The GF book thread

[Strontium]

Just now, Hank Moody said:

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. 

 

Marxist academics Bolton and Pitts not far enough away from my perspective, you don't think?

[Numero Veinticinco]

17 minutes ago, Strontium Dog said:

 

Marxist academics Bolton and Pitts not far enough away from my perspective, you don't think?

I don’t doubt the authors are quite far away from your perspective. The book and some of the critical analysis... won’t be. 

 

[Bjornebye]

He is arguing on the fucking Book thread now. 

 

I daren't go in the gardening thread incase he is calling someones geraniums liars

[Numero Veinticinco]

I, for one, support the anti-geranium stance that Stronts has bravely taken. 

[Bjornebye]

3 minutes ago, Hank Moody said:

I, for one, support the anti-geranium stance that Stronts has bravely taken. 

You fucking would 

[Numero Veinticinco]

1 minute ago, Bjornebye said:

I understand the anti-geranium movement. Whilst I don't particularly agree with it, I kind of get the point but to call the liars is just hypocrisy and slander. 

A strong counter argument. We can be against geraniums without resorting to that sort of gutter tactic. 

 

Pull yourself together, Stronts. 

[Strontium]

6 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

He is arguing on the fucking Book thread now. 

 

Why don't you go back a few posts and see who started it, hmm?

[Numero Veinticinco]

Just now, Strontium Dog said:

 

Why don't you go back a few posts and see who started it, hmm?

Nobody started anything. It wasn’t an argument. Greenfingered prick.

[Bjornebye]

9 minutes ago, Strontium Dog said:

 

Why don't you go back a few posts and see who started it, hmm?

[Rico1304]

Hannah Fry’s new book is good, as is Adam Rutherford’s. just about to start Neil Woods Drug Wars. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

2 hours ago, Paul said:

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.  

Tried looking for them, mate. I can’t find them. 

[Elite]

27 minutes ago, Hank Moody said:

Tried looking for them, mate. I can’t find them. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shelter-Aftermath-Book-Dave-Hutchinson-ebook/dp/B07BWGLBKP

[polymerpunkah]

Listening to "All the Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer

 

A look at the 1953 US/UK coup against Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran.

 

Did they remove him due to their profound respect for democracy, or was it all about the oil?

 

I can't wait to find out.

 

This is a very good book, IMO. He does a great job with his brief history of Iran, it's well-written and well-sourced.

 

Obvious parallels with the present day situation in Venezuela, and the importance of the event in the history of the Middle East and the rest of the world since, make it well worth a look (or a listen).

[Chairman Meow]

After the recommendations on here I ran through Hardcase by Dan Simmons over the course of two days and then The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke.

 

Already acquired and worked through the 2nd and now half way through the 3rd of the Joe Kurtz books then I'll dive into some more of the Robicheaux. 

 

The Dan Simmons ones are a lot more simple and fast but I really got into them, the Robicheaux one felt like it had a bit of a hard boiled version of Lansdale to it.

[Paul]

23 hours ago, Hank Moody said:

Tried looking for them, mate. I can’t find them. 

I got them on kindle. Might be that they’re only available that way. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

26 minutes ago, Paul said:

I got them on kindle. Might be that they’re only available that way. 

I couldn't find the name of each of the books, but I'll search the one above.

[Karl_b]

25 minutes ago, Hank Moody said:

I couldn't find the name of each of the books, but I'll search the one above.

They're called 'Shelter' and 'Haven' and both are available on paperback. Paul's recommended some Sci-Fi, so naturally I'm all over it. 

 

I'm reading Kim Stanley Robinson's 'New York 2140' and it's an absolute chore. My reading has slowed right down since Christmas but this has taken me about a month to get through, it's so dull. Which is a shame as the concept is great. It's set in a future NYC where sea levels have risen to several stories high but the city is still heavily populated. It focuses on several characters, weaving their stories in to each other but it's overly long and I feel no connection to the characters. Still only 50 pages to go from 600ish. I should have ditched it after a week, in hindsight.

[polymerpunkah]

"After The Prophet- Shia-Sunni Split in Islam" by Lesley Hazleton

 

A history of the struggle to succeed Mohammed between his closest followers, which ultimately led to the split in Islam between Shi'ah and Sunni.

 

I knew the basics of the story, but the details are fascinating.

 

At the risk of ruining the ending, as usual in these things it pays to be a duplicitous son-of-a-bitch.

 

Another one well worth a look if you're interested in the subject.

[Numero Veinticinco]

57 minutes ago, polymerpunkah said:

"After The Prophet- Shia-Sunni Split in Islam" by Lesley Hazleton

 

A history of the struggle to succeed Mohammed between his closest followers, which ultimately led to the split in Islam between Shi'ah and Sunni.

 

I knew the basics of the story, but the details are fascinating.

 

At the risk of ruining the ending, as usual in these things it pays to be a duplicitous son-of-a-bitch.

 

Another one well worth a look if you're interested in the subject.

What a good recommendation. I’ll check it out. 

[Sugar Ape]

I’ve been minded to read some ‘Tartan noir’ books lately, but couldn’t be bothered with the likes of Rebus with the first book wrote in the 80s and over 20 titles in the series.

 

Settled on the DCI Daley series by Denzil Meyrick set in the fictional town of Kinloch on the Kintyre peninsular (which is based on Campbeltown) and whizzed through the first three in just over a week and halfway through the fourth.

 

My favourite Stephen King book is Salem’s Lot which was described as Peyton Place with vampires and what worked for me in that book was the time spent detailing the town and it’s people which paid off later in the books when the supernatural stuff starts.

 

These books are similar. At times the crime almost takes a back step to the runnings of the town and he builds up the little insular world of the town brilliantly. 

 

First book deals with a couple of brutal murders, Second book with a ruthless Glaswegian crime family, third book with Police corruption and an international assassin and the fourth is very creepy dealing with a secret society and is almost Agatha Christie like in its telling. Each one has plenty of violence.

 

The books are really funny too, especially the main characters assistant officer who is always pissed on the job and an old retired fisherman who helps out. You do have to read certain paragraphs more than once as they’re wrote in a thick Scottish accent which is... interesting. Thoroughly recommended anyway. 

 

Few more I’ve got lined up are the Inspector McLean series of books by James Oswald. From looking at the reviews these would seem to have a touch of the supernatural about them in addition to the crime element, like Charlie Parker, which is right up my street.

 

And then the Jack Taylor series by Ken Bruen set in Galway, Ireland and the Stuart McBride novels set in Aberdeen (there are tons of these though) which both look good.

[Red Phoenix]

Have been going a bit mental with books lately after needing a break from a game addiction and not having read properly in ages (apart from graphic novels and meditation stuff.) Mainly UFO books to start with, also got a few on Israel/Palestine too and a few others. A meditation one by Kabat-Zinn just arrived earlier as well and hoping that's good. So I also decided that I need to balance that lot out with some fiction, and ordered this which should cover it well, really looking forward to starting on it : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ursula-K-Guin-Hainish-Stories/dp/1598535374/

 

Will probably write a bit here about some of them once I've read/finished more.

[Tj hooker]

Just finished The spy and the traitor by Ben Macintyre it's a slow burner but about half way through it picks up pace and is absolutely brilliant couldn't put it down at the end 

[Jose Jones]

Just finished reading Black Leopard Red Wolf, by Marlon James, which the missus got me on to.  It's a fantasy novel set in a fictional world, which is apparently based pretty strongly on various myths and folklore from Africa. 

 

The narrator is Tracker, a gay homeless tribesman with mother issues, about whom it is said "he has a nose", which basically means he can sniff people out and follow their trail.  He's hired, along with his best mate (a shape-shifting gay leopard), and various other mercenaries - a witch, a giant, another bloke who once betrayed Tracker, a female assassin - to help track down and rescue a young boy.

 

Who the boy is, why they have been hired to find him, who knows what and who is backstabbing and double crossing who, is the backbone of the book along with the trek to find and rescue the kid with the various fights and monster slayings and mysterious shit along the way. 

 

Tracker is a narky dude, and a lot of the story is around discovering just why he is so pissed off and wants to kill the various people he is pissed off with at that time, as well as him working out what is going on, so it's not the smoothest and most obvious of narratives.  It works if you like Tracker - which is sometimes hard.  Although to be fair, he does have a fair bit to be pissed off about, from his grandad fucking his mum, to being gang raped by a pack of hyenas.

 

I liked the black African setting, had a different vibe to the standard coming of age tales that make up a lot of the genre, but it just came in a notch below amazing for me.  Whilst this book is pretty much self contained, it's the first in a planned trilogy and I'll definitely read the rest.  So long as he doesn't Martin it up. 

[SasaS]

Started reading (well, audio book) Knausgaard, a bit late to the party but experience thought me there is usually no harm in waiting for a fad to pass.

 

Still on book one, couldn't get into it at first, but somewhere half way through, I can see the attraction and it's actually pretty good. Some descriptions of teenage years are really incredibly relatable and capture the psychology perfectly.  

 

I thought at first this is going to be a Poundland Proust, but there may be something in these books after all. Will keep you posted with my thoughts. Don't know if you'd be able to handle the waiting and suspense though.   

[polymerpunkah]

"Enemies and Neighbors: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017"

 

Ian Black

 

A very good chronology of events, with just the right amount of analysis, to my mind--otherwise the book would have been a real marathon.

 

It doesn't have a happy ending, and there is no prediction that "everyone lived happily ever after" either.