The GF book thread

[Babb'sBurstNad]

I just like the feel of a book. It's little things, like idly thumbing pages, seeing your bookmark and knowing how far you're into it, and that sense of closure from shutting it for the last time. 

 

I'm not a luddite, I've ripped all my music to FLAC and Blu-ray may be the last disc format I buy (unless some decent older titles get the Dolby Vision UHD treatment) as streaming is getting better. However, when it comes to books I can't help feeling anything in a digital format loses some of the magic. It feels like it cheapens the words somehow.

 

My fine collection of Viz annuals, for instance, wouldn't seem as highbrow on an e-reader.

[Dr Nowt]

5 hours ago, Tony Moanero said:

Yeah, of course. I do use digital media but prefer physical media. I love spending hours in book and record shops, especially second hand ones, trawling through shit, trying to find a needle in a haystack. I enjoy tracking stuff down, be it spending hours in shops or searching for (often on a daily, weekly and monthly basis) stuff on eBay. It’s the the frill of the chase. Often, I’ll finally get my hands on something that I’ve wanted for ages, then end up not even using it and just moving on to the next thing.

[Dave D]

9 hours ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

Never been arsed with arguments of physical media either. People argue that records are better than lossless digital audio, people argue that they prefer TV over Netflix. Books over Kindle. Headphone jacks over Bluetooth. All sorts of stuff. I think it’s way more to do with a subjective familiarity and/or nostalgia than any real reflection about what’s better.

 

Nah, fuck it. Give me 500 HD shows and 1000 movies at my fingertips over rows of VHS, DVDs, and BR. Give me a library of 1000000 songs that fit in my pocket over racks and boxes of CDs and vinyl. Give me crisp, clear, high definition at an I stand. Give me a library of instantly obtainable, searchable books that I can take anywhere over shelves of books. If you enjoy physical stuff, more power to you. I fucked all that stuff off years ago. 

 

I like being out for a run (or more accurately, a ‘holding my knees 100m down the road’) and listening to an audiobook, then being able to play it anywhere in the house when I’m home. I like having my media anywhere I go, streamable and in high quality. I’m a digital man now. 

Lying techno nerd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul]

As I read in bed a lot, kindle is superb as it’s lighter and back lit. It’s also ace for travelling. I get through at least a book every other day on holiday so it saves loads of weight. 

 

I also read too much to keep every book I read as a physical copy. We’ve given away literally thousands of books over the years and still have too many. They take up too much space and relatively few get re-read. 

[Chairman Meow]

I'm looking for something new to get into. Most of the stuff I have sitting waiting to be read is fairly heavy so looking for something a bit lighter and cheery at the moment.

 

Looking for stuff maybe along the lines of Joe Lansdale, George MacDonald Fraser or Raymond Chandler so a mix of serious but with some humour to it. 

 

Also a massive fan of Wodehouse for something really just light but superbly written.

 

Any ideas might GF? Rapey I am looking in your direction. 

[El Rojo]

What’s a good starting point with Wodehouse for someone new to him, fams? 

[Chairman Meow]

The first things I had were various Jeeves and Wooster editions before I bought the full collection.

 

If you don't like those then you're unlikely to like anything else he does. From there I'd maybe move onto his Blandings series next. 

 

In most of his books almost nothing really happens, Jeeves and Wooster in particularly has the loosest thread of a plot, it's just the sheer joy of the way he writes and describes him.

 

I think that's why I loved Raymond Chandler from the off as well, he was a massive fan of Wodehouse and it shows. His writing is a bit more hard boiled but the Wodehouse descriptiveness and throwaway lines are there all the time. 

[Chairman Meow]

Alternatively just google for Wodehouse quotes. If they tickle your fancy you will love the books.

Quote

I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.

 

Quote

The Right Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say “When!”

 

Quote

The glimpses I had caught of his face from the corner of the eyes had told me that he was grim and resolute, his supply of the milk of human kindness plainly short by several gallons.

 

[Sugar Ape]

Few quick ones, check out Donald Ray Pollock, specifically The Devil all the time. Knockemstiff is good by him too. 

 

If you like Chandler then Dan Simmons’ Joe Kurtz trilogy Hardcase, Hard as nails and Hard freeze are definitely worth checking out. Absolutely superb hard boiled detective novels.

