What are you reading?

[Walter]

Well it's a hugely influential manga to be sure, so for people interested in the history of that medium it's a must-read. But it's also a shoujo manga through and through, so I think its appeal to middle aged men is limited. I've never read it in full myself, just really not my thing. It was on TV when I was a kid back in the day, and I'd always shut it off when it came on. Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, City Hunter... now those were my style!

I’ve delved into shoujo before. I’m a man of varied tastes!

 

[Aazealh]

I’ve delved into shoujo before. I’m a man of varied tastes!

You better believe you're getting 3 volumes of the Window of Orpheus for your birthday.

 

[bulleit]

I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. While many of the themes are still relevant, I don't think it aged well. It's been probably 20 years since I watched Blade Runner, but I from what I remember, I think the movie is actually better, which is very rare.

 

[Walter]

I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. While many of the themes are still relevant, I don't think it aged well. It's been probably 20 years since I watched Blade Runner, but I from what I remember, I think the movie is actually better, which is very rare.

I actually read it again recently, on a whim. I like it! Blade Runner took the basis for that story as a starting point and then ended up with something that feels completely different, focused on the aspects that likely worked best on screen (hunting and "retiring" androids). So I don't tend to compare them in my mind. For example, in Sheep there's such emphasis on Mercer, the artificial savior figure, which provides the book a more moral/philosophical dilemma for humanity as it has deteriorated. Whereas in Blade Runner, the only similar element for that is the allusion to a moral conflict within Deckard, but it's not explicit, and it doesn't necessarily speak to the state of humanity, like Sheep does. Instead it's mostly concerned with telling a cohesive story about Deckard's hunt.

 

[bulleit]

I actually read it again recently, on a whim. I like it! Blade Runner took the basis for that story as a starting point and then ended up with something that feels completely different, focused on the aspects that likely worked best on screen (hunting and "retiring" androids). So I don't tend to compare them in my mind. For example, in Sheep there's such emphasis on Mercer, the artificial savior figure, which provides the book a more moral/philosophical dilemma for humanity as it has deteriorated. Whereas in Blade Runner, the only similar element for that is the allusion to a moral conflict within Deckard, but it's not explicit, and it doesn't necessarily speak to the state of humanity, like Sheep does. Instead it's mostly concerned with telling a cohesive story about Deckard's hunt.

I did enjoy it, however, I found the attitudes and dialogue to be misogynistic, which is why I don't think it aged well.

 

[Aazealh]

I did enjoy it, however, I found the attitudes and dialogue to be misogynistic, which is why I don't think it aged well.

Yeah, since misogyny has completely disappeared nowadays! Thank God that's a thing of the past, along with racism and other forms of discrimination.

 

[Sareth]

Well it's a hugely influential manga to be sure, so for people interested in the history of that medium it's a must-read. But it's also a shoujo manga through and through, so I think its appeal to middle aged men is limited.

That is essentially why I’m reading it. I’m a woman with preference for action and horror, but I have been interested in looking into the things Miura has named as sources of inspiration.

 

[Aazealh]

That is essentially why I’m reading it. I’m a woman with preference for action and horror, but I have been interested in looking into the things Miura has named as sources of inspiration.

Yeah I figured. No harm in that! But Oscar has nothing on the OG.

 

[bulleit]

Just finished The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Good read. Dick does a good job of thoroughly exploring his themes from different angles. He did that in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep as well. I much prefer his style to some authors who just bludgeon the reader with their opinion.

Thanks for the recommendation @Aazealh.

 

[Walter]

Two updates from the home front.

First, one of my favorite book series that I've read recently, Book of the New Sun, is being republished after being long out of print. It's due out June 8 from Tor. Absolutely worth picking up. Here's my review of that series (4 books) from when I finished it last year.

Second, my son is old enough (almost 9) and curious enough about comics that I was able to get him interested in Bone, which was one of my favorite comic series as a pre-teen. Like Berserk, it's a fantasy story told consistently from start to end, written and drawn by one person—an aspect of storytelling that was powerful to me then, and still is today. I got the first book for him on a lark, and was overjoyed that he's wanted to read a bit of it each night. Now he's carrying it with him around the house, getting in some reading on his own. Very happy for him to be able to experience good stuff like this.

 

[Dar_Klink]

First, one of my favorite book series that I've read recently, Book of the New Sun, is being republished after being long out of print. It's due out June 8 from Tor. Absolutely worth picking up. Here's my review of that series (4 books) from when I finished it last year.

