Sneaky weekly post, as I didn’t see a new sticky post for the week. :3
Check out the community bingo post for 2026, it’s a genuinely fun way to navigate your reading, and it’s accompanying recommendations post. Happy reading and spooky season! 🎃👻📖
Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
Went into it because I saw the BBC show adaptation (2007), knew it would be a long satisfying and perhaps challenging read in terms of focus. First 2 pages made me think it was going to do the “overly verbose victorian novel” shtick that Sherlock Holmes and gothic horror books do, but it quickly became very flowing; genuinely losing the passage of time while I read it.
Capital and ideology, good so far (lots of historical learning for me), but like capital in the 21st century dry.
This last week I finished up The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. I liked it, but I wonder if I still would if I hadn’t already read/been a fan of the Moomin books. I was expecting some kind of overarching story or significant character growth, but it’s really just a series of little 3-10 page anecdotes that sometimes just stop without much resolution. If the authorial voice wasn’t so strong, or the characters so familiar (fictionalized family members, whom she also pulled from for the Moomins), I might have dropped it.
I also sped through Joe Country by Mick Herron, so I’d be ready to watch the new season of Slow Horses at some point. I liked it better than the previous 2 or 3; can’t really put my finger on why, though. Less outlandish plot, maybe?
Currently trying to settle on a new book: the last couple nights, I’ve been bouncing between Slewfoot by Brom and There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm (the rewritten version; I read the original a couple of years ago).
Slewfoot seems to quite be the more appro for spooky season 🎃🧹
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s End Times Fascism. Someone help, I need comfort. I feel somewhat compelled to understand the forces at play reshaping the way we live (or don’t live). But it is harrowing.
Binged some Kline maybe a year ago, she’s great bit depressing
I’m hoping Cory Doctorow’s The Reverse Centaurs Guide to Life after AI will be a bit of an antidote afterwards
Not sure about that, but “lost cause” was!
I hadn’t come across that one of his! Thank you for mentioning it. I could do with some sci fi to offset all my non fiction
Alchemist and Fight Club. Total opposites. Destiny vs nihilism.
Interrupted my Culture re-read to give John Green’s Hollywood, Ending a go. It was my first time reading his fiction, and apart from the characters being a little too self-aware, it was memorable, and has kept me thinking about it a lot since finishing it.
Also got through Excession (from the culture re-read), and if it’s possible, it was better than I remember. The amazing thing about going through this series again is that at the end of each of the books I inevitably think “that one was my favourite of the series”
I really ought to read through the Culture series already 😱
Yes, highly recommend. Just don’t start with the first book, Consider Phlebas. A Player of Games is a better entrance to the series, and you can read Consider Phlebas last.
Thanks for the tip!
Funny enough, I had tried to start with Consider Phlebas back in May 😅, however, my interest waned with other things. I was finding it enjoyable from what I recall, I’ll take your suggestion instead as I do remember it being a bit meandering. I’m certain I’ve come across your exact suggestion from others too before, but I think there’s that part of me who feels odd starting out of order in a series haha.
More Everything Forever. Pretty good overview of the rationalist and effective altruism movements that have turned Silicon Valley and the AI industry into what it is today. I have heard the author say in interviews that a good alternative title is “These fucking people”.
Just finished witchcraft for wayward girls. That book was horrifying in so many different ways. I loved it.
Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. Probably my new favorite comfort read.
I read that book a few months ago and really enjoyed it. You might enjoy what I’m reading now, The Book that Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve added it to my list.
Oh great to hear! I’ve had his works on my tbr for a minute, what made it your new favourite?
I almost immediately fell in love with most all of the characters, they give the book a warm and cozy feel. I just finished it yesterday, so it hasn’t had time to gel in my mind yet, but it had a sort of “je ne sais quoi” that kept me captivated. I’ll probably re-read it in a few months and see if it has stuck at the top of my list.
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I finished Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman, which was just okay, at the end of the day. Not something I’d write home about. On the other hand I’m accidentally listening and reading to two books with protagonists with eidetic memory, both of which I’m loving! The Fold, Peter Clines, and A Trade of Blood, Robert Jackson Bennett, are both great so far.
The Fold, is the second in a connected lovecraftian-inspired universe, and nails the government secret project energy. Blazing through this one.
Then A Trade of Blood continues the mysteries in Cline’s awesome and weird biological science fantasy world. Trying to savor it.
I finally listened to the audiobook of American Gods.
