Dude... this s*** sucked. it's 988 pages long, and there's probably 400 pages of actual interesting plot here. maybe more like 300. A huge cast of characters, which means they keep cutting away from the action to look at something far less interesting. the ultimate example is Ozzie and Orion's story, which only exists to matter in the second book. This entire book should have been a prologue for the second one, which is again 1005 pages.

Where the F*** was the editor man

Finished The War of the Worlds yesterday. I f***ing loved it. 5/5.

Finished blood of elves the other day; now reading time of contempt, the Witcher universe and the story building is so good

lost interest in the series during time of contempt...

5/5 10/10

All imma say about this book is

would wild sheep chase be a good intro to him?

5/5, stunning

"the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best"

reading this right after finishing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is really reinforcing that I've no right to pity myself or bemoan my situation

the print i bought says 16m copies sold now btw, sheesh

Checking this out. Gonna get into more non fiction this year

Wild sheep chase was my intro to Murakami and I think it worked pretty well as an introduction. It's maybe the most conventional of his novels so it proceeds pretty simply as opposed to something like Killing Commentadore which is like 50% weird digressions. This or Wind Up Bird Chronicles are probably the best place to start

The Sailor who fell from grace with the sea

4/5

This was great. A very dark read and the Implications of the ending were horrifying, given the prior events. Mishima really knows how to unsettle the reader. The prose is quite lyrical, and I had to slow down and reread some turns of phrases that were simply stunning. It loses me in bits, but overall, I enjoyed this. I'm gonna check out more from this author.

Might go ahead with the Trilogy of the Rat by Murakami after this, or another book recommendation I got, will see.

Dude what a book. i truly couldn't put it down, and parts of it made me almost sick with anxiety and disgust. Truly awful characters, truly awful plots, but damn was it exciting

Pretty fascinating and genuinely iconoclastic look at the history of humanity. Argues that a lot of what we understand about our social and political history, particularly on the origins of inequality, is based on myths that have been accepted for centuries but recent archaeological and anthropological evidence has proven to be false. Ultimately dispels the myth that humans as simple hunter gatherers were forced into systems of inequality by the agricultural revolution and invention of cities, and in doing so argues that things don't have to be this way now!

At times it felt a bit too scholarly for me cause I'm a f***ing idiot and some things went over my head, but it reads as a pretty refreshing tonic to things like 'Sapiens', which always bugged me for reasons I'm not quite smart enough to explain myself

The premise is intriguing already. Thanks for the recommendation

Peter Watts is maybe my favorite sci fi author ever, his books are just an incredible mix of transhumanism and future pessimism. This book and the previous one (Blindsight, even better in my opinion) are about how humans define consciousness and how that definition can change over time as we learn more about our universe. It's also about the human need for connection and how that becomes increasingly sidelined as technology progresses.

It's also just a fantastic first encounter story. The tension and drama the book builds is crushing, it reminds me of The Thing or Alien. And with an insane reveal that alters how you understand the entire book taking place like every 20-30 pages, I couldn't put this one down. I would highly recommend Peter Watts to anyone who likes sci fi at all.

Outlaws of the Marsh - 5/10

This was fun. It would probably be more fun if I could remember more than 10 of the characters. 108 characters is way too much, and 90% of them feel like they got relegated to being background characters literally one chapter after they got introduced.

Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape - 4/10

It was actually quite an interesting read when it stuck to factual tidbits about the way nature reclaims the environment once it has been abandoned by humans. Unfortunately the author spent a ton of f***ing time injecting their own musings and personal adventures throughout the book, and honestly, I don't really give a f*** about them.

@Notmyfirst id also recommend Strange Library as it’s like maybe 100 pages and gives you a good idea on how he writes.

Reading this rn!

So far this year I’ve read
If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler
The Metamorphosis
Bunny
A Happy Death
Morning in the Burned House

Have a happy death in my cart on Amazon was about to read it soon. The Stranger my fav book

Good read. Beautiful imagery

I've got If On A Winter's Night A Traveller lined up

If on a Winter's night is on my TBR rn

My favourite book I’ve read this year so far

It’s incredible imo