I read the first book a few months ago using my girlfriend's copy that includes the first two books and really enjoyed it, she wanted to start rereading the series herself after I was reading it so I gave the copy back to her so I haven't started book two yet haha, I might just pick up my own copy. It's such a dense story I almost want to reread book 1 before starting on book 2.

Having a household with 2+ people into the same stuff gets a bit rough sometimes lol, we've bought two copies of multiple games recently that we both didn't want to wait to play it reminds me of when Harry Potter books would come out back in the early 2000s and me, my dad, and step-mom would all fight over who gets to read them first.

 

[Gyroking]

Reading Jojolion after turning on JoJo for years because of the annoying fans. Stupid decision. JoJo is for me what dragon ball/Naruto/bleach was for most people.

I'm enjoying it, and I feel kinda bad for turning on araki in the same way that people turned on Minecraft. He really is a talented artist. Much respect.

 

[The Perenium Falcon]

First, one of my favorite book series that I've read recently, Book of the New Sun, is being republished after being long out of print. It's due out June 8 from Tor. Absolutely worth picking up. Here's my review of that series (4 books) from when I finished it last year.

This is deffo on my short list of what's next. I've been on a fantasy binge of late, going into a solid second year of ONLY reading fantasy fiction. Honestly, I've never experienced such a deep dive into a kind of genre bender, but I'm loving what I've been reading and I still haven't scratched the itch. Bear with me, if you don't mind. (and i am open to recommendations)

Recent Readings:

Fire & Blood: Being a fan of A Song of Ice & Fire and, like most readers, being generally discouraged by GRRM's current pace (but as a Berserk fan, I had learned to live with what I got), I read pretty much whatever the man put out. I'd read previously The World of Ice & Fire, which this book serves to paint the stories that had been told in broad strokes with a finer brush. While I do (and did) enjoy the lore and world building, the book was a rather dry read IMO. The style is a bit different from the main series, and feels a bit too detached from the tale he weaves. I understand that this book was written in order to expand the history to be told for one of HBO's spin-offs, and I can only hope they can breathe life to the shadow puppets on display here. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh here, but he has a much more compelling story he could have told while saving this for later.....

The First Law: A buddy of mine gifted me with the trilogy for Christmas one year, and shortly after I devoured them in fairly quick succession. This was a fair and enjoyable romp in a fantasy that didn't feel like it wanted to be a fantasy. I enjoyed Abercrombie's writing, but it felt at times too concerned with being edgy, cool, and grimdark first and an engaging fantasy last. You'll probably disagree. I still like it. But The Heroes is better.

The Black Company: I loved this. Absolutely fell in love with it from page one. I can't tell you why. I know this series doesn't work for everyone. It's deceptively simple. He doesn't explain much. Feels very matter of fact. But I loved every single page. An easy breezy read that's dark when it needs to be, but not afraid of the light.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Holy fuck. I am smitten. I swoon for these novels. 7 of the main 10 in. Can't wait to finish these so I can start on the other 13. This is the epitome of the genre for me. I think this may be the greatest work of fiction I've had the absolute pleasure to read. If I had better words on hand to describe my love and appreciation for what Erickson does, I would. But it's late and... fuck, just read this. Now. Please. Consider it a favor to yourself. Especially now. You deserve it. I hope it can help mend your wounds and fill the void. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

 

[Sareth]

Read the 35 chapters of Kaiju No. 8 and it’s pretty fun so far. Kinda like Attack on Titan minus the angst.

 

[Sareth]

I read Chainsaw Man this week.

Spoiler

The fucking lead up to Power’s death had me on the edge of my seat and the execution more brutal than I was expecting. I can’t believe Fujimoto did her like that.

I need part 2 already.

 

[faruneze]

I read Chainsaw Man this week.

Spoiler

The fucking lead up to Power’s death had me on the edge of my seat and the execution more brutal than I was expecting. I can’t believe Fujimoto did her like that.

I need part 2 already.

Spoiler: hopefully

Denji gets the gang back out of hell (if thats even possible lol) i need more of angel devil!

also im excited for the anime adaptation

 

[Sareth]

I finally managed to get ahold of the full set of Wolfsmund without having to pay a ridiculous price for out-of-print manga.

 

[Tabris]

Chainsaw Man is such a wild ride. Love that manga so far (read the first 6 that are out)!

Currently finishing off Spice & Wolf novel 13 and starting Maison Ikkoku deluxe edition 5.

Grew up on Maison Ikkoku, along with Ranma 1/2 big time. It's been really damn awesome revisiting the series.

 

[King Reccared]

I finally decided to read some of Kōji Mori’s works after they were in my “to read list” for a while. Have to say I really enjoyed “Holyland” a very different take on the “coming of age story”, or at least that was my impression.

