Books

[CorkonianHunger]

Blood Meridian is up there with the likes of Moby Dick, although not as much of a slog. Same calibre. I probably could not count some of the horrible images in that book on two hands.

I would say most of his stuff is in the same vein, maybe start with No Country and then go either BM or the Border Trilogy. That being said must reread his stuff now. Never read City of God or the new one.

[nukeabuse]

Sutree and child of God are a good mid point between the visceral blood meridian the 'nicer' feel off border trilogy. Sutree is genuinely hilarious at times.

Although a certain knife fight near the end of the border trilogy fkd me up as much as anything else he ever wrote

[Carnage]

Well let me send you some in return what u into I've hundreds

Ah jaysus, I'm trying to get rid of books, not add to the to read pile! Thanks lad, you're grand. I think they're boxed up in the attic, had a quick look at the shelves yesterday, didn't spot them. I'll give you a shout once I have them all together.

[mishima]

Finished Jurassic Park and Eaters of the Dead in the last couple of weeks. Moved on to Sphere yesterday.
Eaters was great fun. Just a cracking auld yarn. Really need to watch it again one of these days.

After Sphere, I'll try to get my hands on Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage - Jeff Guinn. A few things reminded me of this story in the last while and then I saw this book mentioned online. Reviews seem very positive. Might as well give it a lash.

[Eoin McLove]

I'm flying through In Ascension by Martin McInnes at the minute. It's turned out to be a bit of a science fiction thing which I wasn't exactly expecting, and while I'm not a big fan of that genre in general, this book is superb. So well written, perfect pacing throughout and there's a real sense of intrigue building. I reckon it's only a matter of time before it gets turned into a Hollywood blockbuster. The last time I thought that was actually with another sci fi book by Tom Holt, called The Portable Door- a badly written book with a good idea at its heart that kept me engaged. I read it ten or fifteen years ago and this year the bloody film is out. So give In Ascension a decade or two and they'll haul Sigourney out of her coffin, reanimate her dust and have her back up on the big screen again. If that doesn't happen I'll give you all a tenner, my word is my bond.

[nukeabuse]

Was camping at the wknd and talking to some other ppl camping the same spot, mentioned the book sapiens. Went to a hostel in Galway the next night and that was one of the 5 books of the take on, leave one shelf. Fairly entry level skimming the surface human history stuff but enough synchronicity for me to justify reading it.

Also 100 pages into book of the new sun, unsure how to feel about it so far. Not really enjoying the writing style but hoping it pays off

[Eoin McLove]

Sapiens is really good, as is all Harari. He's great at condensing a lot of information into digestible form.

But what I really want to know is, is it pronounced Sapiens or Sapiens?

[open face surgery]

Read Homo Deus which was great. Completely forgot to get Sapiens.

[Don Gately]

Sapiens is pronounced saypenis.
I've started Cormac McCarthys first book The Orchard Keepers. The writing is strong here boys. Finished 1984, what a great book.

[open face surgery]

I really struggled through the manifesto bit of 1984 but flew through the rest.

[astfgyl]

Still tipping away slowly on 1984. As great as it is in principle, it's not really a page turner in the traditional sense, more great observation of an obvious future outcome. I'm still of the opinion that Animal Farm is the better book.

[Carnage]

I really struggled through the manifesto bit of 1984 but flew through the rest.

Same. Overdue a reread, it's at least 30 years since I read it.

[Don Gately]

Yes the manifesto part drags a bit and there isn't really anything in it that surprises. Still it's relatively short.
The ending is ferocious.

[Eoin McLove]

Sapiens is pronounced saypenis.

How strange. I never realised there was a third pronunciation...

[Airneanach]

Needed a wee bit of a break from dense fantasy and wanted to read outside my usual genres for a bit so I picked up Meantime by Frankie Boyle, his debut novel which is a sort of gonzo whodunnit. It's about what you'd expect - Boyle running through his usual humour and tropes in an Irvine Welsh-esque structure - but it's easy as fuck to read and genuinely funny. Would recommend it.

Spent most of last year reading the Wheel of Time. Actually made it onto book eleven - the whole way through the slog - before I finally accepted that it was meandering, mundane shite with way too much time spent on one dimensional characters and the same goofy sophomoric battle-of-the-sexes dialogue endlessly.

Went through a breakup and left the remainder of the books in Dubland which may have something to do with it - I don't doubt it picks up again towards the end - but I'm never going back now. Fell on the sword of Wiki'ing the rest of the plot in the end as I literally had to just move on to reading something else!