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Posted

Re-reading the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy at the moment. Currently on the fifth book, looking forward to the sixth as I've not read that one before. I know that one wasn't written by Douglas Adams but reviews seemed to be positive nevertheless.

 

It's one of those books that's both incredibly hard to get through at times, yet is incredibly rewarding at other times as well. So Long and Thanks For All the Fish is still my favourite.

Posted

Almost finished Paul Merson's new autobiography. Very very good. if you watched the documentary on iplayer, it is like that but in much more detail.

 

Makes you realise that people are not what they seem. He lost £7 million pound in total to drink, drugs and gambling. it is such an awful illness.

Posted

Just started reading A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie.

 

Can be read stand-alone, but reading the First Law trilogy first explains a lot of things.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Just finished "The Massacre of Mankind" by Stephen Baxter. An authorized sequel to "War of the Worlds", and it works very well. If you've not recently read* WotW, I'd do so again to get the finer points.

 

*Rather than listening to the Jeff Wayne or Orson Wells** versions.

** Gets a few veiled references though.

 

ULLA...

Posted
Just finished "The Massacre of Mankind" by Stephen Baxter. An authorized sequel to "War of the Worlds", and it works very well.

 

”They’re back! And this time, they’ve had boosters!”

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Posted (edited)

Re-reading The Belgariad (again ... must be about the 3rd time).

 

Makes for a more interesting read having just read the two Belgarath and Polgara stand alone books.

Edited by HarryMonkey
Posted
Re-reading The Belgariad (again ... must be about the 3rd time).

 

Makes for a more interesting read having just read the two Belgarath and Polgara stand alone books.

I absolutely love these books! Going back into them after reading the Belgarath and Polgara prequels is an eye opener for sure!

A lot of the worldbuilding they did in order to create the Belgariad (and Mallorean for that matter) was fleshed out into the two prequels in marvellous fashion.

 

They serve the same job as the Silmarillion does for Middle Earth, but the autobiographical style makes them more accessible :)

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Posted

Recently finished All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr

Beautifully written story about 2 children growing up in interwar France and Germany and weaving their stories together through the medium of radio. It's a long book but I was really engaged by it.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
Magician by Raymond E Feist

 

Nearly finished this as it's included in Prime Unlimited, generally found it pretty engaging, is the rest of the Rift War series worth a read?

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Posted (edited)

"Mountains oceans giants" by Alfred Döblin, the first English translation from German. Weird - written between the wars, looking ahead to the 27th century. TBH - I'd read a few of the first chapters, then skip forward to where they start work on Iceland - Section 5 I think. You won't miss much.

 

The 27th century: beleaguered elites decide to melt the Greenland icecap. Why? - to open up a new continent, for colonization by the unruly masses. How? - by harvesting the primordial heat of the Earth from Iceland's volcanoes. Nature fights back, and it all goes horribly wrong.

 

Edited by Andrew_C
Posted
Re-reading The Belgariad (again ... must be about the 3rd time).Makes for a more interesting read having just read the two Belgarath and Polgara stand alone books.

 

The whole Belgariad/Malloreon series is one of my "comfort reads", read the whole series probably 10+ times over the last 20 years. Awhile back I got rid of all my physical books due to lack of space but this series was one of the few I kept.

 

Currently reading the Wheel of Time Series, current on book 4 of 14 and really enjoying them, though I also really want to read The Expanse right now.

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Posted
Currently reading the Wheel of Time Series, current on book 4 of 14 and really enjoying them, though I also really want to read The Expanse right now.

 

I've enjoyed flipping between WoT and The Expanse series. Expanse is different enough to give my brain a break after finishing the heft of a WoT book.

The Expanse books tend to work as pairs. Whilst the world and plot expands with each book, the writers tend to have a core story that plays out over two books that then informs the direction of the story for the next book and so on. They're a cracking read anyhow and offer a lot more detail on the world that the TV show does such a good job of introducing us to.

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Posted
I've enjoyed flipping between WoT and The Expanse series. Expanse is different enough to give my brain a break after finishing the heft of a WoT book.

The Expanse books tend to work as pairs. Whilst the world and plot expands with each book, the writers tend to have a core story that plays out over two books that then informs the direction of the story for the next book and so on. They're a cracking read anyhow and offer a lot more detail on the world that the TV show does such a good job of introducing us to.

 

Thanks that's good to know about reading them in pairs. I have held off reading them so far because I really love the TV show and didn't want to ruin it if the books were a lot better (as is often the case). Only a few more episodes left now though.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Recently finished The Christmas Pig (JK Rowling). When his beloved toy pig is lost Jack must venture to The Land of the Lost to rescue him. Kind of a modern day Water Babies in that it's a bit of a morality tale for little ones with very pointed names. Better than I was expecting, but not one I'd say is worth members reading unless they have appropriately aged kids.

 

Also Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep (Philip Reeve). Foundling Utterly Dark must take up the mantle of her adoptive father after his death, and it seems as if the evil that the Watchers of Wildsea have been set to give early warning of may be approaching. Not Reeves' best (you'll suss out what's happened before the characters), but still a good read. Reminded me a bit of Alan Garner. If you don't mind reading books that are also suitable for 8+ it's a lot of fun.

Posted

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin (a writer I really enjoy and have been following for a while, I used her as a provocative source for a media analysis piece on r*pe-revenge movies I did last year), a gory trans horror novel about an apocalypse where anyone with male levels of testosterone has turned into a rampaging monster, the culture war that surrounds it and the trans people trying to survive.

 

Nearly halfway through and it's brilliant. Biting satire and top notch horror.

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