What Book Are You Reading XV - The Pile Keeps Growing!

[Josu]

If you mean Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, my recomendation is you read it until the end.
It is not a detailed history book, it is a introductory broad view, many historians will say that it is a flawned broad view, however it is a book which is food for thought, IMHO

 

[Smellincoffee]

If you mean Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, my recomendation is you read it until the end.
It is not a detailed history book, it is a introductory broad view, many historians will say that it is a flawned broad view, however it is a book which is food for thought, IMHO

It's breathtakingly arrogant. Will Durant spent years writing ten thousand pages on western civilization and at the end was humbled by how little he still knew. Harari writes a few hundred and thinks he has humanity pegged. I appreciated his emphasis on story in human culture, but that was about it -- and Gottschall's The Storytelling Animal is better on that front.

I'm currently reading Tuck, the finale in a Robin Hood trilogy set in Wales not long after the Norman conquest, and just finished Stephen King's Blockade Billy, an odd novella about a baseball player with a bloody secret.

 

[Kyriakos]

Hm, a bit over the halfway point in Feynman's autobiographical book, there is a rather 'playa' episode. Personally I didn't find it that bad, likely because Feynman wasn't exactly the taciturn/shy type, but it was a bit unexpected
Then again, immediately after that there is a mathematical chapter, to be precise one about memorizing ways of calculating quickly, since (often) you are using calculus to do so.

 

[Takhisis]

Yes I finished it a while back. Definitely a good book. It touches upon very many interesting aspects of russian society at the time, with with a lot of insight. Again, the intrigues of the upper classes is a bit of a stale format for me so some of it was a bit tedious. Other things I didn't quite follow due to sheer lack of brainpower.

Might have to do War and Peace now

Of course you should read War and Peace, but intrigue-laden upper classes are all over it. Have you tried Ivan Bunin's Village?

 

[Snerk]

Of course you should read War and Peace, but intrigue-laden upper classes are all over it. Have you tried Ivan Bunin's Village?

I have not. Is it good? What's it about?

 

[Takhisis]

It's about life in a village in Imperial Russia. Almost the complete opposite of palace intrigues.

 

[Snerk]

It's about life in a village in Imperial Russia. Almost the complete opposite of palace intrigues.

Is it really good?

 

[Spidernova]

Previously was Hero of Two Worlds by Mike Duncan. It's really good, and an excellent companion to his revolutions podcast.
I've been listening to Ringworld as a revisit, and man, I just cannot take this seriously. Wolfe, Miéville, and all the other new wave or weird sci/fi fantasy have completely ruined the old stuff for me.
I had a buddy recommend me The Lions of Al-Rassan when I talked about really liking the Latro series, so that's next on the list.
I've got something like 8 hours of driving a day, so plenty of time for books.

 

[Takhisis]

Is it really good?

Yes, but it can be a tough read.

 

[Arakhor]

Sapiens is incredibly well written and I am highly suspicious of it.

Why are you so suspicious?

 

[Kyriakos]

Feynman in Brazil.

Clearly not just a Brazilian problem.

 

[Josu]

Ended Nada (Nothing) by Carmen Laforet
Enjoyed it, however it was not what I expected and it was my fault.
I read somewhere that the existentialism in the book was similar to the one in Camus's The Stranger, which is one of my favourite books.
I did not remember that Camus himself rejected that label for this novel.

Starting The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

 

[Smellincoffee]

I'm listening to the audiobook of Outrageous Lies Exposed! How Baseball Happened, and reading The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights, an adaptation by John Steinbeck.

 

[Takhisis]

One day I might understand what point there is to televised baseball, but today is not that day.

 

[Synobun]

This year has been yet another bad one for reading thus far.

I finally finished The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, a fantasy story based in the Mesopotamia region and Egypt, including all the various djinn and fantastical creatures you might expect. It was a solid story, 5/5, and probably one of the best books I've read that is based around Middle Eastern lore and conventions. The characters are not really likable, but the story's pacing is quick enough to ensure you're not spending too much time idling.

 

[Spidernova]

Lions of Al-Rassan was really good, and I'm going to highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction or fantasy. It's melodrama in the best possible way, set in a fictional version of 11th century Spain.
I'm absolutely hooked on this author.

 

[PhroX]

Lions of Al-Rassan was really good, and I'm going to highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction or fantasy. It's melodrama in the best possible way, set in a fictional version of 11th century Spain.
I'm absolutely hooked on this author.

Have you read the Sarantine Mosaic yet? They're my personal favourite of Kay's.

 

[Arakhor]

That's the one in his fantasy Byzantium analogue, right?

 

[PhroX]

That's the one in his fantasy Byzantium analogue, right?

Yep.

 

[Josu]

Have you read the Sarantine Mosaic yet? They're my personal favourite of Kay's.

Thanks a million for mentioning this, I enjoyed a lot Lions of Al-Rassan and was not aware of the existence of this.
One book more to the list