Books

[son of the Morrigan]

I read the first Bourne book about ten years ago, it was fucking torturous. That'll do me.

Horses for courses and that type of thing sure. I'm only half way through it yet so my opinion on it might change yet.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Are ya going to give Finnegans Wake a whirl? Its worse than Ulysses, or better, depending on your point of view.

I've read a couple hundred pages of Finnegans Wake and dip into it every once in a blue moon to read a page or two aloud, which seems to be the only way to  get anything out of it. It kinda feels like being inside a total stranger's head while they're tripping, in all the best and worst ways you could imagine that to be. A stranger who's from Dublin, speaks fluent, or practically fluent, Irish, English, French, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, German..., but doesn't think in any of them, but rather somewhere in between all of them. Won't bore ye, or myself, with the details, but it's interesting to me that something like Finnegans Wake even exists in literature, since I study, or try to study how (vaguely) similar "in-between" thinking can give rise to entirely new paradigms in science. But, y'know, formalized and communicated in a way other people can understand, which was exactly what Joyce was aiming to not do with Finnegans Wake. Ulysses reads like a Roddy Doyle book compared to it.

[Carnage]

I read the first Bourne book about ten years ago, it was fucking torturous. That'll do me.

Horses for courses and that type of thing sure. I'm only half way through it yet so my opinion on it might change yet.

The original Bourne books were written by Robert Ludlum, so maybe Van Lustbader has injected some life into the series.

I dunno, I just found it incredibly dull - and at a time when I desperately needed a distraction; our house had been flooded and I was staying with my uncle while we were putting it back together. By comparison, the other book I brought with me was Max Brooks' World War Z and I flew through that in a couple of nights. Chalk and cheese though obviously.

[son of the Morrigan]

Are ya going to give Finnegans Wake a whirl? Its worse than Ulysses, or better, depending on your point of view.

I've read a couple hundred pages of Finnegans Wake and dip into it every once in a blue moon to read a page or two aloud, which seems to be the only way to  get anything out of it. It kinda feels like being inside a total stranger's head while they're tripping, in all the best and worst ways you could imagine that to be. A stranger who's from Dublin, speaks fluent, or practically fluent, Irish, English, French, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, German..., but doesn't think in any of them, but rather somewhere in between all of them. Won't bore ye, or myself, with the details, but it's interesting to me that something like Finnegans Wake even exists in literature, since I study, or try to study how (vaguely) similar "in-between" thinking can give rise to entirely new paradigms in science. But, y'know, formalized and communicated in a way other people can understand, which was exactly what Joyce was aiming to not do with Finnegans Wake. Ulysses reads like a Roddy Doyle book compared to it.

Ya hit the nail on the head there describing it, that's exactly what it reads like.
I can see why people would be intrigued by it but I found it unreadable to be honest, I gave up half way through, cursed Joyce and the chimera he rode in on, and swore never to revisit it.

[son of the Morrigan]

I read the first Bourne book about ten years ago, it was fucking torturous. That'll do me.

Horses for courses and that type of thing sure. I'm only half way through it yet so my opinion on it might change yet.

The original Bourne books were written by Robert Ludlum, so maybe Van Lustbader has injected some life into the series.

I dunno, I just found it incredibly dull - and at a time when I desperately needed a distraction; our house had been flooded and I was staying with my uncle while we were putting it back together. By comparison, the other book I brought with me was Max Brooks' World War Z and I flew through that in a couple of nights. Chalk and cheese though obviously.

Chalk and cheese is right!
This is the first one I've read so I've nothing to compare it to, it's running along at a nice pace so far with interesting characters and lots of intrigue going on, I certainly wouldn't call it boring anyway.

Cuntish about the house getting flooded, a house I was renting a room in got flooded years ago and the state of the place after it was something shocking. must be awful alltogether when its your own house.

[Carnage]

It is. We were lucky, compared to some. Just a few inches in but it still cost €20,000+ to put right between floors, skirting boards, doors, frames, paint. After hiring industrial dehumidifiers to dry the place out and replacing appliances. The bungalows out the back were waist deep and they had no upstairs to throw things out of the way.

But anyway, a zombie plague was more fun than Jason Bourne at the time!

[Born of Fire]

World War Z was a great read. Had the potential for a brilliant film adaptation instead of the rubbish that ended up being made.

[Necro Red]

World War Z was a great read. Had the potential for a brilliant film adaptation instead of the rubbish that ended up being made.

The Zombie survival guide is decent too, same author.

[astfgyl]

Was reading some Stephen King short stories on the jacks lately and came across one called The Jaunt which I found genuinely disturbing. Anyone read that one?

[Carnage]

Years ago, that's in Night Shift or Skeleton Crew if memory serves? Great one, it references The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, a personal favourite sci fi novel. The concept of 'jaunting' features there, or is at least based on a concept from that book. Again, it's been years since I read it.

[astfgyl]

Good spot! yeah it's in Skeleton Crew. Haven't heard of The Stars...., but if it's anything along those lines I'd chance it. Was unusual to read King going for the bit of sci-fi but thoroughly enjoyed that style from him

[Carnage]

His short stories are some of his best work. I suppose the fact that they're more throwaway than novels lets him loose a bit. I think he has a Cthulhu mythos story in the same collection, it was decent if I remember correctly. Plus The Mist is featured there, and that's deadly.

[StoutAndAle]

Anyone know why a Kindle book nearly doubles in price after I log into my Amazon account?

[Kurt Cocaine]

For those who have read Dune....

https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/dune-inspired-metal-list

[Eoin McLove]

I'm blitzing The Hound of the Baskervilles at the minute as a bit of light reading on the side of David Copperfield.
It's a winner. I've never read any Arthur Conan Doyle before but I've always enjoyed the Sherlock TV shows and films for what they are. Baskervilles is a great little gothic horror mystery. The atmosphere is spot on. I must dive into some more Sherlock Holmes novels in future.