Community Book club - What are you reading and what have you read recently

Yeah, I sometimes wonder about the experience of reading on a modern ereader. The iPad is great and you can have a lot of text on screen, but on the other hand it’s too large and reading a page is long.
But I only have an old kindle and I need instant touch dictionary. And buttons for page turning. So yeah, 200 euros minimum, be it kindle or kobo, I think.
 
Really appreciate you writing this up. Unfortunately i think you convinced me to just stick to my ipad hahaha.

Aha not a bad thing really, tablets are good for general tasks anyway. Kind of like kitchen appliances, up to whether you find utility in a single-purpose <thing>.

Random observation today: the screen on the Kobo Clara is not flush with the bezel and I'm mildly concerned that dirt might get trapped. I do have the Sleep cover closed when not in use but that's a no to snacking on crumby stuff when reading.
 
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Nobody reads anything anymore ? :angry-face:

I am reading fanfiction and royal road stories, but they rarely end.

but I have listened to 550 hours of audiobooks in 2025

- Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio
7 Books of Military/Space Opera SciFi.
This series had me surprised more often than not with the narrative. It spans hundreds of years with a single character narrating at the end of his journey.

- The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Pulp Fantasy narrated by a wizard Detective involving Vampires, Werewolfs, and a growing war between Wizards and Vampires over the course of the books. You have to suspend your disbelief in some areas because apparently magic is kinda open but not? He is in the phone book as a wizard detective but apparently the majority of the population is the flat-earther equivalent of magic deniers.
Only got to Book 11 when I lost interest

- Dungeon Crawler Carl Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
I love the series. I previously dismissed the books because it read like a very bad litrpg Dungeon slogfest.
I am glad I was proven wrong, this series is so good.
Carl was trying to get his (girlfriend's) cat back into the house when the Alien Invasion happened and everything with a roof was flattened and the survivors had the chance to go into the reality-TV dungeon the Aliens made out of the earth. (yes, that what stopped me before)

- Culture Series by Iain M. Banks
I read the first book a few years ago but didn't continue.
Now I listened to the first three books but don't care to continue in the Series. I need personal or narrative continuity in my worlds, Culture is just a random assortment of stories within a Galaxy.

- The Realm of the Elderlings Series by Robin Hobb
Read the first 3 Books, the Assassin saga. Sigh. I wanted to love the books and the first was great.
But I couldn't get over the stupidity of the characters. Assassin my ass, everything could have been over with one assination, but for idiotic plot reasons the protagonist wasn't allowed to do it.
And from reviews of the other sagas, it doesn't get narratively better for the protagonist.
So, I stopped.

- Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown
I LOVED the first Saga, Some days I doubled my daily walking count listening to the books. (I made a rule, that I can only listen to Audiobooks if I am out of the house)
But I crashed hard on the second Saga after just 3 chapters. Maybe it was the different POVs, or the trope of "The revolutionaries are the real bad guys after they have won" narrative.
Definitely mostly the second reason.

- Osten Ard Saga by Tad Williams
Nearly finished with the first book.
I don't think I will continue for now. I am not immersed enough and my mind wanders when listening to the book. Maybe its the narrator or I am burned out on hero's journey stories.