my mind what to read next, but the Witcher books are already on my Kindle.
I know King is popular, and I liked a lot of the ride, but he always seems to go out of his way to write the darkest “there’s no point to anything” anticlimactic endings. It was definitely an interesting premise and world, but the conclusion was super unsatisfying.
It’s one of only a few books of his where I actually loved the ending (well, not those last few pages, but the ending before them, if you know what I mean). Usually I think his endings are pretty underwhelming at best.
I don’t think King is bad. I’ve read a decent chunk of his catalogue and a lot have interesting ideas. I’m admittedly not the biggest horror fan (though it’s because most is super trope-y, which he does tend to avoid), but I just really don’t like how he finishes stuff.
This and 11/22/63 are two where I actually feel like there’s a “message” and I feel were closer to being closed well, but I just don’t like the actual execution of it at all. It reminds me of this one NFL game a long time ago. The Saints pulled off a ridiculous series of laterals on the last play of the game to score the “game tying” TD, but their kicker shanked the extra point and they lost in painful fashion. That’s what the couple books where I feel like there’s an actual theme do. They get you right up to the finish, then botch it.
Maybe I’m being too hard for whatever reason, because I read a silly amount of light/mediocre writing and almost never critique fiction, but he frustrates me because of how close it feels like he got to a great piece start to finish.
Personal reading: Models of the Mind by Grace Lindsay
Good take on the history and current state of modern neuroscience and its interconnectedness with modern machine learning and data science.
Reading to kiddo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
I have a sore throat already from doing all the voices, what with all the shouting from Uncle Vernon and Hagrid in the first few chapters.
How old is your kid? I want to read Harry Potter but I don’t know if my son is quite ready yet.
Currently reading: Mort (Terry Pratchett) - fantasy/comedy. The story of Death taking on an apprentice. I’m enjoying it so far and would recommend. I’m a later arriver to the Discworld novels. People have been recommending Pratchett to me for years but I made the mistake of trying to read Discworld in release order (which I later realised isn’t at all necessary) and really struggled to get into The Colour of Magic on previous occasions. Finally clicked with it earlier this year and then started moving onto other novels based on recommended reading lists.
Currently listening to: Star Wars: Ahsoka (E K Johnston) - space-fantasy/sci-fi (let’s not get started on the debate about what genre Star Wars is…). I’m not far in but I’m a big Star Wars fan and Ahsoka Tano is one of my favourite characters, so I’m excited to see how it goes. Also the audiobook is narrated by Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka on Clone Wars and Rebels).
I’m juggling a couple.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Historical fantasy / horror about a fallen knight crossing a plague ridden France in what feels like the apocalypse, and dealing with demonic entities that mar his path. Really evocative descriptions and concise prose. It feels a bit like Berserk: a novel.
The Way Inn by Will Wiles. A professional convention surrogate is attending a convention for convention organizers, when he becomes trapped in an endless fractal of nondescript corporate mediocrity. Not sure how this one will end up yet, so far it’s a delightful satire with a really dry wit.