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Post by Tonka (🐑,🪤) on Nov 20, 2021 10:37:56 GMT
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (of Lost City of Z fame)
A true crime book that investigates the not all too mysterious deaths of multiple members of the Osage tribe at about the turn of the century. They had ended up on shitty land that later turned out to be full of OIL! And they miraculously secured the rights to said oil. Then they start dying in various ways, some are obviously murdered, others disappear etc etc. At the same time in Washington J Edgar has just founded the FBI and wants a trophy case so he sends an old Texas Ranger out with a gang of handpicked men.
Sadly I bought a Swedish translation by mistake, and the language didn't work for me. I'm also no big fan of true crime and this didn't change that. Still an ok book
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Post by stixxuk on Nov 24, 2021 13:40:01 GMT
Project Hail Mary 9/10
Probably my favourite fiction book I've read for a while. In case you haven't heard about it, it's written by the same dude that did the Martian (which I haven't read but enjoyed the film) and is basically a guy wakes up on a spaceship far from Earth on some kind of mission he can't remember at first - and I'll not say any more because spoilers.
But I recommend it, especially if you like being reminded of some sciency things from school and feeling a bit clever that you know them well enough to make sense of it (and probably not well enough to recognise where the bullshit sensors of a real expert might be going off)
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Post by Techno Hippy on Nov 24, 2021 13:51:58 GMT
I dunno, The Stand did okay didn’t it? I completely forgot about the new version of the stand. Was it good? I really liked the one with Parker Lewis. It was ok, it' jumps around too much in the early episodes, but once it settles is reasonably decent - I still have a soft spot for the original mini series though. Saying that I prefer the original IT mini series to the new one.
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Post by Sarfrin on Nov 24, 2021 19:22:10 GMT
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's meant to be a somewhat hopeful look at how we might band together to actually deal with climate change but I just found it fucking depressing. It starts with a description of a lethal heatwave in India which is pretty harrowing. It then describes various other threats facing us and ways they might be solved or mitigated. My basic problem is I couldn't see any of the solutions involving significant international cooperation actually happening. Plus a couple of things relied on prolonged and very successful acts of eco terrorism. It left me feeling our future is utterly fucked.
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Post by Tonka (🐑,🪤) on Nov 25, 2021 9:35:46 GMT
I've got that in my cue, but seeing as it's KSRs last fiction novel I hesitate to read it. I absolutely love his books.
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mikeck
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Post by mikeck on Nov 25, 2021 9:44:33 GMT
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's meant to be a somewhat hopeful look at how we might band together to actually deal with climate change but I just found it fucking depressing. It starts with a description of a lethal heatwave in India which is pretty harrowing. It then describes various other threats facing us and ways they might be solved or mitigated. My basic problem is I couldn't see any of the solutions involving significant international cooperation actually happening. Plus a couple of things relied on prolonged and very successful acts of eco terrorism. It left me feeling our future is utterly fucked. Bleak as that sounds, I really want to read this now! Not an author I'm familiar with, and it looks like there is a huge back-catalogue...any other suggestions?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2021 10:22:10 GMT
Project Hail Mary 9/10 Probably my favourite fiction book I've read for a while. In case you haven't heard about it, it's written by the same dude that did the Martian (which I haven't read but enjoyed the film) and is basically a guy wakes up on a spaceship far from Earth on some kind of mission he can't remember at first - and I'll not say any more because spoilers. But I recommend it, especially if you like being reminded of some sciency things from school and feeling a bit clever that you know them well enough to make sense of it (and probably not well enough to recognise where the bullshit sensors of a real expert might be going off) I really enjoyed this myself (as I said a few pages back). I got the audiobook and that was very good. I think I gave it the same score as you did. I thought the ending wasn't quite what I hoped for and he went through maybe one too many problems, but I thought it was really good. Its stuck with me ever since too.
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Post by stixxuk on Nov 25, 2021 11:39:37 GMT
Project Hail Mary 9/10 Probably my favourite fiction book I've read for a while. In case you haven't heard about it, it's written by the same dude that did the Martian (which I haven't read but enjoyed the film) and is basically a guy wakes up on a spaceship far from Earth on some kind of mission he can't remember at first - and I'll not say any more because spoilers. But I recommend it, especially if you like being reminded of some sciency things from school and feeling a bit clever that you know them well enough to make sense of it (and probably not well enough to recognise where the bullshit sensors of a real expert might be going off) I really enjoyed this myself (as I said a few pages back). I got the audiobook and that was very good. I think I gave it the same score as you did. I thought the ending wasn't quite what I hoped for and he went through maybe one too many problems, but I thought it was really good. Its stuck with me ever since too. Yeah there was a bit where it dragged a tiny bit due to "oh no another problem to fix" but not enough of an issue for me to drop another point
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Nov 25, 2021 12:10:13 GMT
I thought Project Hail Mary was fine, better than Artemis at any rate.
But I don't think I'll read another of Weir's. Not because I think he's necessarily a terrible writer (maybe a tad overrated), just because it feels like he's writing basically the same book over and over. And I've read it, and don't really want to read it again unless there's something new to it.
