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2 hours ago, Sut said:

Great list that @Sugar Ape, thank you. I've a couple on my shelf from there that I've not gotten round to - Hekla's Children and The Hunger, definitely, and I might have a copy of The Reddening. I've read My Best Friend's Exorcism and can wholeheartedly recommend it - it's a really fun book.

 

My Kindle is absolutely killing me as I'll see a book recommended and pick it up "for later", or dip into the deals section and grab two or three reduced titles. My to read list just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I've even gotten to the point where I'll see a book mentioned, go to buy it and get the "You bought this book on [...]" notification. I'm fighting the urge here to grab some more based on your list, mate.

Ha, I’m the same mate. I’d find a book I like the look of, in a professional review normally, then go and have a look on Amazon at their reviews, and then add it to my wish list to keep a track of where I was up to. At least half the books I’d add would flash up with a message saying it was already in my wish list and I’d have no recollection of looking at it before. 
 

Glad to hear that about My Best Friend’s Exorcism, I think I’m going to check his books out first once I’m done with The Dresden Files, starting with the Vampire one. 

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36 minutes ago, YorkshireRed said:

I’m reading this at the moment. Probably about a third of the way through and it’s ok, nothing special. It does have potential though so perhaps it will improve as the story moves along. 
 

5E384F62-A816-4CE9-86C6-FDF99646CA02.jpeg

 

Is that the one where there was a big controversy of, Latinos protesting cultural appropriation and such? That was interesting.

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The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers

 

By Gordon Weiss

 

One of the more affecting books I've read lately. Up there with "My Promised Land" I mentioned upthread.

 

Does a good job of providing the background history of the country and it's place in the wider world, and then details both the (obviously tragic) events of the last few months of the war, and the diplomatic and political machinations surrounding them.

 

I'm still hoping to go there next year, virus willing. I won't be taking a copy of this book, but I will be taking a much deeper understanding of my destination having read it.

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On 17/06/2020 at 21:04, Paul said:

Re-read the first Sharpe book by Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe’s Tiger. I enjoyed it but not as much as I recall from first time round. 
 

Now on This Is The Way The World Ends: An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Keith Taylor. It’s basically an homage to World War Z and openly so in the preface. It’s good though. Feels very consistent with WWZ. 

 

Been slow on the reading over the last week or so, but finished this earlier. It was good but not great. 
 

Now on Max Brooks’ new one Devolution, which is basically WWZ, but with Big Foot. 

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On 28/06/2020 at 19:41, Paul said:

Been slow on the reading over the last week or so, but finished this earlier. It was good but not great. 
 

Now on Max Brooks’ new one Devolution, which is basically WWZ, but with Big Foot. 

So disappointed with the Max Brooks. I had to fuck it off when, 18% in, it was still just basically really inane exposition and absolutely nothing else. Gutted. 
 

Now on Eden by Tim Lebbon, which was recommended in The Guardian a few weeks ago. Basically, the planet is fucked and humanity has created a series of “Virgin Zones” across the world which are areas where all human contact/interference is removed by law so nature can flourish. 
 

The story follows a team of illegal adventurers whose goal is to infiltrate and cross the first Virgin Zone, Eden, as it’s never been done before. However, once inside, mad shit ensues. It’s started really well; feels like a winner. 

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3 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I assume those Dresden Files novels are Cold War spy stuff? I like that genre.

As amusing as I’d find it to let you start one expecting a Cold War novel, they’re really not for you. It’s a fantasy series set in modern day Chicago. 

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I found it readable whilst also being very simply plotted. The main character hardly faced any difficultly. You'd have scenarios where he'd come up with a puzzle and he'd just be "luckily I re-watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail 28 times last week".

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8 hours ago, RedKnight said:

I found it readable whilst also being very simply plotted. The main character hardly faced any difficultly. You'd have scenarios where he'd come up with a puzzle and he'd just be "luckily I re-watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail 28 times last week".

I think that’s fair criticism actually and is probably reflected in the fact that, while I loved it, I also have not the slightest urge to re-read it. I was definitely charmed by the nostalgia it evokes though. 
 

That all said, while I’ll read the sequel, I haven’t got a clue what ground it might cover. The first book felt complete and final. 

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On 05/07/2020 at 11:30, Sugar Ape said:

As amusing as I’d find it to let you start one expecting a Cold War novel, they’re really not for you. It’s a fantasy series set in modern day Chicago. 

Just found a TV series on Amazon which is based on the books. Cancelled after only one season so no idea if any good or not.

 

A Chicago-based wizard works as a private investigator.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486657/

 

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Finally finished The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantell

 

I loved Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies and rattled through those, but I found this one a little bit of a slog at times. It’s still good, and in places really readable and captivating, but not as good as the first two I don’t reckon.

Still, if you’ve read the first two you need to read this one.  It’ll probably win the Booker prize again too.

 

Anyway, fancy a bit of something different and easier next. Might give the Dresden Files a go seeing as they are all over this thread.

 

 

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26 minutes ago, Scooby Dudek said:

Just found a TV series on Amazon which is based on the books. Cancelled after only one season so no idea if any good or not.

 

A Chicago-based wizard works as a private investigator.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486657/

 

Yeah it’s based on the books but it was truly awful. Do not watch it. They changed loads from the books, think it’s been optioned for a new TV series by Fox or someone recently.
 

If anyone reads the books (and yes Vlad, they really, really are about a wizard PI) then bear in mind the first couple were wrote when the author was in his 20s and are the first books he ever wrote. They can be a bit clumsy at first but once they get going they’re great.

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1 hour ago, Sugar Ape said:

Yeah it’s based on the books but it was truly awful. Do not watch it. They changed loads from the books, think it’s been optioned for a new TV series by Fox or someone recently.
 

If anyone reads the books (and yes Vlad, they really, really are about a wizard PI) then bear in mind the first couple were wrote when the author was in his 20s and are the first books he ever wrote. They can be a bit clumsy at first but once they get going they’re great.

I think the earlier ones are better - in the later books Butcher turns up the dial to 11 and it all gets a bit ridiculous (given it's a wizard who is a PI, etc).

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31 minutes ago, mars said:

I think the earlier ones are better - in the later books Butcher turns up the dial to 11 and it all gets a bit ridiculous (given it's a wizard who is a PI, etc).

Nah I think the first couple are lacking in his trademark humour and the villains are two dimensional. It gets a lot better around the time Nicodemus arrives. Think the sweet spot of the series so far is Dead Beat. By far the best book in my opinion. I liked the one with the Naagloshi too. 
 

Don’t really see too much difference in the newer books, I still think they’re top notch and I like the world building. Maybe the island being added was a bit of a reach like.

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