Reading Record 2023 - Living 1000 Lives Before We Die - The Bear and Badger

Moot_Geeza

Gremil can't read!!

Moot_Geeza

Nor can I apparently, as I've never noticed the second 'l' at the end of his username until now.

Gremill

hylian_elf wrote:

Why is this thread in the Games section?!

I have no idea what you're talking about.

hylian_elf

*shakes fist*

Dark Soldier

Made a pact with myself to read more this year, been neglecting it. First one down.

The Long Knives - Irvine Welsh

Classic Welsh. Brutal, fucked up, pacy, a good laugh. Ray Lennox is the lead this time. People castrating rich politicians and celebrities for crimes of the past.

You know what you're getting with Welsh but I enjoyed it, even if it feels a bit by the numbers these days.

JonB

1. Cannibal Capitalism - Nancy Fraser
A good start to get me back into some social theory stuff.

Aaroncupboard

1. The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

A good ending to an excellent trilogy but parts of this left me a bit cold. The main character continues to be fascinating and the main reason this whole trilogy has been as good as it has. I just felt this one was a touch rushed. There are epic, world changing events that just fly by, and their impact just is not felt in the way it should. It makes a fast-paced read but I couldn't help wanting it to slow down a touch and let me experience these moments. Interestingly, the final few chapters did do this and led to a very strong ending.

Next up...Black House by King and Straub as I continue my read through of the Dark Tower series with additional books.

davyK

OK to put poetry here? I've started reading a fair old bit of it.

Look We Have Coming to Dover! by Daljit Nagra is a collection from the 00s. Its tone is what I like from my poetry - gutsy and right in your face. It relates to return visits to India, multiculture etc. Wonderful, fascinating stuff.

The mother of the runaway daughter, in the marriage
bureau, weeps over the plush backed catalogues glossed
with tuxedo-boys from the whole of our India!

reproduced without permission...

Dark Soldier

How High We Go In The Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

A virus hits the world after an odd cadaver is unearthed on an archaeological dig.

It's a book of short tales, about humanity, love, hope and loss.

Beautiful creativity, prose, ideas. There's two particular sections that had me welling up.

It's a tough read in parts but it portrays life and its myriad complexities better than many other things I have seen or read.

A wonderful, wonderful thing.

Aaroncupboard

2. Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow

Enjoyed this way more than the first. The carry over of characters meant that I was already more invested in them and this helped it become just a big summer movie of a book. I also seriously question its historical accuracy but the battles are fun to read, the main characters likeable and some of the conspiracy senator stuff is good fun. Will carry on the series as an easy read palate cleanser.

Gremill

Dark Soldier wrote:

How High We Go In The Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

A virus hits the world after an odd cadaver is unearthed on an archaeological dig.

It's a book of short tales, about humanity, love, hope and loss.

Beautiful creativity, prose, ideas. There's two particular sections that had me welling up.

It's a tough read in parts but it portrays life and its myriad complexities better than many other things I have seen or read.

A wonderful, wonderful thing.

Ooh, I got that for Xmas. I'll read it too, if I ever finish the two books in on at the moment. Not reading much at all at the moment.

Dark Soldier

I read ir over two days. Completely gripped me.

Moot_Geeza

I'm partial to short stories so I'll probably grab it at some point. Had an epic charity ship visit last week though, picked up 6 books I fancied.

Moot_Geeza

I've been reading Weirdo by Cathi Unsworth on and off for most of the year. I hate it when I'm recommended something that I dislike, because I feel obliged to finish them more often than not, but I've ditched it 3/4 of the way through and I feel liberated. I've been carrying it around for over a month, doing anything I can think of but read it when I'm on the train.

Stopharage

1. Expected Goals by Rory Smith.
Discusses the explosion of data analysis on the Premier League, as Moneyball influences clubs to look at alternative approaches to player recruitment. If you has a reasonable interest in football and/or data analysis I think you’d enjoy it. Some good tales of the initial sniffiness and suspicion towards data and how some of our most maligned managers (Pulis, Allardyce, Redknapp) were amongst the standard bearers of this new approach whilst my team’s manager, Brendan Rodgers was more dismissive than I would have thought. 4/5

2. The Every by Dave Eggers
This is a sequel to Eggers’ The Circle, which was about the dystopian impacts of a behemoth social media site. I wasn’t hugely enamoured with that, although it was significantly better than the Netflix version.

