The B&B Book Review - The Bear and Badger

davyK

EvilRedEye wrote:

New Tolkien book out next year, The Nature of Middle Earth, edited by Carl F Hostetter. Will include late and previously unpublished writings by JRR Tolkien on the nature of Middle Earth, both metaphysical and natural. How many people have to die before they stop publishing new Tolkien books???

I've no interest in that sort of thing. At a push I might read the Silmarillion. I haven't even read much of the Appendices.

The man is gone - no point warming up some of his half formed scribblings filled in by hacks even if they are related

tigersgogrrr

I know a lot of folk here like Mark Lawrence. He's been called the fuck out by V.E. Schwab for setting fans on her.

So much controversy everywhere at the moment. I've not really looked into it yet, but Schwab is a cool cat so this is disappointing.

davyK

Forgot I hadn't completed the Three Body Problem so back at that. Easier going now - I found it hard going at the start and I had difficulty keeping track of the Chinese surnames.

It's very much something for those who have a basic level of science and computing. I can't imagine a complete layman enjoying it - esp. in the first half. All that malarky about building XOR gates etc. Stuff I know about pretty well but only because all that fundamental logic and computing architecture was covered in my A level and degree.

Anyhoo. The novel is based around a very nice idea. Has me properly hooked now.

EvilRedEye

davyK wrote:

EvilRedEye wrote:

New Tolkien book out next year, The Nature of Middle Earth, edited by Carl F Hostetter. Will include late and previously unpublished writings by JRR Tolkien on the nature of Middle Earth, both metaphysical and natural. How many people have to die before they stop publishing new Tolkien books???

I've no interest in that sort of thing. At a push I might read the Silmarillion. I haven't even read much of the Appendices.

The man is gone - no point warming up some of his half formed scribblings filled in by hacks even if they are related

It's almost impressive - he's been dead almost 50 years, his literary heir just died after publishing literally everything he thought was worthwhile and still they're managing to pump out more 'new' Tolkien books. And third parties keeping pumping out endless books about Tolkien and his work as well.

I enjoyed the Silmarillion and the Great Tales trilogy was kinda interesting for publishing the materials relating to the stuff Tolkien was genuinely considering releasing as standalone books without having to wade through the History of Middle Earth but there's an astonishing amount of barrel scraping going on for a guy that wasn't even that prolific in life.

Gremill

davyK wrote:

Forgot I hadn't completed the Three Body Problem so back at that. Easier going now - I found it hard going at the start and I had difficulty keeping track of the Chinese surnames.

It's very much something for those who have a basic level of science and computing. I can't imagine a complete layman enjoying it - esp. in the first half. All that malarky about building XOR gates etc. Stuff I know about pretty well but only because all that fundamental logic and computing architecture was covered in my A level and degree.

Anyhoo. The novel is based around a very nice idea. Has me properly hooked now.

The series just gets better and better too, one of my all time favourites.

EvilRedEye

Was Ray Bradbury cancelled or am I thinking of someone else?

davyK

Gremill wrote:

Forgot I hadn't completed the Three Body Problem so back at that. Easier going now - I found it hard going at the start and I had difficulty keeping track of the Chinese surnames. It's very much something for those who have a basic level of science and computing. I can't imagine a complete layman enjoying it - esp. in the first half. All that malarky about building XOR gates etc. Stuff I know about pretty well but only because all that fundamental logic and computing architecture was covered in my A level and degree. Anyhoo. The novel is based around a very nice idea. Has me properly hooked now.

The series just gets better and better too, one of my all time favourites.

I feel cheated!!! Didn't know this was a series...OK I got it free as part of a Kindle Unlimited Trial - but still. Because it was on Kindle and has a part of the 2nd book I had no idea I was near the end - the book finished with the Kindle's progress meter showing 80%!!!!

Splendid book though and yeah - I'm in for the time being.

The science is a bit OTT for a novel though - quantum entanglement just got thrown in there when the Sophons were created. I know enough to keep engaged but a lot of people wouldn't. Not a mainstream thing for sure.

Or.

