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Books The BOOK thread
- Thread starter Livvie
- Start date
I'm struggling getting into Mason & Dixon. It's not helped by the fact I've been reading it in tiny bits here and there because I've been busy, but the archaic language and panoply of characters, who I'm struggling to remember, haven't helped.
I've got a flight on Friday so maybe I can try and spend some time on it then, but I'm surprised because I was expecting to love it.
I've got a flight on Friday so maybe I can try and spend some time on it then, but I'm surprised because I was expecting to love it.
I've been reading The Shadow of the Gods, by John Gwynne. The best chapters are very good but the others are average. A 4 stars so far (70% in). Many fans tell me The Hunger of the Gods is much better!
Just finished Our Last Invention; Artificial Intelligence and the end of the human era by Jame Barrett.
Really good read and as someone who fears AI I can't say it's not changed my mind too much. The book is about 10 years old so some of the data isn't totally up to date but the metaphysical and philosophical questions posed are fascinating and totaly relevant.
Really good read and as someone who fears AI I can't say it's not changed my mind too much. The book is about 10 years old so some of the data isn't totally up to date but the metaphysical and philosophical questions posed are fascinating and totaly relevant.
Finished Between Two Fires. I’m not into fantasy stuff but I loved this. Over 400 pages but finished it in about 5 days. Set during the Black Plague in France and reads a bit like a dark souls game.
Really worth checking out.
Really worth checking out.
I'm reading Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon.
Finished The Gardens of Light by Amin Maalouf
Really interesting book on the 'prophet' Mani and Manichaenism. It's another delve into historical fiction (of which Maalouf is a master) depicting the life of Mani from his childhood as a member of a hyper-religious Jewish Christian sect in Iraq, to his rise in the Sassanian empire and where he claims himself as being the next in line from Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus, and how he navigates the evolving political landscape.
It's the third book I've read by Maalouf following Balthasar's Odyssey and Samarkand. He's genuinely an excellent author.
Really interesting book on the 'prophet' Mani and Manichaenism. It's another delve into historical fiction (of which Maalouf is a master) depicting the life of Mani from his childhood as a member of a hyper-religious Jewish Christian sect in Iraq, to his rise in the Sassanian empire and where he claims himself as being the next in line from Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus, and how he navigates the evolving political landscape.
It's the third book I've read by Maalouf following Balthasar's Odyssey and Samarkand. He's genuinely an excellent author.
Got Adam Tooze's "Crashed. How a decade of financial crisis changed the world" for christmas, and devoured in about a week. Every bit as good as I'd hoped. There aren't many historians around who can match Tooze's combination of primary research, decent writing and ability to synthesise big complex issues in a relatable way without sacrificing accuracy. Still consider his book on the Nazi war economy (The Wages of Destruction) possibly the best book written on the second world war.
Today, I'm going to finish reading Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey. I would be reading it now, but for a massive plot twist. It is a habit of mine to pause when such stuff happens near the book's ending.
I finally got round to reading The Stepford Wives. I'd been somewhat put off by the crap Nicole Kidman movie, but the book is great. It's funny, dark, with really sharp writing and very short as well, at 140 pages, if anyone wants a quick read. You could interpret it as a funny satire on men's fear of women's lib or a darker thriller.I didn't realise the author, Ira Levin, also wrote Rosemary's Baby.
The Hunger of the Gods proved to be disappointing. Plenty of action but little character development. Decided to read Caliban's War, the sequel to Leviathan Wakes. The sequel is so far almost as good as Leviathan Wakes, which is the best book I have ever read in my life.
The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham is good.
Thanks for the rec!
I started the book The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes. I want the story to return to Szilard. I don't like the personality that is Neils Bohr. He is much less imposing in this book than he is on wikipedia. This book is nonfiction.
I have started The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett yesterday. It is the first time I am rereading the book. I reluctantly gave it 4 stars on the initial read. But now I am enjoying it very much indeed. I had forgotten some characters existed, so looking forward to the experience. I am about 2/3rd through Caliban's War.
How many books do you have on the go at once?
Looks like 3 bro.
He might have ditched the Rhodes one and/or have yet more he is reading. Is odd to me smart arse.
The rhodes one I intend to continue reading during the weekend. I will finish Caliban's War today, or thereabouts. The Pillars of the Earth I'll probably complete after 3 weeks. All 3 books - thanks Corinthian - are exquisite. I read more than 1 book if I manage to choose well.
Not my normal reading, but thinking of picking up "The Trading Game" by Gary Stevenson after reading a bit about his story this past week.
I've been meaning to read "Swan Song" for years and just recently found a lovely old paperback in a charity shop.
Starting Against the Day by Pynchon.
Over 1000 pages. Got the hardback too so it's a mental and physical workout reading this!
Over 1000 pages. Got the hardback too so it's a mental and physical workout reading this!
I like Swan Song better than The Stand, by King. But the sequel to Speaks the Nightbird is downright bad.