[Sugar Ape]

16 hours ago, chevettehs said:

I'm looking for something new to get into. Most of the stuff I have sitting waiting to be read is fairly heavy so looking for something a bit lighter and cheery at the moment.

 

Looking for stuff maybe along the lines of Joe Lansdale, George MacDonald Fraser or Raymond Chandler so a mix of serious but with some humour to it. 

 

Also a massive fan of Wodehouse for something really just light but superbly written.

 

Any ideas might GF? Rapey I am looking in your direction. 

 

I’ve recommended Robert B.Parker on here loads of times but don’t think anyone had ever taken him up... hopefully you will be the first! - Unless you’ve already read his Spenser series (or seen the jarg spenser for hire 80s TV show based on them). 

 

He’s the only modern author who compares more than favourably to hard boiled authors like Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Ross Macdonald etc... in fact, he was asked by the estate of Chandler to complete his last unfinished novel Poodle Springs in the 80s. You can also see very clearly his style in the Elvis Cole books by Robert Crais, The Kenzie/Gennaro books by Dennis Lehmane and countless others. 

 

There are 40 odd books in the Spenser series to get through starting with the Godwulf Manuscript which he wrote in the early 70s through to Silent Night from 2013 completed posthumously.

 

Along with James Lee Burke he’s the best crime writer of the last century in my opinion so I hope you give them a go - the books have loads of action are really funny at times and are beautifully written. 

[Chairman Meow]

Cheers rapey, I've done some of the Spenser books having discovered him through him finishing off Poodle Springs.

 

Been reading Lehaine and Pelecanos for longer than I care to remember.

 

I've added a couple from your previous post my list, might jump into trying James Lee Burke first as I saw something where Lansdale recommended him and I figured if it's good enough for Joe it should be good. A second recommendation from you so I'll go with that. 

 

 

Actually as an aside have you read any of the Bryant and May books by Christopher Fowler? I think you might enjoy them. 

[Sugar Ape]

Aye I’ve read 4/5 of them and enjoyed them but I need to do them all in order when I get the chance. 

 

You’ll love the Robicheaux books by Burke mate. I’ve read them through at least three times and they get better every time.

[Ian Sea]

I’ve read the Jesse Stone series (which is great) and am intermittently making my way through the Spenser series, which is very good too. I think I’m 5 books in so far, will have to dive back in soon. 

[SammyAftershave]

17 hours ago, Sugar Ape said:

Few quick ones, check out Donald Ray Pollock, specifically The Devil all the time. Knockemstiff is good by him too. 

 

If you like Chandler then Dan Simmons’ Joe Kurtz trilogy Hardcase, Hard as nails and Hard freeze are definitely worth checking out. Absolutely superb hard boiled detective novels.

I'd second this. I loved 'Devil all the Time' although I appreciate it wouldn't be every bodies cup of tea. I'm currently re-reading Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian', it's vicious and brutally cruel but beautifully written. Not unlike the aforementioned.

[Numero Veinticinco]

Can somebody hit me up with some Sci-Fi recommendations? 1990s onwards if possible.

[Mudface]

If you like Space Opera, Peter F Hamilton's Nights Dawn trilogy and his earlier Greg Mandel novels are very good. Iain M Banks's Culture novels are superb. A friend likes Neal Asher and Alastair Reynolds, although I didn't particularly get into them. I enjoyed Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon trilogy (also on Netflix with loads of tits). Peter Watts is good for harder sci-fi. For short stories, Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life is fantastic (one of the stories was adapted into Arrival).

[Sugar Ape]

1 hour ago, Slippin’ Jimmy said:

Can somebody hit me up with some Sci-Fi recommendations? 1990s onwards if possible.

 

I know you’re big on the ol’ audiobooks, you should get on to Neil Gaiman ASAP it you haven’t already. Some really quality audiobooks by him. 

 

Norse Mythology, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, Coraline and Good Omens are all great. The American Gods one with a full cast is particularly good and much better than the TV series based on it.

 

Good Omens - co-wrote with Terry Pratchett -  is also as funny a book as you’ll find and should get an airing before the TV adaptation hits. 

