View Full Version : The Book Thread
I'm currently about two thirds of the way through The Three-Body Problem that I got as a gift for Christmas and I'm really enjoying it.
It's this mad, sometimes quite complex, but very entertaining Chinese sci-fi novel. It manages to heavily incorporate a lot of elements I know almost nothing about (namely physics and the Chinese Cultural Revolution) into proceedings but still remain very readable. They did a really good job on the translation of adding appendix notes throughout at the bottom of the pages to give context to a lot of the Chinese references they make and the more complex scientific concepts they bring up.
Boydy
02-01-2022, 02:13 PM
Loved that whole trilogy. They're big-ass books but the story's great.
The story is fantastic. It's one of those where I genuinely can't get my head around how somebody would come up with something like that. All the stuff where he's in the "Three Body" simulation is so weird and fascinating.
I've heard of those and may need to try them at some point.
I've just finished 100 Best Video Games (That Never Existed) by Nate Crowley which, unsurprisingly given his other writing, got some proper laughs out of me.
I'm now onto the second book, The Trouble With Peace, of Abercrombie's latest trilogy. Only just started but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.
Has anyone read The Secret?
Shindig
02-01-2022, 10:07 PM
Isn't that a wanky self-help book?
I finished The Three-Body Problem, fantastic book. The ending was mental. The sequel is on order.
In the mean time I'm about two thirds of the way through The Black Company, which I am really enjoying. It's sort of a dark fantasy book but it's an interesting take on it, because it's kind of from the point of view of the bad guys. Well, it's not that simple really. But they are a company of soldiers for hire who are (at least as far as I can tell) in the employ of the baddies. It's a fun twist on it.
The author has a really interesting, quite snappy writing style too. There's not a great deal of exposition in terms of what is going on in the world at large. Almost none at all, in fact. It's told from the view point of one character and you just get this kind of "front line" perspective of what is happening to his section of the company at that given time, and you pick up little bits here and there about the over-arching situation as it goes along.
It sounds a bit confusing but it's actually really good. Don't get me wrong, I love a good exercise in world building as much as the next man. But let's be honest, it can back fire sometimes too. So it makes it refreshingly direct and straight to the point for a fantasy novel. Shit just constantly happens and it's done and they move on.
niko_cee
10-01-2022, 07:40 PM
Started reading The Magical Faraway Tree, or whatever it's called but my wife's old copy was too tatty so bought a new copy, and it had changed the names of the three kids from Jo, Bessie and Fanny to Joe, Beth and Frannie. :cab:
Quality books.
For other, modern Children's classics, would recommend The Beast and the Bethany [not read the sequel yet] and JK Rowling's efforts. The Ickabog is excellent and The Christmas Pig is also very good thus far.
Quality books.
For other, modern Children's classics, would recommend The Beast and the Bethany [not read the sequel yet] and JK Rowling's efforts. The Ickabog is excellent and The Christmas Pig is also very good thus far.
Yeah we read The Christmas Pig in the run up to Christmas. I didn’t really like it, but my daughter seemed to and she could definitely relate to it cos she’s got a tatty grey rabbit that she bloody adores.
Will keep those others in mind when we’ve read this Faraway Tree beast. We’re all much preferring reading one continuous story in short bursts (chapters) rather than a random short kids book every night, so it’s certainly the way forward. My wife grew up bumming the Harry Potter books so I’ll let her poison her mind with them though, and I’ll go and tidy the loft or something.
Lofty
11-01-2022, 09:50 PM
I finished The Three-Body Problem, fantastic book. The ending was mental. The sequel is on order.
In the mean time I'm about two thirds of the way through The Black Company, which I am really enjoying. It's sort of a dark fantasy book but it's an interesting take on it, because it's kind of from the point of view of the bad guys. Well, it's not that simple really. But they are a company of soldiers for hire who are (at least as far as I can tell) in the employ of the baddies. It's a fun twist on it.
The author has a really interesting, quite snappy writing style too. There's not a great deal of exposition in terms of what is going on in the world at large. Almost none at all, in fact. It's told from the view point of one character and you just get this kind of "front line" perspective of what is happening to his section of the company at that given time, and you pick up little bits here and there about the over-arching situation as it goes along.