The whole idea of how the gods work is fascinating, but honestly I thought the TV show was better in a lot of ways.
I’ve heard good things about Clines and have had Bennett’s books on the tbr for a wee bit. What about The Fold is making you blaze through it? He wrote 14, right?
Yup, 14 is the first in this series! It had a very slow burn into the weirdness of his world. The Fold knows that the reader is in on it even if the characters don’t yet. I think that’s a main reason I’m into it, but Clines also does a very good job at writing believable people which keeps it engaging.
Highly recommend Bennett’s Ana and Din Mysteries. Super world, good mystery, and interesting characters. I’ve nearly finished his Foundryside series (2/3), and while neat, they aren’t as strong in my opinion.
Thanks, I’m even more excited to read them both! I’ve heard the magic system in the founders trilogy is quite unique.
Pretty unique and well developed. Also an interesting setting. I think the characters in that series aren’t as well flushed out or believable in comparison to his more recent work.
I finally wrapped up reading “Imaginary Friend” by Stephen Chbosky.
This story desperately needed a better writer, and this book desperately needed a better editor. We have an American author publishing a book with the color “grey” in it. It goes on and freakin’ on, so sure of itself but it really shouldn’t be. In general it was a mess.
For example, an important character to this story lives in an old folks home and has finally gone blind from his cataracts. If you do the simple math, this dude is 67 years old. Huh?! Wake up, writer. Wake up, editor.
Another example, the children characters, including the main character, are supposed to be 7 years old, but are all written with 10-12 year old mannerisms.
It’s just a bad book that really has sullied Chbosky’s reputation for me. Having read the Perks of Being a Wallflower like 15 or 20 years ago, I thought he was an overrated but still OK writer (neither good nor great, but OK). This is the last book of his I’ll ever read.
I’d give this book 2/5 Fudgy Points. (A 1 point rating is reserved for DNF books, which are few and far between for me.)
Damn, I appreciate the take on the book. Sounds like the book got Fudged up sadly.
Work got in the way, so I am still working on Woken Furies by Richard Morgan as a whisper sync and leisurely reading Watership Down by Richard Adams.
Once I am done with those, I have decided to tackle something a bit heavier than is the norm for me. I’m going to give Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro a go.
Does whisper sync mean you’re reading it while listening to the audiobook? How do you find it helps? If I’m understanding correctly.
It is. It has its positives and negatives. On the plus side, you can enjoy terrific VA work like with Dungeon Crawler Carl and others. It also helps you absorb more complex texts. On the negative side, is that I cannot just start and stop whenever I like because I have to put my headphone on, start two apps, and find my place. It is also much slower than just reading. If I have the spare time, I can read four novels in a week and a half versus one whispersync in a week.
I read John Polidori’s The Vampyre, an early modern vampire short story. It was pretty good, given its context. It was based on the story Lord Byron wrote for their little writing competition that also spawned Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Funnily enough, Polidori based the titular vampire on Lord Byron’s personality. From what I gather, Byron was a bit of a shit. Anyway, it was a quick read.
Margaret Killjoy read this one on their book club podcast. I always love their commentary and before the ep starts they go into some of the background and how obvious it was made that this was about Lord Byron, lol
It Could Happen Here: CZM Book Club: Part One of “The Vampyre” by John Polidori
Episode webpage: https://omny.fm/shows/it-could-happen-here/czm-book-club-part-one-of-the-vampyre-by-john-poli
We’re you inspired by the recent meme post about how the three of them had the little writing competition and Shelly turned out one of the most famous works of all time?
Nah, I had this book on my reading list for a long time. I don’t recall how I found it.
EDIT: If anything, I assume I came across this book via Le Fanu’s Carmilla, which is also great.
Oh, neat. I was certain you’d say yes because it was posted about the right number of days ago for someone to have read a book.
The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, by Sharyn McCrumb. It’s based on the 1935 trial of Edith Maxwell, but fictionalized enough that the author saw fit to change her name to Erma Morton. Except that it not about her at all, because nobody really cares about her story. Especially not the New York reporters descending upon Wise County, looking for the next Lindbergh baby case to sensationalize. (They’ve agreed Erma is a hottie, hence that portraying her as innocent is better business, facts notwithstanding.) Lots of Appalachian culture, as expected from McCrumb, but a surprising amount of Japanese culture due to one of the New Yorkers recalling his years in Japan hiding from American law.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.
I read this last year so not current, but if you’re looking for spoopy book recommendations, check out Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
