The GF book thread

[Paul]

On 08/04/2021 at 14:52, Paul said:

Read Ramble Book by Adam Buxton which, if you’re a fan of his podcast, is guaranteed entertainment. Now on Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Never read it before and it’s good. 

Finished Foundation and will probably read some more, but it was quite dry and sedate by contemporary fiction standards. Still, the scope of the narrative and the ideas it deals with are enough to keep me reading. 
 

I then read Under The Blue by Oana Aristide, which is a new book I saw reviewed in the paper on Sunday. It’s a pandemic/ecological disaster novel conceived and written immediately prior to the pandemic. It also has a parallel story of the development of an AI which produces some interesting insights into the nature of humanity’s perception of itself. Overall I enjoyed it. 
 

Next is either Mindhunter by the guy who set up the FBI’s serial killer profiling system (and on which the TV show is based), Foundation and Empire by Asimov (the second in the series) or Coilhunter by Dean F. Wilson which is a self-described “science fiction western”. 

[Rico1304]

From memory the Foundation series drops right off. Like 2001, 2010 etc. 

[Paul]

Read Mindhunter about the FBI fella who basically invented profiling of serial killers. It was a decent read. 
 

Have also just finished The Girl and the Mountain, the second in Mark Lawrence’s Book of the Ice, which is set on Abeth where his superb Book of the Ancestor trilogy takes place. This trilogy is just as enjoyable. 
 

Not sure what’s next but I’ll find something later on. 

[YorkshireRed]

28 minutes ago, Paul said:

Read Mindhunter about the FBI fella who basically invented profiling of serial killers. It was a decent read. 

Was the Netflix show based on this? I certainly enjoyed that. 

[Paul]

1 hour ago, YorkshireRed said:

Was the Netflix show based on this? I certainly enjoyed that. 

That’s right, yes. Obviously that was a dramatisation whereas this is part autobiography, part true crime book and part Idiots’ Guide to Profiling. It’s a decent read though. 

[Paul]

I’ve just been on the Kindle app on my phone, which I rarely use, to see if it offers better recommendations than the limited offer on my actual kindle, and apparently I am on a reading streak of 97 weeks without missing a single day reading. I don’t really know what to make of that. I read every single day before I go to sleep so I don’t particularly see it as a big deal but then maybe it is? Either way I’ve beaten my last streak which was 67 weeks, apparently. Woo-hoo and go, me!

[Chairman Meow]

28 minutes ago, Paul said:

I’ve just been on the Kindle app on my phone, which I rarely use, to see if it offers better recommendations than the limited offer on my actual kindle, and apparently I am on a reading streak of 97 weeks without missing a single day reading. I don’t really know what to make of that. I read every single day before I go to sleep so I don’t particularly see it as a big deal but then maybe it is? Either way I’ve beaten my last streak which was 67 weeks, apparently. Woo-hoo and go, me!

I read every day as well, I can't imagine a world in which I didn't. It would be bloody awful. 

[Elite]

31 minutes ago, Paul said:

I’ve just been on the Kindle app on my phone, which I rarely use, to see if it offers better recommendations than the limited offer on my actual kindle, and apparently I am on a reading streak of 97 weeks without missing a single day reading. I don’t really know what to make of that. I read every single day before I go to sleep so I don’t particularly see it as a big deal but then maybe it is? Either way I’ve beaten my last streak which was 67 weeks, apparently. Woo-hoo and go, me!

How long do you read for?

 

I read before bed but generally only for 30 minutes before i'm tired.

[Paul]

39 minutes ago, Elite said:

How long do you read for?

 

I read before bed but generally only for 30 minutes before i'm tired.

I rarely make half an hour. That’s probably the maximum. I also often (but not always) read early in the morning as I wake anywhere between 4.00am and 5.30am, but don’t need to get up until six. I usually feel done in but can’t get back off until I’ve switched my brain off work again, so 20 minutes reading helps me at least doze again. When off work though I can spend hours a day reading, depending on how into something I am. 

[Rico1304]

1 hour ago, Elite said:

How long do you read for?

 

I read before bed but generally only for 30 minutes before i'm tired.

At least 2 15 min shits a day. 

[Paulie Dangerously]

KidD is an insatiable reader. She reads to herself, to us, to the dog, in bed and on the shitter. Having exhausted the classics like Dahl, Blyton etc al I signed up to a book subscription from an independent book shop. 16.95 every two months they send her two books plus some goodies like book marks, badges, sweets etc. So far they've sent 4 books, two from authors I'd not heard of before and she's really enjoying them and so am I. Highly recommended as a gift or for your own kids. They send a short survey for you to complete with them to gauge their interests. 

 

https://wherereadingrocks.com/stories-by-the-sea/childrens-book-subscriptions/

 

 

[Rico1304]

4 minutes ago, Paulie Dangerously said:

KidD is an insatiable reader. She reads to herself, to us, to the dog, in bed and on the shitter. Having exhausted the classics like Dahl, Blyton etc al I signed up to a book subscription from an independent book shop. 16.95 every two months they send her two books plus some goodies like book marks, badges, sweets etc. So far they've sent 4 books, two from authors I'd not heard of before and she's really enjoying them and so am I. Highly recommended as a gift or for your own kids. They send a short survey for you to complete with them to gauge their interests. 

 

https://wherereadingrocks.com/stories-by-the-sea/childrens-book-subscriptions/

 

 

How old is she? Izzy would love something t like that but she’s only 8. She’s pretty much the same as your daughter and can’t stop reading.  

[Paulie Dangerously]

21 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

How old is she? Izzy would love something t like that but she’s only 8. She’s pretty much the same as your daughter and can’t stop reading.  

Mine is 7 in a couple of months but she reads a few bands up than she should. I'd recommend it highly. Get one and see what you think. 

[Elite]

It's unbelievable how reading to your child from a very young age can help their schooling. My daughter is 10 but she's at GCSE level already in English, she loves to read but I think setting the foundations from a very young age by reading one or two stories at bedtime is hugely influential.

 

 

 

[Rico1304]

7 minutes ago, Elite said:

It's unbelievable how reading to your child from a very young age can help their schooling. My daughter is 10 but she's at GCSE level already in English, she loves to read but I think setting the foundations from a very young age by reading one or two stories at bedtime is hugely influential.

 

 

 

Totally agree.  My mum and dad always read to me as a kid but one of my older cousins really got me into it.  He used to send me books and I’d devour them. Loads of sword and sorcery types then Hobbit LOR etc. We’ve done the same with Izzy and she’ll read all sorts now.  
 

It was funny last night we watched Bullseye and she got the first 8 questions right. All stuff she’d picked up from reading. She’s shit at darts though, so would have let me down on the final game. 

[Elite]

11 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

Totally agree.  My mum and dad always read to me as a kid but one of my older cousins really got me into it.  He used to send me books and I’d devour them. Loads of sword and sorcery types then Hobbit LOR etc. We’ve done the same with Izzy and she’ll read all sorts now.  
 

It was funny last night we watched Bullseye and she got the first 8 questions right. All stuff she’d picked up from reading. She’s shit at darts though, so would have let me down on the final game. 

I never got read to as a child, my parents are good people but just something they never did for some reason. My English improved considerably when I started reading my dad's newspapers when I was 13.

 

Should have got her into darts young mate, most of the professionals struggle to read and write but earn a few hundred grand a year.

[Paul]

Talking and reading to your kids from birth onwards is the best way to help them academically. And then also praise effort and not ability. 

[Paul]

Finished One Second After by William Forstchen. Story of a small mountain community from the moment all electrical equipment is fucked by a US-wide EMP. I was decent. 

[VladimirIlyich]

On 09/05/2021 at 20:40, Paul said:

Talking and reading to your kids from birth onwards is the best way to help them academically. And then also praise effort and not ability. 

Reading is the best therapy to open up kid's minds and educating them. I did it with my three kids and our one year old grandaughter is really enjoying her basic 'read,reveal and touch' style baby books. There really is nothing better for kids than books and reading.

[Numero Veinticinco]

4 hours ago, Paul said:

Finished One Second After by William Forstchen. Story of a small mountain community from the moment all electrical equipment is fucked by a US-wide EMP. I was decent. 

Well, at least you weren’t in the nude while reading it. Now, was it any good? 

[Rico1304]

I’m reading the Sci-fi trilogy recommended on the previous page. It’s not bad, but not amazing.  Talk about having a bad week though, the main character has a shocker. 

[Paul]

16 hours ago, Paul said:

Finished One Second After by William Forstchen. Story of a small mountain community from the moment all electrical equipment is fucked by a US-wide EMP. I was decent. 

So after finishing this I sampled and then bought UK Dark Book 1 by a bloke called Chris Harris. The fact I boxed it off so quickly tells you all you need to know about its quality. 
 

This book is laughably bad: narrative that seems to have got the old tip of “Show, don’t tell” arse before tit, one-dimensional characters, inane dialogue, embarrassing internal monologue, plotting which a two-year-old could conjure and the most convenient set of circumstances ever committed to post-apocalyptic fiction:

 

Need a doctor? Bumped into one at the shops.

 

Need guns? Said doctor’s brother dropped some off the day before “the event”.

 

Need an engineer? “Oh neighbour! Why did you never mention what you did before?” Etc, etc. 

And yet it is strangely compelling. There is something so very satisfying – particularly during these days of the pandemic – to read about people making things work after societal breakdown.
 

I’ve become a little bit addicted to this kind of thing over the last few years but especially recently. So, despite its lamentable quality, I’m already on Book 2…

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

If anybody on here has in an interest in espionage, Cold War espionage in particular and the Cambridge spy ring of Burgess, Maclean and Philby (Blunt and Cairncross as an aside) as a pet subject, then I can recommend Ben Macintyre - a spy among friends.

Finished reading it earlier and it's an absorbing and enlightening read for any historian of or anyone interested in Cold War/Soviet KGB/espionage/50's and 60's international politics.

It's mostly about Kim Philby, his actions, his deception, his double deception and eventual defection.

[Paul]

On 16/05/2021 at 09:11, Paul said:

So after finishing this I sampled and then bought UK Dark Book 1 by a bloke called Chris Harris. The fact I boxed it off so quickly tells you all you need to know about its quality. 
 

This book is laughably bad: narrative that seems to have got the old tip of “Show, don’t tell” arse before tit, one-dimensional characters, inane dialogue, embarrassing internal monologue, plotting which a two-year-old could conjure and the most convenient set of circumstances ever committed to post-apocalyptic fiction:

 

Need a doctor? Bumped into one at the shops.

 

Need guns? Said doctor’s brother dropped some off the day before “the event”.

 

Need an engineer? “Oh neighbour! Why did you never mention what you did before?” Etc, etc. 

And yet it is strangely compelling. There is something so very satisfying – particularly during these days of the pandemic – to read about people making things work after societal breakdown.
 

I’ve become a little bit addicted to this kind of thing over the last few years but especially recently. So, despite its lamentable quality, I’m already on Book 2…

 

So I’m on Book 2 and it’s even worse. Badly trying my patience now. Sticking with it for the time being though. 

[Jack the Sipper]

Recently finished reading The Lowlife by Alexander Baron and just started on King Dido by the same author. Baron's a British Jew who lived and died in East London (Hackney and Bethnal Green) in the 20th century, and both of these books have these areas as backdrops.

 

The Lowlife is about a middle-aged British Jew who spends his life gambling, reading and visiting prostitutes in East London and Soho. There is a plot, although it's more an observation on the various strata of the working classes, the bohemians of Soho, and the influx of immigration in mid-century London. It's funny, clever and thought-provoking, and the lowlife in question, Harryboy Boas, is a great character, a real Cockney spiv type, but with his own set of morals.