I’m in me the middle of reading “Suicide Island” (Vol 3.), very intrigued by the story so far, let’s see where it goes.

 

[Rhombaad]

I abandoned Tad Williams' Otherland tetralogy halfway through the second book, River of Blue Fire. The guy just can't write a compelling, concise story. It was noticeable in his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, but nevermore so than in Otherland. There's no reason this story has to take four enormous volumes to tell, and if it does, Williams needs to learn how to pace things better to keep the reader interested. Normally, I'm torn when I abandon something midway through, but not this time.

I finished Clive Barker's The Damnation Game about an hour ago. While not as compelling as the best of his Books of Blood short stories, it was still a decent read that had me saying, "Just one more chapter, then I'll go to bed," quite often. The only other full-length novel of his that I've read is the Thief of Always. I was in fifth grade at the time (between the ages of 9 and 10, I think), and I got a huge kick out of it. I'll probably reread it one of these days, but for now I'm moving on to some short stories by Ray Bradbury. First up: Don't Get Technatal.

 

[C@psella]

Hi all! I've seen some talk about The Expanse TV series but no confirmed cases of having read the novels that I saw in my cursory look at past convos. We're less than a week out from the release of the final novel (11/30) and I've really enjoyed them. I started reading them in large part because I wanted to see if the writing held up to the very technical and realistic stance the show takes on space travel/colonization and was not disappointed in the slightest. I also wanted to see if there was more to the relationship between Naomi and Holden in the book, which coincidentally is what drew me to read Berserk after seeing the '97 anime and having hopes that the relationship between Guts and Casca was less rushed in the manga. I have listened to the full series on audiobook and can recommend those highly as well. They didn't start recording the audiobooks until after the show started so the narrator actually does a great job of imitating the main character actors in the show, especially Amos and Alex imo.

Furthermore, parallels between GoT and The Expanse are pretty strong in both the writing style but also: GRRM is actually a mentor to the two writers who go by the pen name James S A Corey and there is a quote from GRRM on the cover of every Expanse novel as shown below.

I'm obviously chomping at the bit to see how it will all resolve and was curious to see if anyone else here has taken the plunge with this series of novels. If you have been considering it but haven't done so, consider this your sign!

 

[Walter]

I just finished Project Hail Mary, from Andy Weir, author of The Martian. Pretty good! It's about interstellar travel, so it has a much bigger scope than Martian. It was also just a bit too nerdy and engineering-focused for me. There's certainly a math-and-science audience this kind of sci-fi novel is perfectly suited for. Everyone else just has to hang on and do their best to appreciate the ride.

Weir's books are process-oriented. He wants the reader to understand every step of a problem or solution, even explaining the steps NOT taken. I imagine there's a part of him that wants to make accommodations for picky readers. Anticipating some someone who will think: You can't do that in zero-g! But that explicitness tends to deflate the elegance of the underlying drama, resulting in an unnatural, dull pace. But perhaps that is missing the point of how he tells the story. Because the actual story being told feels secondary to the science-forward approach he takes to sci-fi storytelling.

 

[Griffith]

Sounds good to me, though I've heard less generous takes on his work, specifically that The Martian was perfect for film adaptation because a slick Hollywood screenwriter could leave the science and ideas alone and punch up the story elements to really make it shine. This was before it was made into a huge movie, so I never forgot it.

 

[Dark Emperor]

I started reading a comic series called Witchblade. I really like it. There’s also an anime and manga for it that takes place in the far future after the events of the original comic storyline. It lacks a lot of issues you would see with American Comic books (notably having way too many storylines and a billion writers devoted to one character). It has a linear storyline. The only really “issue” with it is that the story overlaps with another comic series called The Darkness (some of y’all might remember the video game that came out around 2007; the game is based on the comic series but is not canon to it). The Darkness is a great series too, so I’ve been reading that alongside Witchblade since their stories are interconnected. That could be a turn off to some people since you gotta read 2 different long-running comic series (The Darkness is about 120 issues and Witchblade is almost 200 issues) to get the full picture of the story. It has pretty damn good art too. Highly recommend.

 

[Apep-Sutech]

I am at the moment jumping back and forth between Urasawas Pluto, Tezukas MW and Tekkonkikreet. They are such great reads. Havent had so much fun with Manga since I started reading Adolf or Barbara fom Tezuka. I think Astro Boy will be next since I am only 3 volumes in. Also waiting with excitement on the release of Tomie and Lone Wolf and Cub reprint (fingers crossed).