by Damla
Every so often we want to share what we’re currently reading, watching, and/or listening to. We hope you’ll enjoy our choices!
Iris
Reading: Currently reading The Last Gifts of the Universe by August Riley. It’s a sci-fi book about two siblings and their cat (called Pumpkin!), who travel the universe in search of data caches from lost civilizations. It was initially self-published and a friend who read the ebook recommended it to me ages ago, but I finally got access when it was picked up and published traditionally in July. I’m about halfway through and the action just kicked up a notch.
Watching: I’m watching The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which is just a few episodes into its third season. Interestingly, this series is set in Europe: the first two seasons in France, and this one in Spain after a little bit of England. I don’t like series dragging on past their expiration dates, which I felt the original Walking Dead definitely did, but this is quite a different flavor.
Listening to: I’m not great with podcasts, as I often find my attention wavering when my eyes don’t have anything to latch onto, but I’m slowly making my way through The Wizard, the Witch and the Wild One. It’s a D&D actual play podcast DM’ed by Brennan Lee Mulligan (of Dimension 20 fame), with Aabria Iyengar, Erika Ishii and Lou Wilson as players. It’s SO good.
Mike
Reading: I’m currently one leg in The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss (I rest my case; best prose in the genre) and The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (though I will probably put it on hold to give both my undivided attention).
Listening to: I am listening to The Sandman on Audible (James Mcavoy as Dream/Morpheus! Drool)
Sywert
Reading: Currently (re)reading Foundation (and for good measure also part two and three) in this pretty edition . Mostly as preparation to finally watch the TV series. Also just about to finish The Eye of The Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman.
Yannis
Reading: After finishing the tome that is The Count of Monte Cristo, decided to go with something a bit lighter (both in spirit and in weight): Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.
Renata
Reading: A Day of Fallen Night (my year reading books with dragons, fire, mayhem. haha)
Watching: Only Murders in the Building (Disney Plus) – I enjoy watching some cozy (funny) mystery.
I also recently watched:
- Harriet (Netflix) – historical drama film based on the extraordinary life of Harriet Tubman, an American abolitionist and freedom fighter. Starring Cynthia Erivo as Tubman.
- Hostage (Netflix) – a British political thriller miniseries.
- The Thunderbolts – the “New Avengers” – anti-heroes with trauma backgrounds.
Else
Reading: I just started reading The Blighted Stars, by Megan E. O’Keefe. It’s a sci-fi space opera, and starts off in the middle of the action basically. So I am looking forward to where this is going.
Watching: I’ve been watching The Great British Sewing Bee. This is a very cute show about people competing against each other, while being wholesome and sewing clothes. It has all the comfort that The Great British Bake Off also has, but with clothes.
Listening to: I am still listening to my One True Love Malazan Book of the Fallen. I am now in book 4, The House of Chains. This means I’ll be writing about book 3 in my reread series soon, so keep an eye out for that.
Sophie
Reading: Just finished Stasiland by Anna Funder, a non-fiction book about the East Germans before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Very well-written and thought-provoking, and a reminder that a revolution might happen quickly but the aftermath of trauma and indoctrination takes generations.
Currently reading The Mountain and the Sea by Ray Nayler, a sci-fi set in the nearish future featuring various story strands that will hopefully come together at some point, whose common denominator is the possible existence of a highly intelligent and evolved-to-the-next stage octopus. The sense of dread is racking up, I’m enjoying it a lot!
Watching: On my recent holiday trip to Berlin the only English-language show that came on TV there was The Streets of San Francisco. A 1970s cop show with those blocky cars and everyone smoking everywhere, starring Karl Malden and the guy who played Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica. Aging myself much here, yes. 👵🏻
Listening to: The Critical Role podcast. I was curious about its popularity, also in the store in the form of spin-off books etc., and I get it now, I really do! The new campaign kicked off on 2 October and I will definitely be following it. Also really want to try a D&D adventure now, if anyone wants to take me on!
Damla
Reading: The ARC of The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke. When I found out that V.E. Schwab had co-authored a whodunit style murder-mystery book under a pseudonym (for the first time on both co-authoring and the genre fronts), I had to get my hands on it immediately, of course. Schwab writes, I read. Them’s the rules.
I am also easing into the spooky season with Memento Mori by Peter Jones, about how Romans dealt with aging and death in the ancient times.
Watching: Arcane on Netflix. I am once again quite late to the hype train, but wow. On top of complex characters, a fascinating urban setting, and the ruthless emotional roller-coaster, this show also has the most gorgeous artwork I have ever had the fortune of witnessing.
Listening to: Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. It is one of my all-time favorite podcasts, and it just hits different in the spooky season. Each episode is set up as a radio broadcast from the eeriest, weirdest little town in the middle of the desert, and I can’t get enough of it. Luckily, it has so many seasons, companion-podcasts, and novel tie-ins so I won’t run out of content just yet…
