TSF Book Club
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Their albums ( with the odd exceptional song ) turned to shit once they got off the drugs in the early 2000s, you can’t just say the word ‘California’ lots and expect people to like your music.
I think you can in California. Didn't someone on the Rolling Stones mag analyze the effect of drugs on albums and decide 1 or 2 albums at most would be great, then it went bad paranoid/weird and subsequent album quality never recovered (for most groups)...?
Doesn't seem to always affect individual stars though..
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@kirwan said in TV Serieseseses:
@kiwiwomble said in TV Serieseseses:
@kirwan I’m always up for a new book so might be more interesting in that, is the book also called the expanse?
There’s nine books, and a few novellas.
First book is called Leviathan Wakes by James Corey. Pretty entertaining books, with a little more realistic physics, good action and fun mysteries.
Pretty easy reads, with lots of quotable lines.
enjoying it so far, actually look forward to going and reading it, its very "tight"so far, following the same people but i feel it will open right out at the end
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Thomas Covenant Chronicles...
I have a vague memory of reading at least one book, perhaps 2 or 3 - of this when I was a kid
But - recently, figured I'd read the entire thing, make sure I've done it properly.
I started this undertaking with some misgivings - I did recall that the protagonist was unlikeable, to say the least. I did remember one particular act from early on, but couldn't remember how on earth he ever came back from that. (If he does?)
I've now gotten to just past that one vile act, and have started thinking... not just is the protagonist a detestable piece of shit... (not just that act, but his constant fucking whinging or feeling-sorry-for-himself)...
And ignoring the absolute nonsensical premise "I reckon this is a dream. But the only way to wake up from it is probably to forge ahead and act as if it isn't."
But more importantly - the writing is atrocious. I was reading it rather intoxicated last night, and then suddenly stopped - re-read the previous several paragraphs to confirm my suspicion... every single fucking sentence had a metaphor and/or a simile.
Today, I read a chapter while sober - and double-checked. Yep... nearly every sentence had BOTH at least one metaphor AND a simile. Just... what the fuck?
I mean - it's fucking impressive, if the fluffybunny managed to write, what... 10? books - in this style. Fucking impressive. But also - fucking tiresome.Anyway - I'm here to ask the Fern's collective wisdom (at least the nerd part) - do I bother continuing? Or am I just throwing potentially-good reading time after bad?
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@Kruse I fucking hated it. I absolutley loathe books where the protagonist doesn't learn or react in a logical way. Sure if it is some great mental health drama. But TC continually acts dumb, denying what he is in the fantasy world despite recognising it's not the real world. So embrace it you tool, you don't have leprosy in this imaginary/alternative world. And when he finally does, he's back to the real world, and starts again from scratch in book 2. So yeah I sturggled through book 1, and gave up very early into book 2. This is a book series that proves the mantra that hgih brow popular with reviewers really means unwatchable/unreadable shit.
A waste of my time and money. Not many books I don't finish TC 2 was one of the few
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If you havent done any Joe Abecrombie. My personal favorite fantasy writer by a long way.
I read soley fantasy and scifi for the most part.
Abercrombies first law trilogy, followed by 3 stand-alones and a sequel trilogy are all ranging from good to brilliant. First book starts slow though. Some of my favorite characters.
Plot is game of thrones lite, setting is very gloomy and funny. -
Joe Abercrombie, Anthony Ryan, Mark Lawrence - all fucking good recent nerd-fiction.
Unless somebody chimes in and reckons I've made a mistake, I've decided to cancel the 2nd attempt at Thomas Covenant. Gonna reset my brain with some proper trash... Jack Carr looks proper brain-wipe material... and then maybe have a go at a classic or two.
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@Kruse said in TSF Book Club:
Joe Abercrombie, Anthony Ryan, Mark Lawrence - all fucking good recent nerd-fiction.
Unless somebody chimes in and reckons I've made a mistake, I've decided to cancel the 2nd attempt at Thomas Covenant. Gonna reset my brain with some proper trash... Jack Carr looks proper brain-wipe material... and then maybe have a go at a classic or two.
There is something fucking wrong in Stephen Donaldson's head aye.
