Srinivas InguvaIn lieu of fancy resolutions, going to use this thread to keep track of books I’m reading in 2023:
Carryover from 2022: “1919” by John Dos Passos. Second book of the absurdly well written USA trilogy.
Starting “The Big Money”. Dos Passos is just a magician with prose! Sad this is the last book of the series…
This is such a great trilogy of books! One of the real classics of American literature, along with books like “Moby Dick” and “Beloved”. In case anyone is actually reading these toots, a content warning: there’s a ton of language used that was apparently considered acceptable in the early 20th century.
Just finished “Barbary Station” by R.E. Stearns. Highly entertaining sci-fi! Space pirates hacking rogue AIs? Yes please. Getting the rest of the trilogy asap.
The second book “Mutiny at Vesta” (by R.E. Stearns) was also very entertaining! The space opera is great, but IMO the cat and mouse game between humans and AI is where this series shines. Looking forward to the 3rd book!
Finished the third book “Gravity of a Distant Sun” of R.E. Stearns trilogy. Highly entertaining sci-fi with AI hacking, pirates, and space opera! Also checkout “Ancillary Justice” by Ann Leckie if any of that sounds interesting.
Finished “Goliath” by Tochi Onyebuchi. Lovely writing.. a horrifyingly plausible social dystopia.
(Catching up on some backlogged book toots)
“Eric” by Tom Manning is an awesome graphic novel… trippy in content and presentation style! Must be experienced in paper book form.
Based on a recommendation from a home contractor, I read “The Pigeon” by Patrick Süskind. Excellent character study of a man shaken out of his routine by a pigeon. I’d also recommend his other book “Perfume”.
Based on an sfpl staff pick I read “Toño the Infallible” by Evelio Rosero. That was… dark! One of those books like “Gravity’s Rainbow” that I thought was really well written, but just too dark for me to recommend widely. Conceptually reminded me a little of “Demian” by Hesse.
Thanks to continued chaos in the sfpl sci-fi section, I “discovered” a new favorite author (César Aira) and binged several of his short books: “The Literary Conference”, “Dinner”, “The Little Buddhist Monk”, and “Artforum”.
Unbelievably creative, unusually structured, and completely brilliant prose. Luckily he has written dozens of books, that I’ll keep reading in the future.
Back to reading after being inconvenienced by some bacteria: “Denial” by Jon Raymond is a neat bit of climate fiction… focusing on a world where climate activists were successful! Snappy writing and crisp dialog (unsurprising since the author is a know screenwriter) made this a quick and enjoyable read.
Getting caught back up after becoming distracted by a shiny new social network that I don’t have any invites for.
Finally read “Tortilla Flat” by John Steinbeck. That is a small book which packs a large emotional punch!
Also “Extinction Game” by Gary Gibson… a highly readable bit of sci-fi, with a neat premise.
Not sure how I fell down this rabbit hole, but finished reading the “Salvation” trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton… it’s great space opera with all of the bells and whistles. I enjoyed it, but imho it’s just a bit too long: weighing in at 1500 pages, it’s a serious commitment which drags at times.
Just finished “The Ruined Map” by Kobo Abe. Awesome hard boiled mystery setup, even more awesome David Lynch style left turn into the unsettling and ambiguous! Makes me want to watch “Lost Highway” again.
A few years late to this party, but just read the brilliant Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. It’s dark, unsettling, and asks a lot of readers at times… yet some of the best writing I’ve read in years!
I enjoyed the Southern Reach trilogy so much that I picked up “The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman” by Angela Carter, due to Jeff VanderMeer’s strong endorsement. This is one of the strangest and most disturbing books I’ve ever enjoyed! It’s a surrealist masterpiece with elements of “Gulliver’s Travels” and Buñuel. I put it in the same bin as books like “Gravity’s Rainbow”: completely brilliant but not something I’d recommend generally due to the unsettling content.
Back on the toot wagon and getting my head straight after a couple of months of family drama… catching this thread back up on some recent books that I’ve read:
“Hellspark” by Janet Kagan. If you like sci-fi and haven’t read this… go read it! It’s a real underrated masterpiece. I don’t normally like endless series of sequels, but the characters and constructed world made me wish for dozens of more books :)
“The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. Finally read this after several previous starts. This is a hard book to get through but it’s worth it. Sadly it feels just as relevant in 2023 as in 1906. This and the USA Trilogy are going to be bouncing around in my mind for a long time.
“The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping” by Keigo Higashino. A decent crime novel by a great Japanese crime novelist…
Read the Roboteer trilogy by Alex Lamb (“Roboteer”, “Nemesis”, and “Exodus”. A fun scifi space opera, but a little on the long side!
Because I’m that kind of slacker on the social media… a few wrap up notes for 2023:
1/2: I read “ One Hundred Years of Solitude” which really is one of the best books ever written. Anyone that claims to like literature must read this. I finally did, and was left mostly speechless.
2/2: I also read the Quantum Thief trilogy. It was very entertaining scifi!! It’s very dense but worth the effort.
Fairly impressed at how many books I read in 2023. What a gift to have the time to read so much!