Which book are you currently reading?

[Danoff]

"Educated" by Tara Westover. It's friggin wild. Her experiences in rural Idaho are boooonkers.

 

[Com Fox]

Cobra Strike

Second Book of the Cobra trilogy and it goes off the rails of the first Book. (Also different too now going for a tradition third person structure with multiple main characters and traditional chapter structure)

Going from Cobra, a story of a man who joins a special military force for a war only to sprung himself into scenarios beyond his control all for a well made idealist anti-war anti-extemist message, now is morally bankrupt invasion storyline where I try so hard to find a reason to root for the protagonists but can't. They go to an already claimed planet to spy on them, get caught and arrested for questioning out of parania and then kill one of them with a hidden weapon they didnt see coming which only confirmed their Paranoia. Not to mention the anti-war conflict resolution they come up is to just straight up destroy the Planets eco-system by bringing in an invasive species to **** around with them. Under the guise of heroics because Birds might be manipulating the Humans on the plant (but the Birds were the native species that just adapted to those Humans arrival).

It's actually hilarious at the end where one of the guys refers to them as Heroes when they just commited something so evil.

I did really like Jonnys characterisation again, not having much time left but trying to burden responsibilities in politics and his family using experience to help his children grow as people. I got teary eye when they send him off to one of the planets to live his last few years with his wife finally retired. At least he was intact from rest if the Books nonsense.

 

[CTznOfTime]

Trying to read/complete:

And

 

[GDETrust]

A suitable Boy by Vikram Seth is my current read.

 

[Com Fox]

Cobra Strike

Second Book of the Cobra trilogy and it goes off the rails of the first Book. (Also different too now going for a tradition third person structure with multiple main characters and traditional chapter structure)

Going from Cobra, a story of a man who joins a special military force for a war only to sprung himself into scenarios beyond his control all for a well made idealist anti-war anti-extemist message, now is morally bankrupt invasion storyline where I try so hard to find a reason to root for the protagonists but can't. They go to an already claimed planet to spy on them, get caught and arrested for questioning out of parania and then kill one of them with a hidden weapon they didnt see coming which only confirmed their Paranoia. Not to mention the anti-war conflict resolution they come up is to just straight up destroy the Planets eco-system by bringing in an invasive species to **** around with them. Under the guise of heroics because Birds might be manipulating the Humans on the plant (but the Birds were the native species that just adapted to those Humans arrival).

It's actually hilarious at the end where one of the guys refers to them as Heroes when they just commited something so evil.

I did really like Jonnys characterisation again, not having much time left but trying to burden responsibilities in politics and his family using experience to help his children grow as people. I got teary eye when they send him off to one of the planets to live his last few years with his wife finally retired. At least he was intact from rest if the Books nonsense.

So I read the last book in the trilogy: Cobra Bargain

It does a complete 180 on the Heroes accomplishments in Cobra Strike with the focus on a new protagonist getting stranded on the planet the last "heroes" ruined the ecosystem for and she has to learn how terrible it actually was and ends up having to fix the political struggle it also created on that planet.

Its actually quite a fascinating read that funnily enough wouldnt be if Cobra Strike wasnt so awful.

Will say Corwin definitely ended up being my favourite character in this trilogy. Basically played hail marry with politics in the scenes hes in the Books after growing cynical via cheating and blackmail and even do he loses the Bargain in the end to his political rival, he still goes around it and ruin his rivals political career as well by changing directions.

Hard to recommend the Trilogy all together as the 2nd Book still feels very off and the 3rd Book only works as well as it did if you do put up with the 2nd Book. Maybe just read the 1st Book by itself does mean you miss out on Corwin but oh well

 

[UKMikey]

 

[Liquid]

Book I am currently reading:

Crime And Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky

I started it but then went months without reading it. Since September and going back to work (I'm a teacher) I've made a more concerted effort to read; an hour before bed every work night.

This was a good book and I enjoyed reading it but I'm not sure if it's the greatest. It was a bit too philosophical in places, Dostoevsky wrote this so that everyone speaks in very verbose, long-winded, poetic language, but the actual drama and action did keep me interested in what would happen next.

The epilogue was strange, I didn't like the fact that Raskolnikov has a 'happy ending' where he'll live happily ever after with Sonya once he's completed his prison sentence. To me, it brings down the severity of both his crime and his punishment. But later, not knowing much about Dostoevsky himself, I read that a theme of this book is Christian redemption so it's a bit of an eye roll to have Raskolnikov commit such a heinous double murder but everything turns out fine because he found God.

Despite those criticisms, I did enjoy the book.

Now I am reading The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, the first short story collection, and I've also got The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes to come right after it.

 

[HenrySwanson]

I Only See the Person in Front of Me: The Life of German Officer Wilm Hosenfeld
The Strong Horse

I should get round to reading some fiction to balance it out.

 

[CMGMS]

world classics comics

 

[35mm]

I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post here, especially considering I was once a regular. I really need to force myself into reading more often once again.

Anyway, this was the last novel I read (last year, I believe):

Stuart Turton - The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
​

And this is what I'm currently reading:

John C. Bogle - The Little Book of Common Sense Investing​

 

[CTznOfTime]

 

[UKMikey]