Books

Prolific week. I read 4:

I finished Abaddon's Gate by James Corey yesterday. I still maintain the TV show is better than the books, but this is the first place I've seen divergence from the main story. I don't recall seeing Samara or Pa in the TV show, but they played a pretty big part in this book. I think Camina Drummer was introduced in the TV show in place of Pa, and there was a lot of overlap of Bull's story that they gave to Camina in the show. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Camina is one of my favorite characters, but a lot of her badassery was tacked on and is attributed to other characters in the book. Ashford though, they made him likable in the TV show, and I will never forgive book version. :|

I finished Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells earlier this week. Quick read, It's book 3 in the Murderbot series. All of them have been fun so far. I'm really enjoying seeing "Consultant Wren" start to connect with others.

[audiobook] I also listened to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; read by Stephen Fry. I've read this book a couple of times over the years, and was interested in hearing Stephen Fry narrate it. I was not disappointed. :)

I started, and finished, We Are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor last night. First off, "WOW!" This one was a lot of fun. I would recommend this one to anyone who enjoys sci-fi with a sense of humor. Lots of nerdy fandom references and jokes for those of us who grew up on sci-fi TV/Movies and live in a constant state of regurgitating pop culture references.

@McBinary Just finished When the Air Hits Your Brain by Frank Vertosick. Fascinating although tough to read in places. Content Warning: death, including child death

Still making slow progress on the Stormlight Archive. It's awesome, but long as hell, and I have limited time to do ebooks compared to audiobooks. _Edit: just got to the end of Words of Radiance part two and had the first genuine shock. There are a lot of things where you're not sure where players will ultimately swing, but you can mostly see potential paths build out. _

On audiobook, Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose releases tomorrow. It's "romantic suspense", and the series are mystery/thrillers viewed through the lens of a romance between the two primary characters. Each book is a new duo, though you do see a lot of familiar faces throughout the series. It's mostly broken up into arcs of 3-5-ish books that have friend/"the family you make" groups facing some conspiracy or other. I can't really speak to the romance element, because that's not really my thing, but the shared secrets as the relationships develop really build out the characters and their motivations.

There are dark villains. CONTENT WARNING: throughout the series there are multiple characters with histories as victims sexual violence, including some as young children. Unlike the consensual scenes between the main characters, which are explicitly depicted, there is almost none of that on screen, but I just can't in good conscience not mention it. If if's something you can't handle there's no shame in that and I don't want to surprise anyone with it.

Karen Rose is hands down my favorite author. I'll put any book of hers (with the possible exception of Cold Blooded Liar, purely because it's a slightly different format that pays off over multiple books and I haven't seen how it develops yet) against anything else in the mystery space, and I go start to finish on all of them a couple times a year. I just love the way she builds stories. I would start with Quarter to Midnight before reading this one, though. You don't have to read from the first book or the first sub-series within her universe, but each individual (mostly city arc) builds from start to finish. The current is New Orleans. The most recent complete arc is the Sacramento trilogy, starting with Say You're Sorry.

I guess I'll update if it's her first book I'm not in love with, but I'm expecting another great story. I've been waiting for this since the day I finished Quarter to Midnight, or about 2 days after it released.

This weekend I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd for my book club. Overall I wasn’t a fan of this one. The writing style itself was good enough, but (without getting into spoilers) I don’t think the setup and some of the characters were handled well.

I am rotating between 3 this week:

[Physical]
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Ultimate Collection - Douglas Adams
Still working my way back through this series - this one actually sits on my nightstand and it's usually what I read before bed. I love this series and I re-read it every few years to keep it fresh. This is a single volume containing all 6 books.

The Way Of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is a great author and I really enjoyed the Mistborn series, so I wanted to check out his main work. So far this book is absolutely amazing - an instant fantasy classic. Sanderson is quickly becoming one of my favorites to read. I'm tearing through it and I expect to be done by the end of the weekend. I think I'll probably start the next one right away.

[Audio]
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
I re-read or listen to this book at least once a year. This book should be required reading for men in my opinion, but it's also great for anyone who wants to learn stoic concepts or just gain insight into one of history's great minds.