It sounds a bit confusing but it's actually really good. Don't get me wrong, I love a good exercise in world building as much as the next man. But let's be honest, it can back fire sometimes too. So it makes it refreshingly direct and straight to the point for a fantasy novel. Shit just constantly happens and it's done and they move on.
Have you read the Malazan series? Sounds right up your street if you lile The Black Company.
Have you read the Malazan series? Sounds right up your street if you lile The Black Company.
I have read the first couple, yeah. Somebody in here (probably Ian) alerted me to them I think, either directly or just by reading his posts. I really liked what I read. Particularly the second one. The "Chain of Dogs" section in that is genuinely one of the best things I've read ever. Anywhere.
I need to get back to those actually. The third one is on the to-read pile. They're just slightly more daunting books, aren't they? It's a proper undertaking starting another of those. Which is sort of what I enjoyed about the relative brevity of The Black Company.
I was actually thinking as I finished The Black Company last night that it reminded me a little bit of Malazan though. There's a bit towards the end where they describe a really large-scale battle situation in a a very engaging way (which I think is difficult to do) and it made me think of how great the Malazan books I read were at that.
Lofty
12-01-2022, 08:22 PM
They are absolute tomes, I managed to read the series through three times back when I was riding empty trains around :cool:
They're brilliant books.
Lofty do I remember rightly that you've also read the Abercrombie books? I'm just starting the second of his second Third Law trilogies.
Lofty
12-01-2022, 08:55 PM
I read everything he did a while back but am not up to date with anything semi recent. I enjoyed the subversion of usual fantasy tropes.
If you liked The Third Law trilogy the newest one (starting with A Little Hatred) is a follow-up series with some characters from the first but mostly a new story in the same world. It's very good so far.
igor_balis
13-01-2022, 11:02 AM
I started the big sleep at the weekend and boshed through half, I'm not usually a mystery detective fiction kinda guy but it's brilliant fun. I could do without every single character getting half a paragraph about the shape of their eyes and shit but yeah, Raymond Chandler is a pretty funny guy.
Jimmy Floyd
13-01-2022, 11:25 AM
I love Chandler. Probably my favourite writer (of any type) along with Clive James and Sedaris.
Farewell My Lovely probably my favourite of those books but they're all good.
igor_balis
16-02-2022, 07:17 PM
I love Chandler. Probably my favourite writer (of any type) along with Clive James and Sedaris.
Farewell My Lovely probably my favourite of those books but they're all good.
Yeah, I bought it on your recommendation and it's great. I think I preferred it to the Big Sleep as well. I do find Chandler's very esoteric and detailed way of describing the appearance of every single character a bit annoying, but other than that I love his writing style. You often get detective novels with one or two high levels of humour, suspense, and literary wordiness, but to get all three is what makes him so readable. You get all the joy of a fun trashy pulpy book, but also feel the mental stimulation of reading a proper book.
Finished the three Faraway Tree books. All good. :)
Was pleased to see this on wikipedia:
In October 2014, it was announced that the books will be adapted for the cinema for the first time and are being developed for a live action film version by Sam Mendes' production company, Neal Street Productions.[2] As of 2021, the film was still listed as being "in development."
I am reading a (translated, obvs) Japanese novel called Bullet Train. It's being made into a film full of white people even though I think it's still set in Japan.
Anyway, I picked a games journo who's on a couple of podcasts I listen to reads a lot of Japanese / Asian fiction and talks about them a lot and I was considering ordering The Three Body Problem but saw the film trailer and decided to get on this before the film comes out. I imagine the film will be a lot more loud and objectionable.
Anyway, I am really enjoying it and it's super easy reading but I am surprised how often the dialogue reminds me of Japanese video games. I dunno if I'd thought it was maybe just something about the way they write game dialogue / stories but either:
- I've caught a book where it happens to be a similar dialogue style
- It's something about how Japense translates into English
- They actually do just talk this way.
Boydy
08-04-2022, 09:03 PM
I think they're making a film or TV show of The Three Body Problem as well.
