The B&B Book Review - The Bear and Badger

regmcfly

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

The Parade by Dave Eggers is the best book I’ve read this year and I’ve read at least, um, 8 other books so far. Srsly, it’s quality and probably his best fiction work.

Just saw this. I'm a massive Eggers fan, and although I've not read The Parade, for me, his best fiction is this short story. The last line is etched in my head forever.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2005/apr/16/shortshortstories.fiction

tigersgogrrr

Spinning Silver was not as good as Uprooted, for me. Too slow moving at times.

Now we're onto The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato.

Vela

I finished the Three Body Problem trilogy last week and fuck me does deep time hard sci fi leave me in a funk afterwards. Pushing Ice (Reynolds), Eon/Eternity (Bear), Manifold series (Baxter) and Rememberance of Earth's Past all manage to do something particularly unsettling to me.

Spoiler:

It was probably not the best series to go into after the wonderful Musashi.

So in response I have decided to got for a book with as little to do with the concept of hard scifi as possible and have settled on the collected chronicles of Conan. Which on early impressions suggests it was written when eugenics were a new fad and holy shit is it a bit racist.

davyK

If you want anachronistic yarns check out Dennis Wheatley's books.

Minnesänger

The Three Body Problem is a great story. Got into it due to the missus. Didn’t know it at the time but it’s the same guy as Wandering Earth (which was turned into that godawful movie), which is probably well known to people here but was news to me.

yourfavouriteuncle

regmcfly wrote:

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

The Parade by Dave Eggers is the best book I’ve read this year and I’ve read at least, um, 8 other books so far. Srsly, it’s quality and probably his best fiction work.

Just saw this. I'm a massive Eggers fan, and although I've not read The Parade, for me, his best fiction is this short story. The last line is etched in my head forever.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2005/apr/16/shortshortstories.fiction

Yeah, that’s a great one. Americans seem to get short fiction more than us. There’s some great suff about with Eggers close to the top.
Have you read his letters to CEO’s of large corporations either written in the voice of a dog (often named Steven) or enquiring if they themselves have ever wondered how it may feel to be a dog who has no worries and can just run and run and run?

Quite the collection but yeah you should try find the time to read The Parade as soon as possible. It’s brilliant - filled with Magnus Mills vibes too who happens to be another fave.

Knight

Finished book 14 of the wheel of time series. Books 8-10 were really poor but it picked up in 11 and then 12-14 were awesome. A fitting end. Looking forward to getting into some Saunderson who wrote the final 3 books once Jordan died.

Currently reading the broken earth series by Jemisin. Book one was brilliant. Book 2 good thus far.

Raiziel

That’s a heck of a feat, reading a 14 book series. I’m tempted myself. I remember reading some of The Eye of the World back when there were only about three books. Seemed a bit too traditional for my tastes, but I’ve always had a curious eye on the series.

Vela

Minnesänger wrote:

The Three Body Problem is a great story. Got into it due to the missus. Didn’t know it at the time but it’s the same guy as Wandering Earth (which was turned into that godawful movie), which is probably well known to people here but was news to me.

Dont get me wrong; the series was wonderful with lots of interesting conundrums (they did come on a bit quickly in book 2 but otherwise there is material enough for another 2 books in there that could have been expanded upon).

My only complaint is a general depressing atmosphere brought on upon by the consequences of entropy which is not the fault of the author.

Minnesänger

Yeah, I blame this on difficulty of managing tone on the internet - I wasn't meaning to imply you were being critical. I was just musing randomly on the author in reply to seeing you tackle to the book. I absolutely get the "funk".

acemuzzy

Knight wrote:

Finished book 14 of the wheel of time series. Books 8-10 were really poor but it picked up in 11 and then 12-14 were awesome. A fitting end. Looking forward to getting into some Saunderson who wrote the final 3 books once Jordan died.

Currently reading the broken earth series by Jemisin. Book one was brilliant. Book 2 good thus far.

Hmm looking through plot summaries U think I got bored on book 8... Maybe I should risk diving straight in at 11, despite having forgotten basically everything about the plot & having then missed three out :-/

davyK

Reading Hide & Seek by Xan Fielding after returning from my Cretan holiday. I got into a conversation with a restaurant owner about Crete in WW2 and it reminded me that I had the book. Got it for free when I bought a book from Folio.

It's a handsome volume with photos and a fold out annotated map of the area Xan did his intelligence work in.

It's a breezy read and at less than 200 pages won't last long. There an array of Greek names and places but it's not too hard to keep up.

I also started a Smiley novel on holiday - A Murder of Quality - I need to finish that.

I'm looking at Riddley Walker next. A mailshot from Folio educated me about this - looks good. Set in a post nuclear war (+2,500 years) England and written in broken English about 10 days in the life of a kid who at 12 is more or less an adult in this new world.

Won't be buying the £300 special edition of course (reduced to £145). One for the Kindle to see if I like it.

tigersgogrrr

Raiziel wrote:

What wasn’t beautifully written was Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng. It’s her debut novel and you sure can tell. It’s about two Catholic missionaries who venture into fairyland to convert the heathen fea. It sounded like just my kinda weird, but when you’re reading something and mentally correcting sentences as you go you know it’s not good. The characters are poorly drawn and the dialogue is mostly atrocious. Why I pushed through to the dull finale is beyond me. It’s Strange the Dreamer all over again. How are these people getting published?

