The GF book thread

[Paul]

Gave up on that and re-read The Swiss Family Robinson instead. Not read it since I was about seven or eight, I reckon and it has deffo lost quite a lot in that time. There’s pretty much zero peril, which is bizarre for a castaway story. There’s definitely a pleasure in them building their own little world though, even if they’ve conveniently recovered virtually everything they could possibly want or need from the wreck and the dad knows how to do EVERYTHING.

 

It had my imagination racing as a kid whereas now it reads like an affirmation of the importance of family. Still, I enjoyed it overall.

 

Now on Hyperion by Dan Simmonds, which is an SF thing with great reviews. It’s started well.

[Karl_b]

Shame you didn't get on with 'The Fifth Season's, Paul. It did take a little to get in to but I didn't have the issues with it that you did.

 

Let us know what you think of 'Hyperion' as it's one I've had on my list for years but never got round to buying.

[Numero Veinticinco]

What are people's opinions on audiobooks? I've started listening to them in the car. I'm enjoying listening to Every Dead Thing. Almost finished now. I've acquired a fuck load of others from this thread too.

[Elite]

Anyone else read Linwood Barclay, I think he's a great author.

[Elite]

What are people's opinions on audiobooks? I've started listening to them in the car. I'm enjoying listening to Every Dead Thing. Almost finished now. I've acquired a fuck load of others from this thread too.

I can't be arsed with them, I end up just hearing the narrator speak and don't particularly follow the story.

[Numero Veinticinco]

I can't be arsed with them, I end up just hearing the narrator speak and don't particularly follow the story.

Yeah, I've heard a few people say something similar. I actually feel the opposite way. When I'm reading a book, I tend to keep reading and also think about something else. When there's somebody talking, it keeps me focused on the story. I guess it's a different strokes thing. I have to be honest, I've not heard many people say they like them. They normally say something like, 'I fucked it off after 10 minutes'.

[SasaS]

Well, I now use them almost exclusively, I think I might not be able to go back to reading, like George Costanza.

 

[Paul]

What are people's opinions on audiobooks? I've started listening to them in the car. I'm enjoying listening to Every Dead Thing. Almost finished now. I've acquired a fuck load of others from this thread too.

Don’t really have an opinion as such. I don’t listen to them because my listening time is consumed entirely with music. Plus I really like reading and I have a set routine of reading in bed both at night and in the morning (other times too but that depends on opportunity and mood).

[Paul]

Shame you didn't get on with 'The Fifth Season's, Paul. It did take a little to get in to but I didn't have the issues with it that you did.

 

Let us know what you think of 'Hyperion' as it's one I've had on my list for years but never got round to buying.

I’ve no doubt the fault is mine mate. I’ve got a short attention span with books. They need to grab me early on or I just lose focus and interest. It’s why I don’t read literary fiction.

[Karl_b]

I’ve no doubt the fault is mine mate. I’ve got a short attention span with books. They need to grab me early on or I just lose focus and interest. It’s why I don’t read literary fiction.

It just straddled the right side of being too heavy for me. It's not quite the Book of Malazan which I ditched when I realised it was going nowhere and was exhausting after 2 books. Supposedly a masterpiece but it just didn't hold my attention.

 

I rarely give up on a book, there are probably fewer than five that I've ever done so part way through. However I just stopped reading a book by the architect and academic Jeremy Till which was the single most pretentious steaming pile of horseshit I've ever read. Architects are wankers. Apart from Louis Kahn, who's biography I've picked up instead and which is a terrific read.

[Tourt]

Just finished the Detective Sean Duffy quartet by Irish author Adrian McKinty.

 

A dazzling read.

 

The series is based in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

 

Each novel is woven around an historic event; the Bobby Sands hunger strike, The De Lorean affair, The Brighton Bomb, The Jimmy Saville boys home scandal. It features Sean Duffy, a Catholic detective in the protestant Ulster police force.

 

The hero is a randy, Liverpool supporting, Tom Waits fan who hates his protestant, Man U supporting working class neighbour and enjoys listening to radio Albania if there’s nothing good on R3 when smoking weed supplied by his toothless-lion owning local dealer as he coasts through the Times crossword with ease.

 

A clever cop, whose career is blighted by his inability to gain a conviction in court and the enmity of his superiors.

 

Detective Duffy is an authentic head full.

 

The novels need to be read in order. Apart from being mystery, “ who dun it’s”, they explain why the IRA had no option but to abandon their struggle and why, in the authors view at least, there will be a united Ireland eventually.

 

A thoughtful, entertaining read and cheap as chips to buy on Kindle.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Currently reading the way of kings by Brandon sanderson. An epic fantasy very easy reading. I'm enjoying it.

[KopOut]

Dr. Zhivago (Boris Pasternak) first published in 1957 in Italy. The novel is named after its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, a physician and poet, and takes place between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and World War II.