Yeah I realised as I was typing that that might be happening but on my phone and couldn't be bothered checking.
Is it obvious film-fodder?
I don't think Bullet Train needs to be as action-banter as the trailer makes it look, you could do a good adaptation just leaning on the tension and intrigue but I suppose if you're spending Brad Pitt money you want the pizzazz.
Shindig
08-04-2022, 09:21 PM
What if the train had a gun and a family to protect?
Boydy
08-04-2022, 09:25 PM
Yeah I realised as I was typing that that might be happening but on my phone and couldn't be bothered checking.
Is it obvious film-fodder?
I don't think Bullet Train needs to be as action-banter as the trailer makes it look, you could do a good adaptation just leaning on the tension and intrigue but I suppose if you're spending Brad Pitt money you want the pizzazz.
Not really. There's some bits of it that I'm not really sure how they'll translate to film at all.
What if the train had a gun and a family to protect?
And is only three days away from retirement. :(
Shindig
08-04-2022, 09:45 PM
"This summer ... he's too old for this Skinkansen."
Boydy
I'm maybe about three quarters of the way through The Dark Forrest at the moment. It's good, but not as good as The Three Body Problem. I'm definitely finding it a bit more of a slog in places, whereas I couldn't put the first one down. The characters are just not as compelling. Obviously it's basically a totally new cast, so it feels a bit of a re-set in that respect.
Although his ability to come up with really interesting ideas and concepts is still off the chart.
The whole concept of a "Wallfacer" is great. Just somebody working with complete autonomy to try and save the world. Although I've just got to the bit where he (Luo Ji) wakes up in the future and they've binned the whole project off. I'm certain he will still have a role to play though.
The best character was the South American lad who's plan was to bomb Mercury to shit so it gets sucked into the sun, triggering some sort of extinction level event that ends everything. Basically some dead mans switch style situation where if the aliens come near he goes "scorched earth" but on the entire solar system. :cool:
Unfortunately he got found out and stoned to death for his ideas. :D
Boydy
11-05-2022, 03:04 PM
That's the second one, isn't it? I think it suffered from the translator not being as good as well. Ken Liu's back for the third one though.
That is the second one, yes. That makes sense actually as it has struck me that the writing is not as, I don't know, fluid I guess, as the first one. Which would validate the translation criticism.
Boydy
11-05-2022, 05:54 PM
Yeah, that's what I thought too. I put it down to the translation.
Yeah, that's what I thought too. I put it down to the translation.
It was losing me quite a bit until:
The whole section with the "Droplet", where they've convinced themselves it's some sort of first contact peace offering and that victory is basically a foregone conclusion, but it activates and wipes out 98% of the human space fleet in half an hour because it's so fast, hard and smooth it just flies around penetrating through the hulls of all the ships. It just fucks them all before they even understand what has happened. :|
Mental, I can't even grasp how he thinks up these things. That will be a tough one to do justice in the TV adaptation.
Right up there in terms of genuine jaw-dropping sections of books for me.
Giggles
17-05-2022, 05:49 PM
If a book on Amazon has the following marked on it, does it mean it'll be the same on Apple Books (ie, are all the digital versions made by one crowd for everyone)?
Customers reported quality issues in this eBook. This eBook has: Broken Navigation, Poor Formatting.
The publisher has been notified to correct these issues.
Having recently read a load of Peter Rabbit and a load of Winnie The Pooh, it’s safe to say that Beatrix Potter must have been a sex-icon (unlikely, having seen her waxwork at Peter rabbit world) or got very very lucky in her absolutely shite books becoming so popular. So bad.
I wasn’t immediately sold on Pooh but reading the stories in their proper order has massively improved the reading experience for all involved. Possibly helps that my dad read them to me as a kid, and he loved them. On that tangent, I should read Brer Rabbit next.
Still, good on you learning to read. Just goes to show it's never too late. :thbup:
niko_cee
17-05-2022, 08:39 PM
I've got Matilda on the go at the moment, which is :cool:
Unicorn Academy less so.
