I finished both Julia by Sandra Newman and 1984 by George Orwell. I liked 1984 better, much more depth and great writing, but Julia was good too.

I’ve now started Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. I like it so far, but I feel it could have had a bit more depth to it. Still an interesting story so far.

Just finished The Handmaid’s Tale after having it in my to-read list for who knows how long. It was pretty bleak. I’ll probably take a break and read some other things before coming back for the second book. Margaret Atwood is slowly becoming one of my favorite authors.

I listen to books on my hour commute. I am currently working through The Iron Druid Chronicles. It’s a fun world where all the gods and monsters are real and the last Druid is being hunted down by his nemesis and all the trials he under goes. Each book takes a stride through a different pantheon and the story is died together nicely, albeit this is clearly young adult fiction, I’m enjoying it.

The Middleman by Olen Steinhauer. This is a new author to me. It’s about a group of left-wing activists who suddenly disappear and go off-grid. A lady FBI agent has been monitoring them for a while, even though there’s no evidence they intend violence. Well, things happen, people die, and the surviving members are officially labeled terrorists. Anyway, I have about 100 pages left and some very suspicious characters haven’t yet had their involvement adequately explained. If it finishes strong, I’ll add Mr. Steinhauer to my list of authors I would read another book by.

I’m currently reading Kings ‘It’ for the first time. The mix of nostalgia and horror is fun

And Shirer’s ‘Fall of the Third Republic’ which is a fascinating bit of history that rhymes with contemporary authoritarian politics.

Path of Daggers! (Wot #8)

I’m officially past the halfway point.

I have thoughts on the series, but my spoiler tags have been known to fail here for whatever reason.

Suffice to say, I have been enjoying the books. The hardest thing about reading these books is that they’re just old enough to not be considered classics like LotR, but not modern enough to be at the forefront of social media, like Cosmere stuff.

So finding people to talk about these books irl has been very difficult! And the huge 14 books is such a daunting task to get someone to consider it.

Currently reading God’s Junk Drawer by Peter Clines, and listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 6. Both are fantastic so far!

The Crucible - historical fiction by John Sayles.

“Twelve Months”, by Jim Butcher, book 18 in The Dresden Files. Been waiting over 5 years for this new installment. At least the next one is about a year out.

I finished a Confederacy of Dunces, and Three Body Problem. Now I’m about ⅓ through The Dark Forest.

I’d recommend all three of these books!

A Confederacy of Dunces is a Pulitzer prize winning comedy. By the end of the book you really like Ignatius, even though you hate him in the beginning.

The other two books are part of the “Remembrance of earths past” trilogy. Easy recommend for sci-fi fans.

Mr Wilman’s Motoring Adventure by Andy Wilman. A behind the scenes look at Top Gear and The Grand Tour. Not very far in yet, but it’s an entertaining read so far. Reading it in spare moments at work.

• The Wandering Inn book 17 - Lady of Fire . So far I am enjoying it. Its my soap opera guilty pleasure. Theres some parts I dont care for. The push into government is something I could care less about. But the personal stories keep me coming back.
• The Heart Grows - by Damaged - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/51893/the-heart-grows I keep up with the series. The characters and writing style keeps me going back. Lots of good world building.
• The Hundred Reigns [Timeloop LitRPG] by Maxime J. Durand (Void Herald) . I basically like everything Void Herald publishes. Hes push into the more grittier side of writing has me wanting to read more and more. I cant wait to see what happens in the story.

Since my last check in, I started and finished Yellowface by RF Kuang. Read it in one day; the narrator was so insufferable I just had to know what would happen to her lmao.

Almost done with Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu. I like reading short stories before bed because there’s less chance of me staying up all night trying to finish a book haha. I like it so far, some stories more than others, but overall they’re pretty solid.

Also around halfway through None of This is True by Lisa Jewell. It’s stressing me out a bit, not sure in a good or bad way lol. Pretty decent so far and keeps me on my toes.

I bought a collection of the Slough House thrillers by Mike Herron, the books on which the Apple TV show Slow Horses was based.

I find the way Herron writes, very nice. He usually designs every paragraph from the perspective of one of the Slow Horses, or someone useful to the story. But he also changes the tone, the wording, in the way that character would tell that part.

Plus the story kind of takes a modern twist on the tired old spy stories and it contains a fair amount of humour.

I started off the week with an Outlanders book (I think it was number 5)

Since then I have been binging on Dungeon Crawler Carl. After hearing people constantly mention it and good things being said I thought i would give it a try and I am loving it. I am already half way through the third book.

It reminds me of a mix of Solo Levelling with Buy Mort. It is very similar to Buy Mort in how it is presented, written and the humour behind everything. So to anyone who loves a bit of Dungeon Crawler Carl, I would highly highly recommend giving The Shopocalypse Saga: Buy Mort books a go, I think you’d love them as well!