Reading: The Book Thread

[Skub]

Currently reading, and loving, Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome. Got it for crimbo last year but only just got around to it. Helps that I like Matt Holness humour and watched Dark Place when it first came out years ago and also loved that. Actually been making me laugh out loud, it's ace. A perfect parody of 70s/80s horror.

Dare you crack open the TerrorTome? (Mind the spine)

When horror writer Nick Steen gets sucked into a cursed typewriter by the terrifying Type-Face, Dark Lord of the Prolix, the hellish visions inside his head are unleashed for real. Forced to fight his escaping imagination - now leaking out of his own brain - Nick must defend the town of Stalkford from his own fictional horrors, including avascular-necrosis-obsessed serial killer Nelson Strain and Nick's dreaded throppleganger, the Dark Third.

Can he and Roz, his frequently incorrect female editor, hunt down these incarnate denizens of Nick's rampaging imaginata before they destroy Stalkford, outer Stalkford and possibly slightly further?

From the twisted genius of horror master Garth Marenghi - Frighternerman, Darkscribe, Doomsage (plus Man-Shee) - come three dark tales from his long-lost multi-volume epic: TerrorTome.

Can a brain leak?
(Yes, it can)

throppleganger sounds more like a club member with a speech defect.

[Count Steer]

Just read 'On the road' again but my 'Oxfam books scout' has snagged all of the Mortal Engines (and the prequels). She says they're well written/plotted etc so it's a bingefest of YA fiction next for me.

(Then 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' to get back in 'road trip' mode )

I've read some of them, they're not bad.

2 books in on the Mortal Engines series. They rattle along quite nicely. Some of the plot is better than the film but, even so, I can't see why the film bombed - I enjoyed it. It's not mentioned anywhere in the books or Wikipedia but the mobile scavenging cities idea owes something to 'Cities in Flight' by James Blish, published between 1950 and 1962. That was a bit more ambitious with cities like Pittsburgh heading off into space looking for anyone that needs steel. (Not an easy read in places, some of the science and stuff about relativistic speeds gets in the way of the story so it's probably for hard-core sci-fi buffs).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_Flight

[Horse]

throppleganger sounds more like a club member with a speech defect.

There used to be a 'Thorondor' bike club, near Reading, years ago, if that helps?

[ZRX61]

Ed Rasimus "When Thunder Rolls". About his time flying F105's out of Thailand & making life difficult for the NVA etc.

Just picked up Pratchett's "A Stroke Of The Pen,The Lost Stories"

[demographic]

It's not everyone's cuppa, and it was nominated for the 2022 Booker Prize but in this case, rightly so. It's a slim tome at 110 pages but it doesn't waste a word. A book of the year for The Times, Observer, New Statesman, FT etc etc and dedicated to the women and children who suffered in Ireland's mother and baby homes and Magdalen laundries....but don't let any of that put you off.

'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan is a little diamond.

My wife worked with a woman who acted in that "The Magdelane Sisters" film.
Just a bit part (she was the one stripped and humiliated by one of the sisters and IIIRC she made fun of her small boobs*) and she wasnt actually Irish, she was from the north east.




* to be fair to the lass, she might not have had massive pendulous norks but she did have a shapely bum.

[mangocrazy]

Just finished reading 'Transcription' by Kate Atkinson and it's a little cracker. It tells the story of the spy world before, during and after WW2 but critically from a female perspective. The reluctant heroine of the tale, Juliet Armstrong, is inducted into the world of MI5 as a typist, but one whose job is to listen to enemy agents discussing traitorous things and transcribing them into the typed word and subsequently tape. MI5 used to set up 'safe houses' that dissidents, Nazi sympathisers and malcontents would be steered towards by their handlers, and encouraged to vent their feelings and pass on information. The rooms were soundproofed and bugged and our heroine would listen to the conversations and type up the transcription in real time.

It's a world away from Ian Fleming and James Bond, and probably much closer to John le Carre and Smiley, but filtered through the female perspective which is something I've not encountered before in this genre. Kate Atkinson's writing is delightful; sharp, witty and full of little insights. She can also really tell a story and maintain continuity and believability. She certainly did her research for the book, there are two solid pages of reference sources and/or further reading material. And because it's about 5 years old, copies are available for cheap pretty much anywhere.

Highly recommended

[Horse]

A few books for Christmas

Currently reading Dr Adam Kay's Undoctored



For background, this is his fourth book (apart from kid's books etc.). The first three were based on his work diaries which, initially, he read at the Edinburgh Fringe. As the series progressed they became more detailed about his personal life and eventual exit from medicine (obstetrics). Read them in publication order.

Don't read this one first, you'll never read his others.

The first was equal parts humour, horror, sad.

The TV series, good as it was, was 'based on' fiction rather than all factual.

You're all growned-ups, so no spoiler tags. Up to you whether you read on

This one is much more autobiographical. With some shocks, such as that - bearing in mind he's openly gay - he was married to a woman. He's battled weight issues, some horrible details of the extremes he's been to. But also more medical stories and humour. Another surprise is that Matt Hancock (pre-covid) gets a positive mention!