Anyway this is a sequel which ramps things up even more and I really didn’t get much out of it. The relentless spread of ever more inhumane apps and the slavishness of the employees made for a dispiriting novel.

Eggers is one of my favourite contemporary writers but I don’t get on with these books at all.

3. The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers
Soon to be a BBC series, directed by Shane Meadows. Based on the true story of the Crag Valley Coiners, who created their own currency to avoid paying taxes to the King. It’s a tale of murder and grim existence in the 18th Century. Myers’ prose is sound throughout and he includes alternating chapters that are written in the dialect of the day. Works well and it’s an intriguing tale which illustrates how awful and barbaric life could be. 4/5

4. Rogues by Patrick Madden Keefe
A collection of his writing in the New Yorker. 12 different longform articles on topics such as Mexican drug wars, the exploitation of African resources and Anthony Bourdian. It’s very much hit and miss, which is largely down to the subject matter rather than any falling of his writing. 3/5

5. Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me - Various, including Stephen Colbert
Bought this as I'd read an article about the best humorous books. It's an anthology about various men's relationships and woes with women. I didn't find it particularly amusing and whilst there were a few decent contributions a bit too much of it was pretty obvious. Patton Oswalt, Stephen Colbert, Nick Hornby and lots of US comedians feature but it wasn't very insightful or original, so I can't recommend it. 2/5

poprock

Bloody rare for me to get time to read at the moment, so I’m late arriving in the thread.

Punk Paradox - Greg Graffin
Autobiography from the singer with Bad Religion. One of the smartest lyricists in rock music, let alone punk, so I wanted to see what he had to say. The book’s largely about him feeling like an outsider in a group of outsiders - a professor surrounded by punks who genuinely believes, with every fibre of his being, in the idea of punk as a vehicle for progress. I found it dry (naturally so, given Graffin’s academic status) but fascinating. A totally different take on the ’80s/’90s LA punk scene from all the ones I’ve read before. His anthropologist viewpoint meshes with a genuine love for the music and, well … it makes a lot of sense.

This is How you Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
I think someone here recommended this, ages ago. Whoever it was, thank you. I fucking loved it. Is it sci-fi? Is it an epic romance? Is it a diary of letters? It’s none of those things and all of them at the same time. It’s a formal experiment, more than anything else. Two agents of hyper-controlled chaos, taking turns to leave each other love notes in the midst of an Orwellian never-ending conflict that spans thousands of years in a brief couple of hours’ read. This book was an adrenalin shot.

Stopharage

poprock wrote:

Bloody rare for me to get time to read at the moment, so I’m late arriving in the thread. Punk Paradox - Greg Graffin Autobiography from the singer with Bad Religion. One of the smartest lyricists in rock music, let alone punk, so I wanted to see what he had to say. The book’s largely about him feeling like an outsider in a group of outsiders - a professor surrounded by punks who genuinely believes, with every fibre of his being, in the idea of punk as a vehicle for progress. I found it dry (naturally so, given Graffin’s academic status) but fascinating. A totally different take on the ’80s/’90s LA punk scene from all the ones I’ve read before. His anthropologist viewpoint meshes with a genuine love for the music and, well … it makes a lot of sense. This is How you Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone I think someone here recommended this, ages ago. Whoever it was, thank you. I fucking loved it. Is it sci-fi? Is it an epic romance? Is it a diary of letters? It’s none of those things and all of them at the same time. It’s a formal experiment, more than anything else. Two agents of hyper-controlled chaos, taking turns to leave each other love notes in the midst of an Orwellian never-ending conflict that spans thousands of years in a brief couple of hours’ read. This book was an adrenalin shot.

That was me, a few years back.

Now get on How High We Go In The Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu. I've been talking this up since release. See DS's review up above for more love.

Gremill

1. Harrow the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)
A re-read of the second book in the locked tomb trilogy, in preparation for the final volume which I have lined up. I liked it first time around, but found it very confusing at times - this time I loved it. Builds brilliantly and the final quarter of the book really fires on all cylinders.

