Currently listening to I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. A fascinating exploration of consciousness written 20 years ago but very relevant in the age of AI.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer. my 5th+ read

Weaveworld, by Clive Barker. my 2nd read

Surface Detail, by Ian M. Banks

devtest reads of my WIP book on computer performance

Structural Functions of Harmony by Arnold Schoenberg. I can't even begin to understand it, it's just beautiful to encounter such genius and rigorous thought.

https://archive.org/details/structuralfuncti0000arno/page/n8...

I too am on DCC; I wonder why I like it, but I do. Strangely, one of the things it reminds me of, is the Malazan-Book-of-the-fallen series, in spite of how different they are. I was/have been on the 'book that wouldnt burn' series; I still have to read the final third book. Ironically, I have not yet finished that series because I dread it; the author is a little too good at writing truly loathable antagonists, and at the same time reading him, you have learned he cares little for plot armor ('if he dies, he dies', sigh.) Other than that, Piranesi by Susanne Clarke; I have also gotten her earlier book, but not gotten far into it yet.

DCC is strangely hypocritical - a massive commercial success where we the readers revel-wallow in the graphic suffering of the fictive protagonists/victims, and author & co are making truckloads of profits, precisely on the kinds of sheenanigans the books on the surface critisize :-). It is also a bit ironic, that the books/Carl critisize fascism, while at the same time, Carl is on a kind of one-man fascist/tyrant purging the existing elite, with summary and graphic executions. Sigh :-)

In print:

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. (Much more disjointed than the film, but a quick read.)

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

On audiobook (I know, not technically reading):

Garth Marenghi's horror trilogy (Matthew Holness is one of the best narrators I've heard.)

On Kindle:

Cut Throat: the Vicious World of Rod Maclean by Wayne Thallon (I don't believe the half of it, but I know many of the locations discussed in it. I seem to find true crime my light reading these days)

An Angel at my Table by Janet Frame

The Summer Son by Craig Lancaster

Recently finished:

Sky Above, Great Wind by Kazuaki Tanahashi

Jew(ish) by Matt Greene

The House that Evolves by Pauline Hunter

The Inheritors by William Golding (made much less of an impact than the last time I read it.)

Currently reading Eversion by Alastair Reynolds.

Highlights from the past year or two:

Revelator by Daryl Gregory - Appalachian weird fiction with a tinge of cosmic horror.

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias - Tragic story about the cartel underworld plus magic realism.

The Expanse (all of them) by James S A Corey (pen name for two writers IRL) - Everyone probably knows this one. Books were better than the show in many ways the the prose quality was pleasantly good. Fun read.

Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell - One of the best openings I have ever read and I’ll leave it at that.

I like to read a wide variety of styles and genres, but the writing has to be good. I’ll drop a book if it’s got flat characters or clunky prose or cringey tropey stuff.

„Practical Engineering for Inventors“. It’s not really made to be read from beginning to end but I do like to le

Nothing currently, but most recently, the various audiobooks of The Wind in the Willows to fall asleep, and Diana Wynne Jones' (of Howl's Moving Castle fame) Chrestomanci series while awake.

For keep the brain working and sci-fi I recommend you "EVO - Padres" by Ignacio Fernandez Moreno, spanish only but easy to read with B2 level or upper. It's a science fiction novel exploring politics based in evolution in a far away planet.

Reading a number of books on the Manhattan Project / Cold War / Soviet Nuclear Program

* Dead Hand

* Atomic Accidents

* Hiroshima

* Command and Control