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New generic book thread
https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8436		 Page 17 of 21
Author:  Slightly Green [ Sat Jan 24, 2015 12:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Curiosity wrote:
Dresden gets steadily more powerful as the books go on :)


And than turns into a Emo drip :(
Author:  Cras [ Sat Jan 24, 2015 12:55 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Yeah unfortunately does a bit.
Author:  DavPaz [ Sat Jan 24, 2015 19:55 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
I'm on book 6 of Dresden. Having to audiobook now I'm driving to work. Actually quite enjoying being read to. James Masters (Spike from Buffy) is an excellent fit for the material
Author:  Slightly Green [ Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
DavPaz wrote:
I'm on book 6 of Dresden. Having to audiobook now I'm driving to work. Actually quite enjoying being read to. James Masters (Spike from Buffy) is an excellent fit for the material


Yup thats how I churned through most of them, the one book (Ghost Story iirc) is read by not-James Masters and suffered badly from it. The Audio book / kindle option is great for working through series
Author:  Satsuma [ Sun Jan 25, 2015 13:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
I've read a book!

I know, I'm great at reading.

But what was it? It was "Big Breasts and Wide Hips" by Mo Yan. Or was it Mo Yang? Wasn't he the guy who did Minecraft? Anyway, that guy.

Amoosing story first: I was looking for it for ages thanks to a fellow Beexer (I'm tempted to say Ruysan, but I can't remember (sorry) who mentioned it in the same sentence as Blood Meridian, which I super-lurrves (It's the only book I've read twice, fact fans). Anyhoo, I had a job at the time in Derby so I went looking in all the book shops to no avail. Then I went into Waterstones and was dared to ask a very lovely plump looking gal who worked there whether she could find the book cause I couldn't find it on the shelves.

So I tentatively marched up to the till and said "Have you got Big Breasts and Wide Hips?"

AHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHHHAHAHHAHAAHAAHAHAHHAHAAHAAHAHAHHAHAH

"...by Mo Yan". I actually said the authors name very quickly after the title because I coped out and I'm not a dickhead.

So, not a very amoosing story after all. But just think what could have happened, aye, Aye, AYE? Hilarious.

The book? It's very good and very depressing and lots of people die in a time when no one gave two shits if someone died. I'm tempted to write more but I lost all sensation in my finger tips tapping "AHAHAHHA etc" out above.

So, y'know, you'll have to pretend I was very convincing and get that book and maybe you will be the one to have an hilarious moment where you sexually assault a member of staff at Waterstones.

Oh, she didn't have it, by the way. I got it off Amazon.

This story is getting less amoosing by the character.

Bye!
Author:  DavPaz [ Wed Feb 04, 2015 17:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Dresden Book 6 finished. Much foreshadowing, methink.

Looking forward to Book 7. It's what makes driving bearable.

Edit: Removed some exclamation marks.
Author:  RuySan [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 15:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Saturnalian, i'm glad you enjoyed the book. That story had huge potential but it ended in pretty much nothing. I was expecting that you had asked the lovely plump girl for dinner, in these most improbable of circumstances, and ended up marrying.

Well too bad. If you want more bleakness in your life, try "Blindness". One of the best books I've ever read. You can go around searching for a book store with a blind clerk.
Author:  Curiosity [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 15:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
"Blindness" is a great book
Author:  Satsuma [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 20:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
It's not the book of the film or the film of the book is it? The one where everyone in the world goes blind?

If it's the film I'm thinking of it was very depressing and very well done. Who is the author so I can look it up?

Which is a dumb question because if I'm looking it up I could google "blindness the book" and probably get the same result.

Google, aye? It's made talking about things superfluous.
Author:  RuySan [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 20:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Yes it is. The film wasn't bad but wasn't great either. But to be fair, it's not something that it's easy to direct. Even though Meirelles is a great director, i think he was the wrong choice for this kind of movie.

"Blindness" directed by Gaspar Noé would have been a treat though.
Author:  Satsuma [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 20:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Well you were right about Big Breasts so I'll give this Blindness a go next (and since I liked the film). You've got excellent taste Mr Ruysan. I mean Ruy San. I mean Ruysan San.

And so on...
Author:  Kern [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 20:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
If you want something brilliant but depressing, try Shute's 'On the Beach'.

Read it for a forthcoming bookclub meet: think I might order a double whiskey before thinking about it again. It's even more of a downer than W******** D****, because at least I just tear up when I think of that one.
Author:  Slightly Green [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 20:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Kern wrote:
If you want something brilliant but depressing, try Shute's 'On the Beach'.

Read it for a forthcoming bookclub meet: think I might order a double whiskey before thinking about it again. It's even more of a downer than W******** D****, because at least I just tear up when I think of that one.


On the Beach is brilliant, but I found A Town Like Alice to be superior. Shute may lack a touch of elegance in his writing but he really can bring the pages to life.
Author:  Jem [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 20:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Finished The Awakening by Kate Chopin yesterday, after buying it yonks ago. Probably the only book where I've strongly identified with a character (the protagonist) which was weird, especially given the ending.
Author:  Satsuma [ Thu Feb 05, 2015 20:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Cause he had magic testicles?
Author:  Satsuma [ Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Kern wrote:
If you want something brilliant but depressing, try Shute's 'On the Beach'.