I've read this book twice. It's one of my all-time favorites by my all-time favorite author.
Good to hear. I absolutely adored GR and M&D.
Almost finished reading "Goldfinger" by Ian Fleming, the 7th James Bond "adventure". Hoo boy, it is awful. Written in 1959, it is definitely an artifact of its time, but I think I had forgotten how rotten a time 1959 actually was. I thought Goldfinger was the 2nd book and that Fleming was taking his time getting up to speed, but no. It's racist and sexist, plotted by Magic 8 Ball, and the dialogue is goofy. The first half of the book is Bond trying to infiltrate Goldfinger's graces, and he does this through playing gin (cards) and golf. You get to read the entire golf game, hole by hole. Actually, "Hole By Hole" is a good Bond title. The Bond books are fecking dire.
Example 1: There's a character who doesn't want to sleep with Bond, and it's because she's a lesbian. Bond thinks about spanking her, and then when she dies, he says, "Poor little bitch. She didn't think much of men."
Example 2: About Koreans he says, "They are the cruelest, most ruthless people in the world." He has Goldfinger give a cat to Odd Job to eat for dinner.
Example 3: Pussy Galore's dialogue at the big planning meeting for the heist on Fort Knox:' "Wilco, Roger, over and out! My girls'll look sweet in starch. Whaddya say, Jacko?" She leant over and nudged Mr Strap in the ribs. '
Example 1: There's a character who doesn't want to sleep with Bond, and it's because she's a lesbian. Bond thinks about spanking her, and then when she dies, he says, "Poor little bitch. She didn't think much of men."
Example 2: About Koreans he says, "They are the cruelest, most ruthless people in the world." He has Goldfinger give a cat to Odd Job to eat for dinner.
Example 3: Pussy Galore's dialogue at the big planning meeting for the heist on Fort Knox:' "Wilco, Roger, over and out! My girls'll look sweet in starch. Whaddya say, Jacko?" She leant over and nudged Mr Strap in the ribs. '
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Yeah, Mason & Dixon was so rich in language it was like it was creating new maxims every other page.
Gravity's Rainbow is closer to AtD, but the duality involved in AtD is an order of magnitude more complex. The opening 80 or so pages are kind of hard to get through, but keep pushing. Once Pugnax & Co. take a backseat, the story gets going. It's the hardest of any Pynchon books to figure out who the main characters are, but eventually the story shapes up.
Laugh out loud. Also, yikes!
After being stupid enough to buy that 50th anniversary Bond bluray package a couple of years ago because of nostalgia and watching some of my old favs I‘ve decided that I ban those from my mind almost entirely. Think those Dalton ones aged the best? He‘s my fav Bond too (sacrilege).
Never read a book of them though and it doesn‘t look like I‘d ever want to.
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Started reading a book about Marlon Brando by Jörg Fauser (sleeper hit from the 80s), one of my favorite modern German writers, died young and quite long ago too though.
Nearly finished Hellraisers by Robert Sellers. It’s about Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole and Oliver Reed. Those boys were wild. They certainly don’t make em like that anymore. What a good read.
Started reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Enjoying it so far. Quite abit different from the books I tend to read.
Enjoying it so far. Quite abit different from the books I tend to read.
@The Corinthian
I’ve just finished reading Silence by Shusaku Eno. Overall it’s very similar to the Scorsese film but with a few key differences at the end.
I would still recommend it. It’s less than 200 pages and it’s really a brilliant novel. Definitely raised some interesting questions as well.
I’ve just finished reading Silence by Shusaku Eno. Overall it’s very similar to the Scorsese film but with a few key differences at the end.
I would still recommend it. It’s less than 200 pages and it’s really a brilliant novel. Definitely raised some interesting questions as well.
Thanks for this - going to buy it this week.
I read it a few years back and really liked it. It's very different to the Hammer Horror version, with its lumbering idiot monster.
I read Cixin Liu’s Three Body Problem this past week and enjoyed it. Mainly for the ideas presented in it. Not really read something from that perspective before. Just got the others in the trilogy but had a question about the end of the first for anyone who has read it?
I got the majority of the book but the whole Trisolarian thing where they folded a proton into different dimensions kind of threw me. I couldn’t really picture it. Is this something that it theoretically possible? I took it to mean they kind of unfolded it like a piece of paper, attached stuff to it so they could monitor and control it and then folded it back up before launching it towards earth. Is that right?
Picked up “The Trading Game” the other day. Not my normal thing.
yes. Ive had a few drinks so don't hold me to this but I think it is loosely based on some theoretical physics ideas that play with the particle-wave duality and string theory that resolves quantum mechanics and relativity with using 11 dimensions.
I could just be wrong and tipsy though so don't take my word for it but that's how I always interpreted the books speculation
I could just be wrong and tipsy though so don't take my word for it but that's how I always interpreted the books speculation
Going from Rich Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club -readable, funny here and there, but sentimal- to JM Coetzee's Waiting For The Barbarians has been quite a change of tone.