Ask HN: What are you reading?

Working through Craig Schaeffer's urban fantasy series, started with the Daniel Faust series and now at the point where it alternates with the Harmony Black releases. It's been cool so far; Faust is a con-man/actual magician and most of the books have a heist quality, whereas Black is an FBI witch, whose books so far have tended to be a bit more action-packed. It's interesting in terms of how one protagonist will do something and it affects characters in the other series -- I don't think you need to read both, but it's definitely adding a lot of extra texture. I've also picked up his Revanche series which is apparently in the same greater universe though perhaps not literally the same world, involving a fantasy version of papal intrigue, I'm only two chapters into the first book. Apparently all the series do cross over at some point, so we'll see how well he sticks the landing.

Thinking In Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows My 17 year old son bought it for me for my birthday. I've been enjoying it a lot. I do in fact like thinking in systems and learning more about it, and reading it in a more generalized fashion than I tend to in the computer science world has provided a refreshing perspective. It's all very approachable, nothing very complex, but gives names and discreet patterns to things I intuitively understood but previously wouldn't articulate easily. Definitely one of my favourite gifts in a long time. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang I read bits of this to my wife at night occasionally. One of the first trips we went on together was camping on a little island, and I had Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami) with me which I suggested I read to her in the evening. She really liked it and I've done it since. I wish I did it more often. Anyway, Stories of Your Life and Others is a wonderful collection. I've read it a few times, not always completely, and I enjoy it. Story of your life is the standout. It's what the movie Arrival is based on, which I consider one of the best scifi movies of all time. It's a beautiful story. Silo series by Hugh Howey I've been watching the show and decided the books deserve a shot. If the show is as good as it is, the books must be great, right?

Two of Vernor Vinge's books in particular (science fiction): A Fire Upon The Deep, and A Deepness In The Sky. They have a special place in my heart. Vinge didn't write much, but what he did write I think is very special indeed. I've also taken to buying hardbacks of my favourite books from ebay. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/77711.A_Fire_Upon_the... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/226004.A_Deepness_in_the...

Just finished: "Lonesome Dove", by Larry McMurtry. From the name, I'd somehow assumed it was a romance novel. No, it's absolutely not. If it were released today, I think I'd describe it as "horsepunk": instead of cyberpunk's high tech low-lifes, it's basically horseback low-lifes. That's not entirely fair because there's a lot of moral strength in some of the characters, but they're all living on the brutal edges of a society where any random event might bring death, or worse. Now reading: "null: $cat /dev/null_", by Dienw Neb[0]. I don't know what it's about yet. I heard about it in an ad in the back of "2600 Magazine" and it caught my attention. Initial impressions are that 1) Neb is really good at dialog, and 2) their recreations of IRC chats is so perfect that I know they had to've spend many hours online in the middle of the night. Basically, the author knows how to write things I want to read. I do so hope they stick the landing and that the story turns out as wonderful as the writing. [0]https://nebulaofbooks.com/books/null-cat-dev-null_/

I opened this thread to post about Dungeon Crawler Carl. I just finished the fantastic Three Body Problem series, and reading something so pulpy in contrast feels like cheating, but it’s making me happy and that’s what I’m looking for anyways. Some other bits I’ve read recently that I’ve loved: - Ken Liu’s “The Paper Menagerie” is a beautiful short story by the Three Body Problem’s translator - Cryptonomicon feels like a great balance between heady reading (it goes into WWII-era crypto thinking) and pulpy humor. I loved reading it. - “Stoner” by John Williams (not the Stoner you think, and also not the John Williams you think) is kinda in a different direction, but it’s a really well paced and beautifully written book about a farmer’s son who falls in love with literature. It’s one of those books that’s hard to sell in a sentence, but is effortless to read and makes you think a lot in a non-engineering-brained way.