Xann Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 9 minutes ago, TheAuthority said: Honorable mention for Orwell's 1984. Dystopias! Stanislaw Lem - 'Futurological Congress' Every emotion has a drug. Everyone's spanked. Lem wrote 'Solaris' too. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) A few of mine have already been mentioned. I'd add Underworld USA Trilogy - James Ellroy. Dark matters & Recursion - Blake Crouch Power of the dog series - Don Winslow Shadow of a dark queen - Raymond E Feist Omerta - Mario puzo Edited November 3, 2020 by DCJonah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 3 minutes ago, Frobisher said: The only book of Mieville’s I’ve read. It took me time to acclimatise but I thought it was excellent and such a feat of imagination. As for my choices... I’m partial to multi-novel-spanning universes so Stephen King and David Mitchell both scratch that itch. I love Mitchell’s style too. Another vote for Reacher from me. Pure escapism that’s much needed at the present time. Villains receiving a fitting punishment for their crimes, brutally delivered, is a refreshing contrast to reality. I’ve just started The Day Of The Locust after it was suggested by @HanoiVillan early on in this thread. Please let me know what you think of it! (I won't be offended, I promise) I have also really enjoyed the two Mieville books I've read, which in my case were Perdido Street Station and Iron Council. I would really recommend those, they were fantastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 My mate wrote a book that sells in modest amounts. Its a cycling book written by a word removed for other words removed who like cycling. Its a travelogue of a journey between JohnOGroats and Gibraltar. I am mentione by name in it. So thats one of my favourite books. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted November 3, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted November 3, 2020 1 minute ago, Seat68 said: My mate wrote a book that sells in modest amounts. Its a cycling book written by a word removed for other words removed who like cycling. Close mate is he ? 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted November 3, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted November 3, 2020 Perdido Street Station is very good. You have to get your eye in with Mieville I find, his world is so, well, weird, that you can't just walk into them with the usual fantasy expectations. Once you do though he's very good. I need to read more Meiville... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 The Stand by Stephen King is my undisputed fictional favourite! Non fiction I’ve read some brilliant stuff and have several I really enjoy but Bobby Sands Writings From Prison was so, so poignant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted November 3, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted November 3, 2020 1 hour ago, mjmooney said: Bravo. I read it back in my 30s, and it made an impression on me, but I think I only really took it in as semi-decadent, fever-dream hallucinatory poetic writing. If you'd asked me, I'd have said that the plot was confusing and almost nonexistent. I thought the characters all blurred into one another. Verdict: impressive, but a bit pretentious. Read it again just last month, and realised the plotting and structure is utterly brilliant. Loved the characters, and found it a total page turner. Verdict: triumphant masterpiece. Just goes to shown that we read books differently at different stages of our life. (Exactly the same thing happened with Mann's "The Magic Mountain" - re-read immediately before the Durrell, after a similar timelapse). Just the concept that it's the same story told from 3 different viewpoints through the first 3. The world opens like a flower in your mind as you progress through the books. I loved it so much I went out and found a first edition which I have wrapped up tightly packed away (please post Kenneth's as you please.) I haven't read The Magic Mountain but it's on my list now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 7 minutes ago, TheAuthority said: Close mate is he ? Best mate. Knows my thoughts on cyclists. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 46 minutes ago, Chindie said: Perdido Street Station is very good. You have to get your eye in with Mieville I find, his world is so, well, weird, that you can't just walk into them with the usual fantasy expectations. Once you do though he's very good. I need to read more Meiville... Yeah, that was exactly my experience. Took me quite a while to get going, but once I was *into* it, I was really into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted November 3, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted November 3, 2020 I've no idea where I got it from but I own a book called Tirant Lo Blanch which is a novel written by a medieval Knight and first published in 1490. I haven't read it in years but I recall enjoying it but finding it rather difficult to read with flowery language. I might give it another go to see if my mind is playing tricks or if it was just shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 Evil – Jan Guillou A man called Ove – Fredrik Backman The book thief – Markus Zusak From childhood: Mio, my son – Astrid Lindgren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 4, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted November 4, 2020 11 hours ago, TheAuthority said: Just the concept that it's the same story told from 3 different viewpoints through the first 3. The world opens like a flower in your mind as you progress through the books. I loved it so much I went out and found a first edition which I have wrapped up tightly packed away (please post Kenneth's as you please.) I haven't read The Magic Mountain but it's on my list now. Yeah, I love the way that Durrell's narrator is so full of himself in the first book, but then kinda gets told what was really happening in the second, and has to own up to being a bit of idiot. Then even more unravelling in book 3, and finally the hindsight in book 4. Three dimensions in space, and one in time, an Einsteinian relativity novel. Sounds pretentious, and it sort of is, but it really worked for me, especially second time round. I envy you your first edition. Tangentially, I was amused by the portrayal of Larry in ITV's (lightweight but charming) "The Durrells" - fancies himself as the sophisticated man of the world sex god, but is constantly exposed as a bit of a naiive twerp. Magic Mountain takes a bit of getting into, as it's very slow, with nothing much happening, but it sucks you in to the atmosphere and builds a detailed picture of the world in which it's set (Swiss sanatorium). I feel like I've actually been there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted November 4, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted November 4, 2020 Donald Trump - How I won my 2nd term, original 2019 publication Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 I am half way through my latest book by James Patterson "Tick Tock" There is a new hero,detecive Michal Bennett.I am really enjoying this read and reccommend it .Bennett is a great character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 23 minutes ago, PussEKatt said: I am half way through my latest book by James Patterson "Tick Tock" There is a new hero,detecive Michal Bennett.I am really enjoying this read and reccommend it .Bennett is a great character. This the first of that character? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 I think so.Everything seems to be for the first time so I think it is the first one in the series. The others are:"Step on a crack" " Ru n for your life" and Worst case" I will definately be getting the other 3 books. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 On 03/11/2020 at 20:43, DCJonah said: I'd add Dark matter & Recursion - Blake Crouch Dark Matter is probably my favourite book of the last 5 years! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, ender4 said: Dark Matter is probably my favourite book of the last 5 years! Yeah, its amazing, I loved it. Have you read recursion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 1 minute ago, DCJonah said: Yeah, its amazing, I loved it. Have you read recursion? Yes, Recursion was also very good, but not quite on the level of Dark Matter imo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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