 

The BBC also do abridged full cast Radio adaptations for Good Omens, American Gods, Neverwhere, Norse Mythology etc... which run about 3hrs each. They’re all worth a look at too. Some big names in them, James Mcavoy, Bendedict Cumberbatch and Christopher Lee are all in the Neverwhere adaptation if I recall correctly. Think they’re all on Myanonamouse.

 

My other recommendation would be Son or the morning and Son of the night by Mark Alder.

[Numero Veinticinco]

4 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

 

I know you’re big on the ol’ audiobooks, you should get on to Neil Gaiman ASAP it you haven’t already. Some really quality audiobooks by him. 

 

Norse Mythology, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, Coraline and Good Omens are all great. The American Gods one with a full cast is particularly good and much better than the TV series based on it.

 

Good Omens - co-wrote with Terry Pratchett -  is also as funny a book as you’ll find and should get an airing before the TV adaptation hits. 

 

The BBC also do abridged full cast Radio adaptations for Good Omens, American Gods, Neverwhere, Norse Mythology etc... which run about 3hrs each. They’re all worth a look at too. Some big names in them, James Mcavoy, Bendedict Cumberbatch and Christopher Lee are all in the Neverwhere adaptation if I recall correctly. Think they’re all on Myanonamouse.

 

My other recommendation would be Son or the morning and Son of the night by Mark Alder. 

I've got Norse Mythology which I've listened to three times (narrated by the author). It's fucking excellent. I'll take a look at some of those. I've not got a myanonamouse account. Any chance of an invite so I can... erm... buy them from there?

[El Rojo]

In terms of good recent humourous stuff, Joshua Ferris is well worth checking out. 

[Edward.]

Reading American Gods at the minute really enjoying it.

[Chairman Meow]

Got Hardcase by Dan Simmons and The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke to have a go at.

 

Need to get searching in the loft as well to see where I am at on the Bryant and May books, I was totally up to date but I think I'm a couple behind now.

 

I have been reading the new(ish) Vietnam book by Max Hastings, it's excellent, but it's nice to have a bit of fiction to get lost in as well.

[Paul]

Just read a pair of books called The Aftermath by two SF writers - Dave Hutchinson and Adam Roberts - who were commissioned by their publisher to write a novel each in a world they created together. It sounds very gimmicky, I know, but I didn’t realise until I’d finished the first one, Shelter, and noticed Haven, the second book, was written by someone else.

 

They’re set in a post-apocalyptic England 100+ years after The Sisters, all the bits of a disintegrating comet that hit earth, basically ended civilisation. What’s left is kind of a feudal world with bits of old tech thrown in the mix. 

 

The good thing is, like John Wyndham’s The Day Of The Triffids, it feels very believable despite the high concept, and is recognisably England.

 

I’m not sure whether there are any more books planned but I hope so as these were great and the concept/world has so much potential. The two authors also managed to write in such a way as to feel true to each other’s book without compromising their own distinctiveness. There’s also a grittiness that is consistent across the novels which I really liked. 

 

In short, boss: get on ‘em.

 

On the new Don Winslow now; last in The Cartel trilogy.  

[Numero Veinticinco]

Finished the first book of 'Old Man's War' by John Scalzi. You know what, I really enjoyed this. It could have all felt a little 'avatar' but it didn't at all, in any way. I'd give a synopsis, but it'd be shit. I recommend it to anybody who likes Science Fiction. I'm on to the second book, which also seems excellent. 

[Strontium]

Currently reading "Coalition" by David Laws. I get called an apologist for the Lib Dem role in government, but if anything, I've underestimated the amount of Tory shit they blocked.

 

Up next, since it just arrived in the post, "Corbynism: A Critical Approach" by Matt Bolton and Frederick Pitts.

[Numero Veinticinco]

4 minutes ago, Strontium Dog said:

Currently reading "Coalition" by David Laws. I get called an apologist for the Lib Dem role in government, but if anything, I've underestimated the amount of Tory shit they blocked.

 

Up next, since it just arrived in the post, "Corbynism: A Critical Approach" by Matt Bolton and Frederick Pitts.

Maybe read something that challenges your view rather than a one-sided books that push the view you already hold? That’s the point of reading, at least in part. To learn something rather than echo stuff back.