Disclaimer: I'm not much of a science/tech/engineering enthusiast, so I probably don't get quite the same level of "science man solves problems using real science!" joy that others might get from these things. I'm more appreciative of good characters, and this is... not a strength of Weir's.
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Post by Sarfrin on Nov 25, 2021 12:44:35 GMT
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's meant to be a somewhat hopeful look at how we might band together to actually deal with climate change but I just found it fucking depressing. It starts with a description of a lethal heatwave in India which is pretty harrowing. It then describes various other threats facing us and ways they might be solved or mitigated. My basic problem is I couldn't see any of the solutions involving significant international cooperation actually happening. Plus a couple of things relied on prolonged and very successful acts of eco terrorism. It left me feeling our future is utterly fucked. Bleak as that sounds, I really want to read this now! Not an author I'm familiar with, and it looks like there is a huge back-catalogue...any other suggestions? I read 2312 and enjoyed that IIRC.
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nazo
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Post by nazo on Nov 25, 2021 13:46:17 GMT
In a house of lies - Ian Rankin
Another Rebus book. Not one of my favourites, the main case wasn't that interesting and some of the links between the various strands were a bit tenuous.
3/5
Seven Brief lessons on Physics - Carlo Rovelli
They aren't kidding about the brief part, with each one being just a few pages long. Some interesting stuff but not detailed enough to really get a good understanding of the topics being discussed. It ended on an optimistic note though, with the author's opinion that like all things human civilisation will likely collapse and fall and we'll be little more than a footnote in the history of planet Earth.
So at least there's that to look forward to.
3/5
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Post by Chopper on Nov 25, 2021 13:50:50 GMT
84K, as recommended by Sarfrin, is on Amazon UK Kindle for 83p
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nazo
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Post by nazo on Nov 25, 2021 14:05:24 GMT
84K, as recommended by Sarfrin , is on Amazon UK Kindle for 83p
Shows up as £5.99 for me
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Post by Chopper on Nov 25, 2021 15:13:09 GMT
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Post by Tonka (🐑,🪤) on Nov 25, 2021 15:21:35 GMT
Bleak as that sounds, I really want to read this now! Not an author I'm familiar with, and it looks like there is a huge back-catalogue...any other suggestions? I read 2312 and enjoyed that IIRC. 2312 is mad. It's everything I love about KSR, it's fucking huge in scope, but might be a bit over powering. His Mars trilogy should be mandatory if you call yourself a scifi fan. I think one of his more accesssible books is Gallileo's Dream, far future, meets a biography of Gallileo, with time travel and weird super aliens. New York 2140n depicts New York after the ice caps have melted and turned it into Venice. I loved that book, Red Moon was crushingly depressing though.
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mikeck
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Post by mikeck on Nov 25, 2021 15:42:48 GMT
I read 2312 and enjoyed that IIRC. 2312 is mad. It's everything I love about KSR, it's fucking huge in scope, but might be a bit over powering. His Mars trilogy should be mandatory if you call yourself a scifi fan. I think one of his more accesssible books is Gallileo's Dream, far future, meets a biography of Gallileo, with time travel and weird super aliens. New York 2140n depicts New York after the ice caps have melted and turned it into Venice. I loved that book, Red Moon was crushingly depressing though. Great, thanks for the recommendations.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2021 17:58:31 GMT
I will second the Mars trilogy. A bit dry, but fuck me it is good.
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Post by Sarfrin on Nov 25, 2021 17:58:32 GMT
New York 2140n depicts New York after the ice caps have melted and turned it into Venice. Oh, I think I've read that one as well then.
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lexw
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Post by lexw on Nov 29, 2021 12:02:02 GMT
Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker
The blurb calls it a Hollywood ghost story and yeah no.
But it is a story about how fucked-up Hollywood is, told in a very Barker-esque way, featuring a torture-dimension, a lot of sexy ghosts, demonic divorce, and so on. It's set in 1998 and the main-ish character is a male movie star who was huge in the late 80s and rest of the 90s but kind of getting to old to be a lead in his mid-late 30s, which honestly is less plausible than the hell-dimension, given how Cruise, Pitt, etc all had good careers as leads into at least their 50s. And also the guy seems like he might be meant to be Keanu Reeves, who is still a lead now.
There are some fun moments, and the made up film at the start is only more plausible now, but overall if say it was the weakest thing I've read by Barker. It's nice that he has a very unconventional hero (not the actor) and there are some great ideas, but it's never hugely compelling and the villain is a bit flat, because we never really get what make them tick. Oh and the actual ending is weirdly conventional and well, Hollywood-seeming. You keep expecting a stinger or twist but there isn't one.
I'd say it's like 5/10, maybe 6/10 if you're a Barker fan.
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Post by Tonka (🐑,🪤) on Nov 29, 2021 12:10:59 GMT
New York 2140n depicts New York after the ice caps have melted and turned it into Venice. Oh, I think I've read that one as well then. I think it's the same New York as in his book 2312.
