Ace Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I picked up The Shepherd's Crown... and it's just sitting there. I'm staring at it. I read the first few chapters, but then trailed off because... because... goddammit, because I AM NOT READY for Discworld to be finished, ya know? It's my favorite series of novels ever. Especially since Pratchett seems to have written the book as one whole parable about his own looming mortality and the pain that he knew his inevitably-soon death would bring to his loved ones. I finally got around to reading Raising Steam and finishing it yesterday. That book in itself, would've been a good farewell to Discworld. After finishing, I finally started in on The Shepard's Crown. I thought I was ready. Three things nailed me right in the gut: The blurb about it being the FINAL Discworld story. The dedication. The words used in it were the same words that Rhiannon Pratchett said in her final words to her father (and grandfather). Nanny Ogg's reaction to Granny's death. "It should've been me." Broke my heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I just finished Laird Barron's The Light Is The Darkness. I don't know what to make of it. My main impression is that the final act didn't really fit whatever came before it, and was thus quite awkward and misplaced and 'not right'. On the other hand, that final act was the most interesting bit as well -- although I'm not a fan of the very last chapter and what it implied. It's my second Laird Barron book. I first got his collection of short stories The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, which had some stories that I absolutely LOVED, and some bland stories that left me uninterested. I was hoping this novella would be more like those good stories, but it wasn't. Still, it was nice to see a reference to Olympia in there. I'm going to re-read those short stories I loved again, I think. I'll definitely get some more Laird Barron in the future, but for now I still have stacks upon stacks upon stacks of other books to read. The ending reminded me a little of The House on the Borderland, which I did love. I'll need to re-read that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 After the Crash by Michel Bussi. Apparently, this is once of France's biggest selling novels ever. Basically: In 1980: a plane crashes and a three month old baby girl is the only survivor. And two different families claim her...and everything that follows is a murderous, twisty mess where everyone is basically lying about something or other and no one is who they seem to be. I quite liked it. I read it in one sitting at least. It is, inevitably, quite convoluted in parts. Like, seriously, DNA testing came about in 1987 but no one in either family decided to try it until the mid-90s? No court ordered it just to make sure of their official custody decision? Oh, and even then, someone gives this guy, who has been anxious to know the results his whole life because he is madly in love with his maybe/maybe not sister an envelope with the results in it but tells him he can't open it for a couple of days...so he doesn't and waits it out. Like, WTF? Who in this world has that much self-control? A good novel with some cool Agatha Christie-like twists, and it will probably make a good Hollywood film one day, but it suffers a bit from "Well, why don't you just do this?" syndrome on so many pages. Hey, I could understand Amy Dunne eschewing a divorce for a crazy vengeance plan. I can't quite explain why so many people in this book spend so long hiding the truth just, for well, the sake of it. That said, Marvina De Carville might be one of the best female characters, ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Starting greg wyshynskis new hockey book, presumably for a podcast interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 The missus got me twelve books for my birthday. How I'm feeling right now: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Roman: You simply can't post that without telling us what the 12 books are. Them's the rules, you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Currently reading Behind the Door by Mandy Weiner and Barry Bates. It's about the Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp case. I've only read a bit thus far, but I'm pretty sure by the end of it I will feel exactly like I do now: "The guy's story is some serious bullshit." Seriously: He had to have bribed that judge or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Have not started, but am holding in my hot little hands two books by Lavie Tidhar, Gorel and the Pot-bellied God and Black God's Kiss. Tidhar is an Israeli author now living in London and has in a very short amount of time become SOMEONE TO BE NOTICED. I opted to start with these as opposed to his award-winning novel, Osama, because who can resist the tag-line of "a guns and sorcery novella". The second book, Black God's Kiss is a collection of five novellas that take place either before or after the events in the first book. I've been told to not attempt to read them in chronological order, but in the order presented. Okay, I can follow directions... Let's see what we have here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Roman: You simply can't post that without telling us what the 12 books are. Them's the rules, you know. I do apologise. Thomas Ligotti - Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe William Styron - Darkness Visible Douglas Southall Freeman - Lee Helene Wecker - The Golem and the Jinni James Scott - The Kept Craig Clevenger - The Contortionist's Handbook Martin Amis - The Zone of Interest Per Petterson - Out Stealing Horses John W. Campbell - Who Goes There? Robert W. Chambers - The King in Yellow Barbara Taylor - The Last Asylum Ogden Nash - The Best of Ogden Nash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 My friend, you are married to a wonderful woman (but you know this), that is the most eclectic, WTF, list of books I've seen in a long time. Lots of folk forget that before Campbell was a great editor and then a shitty one, he was a hell of a writer, WGT is state-of-art for the 1930s & early 1940s. If you haven't already read Thomas Ligotti, I envy you the experience of discovery, amazingly unsettling stuff. I'm guessing you've read the Chambers before, vastly uneven, but what works, works wondrous well. Best of Ogden Nash, well, everybody needs this! While I think of it, I'd be very interested in your take on Ligotti, to me, he shares a resonance with the Belgian weird authors such as Thomas Owen and Jean Ray that is quite surprising in that I know Tom and know that he never read either man until much later in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Currently reading Robert Caro's LBJ series. Boy was a sociopath he was(LBJ). . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Currently reading Robert Caro's LBJ series. Boy was a sociopath he was(LBJ). . . . I lived through LBJ, (granted, as a kid, but still...) Talk about a guy that did a lot of the right things for the wrong reasons and could best be described as a highly-functioning sociopath. He did a lot for civil rights but the guy had ethics that made Nixon look like a choirboy. If you look up "Political Predatory Monster" there's ol' LBJ smiling atcha. A lot of the talking heads give credence to the idea that Nixon cheapened the Presidency forever, even as a life-long Dem, I have to disagree and say that the seeds were planted by LBJ, everyone knew what a monster he was, but he was so good at it by the time he forced himself into the VP spot there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. I don't know if he had Kennedy killed or not, but if he didn't have several people killed over his career I'd be awfully surprised. You have to be pretty fucked up to make Richard M. Nixon seem like a more ethical choice of leader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tromatagon Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 One Punch Man is fucking great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Currently reading Behind the Door by Mandy Weiner and Barry Bates. It's about the Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp case. I've only read a bit thus far, but I'm pretty sure by the end of it I will feel exactly like I do now: "The guy's story is some serious bullshit." Seriously: He had to have bribed that judge or something. I haven't read that book, but his story has more holes in it than I can count. I can't believe that you could be sleeping with your girlfriend and hear a noise in the bathroom without checking to see if she was in bed. That doesn't make any sense at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 Buzzed through 2001: A Space Odyssey. This foray into classic sci fi continues to be a real treat. The movie is also on my pile of shame, so I'll have to give that a go as well. Started the Welcome to Night Vale novel because, while I don't necessarily have the fondness for more recent episodes, I'm glad that stuff like WtNV exists. It's about what you'd expect, I guess. It'll tide me over until I figure out what I want to read next. More Clarke? Heinlein? Asimov? Maybe dive into Dune for the first time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unholy Dragon Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 I got the Night Vale book the other week but haven't started yet. While I'd agree the series hasn't been at its best since Season 2, Best Of? And Tryptych might be in my top 5 episodes of the series. ...also we need a place to talk about Welcome to Night Vale, Thrilling Adventure Hour, and other fine radio show style podcasts (and actual radio shows even) since they don't really fit any major catagory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Finally finished LOST FLEET: DAUNTLESS. Strongest possible recommendation if you're into the military space opera. Comparing JC to other military space opera authors, it's clear that Campbell's experience as a naval officer (as opposed to guys like Drake who were infantry or others who are just enthusiasts and never saw the sharp end) gives him an interesting big-picture feel. He's aware of logistics and tactics in a way that most other authors aren't, without letting it get in the way of telling a rousing story. It's pretty much guaranteed that I'll finish the series and probably look into the Paul Sinclair "JAG In Space" stuff. I've also started Tim Zahn's first COBRA book. I've enjoyed his Star Wars and pre-Harrington stories, but never quite got round to any of his non-Blackcollar originals. It's good. Not great, but good. If I had read it 30 years ago it would be BEST THING EVAR territory...but I also would have been 8. It's interesting that between Blackcollar and Cobra, Zahn's two major pre-Star Wars series focus on guerilla warfare. That's an angle that MSF tends to ignore, and while I'm not naive enough to think I can say something in that milieu is authentic or not (guessing "not"), it's certainly compelling. Working on some other non-MSF stuff, but not really far enough along to pass on an opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 CH: You want SF with a nautical feel from someone that knew their shit? Check out A. Bertram Chandler any book will do if it mentions "John Grimes". Chandler was career Aussie Merchant Marine and while he wrote a ton of SF (all with a nautical vibe), far and away his best stuff is the career bio of John Grimes. If you're thinking "this sounds like Master & Commander or Horatio Hornblower in outer space, you would be spot on, and there ain't a damn thing wrong with the concept. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 My friend, you are married to a wonderful woman (but you know this), that is the most eclectic, WTF, list of books I've seen in a long time. Lots of folk forget that before Campbell was a great editor and then a shitty one, he was a hell of a writer, WGT is state-of-art for the 1930s & early 1940s. If you haven't already read Thomas Ligotti, I envy you the experience of discovery, amazingly unsettling stuff. I'm guessing you've read the Chambers before, vastly uneven, but what works, works wondrous well. Best of Ogden Nash, well, everybody needs this! While I think of it, I'd be very interested in your take on Ligotti, to me, he shares a resonance with the Belgian weird authors such as Thomas Owen and Jean Ray that is quite surprising in that I know Tom and know that he never read either man until much later in life. We're both always discovering new things to learn more about or new authors to read etc, and we enjoy being able to tell each other about a book we've just read, or some interesting fact we've learned. One of us will come home, see the other person reading a book and the conversation invariably goes: 'What are you reading?' 'Babylonian mythology.' 