FIrst Actual Post!

[ann_leckie]

Hey! Glad you stopped by! This is the first actual post. There's no real content here yet.

What's everybody reading? Anything good? Or watching?

Comments

[sylvanauctor]

I read *Unkindness of Ghosts* basically as soon as you recommended it to me and it was very good! Thank you! Also, The Collapsing Empire, recently

[ann_leckie]

Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed Unkindness of Ghosts! It was fabulous, wasn't it?

How did you like The Collapsing Empire? I have it on my Kobo but haven't gotten to it. (I'm reading an advance copy of "This Is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It's really good.

[bluebaron]

Currently: finishing a reread of Ms. Jemisin's Inheritance trilogy, catching up on Drunks & Dragons (podcast), and thinking about reading the Witcher books.

[ann_leckie]

Ah, the Inheritance Trilogy is excellent. What sort of podcast is Drunks and Dragons?

I only have the vaguest idea what Witcher is--it's a game? I think?

[cassyblue]

My hold of Transcendent 3 came into the library and I know what I'm doing tonight.

[ann_leckie]

Oh, I enjoyed Transcendent 2 a lot, I imagine 3 is just as good!

[mawgs]

I have recently read a very good book about a not very tall at all tower and some gods. I enjoyed it immensely and plan to post some fanart in February. But also like Sylvanauctor, I read The Collapsing Empire and am almost done with The Consuming Fire. I am really enjoying it and love Scalzi’s writing style.

[ann_leckie]

Hmm, what can this mysterious book be??? (I'm glad you enjoyed it!)

[kiranovember]

I am reading Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch, the new Rivers of London novel. I am also reading The Origins of Satan by Elaine Pagels for my Satanic chapter's book club.

[ann_leckie]

Oh, I've enjoyed the Rivers of London books so far! I need to get my hands on Lies Sleeping.

I read Pagels' Gnostic Gospels as well as the Origin of Satan a while back, and they were both really good.

[okrablossom]

I just finished Nicole Kornher-Stace's Latchkey and really enjoyed it.

[ann_leckie]

Oh I don't think I've read anything of hers! I'll have to check that out.

[zz9pzza]

Just finished "Lies sleeping" by Ben Aaronovitch.

I should be revising for my 3 yearly neworking recertification...

[ann_leckie]

I should be doing something else, too! (Answering business emails, and some interview questions.) You should go revise! I should go do emails.

Bleah.

[irondoe]

I'm in the middle of The Bear and the Nightingale and I'm 2? 3? episodes away from finishing the first season of Star Trek Discovery.

[ann_leckie]

Oh, I've heard Star Trek Discovery is really good. I haven't seen it yet, because I don't want to pay CBS for a subscription I have no interest in, and I don't want to add yet more discs to the pile of them already in the house. I'm hoping that someday soon it's available to stream from the places I usually get that sort of thing!

[averytree]

I just finished "The Breath of the Sun" by Rachel Fellman, a fantastic fictional story about queer mountain-climbing women. The only thing I can think of to compare it to is "The Left Hand of Darkness"- in contains two protagonists from very different cultural backgrounds setting out on a long, cold, epic winter journey together. It's very good.

[ann_leckie]

Oh, that sounds really cool! I'll have to check it out.

[estelendur]

I've been reading a lot of short stories! I added Strange Horizons, Samovar, Uncanny Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Tor.com to my RSS feed reader, have been picking up physical copies of Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, and picked up a miscellaneous anthology. So I've been reading an awful lot of stuff and not remembering what most of it is. I will say that Gorse Daughter, Sparrow Son is probably the most beautiful Sleeping Beauty I've ever read.

I also read Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys, and adored it.

[enemyofperfect]

Winter Tide is so great! I'm definitely going to be picking up the sequel when I get a chance. And I have to thank you for mentioning Samovar -- it was the only one in that list I didn't already know, and I'm so glad to have fixed that!

[chomiji]

*waves*

[booksarelife]

I'm watching the new season of Doctor Who (first time I've watched any) and absolutely loving it, but I'm only partway through episode 3, so no spoilers, and also watching the older Canadian series Flashpoint which is about a team of cops who are trained in negotiation and things like that (though they do have lethal options) and get called in for hostage situations, bomb threats or anything out of the area of expertise for regular police. I also recently finished reading Records of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, the third book in her Wayfarers universe, which was amazing!

[irondoe]

You're in for a treat with Dr Who! I'm glad that 13 is your first Doctor, I hope you enjoy her.

[skygiants]

I just devoured my ARC of Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night, a forthcoming novella about two people who particularly don't get along attempting to rescue their mutual significant other from his own magical hubris, and it was a delight!

[colls]

OMG you're starting a DW comm... ♥

Books that are set in space are my jam.
I just finished the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers (book 1 is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet) and like the Imperial Radch series gave me the space-opera feels that I crave, the Wayfarers series gives me the found-family feels that I crave. IN SPACE.
So good.

I'm also a huge fan of The Expanse by James S.A. Corey and The Divine Cities series by Robert Jackson Bennett (although I just got Book 3 from the library and haven't read it yet, the first 2 were great!)