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Post by Sarfrin on Nov 29, 2021 12:15:34 GMT
Oh, I've definitely read one about New York being submerged anyway.
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Post by Chopper on Dec 1, 2021 13:32:54 GMT
Finished off The Palladium Wars, a "three book series" which I naturally assumed to be a complete trilogy but unfortunately isn't. There are at least two more books, god damnit. It's 'military sci-fi' from the second tier, though I can't fault the writing or the rather leisurely plot - all very well done, if a little lacking in military stuff. And it has that annoying thing where it follows a different one of about five characters in every chapter.
The setting is a bit weak also. It's based in a new solar system where the culture on each planet is based on old-Earth stereotypes (one planet is Scandinavian, one is East Asian, one is South Asian - their soldiers are literally Gurkhas, whose kukris have 'nano molecular blades') etc, and that makes it sound pretty bad too, but all in all it was good stuff and enjoyable for it.
I only paid $1 per book, but would consider paying full price for the sequels, if I haven't forgotten all about it by then.
And speaking of Gurkhas, seeing as they have turned up in the last two books I read, I thought I'd make it three in a row and check out:
Gurkha - Better to die than live a coward. My life with the Gurkhas. 300+ pages and I've read it in a day. This was for me, a great book about a group I was lucky enough to briefly serve with and who I grew up with in Brunei and Hong Kong. The book was largely about the siege of Now Zad in Afghanistan but also about the author's early life and how he joined the Gurkhas. Probably not a book most would enjoy and it's not wondrously written, but it was a real insight and reminder to me. 9/10 (loses a point as I wanted more and I would have also liked some sort of background on the wider conflict that Now Zad was part of).
I enjoyed it a lot - very interesting stuff about the selection process for the Gurkhas and daily life under siege in Afghanistan. I never thought about it before but of course the army thrives on repetition and following SOPs. And shouting, lots of shouting. The author had plenty of personality and came across very well, in a 'Look, we'll give you a chance to do the right thing but after that we'll grind you into dust,' sort of way. Thanks for the recommendation quitsking
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Post by Tonka (🐑,🪤) on Dec 3, 2021 10:33:57 GMT
Hollow by Brian Catling
There's a monastery att eh foot of the long since crumbled remains of the tower of Babel, guarding a valley where Hieronymus Boschs image of hell is very much real. The monastery's anchorite has disappeared and a new oracle is on the way, guarded by a ragtag group of rough mercenaries and criminals.
It's a book very unlike any I've read before. Really slim but though reading because it goes all in on being as disgusting as possible. If anything there's a slight similarity to the Stugatsky brothers Hard to be a God, just for the medieval squalor.
Hard to rate, not much happens, it's more of a road movie that just rambles through the world, and lays on thick layers of subtext. I'm glad I've read it, but won't be tracking down any of the authors other books.
For fans of weird fiction
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Post by Sarfrin on Dec 4, 2021 16:32:26 GMT
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Very good gothic horror novel set in Mexico in the early 50s. She does a great job of creating character and a sense of place and gradually increases the creepiness of the situation. I enjoyed this one a lot.
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Post by drhcnip on Dec 4, 2021 22:40:13 GMT
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Very good gothic horror novel set in Mexico in the early 50s. She does a great job of creating character and a sense of place and gradually increases the creepiness of the situation. I enjoyed this one a lot. really good book, definitely recommended
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Post by drhcnip on Dec 4, 2021 22:43:27 GMT
84K, as recommended by Sarfrin , is on Amazon UK Kindle for 83p
claire north's books are very good - reading one of hers at the moment, the first 15 lives of harry august...can also recommend the gameshouse, touch & the pursuit of william abbey among others haven't read any under her real name or other pseudonym but her books under this name are well worth reading
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Post by Sarfrin on Dec 4, 2021 23:18:32 GMT
I didn't know she'd written books under other names. I'll have to check them out.
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Post by spacein_vader on Dec 5, 2021 8:52:19 GMT
Just finished Leviathan Falls, the final book in The Expanse series. Found it to be a great read, with an ending that subverted my expectations but left me feeling hopeful for the future of the human race both in universe and IRL. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole series of books, as a kind of entry level hard sci-fi space opera you can do much, much worse.
Won't say any more because spoilers.
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Post by Chopper on Dec 5, 2021 16:07:33 GMT
Just finished Leviathan Falls, the final book in The Expanse series. Found it to be a great read, with an ending that subverted my expectations but left me feeling hopeful for the future of the human race both in universe and IRL. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole series of books, as a kind of entry level hard sci-fi space opera you can do much, much worse. Huh, you'd think Amazon or Kindle would notify you that it is out. Cheers! Hmm, all Dune books on sale for 85p each today...worth a go? (I've read the first one, don't remember anything about it much).
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lexw
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Post by lexw on Dec 5, 2021 16:50:30 GMT
Personally I'd say no, because they are all pretty much objectively worse and less interesting than Dune (and indeed than each book before them), and there isn't some super-compelling plot that needs to be dealt with from the end of Dune.
Some people seemed to enjoy them though, and if you really love "Dune Universe" (ugh lol) it might be worth it.
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