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Thread: The Book Thread

  1. #751
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    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.

  2. #752
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    Loved that whole trilogy. They're big-ass books but the story's great.

  3. #753
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    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.

  4. #754
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    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.

  5. #755
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    Has anyone read The Secret?
    I'm a twit

  6. #756
    I used to be funny.
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    Isn't that a wanky self-help book?

  7. #757
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    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.

  8. #758
    Senior Member niko_cee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baz View Post
    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.
    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.

  9. #759
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by niko_cee View Post
    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.
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  10. #760
    Senior Member Lofty's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alex View Post
    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.

  11. #761
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lofty View Post
    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.

  12. #762
    Senior Member Lofty's Avatar
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    They are absolute tomes, I managed to read the series through three times back when I was riding empty trains around

  13. #763
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    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.

  14. #764
    Senior Member Lofty's Avatar
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    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.

  15. #765
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    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.

  16. #766
    Man(c) of the People igor_balis's Avatar
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    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.

  17. #767
    Senior Member Jimmy Floyd's Avatar
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    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.

  18. #768
    Man(c) of the People igor_balis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd View Post
    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.

  19. #769
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    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."
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  20. #770
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    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.

  21. #771
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    I think they're making a film or TV show of The Three Body Problem as well.

  22. #772
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    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.

  23. #773
    I used to be funny.
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    What if the train had a gun and a family to protect?

  24. #774
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ian View Post
    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.

  25. #775
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shindig View Post
    What if the train had a gun and a family to protect?
    And is only three days away from retirement.

  26. #776
    I used to be funny.
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    "This summer ... he's too old for this Skinkansen."

  27. #777
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    @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.

    Toggle Spoiler

  28. #778
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    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.

  29. #779
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    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.

  30. #780
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    Yeah, that's what I thought too. I put it down to the translation.

  31. #781
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boydy View Post
    Yeah, that's what I thought too. I put it down to the translation.
    It was losing me quite a bit until:

    Toggle Spoiler


    Right up there in terms of genuine jaw-dropping sections of books for me.

  32. #782
    ram it up your shitpipe Giggles's Avatar
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    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.

  33. #783
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    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.
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  34. #784
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    Still, good on you learning to read. Just goes to show it's never too late.

  35. #785
    Senior Member niko_cee's Avatar
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    I've got Matilda on the go at the moment, which is

    Unicorn Academy less so.

  36. #786
    Senior Member Jimmy Floyd's Avatar
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    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.

  37. #787
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    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.

  38. #788
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baz View Post
    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.

  39. #789
    Senior Member Manc's Avatar
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    Any fans of Murikami? I've picked up Norwegian Wood with high expectations.

  40. #790
    Senior Member Alex's Avatar
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    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.

  41. #791
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    I'm on a fantasy book called The Unspoken Name at the moment. It's pretty good so far.

  42. #792
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    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?
    I'm a twit

  43. #793

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    Jack Reacher.

  44. #794
    Senior Member Jimmy Floyd's Avatar
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  45. #795
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    The Christmas Scorpion. What a name.

  46. #796
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ben View Post
    Jack Reacher.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd View Post
    Cheers mates!

    And indeed.
    I'm a twit

  47. #797
    heavy like led Dark Soldier's Avatar
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    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.

  48. #798
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    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.

  49. #799
    Senior Member -james-'s Avatar
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    I read Annihilation and it was pretty good. Real page turner.

    Toggle Spoiler


    Just started White Noise by Don Delillo and it seems terrible. Make myself 50/1 to make it to half way.

  50. #800
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    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.
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