In this episode Sharn and Andy have some fun comparing their different tastes in books.
First up though was News with Sharn that spoke about the below articles:
News:
Australia Releases Token Mapping Consultation Paper, Plans to Reveal Crypto Rule Framework in 2023
Head of Penguin Random House US Resigns following Penguin Random House CEO’s resignation in December 2022
Then they got into their book battle as outlined below:
What are your favorite genres?
Sharn:
Lots! I dabble in a lot of genres. Main ones are:
Fantasy
Sci-fi
Murder Mysteries
Action Thrillers
Andy
Science Fiction all the way. But you can probably break Sci Fi down further into:
Thriller/Horror (think aliens/predator)
Cyberpunk (think Neuromancer or Blade runner)
Post apocalyptic/dystopian future fiction (hunger games)
Young Adult
Things Sharn and Andy want in a book:
Action
Drama
Suspense
Interesting characters (with some morally grey quirks)
Bad guys with understandable motivations
Story twists
A hint of the supernatural
A little spicy goodness
Something really different
Crazy situations never seen in real life
What do we look for when buying a new book to read?
Popularity
Recommendations (word of mouth, social media, pop culture)
Reviews
Author you already know
Author interviews on podcasts
Part of a series
Part of a universe
Type of genre
Audio vs paperback
Cover Art (is this a factor?) - Not particularly for Sharn, Yes for Andy
Where do you buy your books?
Sharn
Amazon
Booktopia
Bookdepository
In store
Andy
Instore
Audible
Library
Stand alone books
Sharn’s favourite stand alone books of all time:
Grrr I hate picking favourites. This is not a complete list! And no I can’t pick between them as I liked each of them for different reasons or even just because of the circumstances of when I read it.
Contest by Matthew Riely
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Left Hand of Darkness by Urula K LeGuin
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The word for world is forest by Urula K LeGuin
The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd
The Dry by Jane Harper
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conen Doyle
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The 100 year old man that climbed out his window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Andy’s favourite stand alone books of all time:
Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina - Multiple Authors
Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
The Hobbit - Tolkien
Do you read anything besides books? (Graphic Novels, comics, short stories, essays etc)
Sharn: Nope
Andy: Why yes I DO! My favourite would be the Manga Akira and we can get into that later. Also all the Ghost in a Shell mangas as well.
Do you read just fiction or do you also read non-fiction books?
Sharn
Pretty much just fiction for leisure (apart from learning for this podcast and writing craft books).
Probably been burnt by uni so I find it hard to read non fiction as it doesn’t grab my attention as easily. I find my mind constantly drifting off. Also, I find imaginary worlds much more interesting than the real world.
Andy
I have probably read more non-fiction books in my life than fiction books. One of my favourites was The Rock Says… By Dwayne The Rock Johnson.
I love the Steven Pressfield books (War of Art, do the work, warriors ethos etc)
And anything by Jocko Willink (discipline equals freedom)
Favourite Audiobooks
Sharn
I’m pretty new to bingeing audiobooks.
Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Artemis by Andy Weir
Audio drama: Girl in Space
Andy
This is a tough one for me as my favourite audiobooks tend to head towards Radio Dramas and I don't know if I would count them as a book. If we are counting them then my favourites are:
Aliens Out of the Shadows and
The Star Wars Radio Drama
Otherwise the Galaxies Edge series by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole and,
Hell Divers 1-6 By Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Book series:
Sharn’s favourite book series
Throne of Glass by Sara J. Maas
ACOTR by Sara J. Maas
Inkheart Series by Cornelia Funke
The Immortals Series by Tamora Pierce
Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
Wayfarer Series by Becky Chambers
Fifth Season Series by N.K. Jemisin
The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy by Nora Roberts
The Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts
LOTR by JRR Tolkein
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Abhorsen Series by Garth Nix
Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Andy’s favourite book series
Maze runner Series by James Dashner
Hunger Games Series by Suzzane Collins
LOTR
They then wrap up the episode with a debate about whether a book series beat out a single book:
Sharn: Not necessarily.
Andy: For me 100%. It was actually hard for me to remember one- off fiction books I had read.
As always, we have a lot to do and a lot more to learn. Hope you all have fun following along as we improve our understanding and knowledge!
You can find this podcast episode (and all our other episodes) here: https://anchor.fm/invokecreations , or directly on your favourite streaming services.
NOTE: Everything discussed during the podcast is simply our own interpretation of information we come across as we research topics, or is commentary based on our own personal experiences. We highly encourage everyone to conduct their own research into topics of interest as information, especially in the technical space, changes regularly.
Music track featured this week was titled Drowsy Dream and can be viewed/listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUKP9bzkFmI
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As always, we’re off to put our bums on seats and do some work, so until next time stay dangerous!
Byeeeeeeeeee!