Jimmy Floyd
17-05-2022, 09:55 PM
Pooh is amazing. Probably more so as an adult.
Roald Dahl is joke good, one of my regrets about almost certainly never having kids is not going through those again.
Ronald Dahl is great. An anti-Semite weirdo obviously and his short stories are good but reveal the weirdness further but the kids books are still too notch.
Browning
28-05-2022, 08:19 PM
Finished the three Faraway Tree books. All good. :)
Was pleased to see this on wikipedia:
Read those to my daughter not long ago and she loved all 3. I've just seen the Jacqueline Wilson has published a new one 2 days ago so I'll give that a go for her. The original 3 really are great.
Any fans of Murikami? I've picked up Norwegian Wood with high expectations.
Yeah. He's one of my current favourites. I started reading him about a year ago and (obviously in amongst other stuff) have just been in the process of working through his novels in order. Norwegian Wood is excellent. South of the Border, West of the Sun is the most recent of his I've finished, and it was one of my favourites so far.
I'm on a fantasy book called The Unspoken Name at the moment. It's pretty good so far.
Doing a Christmas book quiz and don’t know this one:
Our hero usually prefers warmer weather but gets caught by surprise by a freak blizzard just before Christmas in a small Southern California town, and is stranded in a roadhouse with four strangers, two of whom are tasked to protect a VIP who got separated in the storm. Will they manage to find their protectee, or will an assassin find him first?
Jimmy Floyd
05-12-2022, 05:52 PM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Scorpion-Reacher-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B07BXCFJCV
A veritable classic, or not.
The Christmas Scorpion. :D What a name.
Jack Reacher.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Scorpion-Reacher-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B07BXCFJCV
A veritable classic, or not.Cheers mates!
And indeed. :D
Dark Soldier
03-02-2023, 05:33 PM
How High We Go In The Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu
A virus hits the world after an odd cadaver is unearthed on an archaeological dig.
It's a book of short tales, about humanity, love, hope and loss.
Beautiful creativity, prose, ideas. There's two particular sections that had me welling up.
It's a tough read in parts but it portrays life and its myriad complexities better than many other things I have seen or read.
A wonderful, wonderful thing.
That sounds good, I shall maybe give that a go.
I'm on another Brandon Sanderson fantasy thing (the third of his second Mistborn trilogy) but also going through the second volume of the excellent Sandman. I think once I've done these I'm then safe to go onto the TV show.
-james-
14-06-2023, 07:55 AM
I read Annihilation and it was pretty good. Real page turner.
But the buildup/suspense was much better than the payoff. Very Lost. Apparently the sequels aren't up to much so not sure I'll bother.
Just started White Noise by Don Delillo and it seems terrible. Make myself 50/1 to make it to half way.
Someone wrote a 600 page book comparing Andy Warhol to Chris Chan. I know next to nothing about Warhol, but he cannot have been good.
I need to book a holiday so I can read it.
Dark Soldier
14-06-2023, 08:20 AM
I read Annihilation and it was pretty good. Real page turner.
But the buildup/suspense was much better than the payoff. Very Lost. Apparently the sequels aren't up to much so not sure I'll bother.
Just started White Noise by Don Delillo and it seems terrible. Make myself 50/1 to make it to half way.
Underworld is his best work, the opening section at the baseball game is masterful.
Wasn't a huge fan of White Noise.
I read Annihilation and it was pretty good. Real page turner.
But the buildup/suspense was much better than the payoff. Very Lost. Apparently the sequels aren't up to much so not sure I'll bother.
Just started White Noise by Don Delillo and it seems terrible. Make myself 50/1 to make it to half way.
White Noise is OK, it's got a certain style and metre to it that I found difficult to get into a rhythm with though so I do know what you mean.
I would have periods of chipping away at it a few pages at a time and then suddenly hit a stride a knock of large section of it off in one sitting and think it was amazing. Definitely a mixed bag. It's worth finishing I would say, mainly just because I liked a lot of the themes he was writing about. He some oddly prophetic ideas in there.
I read another of his recently (Great Jones Street) and fucking hated it though.
