The B&B Book Review - The Bear and Badger

Gremill

Finished Acceptance, the third in Jeff Van Der Meers Southern Reach trilogy. I think I enjoyed it, I guess? It was certainly interestingly vague about what the fuck was going on. I think I’d get more from the three books from re reading them (I certainly did when I re read the first one) but fuck that for the moment.

tigersgogrrr

Really annoyed at myself for not picking up a signed first edition of Spinning Silver today. Tiger, you twat.

Facewon

Been slowly reading through Ben goldachre I think you'll find it's more complicated than that.

Big ol collection of his articles up until 2011 or 12. Cracking read regardless of age.

Bollockoff

That's China's latest brushed off. Has a lot of similarities to his short story The Tain regarding supernatural invasion and a central character with an inexplicable ability for communicating with them. Hasn't really stuck in my memory. Passable enough I guess but the man isn't doing much to break out of his self-made genre. Well judged in length.

Bollockoff

Silence in the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge
Got this booklet as a secret santa last Crimbo from my book club. I knew nothing about the author but apparently he's the first man (Norwegian fella) to summit all three poles of the earth (both arctics and Everest) and he decided to write a small work regarding his philosophy of silence as a concept and its goodness for the soul.

He comes across as an enlightened arsehole in some parts. Here like -

"Not long ago, I tried convincing my three daughters that the world's secrets are hidden inside silence. We were sitting around the kitchen table eating Sunday dinner. Nowadays it is a rare occurrence for us to eat a meal together; so much is going on all the other days of the week. Sunday dinners have become the one time when we all remain seated and talk, face to face. The girls looked at me skeptically. Surely silence is... nothing? Even before I was able to explain the way in which silence can be a friend, and a luxury more valuable than any of the Louis Vuitton bags they so covet, their minds had been made up: silence is fine to have on hand when you're feeling sad. But beyond that, it's useless.

Sitting there at the dinner table, I suddenly remembered their curiosity as children. How they would wonder about what might be hiding behind a door. Their amazement as they stared at a light switch and asked me to 'open the light'.

Questions and answers, questions and answers. Wonder is the very engine of life. But my children are thirteen, sixteen and nineteen years old and wonder less and less; if they still wonder at anything, they quickly pull out their smartphones to find the answer. They are still curious, but their faces are not as childish, more adult, and their heads are now filled with more ambitions than questions. None of them had any interest in discussing the subject of silence, so, in order to invoke it, i told them about two friends of mine who had decided to climb Mount Everest.

Early one morning they left base camp to climb the southwest wall of the mountain. It was going well. Both reached the summit, but then came the storm. They soon realised they would not make it down alive. The first got hold of his pregnant wife via satellite phone. Together they decided on the name of the child that she was carrying. Then he quietly passed away just below the summit. My other friend was not able to contact anyone before he died. No one knows exactly what happened on the mountain in those hours. Thanks to the dry, cool climate 8000 meters above sea level, they have both been freeze-dried. They lie there in silence, looking no different, more or less, to the way they were last time I saw them, twenty-two years ago.

For once there was silence around the table. One of our mobile phones pinged with an incoming message, but none of us thought to check our phones just then. Instead, we filled the silence with ourselves."

Raiziel

I started Perdido Street Station over weekend and then promptly bailed after chapter three. It’s well written, which is more than can be said for the last two books I’ve put down before the end (The Book of Lost Things and The Night Circus), but I just don’t think I’m up for spending so much time in the hell hole it’s set in. I guess I just prefer my fantasy a little more pastoral.

So I’m off to the Land again with that sonofabitch Thomas Covenant. I was meant to be doing this last year when I got distracted by something new and shiny. Really doing it this time. Picking up where I left off I only have 50 or so pages left of Lord Foul’s Bane and then just nine more books (the last four of which I’ve never read before) to go.

Lord_Griff

I liked Perdido. It gets cheerier.

Bollockoff

Like Alton Tower's Oblivion.

Gremill

Lord_Griff wrote:

I liked Perdido. It gets cheerier.

Yeah, the first part of the book is a bit of a slog first time out - it’s very dense and gritty but it gets better and better.

Raiziel

Okay, I’ll give it a second chance...after I’ve finished the Chronicles.

Lord_Griff

I would say that it is his best book.

Bollockoff

After Paris I had a Mieville bookshelf space review and only Perd + Embassytown survived not going into storage.

Started Wolf Hall, i.e the good shit for bants and convo. Really fun to read well written conversations with great jokes being dropped like a bolt from the blue.

Raiziel

I’ll finish off Lord Foul’s Bane this weekend and actually go back to Perdido before starting the rest of the Covenant books, otherwise I’ll never restart it.

Aaroncupboard

Finished The Ritual this morning. An absolute cracker of a book. Tense, unsettling and actually quite thoughtful towards the end. I loved it.

Has anyone read any of Adam Nevill's other books? Definitely want to read more of his work.

Stopharage

I've read Lost Girl by him, which I enjoyed. Fairly unrelenting throughout. A friend has read The Ritual and he thought Lost Girl was far better. Set in a future Britain where criminal gangs operate freely in some towns and cities, there has been an explosion in number of refugees and the gulf between rich and poor is further increased. A father goes in search of his daughter.

I've just finished Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. Was another enjoyable read and had a nice vein of humour running throughout. It's a relatively short and easy read although I thought the preface was the best section of the novel.

Now onto The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, which I can safely say is the first time I've read Chinese sci-fi.

Raiziel

Trucking through Perdido Street. Nicely written, not my thing pervades.

pantyfire

I'm not a fan of this Miellvile bloke, I didn't love any of his I've read, the one with the floaty pirate city thing was ok.

Raiziel

I’m reading the one where the whole city is a piece of shit. I feel like I’m living inside Terry Gilliam’s head.

Aaroncupboard

Stopharage wrote:

I've read Lost Girl by him, which I enjoyed. Fairly unrelenting throughout. A friend has read The Ritual and he thought Lost Girl was far better. Set in a future Britain where criminal gangs operate freely in some towns and cities, there has been an explosion in number of refugees and the gulf between rich and poor is further increased. A father goes in search of his daughter.

I've just finished Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. Was another enjoyable read and had a nice vein of humour running throughout. It's a relatively short and easy read although I thought the preface was the best section of the novel.

Now onto The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, which I can safely say is the first time I've read Chinese sci-fi.

Cheers, Lost Girl was the one that looked the most intriguing when looking through his bibliography. Will give that a go first.

How is the Three Body Problem? Got that and the sequel on Kindle Daily Deals so was planning on reading them next.

tigersgogrrr

Polishing off Cogheart and then about to dive into either Spinning Silver or The Arm of the Sphinx. Senlin Ascends is one of my favourite reads over the past few years so I'm really looking forward to TAotS and the sequel, out in January.

Kernowgaz

tigerswiftly wrote:

Polishing off Cogheart and then about to dive into either Spinning Silver or The Arm of the Sphinx. Senlin Ascends is one of my favourite reads over the past few years so I'm really looking forward to TAotS and the sequel, out in January.

Just finished Grey Sister and thought it was great, was choosing between Deathless by Peter Newman ( Vagrant Trilogy ) and Senlin Ascends - your comments have decided it for me - cheers Tiger

Senlin Ascends it is

tigersgogrrr

Definitely worth a punt. A lot of people find it tough until after The Parlor, but for me it clicked very quickly.

Kernowgaz

Cool . Sat in hotel room in Rosslare and the kids are asleep , so I think I'll crack on.

Hopefully it clicks .

Also for anyone who likes Mark Lawrence , he's involved in the Ashen for the Xbox One - it looked good before he was involved.

http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2018/07/ashen.html?m=1

Bollockoff

Reading Look to Windward. Much of Bank's writing describing a widowed alien's grief is some of the best I've read from him and it easily hits the high quality mark of Player of Games during these bits. Then he'll spoil it with a clunker scene switch and I'm left fuming. Worse experience in some ways than a politely thoroughbred bad book.

Stopharage

Aaroncupboard wrote:

How is the Three Body Problem? Got that and the sequel on Kindle Daily Deals so was planning on reading them next.

Just finished the Three Body Problem. There is an awful lot of Science at certain points; a sound knowledge of physics will probably be useful. At certain points I felt some of the theoretical stuff was beyond me, in all honesty. But, worth persevering with as the actual story is excellent and it’s nice to read sci-fi in a less traditional arena (aftermath of the Chinese cultural revolution). Some really well developed characters and the fiction element tempers the science element sufficiently. It’s part of a trilogy and it’s done an excellent job of setting up the next volume. Not going to jump straight into the next book but will do so later in the hols.

Aaroncupboard

Stopharage wrote:

Aaroncupboard wrote:

How is the Three Body Problem? Got that and the sequel on Kindle Daily Deals so was planning on reading them next.

Just finished the Three Body Problem. There is an awful lot of Science at certain points; a sound knowledge of physics will probably be useful. At certain points I felt some of the theoretical stuff was beyond me, in all honesty. But, worth persevering with as the actual story is excellent and it’s nice to read sci-fi in a less traditional arena (aftermath of the Chinese cultural revolution). Some really well developed characters and the fiction element tempers the science element sufficiently. It’s part of a trilogy and it’s done an excellent job of setting up the next volume. Not going to jump straight into the next book but will do so later in the hols.

Excellent, looking forward to it. I was planning on reading it next but I then got Oathbringer in sale and leaped straight into that. 1200 pages worth of epic, brilliant fantasy. It is well worth reading the series (The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson) but they are massive books. Gonna take me ages.

tigersgogrrr

Arm of the Sphinx. About 20 pages to go and it's been brilliant. Bancroft is probably my favourite fantasy author right now. Have to accept that a myriad of strands won't be resolved as its very much one main arc over the 4 (planned) books, but the prose stands up and drags you along well enough.

I think I saw Senlin Ascends is on sale at the moment and I cannot recommend it enough.

pantyfire

Aaroncupboard wrote:

Stopharage wrote:

Aaroncupboard wrote:

How is the Three Body Problem? Got that and the sequel on Kindle Daily Deals so was planning on reading them next.

Just finished the Three Body Problem. There is an awful lot of Science at certain points; a sound knowledge of physics will probably be useful. At certain points I felt some of the theoretical stuff was beyond me, in all honesty. But, worth persevering with as the actual story is excellent and it’s nice to read sci-fi in a less traditional arena (aftermath of the Chinese cultural revolution). Some really well developed characters and the fiction element tempers the science element sufficiently. It’s part of a trilogy and it’s done an excellent job of setting up the next volume. Not going to jump straight into the next book but will do so later in the hols.

Excellent, looking forward to it. I was planning on reading it next but I then got Oathbringer in sale and leaped straight into that. 1200 pages worth of epic, brilliant fantasy. It is well worth reading the series (The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson) but they are massive books. Gonna take me ages.

I've read all three. And I'm conflicted re them.
They're a very interesting thought experiment, the writing can be a bit dull and there are very large sections that are in retrospect pointless, plus there's only so many times you can have the rug pulled from underneath you before you stop investing in a plotline, but, they're mostly entertaining and they go to extreme futures that most other novels don't.

There also some bits about toxic masculinity which is very topical.

Stopharage

Can't say I've ever been particularly keen on fantasy, but purchased Senlin Ascends on Tigro's recommendation.

tigersgogrrr

Oh God please don't hate it...

Steampunk elements with Kafka and Peake thrown in, for me, and a few scratches of the Weird. Worth persevering until through the Baths - I enjoyed it greatly but some say the plot meanders until thereabouts.

Worth noting that Bancroft self-pubbed it as he didn't think there would be any interest in it and didn't want to compromise his ideas. Mark Lawrence read it, adored it, and after a huge word of mouth boost the series was picked up by Orbit.

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