The Book Thread

[Alex]

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]

Loved that whole trilogy. They're big-ass books but the story's great.

[Alex]

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.

[Ian]

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.

[Baz]

Has anyone read The Secret?

[Shindig]

Isn't that a wanky self-help book?

[Alex]

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]

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.

[Baz]

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]

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.

[Alex]

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]

They are absolute tomes, I managed to read the series through three times back when I was riding empty trains around :cool:

[Ian]

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]

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.

[Ian]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Baz]

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."

[Ian]

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]

I think they're making a film or TV show of The Three Body Problem as well.

[Ian]

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]

What if the train had a gun and a family to protect?

[Boydy]

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.

[Ian]

What if the train had a gun and a family to protect?

And is only three days away from retirement. :(

[Shindig]

"This summer ... he's too old for this Skinkansen."

[Alex]

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]

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.

[Alex]

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]

Yeah, that's what I thought too. I put it down to the translation.

[Alex]

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]

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.

[Baz]

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.

[Ian]

Still, good on you learning to read. Just goes to show it's never too late. :thbup:

[niko_cee]

I've got Matilda on the go at the moment, which is :cool:

Unicorn Academy less so.

[Jimmy Floyd]

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.

[Ian]

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]

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.

[Manc]

Any fans of Murikami? I've picked up Norwegian Wood with high expectations.

[Alex]

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.

[Ian]

I'm on a fantasy book called The Unspoken Name at the moment. It's pretty good so far.

[Baz]

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?

[Ben]

Jack Reacher.

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Scorpion-Reacher-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B07BXCFJCV

A veritable classic, or not.

[Ian]

The Christmas Scorpion. :D What a name.

[Baz]

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]

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.

[Ian]

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-]

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.

[Baz]

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]

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.

[Alex]

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-]

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]

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]

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?

[Baz]

What's it called?

Warhol / Chris Chan: The Lifespan of American Pop Culture, or The Suppression of Reality

https://amzn.to/3Cs0RlK

[Shindig]

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.

[Alex]

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]

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?

[Alex]

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]

I'm reading The Steel Bonnets by George Macdonald Fraser.