The Literature Thread

[Errkal]

Can anyone recommend a decent app to track authors so you get notified when they release new books.

I use good reads but find it's not really suitable for that it it's OK for what I have read/want to read

I think Goodreads does that, it also hooks into Kindle so it knows what you read and can give recommendations.

[Memento Mori]

Book 7 of The Wheel of Time was the slowest so far and all the major plot developments seemed to occur in the last 100 pages but I still enjoyed it.

It's book 8 onwards that are meant to be the best books in the series.

Is this like when an RPG only starts to get good 70 hours in?

I'm sure I've heard that books 8-10 are the worst of the series. It's been good up til now.

I have book 1 but haven't read it yet.

Book 1 is good but the first 200 pages or so are heavily inspired by Lord of the Rings. It does deviate dramatically though.

[poshrule_uk]

Can anyone recommend a decent app to track authors so you get notified when they release new books.

I use good reads but find it's not really suitable for that it it's OK for what I have read/want to read

I think Goodreads does that, it also hooks into Kindle so it knows what you read and can give recommendations.

I have also seen amazon let's you follow authors but they don't seem to have a page on your account where all that information is stored but I do get emails when new books are released

[Errkal]

Can anyone recommend a decent app to track authors so you get notified when they release new books.

I use good reads but find it's not really suitable for that it it's OK for what I have read/want to read

I think Goodreads does that, it also hooks into Kindle so it knows what you read and can give recommendations.

I have also seen amazon let's you follow authors but they don't seem to have a page on your account where all that information is stored but I do get emails when new books are released

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/fol ... _recs_v2_C

[poshrule_uk]

Can anyone recommend a decent app to track authors so you get notified when they release new books.

I use good reads but find it's not really suitable for that it it's OK for what I have read/want to read

I think Goodreads does that, it also hooks into Kindle so it knows what you read and can give recommendations.

I have also seen amazon let's you follow authors but they don't seem to have a page on your account where all that information is stored but I do get emails when new books are released

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/fol ... _recs_v2_C

You genius!!!
I feel stupid now and I spent ages looking

[Errkal]

Can anyone recommend a decent app to track authors so you get notified when they release new books.

I use good reads but find it's not really suitable for that it it's OK for what I have read/want to read

I think Goodreads does that, it also hooks into Kindle so it knows what you read and can give recommendations.

I have also seen amazon let's you follow authors but they don't seem to have a page on your account where all that information is stored but I do get emails when new books are released

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/fol ... _recs_v2_C

You genius!!!
I feel stupid now and I spent ages looking

No worries, I have a nack for finding things others can’t.

[Rex Kramer]

Just started reading Warday, it's an oral history of the aftermath of a fictional limited nuclear exchange between USA and Russia. Released back in the 80s, think of it as World War Z (which seems to have lifted much of its structure from this) and Threads. It's pretty grim so far and I'm not expecting it to get much cheerier. Seems a lot more grounded in reality than most post apocalyptic stuff.

[Lex-Man]

Finished reading Lab Rats it was pretty interesting. It starts off talking about how works got worse over the years because of the focus on returning profit for share holders and how that's starting to shift back with ethical businesses.

Stated to read Dracula. About a third through don't think it's that amazing to be honest.

[Rodders9]

I enjoyed playing God of War so much that I’ve started reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. There are some great stories in this book.

[Lex-Man]

I finished Dracula I actually really dislike the book. I ended up hating most of the characters and the whole book being found documents kind of killed the any sense of jeopardy.

[Zilnad]

I like Dracula. Absolutely hated the Gary Oldman film though. I had to switch it off part way through.

[Lex-Man]

I feel like it was worth reading because of the differences between the original book and the movie representation and lore that was built after afterwards but I can't pretend that I really enjoyed it. Also Van Helsing seemed like a conspiracy theory nutter.

[Lex-Man]

Finished the third Horus Heresy book Galaxy on Fire. It wasn't as well written as the first two which is a shame because it documents the first big event of the Heresy.

Started reading "If the Universe is teeming with life ... where is everybody."

[Meep]

I finished Dracula I actually really dislike the book. I ended up hating most of the characters and the whole book being found documents kind of killed the any sense of jeopardy.

I enjoyed the first part in the castle. After things move back to England it's boring as hell apart from a few parts. It's not surprising that none of the movies have ever really accurately followed the novel without heavy adaption.

