It’s a little while since I read them, but from memory if Time of Contempt is it starting to come off the rails then by the end of Baptism of Fire the tracks are well and truly out of sight.
However, after taking a bit of a break, I found that to my surprise I enjoyed the fourth book, The Tower of the Swallow. The break may have helped but I think it was genuinely of higher quality.
I will note that I was reading the English copies, which I have heard some criticisms of, but I can’t comment on their validity given that I can’t read Polish. My issues with the books sound similar to yours so I’m almost certain that my opinions of them aren’t due to the quality of the translation.
I’ve started re-reading Dune in advance of the movie later this year (). I can’t think of any books I’ve read more than once, unless you count the “Pokémon Red/Blue Strategy Guide” which I definitely read cover to cover several times as a child.
Oh I’m sure that’s something people do. I just normally have such a backlog it never occurs to me to go back and read something I previously enjoyed, even Iain M. Banks stuff.
Currently re-reading a couple of books for work (and my own sanity) - On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky, and Against Elections by David Van Reybrouck. Recently finished The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte. Very accessible and enjoyable book on paleontology.
Fiction-wise, I’m working my way through my Terry Pratchett collection, replacing the old tatty books with new hardback editions as I go. Currently re-reading Reaper Man.
I have a longstanding interest in anarchism as a philosophy; up through the end of the twentieth century I was an anarchist (it was reading more detailed accounts of early Icelandic legal institutions that changed my views). But I was more influenced by the classic American anarchism of Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker, and by the recent views of David Friedman (son of the economist Milton Friedman). “Anarchism” is a label that applies to very diverse views. I haven’t looked at Chomsky; the left anarchist I found most appealing was Gary Snyder.
I am so jealous of people who have time to reread books… my “to read” stack is currently 8 sci-fi (Head On, Fractured Void, Blackstone Fortress Ascension, A Closed and Common Orbit, Record of a Spaceborn Few, The Galaxy and the Ground Within, Battletech Warrior: Riposte and Coupe), one fiction (A Passage to India), and three RPGs (Dune, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, and a stack of Infinity).
Ooh, good to know. I bought it randomly a while ago as I haven’t read anything about paleontology in quite a while and I can’t deny there’s still a dinosaur kid inside me.
I think if I added all of my unread books together (not my “to read” pile, just everything I own that I haven’t read), it might number close to a dozen? Maybe 30 if you include every RPG sourcebook that I haven’t read cover-to-cover?
Possibly slightly less as I need to remove some books I’ve ended up getting rid of. And it includes all kinds of books - fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, rpg books, etc.
I have a tendency to just grab whatever interests me whenever I see it and gradually work my way through. Though I’ve had a lot of trouble concentrating recently, so the amount I’ve managed to get read has steadily declined.
Despite owning a copy for years, having loved his earlier Journey Through Britain, I’ve only started on John Hillaby’s Journey Through Europe this past weekend. A wonderful travel writer and formidable pedestrian, in this book Hillaby set off to walk from the North Sea to the Med, taking in numerous border regions along the way. It’s especially interesting reading it in our unfortunately post-EU situation as it was published in 1972, before we joined the Common Market.
Halo Jones and Zenith, two of my favourite comics from my teens, are available as part of a 54 comic bundle for $25 from humble bundle. All 2000AD, mostly Judge Dredd stuff. Not a “first arc only” teaser collection either, mostly complete stories.
Erm, you don’t HAVE to read your to read pile? I have 7 books stacked by the side of my bed, 3 more in the office but still occasionally decide I’d like to reread something
No, no, that’s fair. My comment was mostly meant in jest (although I am legit envious of people who do have time to revisit previous books… a luxury I haven’t had in some time).
Partly this is self-inflicted… my course load requires I consume specific literature at a somewhat break-neck pace (I am currently 85% done A Passage to India, which is a difficult read due to ye-gods-so-much-racism, but I started it this morning and would like to be finished today), but also that in order to be a good writer, it is important to remain at least somewhat abreast of the current state of the meta in sci-fi. A few on my stack are classics (the Witcher Trilogy and the Battletech books, specifically), but even then I learn more by reading works and authors I haven’t read before, if only to see the sorts of things I want to avoid replicating in my own work.
The big hurdle is always writing. Since my paying job barely covers my editing costs, I’m usually scrambling to write whenever I can. I could theoretically spend that time reading more, but that feels like it’s pushing my goal of being a full-time writer further away.
Anyway! No judgment was meant! I have books in four stacks: one at work (my “lunch time” reading that I tackle in 25 minute increments), one downstairs (my “school reading” that I tackle every Monday, bleeding into Wednesday when necessary), one by the television (my “leisure reading” which I usually tackle when my partner is out of the house and I have some time by myself), and one by the bed (my “bedtime reading”, which I usually tackle one chapter at a time).
Well Im not doing it in any organised fashion, just picking up books occasionally as the mood strikes me. Just read Jingo and recently read all the ‘Moist’ books
@Marx and if you’ve got college reading, then fair enough!
I teach political philosophy, anarchism is the one I always find the most inspiring. I focus more on the classical anarchists like Proudhon’s mutualism, Bakunin and Kropotkin’s collectivist strands, Stirner’s egoism. Friedman is one of the view modern anarchists I teach about. As you say, it’s a diverse collection of ideas, but I’m always inspired by the core principles of rejecting the state, and empowering communities to make the decisions that impact them, not a centralised power.
Pretty much why I bought it. If I could travel back in time to give a young me career advice, paleontology would be my suggestion. The book is an easy read, and an interesting mix of vivid descriptions of what life would have been like, explanations of the methods used by modern paleontologists and a bit history of the discipline itself.
). I can’t think of any books I’ve read more than once, unless you count the “Pokémon Red/Blue Strategy Guide” which I definitely read cover to cover several times as a child.
