The GF book thread

[Numero Veinticinco]

52 minutes ago, Paul said:

Read a new SF/dystopian future book by Andrew Hunter Murray called The Last Day. It’s set in a future where earth no longer spins on its axis and the world now has permanently uninhabitable zones of hot and cold and a small Goldilocks zone that has the UK at its centre. Britain is controlled by a dictator and the story takes the form of a conspiracy thriller. It’s a good read. Definitely recommended. 
 

Now on Peter Crouch’s second book, which is good, and I’ve downloaded samples of Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Clan Of The Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel and The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid to help decide my next read. 

Nice one, Paul. Always looking for new Sci-Fi recommendations. Lately I’ve been looking for something that’s an adult Space Opera. Star Trek with sharper edges. 

[Paul]

5 hours ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

Nice one, Paul. Always looking for new Sci-Fi recommendations. Lately I’ve been looking for something that’s an adult Space Opera. Star Trek with sharper edges. 

The Salvation books by Peter F. Hamilton are really good. Think I reviewed them on here somewhere. Worth a look at least, I’d say. 

[Jairzinho]

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/77037.Penguin_Great_Journeys

 

Great series this. All novella length. 

[Bjornebye]

Im really struggling with On Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. I can only manage about 10 pages a night. 

 

Anyone else read it? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jairzinho]

1 minute ago, Bjornebye said:

Im really struggling with On Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. I can only manage about 10 pages a night. 

 

Anyone else read it? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, but about 10 years ago. I remember it being pretty tough going. 

[Bjornebye]

Just now, Jairzinho said:

Yeah, but about 10 years ago. I remember it being pretty tough going. 

Its just the way its written. 

[Jairzinho]

Read Silas Marner last week. First Eliot I'd read. Very good, and left an impression that Eliot herself was fucking sound.

[Jairzinho]

2 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Its just the way its written. 

Yeah, that's what I meant. I mean, the topic is odd but it's written very strangely as well.

[SasaS]

11 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

Read Silas Marner last week. First Eliot I'd read. Very good, and left an impression that Eliot herself was fucking sound.

They say Middlemarch is great,

I had to read Murder in the Cathedral from the other Eliot for school. It was no Agatha Christie, I can tell you that.

[Jairzinho]

18 minutes ago, SasaS said:

They say Middlemarch is great,

 

 

I had to read Murder in the Cathedral from the other Eliot for school. It was no Agatha Christie, I can tell you that.

Yes, I'll give Middlemarch a go next I think.

[Bjornebye]

21 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

Yes, I'll give Middlemarch a go next I think.

Give it a couple of weeks 

[Numero Veinticinco]

52 minutes ago, Paul said:

The Salvation books by Peter F. Hamilton are really good. Think I reviewed them on here somewhere. Worth a look at least, I’d say. 

Thank you, good Sir. I’ve been reading Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. It’s okay, but it’s like a poor version on Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. 

[Jose Jones]

On 23/02/2020 at 05:04, Bjornebye said:

Im really struggling with On Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. I can only manage about 10 pages a night. 

 

Anyone else read it? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's so good that I've no interest in ever watching the film.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

6 hours ago, Jose Jones said:

It's so good that I've no interest in ever watching the film.

How can you not be gripped by a book with the opening line "they're out there"?

 

The book and film both stand alone brilliantly; the trick is to try not to compare one with the other, but just enjoy them in their own right.

[El Rojo]

The Wall by John Lanchester.

 

Set in a future Britain after waters around the world have risen. Most citizens have to serve two years guarding the walls surrounding the island from displaced 'invaders' on boats. If people get over the walls on any guards' watch, they themselves are put out to sea instead. Written from the perspective of somebody beginning their term manning the barricades.

 

Fantastic novel that works great as a dystopian thriller or as a warning about the future. Couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. 

[Guest]

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[Sugar Ape]

Just finished Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. I’ve read some of his other books like his takes on Bond and Sherlock Holmes, but this is his first stand alone adult novel I’ve read of his.

