Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mr John »

Mr John wrote:2/3 through "Flashforward", which I bought months ago, but saved for theTV series ending (cancelled on a cliffhanger, thanks American TV :evil: ).

Average sci-fi plodder, easy read. Less complex and dramatic than the TV version, which is related only in concept and a few minor suggestions from this book.
Finished earlier this week.
Nothing special, for fans of the show, or a plane flight if interested.
Twist at the end takes the whole concept somewhere completely different, never explored by (series one of) the TV show.
:?
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Grotocult »

Mobiesque wrote:Just devoured The Year of the Flood by Margret Atwood. It's a sequel (occurring concurrently) to Oryx and Crake. Absolutely adored the first and this fleshed out the story and showed it from the perspective of a different group of characters. As far as post-apocalyptic speculative fiction goes, it's the bees knees. More horrible than The Road but not in the same way at all. Five stars. Read both. They're tops. That is all.
I enjoyed YOTF but it doesn't stand on its own: feels like a b-sides album to Oryx and Crake. Also both protagonists (Toby and Ren) were weakly characterized. I enjoyed the God's Gardeners stuff, but hopefully the third one will be stronger.
BTW if you want horrifying literary post-apocalyptic sci-fi, read The Book of Dave, it's fucking awesome.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mary Hinge »

Just finished If this is a Man and the Truce by Primo Levi - personal recollections of a year in Auschwitz and the ensuing chaos after the war amongst the displaced millions across Europe and Russia. Absolutely breathtaking read - beautifully written without 'lamenting victim' tones, incredible stories of personal endurance as well as inevitable, incomparable Nazi utter cuntness.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by touchy feely »

Mary Hinge wrote:Just finished If this is a Man and the Truce by Primo Levi - personal recollections of a year in Auschwitz and the ensuing chaos after the war amongst the displaced millions across Europe and Russia. Absolutely breathtaking read - beautifully written without 'lamenting victim' tones, incredible stories of personal endurance as well as inevitable, incomparable Nazi utter cuntness.
added this to my gigantic list, sounds cool
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Eviltoastman »

Recently finished Crime and Punishment. Very good...very good. Am starting Don Quixote again since I dropped it last time in favour of three HST books.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by ReverseEngineer »

Eviltoastman wrote:Recently finished Crime and Punishment. Very good...very good.
have you read the Brothers Karamazov? It's even better.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Grotocult »

Mary Hinge wrote:Just finished If this is a Man and the Truce by Primo Levi - personal recollections of a year in Auschwitz and the ensuing chaos after the war amongst the displaced millions across Europe and Russia. Absolutely breathtaking read - beautifully written without 'lamenting victim' tones, incredible stories of personal endurance as well as inevitable, incomparable Nazi utter cuntness.
I love these books, especially the Truce. Those descriptions of Russia and the release are pretty breathtaking.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Eviltoastman »

ReverseEngineer wrote:
Eviltoastman wrote:Recently finished Crime and Punishment. Very good...very good.
have you read the Brothers Karamazov? It's even better.
I have it - started it before Crime and Punishment but I am constantly interupted by other books. e.g. I put down the Don Quixote somewhere in work and can't seem to find it, I did the same with Conrad's Secret Agent, so I'm halfway through both. So I found the copy of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring which I lost last year and started to finish (?) that instead. When I find Don Quixote and Secret Agent I'll finish those - wherever the fuck they've wandered too then it's Karamazov which I meant to read before the three HST books I read late last year, Lord Jim, all those books on Arsenal and Crime and Punishment...and all those stuipid lesbian books my mrs likes buy fucking Virginia Wolfe and other stupid lesbians writing about tampax, Boyzone and other womens concerns.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by crotchgrabber »

i've been wanting to read don quixote, but my ex's last name is cervantes... kinda puts a wierd mind block on it for me.

i may be the first person on earth cockblocked into not reading that book.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mobiesque »

Just finished the Nancy Mitford Omnibus:
The Pursuit of Love
Love in a Cold Climate
The Blessing
Don't Tell Alfred

Don't know if its for everyone but I found it hilarious. Very quirky, semi auto-biographical and an interesting insight to 1930s and then post-WWII British and French aristocracy. The really odd characters were generally taken from real people and their idiosyncrasies are probably what I found the most enjoyable to read about.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mobiesque »

Two more I'll speak highly of:

Payback - Margaret Atwood
The book based on her BBC lectures on the historical origins of 'debt'. For the most part it is a funny and historical look, rather than a political one. Short, interesting read. The last chapter (basically a greeny reinterpretation of A Christmas Carol where the evil businessman realises he should help save the Earth) shat me up the wall, other than that, I think you'd be stretching to find any flaws or gripes with how she handles the subject matter

