I would put Day of the Oprichnik at the top of the pile for starting with Sorokin. It’s short, savagely funny, and the English translation is excellent. I feel like I’m not Russian enough to get some of his older satires, but Oprichnik is sadly getting more relevant and relatable every day.
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Thanks @KF6GPE and @Musement !
Nice to hear others here enjoy his books. I’d say it is already getting much better as the collection progresses - he really is a brilliant and very original writer - I probably just wasn’t ready for all that focus on shit in the early stuff.
I will look forward to Ice next, and put Day of the Oprichnik on the list. 
Have any one tackled Blue Lard btw? That one sounds very interesting too.
I just finished American Pastoral by Phillip Roth. The book was excellent and contained some odd similarities of my family story. I’m now reading There Is No Antimemetics Division for a change of pace. I haven’t read science fiction in quite a while. I’m also slowly re-working my way through Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell.
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Just started Annihilation (the first of the Southern Reach series). So far, I’m in love
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Absolutely brilliant book, ins’t it? I can’t wait to read it again. It’s such a page-turner. 
I got this book for my other half. She was very quiet during the read but she loved it.
I am on the last part of Absolution now… My goodness, it’s the best part of the quadrilogy besides Annihilation! Absolutely gripping and mind-mashingly horrifying. I have adored this series of books - I found myself rejecting the shift in ‘feel’ from Annihilation to Authority, and by the time I’d gotten used to it I’d finished Acceptance, which is a shame so I’d like to read them all again. Absolution though… Wow. I’ve picked up a copy of Borne now as I need more VanderMeer.
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Glad to hear you’re enjoying the latest Southern Reach @Claid , I’ve not read that one yet but enjoyed the other 3 very much. I actually liked Authority the most, and I found the contrast between the sort of absurdist bureaucracy failing to function, the petty powerplays, the solid construction, vs in the encroaching zone really compelling and nightmarish.
I’m currently reading some Ramsey Campbell stuff, The Hungry Moon at present. Very good British horror, playing with pagan traditions in the Peaks vs Evangelical Christianity, small village dynamics, and a large dollop of cosmic horror. On the side I’m working my way through Robert Aickman’s Compulsory Games, which on the whole isn’t quite as good as the Faber volumes, but that makes sense considering it’s made up of the stories they chose to exclude. Still excellent though.
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I’m about halfway through the third Southern Reach book now, Acceptance. I didn’t like the second book much but the first book was phenomenal.
after catching up on stormlight archive i jumped into everything cosmere from brandon sanderson. i flew through all 7 mistborn books, elantris, warbreaker, yumi and the nightmare painter… i have a few to go, and will probably re-read TSA before the 2nd arc comes out. damn he is good.
now i feel almost disoriented reading something by someone not named brandon sanderson, but i finally started ‘a memory called empire’ by arkady martine. seems pretty interesting so far, it’s good to be having my brain warped in new ways by imaginative sf again.
I have a copy of Built from Broken on my shelf but haven’t read it yet. I have several of these type of books, and lots of injuries accumulated over decades of sports and doing various other stupid things in my youth, hehe.
If you get through it let us know if it improved your situation any. Good luck!
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also really looking forward to the ghostblood trilogy, elantris sequels, and hopefully the nightblood book. a sentient sword that exists with one command: “destroy evil”, that’s pretty cool
Been reading:
- A bunch of plays (Rajiv Joseph, August Wilson, Mamet, Topdog/Underdog, Iceman Cometh, Angels in America) …
- Old Japanese fiction (Kenzaburo Oë, Kobo Abe) …
- J.D. Salinger (including depressing bio) …
- Silver age Thor comic books ….
- Old noir (Hammett, O’Hara)
I know this is supposed to sound wonderfully eclectic, but I feel more like some farmyard animal, a pig or goat, that eats anything.
I’ve got ‘em all lined up in the queue, but haven’t felt the urge yet. Maybe if I wait long enough, people here will post enough spoilers that I can write my book report for school without reading any of it.
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So good! She was the southern gothic master. Wise Blood was especially impactful for me.
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I just finished rereading No Exit (Sartre) over the course of a couple of lunch breaks (I don’t get much reading time in the summer). I hadn’t read it since high school. My niece who’s staying with me for the summer read it and didn’t get it but wanted to discuss it so figured I’d give myself a refresher. Great little quick read.
Slightly off-topic, the movie is amazing too.
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Actually yeah. Good stuff.
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Just finished reading the first 6 Joe Abercrombie books which I’ve absolutely loved. Brutal with some awesome characters, and really funny too.
Was going to start the next book - A Little Hatred - but I’ve had A Thousand Splendid Suns on my e-reader for a while so thought I’d read that first. Bit of a change in mood! Beautiful and heartbreaking, and I’m only half way through.