Books

[WhiteRoseKillie]

9 hours ago, CountyFan said:

Thanks for this recommendation. Battered through the first half of the first book tonight, cracking stuff. No idea how I hadn't come across it before because it's right up my street. 

See, this is where I get conflicted. I'm chuffed that someone has discovered an author (and series of books) I've enjoyed and would recommend, and jealous as all hell that I'll not get to read that series again without knowing what's coming.

Enjoy, mate - some cracking twists and turns on the way!

Edited August 1, 2019 by WhiteRoseKillie

[CountyFan]

54 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

See, this is where I get conflicted. I'm chuffed that someone has discovered an author (and series of books) I've enjoyed and would recommend, and jealous as all hell that I'll not get to read that series again without knowing what's coming.

Enjoy, mate - some cracking twists and turns on the way!

I can return the favour and recommend the gentleman b*****ds series by Scott Lynch. They're glorious but nobody I've ever spoken to has ever bloody heard of them. Thank me later. 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

2 hours ago, CountyFan said:

I can return the favour and recommend the gentleman b*****ds series by Scott Lynch. They're glorious but nobody I've ever spoken to has ever bloody heard of them. Thank me later. 

Thanks a lot - I've already read them, though. I agree on both counts - brilliant series and criminally unknown. Would make a brilliant wee TV series in the style of American Gods. I wonder who they'd cast as Sabetha? Or Locke, or Jean for that matter.

Before the Republic of Thieves came out was the first time I'd actually been waiting (i.e. checking the net, amazon pub. date, etc.) for a book since the First Thomas Covenant Chronicles.

I love when fantasy adventures concentrate on the adventure rather than the fantasy.

Anyone else reading this thread - get a hold of these!

[WhiteRoseKillie]

2 hours ago, CountyFan said:

I can return the favour and recommend the gentleman b*****ds series by Scott Lynch. They're glorious but nobody I've ever spoken to has ever bloody heard of them. Thank me later. 

Out of interest - have you tried Christopher Fowler? He has written a long series featuring Bryant and May, two detectives working in London's peculiar Crimes Unit. They make a good read, being more esoteric than pure fantasy/magic.

His stand-alone books are great as well, and, especially in Disturbia, show a deep love for London as a city and almost as a discrete being, with fascinating glimpses behind the Big Ben and Palace we all know.

[CountyFan]

20 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Thanks a lot - I've already read them, though. I agree on both counts - brilliant series and criminally unknown. Would make a brilliant wee TV series in the style of American Gods. I wonder who they'd cast as Sabetha? Or Locke, or Jean for that matter.

Before the Republic of Thieves came out was the first time I'd actually been waiting (i.e. checking the net, amazon pub. date, etc.) for a book since the First Thomas Covenant Chronicles.

I love when fantasy adventures concentrate on the adventure rather than the fantasy.

Anyone else reading this thread - get a hold of these!

A fellow fan! He needs to get his finger out and finish the next one. 

[D TOTAL]

Iv just ordered the first 5 in the conqueror series on a recommendation from a poster , looking forward to it

[Nkomo-A-Gogo]

Getting through the faraway tree series at the moment.  Moonface is the man. Will find out tonight what becomes of spoilt Connie after she got trapped in the land of marvels.

[Highland Capital]

"Suicide" by Edouard Leve.

[bishopburn boy]

7 hours ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Thanks a lot - I've already read them, though. I agree on both counts - brilliant series and criminally unknown. Would make a brilliant wee TV series in the style of American Gods. I wonder who they'd cast as Sabetha? Or Locke, or Jean for that matter.

Before the Republic of Thieves came out was the first time I'd actually been waiting (i.e. checking the net, amazon pub. date, etc.) for a book since the First Thomas Covenant Chronicles.

I love when fantasy adventures concentrate on the adventure rather than the fantasy.

Anyone else reading this thread - get a hold of these!

There was no Amazon for the first chronicles of Thomas covenant , jings that was about when I got a ZX81 , 

 

however another reccomendation , that was almost a throw away as a good tv series recommendation is American Gods , though I think Neverwhere just shades it for Quirky , both obvs from the pen of Neil Gaiman  

[bishopburn boy]

20 hours ago, CountyFan said:

Thanks for this recommendation. Battered through the first half of the first book tonight, cracking stuff. No idea how I hadn't come across it before because it's right up my street. 

We went to see Ben Aaranovich , when the last book came out he was lamenting the strapline from the publisher around 

“ Hatton potter joins the Fuzz” he preferred to look on it as “ Gandalf joins the Sweeney” 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

There was no Amazon for the first chronicles of Thomas covenant , jings that was about when I got a ZX81 , 

 

however another reccomendation , that was almost a throw away as a good tv series recommendation is American Gods , though I think Neverwhere just shades it for Quirky , both obvs from the pen of Neil Gaiman  

I know that, it was simply an expression of "active waiting" which actually involved annoying the hell out of the staff at the Dick Institute on a regular basis. That's the main library in Kilmarnock, fact fans.i believe the BBC did a series of Neverwhere a few years back,but haven't seen it. Gaiman rarely produces anything not worth watching or reading.

[19QOS19]

Along Came a Spider or The Shining.

