Books

[Zomboidgirl]

Really? Cool!

Very excited about getting to read these books, it's just trying to find the time as I normally crochet most evenings

[Circlepit]

I read the first Malazan book years ago. It felt like I had missed the first two. I had no da what was going on.
Nearly finished the wheel of time after a failed attempt from a while back. He can waffle on and on and on and on

[Pentagrimes]

Sooo..ehh..it's all fantasy books in this thread then yeah?

[liamish]

Sooo..ehh..it's all fantasy books in this thread then yeah?

lol. It does seem to be a common theme. I read a lot of Sci-Fi too and occasionally horror.  The last book I read before starting to reread all of the discworld novels was Ursula K Le Guin - the unreal and the real. Great collection of short stories ranging from sort of retro sci-fi to fantasy, sometimes combining both genres.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Sooo..ehh..it's all fantasy books in this thread then yeah?

Several posts about non-fantasy/sci-fi you could reply to, but it's true it might be an idea to split this into two threads, as was the case previously.

[Eoin McLove]

Just popped into Chapters and picked up six William Trevor novels for thirty quid.  I'm a recent convert to his work and am really taken with his style. 

[Mower Liberation Front]

Picked up Blood and Fears by Kevin Wilson the other day, about the Eighth Air Force's campaign against Germany. Excellent book, but grim.

[Caomhaoin]

Read Paul Merson and Ger Loughnanes biographies over the Christmas. Merson was some lad, how he's still standing is a mystery. Half way through Moll Flanders now, it makes description of the mundane an art form.

I've exams in a month so reading for pleasure is to be replaced with tedious shit for a while. Nice one.

[blessed1]

im on a short story binge these days.
read clive barkers books of blood. some really good stuff in it. was really disappointed with the forbidden tale which is what they based the candyman movie on. the movie is so much better than the short story.

stephen kings nightmares and dreamscapes. cant really go wrong with kings short stories. the moving finger and sneakers are great.

richard chizmars a long december. i would urge anyone out there to get this book. so many good shorts in this one and it ends with a brilliant novella.

also read the chalk-man by c.j tudor. its her first book and i was pleasantly surprised with this one. unreal ending.

[Eoin McLove]

I've been juggling three books lately and because I really want to fulfill my lifelong dream of joining Fossett's this year,  I've thrown an extra book into the mix this afternoon.  Getting stuck into George Monbiot's How Did We Get Into This Mess and am immediately enthralled.  He is questioning how and why we have allowed our freedoms to be eroded away in recent times through the insidious spread of neoliberalism and the correlation between wealth and dissatisfaction,  depression,  isolation etc. The chapter I just finished explained ASBOs and IPNAs, which basically permit the criminalisation and locking up of (young and/or poor) people without their having committed any actual crime.   Fascinating and blood- boiling reading.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I only know Monbiot from his semi-regular Guardian pieces. He seems to sing from more or less the same hymn book as me, but I'm not sure if I'd get more out of a whole book on the topic than is contained in, for example, Adam Curtis' documentary series... which are all the more chilling for the actual footage and soundbites they contain.

[Eoin McLove]

I read Feral a few years ago and it was mostly fascinating (and inspirational for Malthusian lyrics) but did become somewhat repetitive due to its limited nature.  This one seems a bit more snappy and has a much wider scope. The chapters are short and to the point so it's proving to be a page turner.

[Pedrito]

Finished up Thus Spoke Zarathustra this morning. Hard to put into words how significant it is. An incredible achievement although I will say that I have been watching hours of videos and lectures online to really unlock its messages. Entirely understandable how it was misunderstood and twisted due to the, often, shrouded meaning contained within the book, but I found the core messages of self overcoming and the love of life to almost deserve the approach that he took. The struggle to understand and take meaning from the book, combined with the beauty of the writing, results in your almost experiencing, through the process of reading, the message that is contained within i.e. through struggle and hard work we become a greater version of ourselves. Highly recommended and my advice would be to read it slowly, research a lot online and definitely read the introduction to the book which is extremely revealing.

It should be compulsory reading to any 19 year old, and serves as a great reminder against our willingless to give away our freedom, lose our individuality to the mob, ideologies, religions, mass movements etc. 

A beautiful excerpt from the book itself: https://gnosticteachings.org/scriptures/western/3212-nietzsche-on-the-way-of-the-creator.html


Also reading Pale Fire by Nabokov and rereading LOTR..both an absolute pleasure.

[kamen]

Finished 'Metro 2033' recently, a post-apocalyptic novel set in the Moscow Metro (the world's largest bomb shelter) following a devastating nuclear conflict. Really liked it, very well written/translated. Quite 'mystical' in places, about the world that has been destroyed and the likely fate of humanity, not 'simply' a science-fiction novel. Part-way through the follow-up 'Metro 2034' now. Anyone else read this series?

[Emphyrio]

Ya, I read the 3 books. First 2 are very good. The last one got a bit weird and wasn't overly impressed with the ending.