TSF Book Club
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@mariner4life said in Books:
For sheer gob-smacking "truth is stranger than fiction" Mike Tyson's "The undisputed truth" is the best sports biography I've read. Page after page of WTAF!
you read it and wonder how he ever won a fight
Other fighters being scared of him was a massive factor. The ones that weren’t did much better.
What a fascinating fellow he is.
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I have been working my way through about 20 books (so far) by Craig Schaefer.
Without giving too much away as the saga unfolds as you proceed there are three separate but overlapping story arcs featuring respectively a likeable rogue / con man semi-mobster magician, a FBI black ops agent and a pair of unlikely heroines set in modern day USA but one where magic exists as do hell, demons and a host of other things that go bump in the night.
I discovered the author because Kindle recommended it based on my reading of Charles Stross' Laundry Files. If you enjoy that then these series will be your thing.
There are an evolving series of nebulous secret controlling adversaries. It's a very well thought out and detailed universe (well multiverse).
I read it one series after another but if you google you can read them as a timeline which would be more rewarding.
Thoroughly recommend
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@dogmeat said in TSF Book Club:
I have been working my way through about 20 books (so far) by Craig Schaefer.
Without giving too much away as the saga unfolds as you proceed there are three separate but overlapping story arcs featuring respectively a likeable rogue / con man semi-mobster magician, a FBI black ops agent and a pair of unlikely heroines set in modern day USA but one where magic exists as do hell, demons and a host of other things that go bump in the night.
I discovered the author because Kindle recommended it based on my reading of Charles Stross' Laundry Files. If you enjoy that then these series will be your thing.
There are an evolving series of nebulous secret controlling adversaries. It's a very well thought out and detailed universe (well multiverse).
I read it one series after another but if you google you can read them as a timeline which would be more rewarding.
Thoroughly recommend
What’s the #1 volume to start with? Sounds interesting
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@MajorRage said in TSF Book Club:
David Baldacci - a calamity of souls.
Very Grisham like, absolutely fantastic. Certainly in the top 5 books I’ve ever read.
Will have a look Major. I just got back from a wander to library, and believe it or not just found this tread for first time. I will be checking all posts, as I read a hell of a lot now I retired.
I have found our library real good, if there a book they haven't got will often buy it in if you put in a request. I just did one for Ken Folletts latest book, as I a real fan of his, have read all his books over the years. -
@voodoo Here's the authors recommended reading order
I rad all the faust then all the harmony and am now on the final book of the Wisdoms Grave trilogy which I wouldn't recommend as it has sorted fucked with my brain although still enjoying them big time.
Prolific author - 32 books in 11 years
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Further to my post above, I would love any recommendations. I enjoy historical fiction quite a bit and have read a few, and as I said all Ken Follett's (who I tend to find the benchmark, personal opinion), a lot of Bernard Cornwell, most of Conn Iggulden. Also tend to enjoy Harlen Coben, etc etc.
So I not a highbrow reader or anything, just read for enjoyment/entertainment type thing.
I will say no recommendation would be ignored etc, as I know we all have differing tastes, but find sometimes I find some author etc a bit different and think, why didn't I get into these before? -
@Dan54 pretty sure I’ve mentioned him on here before but Derek Robinson writes great books about fighter pilots. Start with the booker shortlisted, Goshawk Squadron about a fighter squadron in WW1. Robinson’s WW2 novels are also excellent especially Piece of Cake (39-End of Battle of Britain) and a Good Clean Fight (Desert War up to El Alamein) and have a young kiwi pilot as a central character.
If you haven’t read Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey/Maturin books you’re in for a treat. They are ostensibly about the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic wars but are really much more than that. Friendship, the difficulties and joys of love and marriage, career frustrations, coping with impossible parents and in-laws. In short, they deal with what it means to be human. Highly recommend.
Ditto Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel. first of a series about Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s prime minister. Astonishingly good.
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@Smuts said in TSF Book Club:
@Dan54 pretty sure I’ve mentioned him on here before but Derek Robinson writes great books about fighter pilots. Start with the booker shortlisted, Goshawk Squadron about a fighter squadron in WW1. Robinson’s WW2 novels are also excellent especially Piece of Cake (39-End of Battle of Britain) and a Good Clean Fight (Desert War up to El Alamein) and have a young kiwi pilot as a central character.