Players - Tony Wilson
A Fictionalized story based certain very real people in the Sports/Media here in Australia. Probably loses a lot to an overseas reader but a GREAT, very readable first novel from Wilson (the guy has had a fantastic grounding in so many other careers: AFL seconds league, Lawyer, RRR host, Race around the World winner, et al, and draws on bits of all of them). To Aussies - A scene and ongoing theme (though names are changed) Sam Newman is held at gunpoint by Kerry Packer and Eddie Macguire is trying to convince him not to blow his brains out just because he headbutted a homeless man and got caught.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mobiesque »

Making News - Tony Wilson
About the son of a prominent british (aussie ex-pat) football player and his family in the wake of his father being caught in a tabloid sex scandal (loosely based on Shane Warne with the two hookers and the giant blow-up phallus). The son starts writing for the paper that broke the story and tries to uncover how his father was set up. A wonderful look at tabloid media.

Everyday Drinking - Kingsley Amis
A collection of 3 of his books on drinking. Tips for boozing, hangovers, dealing with wine aficionados and being a cheap bastard with booze at parties. Great for all of those who have a love affair with the bottle. Very quick read. Top stuff.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by The Rambam »

Picked up several books for the old iPad recently, so I'm currently reading, for the first time in most cases, the following:

Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith
Hackers by Steven Levy
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti

8)
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by General Tso s Chicken »

crotchgrabber wrote:i've been wanting to read don quixote, but my ex's last name is cervantes... kinda puts a wierd mind block on it for me.

i may be the first person on earth cockblocked into not reading that book.
get an ipad , word repair cervants to "candy stripper" , "cat woman" or "dominatrix chick" .
the finished product is just the garbage left over from doing the work.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by crotchgrabber »

seems like too much work (and money).
the e-reader ap on my phone cracked me up the other day. under "most popular free dowloads" kama sutra was number one.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by ChickenMug »

:lol: YES!
i saw that too the other day
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by crotchgrabber »

gotta admit, i read it. there's some funny shit in there. i'm not so sure about the bit that says fondling children will make a woman attracted to you.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mr John »

The Brass Eye of Chris Morris:
Bio, no contribution from the man himself, little new info, could have been written with some well placed googling and emailing those who have worked with him for a few opinions.

A time-passing holiday read.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mr John »

John Peel - the Olivetti Chronicles

Collected works of the late Radio 1 DJ and the voice introducing 100s of bands that Radio 1 wouldn't normally play. If you like his writing style, this is gold. I do, but still found it padded with filler, just a collection of his articles since the late 60s, with a general overview on "music events" and other facts of life the man experienced, in a dry fashion.

Some of the stories are great and will make you piss yourself, others are quite dull. Footnote for this messageboard, he didn't like Faith No More: he saw them at Phoenix festival 1993 and considered that "the amount of expensive equipment they had didn't elevate them above prog rock".
:lol: / :mad: / :P / :nod:

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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mobiesque »

Mr John wrote:The Brass Eye of Chris Morris:
Bio, no contribution from the man himself, little new info, could have been written with some well placed googling and emailing those who have worked with him for a few opinions.

A time-passing holiday read.
:roll:
Just finished that myself.

True, not much new or revelatory in there but it fleshed out bits of his career I didn't know much about (the early radio stuff). Absolute swashbuckler of an author and no doubt the C&B people don't mind it cos like them it pretty much ignores Nathan Barley. But damnit, I could have done with Charlie Brooker ranting for a couple of chapters about working with him.

I was mostly happy to read up on Why Bother.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Mr John »

It's got me searching for Blue Jam on YouTube though, which is cool. I have the JAM dvd, which is isn't as effective in terms of introducing blubhaze into your dozing mind pockets when the dark sicks all over the sky.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by crotchgrabber »

war of the worlds
i don't know why they always want to make a movie out of this in modern times. if you set it in 1890's england like the original you could have a bad ass steam punk film. as long as there is no tom cruise.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Welcome to nowhere »

Image

In 1856 Boston, the first American translation of Dante's Inferno is about to be published by the Dante Club, which includes Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell. But they must first identify a murderer, who kills in a style stolen directly from the Inferno. "Gaines brings the grisly scenes to life... His pacing is superb."—AudioFile

Can't make up my mind if I thought it was good or not
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by Welcome to nowhere »

Image

I liked this alot, a very good "end of the world" book that's actually possible. No comet hitting the earth blahblahblah kind of thing. A very plausible way to end the world.

Just after the millennium, a group of pilgrims of all faiths journeys to the Mexican village of Santa Pelagia to witness a miraculous vision, including twenty-four people who experience their own apocalyptic dream that the Day of Judgment is at hand.
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Re: Recent Books that aint 'Arry Potter.

Post by The Rambam »

Welcome to nowhere wrote:to witness a miraculous vision
Oh yeah, totally possible.
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