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Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Mon May 21, 2018 12:07 am
by Alvin Flummux
Moggy wrote:
Gemini73 wrote:
Rex Kramer wrote:
Gemini73 wrote:On a recommendation by my father I've just begun Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden.

"Wolf of the Plains is a historical novel from English author Conn Iggulden. It is the first book in the Conqueror series based on the Mongols of the Asian steppes"

The main focus centres around Ganghis Khan. Only a few chapters in, but it's really good so far.

As an accompaniment I'd suggest Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast series on the Mongols. Well worth a listen.


Cheers, I'll check it out


You will not go wrong there, Dan Carlin’s Wrath of the Khans is fantastic.


Add some Mongolian throat singing into the mix and you're set.



:wub: I bought their album on the strength of that performance. Wonderful stuff.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Sun May 27, 2018 11:25 pm
by Tragic Magic
Anyone have any Yakuza fiction they would recommend? I'm really in the mood for something like that but I've never heard of any good examples. Reading the final Witcher book at the minute so it would be good to read something completely different.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 1:54 pm
by Errkal
Managed to finally break my compulsion to complete sets and break out of reading all Stephen King books, have wanted to for a while so I can be free to read whatever as I have had short list of other stuff I wanted to read and have finally done it.

So today I start book 1 of The Expanse. I loved the show so I figure the books will be epic.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 2:32 pm
by abcd
I did not like the book.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 2:41 pm
by Errkal
abcd wrote:I did not like the book.


:lol: thats a good start then aye.... Fingers crossed I do, but if it sucks I'll not bother with the subsequent books. Planning on reading the Altered Carbon books after this.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 2:47 pm
by Tafdolphin
I found the books as follows:

1: Good.
2: Dull, largely filler.
3: Good.
4: Utter rubbish, a waste of a book.
5: Great, with a genuinely shocking conclusion.
6: Good.
7: V good.

Seriously, the ending of 5 is...so good.

Altered Carbon is a good one too, much better than the series.

In a similar vein, almost done with Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash.

It's great.

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 1:41 pm
by Rubix
Reading one of the Witcher books (in my sig) not sure what to make of it. Strange being short stories but ill see how the others pan out.

Quite enjoyed Harry Potter and the cursed child. Not the usual but an enjoyable read none the less. Think she could easily make more books

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 1:48 pm
by <]:^D
impressive bump!

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 7:04 pm
by Rubix
<]:^D wrote:impressive bump!


Wasnt a need to create a new topic

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:41 pm
by Johnny Ryall
Matt Haig's Notes on a Nervous Planet

Really recommend for anyone with anxiety or depression or who just feels a bit gooseberry fool.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/ ... aig-review

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:46 pm
by Jenuall
Didn't we have a currently active literature thread knocking about?

Either way I'm reading The Cyclist Who Went Out In The Cold by Tim Moore at the moment and have been really enjoying it! I've been meaning to read some of his stuff for a while and I'm glad I finally took the plunge.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 4:27 pm
by That
(Posts moved to The Literature Thread.)

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:30 pm
by KomandaHeck
Rubix wrote:Reading one of the Witcher books (in my sig) not sure what to make of it. Strange being short stories but ill see how the others pan out.


Did you read The Last Wish beforehand? I really enjoyed the Witcher novels and I'm looking forward to reading them again before I replay the games some day.

I've been trying to get into the routine of reading more frequently over the last few weeks, it's something I consider very important but have been neglecting for a while now. I've finished To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984 and I'm almost done with Cloud Atlas since making an effort to pick the hobby back up and it feels great.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:01 pm
by Johnny Ryall
Yeah I've been trying to read as much as possible this year. Finished Notes on a Nervous Planet, it had a lot of good advice and quotes I'll take to heart.

Read Lemon Jail earlier in one sitting which is a short memoir from one of the road crew for The Replacements. Nothing really learned from it but it's an entertaining read.

About a third of the way through The Charmed Life of Alex Moore now which is just getting towards some matrix style plot twists.

I tell you what I can't stand is book snobs, you know the sort of people who scoff because you are reading a book that's just been adapted to film. Who gives a gooseberry fool what you read as long as you enjoy it. It's for fun min.

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:10 pm
by Rubix
SugarDave wrote:
Rubix wrote:Reading one of the Witcher books (in my sig) not sure what to make of it. Strange being short stories but ill see how the others pan out.


Did you read The Last Wish beforehand? I really enjoyed the Witcher novels and I'm looking forward to reading them again before I replay the games some day.

