Reading: The Book Thread

[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.

[Sunny]

Read Richard Osman's latest over the weekend: 'We Solve Murders'. Light and fluffy, not as good as his Thursday Murder Club stuff for me, but still decent for a bit of brain-out reading.

[gremlin]

The Anxious Generation: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/book

If you have kids coming up to teen years, I urge you to read this book.

[Count Steer]

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.

Having read the Ove book I wondered about the film - the USA version with Tom Hanks looks like another 'why bother when there's a better version already available?'. So I bought the original Swedish version, with English subtitles and 'Wallander' as Ove. I'll report back when I've watched it.

Reading binge continues. Just read 'Cider with Rosie' for the first time in umptyninethousand years. Loved it. Will follow up with the other two in the trilogy. (Have read 'When I walked out...' years ago but not the 3rd).

Oddly enough I'd just read another book where WWI features. 'The Skylarks War' by Hilary McKay - supposed to be for 9 -12 year olds but I wouldn't let that put anyone off, it doesn't pull punches about life/death in the trenches etc. Costa award winner. (There's a follow up covering WWII called 'The Swallows Flight').

[Rockburner]

On holiday, so i downloaded a Kindle Unlimited series to stave off the ennui of endless beaches, bikini clad lovelies, swimming pools and surf...

Its called the Drop Trooper series by Rick Partlow. If you liked Marko Kloos' Frontlines series, you'll find it's ok. It certainly keeps the ball rolling, I'm on book 4 already....

[millemille]

On holiday, so i downloaded a Kindle Unlimited series to stave off the ennui of endless beaches, bikini clad lovelies, swimming pools and surf...

Its called the Drop Trooper series by Rick Partlow. If you liked Marko Kloos' Frontlines series, you'll find it's ok. It certainly keeps the ball rolling, I'm on book 4 already....

I love the Frontline series and I'm itching to know what Kloos is going to do with the universe he's created now that he appears to have written the protagonist out because all of the discoveries about the lankies made in the last book deserve to be followed up.

[Ian]

In one ear by Simon Raymonde.
I'm a huge Cocteau Twins fan since 1983 but I was pleasantly surprised to find there was so much more to it than that, maybe only 30% CTs. Plenty of interesting stuff about his Dad and Bella Union.
If ever you've seen an interview he's a thoroughly nice bloke, and the book is just as good. Maybe you need to be a fan but I enjoyed it

[McNab]

Just finished 1984 which I thought would be hard going but I ended up enjoying it, although 'enjoying' probably isn't the right word for that book.

Now reading Beartown which I'm finding a bit of a struggle, probably because it's just seems to be talking about ice hockey all the time at the moment.

[Count Steer]

Gnawed my way through the whole 'Shards of Earth' trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Yet another long haul where the whole thing wraps up in the last 40 pages in a cascade of bubbleandsqueakion particles and gallops towards the conclusion leaving chunks of stuff unexplained other than in the most nebulous mumbo jumbo terms. What a waste of character development (and several hours of my time).

Disappointed.

Edit: went back and re-read the last 40 pages of the final volume 'Lords of Uncreation' and made a bit more sense of it. Still a few loose ends though.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just finished 1984 which I thought would be hard going but I ended up enjoying it

I've read it a couple of times, most recently 'cause someone bought me a copy for my Birthday (I was born in 1984).

It always surprises me how short it is. You don't need to write a trilogy of 700 page books to make a great story it turns out.

[KungFooBob]

Just finished 1984 which I thought would be hard going but I ended up enjoying it

I've read it a couple of times, most recently 'cause someone bought me a copy for my Birthday (I was born in 1984).

It always surprises me how short it is. You don't need to write a trilogy of 700 page books to make a great story it turns out.

I got circa 20 pages from the end, looked at the pages left and thought "he's really going to have to rush this happy ending".

20 pages later I was even more depressed.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The post script essay is the happy ending

[Count Steer]

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever”

I suppose the funny thing about it was he had Stalin in mind when he wrote that but quite a few since seemed to have taken it as part of a design manual for governing a country.

[Count Steer]

Continuing to plough the Adrian Tchaikovsky literary furrow, I read 'Dogs of War'. There's a lot less flab on it than the space opera stuff. Bioengineered, AI enhanced, military dogs (and bears, bees and monitor lizards ). Rattles along. I liked it.

[Count Steer]

Read a couple of things recently...

'Ordinary Thunderstorms' by William Boyd. Chap gets caught up in the murder of a scientist that has info that impacts on a pharma outfit releasing a new wonder drug. Nicely written as always by WB but there are an awful lot of coincidences involved (which, sort of, ties in with the title).

'The Seventh Son' by Sebastian Faulks. Billionaire has his company dabble with IVF....and neanderthal DNA. Superb.

[Count Steer]

Just on book three of Dan Simmons 'Hyperion' books.

(Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion).

Wow! How did I miss these when they came out? They're superb. Yes, sci-fi* but a whole lot more. Cracking story-telling. Dunno where to start with the description so...

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

* Yup, LOTS of space ships.