Talking about classic literature, I got around to reading Moby Dick earlier this year. It's the same kind of deal, interesting to start with but then drags on for too long about things that ultimately have no bearing on the plot. I think this is really an issue with books written before more modern forms of entertainment were available. Their writers were not competing for time or attention against much else so there was no need to make things punchy. The idea was to keep the reader entertained as long as possible, hence a lot of pointless filler in chapters that could easily be cut before the final print but were left in. Once you get to the pulp fiction era things become much more palatable for a modern brain and its monstrously short attention span.

Currently I am reading Idoru by William Gibson mainly due to all the 2077 news giving me a cyberpunk itch.

[Lex-Man]

I finished Dracula I actually really dislike the book. I ended up hating most of the characters and the whole book being found documents kind of killed the any sense of jeopardy.

I enjoyed the first part in the castle. After things move back to England it's boring as hell apart from a few parts. It's not surprising that none of the movies have ever really accurately followed the novel without heavy adaption.

Talking about classic literature, I got around to reading Moby Dick earlier this year. It's the same kind of deal, interesting to start with but then drags on for too long about things that ultimately have no bearing on the plot. I think this is really an issue with books written before more modern forms of entertainment were available. Their writers were not competing for time or attention against much else so there was no need to make things punchy. The idea was to keep the reader entertained as long as possible, hence a lot of pointless filler in chapters that could easily be cut before the final print but were left in. Once you get to the pulp fiction era things become much more palatable for a modern brain and its monstrously short attention span.

Currently I am reading Idoru by William Gibson mainly due to all the 2077 news giving me a cyberpunk itch.

I actually read Moby Dick earlier this year. I thought that was a lot better than Dracula although it definitely loses it's was once they get to sea. Melville seems a lot more interested with documenting his views on whaling than telling a story.

[Meep]

It's actually kind of interesting as you have a document detailing a extinct way of life in very fine detail, however that's not exactly what I signed up for.

[Tafdolphin]

Book 7 of The Wheel of Time was the slowest so far and all the major plot developments seemed to occur in the last 100 pages but I still enjoyed it.

It's book 8 onwards that are meant to be the best books in the series.

Is this like when an RPG only starts to get good 70 hours in?

I'm sure I've heard that books 8-10 are the worst of the series. It's been good up til now.

I have book 1 but haven't read it yet.

Book 1 is good but the first 200 pages or so are heavily inspired by Lord of the Rings. It does deviate dramatically though.

I found my enjoyment nose-dived completely I had a "once-seen-can't-be-unseen" revelation:

Jordan can't write women. At all. All of his women characters are horrible stereotypes or male fantasy figures.

Also the books in generally just started dragging after 5. Gave up around 7 I think.

[Memento Mori]

Book 7 of The Wheel of Time was the slowest so far and all the major plot developments seemed to occur in the last 100 pages but I still enjoyed it.

It's book 8 onwards that are meant to be the best books in the series.

Is this like when an RPG only starts to get good 70 hours in?

I'm sure I've heard that books 8-10 are the worst of the series. It's been good up til now.

I have book 1 but haven't read it yet.

Book 1 is good but the first 200 pages or so are heavily inspired by Lord of the Rings. It does deviate dramatically though.

I found my enjoyment nose-dived completely I had a "once-seen-can't-be-unseen" revelation:

Jordan can't write women. At all. All of his women characters are horrible stereotypes or male fantasy figures.

Also the books in generally just started dragging after 5. Gave up around 7 I think.

Oh definitely. And not being able to write women is a problem when there are so many female characters because the majority of magic users in the books are women.

[Meep]

Are you talking about Wheel of Time? I remember reading the first one years ago and I couldn't finish it. Too many cliché fantasy tropes piling up.

[Zilnad]

Finished Altered Carbon last night. Was in the mood for something sci-fi after playing Deus Ex and this definitely hit the spot. Not the best or cleverest book in the world but it kept me entertained and the overall premise was interesting. Very seedy though. The first sex scene was awkwardly graphic and not at all sexy. I thought it was appropriate to the particular scene but then all the sex was like that and there was lots of it, which would make me hesitate to recommend it to friends.

I might watch the Netflix series now to see how it compares. Think I'll read a comic book next, maybe Watchmen.