'Tell me everything.' And we end up, 1) ordering more books on the subject, 2) sitting on the floor with laptops and books to find out more already, 3) constantly going 'Ohhh! Listen to this!' 4) reprimanding ourselves because it's morning. Hence the somewhat eclectic nature of that list. I have read the Chambers work before, but that was years ago. I'm glad to be able to read it again. Ligotti will be my first time. I've heard so much about him for such a long time, and the more I heard about him, the less I wanted to read him. He seems like such a big and powerful and 'ultimate' name in modern horror, and I felt daunted by the prospect of having to read him and then perhaps being disappointed. I wanted to read him so badly, but at the same time I didn't want to risk being disappointed because by now I have this image of Modern Lovecraft Times Ten when it comes to Ligotti. But now it's no longer in my hands. I have that book now, so now I must read him -- and I'll read that book first from said list. I'm very, very excited and very, very anxious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Well, you are starting Ligotti at the proper place. SOADD was his first collection and while he's grown from that point, it's still a marvelous work. Grimscribe and Noctuary are the other two real essentials. His later work moved into viewing the corporate workplace as a nexus of evil/weird doings, some of it works, some fails, but no worries, you've got the great stuff in hand. I doubt that you'll be disappointed, unlike Lovecraft, who really only wrote a dozen great stories, Tom did that and then some by 1990. Even his failures are (unlike Lovecraft's) well worth reading as there's always some saving grace even if the story itself doesn't gel completely, there are always memorable scenes that will stay with you. Interestingly enough, Ligotti's influences predate Lovecraft, he's told me that he was far more influenced by people like Maturin and other Gothic authors. For a great comparison that may hit close to home for a Belgian, take Jean Ray's greatest short fiction such as "The Shadowy Street", "The Mainz Psalter" and "The Great Nocturnal One" and you're very close to Ligotti territory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I read the first handful Ligotti stories last night. They certainly have a truly unnerving quality. They haven't won me over yet, but that quality is something that most horror authors I've read can't effectively conjure. I'm not quite sure whether I like the level of ambiguity these stories have so far, but that seemed to improve after the first two already. I'm very excited to read the rest. The last one I read (The Chymist) was highly unsettling. "Now Rose of madness -- BLOOM!' was beautiful and terrifying. I've only read Melmoth by Maturin, but I liked it quite a lot -- although I got annoyed with the repeated story-within-story mechanic. Still, I enjoyed it and the stories about the woman on the island and especially the man in the asylum were frightening. I haven't read much of Jean Ray, admittedly. He's not very well known here, actually, and especially not in the northern, Flemish part of the country. He wrote the Jean Ray stories in French, which is the south of the country and there's always been a cultural barrier between north and south here. He's one of the countless authors on my 'to read' list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Currently reading Behind the Door by Mandy Weiner and Barry Bates. It's about the Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp case. I've only read a bit thus far, but I'm pretty sure by the end of it I will feel exactly like I do now: "The guy's story is some serious bullshit." Seriously: He had to have bribed that judge or something. I haven't read that book, but his story has more holes in it than I can count. I can't believe that you could be sleeping with your girlfriend and hear a noise in the bathroom without checking to see if she was in bed. That doesn't make any sense at all. His story is nonsensical and implausible. Even if it was just his word, you wouldn't buy it. That you've got several different neighbors (all of whom have no reason to lie) insisting they heard a loud argument between a man and a woman right up to the shots pretty much seals the deal and removes all doubt. You even had that one neighbor lady admit she still has nightmares about Reeva's pleas and final screams of terror and can't get them out of her head. I mean, Jesus. They're really going to tell that woman that never happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 In general, the forensics, ballistics and crime scene don't at all jive with his story, either. The only thing that does give his claim any validity is that he was, like a lot of South Africans, quite paranoid about crime and potential intruders. (Hence, the gun under the bed.) But even then, that just makes me think as soon as he calmed down and realized he'd killed his girlfriend in a fit of rage, the first thing that crossed his mind was: "I can say I thought she was a burglar." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 CH: You want SF with a nautical feel from someone that knew their shit? Check out A. Bertram Chandler any book will do if it mentions "John Grimes". Chandler was career Aussie Merchant Marine and while he wrote a ton of SF (all with a nautical vibe), far and away his best stuff is the career bio of John Grimes. If you're thinking "this sounds like Master & Commander or Horatio Hornblower in outer space, you would be spot on, and there ain't a damn thing wrong with the concept. Thank you for the recommendation. Nautical space opera is something I've loved since I first saw cut-up Captain Harlock as a kid. When I first started reading again after studying to teach English and then sucking at teaching English killed my ability to enjoy anything that wasn't 22 pages with pictures, David Weber was my first new favorite author (but I feel like I've outgrown him and moved on). I will definitely look up Chandler as soon as I run out of Jon Ronson and finish Bacigalupi's THE SHIP BREAKERS, which is my book club book for November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 A day delayed, but here is my writing from yesterday. Starting to discuss the 'Les Miserables' bug, as well as my stepdad.http://thatdifficultfirstnovel.co.uk/nanowrimo/nanowrimo-day-5/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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