At my local bookstore, I mistakenly picked up Book 2 of N.K. Jemisen's Broken Earth series, and not Book 1. So... I'll have to go back. Probably after the holidays though. I liked her Hundred Thousand Kingdom series and am looking forward to reading this series.


For TV, I just re-watched/caught up on The Expanse ♥, I'm also watching Penny Dreadful and Game of Thrones and Star Trek Discovery.

[booksarelife]

The Becky Chambers books are amazing!!!!! Which one was your favorite?

hey, boss!

[casualbird]

i don't get a whole lot of time to read because school, but i've been trying to reread good omens! i read it the first time a long while ago when i was on a plane, so i was too young and too anxious to really appreciate it. i'm not very far in, but i've been enjoying it so far. i like the style.

Re: hey, boss!

[booksarelife]

Good Omens!!! It is such a great book and I'm really excited for the series!!!

[genarti]

Currently I'm reading Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes and Other Forgotten Foods, by Jennifer A. Jordan. (Well, I always have multiple books going, but that's my current commute reading.) It's well-written and really fascinating! She doesn't just talk about heirloom tomatoes and their ilk, but also about biodiversity, and the stories people construct about and for their food, and the ways in which food can be a root for personal memory and created heritage whether it's homegrown vegetables or dollar store cake mix. I'm really enjoying it.

Before that, I devoured Briarley, which is a lovely little queer Beauty and the Beast retelling set in WWII Britain, in which the Beast is an 1830s nobleman and Beauty is a gentle parson who is not going to send his daughter to a beast because he plucked a rose, a) what kind of horrible father would be be if he did that, also b) she's got important war ambulance volunteer work to be about, and anyway if the Beast needs love to break the curse has he considered getting a puppy? It's delightful.

[rmc28]

I really enjoyed Briarley.

[crane_among_celandines]

I've just read all ten books of K J Charles' "Widdershins" series, in which an Ex-Pinkerton and a Comparative Philologist have gay romance and fight Lovecraftian horrors.

Lovecraft would fucking hate them -- they're inclusive as fuck and follow the Emrys-Approved tradition of portraying the Deep Ones as being basically decent sapients who just happen to live under the ocean and have terrifying shark teeth. (Read "Winter Tide" if you haven't already, by the way.)

They're fun pulpy action with steamy butt-sex (though the author does talk about people's sacks tightening in a way which suggests they didn't ask anyone with testicles how their orgasm feels) and some lovely found-family feels. And there are ten of them already out, with a final one yet to come!

[sylvanauctor]

Is there a good amount of comparative philology in them or is it mostly just fighting horrors?

[rmc28]

I had a mostly-restful weekend (much needed), much of which I spent reading Swordheart by T Kingfisher & Omega Defiant by Dessa Lux. The former is about a widow who has just inherited a lot of money from her great-uncle, including a spirit trapped in a sword, which comes in very useful when she needs to escape her terrible family who aren't happy that she got all the money ...

The latter is m/m werewolf romance with A/B/O dynamics and a lot of hurt/comfort.

Both of these were very soothing reads, and the T Kingfisher was frequently laugh-out-loud funny. It's in the same world as her Clocktaur duology which is a quest fantasy following a small party (cleric, paladin, assassin, accountant) saving their homeland (mostly) against their will, which I also highly recommend.

[dimestore_romeo]

I just finished watching the new She-ra, which I loved! I finished reading Artemis by Andy Weir, which made me furious - and in good things, a giant reread of Tamora Pierce's Emelan series, which still brings me a lot of joy.

[irondoe]

She-RA!!!! SO GOOD.

[p_h_lee]

Reading:
Dreamsnake, by Vonda McIntyre (which is really good)
Characters, Emotions, and Viewpoint, by Nancy Kress (which is also really good and really revealing about some of the struggles I've had with characterization)
Some betas for friends
Some award reading

Watching:
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (which is pretty good, and my housemates who watched the original love it.)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (planning on starting tonight)
Midsomer Murders (which is... not good, but at least relaxing.)

Playing:
The Glassmaker's Dragon (which is good, although chaotic because our game has too many players)
Slay the Spire (which is good if one likes Dominion-style deck building games and dark fantasy.)

[ann_leckie]

I find Midsomer Murders to be excellent laundry-folding background.

I know I read the Kress a long time ago, but I have almost no memory of it.

[tentacleduck]

I just finished The Left Hand of Darkness. It felt strangely unfamiliar until I realized halfway through that I only knew German translation. The original is so much better! I always felt a bit guilty for not liking The Left Hand of Darkness more, because it should have been right up my alley. Now I know that it is!

Next on my list is the third season of Tremontaine. I am way behind, soon the fourth and last season will finish and I still need to read the third.

In the background I am reading Raising Steam at a snails pace of a dozen pages at a time. And then I will take a break of a few month and then I'll start again. I can't bring myself to finish it, because after that there is only one Discworld book left and I don't want it to end.

[alchimie]

I am about to be reading the 2nd Binti book by Nnedi Okorafor, if only life will permit. And then the 3rd! I liked the first one very much, although I admit I would have liked it even more if it had been all about college in space rather than an action/adventure story.