If you haven’t read Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey/Maturin books you’re in for a treat. They are ostensibly about the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic wars but are really much more than that. Friendship, the difficulties and joys of love and marriage, career frustrations, coping with impossible parents and in-laws. In short, they deal with what it means to be human. Highly recommend.
Ditto Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel. first of a series about Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s prime minister. Astonishingly good.
Cheers Smuts, have taken note, and will start having a look. Great to have something to look for, will start with checking library's data and go from there.
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@voodoo I've just started the Revanche Cycle which the author says is the start of the timeline. I'm guessing it is. I'm two books in and you are just starting to see the parallels but it is very different to all the other books I've read.
It reads like a totally unrelated Fantasy series with (as yet) none of the darkness or characters of the other books. It's only know that you can see that this is one of the parallel earths in their medieval / early renaissance period. It's an OK read but totally misrepresentative of the style or flavour of the other books. If you're interested I would start with Faust 1 and take it from there. Treat this Cycle as a back story if and when you're keen
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I finally got around to reading Ben Macintyre's brilliant book about Oleg Gordievsky,The Spy and the Traitor.
So well written it transforms what could be a rather dry tale into a best of genre spy thriller.
So good I watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy again.
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lol!!! i have been meaning to post that. Thanks to whoever put me on to it, great fucking read!!
I too watched TTSS recently, but only after i read the book. I am currently reading the next book in that trilogy, The Honourable Schoolboy.
Prior to The Spy and the Traitor i read a brilliant, detailed, but encylopedia-lengh biography on Napoleon, called very simply "Napoleon: A life" by Andrew Roberts. Great book, but in all honesty you have to be pretty interested as it is very fucking long. Good detail on the battles of a peerless military career, but also a huge amount of explanation of his nation building. I enjoyed it but it did take me a while.
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@MajorRage said in TSF Book Club:
David Baldacci - a calamity of souls.
Very Grisham like, absolutely fantastic. Certainly in the top 5 books I’ve ever read.
On this recommendation Major, I have got this book from library, and am absolutely enjoying it. So thanks mate, and agree about Grisham like too.
Cheers mate. -
Brooke Shields - There Was A Little Girl.
Story of her early life and relationship with her mother - which was both loving and chaotic. Really well written (she's a Princeton Literature grad) and deals with the controversies around Pretty Baby and Blue Lagoon which were whipped up by sections of the press and how being a young star shaped her life
Hasn't had a easy life but clearly one who just gets on with things, e.g. when she was 17 she had to care for her mother including getting committed to hospital. Comes across as very grounded, natural and very mature at an early age.. Real good read.
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B booboo referenced this topic
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Ian Foster - Leading From The Front
Read this about a month ago after a recommendation on the Fern and thought I’d knock something up after yesterday’s loss, particularly as the coach is under a bit of pressure a la Foster.
Style is a bit stilted and dry. You sense a lot was actually written by Foster and not ghost-written as much as other books and it comes across as a bit more authentic as a result. Little new info about team selection, tactics, wins/losses etc, some interesting comments on the state of the game and refereeing and how COVID was navigated.. The main theme is the team's relationship with Mark Robinson & NZR
NZR and Mark Robinson come across as turnips who had little regard or interest in how the AB's operated or what was important to the team. Robinson in particular seemed more interested in the ABs as a brand to control and use to make money – inc. booking individual players for media work without referring to the coaching/players management group. Money, money, money and personal ego seem to have driven Robinson and NZR above all else - the players and coaching staff were seemingly less important than marketing deals and image.
Book goes into how that caused serious friction from the start, not just between Foster and NZR but also the players. Some of it was plain, unbelievably crass - e.g. there was almost no proactive discussions with Foster on his contract extension, and he (and the players) found out NZR were talking to Scott Robertson via the media.
Press conferences and PR were a disjointed shambles and there were occasions when NZR agreed a media line with the ABs – only to then suddenly change it without informing them.
