Red Mosquito

lennytheweedwhacker wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 3:25 pm Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Had started it a few years ago and got sidetracked

This is a difficult read

lennytheweedwhacker wrote: Sun June 07, 2026 3:21 pm

lennytheweedwhacker wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 3:25 pm Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Had started it a few years ago and got sidetracked

This is a difficult read

But very rewarding.

It's a great book

epilogue wrote: Sun June 07, 2026 4:03 pm

lennytheweedwhacker wrote: Sun June 07, 2026 3:21 pm

lennytheweedwhacker wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 3:25 pm Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Had started it a few years ago and got sidetracked

This is a difficult read

But very rewarding.

It's a great book

Nice. Just finished book 1.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. It came highly recommended by a friend. Very interesting concept for the story. Easy to read. So far I’m enjoying it.

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan.

Excellent so far

epilogue wrote: Wed June 10, 2026 7:51 pm Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan.

Excellent so far

Oh I really liked that one.

Simple Torture wrote: Wed June 10, 2026 11:53 pm

epilogue wrote: Wed June 10, 2026 7:51 pm Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan.

Excellent so far

Oh I really liked that one.

Hell yeah!

I've read all books by Murakami and Ishiguro so I decided to try Yukio Mishima as the next Japanese author:


Once I finished that I started short stories by Roberto Bolano (Last Evenings on Earth, The Return) and I'm loving them.

I only ever read one Mishima story (“Patriotism”) and really liked it, but never went further.

If you want another Japanese author (not that I’m trying to stop you from reading Bolaño), I really like Hiroko Oyamada‘s books. They’re really short, I’d start with The Hole and then read The Factory.

Simple Torture wrote: Fri June 26, 2026 4:10 pm I only ever read one Mishima story (“Patriotism”) and really liked it, but never went further.

If you want another Japanese author (not that I’m trying to stop you from reading Bolaño), I really like Hiroko Oyamada‘s books. They’re really short, I’d start with The Hole and then read The Factory.

Hey thanks, I'll check her out. Talking about Japanese authors, I did read one novel by Yōko Ogawa last year which I really liked. I'd love to read more of her works, but not many of them have been translated into my mother tongue (which I try to prefer instead of English when I choose a book).

Btw. read yesterday about Mishima's life and how he died. Yikes. Seems like a pretty controversial figure.

I'm having a really hard time getting through Dante's Paradiso. Inferno was great, really fun and even all the footnotes were interesting. Purgatorio was also good, if not as funny perhaps.

Paradiso is just a slog

Simple Torture wrote: Sat June 27, 2026 11:52 pm

I just finished this this morning. You hear the author on The Ringer? That was my intro a couple weeks ago. Did She Rides Shotgun in a couple days, then this one. Have the new sequel on hold at the library. Super page turner.

I’ve had Everybody Knows on my to-read list for over a year, but I did hear him on Wait A Second a few weeks ago and it was an interesting convo.

Dean Dangerous by Craig Pelton

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

tragabigzanda wrote: Sun June 28, 2026 6:12 pm

Simple Torture wrote: Sat June 27, 2026 11:52 pm

I just finished this this morning. You hear the author on The Ringer? That was my intro a couple weeks ago. Did She Rides Shotgun in a couple days, then this one. Have the new sequel on hold at the library. Super page turner.

I’m like 50 pages into the sequel A Violent Masterpiece and it is way more lurid and seedy. We’ll see how this goes, but all the darkness from the first book is dialed up to 11.

I like it a lot so far. In a fit of googling last night I discovered that Harper is one of the show runners on the adaptation of Brubaker & Phillips’ Criminal, which is exciting. I don’t think it has a release date but it’s expected this year.

Simple Torture wrote: Sun July 05, 2026 1:29 pm I like it a lot so far. In a fit of googling last night I discovered that Harper is one of the show runners on the adaptation of Brubaker & Phillips’ Criminal, which is exciting. I don’t think it has a release date but it’s expected this year.

Interesting… I was already thinking these books feel like they were made to be optioned by HBO. The 3-5 page chapter lengths feel like tv scenes.

Yeah I have a lot of love for authors who have consistent chapter lengths. James SA Corey’s books (I’ve read like 9 at this point) have exclusively 10-12 minute chapters, it’s fantastic. I read all sorts of things but if I’ve got 10 minutes to read before I bed, it stinks to open to a 45-page chapter sometimes.