The former had Soneji who was an excellent character. Reading it I was thinking, if the actor nails this in the film he's a shoe in for an Oscar. Sadly he got little air time in the film and it focussed more on Alex Cross. Two books that are absolutely brilliant, with decent films made but nowhere near the same quality.

[Detournement]

On 31/07/2019 at 13:21, Netan Sansara said:

Currently reading A short history of Europe by Simon Jenkins which is good.

Simon Jenkins is a complete walloper.

On 30/07/2019 at 13:43, Estragon IS NOT a fud said:

My favourite books(not read all that many, mind)

1. Crime & Punishment
2. Inherent Vice
5. The Brothers Karamazov

How many have you read? Pynchon and Dostoevsky are heavy going if your not a big reader surely?

James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of A Justified Sinner is the best Scottish novel of all time imo. For something a bit more modern Morvern Callar by Alan Warner is a great read.

[peasy23]

Carl Hiassen's crime fiction is very funny. Wee environmental message there as well.  Good summer reading.

Have to thank one of the staff at the local library for putting me on to him. I was getting a Brookmyre book out and she said if you like humorous crime stories you should like him too, think Lucky You was the first one I read.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

11 hours ago, peasy23 said:

On 30/07/2019 at 15:03, The Skelpit Lug said:

Carl Hiassen's crime fiction is very funny. Wee environmental message there as well.  Good summer reading.

Have to thank one of the staff at the local library for putting me on to him. I was getting a Brookmyre book out and she said if you like humorous crime stories you should like him too, think Lucky You was the first one I read.

First one I read was Native Tongue, which was stuck as a free gift on the cover of a GQ magazine. Immediately hooked by the combination of absurdity and storyline. Dickie the Dolphin - some mental shit right there - but based on factual events, which led me to the newspaper columns, then the other novels, then the collaborations, then the YA fiction..

 

[velo army]

"The People's Act of Love" by James Meek is a gorgeous book. One of the few novels I'd read again.

"The Kiln" by William McIlvanney is a hugely uplifting coming of age nostalgia trip. I've read it three times and love to revisit it often. 

I love McIlvanney actually. If you fancy detective fiction "Laidlaw" is up there with the great crime novels, because it isn't as much a crime novel as an eloquent journey into the the soul of a city (Glasgow) in the mid 70's. Again, I've read this one multiple times.

[bishopburn boy]

On 01/08/2019 at 21:35, WhiteRoseKillie said:

On 01/08/2019 at 19:23, bishopburn boy said:

There was no Amazon for the first chronicles of Thomas covenant , jings that was about when I got a ZX81 , 

 

however another reccomendation , that was almost a throw away as a good tv series recommendation is American Gods , though I think Neverwhere just shades it for Quirky , both obvs from the pen of Neil Gaiman  

 

I know that, it was simply an expression of "active waiting" which actually involved annoying the hell out of the staff at the Dick Institute on a regular basis. That's the main library in Kilmarnock, fact fans.i believe the BBC did a series of Neverwhere a few years back,but haven't seen it. Gaiman rarely produces anything not worth watching or reading.

The T V version is from the mid 90s and shows it’s age already  . If I understand correctly as the series was in production NG kept seeing was to make it better etc ( it was devised as a series first in collaboration with Lenny Henry ! )   the authors preferred text version talks about this evolution “ I’ll put that in the book”

the radio 4 adaptation on the other Hand is really worth searching out 

Edited August 3, 2019 by bishopburn boy
Detail

[Hillonearth]

34 minutes ago, velo army said:

"The People's Act of Love" by James Meek is a gorgeous book. One of the few novels I'd read again.

"The Kiln" by William McIlvanney is a hugely uplifting coming of age nostalgia trip. I've read it three times and love to revisit it often. 

I love McIlvanney actually. If you fancy detective fiction "Laidlaw" is up there with the great crime novels, because it isn't as much a crime novel as an eloquent journey into the the soul of a city (Glasgow) in the mid 70's. Again, I've read this one multiple times.

The three Laidlaw books are in many respects the template for most Scottish crime fiction that followed - I'm especially fond of the first one because a couple of scenes are set in the Burns Howff where I used to drink when I was a kid!

Docherty and The Big Man are both excellent as well. I didn't enjoy his first book Remedy Is None ithough...wee bit overwrought and selfconsciously literary.

[velo army]

2 hours ago, Hillonearth said:

The three Laidlaw books are in many respects the template for most Scottish crime fiction that followed - I'm especially fond of the first one because a couple of scenes are set in the Burns Howff where I used to drink when I was a kid!

Docherty and The Big Man are both excellent as well. I didn't enjoy his first book Remedy Is None ithough...wee bit overwrought and selfconsciously literary.

I loved Remedy but it was so grim I had to read something super light (Pirlo’s autobiography, since you ask). I felt and related to the anger and grief expressed in that book. Docherty is an absolute masterpiece though.

[Saigon Raider]

I can return the favour and recommend the gentleman b*****ds series by Scott Lynch. They're glorious but nobody I've ever spoken to has ever bloody heard of them. Thank me later. 

They are amazing, one of my favourite series of books. The world he has created is superb and they are genuinely funny, smart books. I keep checking Goodreads to see when the next one is out but I think Scott Lynch may struggle with depression (not sure about this but it has been due out for a long time).

I am reading Game of Thrones - never watched an episode but the books are superb. I am halfway through A Storm Of Swords and already have the 4th one lined up next.