Just finished
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin - it was...interesting. I want to finish the series, but need to take a break from astrophysics for a while
I am currently reading
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson, and
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey (no, I have never read the series).
I really enjoyed
The Three Body Problem. I haven't read the sequel yet but I certainly will. I know I need to be quite switched on to get the most out of this kind of hard sci-fi but it really was a satisfying read.
I didn't finish
Dragonflight. It seemed like something which would be a lot of fun for me as I enjoy pulp fiction and science fantasy, but I think it lost me somewhere. I still have it on the shelf though so when the feeling takes me I'll give it another go.
Sanderson is also another author I need to revisit, I only read the first of the
Mistborn books and was left with mixed feelings, which again surprised me... but then I guess it can be down to your state of mind whether you get on with a book sometimes, especially if it's a book you're reading only for entertainment.
Somebody mentioned Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon The Deep a couple of months ago. I’ve never read any Vinge so I bought a copy of this novel and that’s what I’m currently reading.
This has been on my to-read list to for a while. It seems like my kind of thing.
I have just finished re-reading Piranesi by Suzanna Clarke. This is the first time in decades that I have re-read a book within a couple of days of having finished my first read-through. It wasn’t because of the mysterious elements of the story however; Mrs. Clarke wasn’t writing a whodunnit with lots of confusing clues. It was because I wanted to go back to the extraordinary universe she had created and live in it again. My husband bought me a beautiful hardback copy when it first came out, knowing how I loved her first novel, and I think that in some ways the contents of the book are as lovely as (if not lovelier than) it’s outside - once you get the dustcover off it, that is!
I'm planning on reading this soon, should be getting down to the library this week so if it's available I'll pick it up. May look to see if I can reserve it, in fact. Still waiting for
Hamnet to become available.
Finished The Subtle Knife. It feels a much bigger book than its 330-page length implies. That sounds like a criticism, but it's not. I simply marvel at how much theme and depth Pullman stuffs into a book of such modest length. It's a marvellous novel.
I thought
The Subtle Knife was the most gripping of the three - could not put it down. Not sure it is the best overall, though I won't say any more for fear of posting spoilers, however subtle, as I found it to be a wonderful experience reading without any prior knowledge, but the plot of that second book pulled me in and didn't let go. Pullman is a fine author, the references to Milton helped with my slowly building appreciation for poetry and wonderful language. Not so sure the first entry in
The Book of Dust lived up to the calibre of
His Dark Materials though I will still read the second one at some point.
Had quite a few posts I'd been meaning to reply to there, had to catch up!
I finished
Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald, which I found both difficult and captivating. There were times when I was totally carried away with its beauty and directness, but there were a great many references that meant nothing to me and a little bit of dialogue in French, which I don't read, but I like a rich novel more and more now, so ultimately a rewarding and insightful experience.
I'm reading
The Devil in a Forest by Gene Wolfe currently, so far reminding me a little of the more interesting pulp fantasy by Michael Moorcock. Also about a quarter into
The Science of Meditation by Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson. The findings are interesting but I wish the book wasn't so padded with autobiographical anecdotes, I just want the science! For the first time I'm considering just finding a summary compiled by a reviewer and reading that. Has anyone ever done this? I know I'll miss a lot of the nuances if I take that route, but I have so little in the way of attention span lately, I feel like I need to ration my focus for what is either more condensed and/or enriching, or books I can read at night simply for pleasure.