There’s also plenty of evidence given of leaks/briefings against the team coming from within NZR – right up to RWC 2023. One example is the story that Foster banned Robertson from RWC 2023 which was totally false. Foster rang Robertson to congratulate him on getting the coaching job and offered to help smooth his way. It was Robertson himself who suggested he keep away to avoid distraction.
You get the strong impression that NZR and Mark Robinson in particular wanted Foster gone as his face didn’t quite fit but rather than have the balls to remove him, tried to make his job untenable so he’d resign. Foster, to his credit, played a straight bat with all of this stuff which clearly irked the NZR hierarchy.
Foster comes across as someone with a strong set of values, very straight and not much ego. Perhaps a little naive about politics but always put the team first above everything else. You can understand the player loyalty and positive comments from people who worked with him (Gilbert Enoka, amongst others, was effusive in praise in how he handled himself).
Plenty of comments from senior players and coaching staff (Enoka, Ardie, Whitelock etc) backing up Foster’s account and it helps explain why Schmidt, who also seems to have a strong moral compass and loyalty, wasn't interested in the job or working with the AB’s once his mate Foster had departed.
Now that NZR have the man they wanted in charge and it’s going a bit pear shaped right now, you have to hope they back the coach this time rather than undermine him. Personally, I hope Scott Robinson has the balls to publicly tell NZR to fuck off if they behave in the same way.
An OK read with great info on NZR politics, but not a great one. Def not a patch on Henry's book Redeemed.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in TSF Book Club:
Ian Foster - Leading From The Front
Read this about a month ago after a recommendation on the Fern and thought I’d knock something up after yesterday’s loss, particularly as the coach is under a bit of pressure a la Foster.
Style is a bit stilted and dry. You sense a lot was actually written by Foster and not ghost-written as much as other books and it comes across as a bit more authentic as a result. Little new info about team selection, tactics, wins/losses etc, some interesting comments on the state of the game and refereeing and how COVID was navigated.. The main theme is the team's relationship with Mark Robertson & NZR
NZR and Mark Robertson come across as turnips who had little regard or interest in how the AB's operated or what was important to the team. Roberston in particular seemed more interested in the ABs as a brand to control and use to make money – inc. booking individual players for media work without referring to the coaching/players management group. Money, money, money and personal ego seem to have driven Robinson and NZR above all else - the players and coaching staff were seemingly less important than marketing deals and image.
Book goes into how that caused serious friction from the start, not just between Foster and NZR but also the players. Some of it was plain, unbelievably crass - e.g. there was almost no proactive discussions with Foster on his contract extension, and he (and the players) found out NZR were talking to Scott Robertson via the media.
Press conferences and PR were a disjointed shambles and there were occasions when NZR agreed a media line with the ABs – only to then suddenly change it without informing them.
There’s also plenty of evidence given of leaks/briefings against the team coming from within NZR – right up to RWC 2023. One example is the story that Foster banned Robertson from RWC 2023 which was totally false. Foster rang Robertson to congratulate him on getting the coaching job and offered to help smooth his way. It was Robertson himself who suggested he keep away to avoid distraction.
You get the strong impression that NZR and Mark Robertson in particular wanted Foster gone as his face didn’t quite fit but rather than have the balls to remove him, tried to make his job untenable so he’d resign. Foster, to his credit, played a straight bat with all of this stuff which clearly irked the NZR hierarchy.
Foster comes across as someone with a strong set of values, very straight and not much ego. Perhaps a little naive about politics but always put the team first above everything else. You can understand the player loyalty and positive comments from people who worked with him (Gilbert Enoka, amongst others, was effusive in praise in how he handled himself).
Plenty of comments from senior players and coaching staff (Enoka, Ardie, Whitelock etc) backing up Foster’s account and it helps explain why Schmidt, who also seems to have a strong moral compass and loyalty, wasn't interested in the job or working with the AB’s once his mate Foster had departed.
Now that NZR have the man they wanted in charge and it’s going a bit pear shaped right now, you have to hope they back the coach this time rather than undermine him. Personally, I hope Scott Robinson has the balls to tell publicly tell NZR to fuck off if they behave in the same way.
An OK read with great info on NZR politics, but not a great one. Def not a patch on Henry's book Redeemed.
Thanks Vic. Can you swap Robertson and Robinson round?
Reading Order — Craig Schaefer