 

* Due to the author's independent-minded stance on the October Revolution, Doctor Zhivago was refused publication in the USSR. At the instigation of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, the manuscript was smuggled to Milan and published in 1957. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature the following year, an event which embarrassed and enraged the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.*

[SasaS]

Just finished the Detective Sean Duffy quartet by Irish author Adrian McKinty.

 

A dazzling read.

 

The series is based in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

 

Each novel is woven around an historic event; the Bobby Sands hunger strike, The De Lorean affair, The Brighton Bomb, The Jimmy Saville boys home scandal. It features Sean Duffy, a Catholic detective in the protestant Ulster police force.

 

The hero is a randy, Liverpool supporting, Tom Waits fan who hates his protestant, Man U supporting working class neighbour and enjoys listening to radio Albania if there’s nothing good on R3 when smoking weed supplied by his toothless-lion owning local dealer as he coasts through the Times crossword with ease.

 

A clever cop, whose career is blighted by his inability to gain a conviction in court and the enmity of his superiors.

 

Detective Duffy is an authentic head full.

 

The novels need to be read in order. Apart from being mystery, “ who dun it’s”, they explain why the IRA had no option but to abandon their struggle and why, in the authors view at least, there will be a united Ireland eventually.

 

A thoughtful, entertaining read and cheap as chips to buy on Kindle.

 

 

Thanks for the tip. Will check it out.

[Anubis]

Has anyone here written a book?

Written by our very own Agent Provocateur.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Russia-Daniel-Thomas-ebook/dp/B014MVLEE8/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1528058460&sr=8-8&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=mother+russia&dpPl=1&dpID=51PN5o69HVL&ref=plSrch

 

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/index.php?/topic/108530-mother-russia-my-novel/

[mars]

For the sci-fi fans, Becky Chambers' "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" and "A Closed and Common Orbit" (Wayfarers series). Warning - these are not hard sci-fi, blow up the galaxy books; the crew social dynamics are fascinating and it's one of those books that creatively imagines alien social interaction. 

 

City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty - a fantasy novel with an Arabian setting. One of the best fantasy novels I have read in a while; Grey Sister was good but I couldn't put City of Brass down.

[Numero Veinticinco]

Has anybody read We are Legion (We are Bob)? It’s fucking excellent, so far at least. One of the most enjoyable books I’ve had in years. Highly recommend.

[Paul]

I finished Hyperion by Dan Simmonds. It was cleverly written and entertaining in places. However, it didn’t drag me in like the best books do and I don’t feel the urge to read the next one.

 

I started Storm Front (Dresden Files 1) last night by Jim Butcher. It’s set in contemporary Chicago and the main character is a wizard for hire. The language, setting, tone and pacing are all very much like crime fiction. However, in the world of the novel magic is real, even if most people aren’t aware of it.

 

It’s started brilliantly and I have high hopes that it’s a series I’ll see all the way through.

[Rico1304]

I’m reading ‘So you’ve been publicly shamed’ by Jon ronsen, very good indeed.

[REDTALISKER]

 

I started Storm Front (Dresden Files 1) last night by Jim Butcher. It’s set in contemporary Chicago and the main character is a wizard for hire. The language, setting, tone and pacing are all very much like crime fiction. However, in the world of the novel magic is real, even if most people aren’t aware of it.

 

It’s started brilliantly and I have high hopes that it’s a series I’ll see all the way through.

I thought the same and have read everything bar the last published book. Never got round to the fifteen entry because something or other had disgruntled me by that point. I'd like to say exactly what that was but my memory is a little foggy on the whys. It's entirely possible that both are linked to the fact that my read through occurred in just over a fortnight.  Think I may have been a little frazzled at the end. They are still super popular so I am probably alone in whatever was upsetting me.

[REDTALISKER]

One last thing. He was writing on average one book per year until 2014 but since then there has been the writing equivalent of radio silence. Not quite Martin levels of worry but the series has no end currently. 

[TheBitch]

I’m reading ‘So you’ve been publicly shamed’ by Jon ronsen, very good indeed.

 

A subject close to your heart, eh?

[Rico1304]

A subject close to your heart, eh?

Ha ha yes! It is enlightening, some of the behaviour described is exactly what happens on here.

[TheBitch]

I've recently read:

 

The good thief's guide to Amsterdam.

........................................Paris.

........................................Vegas.

........................................Venice.

 

By Chris Ewan.

 

Series is based around a writer who is also supplements his income by being a thief. Funny, easy to read, description of the cities are good, hard to put down once you've started, ideal for a sunlounger on holiday.

[The Great Jacko]

Anyone else read Linwood Barclay, I think he's a great author.

Yes read most of his stuff. Have you read anything by Harlan Coben? I think he’s better tbh, very similar concepts though with great sense of humour.