Read it for a forthcoming bookclub meet: think I might order a double whiskey before thinking about it again. It's even more of a downer than W******** D****, because at least I just tear up when I think of that one.


I've done a little reading up on this (ok, I went to wiki. Fine, you happy now) and it sounds awesome. Might give it a punt.
Author:  JBR [ Fri Feb 06, 2015 17:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Seconded - I read A Town Called Alice recently, loved it.
Author:  Findus Fop [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
For a long time in my late twenties I became suspicious of big books. As I neared and then passed the 30 year mark and discovered parenthood, I felt life ebbing away from me - and the thought of spending so much time reading one big book made me anxious. What else should I be reading? What was the opportunity cost of reading this big book. So I ended up reading nothing. Just internets. Just nonsense.

Thankfully, and for no apparent reason, I've overcome this mental block and started reading whatever I want, regardless of what it is. And I've read some good stuff lately. Edit - which now I've written about, I'm going to break into posts because it's far too much gumf for one post.
Author:  Findus Fop [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Reread James Ellroy's Dudley Smith trilogy (incidentally, if you haven't read this interview - do so, for it's one of the most entertaining I've ever read). The Big Nowhere and LA Confidential the dizzying high points, White Jazz failing to capture those heights down to a not-quite likeable protagonist (obviously they're all awful humans, but there's usually a charm to be teased out). Also the shift to solo operator from the trio of anti-hero protagonists meant I missed some of that hard-times camaradery and interweaving of threads Ellroy does so well.

Looking forward to reading his latest, Perfidia, though need a bit of a break from the staccato Demon Dog.
Author:  Findus Fop [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Then read that time-travelling one by Stephen King. Christ he goes on, doesn't he? Loved the way it ended, and some really evocative writing of the period, but wish he'd got there 40% faster. Can't remember what it's called. It's the date JFK was shot.
Author:  Findus Fop [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
And I just finished the Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Christ, she goes on too - but it contained some of the most beautiful prose I've read in a long while, and her painting of the stillness of Vegas hinterlands is really quite otherworldly. And she captures New York perfectly. It drags at times, but it's a pretty beautifully written thing - with a compelling story to boot. Not always common bedfellows.
Author:  Findus Fop [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
And now I'm reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! For the first time! Something to savour on each new page. I don't think I've ever felt such joy from reading a book. And I don't mind that I've watched the film - I feel quite happy imagining Martin Freeman and Mos Def as Dent and Ford Prefect. However, I'd be interested to know how they measured up to the mind-Dents and mind-Prefects of those who read the book many, many, many years before the film.
Author:  Kern [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Findus Fop wrote:
And now I'm reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! For the first time! Something to savour on each new page


Enjoy! I love the books, though there is a marked decline in the later volumes.

The best version is still the original radio series.
Author:  DavPaz [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:26 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Mos Def. Speak up, lad!
Author:  asfish [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 16:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Just finished Ash by James Herbert. The last book he wrote before he died.

Had high hopes as its the 3rd in a series which includes Haunted, which I though was brilliant

Not that great sadly.
Author:  Grim... [ Fri Feb 20, 2015 17:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
No, he went right off the boil some time ago (that fairy one he wrote was dire).

Creed or Moon are my favorites of his, I think.
Author:  Kern [ Wed Feb 25, 2015 13:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Recently finished Waugh's 'Sword of Honour'. An enjoyable farce, and given the amount of bureaucracy, administrative errors, and incompetence detailed in the novel, makes one wonder how we ever won the war. There are also the typical references to other Waugh novels, and the usual discussions of Catholicism.

I enjoyed it, but it kind of petered out towards the end.
Author:  asfish [ Thu Feb 26, 2015 8:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Now reading Raising Babies: Why Your Love is Best by Steve Biddulph

My wife is making me read it, don't really know why as this guy is saying that the best way to bring up a kid to 3 years old is with his parents. He has also done a lot across the EU to get parental leave and leave for fathers etc implement

My wife decided to not look for a job after her redundancy and bring up our son, whilst you can always do with the money we can afford for her to do this and I've always been fine with it.

We had a bit of a row about when he will go to pre school and for how long, my view is that he goes the September after he is 3 and for some full days to get him used to the school routine that will follow 12 months later

As a result I have to read this book as apparently I'm wrong :roll:
Author:  MaliA [ Fri Mar 13, 2015 15:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
I had a sci fi compendium of stories that had the following in it (I think):

"the luckiest man in Dencer" about a man who was the only man to vote using a big machine and this was an honour;
a story about a man in a zoo run by aliens who watched and laughed at him "the last man on earth sat alone in a room. The was a knock at the door...";
a stainless steel rat story,

Allagamoosa is a which is the only title I remember.

Anyway, there was another story in it. It was set in the US. There was a tv show on regularly in which the hist would gradually narrow down the locarina and description of a person and whomsoever killed them won a prize. What was it called?
Author:  MaliA [ Fri Mar 13, 2015 16:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?29172

Finded it

"It could be you" by Frank roberts
Author:  Trooper [ Sat Mar 14, 2015 12:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Interesting post on Kindle Unlimited from an author's perspective.

http://www.drewhayesnovels.com/recent/ku
Author:  RuySan [ Mon Mar 16, 2015 11:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
I've been reading The portrait of Dorian Grey, and while the beginning was brilliant, and full of wonderful quotes on the meaning of life, art and so on...it has started to drag on a bit and i get sleepy every time i come back to it.
Author:  MaliA [ Mon Mar 16, 2015 19:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Finished "The Man in the High Castle"
It was pretty good. I would recommend it.

Alternate history book not sci fi sci fi more a setting. Or something.
Author:  Slightly Green [ Mon Mar 16, 2015 21:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
MaliA wrote:
Alternate history



So you mean Fiction?
Author:  MaliA [ Mon Mar 16, 2015 21:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Slightly Green wrote:
MaliA wrote:
Alternate history



So you mean Fiction?


I think it is a setting. The world is one where the Third Reich and whatever we call Japan won WW2 and divided up the world.
Author:  Cras [ Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Sounds more like a genre.
Author:  myp [ Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Cras wrote:
Sounds more like a genre.

It is.
Author:  RuySan [ Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
I love Phillip K Dick, but i never read that one. I have it around somewhere so it's certainly going to be next.
Author:  Grim... [ Sat Apr 04, 2015 0:15 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
I finished The Paper Magician last night. It appears to be insanely popular, but I thought it was pretty dull.
Author:  Slightly Green [ Sat Apr 04, 2015 11:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Just finishing off The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton, am half way through The Naked God.

Its is a truly EPIC series which is pretty amazing in the scope and depth he managed to cram in, would happily recommend it to any Sci-fi fan
Author:  Warhead [ Fri Apr 10, 2015 0:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Neil Young's autobiography is not very good.
Author:  MaliA [ Mon May 04, 2015 20:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
After 4 chapters of absolutely terrible sentence construction, whole descriptions air dropped into the middle of narrative, forming islands of overblown color, I am giving up on Pattern Recognition. There probably is a good story in there, but it isn't my job to dig it out.
Author:  Kern [ Fri May 15, 2015 8:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Just finished Lawrence Wright's 'Going Clear', an expose of a famous ['religion' - Ed.] and its mysterious founder. Some shocking revelations about the practices and financing of the ['church' -Ed. ], all denied in footnotes.

He could handle the transition between chapters and topics a bit more deftly, however, and he sometimes omits a sense of the chronology or indication of the timescales of some of the stories. It's a fascinating read, even if you already know a little bit about the Galatic Confederacy and...

...Hello, there's some people at the door wanting to see me...
Author:  Kern [ Thu Jul 02, 2015 20:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Borrowed Jon Ronson's latest, So you've been publicly shamed, from the library recently and just finished it. Had the same issues with it as I've had with all his books, and I started reading his stuff back in 2002 (or thereabouts).

The stories themselves are interesting, but he darts from one topic to another somewhat arbitrarily, and the various parts never seem to hang together as well as you'd expect a book of this sort to do. There's also very little attempt at looking at the bigger picture, or providing anything other than the most obvious analysis of his evidence. His writing style, in particular his somewhat shameless namedropping, starts to grate after a while (as I mentioned to a Hollywood film star friend in some café in New York that was recommended to me by the Pope on a flight to LA who was reading my last work).

Whilst he always go for very fascinating topics and approaches, I think he's better at writing articles rather than novel-length works.

So, kind of fun, but glad I borrowed it rather than bought. Also, makes me very glad I don't use 'Twitter': I hadn't heard of most of the Twitterstorms discussed in the book.
Author:  MrChris [ Thu Jul 02, 2015 21:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Got hold of The Martian a couple of days ago, already finished it. Fantastic book, warm, funny and basically MacGuyver on Mars. And coming soon to a cinema near you with Matt Damon...
Author:  RuySan [ Fri Jul 03, 2015 18:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Summer has arrived, which means that I have to drop the tablet so I can have some beach reading. I have to raid my parents library soon. Books just take up to much space.

I've finished reading Blood of the Elves from the witcher saga, since I like the games so much, but it isn't that great.
Author:  Pundabaya [ Tue Jul 07, 2015 14:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Just finished the new The Laundry book by Charlie Stross. Again very good.
Author:  Morte [ Tue Jul 07, 2015 14:37 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Pundabaya wrote:
Just finished the new The Laundry book by Charlie Stross. Again very good.


The Annihilation Score?
Author:  Curiosity [ Tue Jul 07, 2015 15:59 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Morte wrote:
Pundabaya wrote:
Just finished the new The Laundry book by Charlie Stross. Again very good.


The Annihilation Score?


5-2
Author:  Pundabaya [ Tue Jul 07, 2015 17:36 ]
Post subject:  Re: New generic book thread
Morte wrote:
Pundabaya wrote:
Just finished the new The Laundry book by Charlie Stross. Again very good.


The Annihilation Score?

That's the one.
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