I've been trying to get into the routine of reading more frequently over the last few weeks, it's something I consider very important but have been neglecting for a while now. I've finished To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984 and I'm almost done with Cloud Atlas since making an effort to pick the hobby back up and it feels great.


No this is my first witcher book

Re: Currently Reading/Last Book Read

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:44 pm
by KomandaHeck
Rubix wrote:
SugarDave wrote:
Rubix wrote:Reading one of the Witcher books (in my sig) not sure what to make of it. Strange being short stories but ill see how the others pan out.


Did you read The Last Wish beforehand? I really enjoyed the Witcher novels and I'm looking forward to reading them again before I replay the games some day.

I've been trying to get into the routine of reading more frequently over the last few weeks, it's something I consider very important but have been neglecting for a while now. I've finished To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984 and I'm almost done with Cloud Atlas since making an effort to pick the hobby back up and it feels great.


No this is my first witcher book


I'd recommend reading it after you're done with Sword of Destiny (unless you don't like the books and stop, of course). I might be misremembering bits and pieces but I think all the stories in Last Wish take place earliest in the timeline and it contains some key stories like Geralt's first meeting with Yennefer and the contract that is essentially the seed of him being tied to Ciri.

They were probably my favourite two books of the seven.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:51 pm
by Ironhide
Just started Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky and I'm liking it so far, its a bit odd to get used to reading from the perspective of a 7 foot tall genetically modified attack dog but I guess that is the point.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:41 pm
by Memento Mori
After reading The Outsider (good but the second half is worse than the first) I've gone back to my attempt to go through every Stephen King book I haven't read. I'm up to the 90s.

Rage-
I'd say it was the worst book I've ever read but it was so bad I couldn't even finish it properly. Ending up just speed-reading/ skimming. Irredeemably awful.
The Dead Zone- Great but a touch too long. Scarily topical given Trump.
Night Shift- Because of the cover I was waiting for a story about a haunted scarecrow and I was severely disappointed- Children of the Corn was trash. I Am the Doorway was a great creepy body-horror story and I enjoyed Gray Matter too.
Firestarter- Way too long and it's a mediocre book anyway.
The Long Walk- Great.
Roadwork- Trash.
The Running Man- The Arnold film was a lot better.
Danse Macabre- Felt it like King was repeating himself by the end, not recommended.
Cujo- Excellent, one of his best. I was surprised because I assumed it was going to be a story about the dog roaming around town murdering people and it's basically confined to one location.
Cycle of the Werewolf- Out of print so I had to pay too much for what is basically a pamphlet. Don't bother.
Christine- Too long and I'm still not entirely sure what was going on with the car. I think the story would have been more coherent if Christine was possessed by Lebay's wife rather than LeBay himself. The jealousy angle would have made more sense.
The Shawshank Redemption- A classic.
Apt Pupil- Grim :dread: Even worse when you hear what Bryan Singer was up to when they made the movie.
The Body- It was fine.
The Breathing Method- Pretty slight.
Thinner-Middle of the road King.
Pet Sematary- :datass: Top tier King. Was hoping it was going to be scarier though considering its reputation. I love a good bleak ending though.
The Tommyknockers- Considering how much people seem to hate this, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. :lol: Far too long though and pacing is weird. The town vignettes weren't integrated as well as similar stuff in 'Salem's Lot and Cujo.

The Losers' Club podcast has mentioned several times how if King implies something it's fact and that's especially true here. Hillman hears laughter coming from the Derry Hospital drains which is a fun creepy image and then King undermines it by having Pennywise appear in person a few hundred pages later. Sometimes subtlety is better.

Needful Things is up next.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:59 am
by Tafdolphin
King is the only author whose works I enjoy more through their Wikipedia entries than the actual novels. The man's imagination is utterly unmatched but I dislike his actual writing style.

My cyberpunk tour has taken me through Neuromancer and Snow Crash and I'm now onto The Windup Girl. I'm running a cyberpunk tabletop RPG at the moment and one of the first things we agreed on whilst creating the world was that we didn't want it to be set in America. Windup Girl is a good example of how effective 'foreign' settings can be in establishing a world full of 'otherness.' The Thailand it presents is fascinatingly drawn, and immediately hooked me.

Re: The Literature Thread

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 1:57 pm
by Ironhide
I wrote:Just started Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky and I'm liking it so far, its a bit odd to get used to reading from the perspective of a 7 foot tall genetically modified attack dog but I guess that is the point.


This book is utterly insane, there's also a gun wielding bear, a sniper lizard and a sentient swarm of cybernetic bees.