Not just published... Ng just won the Campbell award for best new writer! Haven't read anything by her myself. Apparently her speech was very biting and good and worth a watch.

The Tunnel was a good quick burn of a read. Obsessive painter in Buenos Aires kills the woman whom he is obsessed by. Good fun.

Record of a spaceborn few next, I think.

tigersgogrrr

Spinning Silver came 2nd in the vote for Best Novel (Hugo award). I can understand why even if I didn't love it. Some exceptional writing in there.

poprock

This looks like it could be good.

Anthony Bourdain: The Last Interview and Other Conversations, written by New Yorker writer Helen Rosner, which details her growing up admiring Anthony Bourdain and then getting to know him later in life.

And you can read the introduction here. It’s a lovely read in itself.

https://ew.com/books/2019/08/19/anthony-bourdain-last-interview-excerpt/

tigersgogrrr

Joe Abercrombie's latest is out next month. The buzz is that it is very, very good.

Facewon

Finally through the chapter describing the day of the attack in the brevik book.

Absolutely incredible piece of writing.

Harrowing is understatement. The fuck ups on the day from emergency services though. Oh my God. You literally couldn't make them up. If it wasn't all so utterly horrific it'd be a black comedy.

davyK

Hide and Seek by Xan Fielding.

Memoirs of a British agent in Crete during WW2 with a short period in pre-DD landings France when he is captured and has his life saved by Christine Granville, a Polish born agent, who was murdered in the 50s, to which this book is dedicated.

It's a breezy read. Fielding is no slouch with a pen, and his linguistic skills that he used in WW2 he also put to use translating two Pierre Boulle novels - Planet of the Apes and Bridge over the River Kwai.

Whilst a lot of his work was tramping around in the mountains or waiting around for sending/receiving coded radio signals (which were a success as Crete was a logistical stop over for the theatre in North Africa - air strips and velodromes were routinely bombed thanks to Fielding and his teams) he still makes this an entertaining read which will be blasted through in a day or two.

As is so often the case , the end of the book hints at how he and some of his colleagues didn't adapt well to the "horrors of peace",though many went onto varied successful careers as well, and it provides a touching epilogue. Thoughtful yet easy reading. Recommended.

Facewon

Finished brevik book.

Incredible book.

Chapters about the trial and whether he was going to be deemed fit to be found psychotic or not were fascinating.

Dark Soldier

Facewon wrote:

Finally through the chapter describing the day of the attack in the brevik book. Absolutely incredible piece of writing. Harrowing is understatement. The fuck ups on the day from emergency services though. Oh my God. You literally couldn't make them up. If it wasn't all so utterly horrific it'd be a black comedy.

Watch this (not the Netflix film):

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7959216/

Harrowing film.

tigersgogrrr

Anyone with kids at Primary school- Malamander is a cracker.

hylian_elf

Ooh will check that out for mine.

hylian_elf

Blood Meridian was an absolute amazeballs read. Had to refer to a dictionary so many times for all the Wild West / Mexican words and terms and stuff, but apart from that maybe the pacing was slightly off. Some really slow progression in middle and second third, which isn’t a problem, but then it moves at beaknnexu speed near the end.

That Judge, eh? What a great character.

acemuzzy

Never judge a judge by its book

tigersgogrrr

I'm rereading Monstress at the moment and it's one of the best pieces of fiction I've ever read.

I fucking love everything about it.

Vela

tigersgogrrr wrote:

Anyone with kids at Primary school- Malamander is a cracker.

And for those with toddlers, Chris Haughton's latest is out now (Dont worry, little crab)

Gremill

tigersgogrrr wrote:

Joe Abercrombie's latest is out next month. The buzz is that it is very, very good.

I've been re-reading all of his First Law books in preparation for it. I'm halfway through Red Country (which although I liked it the first time, I'm enjoying it a lot more this time around as I'm also re-watching Deadwood at the same time) and they've all been an absolute pleasure to read again - so many amazing characters. I think The Heroes is my favourite.

I think I'm going to have to take a break from them though, as Atwoods The Testaments is out next week - the first book I've ever pre-ordered - and I'm super hyped for that.

The Daddy

I looked him up after Tig’s post. I’m about quarter of the way through The Blade Itself, liking it.

LivDiv

I'm about halfway through Dr Sleep and thoroughly enjoying it. Need it finished by the time the movie comes out which should be fine.

Thinking of reading more King.
What would people go to for a top 5 must read?
I have read The Shining and obviously reading Dr Sleep.
Not too fused about reading IT.
Anything else is game.

davyK

LivDiv wrote:

I'm about halfway through Dr Sleep and thoroughly enjoying it. Need it finished by the time the movie comes out which should be fine. Thinking of reading more King. What would people go to for a top 5 must read? I have read The Shining and obviously reading Dr Sleep. Not too fused about reading IT. Anything else is game.

I am a complete Dark Tower fanboy but I know it isn't to everyone's tastes.

Apart from that I'd recommend :

Salem's Lot
The Stand
11/22/63

You might not be fussed on It - but the book is quite brilliant. I'd try and forget any film adaption as difficult as that may be.

The Green Mile is worth a read but only if you haven't seen the film which is damn close to being word for word the book. It's episodic too - it was originally published in serial form - and in book form it keeps to that so it doesn't read smoothly.

I enjoyed Under The Dome and Cell, but I would read what I list above first.

You will get more Easter-Eggish pleasure from The Dark Tower series if you read It, The Stand, Salem's Lot and 11/22/63 beforehand.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories