paul-r-cfc Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 The Aquariums of Pyongyang, should be required reading for some blinkered people.Just finished it there. Flew through it in a way that I don't usually with non fiction.Really fascinating and grim insight into life in North Korea. Obviously we all know it's bad, but actual detail is so hard to come by so this is a very important book in that regard. Also got "Dear Leader" on the kindle store for about £2 so will try that one next. Think it's written by a former member of the government in some capacity. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Mark Fisher’s final lectures have just been published in Postcapitalist Desires: The Final Lectures so that’ll be my next read alongside or after I finish The Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moomintroll Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 1 hour ago, paul-r-cfc said: Just finished it there. Flew through it in a way that I don't usually with non fiction. Really fascinating and grim insight into life in North Korea. Obviously we all know it's bad, but actual detail is so hard to come by so this is a very important book in that regard. Also got "Dear Leader" on the kindle store for about £2 so will try that one next. Think it's written by a former member of the government in some capacity. Got that one on my to do list as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coprolite Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Finished Charles Stross's Delerium Brief last week. Interdimensional genital parasites, cowardly evangelists and civil service constitutional wrangling. Highly entertaining, although it missed a bit of the mundane detail that usually gives the Laundry series a real edge. Just finished Graeme Greene's End of the Affair. Fairly atypical for Greene in that i wasn't imagining the film as i read it. It's very reliant on internal dialogue and complex conflicting emotions. It seemed to be going as expected until the 5th part, where it becomes psychology v metaphysics and not obviously cynical. I usually find reading Greene's prose a real joy, stylistically speaking. I thought this was the best of his i've read, just flowing with images of people and ways of life with minimum effort. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Killing Commendatore by Murakami.A really well written book. So many strands are linked throughout the book that when only a few of them are resolved at the end you're fine not knowing the whole truth behind some characters and events as the magical world he's created is so plausible that you're happy to leave it knowing there are some things we'll never know.680 pages but I read it in a week. Highly recommended if you like Murakami. If you want to know what all the hype is about maybe start with Wild Sheep Chase, which you can read in a couple of sittings. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Finally finished Infinite Jest. Despite the intimidating length of it, it's not a particularly challenging read. I was pretty underwhelmed with the ending but I suspect that's the point.The main thing is that it'll look excellent on my bookshelf/tinder profile. Don't get me started on the footnotes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Despite the intimidating length of itI understand where you're coming from, because it's commonly mentioned regarding Infinite Jest (though that's as much because it's not really a page turner as the actual length), but I know a good few people who are amazed when I finish a book longer than 300 pages. I'm sure I could read the entire works of Tolstoy before they got to the end of watching Grey's Anatomy. If it's a good book it's a pleasure.That said, I've started Boys in Zinc which has been mentioned on this thread a few times. I think it'll take me a couple of weeks as some of it is so brutal you don't want to read any more; it's fascinating, important, but horrific. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoseKillie Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 The Big Show, by Pierre Clostermann. Basically a blow by blow account of the famous Free French WWII ace pilot.one of the best examples of the type I've read.Was inspired to complete my latest build as his "Grand Charles":(No,I haven't weathered it and yes, the cockpit is still masked) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Just about finished Glamorama, by Brett Easton Ellis. Taken quite a left turn from earlier on! From the same guy who wrote American Psycho (and Christian Bale gets a few mentions in it). Got a bit lost half way through Black Leopard, Red Wolf. Really loved Marlon James' other stuff but not been as grabbed by this. He was happy for it to be called "an African Game of Thrones" and for me it's a bit too "fantasy", with all the back stories and histories of the characters and areas. Will still finish it at some point and have got it on an audiobook too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Tennis Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Rabbit Run by John Updike. Terrific. Planning to read the others, but will space them out between other books. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathematics Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 On 31/07/2020 at 03:00, Saigon Raider said: Started The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - love myself some fantasy (ooer) from time to time. This is highly rated (4.53 on Goodreads) and has started really well. The day after I started there was an article in the Guardian about author's who are massively slow finished book series' and Patrick Rothfuss' name came up. This will then be the 3rd series where I am waiting on the final instalment - Game Of Thrones, Gentlemen b*****ds by Scott Lynch and this one. The second book in this series is a drag. So different from the excellent first. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefybake Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 (edited) Just finished..., 'Normal People' by Sally Rooney. I watched the TV series a few months back, and was transfixed, really hit the spot for this 68 year old, even though I 've read that the TV audience for it was said to be majority made up of under 35 year olds. With the book, I'm not sure. The book itself was an enormous hit, but the TV series script was so faithful to the book that as I read , I kept seeing the scenes from the TV in my mind. A bit distracting, particularly as the writing style is sparse. Edited September 18, 2020 by beefybake 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatowner Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 half way through: Michael Moorcock quite interesting so far 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Steele Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 I've just finished Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry. It's the sequel to Lonesome Dove. At nearly 600 pages I thought it would take a while, but he writes so well I ended up reading huge chunks at one go (still took all week). Great story about the Old West and some incredible characters. Well worth getting both books imo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 I mentioned this in the Stalingrad thread but I'm going to mention it here too. I just finished the above non-fiction history book. I've been attempting to read up on The Eastern Front in WW1 as it was a huge theatre of operations but is only ever mentioned in passing in most English language books or documentaries. This book, however, was excellent. It describes in pretty gory detail a horrific five month siege of the fortress city of Przemysl in South eastern Poland. The whole situation was as much of a clusterfuck as anything that happened on the Western Front. Incompetent upper class officers sending freezing, starving, wretched soldiers into certain death. There was also some pretty extreme religious and ethnic intolerance with various groups turning on each other leading to civilians being massacred or deported. It was a pretty unpleasant chapter in European history that goes largely unmentioned in the UK. I'd certainly been unaware of it. The book itself is well written, engaging and well researched. The author has used personal diaries and letters as source material so it follows the fate of a number of individual combatants and civilians. I'd say this book is as good as anything that Anthony Beevor has written. I'd strongly recommend this to any history buff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Burton Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 The second book in this series is a drag. So different from the excellent first.I've had Name of the Wind sitting on bookshelf for ages now. Haven't read it as Rothfuss seems in no rush to finish the trilogy.The Gentleman b*****d books are fairly self-contained and the next one is now finished but not sure when it is coming out.Joe Abercrombie's latest book The Trouble with Peace came out last week and is great. Can't recommend him highly enough if you like fantasy books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taurus Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 What one ? half way through: Michael Moorcock quite interesting so far 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 On 18/09/2020 at 04:45, mathematics said: The second book in this series is a drag. So different from the excellent first. Just finished it - I still enjoyed it but nowhere near as good as the first one. Did we really need 100 pages describing Kovthe's meeting with Feulerian? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 On 21/09/2020 at 01:23, Jack Burton said: I've had Name of the Wind sitting on bookshelf for ages now. Haven't read it as Rothfuss seems in no rush to finish the trilogy. The Gentleman b*****d books are fairly self-contained and the next one is now finished but not sure when it is coming out. Joe Abercrombie's latest book The Trouble with Peace came out last week and is great. Can't recommend him highly enough if you like fantasy books. Scott Lynch has been promising the 4th book of Gentlemen b*****ds for ages now - will believe it when I see it. Probably my favourite fantasy series so I really hope it doesn't disappoint. I think the guy has been suffering with writer's block and possibly some other mental health issues. Will have a look at Joe Abercrombie. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathematics Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 17 hours ago, Saigon Raider said: Did we really need 100 pages describing Kovthe's meeting with Feulerian? No we bloody well did not. Felt like a Jilly Cooper novel at times. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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