The GF book thread

[Paul]

Finished The Postman. It wasn’t all that. About to start a sample of The River by Peter Heller. 

[Kepler-186]

I’ve had this on audiobook. Excellent read or listen. All the links between civilisations, days of exploration, colonisation. Korean sea pirates and Madeira wine. 

 

 

[Paul]

Finished The River by Pete Heller. It’s about two best friends who go on a canoe expedition in the wilds of Canada and get caught up with two other parties who may or may not have ill intentions. It was really good and, as with The Dog Stars, really well written. 
 

Got five samples downloaded now and not sure what to go with next. Might start with some SF and Neal Asher’s Polity universe with Gridlinked, the first Agent Cormac book. 

[Rico1304]

17 minutes ago, Paul said:

Finished The River by Pete Heller. It’s about two best friends who go on a canoe expedition in the wilds of Canada and get caught up with two other parties who may or may not have ill intentions. It was really good and, as with The Dog Stars, really well written. 
 

Got five samples downloaded now and not sure what to go with next. Might start with some SF and Neal Asher’s Polity universe with Gridlinked, the first Agent Cormac book. 

The Neal Asher books are good. 

[Mudface]

1 hour ago, Rico1304 said:

The Neal Asher books are good. 

I think it's a different series to the Polity ones, but The Skinner is a ferocious 'body-horror' novel. Also, hooders *brrr*

[Mudface]

I was just flicking through TV Tropes- I read the Asher novels some time ago and got them confused with Alastair Reynolds (the Scrimshaw Suit is complete nightmare fuel and I thought Asher had done it). Anyway, I like this entry-

 

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/ThePolity

 

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/AlastairReynolds

 

Quote

Technology Marches On: in the prologue to Gridlinked, humanity's most advanced computer is said to process terabytes per second, while in Alien Archaeology the Athether memstore holds 120 gigabytes. As of 2015, a terabyte can be held on a cheap hard-disk from the store and a high-definition film can easily hit the 120-gigabyte mark.

 

The scrimshaw suit in Absolution Gap is quite the terrifying torture device, especially to anyone with the slightest claustrophobia. The suit is a human shaped coffin with complete life support, only allowing the tiniest of movements inside it but allowing its occupant to live for years with little or no contact with the outside. Having one character's lover imprisoned within the suit and hearing her slowly freak out at her predicament doesn't help, either.

[Elite]

For everyone.

 

What are the best books you've ever read?

[Mudface]

38 minutes ago, Elite said:

For everyone.

 

What are the best books you've ever read?

As a collective, Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials or Iain Banks's Culture novels. I'll have to have a think about an individual book, but The Dog's Bollocks Viz anthology is definitely in the running.

[Rico1304]

3 hours ago, Mudface said:

I think it's a different series to the Polity ones, but The Skinner is a ferocious 'body-horror' novel. Also, hooders *brrr*

Yes, I thought I’d already read it. 

[mars]

3 hours ago, Elite said:

For everyone.

 

What are the best books you've ever read?

I guess this means books you reread every couple of years, so

Neuromancer - William Gibson

Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchett

The Skinner - Neal Asher

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Sherlock Holmes stories

Philip Marlowe novels

Empire Star - Samuel R Delany (this is just a favourite childhood book)

Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny 

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

Roadside Picnic - Boris and Arkady Strugatsky

 

[Mudface]

I keep trying to forget about it, but The Dice Man is absolutely hilarious.

 

I'm not sure whether it's because some earnest guy/ gal, 20-odd years younger mentions it at a party and thinks it's brilliant, or that they don't know I rolled beforehand and are doomed. Either way, they'll never know how a '6' and 'let's be positive, Matt' sealed their doom. Bless 'em.

[Paul]

I don’t tend to think in lists of “Best ever…” as I rarely re-read stuff; rather I’m always on the look out for something new. However, here are a few favourites that spring to mind now, in no particular order (I’ve deffo forgotten stuff too):

 

 

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (think you have to treat it as one work)

The Takeshi Kovacs books by Richard Morgan 

Iain M. Banks’ Culture books

John Connelly’s Parker books

The Kenzie and Gennaro books by Dennis Lehane 

Different Seasons, The Dark Tower books and The Green Mile (and others too, actually) by Stephen King

World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Most James Ellroy books (although I’ve struggled with his most recent few)

The Preacher series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman

The Cole and Pike books by Robert Crais

Where Eagles Dare and The Satan Bug by Alistair Maclean 

Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham

The Death Of Grass by John Christopher 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

The Eaters Of The Dead by Michael Crichton (in fact most of his books)

The Gentleman Bastard books by Scott Lynch

Richard Stark’s Parker novels 

Michael Connelly’s Bosch novels 

Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe books & the Uhtred series 

La Peste by Albert Camus

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe 

Most of Don Winslow’s books

Mark Lawrence’s stuff: The Broken Empire trilogy, The Red Queen’s War trilogy, The Book Of The Ancestor trilogy and The Book Of The Ice Trilogy 

The Millennium books by Stieg Larsson 

The Harry Hole books by Jo Nesbo

The Name Of The Rose by Umberto Eco

The Rampart Trilogy - MR Carey

 

 

 

 

 

[YorkshireRed]

13 hours ago, Elite said:

For everyone.

 

What are the best books you've ever read?

From Here To Eternity

Catch 22

The Book Thief

 

[Kepler-186]

Just finished this on audiobook. 
 

The story of a Polish national hero who volunteered to infiltrate Aushwitz in 1940, and build the Polish underground resistance, as well as report back so what was starting to happen under German rule would get back to the Polish government in exile in London. 
 

9/10 

[YorkshireRed]

1 hour ago, Kepler-186 said:

Just finished this on audiobook. 
 

The story of a Polish national hero who volunteered to infiltrate Aushwitz in 1940, and build the Polish underground resistance, as well as report back so what was starting to happen under German rule would get back to the Polish government in exile in London. 
 

9/10 

Yes - I thought this was superb. 

[Paul]

On 19/06/2021 at 16:44, Paul said:

Finished The River by Pete Heller. It’s about two best friends who go on a canoe expedition in the wilds of Canada and get caught up with two other parties who may or may not have ill intentions. It was really good and, as with The Dog Stars, really well written. 
 

Got five samples downloaded now and not sure what to go with next. Might start with some SF and Neal Asher’s Polity universe with Gridlinked, the first Agent Cormac book. 

Finished Gridlinked and enjoyed it without being blown away. I will persist with the Polity books though for now. 
 

Now reading Wastelands: Stories Of The Apocalypse which includes post-apocalyptic short stories by the likes of Stephen King, George RR Martin, Orson Scott Card and more. 
 

I’ve also lined up the Tarantino novelisation of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which is getting great reviews, and the new Parker novel is imminent as well. Feel like I’ve got loads of good options for the summer. 

[YorkshireRed]

Finished The Cartel. Took me ages, I’ve been reading about two pages a night and then falling asleep.

 

Decent, I’ll get to the final one in the trilogy but will probably leave it a while.

 

7.5/10

 

Picked up this from the wife’s side of the bed..

 

The Family Upstairs.

 

So far, I’m not impressed. 

[Elite]

18 minutes ago, YorkshireRed said:

Finished The Cartel. Took me ages, I’ve been reading about two pages a night and then falling asleep.

 

Decent, I’ll get to the final one in the trilogy but will probably leave it a while.

 

7.5/10

 

Picked up this from the wife’s side of the bed..

 

The Family Upstairs.

 

So far, I’m not impressed. 

It's taking me ages to read the new Mickey Haller book. That's the annoying thing with reading books, it's very time consuming and once you've sunk a few hours in, you have to finish it otherwise it's a complete waste of the time you've already ploughed into it.

[YorkshireRed]

I’ve been trying to influence the kids to read some of the books I enjoyed as a teenager. 
 

The eldest tried the first Adrian Mole - said it was “meh”.

 

The younger one tried an audio version of The Silver Sword - gave up. 
 

I’ve sired a pair of philistines. 

[DalyanPete]

Just finished "The Termination Protocol"

Brian Drake as I love guns and gore books. Free read on Kindle unlimited.

Very Bondish.

I know it's sad but I always search Google for the guns they are packing.

[redinblack]

On 01/07/2021 at 14:16, Kepler-186 said:

Just finished this on audiobook. 
 

The story of a Polish national hero who volunteered to infiltrate Aushwitz in 1940, and build the Polish underground resistance, as well as report back so what was starting to happen under German rule would get back to the Polish government in exile in London. 
 

9/10 

Looks interesting

 

[Paul]

On 04/07/2021 at 11:18, Paul said:

Finished Gridlinked and enjoyed it without being blown away. I will persist with the Polity books though for now. 
 

Now reading Wastelands: Stories Of The Apocalypse which includes post-apocalyptic short stories by the likes of Stephen King, George RR Martin, Orson Scott Card and more. 
 

I’ve also lined up the Tarantino novelisation of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which is getting great reviews, and the new Parker novel is imminent as well. Feel like I’ve got loads of good options for the summer. 

The post-apocalyptic short stories are ok but not exactly page turners. I stopped to read the new Parker last week and read it in two days. It’s good, obviously. Not really Parker though; it’s a Louis and Angel book. 

[Edward.]

The last wasn't really Parker either. 

[Elite]

On 20/07/2021 at 18:35, Paul said:

The post-apocalyptic short stories are ok but not exactly page turners. I stopped to read the new Parker last week and read it in two days. It’s good, obviously. Not really Parker though; it’s a Louis and Angel book. 

Didn't realise he had a new one out. Nice one.

[Elite]

On 20/07/2021 at 18:38, Edward. said:

The last wasn't really Parker either. 

The Dirty South?