[Horse]

No review of this one:

[Count Steer]

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky, rip roaring space opera. Proper page turner for me.

Based on this I picked up an AT book in Waterstones a while ago. I haven't read it yet but the missus has and says to thank you for the recommendation. She really likes it, which is marv, it opens up a few months worth of reading as we haven't read any of his books before.

[KungFooBob]

Children of time?

Hope you're not scared of spiders.

[Count Steer]

Children of time?

Hope you're not scared of spiders.

Yup CoT. Oi loik spiders.

Will get the Shards trilogy next. I thought he'd be American but he's a Lincolnshire boy.

[gremlin]

Had the chance to read a few lately:

Mosquito by Rowland White - story of the aircraft's development, tied in with the story of the Danish resistance and how the two tied up with Operation Carthage. Detailed but never dry. Worth a read.

The first two of J K Rowlings 'Cormoran Strike' books, written under the nom de plume Robert Galbraith. The first I enjoyed, which is unusual as I don't usually read fiction, but the characters are good and the story fast-paced. Jumped onto the second one and started feeling it was following a similar pattern: police reach a conclusion, Strike has his doubts, lots of running (limping) around London and right at the end, he unmasks the real killer. Maybe I'm being too critical. Might try one more.

Also read another fictional book, Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. In an old basement coffee house in Tokyo there is a chair that allows customers to time travel, albeit with specific rules. You can tell it's written by a playwright as it is only set in the cafe. Each of the characters has their reason to want to time travel and all are intertwined. I actually enjoyed it. Recommended.

[Rockburner]

Had the chance to read a few lately:

Mosquito by Rowland White - story of the aircraft's development, tied in with the story of the Danish resistance and how the two tied up with Operation Carthage. Detailed but never dry. Worth a read.

Reading that myself at the moment.

I quite like Rowland White's style (Vulcan 607 was excellent) - apart from his habit of constant, nested, back-storying which means you lose track of where you are in the original story. "This happened, but only because of the contributions of this fella... his story is interesting so we'll start to tell it, but not before we tell you about this other feller who was so-and-so's brother, and he's involved as well, because their mother was married to this other feller who happened to be the man who's grandfather brought sliced bread to India, which is an interesting tale that goes like this .........."


I think Rowland White grew up watching reruns of Ronnie Corbett's shaggy dog stories....

[ZRX61]

Pratchett's "A stroke Of The Pen, the lost stories"

[Count Steer]

Just read 'On the road' again but my 'Oxfam books scout' has snagged all of the Mortal Engines (and the prequels). She says they're well written/plotted etc so it's a bingefest of YA fiction next for me.

(Then 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' to get back in 'road trip' mode )

I've read some of them, they're not bad.

Well, I read the Mortal Engines books and enjoyed them but I enjoyed the prequel series (Fever Crumb etc) more.

Currently on the first of the Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time books. Bit of a slow burn start with lots of world/species development etc going on.

[KungFooBob]

Just read 'On the road' again but my 'Oxfam books scout' has snagged all of the Mortal Engines (and the prequels). She says they're well written/plotted etc so it's a bingefest of YA fiction next for me.

(Then 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' to get back in 'road trip' mode )

I've read some of them, they're not bad.

Well, I read the Mortal Engines books and enjoyed them but I enjoyed the prequel series (Fever Crumb etc) more.

Currently on the first of the Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time books. Bit of a slow burn start with lots of world/species development etc going on.

Hope you're not scared of spiders.

[weeksy]

After i binned Banks, well i think i binned them, i left them downstairs and they've gone away now

I picked up a Val McDermid from the local little 'box' on the high street. We've got 2-3 in the village and they get filled and emptied of books by various locals just like me i guess. It was pretty decent with a few nice twists, plenty of death, blood and violence... yeah not bad. Decent number of pages and decent content.

[Mr Moofo]

After i binned Banks, well i think i binned them, i left them downstairs and they've gone away now

I picked up a Val McDermid from the local little 'box' on the high street. We've got 2-3 in the village and they get filled and emptied of books by various locals just like me i guess. It was pretty decent with a few nice twists, plenty of death, blood and violence... yeah not bad. Decent number of pages and decent content.

Old Val does like nasty graphic violence

[Count Steer]

I've read some of them, they're not bad.

Well, I read the Mortal Engines books and enjoyed them but I enjoyed the prequel series (Fever Crumb etc) more.

Currently on the first of the Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time books. Bit of a slow burn start with lots of world/species development etc going on.

Hope you're not scared of spiders.

A couple of the humans are scarier than the spiders.

I for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords.

[Count Steer]

I've read some of them, they're not bad.

Well, I read the Mortal Engines books and enjoyed them but I enjoyed the prequel series (Fever Crumb etc) more.

Currently on the first of the Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time books. Bit of a slow burn start with lots of world/species development etc going on.

Hope you're not scared of spiders.

Finished the first book. It's quite a long read but the last 1/3rd romped along a bit more. The resolution at the end actually came as a complete surprise...which was nice...and sets things up nicely for book 2. Might read something a bit 'easier' first. (Got the latest Murderbot book on top of the stack).