The B&B Book Review
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Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
‘One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, and then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what would become known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives.’
I wouldn’t normally post any back-of-book blurb, but that’s all I read and was tantalised by the premise. I daren’t try to summarise the plot myself for fear of giving anything away. If that little quote up there intrigues you, then read this book.
It reminds me a bit of The Three Body Problem. But where that book was rich in ideas and starved of three dimensional characters, this book has it all. It’s bursting with mind-bending science (fiction), but never neglects the human characters at its core.
It’s almost certainly the best sci-fi yarn I’ll read this year, and deserves to be regarded, in my humble opinion, as a modern science fiction classic. It also won the Hugo award for best novel in 2006. I recommend to anyone who likes science fiction with ambitious ideas and characters worth caring about.Get schwifty. -
Weekend away so plenty of time to read. Nearly done with angry planet.
Enjoying it so far, even if it's structure and character building seem to be a little too just so.
Just finished white rage. It will make you angry.I'm still great and you still love it. -
Facewon wrote:…structure and character building seem to be a little too just so.
Very generous of you.Get schwifty. -
It's inoffensive, but not memorable."Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness." ― Terry Pratchett
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It was memorable in all the wrong ways.Get schwifty.
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Finished Sorokin's Telluria. A book of joyfully disorientating short stories set in a near future post-WW3 Europe where most nation states have split up into smaller aspects of themselves (Russia in particular). The title refers to a new hallucinogenic drug (hammered by trained "carpenters" into the brain) that gives a person such real and personal experiences it can change them.
In terms of the setting you have a right hodgepodge of low-medieval tech and some families of means owning what are basically hyper advanced smart phones they can mould into any shape. You have genetically altered horses as tall as buildings (so they can move bigger carriages of course and yes the road hazard of massive dung piles is mentioned). You have dog headed poets and philosophers who've run away from the royal menagerie they were bred for so they can live a more Real existence.
Underneath it all you have Sorokin trying to say a lot about Russia, I feel. But I'm not smart or worldly enough to understand most of that subtext apart from when it directly name drops people we'd know today. I'd really recommend it for people that love reading Weird sci-fi that might give them a 3 star experience but a very memorable one which is what this was for me. -
A bit too much for my liking and not 'special' or limited enough, but does look nice:
https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-the-galaxy-limited-edition.htmlI am a FREE. I am not MAN. A NUMBER. -
Nice but not £600 nice.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
I know this is just a me thing, but I felt a real sense of diminishing returns through the later books. -
There was a bit of that. I haven't read them since my late teens. The radio show was the same. I loved the old BBC TV adaption.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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The radio show was the OG for me. Anything that continued the saga onwards was a let down.
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poprock wrote:I know this is just a me thing, but I felt a real sense of diminishing returns through the later books.
I don't think that's a you thing at all - I always thought that was the general consensus. The first two are great. The third is OK. The fourth feels like it was written by someone else, and the final one is what happens when you try to write a comedy novel when feeling horribly depressed. (Adams himself had issues with it, and planned to write a sixth book to "fix" it, but died before he had the chance.) -
poprock wrote:The radio show was the OG for me. Anything that continued the saga onwards was a let down.
There were 5 radio series - so they did reflect the books - sort of. I have it all on CD but I haven't listed to the later series.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
davyK wrote:
There were 5 radio series - so they did reflect the books - sort of. I have it all on CD but I haven't listed to the later series.poprock wrote:The radio show was the OG for me. Anything that continued the saga onwards was a let down.
True, but series 3-5 of the radio version were based on the books, rather than the other way round.
Personally I'm waiting for them to adapt the rest into more text adventures... -
Ah - right - that's probably why I detected a drop off - may well have been S3. Something to do with the robots playing ultra-cricket.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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Hold up, the (first two) book(s) is(re) based on the radio series!?iosGameCentre:T3hDaddy;
XBL: MistaTeaTime -
The Daddy wrote:Hold up, the (first two) book(s) is(re) based on the radio series!?
Yes, the first book is essentially the first 4 episodes of the radio series. The second is a bunch of stuff from the remaining bits of series 1 & 2. -
That explains why I’ve always been so confused about which books I’ve read. I heard the radio play first as my mum had the tapes of it, then read some of the books, but things didn’t align as expected.iosGameCentre:T3hDaddy;
XBL: MistaTeaTime -
Never made contact with the radio series, but my childhood is indelibly scored by the TV series. Dah dah, da-da-da-da-da dah! The contrarian that I am, the only books I read were Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul.Get schwifty.
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TV series is very closely aligned with the radio show - the jingle is even shared, as is some of the cast (Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, and Peter Jones as the voice of the book for example).
The film? Dear oh dear. A well intentioned mess that really could have and should have been better.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
davyK wrote:The film? Dear oh dear. A well intentioned mess that really could have and should have been better.
I went to see that bad boy at the cinema. Not good, though deserves points for Zooey Dechanel in blue pajamas + the voice of Stephen Fry as the book.Get schwifty. -
Reading Matthew McConnaughey's Green Lights and this is such bollocks.
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At least with Will Smith's autobiog you can respect how much he reveals he's been an arsehole.
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Just finished Lonesome Dove. I think it might have been Moot that recommended it to me. Big thanks, Moot, because what an incredible, unforgettable read.Get schwifty.
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Quality. I'd say read the rest because they won't disappoint too much, but Lonesome Dove is by far the best.
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The Last Picture Show is wonderful too, if you're on a McMurtry trip.
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I may well give those a bash down the road.Get schwifty.
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Has anyone read the unabridged The Count of Monte Cristo? I'm crawling towards the end and it's been a painful jounrey.
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