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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al to c/casualconversation@lemm.ee
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[-] nevermind@lemm.ee 2 points 58 minutes ago

I’m reading ‘ The Little Prince’ in Polish and learning a lot of new words.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 48 minutes ago
[-] nevermind@lemm.ee 2 points 43 minutes ago

Thank you! It’s going to take me forever. It’s even more interesting to read because Idk what happens or how it ends.

[-] nesc@lemmy.cafe 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Max Kidruk - Colony. The New Dark Ages

Dunno if it was or ever will be translated into english. It's a hard sci-fi book about challenges of established and semi-autonomous martian colony and other problems and challenges earth-side. It was great, if a bit longer than I prefer.

Last english language one was "Matt Dinamon - Dungeon Crawler Carl" great humor, somewhat unexpected story.

[-] Hugin@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

Algorithms to Live By.

It takes various well studied problems and applies the solution to common problems. So using the best strategy for the secretary problem to select parking when driving to a popular event.

It's ok. Well researched and straightforward. However it spends more time on each problem than the depth it goes into deserves. Plus some of the solutions are only marginally useful.

[-] HollowNaught@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Mogworld by Benjamin Croshaw

7/10, it was fine I guess.

Ending was good tho, in an uncomfortable kind of way

[-] theblips@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

Way lower brow than other entries, but I just finished the last Stormlight Archives book that released, Wind and Truth. Pretty on beat character moments and a few unexpected turns. Very cool page turner to settle down in the evening

[-] ninjaturtle@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago

Finished or current?

Last finished book was "Oynx Storm". A book from the Empyrean series. Book was OK, didn't seem like much happened for such a long book.

Current reading "Empire of Silence", book 1 of the Sun eater series. So far not bad. Writing style gets a bit confusing at times, but subject is good. Waiting to see where the story goes.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 1 day ago

Onyx Storm is one I was considering, is it worth it? I do need books where shit happens

[-] ninjaturtle@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago

If you are that far into the series already then I say yes. It wasn't a bad book.

I just personally felt like not much distinct events happened for such a long book. There are still good parts of the story and twists.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 1 day ago
[-] unbanshee@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I reread Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

Obviously the second time around I didn't get to experience the same burning curiosity about the setting, nor the joy of piecing things together, but I still really enjoyed it.

Also currently about halfway through Quinn Slobodian's Crack-Up Capitalism. Looking forward to his new book in a couple weeks.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Open Veins of Latin America. Finished reading it today. It's a 1973 book that explains some of the reasons for the massive underdevelopment of Latin American colonies. The general gist can be summed up as "it is a place full of riches, and the colonizers only want to extract everything and send it back to their masters" - that still applied to the industrialization efforts funded by foreign capital.

Although Spain and Portugal were the nominal masters, they, too, were fucking themselves over with debts to Dutch and English bankers back in 16th and 17th centuries, not to mention bad trade deals, effectively killing their own industries and those of their colonies.

EDIT: Galeano also exposed a lot of the shady deals made mainly by USA companies with governments in order to "develop" the southern countries, like ensuring that they'd get less taxes, better exchange prices and better credit options, that their goods would only be shipped by USA owned ships, etc. Not to mention that, during 1950-1970, the price of the commodities sold by Latin American countries kept falling (probably growing below inflation) and the income from the exports kept getting lower, despite larger volumes.

[-] Palacegalleryratio@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

Just read Dubliners by James Joyce. A very interesting series of short stories telling a wider story about Ireland at the time, nationalism, alcoholism, decline, struggle and ambition. Would recommend.

[-] WittyProfileName2@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago

I'm currently working through my book backlog.

Last book I read was All Quiet on The Western Front, right now I'm partway through House of Leaves.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 1 day ago

What's all quiet like to read? It's very famous but I've never read it

[-] WittyProfileName2@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

I enjoyed it, it's not exactly a light read considering the subject but it's well paced and tightly written. Its depiction of war and trauma may be triggering for some people.

Your experience may vary depending on the translation. Most English translations are based on the 1929 translation that made the odd choice of switching German slang and cultural references with rough English equivalents as well as trying to tone down some of the darker parts.

I read the 1993 translation which tries to be a bit more accurate to the original book, but does do the thing with swapping the slang around which comes across a bit odd especially earlier on where it's layed on a bit thick imho.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 1 day ago

Good info thanks 😊

[-] pratikgems@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

does it white?

this was the last one which i read. don't try to find this book on google because this was written by my previous and previous grandma.

[-] Doctor_Satan@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

'Death in the City of Light' by David King. It's a true crime story about a serial killer in Nazi occupied Paris. Dude would trick Jews into thinking he was smuggling them out, then kill them. Truly diabolical.

[-] colourlessidea@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 day ago

Brave New World. I liked it

[-] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago

Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt. Great look at the infrastructure and risk/reward of various methods of driving.

[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I read a book called The Spiritual Tourist by Mick Brown. Very easy read. It's sort of half a travel story with some great moments and scenes from exotic locations and half an exploration of fringe religion.

Very enjoyable, although in an effort to remain neutral and open minded in tone he might have given some of the subjects a little too much benefit of the doubt. Still a very fun read, would recommend.

[-] thingAmaBob@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

Akata Warrior, which is the 2nd book of a trilogy. Takes place in Nigeria. It follows the main character’s journey as they discover their place (and new powers) in a hidden magical society.

[-] Certainnarrator3@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

I just finished Ghost Story by Peter Straub and am currently reading The Rebel by Albert Camus.

[-] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

The Langoliers! I liked it. I've never read any King before because I don't like horror and my husband's was like "well its the least horrory of his stuff" and it was but I say I dislike the ending cause it's absolutely a horror ending. Spoilers for a story that came out in the 90s - I have no idea why they're so happy when they realize they're now in the future. Whose to say you are going to get dragged along into the normal time stream and not just watch it fucking slip away as you seem utterly unmoored from time??? Bros???? No celebration yet!!!

[-] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

The Art thief and about 70% in it. I’m amazed how the guy managed to get away for so long and even more amazed on something else but since I don’t know how to spoiler tag on the Mlem app - I can’t write it down.

[-] sjmarf@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

Using Mlem you can insert a spoiler by tapping the spoiler icon (it looks like an eye) in the markdown toolbar above the keyboard. The markdown toolbar can be scrolled left and right; you'll need to scroll to the see the option for it

[-] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Thank you! I didn’t know we could scroll through it, found it now.

[-] noxfortuna@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

I read this one last year. It's crazy how strong this guy's compulsion to steal art was. Apparently he believed that only he was able to appreciate the art at the level it deserved to be admired, and it was wasted sitting in a museum.

[-] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's crazy how strong this guy's compulsion to steal art was.

Yeah! Even after

::: spoiler Spoiler he got caught once in Switzerland and Anne-Catherine wanted him to stop. He continued.

What amazed me the most is the way he got caught. Anne-Catherine told him explicitly to steal with gloves on but he didn’t listen and poof he got caught the moment, he didn’t do it.

EDIT: I genuinely hate how Lemmy’s spoiler-tag system work. Can never get it to work decently.

[-] hellequin67@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Three Widows and currently reading The Well of Ascension

I pretty much only read fantasy and crime, with a few random stuff thrown in occasionally.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 1 day ago

Any crime books you'd recommend? I recently read Columbine on the school shooting and Waco on the siege which were really interesting. I like the ripley books as well.

[-] Gorillatactics@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

They were here property. History of how white women were in fact active participants in slavery.

[-] XiaCobolt@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Finished or just reading?

I’m almost finished Ex Libris by Simon Groth. It’s like a YA update of Fahrenheit 451. It has this gimmick that 12 chapters are randomly shuffled, like background vignettes on the 4 main characters so every copy is unique. Neat in concept but overall the book is okay, fun at times but not great.

Before that I finished Everything for Everyone : an Oral History of the New York Commune. It’s a speculative fiction post a successful 21st century communist revolution. It’s nice to read an upbeat sci fi setting, and I think it’s good to show societies absent of capitalism like The Dispossessed does. I found it a bit slow though, like it’s anthology interviews, not a lot of drama or tension.

Before that I raced through Welcome to Dorley Hall and really liked it. I’m trying to wait for the next paperback as I’m trying to get back into physical book reading but it’s so good I might read it online via the patreon.

These are the plunderers: how private equity runs and wrecks America by Gretchen Morgenstern.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 3 points 1 day ago

I just read a post apocalyptic book America dark. I was gripped! I love the genre, if I read non fiction it's probably post apocalyptic. It was realistic, people make credible choices and it's a page turner. Currently reading the sequel.

[-] Nemo@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago

Aside from what I'm currently reading, it was Mount Chicago by Adam Levin. You can read the preamble to decide if the book is for you; if you like it, you'll like the book; if not, try his first novel instead, The Instructions.

this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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