-james-
14-06-2023, 01:08 PM
I'll try and crack on with it. I've got 10 hours of travel and not much else to read so I haven't got much choice. My main issue is it keeps trying to be funny in a 1980s American I am so smart sort of way and it's not landing. I feel like I'm going to find the whole thing a bit played out.
Dark Soldier
14-06-2023, 01:23 PM
Defo try Underworld if you do get the chance mate. Its the more 'serious' of his works and feels like when he hit his stride.
Iff you're in the UK (can't remember) happy to post it out.
Shindig
14-06-2023, 06:09 PM
Someone wrote a 600 page book comparing Andy Warhol to Chris Chan. I know next to nothing about Warhol, but he cannot have been good.
I need to book a holiday so I can read it.
What's it called?
What's it called?
Warhol / Chris Chan: The Lifespan of American Pop Culture, or The Suppression of Reality
https://amzn.to/3Cs0RlK
Shindig
14-06-2023, 06:17 PM
Okay, I'm interested but not £23 interested. :D
I also have to wonder what a book can say about Chris Chan that hasn't already been spilled over the internet.
In the spirit of the recent explosion of Dune fever I've returned to that series after a while away from it with Heretics of Dune, which I'm maybe just over half way through and mostly enjoying.
He definitely didn't plan to spin it out this long and and it becomes generally stranger the longer the series goes on (God Emperor of Dune in particular, as a concept and an actual book, is fucking insane, but still great) but he's so good at world building that it's still really readable and really good sci-fi.
Boydy
21-03-2024, 11:36 PM
I'm on Dune fever at the minute too. Read the first book in time for Dune 2 coming out (hadn't seen the first one but managed to catch it in the cinema the day before Dune 2 came out). Currently on Messiah. Just got back from seeing Dune 2 for the second time tonight.
I read somewhere (I think it was on twitter) that towards the end of the Frank Herbert books they get a bit meh. Apparently the Brian Herbert (and that other guy) books are best avoided. Anyone read any of them?
Dune Messiah is class. I wouldn't say it's a better book than the first one but I do think it's possibly a better story. If that makes sense. I love where it takes it.
Lofty
22-03-2024, 08:55 AM
I'm reading The Steel Bonnets by George Macdonald Fraser.
Dquincy
08-06-2024, 04:19 PM
Just finished this book. Very good read if you enjoy WW2 history.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81X-xlauB1L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
I recently “read” (listened to) James Acaster’s Classic Scrapes. I appreciate he’s a bit of a Marmite comedian and after finding him hilarious upon first discovering him, I got a bit sick of his shtick. Thankfully, not bothering to see him on anything for years meant the dust settled and I actually enjoyed his first book.
However, jumping straight into [listening to] his second book, I’m not sure if the annoyance has crept it or the subject matters just not gripping me. The first book is about funny stories that have occurred in his life and it is amusing. The second book is him forcing his opinion on you that 2016 is the best year in music ever. I didn’t mind the first few chapters about Kendrick Lamar, David Bowie, Beyoncé and Frank Ocean but now he’s gone down a weird rabbit hole trying to educate me about musicians I’ve never heard of.
Thinking I’ll skip this book and give his latest one, Guide to Quitting Social Media, a go. While again the subject matter is pretty much falling on deaf ears (Reddit boi only these days) the summary does make it sound like it might be funny. He basically finds new hobbies to fill the time he’d otherwise spend on social media. So will start that next, I think.
Failing that, after owning Brandon Novak’s (of Jackass fame, kinda) two books for a while - Dreamseller and Streets of Baltimore - I now have them as audiobooks, so if Acaster’s third isn’t making me laugh after the first hour, I’ll take a complete change of pace and listen to how one of Bam Margera’s friends sorted out his drug addiction. Fun!
Sir Andy Mahowry
21-06-2024, 08:14 PM
I loved Acaster's scrapes book.
I think I gave his music one about 2 chapters.
I loved Acaster's scrapes book.
I think I gave his music one about 2 chapters.
Have you read his Guide To Quitting Social Media? Hoping it’s more like the first than the second, where he’s basically reading Wikipedia to you.
