What book are you currently reading?

[CreamEggOmlette]

Always hoping to avoid profiting Amazon, I like ThriftBooks, too. As well as using AbeBooks.com.

But, what I really enjoy and feel good about, is shopping at, spending time in, and supporting small, locally owned independent bookstores. Seattle used to have at least 100 of them, until Amazon came onto the scene to start wiping them out.

Last week I was in Portland, Oregon, and went to Powell's Books, as I always do when visiting there.
The main, downtown store is three stories, and a full city block. If you get the opportunity to go there, be sure to pick up the map of the store when you enter. You will need it!

View attachment 118883281

I went back a second day just to have another tasty Americano in there incredibly social, light-filled café.

A/B

Thriftbooks is owned by Amazon unfortunately. I use Abe, Half-Price Books (if you are local to the Midwest and Texas), or Better World Books. I really like BWB because most of the books they sell are from libraries that send them their copies that are "gently used" and they donate to literacy programs.

I used to live in Portland and Powell's was my safe-space. I miss it so much. There is also a Powell's here in Chicago that was the original and started by the Uncle of the man who started the Portland store. It's not nearly as big, but it's a cozy little place that is crammed with books, new and used.

 

[jeroenn]

Julia May Jonas: Vladimir (hungarian edition)

First, I think interesting, then boring, then interesting

 

[idktbh2024]

I’m going to be ambitious and go for Plato’s Republic next month. I just finished Frankenstein and it’s mind blowing how queer coded the plot was

 

[chrisrobin]

The Charioteer by Mary Renault

 

[MisterB]

Finished the Barbra Streisand autobiography.

Have been a fan for many many years.

I have a new found appreciation for her work now that I better understand her career from her perspective.

Truly a pioneer and trailblazer in many ways.

 

[N__B]

Anybody have any recommendations? could be popular or not, preferably fiction/fantasy, adult, dark or funny etc

 

[edonline]

I’m going to be ambitious and go for Plato’s Republic next month. I just finished Frankenstein and it’s mind blowing how queer coded the plot was

I read Frankenstein many years ago, wanting to read some of the classics of early science fiction. Definitely NOT like the movie version/s. Also thought it was a quick read, think I went through it in less than a week.

 

[seventiesdemon]

Recycling some Asimov.

 

[williews]

I'm about half way through "The Boston Castrato" by Colin W. Sargent. It's a novel about Raffi, one of the last pre-teen boys castrated by the Church to preserve his singing voice. When the procedure is banned by the Pope the boy is given a small payment and a ticket out of Italy with the command that he never sing again in public. .Settling in Boston he attempts to become a part of the city's upper crust

 

[SmokedPython]

I'm about half way through "The Boston Castrato" by Colin W. Sargent. It's a novel about Raffi, one of the last pre-teen boys castrated by the Church to preserve his singing voice. When the procedure is banned by the Pope the boy is given a small payment and a ticket out of Italy with the command that he never sing again in public. .Settling in Boston he attempts to become a part of the city's upper crust

Think I've heard of that one, sounds interesting...

 

[CreamEggOmlette]

Currently reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kerns Goodwin and SPQR by Bary Beard. Almost done with SPQR and I think Shelby Foote's history of the civil war is next or John Adams by David McCullough.

 

[jeroenn]

Tim Crane: The Meaning of Belief: Religion from an Atheist’s Point of View (hungarian edition)

 

[Tight_End_SC]

I am re-reading Left of Center (D Rebechi). This is a wild read for sure, hot chocolate, a comfy sofa, and a good book make for a good day.

Darlene Rebechi Relaunches Her Historically-Engrossing Book Left of Center

 

[Topher the Gopher]

One of my favorite books is Stephen King's The Green Mile. Two others of his best IMO are Misery and The Talisman.

Anybody have any recommendations? could be popular or not, preferably fiction/fantasy, adult, dark or funny etc

 

[Topher the Gopher]

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction spirituality books lately. I recently finished The Book of Cernunnos by Jason Mankey and John Beckett.

I'm about halfway through Bonewits's Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca by Isaac Bonewits.

I considering reading some fiction after I'm finished with that - I'm one of those people who's collected dozens of books over the years that they haven't read yet. Maybe Orwell's 1984. Otherwise, I want to move on to Ronald Hutton's The Triumph of the Moon in the near future.

 

[MrMizuno]

Reading - The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch
It's been so long since I read good fantasy that I forgot how fantastic the genre can be. Lynch is masterful at slowly revealing the world of Camorr and the ways it functions. Finally I've found a book which treats the reader like an intelligent adult without indulging in gore and sex to 'spice it up'.

My only issue is Lynch regularly describes characters traveling to other places in the city/world and as a Kindle reader it's hard to know where everyone is! There's a map in the front of the book but that's no good to me! Honestly... what am I to do but suffer...

Listening - The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
This was a novel I'd always been interested in but the blurb always put me off. Because a) I can't stand bards, b) the premise sounded boring, and c) the character names looked too "fantasy" and difficult to remember. However, now that Spotify does Audiobooks I can listen during my work commute.

Holy fuck, another absolute banger of a novel to have discovered! The world building is beautifully described without being forced. Our troupe of minstrels aren't annoying "lets sing all the time and get drunk" tropes which I'd expected. The history and lore is enticing. And I find myself wishing to sit with some characters and hear their stories.

And I find Rothfuss to be a really good writer. The descriptions are evocative. The idioms and metaphors are thoughtful. More than once I've written a line or passsage in my diary.

However, the cream, cherry, and sprinkles on top would be the audiobook's narrator, Rupert Degas. My god does he go hard in his characterisation. Every passage is described with nuance and expertise and emotion and passion. The story and his narration have me wanting to go on a long, long walk somewhere just to get lost in the story and escape reality.

 

[CreamEggOmlette]

Well, I waaaaas reading Zinn's People's History of the United States but had to stop because it's fucking intense but swapped to Stephen Fry's Troy. I'm also reading Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard.

 

[ILoveGames48]

I am getting ready to read a book called these violent delights

https://www.amazon.com/These-Violen...ts&qid=1706938920&sprefix=these,aps,92&sr=8-4



Reads kind of interesting

 

[ILoveGames48]

Where do you guys get your books? Free? Library?

 

[idktbh2024]

Where do you guys get your books? Free? Library?

Amazon & ThriftBooks