Chinese people are far more aware of science than Western dullards.

There's a thought.

Tempy

EvilRedEye wrote:

Was Ray Bradbury cancelled or am I thinking of someone else?

He held some weird views on interpretations of his books, but no.

I would guess you're thinking of Orson Scott Card?

tigersgogrrr

Loads more fantasy writers getting fucked on Twitter now. Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, Sam Sykes, Myke Cole...

Only Scott Lynch there being a proper Name, I guess.

yourfavouriteuncle

tigersgogrrr wrote:

Loads more fantasy writers getting fucked on Twitter now. Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, Sam Sykes, Myke Cole...

Only Scott Lynch there being a proper Name, I guess.

Fucked for what?

acemuzzy

Tiger following some niche twiiter p0rn

tigersgogrrr

Sexual harassment at conventions and elsewhere.

tigersgogrrr

Lol my p0rn is totes mainstream.

Gremill

davyK wrote:

Gremill wrote:

Forgot I hadn't completed the Three Body Problem so back at that. Easier going now - I found it hard going at the start and I had difficulty keeping track of the Chinese surnames. It's very much something for those who have a basic level of science and computing. I can't imagine a complete layman enjoying it - esp. in the first half. All that malarky about building XOR gates etc. Stuff I know about pretty well but only because all that fundamental logic and computing architecture was covered in my A level and degree. Anyhoo. The novel is based around a very nice idea. Has me properly hooked now.

The series just gets better and better too, one of my all time favourites.

I feel cheated!!! Didn't know this was a series...OK I got it free as part of a Kindle Unlimited Trial - but still. Because it was on Kindle and has a part of the 2nd book I had no idea I was near the end - the book finished with the Kindle's progress meter showing 80%!!!!

Splendid book though and yeah - I'm in for the time being.

The science is a bit OTT for a novel though - quantum entanglement just got thrown in there when the Sophons were created. I know enough to keep engaged but a lot of people wouldn't. Not a mainstream thing for sure.

Or.

Chinese people are far more aware of science than Western dullards.

There's a thought.

I know very little about the kind of hard science talked about in the books - whatever I know has been gleaned from fiction, games, documentaries and news - but I absolutely loved these books and the way they talk about the subject at hand. I think they do a great job of explaining things - what a job they did translating it.

The sheer scope of them and the ideas it introduces, particularly about the possibility of intelligent life in the galaxy, is something I think about every time I look up at the night sky. When you can say that about a sci-fi series, you know it's done something right.

davyK

I'll be reading the next two - that's for sure. When scifi goes big it has to be done really well - it's too easy to become po-faced and irritating but that didn't happen here. Last "big subject" scifi book I read was Children of Time and that was a great read too. That's a series too I believe.

Gremill

Children of Time is in my virtual pile at the moment, I think there's quite a few in the series. I'm also looking at getting the Salvation Sequence books by Peter Hamilton - they sound interesting too.

Raiziel

There’s only one sequel to Children of Time as far as I’m aware, and that came out fairly recently. I wasn’t a huge fan of the way Children of Time was structured, but I’m still interested in where he takes the story in the second book.

Also, I’m going to give Peter Hamilton a go too. I have both Commonwealth books on Audible to listen to, and The Reality Dysfunction on my Kindle wish list.

hylian_elf

50% off select titles at The Folio Society.

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/sale

davyK

hylian_elf wrote:

50% off select titles at The Folio Society. https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/sale

Just got Diary of Anne Frank delivered. Still in the shrink wrap as I'm debating whether I should gift it to someone or not.

I'm well into Churchill's 2nd vol of WW2. The Battle of Britain was a terrifying mathematical game. We were knocking more out of the sky than they were. And we were making planes faster than they were. But we were outnumbered. It all came down to two or 3 days in which exchanges, occurring over only several 1 hour slots (due to ammo and fuel). We also had the advantage of pilots shot down being retrievable over home territory.

The Germans' switch from airfield attacks to London attacks stopped us from possibly falling off the precipice. Captured charts of Invasion plans make for chilling viewing now too - but going from what Churchill quickly had in place by way of defence it would have been a bloodbath - the Germans would have paid an enormous toll if they had even made it ashore. But without that air cover it may have swung it.