Sir Andy Mahowry
21-06-2024, 08:29 PM
Have you read his Guide To Quitting Social Media? Hoping it’s more like the first than the second, where he’s basically reading Wikipedia to you.
Didn't even realise a third book was out tbh. I might get on it.
randomlegend
21-06-2024, 09:32 PM
His scrapes book is great. La la la la la humpty :D
Read all Joe Abercrombie's books recently and really enjoyed them. The Best Served Cold film which is on the way will be interesting.
Ian
I actually haven't read that one and didn't know there was a film coming so I'd better get on that.
The main trilogies are really good though. Did you read the Shattered Sea ones? They're YA and thus don't go quite as hard as his big boy books but they're still good and it really doesn't feel like he compromises that much other than that they're a breezier read for the audience.
randomlegend
22-06-2024, 10:02 AM
I actually haven't read that one and didn't know there was a film coming so I'd better get on that.
The main trilogies are really good though. Did you read the Shattered Sea ones? They're YA and thus don't go quite as hard as his big boy books but they're still good and it really doesn't feel like he compromises that much other than that they're a breezier read for the audience.
Yeah I read everything.
He's also got a new series starting next year called The Devils - set in a new world - which sounds great.
Currently reading the Prince/King/Emperor of Thorns series by Mark Lawrence, which has a somewhat similar vibe.
If you're after other fantasy recs I really enjoyed the two books A.K. Larkwood has done so far.
randomlegend
22-06-2024, 02:17 PM
If you're after other fantasy recs I really enjoyed the two books A.K. Larkwood has done so far.
:thbup:
Bob Mortimer’s “And Away” autobiography is very funny, and I’m only 51% of the way through.
It's a great book and highly recommend the audio version when it's him reading it.
It's a great book and highly recommend the audio version when it's him reading it.
Oh yeah of course. I don’t read actual books.
Bob Mortimer’s “And Away” autobiography is very funny, and I’m only 51% of the way through.Finished this and went onto Vic Reeves’. Completely different in that the latter only seems to cover up to his teenage years, but still an amusing listen.
randomlegend
23-07-2024, 07:33 PM
Yeah I read everything.
He's also got a new series starting next year called The Devils - set in a new world - which sounds great.
Currently reading the Prince/King/Emperor of Thorns series by Mark Lawrence, which has a somewhat similar vibe.
The second of the "of Thorns" series constantly skips between present day and four years earlier, which is slightly doing my head in.
The second of the "of Thorns" series constantly skips between present day and four years earlier, which is slightly doing my head in.
My dad once listened to an audiobook that was split between lots of files. He didn’t realise til about half way through that he had it on shuffle. Sounds like that.
Finished this and went onto Vic Reeves’. Completely different in that the latter only seems to cover up to his teenage years, but still an amusing listen.
I think I enjoyed this more than Bob Mortimer’s. Gutted it only covers up until him turning 18, and it was released 17 years ago so seems like we’ll never get anymore. Highly recommended though.
I’m onto David Mitchell’s “Backstory” book now, which is a completely different change of pace, but it’s something mildly amusing to listen to while I mooch about in the sunshine.
I'm 500 pages into Dune. It starts slowly but it's really bloody good at this point, superb storytelling.
Finished David Mitchell’s “Backstory” and went straight into “How To Be A Boy” by Robert Webb and it’s already better despite only being 5% in. Looking forward to it.
Need to start thinking about who to listen to next. Maybe Ade Edmondsen?
Finished Robert Webb’s book. It’s a bit preachy and rams feminism down your vagina, but I did really enjoy it. Probably moreso than David Mitchell’s although they’re really not comparable beyond them being a double act - completely different types of books.
Anyway, something completely different away from comedians autobiographies and I’m now half way through 120 Days of Sodom.
I don’t know who or what David Sedaris is but his audiobook When You Are Engulfed In Flames is very funny.
Thinking of giving the Dungeon Crawler Carl series a go next. Anyone here a fan?
Jimmy Floyd
19-09-2024, 04:22 PM
The best writer in the world, probably, at least now that Clive James is dead. I have all of his in the loo and dip in with each shit.
It was a random Reddit recommendation, and I’m very glad I paid attention. His ability to just drop a gag in out of nowhere is brilliant, and his delivery is great.
I also have Me Talk Pretty One Day queued up.
Lofty
29-11-2024, 03:42 PM
Got a Kobo Libra Colour with the idea of getting back into reading, I used to absolutely devour books but not read properly in years.
Thought I'd try and be cultured so read Kafka's Metamorphosis... Heady stuff in 1915 I'm sure but didn't quite match my expectations.
Anything new worth a go?
Jimmy Floyd
29-11-2024, 03:58 PM
I've been reading inordinate amounts lately, most of it spy stuff which is apparently what I can't get enough of these days. Every work of Le Carré (brilliant, especially the Karla trilogy), Wolf Hall (meh), the remaining oeuvre of Ben Macintyre (pretty good) and now starting Mick Herron which surely can't go wrong.
Also read 'A Spy Alone' by Charles Beaumont which was in one sense a very good fast-paced modern spy thriller and in another sense yet another massive liberal whinge. I'm starting to tire of the supervillain clichés of the modern novel - please no more fictional oligarchs or fictional Musk pastiches.
I'm reading Ulysses at the moment, which.......I don't know. I mean I knew what I was getting into when I started it didn't I? It's just been sat on "the pile" staring at me for years and I took the plunge.
It's often great and always interesting, if sometimes only in its strangeness. It's just mad as fuck and it's long. And it's going to take me longer than something that long would normally take me anyway because it's not even something you can just dip in and out of whenever you have a spare ten minutes.
I find I need to be setting aside a couple of hours of free time to have a proper chisel away at it. It's enough of a fucking fever dream doing it like that but at least you get into a bit of a rhythm with it, a few pages at a time and it just becomes totally meaningless.
Jimmy Floyd
29-11-2024, 06:16 PM
I've tried it but never managed it. Maybe would be better if you popped some opium or whatever they took back then.
niko_cee
29-11-2024, 06:49 PM
I vaguely recall enjoying Dubliners enough to finish it.
Never went further.
Ulysees seemed like it would go the way of Gravity's Rainbow and just be too much/too impenetrable to bother with.
I'm listening to reading Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment.
Proper nerdy but I'm loving it.
Sir Andy Mahowry
29-11-2024, 07:05 PM
I'm still making my way, very slowly, through the Wheel of Time books. Currently just under halfway through book 8.
I'm also listening to Shogun when I'm on the treadmill.
Enjoying both.
Lofty
29-11-2024, 10:59 PM
I'm listening to Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter between football podcasts and I am enjoying it, 6 chapters in and it's as much about what a tit Jack Dorsey is as Musk.
Lofty
30-11-2024, 07:30 AM
Started John Le Carre's 'Agent Running in the Field' based on Jim's exuberance.
I read all of Murderbot in the past couple of months. It is very good.
I'm reading Ulysses at the moment, which.......I don't know. I mean I knew what I was getting into when I started it didn't I? It's just been sat on "the pile" staring at me for years and I took the plunge.
It's often great and always interesting, if sometimes only in its strangeness. It's just mad as fuck and it's long. And it's going to take me longer than something that long would normally take me anyway because it's not even something you can just dip in and out of whenever you have a spare ten minutes.
I find I need to be setting aside a couple of hours of free time to have a proper chisel away at it. It's enough of a fucking fever dream doing it like that but at least you get into a bit of a rhythm with it, a few pages at a time and it just becomes totally meaningless.
And two fucking days ago I finished that. :moop:
It effectively (and somewhat embarrassingly) took me two and a half months to read it. Obviously there were some extended periods of ignoring it completely for days on on end during that time.
Probably, in retrospect, something you need to be reading an annotated version of if you're not well versed in The Odyssey and/or the social context of Dublin in the early twentieth century. Not to say there were not parts of it I enjoyed immensely/thought were genius, because there were.
I'm not shy in admitting there were often pages on end (sometimes entire chapters, if you can call them that) where I hadn't the slightest clue what was occurring either, though. :D
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