What have you been reading recently?

[Hardelli]

Did you recently finish a book? Give us your opinion!

In the process of reading something? How is it so far?

[Hardelli]

I've been reading a half a dozen books, but I'll single out Napoleon by Andrew Roberts. I loved his book on Churchill and when I finally realized that he also did a book on Napoleon, it didn't take long for it to appear on my e-reader. So far, its as good as I expected. Its not falling over to worship Napoleon, although he is presented in mostly positive light, but Roberts is not shying away from pointing out his failures and mistakes either. If you want a single book on Napoleon, this is it. I'll write a full review when I have finished it.

[z0rch]

I've been working my way through "Natives" by Akala. He explores the idea of both historical and modern racism and classism through personal anecdotes and well researched historical data. It doesn't shy away from hard truths yet manages to remain fair and thought provoking without ever becoming self-righteous or performative. A good read for the current climate!

[null]

Currently im reading *Kalevala* by Elias lonnrot(cool name btw).Its a collection of Karelian poetry shared and recited amongst the Karelian and Ingrian natives.I chose the Eino friberg's translation as ive been told it isnt hard to understand and still saves some of the poetic elegance of the originals.

The journey up till now has been fine,ive understood most if not all of what ive read(partly due to hardelli translating extracts for me)and based solely off of how far ive read until now(runo 8),i can say its probably my favorite epic so far.The events that happen range from weird to funny to "what the fuck",which in contrast with the Iliad and the Oddyssey,are greatly appreciated...i mean you tell me,what's easier on the heart to read through??Achilles's best friend getting killed by hector,or how vainamoinen turns a little brat into a pond?ofcourse the latter!

*null hereby concludes his postive rant*

[gal]

recently re-read my fav book, the little prince

[Giddyupgo73]

Recently re-read the rats series by James Herbert, working my way through Domain at the moment, for some reason i keep reading it whilst listening to the Pet Shop Boys Actually, never have i ever listened to music that sums up a book so well, dreary and downbeat.

[web_724]

i'm chomping on bill bryson's "down under" and it's good

[pirossi]

I recently read The North Water by Ian McGuire almost in one sitting.
Highly recommended — think of it as an R-rated Moby-Dick.

[Sapphii]

I am reading 'Fractal noise', which is a later written, loose standing prequel to 'To sleep in a sea of stars' by Christopher Paulini.

Before this I read 'My friends' by Frederik Backman. Beautiful.

[whiterabbit]

i finally read the alchemist by paulo coelho this year.

you can probably finish this book over 2 days or a day of just dedicated to reading it. i like the message, though the ending got me feeling kinda ehhh.

idk. maybe im not smart enough to understand the ending.

i also like the part where it says that everything is related. i try not to say too much in case someone wants to read it, but yeah i like that part and i had chills. it's not that it's the first time i have come across that concept, it's actually also mentioned in fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood. it's just that the thought of it kind of moved me.

im currently trying to read a malay novel called nirnama. either that or the man called ove. i started both but havent continued for a week or so.

also, i hear that there's a novel trending among men called red rising, it's some fantasy novel. i think i will finish one of the two books i'm reading and reward myself by buying red rising to see what the hype is about.

[web_724]

the alchemist

i think it's a nice read for young adults

[mindhunter]

I am currently reading "The Open Society and its Enemies" by Karl Popper. I have read until chapter 6 so far and curious to see how Popper concludes on the problems he's discussing.

[Hanako]

I recently began reading Alice in Wonderland, in general I've been trying to read classical literature more. I also started reading Alice in Wonderland because I've always had a big thing for that Alice in Wonderland inspired European gothic aesthetic you got in Japanese media around the 2010s, so it was probably fair that I read the source material.

So far it's pretty whatever. It feels like a book where the only modern appeal is for people interested in the development of written story telling, I am not the person to give a good review for this thing. Also I found some .txt file version that was on library computers in the 90s so I chose that format to read it because it's funny to say you read Alice in Wonderland as a .txt. However, I am now having the problem that the formatting of the text file is more psychedelic and nonsensical than the contents of the book, and I don't know if this is adding to the experience or not, but here's a screenshot of what it looks like for me. I'm attaching it as a link because it's pretty big.

[GentleMyth]

I know it's a very popular book, but I just finished Project Hail Mary and I was kind of surprised by how happy and optimistic I felt after finishing it.

It's a dark premise overall, but a bit of humor and levity paired with a sentient rock creature made the story quite a bit lighter.

7/10 -- Would recommend