Captured reports post war showed that the German military high command liked the prospect of a cross-channel invasion less and less the more they studied it.

In the final analysis the Germans lost 2 for every 1 RAF plane. At times in individual attacks they were losing 6 to 1. "Our" guys really were fucking amazing. It was just about enough to put them off. I got quite emotional at this point in the book. Talk about the sacrifice of young men? Kids shooting down other kids. War is hell.

Churchill shows a very modern take on information management. There are charts and dashboards he used at the time that wouldn't be out of place now with respect to their design and presentation.

The pace of this is far quicker than the turgid Vol.1 with its political wrangling in the first 300 pages - I can see me getting through Vols.2-6 a great deal quicker if this is setting the tone.

davyK

Completed Vol.2 (out of 6) of WW2 by Churchill.

Chilling scenarios envisioned by Churchill and Roosevelt of an outcome of GB falling in 1940. A German controlled ,French,Italian and British Super Navy controlling the Atlantic and assaulting the Eastern seaboard of the US. Sobering reading for any gung-ho American claiming we in the UK would be speaking German if it weren't for them. The Man in the High Castle isn't such a flight of fancy after all. The US were 2 years away from being match fit and relied on us to keep things going while they armed. The thought of Manhattan getting peppered by the Bismarck's 15'' guns was a distinct possibility. Highly unlikely perhaps as Hitler really hated Communism and was more interested in heading East but... interesting to see how Roosevelt and Churchill were thinking.

Churchill traded 50 ancient US destroyers to use as convoy for leases on
Atlantic island territories upon which Roosevelt would build naval bases to engage in the Atlantic against a possible German assault.

Learning about the activity in the Med keeping the Suez canal safe and West African ports out of enemy hands by giving Hell to the Italians while all this was going on is enlightening too. The volume ends with GB in control of the sea and GB airspace with one arm and fighting in the Middle East with the other. Stirring stuff. But the strangulation of the Atlantic U boats had started to tell - and Hitler had started to look East. That's for the next volume.

I'm taking a break to finish Sterling Hayden's Wanderer. Real roustabout writing this. Great writing and a great tale. What a man he was.

Vela

I read Dracula last week.

Heading East never works out well for the antagonists.

davyK

Finished Wanderer. A real rip roaring read. Do it.

Didn't know he ran guns to the Partisans in Yugoslavia in WW2 in clapped out sailboats under the noses of the enemy. Guy was a bloody war hero too.

He tears himself apart in this book though - haven't read anything so honest.

Want to watch Dr. Strangelove now.

Raiziel

After finishing The Affirmation I started Beneath the World, a Sea by Chris Beckett. It sounded like a psychedelic Heart of Darkness. Sounded like my sort of thing. Poor prose, worse dialogue. I bailed before I got a quarter of the way through.

Moved on to The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Just finished it and it was good. I was expecting something along the lines of a folk horror, but it was more a meditation on faith, which isn’t really my sort of thing as I’m not a fan of organised religion. But the writing here is rock solid, and the characters so well drawn, that I just couldn’t help but enjoy it. A very talented writer, and this is his debut novel. Recommended.

Gremill

Reading Children of Time at the moment. Holy shit it's great.

Raiziel

Have read that. I had a problem with the way it was structured.

Hope you enjoy,

Raiziel

I’m reading Borne by Jeff VanderMeer at the moment. Not feeling it at all. Feels more like a YA book, doesn’t have nearly the grown up detail of his Southern Reach trilogy.

Vela

I started on Three Moments of an Explosion this week. All short stories. The best so far is Dowager of Bees.

tigersgogrrr

That's a great concept for a story. Absolutely brilliant.

yourfavouriteuncle

My Favourite Girlfriend Was A French Bulldog.

Excellent short story collection (kinda). You should all look it up because it’s exceptional.

The Daddy

Did someone (possibly unc) mention having a kindle paperwhite they'd be willing to flog?

Howdy, Stranger!

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