Reading: The Book Thread

[Count Steer]

It looks like it was only ever intended to be 3 books (it's referred to as a trilogy on his Web page). The ideas are probably running a bit thin. He couldn't get them published at first so did them as audio books - on Audible I think - and they worked well enough to attract a publishers interest.

There's a lot of series books that sell well so they keep cranking them out long after they should have stopped. Publishers like to keep an earner going.

Agreed!!

The tone/style and some aspects of the AI topic remind me of the Murderbot books (which I also like ).

Ooo - I'll have a look for those - cheers

Here y'go. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries

[Count Steer]

Just finished 'Cold Kitchen' by Caroline Eden. It's a sort of travel book with food as the common thread through it. Covers places like Istanbul/Üsküdar (the bit that most folk don't go to), Kyzrgyzstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Trans-Siberian railway etc.

It's also got one of the saddest bits about a pet dog - Darwin, the carrot eater.

[McNab]

I've just finished the Book of the New Sun saga by Gene Wolfe. A sci-fi/future fantasy series about a young torturer's adventures on an Earth who's sun is dying.

I picked it up as it's generally in the top 10 of best Sci-fi books ever written and frequently number 1. However, I really didn't like it. I didn't mind the characters but found that a lot of situations dragged on or had no impact on events. As the story went on, things got more fantastical and complicated, with aliens and time travel. The story seemed to also become more allegorical as it went on and by the time it came to an end I wasn't sure what was going on.

Apparently you are supposed to read it multiple time to really understand and appreciate the genius of the story. I don't think I'll bother.

[Sunny]

Currently on the last of the 'Beartown' trilogy by Fredrick Backman. (He wrote A Man Called Ove, which was excellent, and turned into the somewhat mediocre recent A Man Called Otto film). Not my usual fare, but.

I've read several of his books now, and they are all, without exception, brilliant, incredibly well-written, mess-with-your-emotions books.

His characters are flawed but likeable, and this trilogy is no different, the first two were fantastic, I had no idea how the second could follow the first, but it did. I'm hoping this one continues the theme.

[Count Steer]

My last haul from the Oxfam book shop was some Jasper Fforde books in the 'Thursday Next' series. (I picked one up, read it and went back for the rest). There's 6 of 'em starting with The Eyre Affair and ending (for now) with The Woman Who Died a Lot.

Fans of Terry Pratchett might enjoy them*. Lots of literary puns and very weird and wonderful at times. It's a bit like reality has wandered into a fairground hall of mirrors. The first book isn't the best and they get better through the first few then some of the ideas/plots wear a bit thin by 5 and 6 but they kept me entertained all the way through. (It's not like the sort of series where all the ideas are in the first book then it's downhill all the way and they're just cranked out because that's what the publisher wants).

'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions carried off with aplomb'

* Oddly I wasn't the biggest fan of TP but my favourite was 'Mort'.

[Slenver]

Currently on the last of the 'Beartown' trilogy by Fredrick Backman. (He wrote A Man Called Ove, which was excellent, and turned into the somewhat mediocre recent A Man Called Otto film). Not my usual fare, but.

I've read several of his books now, and they are all, without exception, brilliant, incredibly well-written, mess-with-your-emotions books.

His characters are flawed but likeable, and this trilogy is no different, the first two were fantastic, I had no idea how the second could follow the first, but it did. I'm hoping this one continues the theme.

I really enjoyed A Man Called Ove, then moderately enjoyed Anxious People, then couldn't even finish My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (which I very rarely do).

Sadly a bit of a downward trajectory for me, I think I'd read enough now

[Sunny]

Currently on the last of the 'Beartown' trilogy by Fredrick Backman. (He wrote A Man Called Ove, which was excellent, and turned into the somewhat mediocre recent A Man Called Otto film). Not my usual fare, but.

I've read several of his books now, and they are all, without exception, brilliant, incredibly well-written, mess-with-your-emotions books.

His characters are flawed but likeable, and this trilogy is no different, the first two were fantastic, I had no idea how the second could follow the first, but it did. I'm hoping this one continues the theme.

I really enjoyed A Man Called Ove, then moderately enjoyed Anxious People, then couldn't even finish My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (which I very rarely do).

Sadly a bit of a downward trajectory for me, I think I'd read enough now

I reckon Beartown is the best of the lot, if it helps!

[ZRX61]

A Bright Shining Lie, the life of John Paul Vann.

[Horse]

'The Wager', David Grann

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/ ... wreck-epic

Received as a birthday present. TBH, If I'd read the blurb in a shop, I would have put it back on the shelf.

But I'm really enjoying it - and could add pages to the 'interesting facts' thread

[Count Steer]

Had a bit of a book binge to address the backlog heap.

The Russia House - John Le Carre
Feels very dated and over-wordy now. Apparently made a good film though.

Pavane - Keith Thomas
A supposed sci-fi classic by an author I'd never heard of. It's arguably revised history/steampunk rather than sci-fi (Pope/Rome became secular and religious world boss, Reformation never happened, various technologies banned, people using steam engines for transport, semaphore for comms. It only dawns slowly that it's possibly post-apocalypse. Shades of stuff like A Canticle for Leibowitz).

A Patchwork Planet - Anne Tyler
Not my usual fare but was asked to read it and give an opinion. Had a vibe of Lake Woebegone Days about it.

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

Next up - Timescape - Gregory Benford
Timey-wimey stuff involving tachyons.

[Taipan]

Tried Hemingway again with The Sun Also Rises, but even though I got through the first 4 chapters I abandoned it as it was featureless and well, boring. That was the second of his books i've not been able to read, is it just me or....

[gremlin]

Tried Hemingway again with The Sun Also Rises, but even though I got through the first 4 chapters I abandoned it as it was featureless and well, boring. That was the second of his books i've not been able to read, is it just me or....

Mark Twain* reputedly described classic books as "something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read". I feel the same way about Dickens, Hemmingway, Heller, Woolf.

God knows, I've tried, but fuck me...most are just some pretentious twaddle masquerading as high art.


*Never read anything by Twain, mind.

[Count Steer]

Tried Hemingway again with The Sun Also Rises, but even though I got through the first 4 chapters I abandoned it as it was featureless and well, boring. That was the second of his books i've not been able to read, is it just me or....

Hemingway (like a lot of Nobel Lit prize winners) seems to be more about the writing style than about story. eg 'The Old Man and the Sea' - bloke goes out in small boat, catches big fish, has to ditch fish. The End. 'Death in the Afternoon' - bulls die in Spanish fancy dress ritual. Author waxes lyrical on the meaning of it all. The End.

Just had a look at the list of Nobel winners. I really like one of them (Seamus Heaney - pomes), enjoyed a few others (eg Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 'News of a Kidnapping' is a good start but is actually non-fiction). A few others I wouldn't even try to read (eg Solzhenitsyn) and the rest I've never heard of.

Oh, and Bob Dylan is in there for some reason

[Sunny]

Just finished the latest Chris Brookmyre 'The Cracked Mirror'.

I didn't love it.

His Christopher Brookmyre stuff was almost always great, but since he changed to Chris Brookmyre, and is playing with different genres, I'm finding him hit and miss - some of his stuff I really enjoy, others not so much.

[Count Steer]

Just finished the latest Chris Brookmyre 'The Cracked Mirror'.

I didn't love it.

His Christopher Brookmyre stuff was almost always great, but since he changed to Chris Brookmyre, and is playing with different genres, I'm finding him hit and miss - some of his stuff I really enjoy, others not so much.

Not heard of him before but anyone that writes a book called 'Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks' and 'All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye' has got to be worth a look.

[Sunny]

Just finished the latest Chris Brookmyre 'The Cracked Mirror'.

I didn't love it.

His Christopher Brookmyre stuff was almost always great, but since he changed to Chris Brookmyre, and is playing with different genres, I'm finding him hit and miss - some of his stuff I really enjoy, others not so much.

Not heard of him before but anyone that writes a book called 'Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks' and 'All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye' has got to be worth a look.

I totally recommend everything up to Pandeamonium (which I hated). From that point onwards YMMV.

[KungFooBob]

I'm reading 'Hero of the Imperium' a Ciaphas Cain Omnibus, I've just started the 2nd story.

It's good, I don't think you need to be a 40k fanboi to enjoy it either.

It's the first book set in the grimdark I've read for probably 25 years.

[ChrisW]

I (almost) read three books during our recent holiday:

Barcelona Plates by Alexei Sayle. A collection of slightly odd, slightly surreal short stories. Completely took me by surprise.

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. Very enjoyable - laughter, tears, something for everyone. I was completely unaware that there was a fairly well known TV series based on it...

Wait Until Spring, Bandini by John Fante. Enjoying it, but am only half-way through this one. Not really a sun lounger book whereas the two above most definitely are.

[Count Steer]

Well, I eventually bulldozed my way through all three of Adrian Tchaikovsky's 'Children of......' series. The first is OK because that's where all the ideas start although the stuff with the spiders goes on a bit. The second was interminable. The third was a pretty good read. Interesting chunk about what is and what isn't sentience. (The crows are the best characters).

Unbowed I've just bought his 'Shards of Earth' but, for light relief I've started on 'A Man Called Ove'.

(Also bought 'Aurora Rising' by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff although it's supposed to be Young Adult - I like JKs books. Have a sneaky feeling I might have read it 5 years ago though. ).

[KungFooBob]

Well, I eventually bulldozed my way through all three of Adrian Tchaikovsky's 'Children of......' series. The first is OK because that's where all the ideas start although the stuff with the spiders goes on a bit. The second was interminable. The third was a pretty good read. Interesting chunk about what is and what isn't sentience. (The crows are the best characters).

Unbowed I've just bought his 'Shards of Earth' but, for light relief I've started on 'A Man Called Ove'.

(Also bought 'Aurora Rising' by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff although it's supposed to be Young Adult - I like JKs books. Have a sneaky feeling I might have read it 5 years ago though. ).

The first one with the spiders put me off the rest. I might have said already, but if you like Sci-fi spiders (which predate Tchaikovsky by a while) then A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge is better, imho.

but to get a feel for it you might want to read A Fire Upon the Deep first. Which is proper classic Sci-fi.