 

I used to read a lot of Agatha Chistie, Poirot in particular, when I was a kid and this book seems like a bit of a love letter to Christie and whodunnits in general. 
 

It starts with a book editor getting the latest copy of the Atticus Pund series ‘Magpie Murders’ to read and the first half of the book is her reading that which is a very good pastiche of your typical Poirot novel. Set in a small village in the 50s, couple of gruesome murders and a big list of suspects and a Poirot like detective on the scene poking into things. 
 

Halfway through the book as you are getting to the end of the Atticus Pund mystery the novel suddenly ends with the book missing its last couple of chapters. 
 

We then get a death in the present day which the editor is drawn into as she tries to hunt down the missing chapters so it’s sort of like two books in one. 
 

If you like Poirot or whodunnits then you’ll like this and it’s definitely worth checking out. 7.5/10. 

[Evelyn Tentions]

On 10/03/2020 at 05:11, Sugar Ape said:

Just finished Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. I’ve read some of his other books like his takes on Bond and Sherlock Holmes, but this is his first stand alone adult novel I’ve read of his.

 

I used to read a lot of Agatha Chistie, Poirot in particular, when I was a kid and this book seems like a bit of a love letter to Christie and whodunnits in general. 
 

It starts with a book editor getting the latest copy of the Atticus Pund series ‘Magpie Murders’ to read and the first half of the book is her reading that which is a very good pastiche of your typical Poirot novel. Set in a small village in the 50s, couple of gruesome murders and a big list of suspects and a Poirot like detective on the scene poking into things. 
 

Halfway through the book as you are getting to the end of the Atticus Pund mystery the novel suddenly ends with the book missing its last couple of chapters. 
 

We then get a death in the present day which the editor is drawn into as she tries to hunt down the missing chapters so it’s sort of like two books in one. 
 

If you like Poirot or whodunnits then you’ll like this and it’s definitely worth checking out. 7.5/10. 

Great author. Also done a lot of TV work, he wrote Foyles War and has done scripts for Poirot.

[Elite]

For anyone into Neil Woods books and low-level police undercover stuff (I'm not taking Donnie Brasco level) Check out Undercover by Joe Carter, thoroughly engaging throughout. It's only £1.99 on Kindle.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I spend more time on amazon looking for a book than I do reading.

[Elite]

26 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

I spend more time on amazon looking for a book than I do reading.

I've stopped buying anything above £4. Can get some good books for £1-£2, especially true crime stuff.

[Guest]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07N8JJTF4

 

Not sure how long for but biography of John Candy is currently free on kindle.

[Sugar Ape]

John Connolly has had to delay the publication of his latest novel so he’s writing a new Charlie Parker novella called The Sisters Strange and posting a chunk of it every day as he writes it on his website. 
 

First six days worth are available starting here:

https://www.johnconnollybooks.com/the-sisters-strange

[Paul]

Finished Red Mars, but it just wasn’t engaging enough so I’ve not bothered with the other two in the trilogy. 
 

I read the first Hill/Jordan book by Val McDermid about the hunt for a serial killer. It’s pretty gruesome at times but a decent read. I’m on the second one now, The Wire In The Blood. 
 

However, I’ll also be all over that Parker novella SA mentioned above. Superb heads up, that. 

[Sut]

Anyone trying to homeschool kids at the minute should take a look at Amazon's kindle site - one of the sections they have there is a load of free books for kids. Another has a load of books for a range of subjects (mainly Maths and Science) for age groups from infants up to a-level.

 

I've not long finished Alistair Reynolds' third Revenger novel and can recommend it to anyone on the lookout for some Space Opera. I'm not far into Empress of Forever, which is kind of a female Flash Gordon/Star Wars SF romp that's not too bad.

 

I've just started one of Norman Mailer's books, Fire on the Moon, about the Apollo 11 mission. It appears to be mostly about himself so far, though.