What are you reading right now?

[guigirl]

Currently ~42% through another Dickens, this time David Copperfield. Tis wonderful, ofc. Am especially enjoying the recurring trope of stern-but-heart-of-gold Great Aunt Betsey Trotwood invoking her eponymously-named but never-born niece [ie, David's never-born sister] as the idyll of a perfect child to which David should always aspire. Also the comical trope of her unending "donkey wars".

[Ryszard]

Krzysztof Wójcik – „Skorpion”

[LonM]

How to be Perfect
t - Michael Shur

This is a comic writer whose work I've followed for a while, and he wrote a book on an introduction to philosophy and morals and ethics. It was a good book, though at times I found some of his arguments a bit unpersuasive and repetitive. But it's I like the new perspective it's given me on how to adapt to my choices as I make them.

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Joanna Chmielewska – „Jak wytrzymać z mężczyzną”

[Ryszard]

Ryszard Ćwirlej – „Mordercza rozgrywka”

[Ryszard]

Piotr K. Piotrowski – „07 zgłasza się Opowieść o serialu”

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Davis Bunn, Janette Oke – „The Centurion's Wife”
tłum.: Małgorzata Wołochowicz – „Śledztwo setnika”

[treego]

Vivaldi Forum "What are you reading right now?" thread ...

[Ryszard]

Ryszard Ćwirlej – „Zaśpiewaj mi kołysankę”

[polard88]

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[jamespaul12]

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[jcdavis]

"Ten Million Steps: Nimblewill Nomad's Epic 10-Month Trek from the Florida Keys to Québec" by M.J. Eberhart (Trail Name: Nimblewill Nomad).
To date, he is the oldest person to hike the Appalachian Trail. He finished in Nov. 2021 at 83 years old.

[Ryszard]

Waldemar Łysiak – „Asfaltowy saloon”

[YaroslavFadeev]

George Orwell "1984"

[oddvidar]

[Catweazle]

Let's see if Lucas is encouraged one day, it would be a StarWars killer.

[nomadic]

@catweazle said in What are you reading right now?:

Let's see if Lucas is encouraged one day

In case you missed it, they have started making a tv series based on the books: Foundation

I am only a few episodes in, and it is alright so far, but it definitely a loose interpretation of the books. They add in a lot of stuff to expand on aspects of the story that might have only been covered by a few sentences in the books.

Maybe some of the details are in the prequals to the original trilogy that I haven't read yet, but even if they aren't, it is nice for it to be a bit more elaborated. The cloning emperor, for example, does have some nice symbolism of the state of the empire.

The books always felt a bit light on details with a lot of dialog compared to some of my favorite Sci-Fi books. However, all the added in bits of the tv adaptation does feel a bit like The Hobbit being made into 3 movies. At the current rate, it might take them 15 seasons to finish off the books...

[Catweazle]

@nomadic, this saddens me, the actually 7 books in the series certainly deserve more than a television series, made with $50. This isn't nearly the same, it's like the first Star Trek TV series, with Kirk fighting Gork, compared to the movies.
It is a monumental epos, although only the central trilogy is used, which covers the history of 10,000 years, with an android, Daneel Oliwav as the main character
Yes, it contains a lot of dialogue and is not as much based on space battles as Star Wars, but action is not lacking in an interesting and intelligent plot.
I think that in general the writers have certain difficulties with Asimov, which was already shown with I, Robot or The Human Robot, which did not do justice to the novels at all. Entertaining, yes, but quite distorted with many unnecessary Hollywood additions, with the usual tendency to turn everything into an action movie, leaving aside the content.

[nomadic]

Danger! Danger Will Robinson! Lots of text ahead...

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@catweazle said in What are you reading right now?:

this saddens me, the actually 7 books in the series certainly deserve more than a television series, made with $50.

It is far from a cheap production from what I can tell.

These days TV shows seem far more than enjoyable than movies. They give so much more time to really develop a world and the stories that take place within them. They are also being treated with respectable budgets that rival blockbuster movies.

You could also call me a bit of a snob when it comes to watching low budget TV shows. I am a big Star Trek fan, but I just can't watch much of the Original Series or even much of the early Next Generation episodes. But the Foundation show definitely got a big budget from Apple as they continue to try and establish themselves as a source of high quality television, so there is no need to worry about it not getting the respect it deserves. ( Note that I am only 3 episodes in so far. )

If one of my favorite book series, The Expanse, had been made into a few movies rather than the great TV show that was made instead, it surely would have been an inferior adaptation.

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Yes, it contains a lot of dialogue and is not as much based on space battles as Star Wars, but action is not lacking in an interesting and intelligent plot.

Asimov's short stories are pretty good and are the reason I went through the Foundation series (trilogy and 2 later books) in the first place, but the series didn't hold up as well in my opinion. It might have failed my expectations somewhat because I heard so many people raving over how good it is. As it is said, "Expectations are the thief of joy." No way for it to meet the image that had been formed in my head.

There doesn't need to be space battles for me to enjoy a story. The series just didn't feel fleshed out enough. It seemed more like a collection of neat ideas with some fairly hollow characters as well as a world. And much of the dialog seemed to consist of characters trying to prove how much smarter they are than the people around them. With saying stuff like: Oh, you thought that? You fool, I was actually doing ( x ) all along.

Maybe it just didn't fit my preferences as well as some other series. I mean plenty of people enjoy the Ender's Saga and Revelation Space series, but they weren't great in my opinion either.

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These are a few Sci-Fi series that I thoroughly enjoyed ( just to prove I am not totally blind to good Sci-Fi ):

[In Alphabetical Order]

Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor

• Might lean a little heavy on sci-fi/ other cultural references, but the overarching story is still fun

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Dune by Frank Herbert

• Haven't read past the first 2 books, but my sister tells me it gets a tad weird...

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey

The Interdependency by John Scalzi

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

• Characters other than the narrator are a bit hollow, but it is from the perspective of the Murderbot, so it fits

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Silo Saga by Hugh Howey

• Some aspects are a bit silly, but a decent dystopia

Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer

• Had a movie adaptation (Annihilation) that many people liked, but the books were so much better

[Catweazle]

@nomadic , add
Eden by Stanislavv Lem
They came from another galaxy by Walter Schätzel