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@mariner4life said in TSF Book Club:
@Kruse said in TSF Book Club:
Joe Abercrombie, Anthony Ryan, Mark Lawrence - all fucking good recent nerd-fiction.
Unless somebody chimes in and reckons I've made a mistake, I've decided to cancel the 2nd attempt at Thomas Covenant. Gonna reset my brain with some proper trash... Jack Carr looks proper brain-wipe material... and then maybe have a go at a classic or two.
There is something fucking wrong in Stephen Donaldson's head aye.
I prefered his Gap Cycle, but that was still weird as fuck. And sci fi sick!
Anyway, maybe there is hope for A Song of Ice and Fire. In GRRM's latest blog he said about a recently deceased fellow writer
He had been working on a novel called BLACK TRAIN COMING even longer than I have been working on THE WINDS OF WINTER. It would be great if one of his writer friends finishes it for him.
GRRM is on record as saying he will finish the series or it won't get finished. But maybe we'll get a Wheel of Time situation...
The only way I think it will be finished is an excellent writer like Sanderson sorts it and finishes it for him.
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@Kruse I read the first six books when they first came out but didn't even realise that he hadn't written another four.
Fantasy in the 70's didn't have a history of anti-hero's and he did sort of try and address adult themes. My recollection is the first trilogy is a redemption arc and the second one inverts it. He comes back aeons later and is the true believer in a land that is the anti-thesis of everything he 'fought' for in the first three books.
I think I was probably too young to recognise it for the bs it was. I certainly couldn't stomach any of Donaldson's other books that I later tried to read
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I just finished Bravo 3 Zero, by Des Powell (ex SAS) and Damien Lewis
I never realised it existed, but this is related to the more famous, Bravo 2 Zero, in fact, there was a Bravo 1 Zero too that were all sent out on that same night as B20.
Good read, and puts B20 into way more context and how much of a clusterfuck it was sending those patrols out.
Read a few other books by Damien Lewis, mainly in the non-fiction, war genre
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@Nevorian said in TSF Book Club:
Good read for horse fans and even non horse fans, great hard work pays off story about Chris Waller
Never seen a biography on a horse before.
Probably more entertaining than some sports biographies I’ve read to be fair.
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This, and Vol 2, are absolutely top notch. But he's doing a Jordan/Martin time scale on book 3!
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@MN5 said in TSF Book Club:
@Nevorian said in TSF Book Club:
Good read for horse fans and even non horse fans, great hard work pays off story about Chris Waller
Never seen a biography on a horse before.
Probably more entertaining than some sports biographies I’ve read to be fair.
A lot of it is about the horse but much of it about the team that made her so successful. And plenty of NZ connections that some here may know
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@MN5 said in TSF Book Club:
@Nevorian said in TSF Book Club:
Good read for horse fans and even non horse fans, great hard work pays off story about Chris Waller
Never seen a biography on a horse before.
Probably more entertaining than some sports biographies I’ve read to be fair.
Never read Seabiscuit then? Or Secretariat?
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@canefan said in TSF Book Club:
@MN5 said in TSF Book Club:
@Nevorian said in TSF Book Club:
Good read for horse fans and even non horse fans, great hard work pays off story about Chris Waller
Never seen a biography on a horse before.
Probably more entertaining than some sports biographies I’ve read to be fair.
Never read Seabiscuit then? Or Secretariat?
I think I’d rather have my toenails pulled out
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@canefan said in TSF Book Club:
@MN5 said in TSF Book Club:
@Nevorian said in TSF Book Club:
Good read for horse fans and even non horse fans, great hard work pays off story about Chris Waller
Never seen a biography on a horse before.
Probably more entertaining than some sports biographies I’ve read to be fair.
Never read Seabiscuit then? Or Secretariat?
I watched Mr Ed as a kid?
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@Machpants that was based on @MN5 life!
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@taniwharugby said in TSF Book Club:
@Machpants that was based on @MN5 life!
Remind me never to shower in front of you again. I prefer it when the ladies notice
Amazon.com: The War in the West - A New History: Volume 1: Germany Ascendant 1939-1941 (War in the West a New History) eBook : Holland, James: Kindle Store