What book are you reading, ιf' - Iff you read books

[Smellincoffee]

This one?

Dune: The Duke of Caladan

Dune: The Duke of Caladan is a 2020 science-fiction novel. Co-written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, the book was published on October 13, 2020. The novel is the first in The Caladan Trilogy, a series "focused on Duke Leto, Lady Jessica, and Paul, leading directly to the events in" the...

dune.fandom.com

From this wiki I guess this books happens after the Dune: House Corrino book I just read, probably answers to the manipulation of Doctor Yueh plot. Guess I should pick on The Caladan Trilogy before I do another proper read of Frank Herbert's original.

That's the one! I

 

[Takhisis]

Fahrenheit 451.

Now that's a book worthy of Barthesian jouissance.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Robots of Gotham was excellent and left room for more.

 

[Kyriakos]

Dostoevsky might have really hated polish people ^^
Don't recall any story of his where a polish person has positive traits. There are a few such characters, likely the most prominent one in The Brothers Karamazov, but they are varying degrees of awful.

This was prompted by the polish characters in the Gambler. Then again, the Gambler is an early version of a part of the plot in the Karamazovs.

 

[Josu]

Ended The evening and the morning by Ken Follet
How to summarize? Two words: Ken Follet. Simple story in which the goods are good people, and the bads are evil, you can sort each character out in one of these two groups since the first moment you read about them. However story catches you, and you are not able to stop reading. Quite good reading to start the year.

Starting A column of fire, by Ken Follet

 

[Josu]

Ended Happycracy. How the Science of Happiness Controls our Lives by Edgar Cabanas & Eva Illouz
Cabanas & Illouz against Selingman and the positive psichology. Some interesting points in a book full of references to other authors that contribute to be a more boring book.

Started NEXUS: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noha Harari

 

[Birdjaguar]

The Tiger: A true story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant. The Amur tigers and life in Russia's Far East boreal jungle in the 1990s take center stage.

 

[bene_legionary]

I have finished the entire Martin Beck series. It's very interesting to get this rather disdainful view of Sweden, no wonder the series is noted for its societal commentary and its heavy criticism of violence and the police force. Really would recommend it, although the social commentary can be overbearing given the writers' backgrounds. This is especially true towards the end of the series. However, the endings of some of the books, especially The Locked Room and The Terrorists, really do make you think about whether society is capable of true justice or whether it tends to accept whatever's most convenient.

Spoiler Major spoilers for the last two books :

I should also think that the title of Cop Killer refers to Kollberg and not actually the "Cop Killer" (who didn't actually kill any cops) in the book... and did you know The Terrorists predicted the assassination of the real Swedish Prime Minister? And under oddly similar circumstances...

Continuing The Dictionary of the Khazars once again, I'm now on the "Yellow Book" section. It's fun to connect the three books (and its main characters) together, although admittedly because I hadn't read it since I went to Albuquerque I could not remember some of the characters. The entries are all written in a fantastical way, like the style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Apparently Satan and Adam take on many forms. Meanwhile, Princess Ateh seems to be a great unknown.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The Tiger: A true story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant. The Amur tigers and life in Russia's Far East boreal jungle in the 1990s take center stage.

This was a really good read. After reading it I have to add tigers to the list of critters that include, dolphins, ravens, apes, elephants etc. that have a consciousness a few notches above most. This true story takes place in the Russian Far East in the mid 1990s in the boreal forests just north of Vladivostok. The author brings in considerable information that expands the basic tiger story to include the personal histories of the players and their life under the changes that took place in Russia after the collapse of the USSR. Just excellent in every way.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I am looking forward to Margaret Attwood's memoirs.

 

[Kyriakos]

Rereading the Brothers Karamazov.
The first time I read it, I was 16 or 17.

 

[a pen-dragon]

The last murder at the end of the world by Stuart Turton.

A quite interesting mystery thriller in a post-apocalyptic setting. It was nice to read, and will probably be nice to re-read. As I do not want to go into detail let me just say that this is different and different is good!

 

[Lord Shadow]

A Sacred and Terrible Air, by Robert Kurvitz, primary author behind Disco Elysium.

I remain entranced by the world of Elysium. Really hope things turn around for its creators.

 

[Smellincoffee]

The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the next World War, Jim Sciutto

 

[dusters]

My brain is Open about Paul Erdos, one of the most famous 20th century mathematicians.

It seems amusing to me that Erdos also was an asexual. Also he was traveling almost all the time which I find unusual .

 

[JollyRoger]

 

[Birdjaguar]

Story synopsis need please.

 

[JollyRoger]

Just started it. Top ranked book since 2000 from https://thegreatestbooks.org/the-greatest-books/since/2000#google_vignette

The synopsis from that site:

This novel follows the lives of two friends, a working-class Englishman and a Bangladeshi Muslim, living in London. The story explores the complex relationships between people of different races, cultures, and generations in modern Britain, with themes of identity, immigration, and the cultural and social changes that have shaped the country. The narrative is enriched by the characters' personal histories and the historical events that have shaped their lives.

Fairly entertaining writing so far.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I'm doing this thing where I spend 2025 reading history books about European countries whose history I know little about, beginning in Portugal and moving my way east. (My European reading is dominated by England, France, and Germany, pretty much.) Just finished a history of Lisbon in WW2 called Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light. It was primarily about the president-dictator Salazar's attempt to keep Portugal out of the war, a challenge given that the Allies wanted the Azores islands and Germany wanted tungsten and a place to hide their stolen loot. Interesting book, especially as I didn't know the first thing about Salazar or the Estado Novo.

 

[Kyriakos]

Nearing the end of the first - of four - books of the Brothers Karamazov.
Apart from other things, I didn't recall that Dostoevsky was so coy about Smerdyakov - explicitly downplaying his importance. I don't particularly like this approach, as the narrator becomes unreliable, but the narrator is the author and he gave no in-story reason to be unreliable.
I also wasn't fond of the Schiller bits- but maybe Schiller was popular enough at the time in Russia, that even those two Karamazovs would be aware.
The story is advancing in real time, with many flashbacks, and only lasts a few days. The prologue, in retrospect, is a let down - as he never wrote the second part of the novel.

@red_elk , I know that Smerdyakov's name (which was made up) refers to 'dirt', but how exactly would you translate it?