Gremill

2. Daft Wee Stories (Limmy)
Audio book of loads of...well, daft wee stories by Limmy - which is the only way to experience them I think. His voice, accent and cadence really brings life to the tales which veer between disturbing, surreal, touching and disgusting but are always imaginative and funny. There's some proper laugh out loud moments and although the quality does vary, they're never less than very entertaining.

davyK

My reading has been hampered by my Super Meat Boy obsession but I've just completed Dark Sun : The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It's a hefty tome but is a sequel to the even weightier The Making of the Atomic Bomb which is still sitting on my shelf and was purchased later.

Dark Sun does cover some of the Manhattan Project, but mainly to cover the spy network that siphoned information off to the Russian allies at the time. The network and how it was exposed is described in some detail - a husband and wife team went to the electric chair while the other main names had long jail sentences in England and the US. The pair who were executed refused to speak up and expose their colleagues.

It covers the machinations of the post War era and the manoeuvering of the former allies, and the creation of Strategic Air Command (SAC).

In the main it covers in some detail the story of the design and science of the hydrogen or fusion bombs that are now prevalent , both in the US and the USSR, the tests and the resulting arms race and the attempts to stifle that. It also covers the shoddy treatment of Oppenheimer who had his security clearance stripped because of various complicated and political (small p) reasons. The role of rival Edward Teller is covered in detail.

It's a dense but interesting read and worth investigating if the technology and era interests you. I will be hopping onto the prequel at some point but I'm taking a break from the subject.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Will definitely read at least a few books this year. I keep buying them so I should probably actually read them.

Means that when I spend time reading something very average like Anybody Home then it feel like a real waste. Luckily it was short otherwise I probably wouldn't have finished it. Not worth your time.

Started reading The Descent now though which is a lot of fun

Gremill

The Descent is decent.

Paul the sparky

Yeah, I've not really seen any decent Descent dissent

davyK

What does it all mean? by Thomas Nagel is a brief whistlestop tour of the "big questions". I've read it in advance of dipping into reading about philosophy which has a high barrier to entry because of all the isms. A brisk enjoyable and mind bending read. The entrance to the rabbit hole.

Going to read Think by Simon Blackburn next which is slightly further down the rabbit hole.

I've been prompted to do this by reading Anna Karenina last year which explores the concept of goodness. That and a reading of some Plato last year (in particular - a discourse on the same subject of what good and bad is ) has picqued my interest.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Gremill wrote:

The Descent is decent.

I've been surprised by how quickly it's moving forward. I thought it was just going to be about the beginnings of it.

acemuzzy

Is this by Jeff Long it some other The Descent?

Gremill

acemuzzy wrote:

Is this by Jeff Long it some other The Descent?

Yeah, I think so. It's a nutso book.

Gremill

3. Nona The Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)
The third, and

Spoiler:

, book in the Locked Tomb series. It was not what I was expecting at all, but then the second book was so completely different from the first I shouldn't have been surprised. It is, however, an absolutely brilliant read. Full of her trademark well drawn characters doing and saying interesting things whilst the plot unfolds in unexpected and interesting ways. The origins of the world that has been so meticulously built since Gideon the Ninth is somewhat explained, but not entirely or entirely clearly, and it keeps you guessing throughout. At times it reminded me of Atwood's Oryx & Crake (not the subject matter, but the vibe of a society waiting to crumble under the pressure of forces beyond its control) but in the end it's it's own thing and it has a lot to say about the nature of power, money, identity and division. Great stuff.

LivDiv

I've actually finished a book for the first time this year, have about 6 half finished.

The Hobbit

Not a huge amount to say. I am sure the vast majority have already read it. This was my first read through since seeing the films.
I dont know how they thought this needed 3 movies even with some bits added in from The Silmarillion. That said the book is kind of abrupt at the end. The death of Smaug is particularly surprising in it's brevity.
Its still great though, way lighter than LotR so a much easier read.
A classic.

Wookienopants

Not quite something read yet but it's book related.
An old karate student of mine and ex sparring partner contacted me the other day to tell me all about his sci fi novel series. He's been writing it for the last few years and said it's nearing completion but he felt guilty for not asking me something sooner.

He said that the hero is guided my his martial arts instructor and he wrote the character based upon me and our relationship over the years.
He asked if it was ok that he used my real name too. He called the wise instructor "Sensei Charlie Masters" and he's quoted me and many of my "teachings"

I'm absolutely bloody over the moon and so flattered.

Can't wait to read it!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories