Hello, it’s April and so far, I haven’t been fooled yet. But it’s only mid-afternoon so there’s plenty of time.
Currently, I am reading four books:
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
This was on last month’s currently reading as well, and I’m still chugging along with it. This book, I really like it, but I’m finding it to be a very dense read. I’m about two-thirds through it at this point and hope to finish it up by the end of the month. Fingers crossed. This novel is a geo-political thriller set in a fantasy world. But as far as fantasy goes, the fact that the world isn’t real is the only thing fantastical about it. There’s no magic, no monsters, no prophecies… just a different world. But at the same time, it definitely has weird, almost dystopian elements to it. It’s really, really cool. I’m very much enjoying the thing. I have a feeling the end is going to kill me.
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
I figured it had been a while since I picked up a non-fiction and I had an open credit on my Scribd account, so I snagged this bugger and started listening to it on audio on my way to and from work. So far, I’ve learned that when Darwin submitted his paper on evolution theory, he did so along side another man who had come to the same conclusions after observing the same phenomena on some remote islands in South East Asia. Neither name knew of the other beforehand. It’s funny how things like that happen. Also, Mendel , who came up with the dominant and recessive alleles using pea plants, was a crap test-taker. This book is super entertaining and I’m highly enjoying it.
The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
This one was on my list last month too, I think. This book is a chunker. The second book in Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy, it continues the story of the Vestrit family as they deal with all the shit that gets thrown at them. It has talking ships and sentient sea serpents and wizardwood and dragons. I’m very much liking this series (though if I’m honest, I think I like Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy a tad more). Buddy reading this with Zezee, we’ve been making our way through this four chapters a week. We’ll get there, we’ll get there.
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting by Ed Greenwood
This one’s been on my list for a few months now. I’ve been paging through it slowly as I continue the campaign I’m currently in. I got to level 2 yesterday, woo woo. I’m starting to really dig all the lore and stuff that’s involved in DnD. I’m very happy I’ve been given the opportunity to play.
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And that’s it! If you’ve read any of these, do let me know your opinion. Happy reading!
Embuhleeliest 
Eventually we’ll get there. Feels like we’ve been plodding through it for a longass time. And yea, def prefer Farseer. As for the Darwin facts, it reminds me of what Elizabeth Gilbert says in Big Magic about how ideas hop to person to person n how they sometimes have similar ideas.
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Yeah, that’s really fascinating. When I was studying my psych degree, I read about a researcher who developed almost a ‘group think’ theory where the core of human psychology resides in one big mass that we all draw from. He was considered a bit of a goof and I can’t remember the name of him for the life of me, but stuff like this makes me think of that, haha.
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Hmm, I think I know who. Is it Carl Jung? Or summin like that? I think it’s him. I vaguely recall summin similar from psych 101.
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I’m not quite sure. I tried googling it before writing that comment earlier and couldn’t find anything substantial.
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Hope you enjoy The Gene – I read it in the space of 2 or 3 days. I absolutely adored it. Possibly my favourite popular science book, definitely one that I’ll want to reread in the not too distant future!
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Ah, glad you liked it! 😀 I’m hoping to get a decent bit through it this week. Definitely won’t be able to get it all in within a couple days though, haha.
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I don’t see a lot of people who like Farseer more than the Liveship Traders 🙂 I like it though, Teenie-Fitz should get more love, although he gets a bit annoying sometimes 😉 I like all the Hobbs the same, they are all one big connected Series for me 😀
What you say about the Seth Dickinson book sounds really interesting. I haven’t seen a lot of books like that, where the world is made up, but apart from that, there are no fantastical elements. I think the last one I read was the ‘Second Sons’ Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon and I loved it. Was expecting Fantasy but the only thing fantastical was, that there were 2 suns up in the air^^
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Yeah I noticed that too, haha. I think it’s because in Liveship Traders, there are so many characters that I just loathe (which… are written with that intent) but it drains me, haha. I get almost anxious reading the thing at times. Farseer was… simpler. xD Hahah, that’s probably an awful reason.
Ah, I’ll have to look it up! 😀 That sounds fascinating!
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I loved The Traitor Baru Cormorant! It’s definitely a dense read, especially with all the economics/accounting involved, but I thought it was so original, brutal, effective, and well-written.
I haven’t read any Robin Hobb yet, but am hoping to get to Assassin’s Apprentice in the next few months!
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Yep yep, definitely dense. I like it a lot though. I think the only complaint I have about it is that I don’t have a clear mental picture of the characters. The physical descriptions are a bit vague, but otherwise I’m diggin’ the thing.
And good!! I hope you like it 😀
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