Daz wrote:

So I got some vouchers for an online book store as a farewell gift from my job a couple months back. I still haven't used any of them. Who wants to recommend something good for me to order (either classics or more recent...I'm pretty open to suggestions)?

I often recommend the 1945 novel THE BRIDGE ON THE DRINA to people Daz. Really spectacular work of literature.

Yaa Gyasi's HOMEGOING was a good recent read if you're looking for something more contemporary and poetic.

Cheers for those suggestions. I'll check them out. Keep 'em coming folks.

I just finished this one the other day:

Really good and rather unique scifi. David Attenborough in space, kind of. There's a follow-up book named Children of Ruin that I just started and so far it's even better.

ooh that looks good.

Have you read the Aussie classics Daz? Cloudstreet, Oscar and Lucinda, The Secret River, anything by Peter Temple? And the 3 by Jane Harper are excellent character and landscape driven detective stories.

Got these three in the mail today:

I've studied quite a bit of Australia's treatment of it's Aboriginal people, so the Lindqvist book should be a compelling, if harrowing read Klaus. I might read it one day when I feel less likely to be depressed by it.

It's a part of our history we still try to hide as a nation. This is a long read article detailing the treatment of an Indigenous Aussie Rules player several decades ago. Things haven't changed a lot sadly.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-23/persecution-of-robert-muir-story-football-doesnt-want-to-hear/12553554

9 days later

The TV thread reminded me -- how are the second and third book in The Three-Body Problem series?

I found the first one solid, but also (at times) a chore to read due to the non-linear plot, multitude of characters, and technical topics. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but need some assurance on the second and third before embarking on another dive.

    The first one is the weak one, but it sets the scene. Book 2 and 3 are masterpieces. The conclusion to The Dark Forest is incredible.

    Well then, off to the library....

    3 months later

    JOhn LeCarre died his week, age 89, cause pneumonia....
    A favorite writer....
    Books, films.....
    Never forgotten.....

    Yes a fantastic writer. I've read all his novels but not his autobiographies yet.

    I'm nearly finished an audiobook of The name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Really enjoyable. The audio performance is fantastic - lots of different accents and tremendous drama. I always wonder if I'd enjoy reading a book as much as I enjoy listening to a great audio performance. I think a top notch reading gifts the experience an extra lift. This has only happened a handful of times - Anton Lesser performing The Old Curiosity Shop elevated one of Dickens less enjoyable works (for me anyway).

    7 months later

    Read Infinite Jest a few weeks ago, then watched The End of the Tour shortly afterwards. Followed IJ up with House of Leaves.

    Loved them both.

    Had seen IJ lumped in with Gravity’s Rainbow (which i have read) and Ulysses (which i haven’t) as being tough to parse and get a handle on. But i didn’t find that to be the case at all. One of my favourite pieces of fiction across any medium.

    House of Leaves was like nothing i’d read before. Can see why it gets compared to Lynch’s stuff, even if that is a bit of a simple comparison to make.

    3 months later

    Finished Lawless World by Philippe Sands. Very insightful read about international law in general and about specific instances (setup of the ICC, Pinochet being arrested in England, Iraq War) from someone who was actually involved professionally in all of them at some point. Written however by someone who's not only an attorney but who reveres the law which makes it tiring to read - not everything has to be written as a subsumption ffs

    Read William Blum's Killing Hope before that. Absolute must read for anyone even remotely interested in world politics since the turn of the century and how the US shaped them. It's available as a free pdf here

    Ordered a bunch of other books, started with Cleptopia by Tom Burgis whose earlier book The Looting Machine was an incredibly interesting read. Not just a terrific journalist but a brilliant writer as well

    Also got myself The Three-Body problem trilogy, hoping to get around to that one soon. Will be the first novel I've read in ages but from what I've heard it sounds promising

    Also I started reading Homo Deus by Yuval Harari and quit a couple dozen pages in. Does it get better or is it really just 500+ pages of this guy waffling about?

    jones wrote:

    Also I started reading Homo Deus by Yuval Harari and quit a couple dozen pages in. Does it get better or is it really just 500+ pages of this guy waffling about?

    Same, I put it down after reading 50 odd pages but had no interest in picking it up again. Sapiens was more engaging

    I think he has another book out this year too.

    I stayed away from the first one because most of the people recommending it to me were full kool-aid startup liberals … just got that bad Vox explainer vibe. Is it worth checking out?

    😆 I noticed that too.

    Sapiens is an engaging book and a good starting point but prone to sensationalism. Bill Bryson's book covers similar topics but better imo.

    Burnwinter wrote:

    I stayed away from the first one because most of the people recommending it to me were full kool-aid startup liberals … just got that bad Vox explainer vibe. Is it worth checking out?

    I got it as gift from someone like that 😆 Its gathering dust on my book shelf.

    He's shown himself to be a dickhead since the pandemic started too, talking about why government surveillance like in China, ID2020, Known Traveller etc will be a good thing because it'll help detect and prevent future flu epidemics and what not. No need to be worried that a comparably small elite would abuse that kind of omniscience either because apparently history has shown that kind of stuff would never happen.

    Even disregarding that I've no idea how he got his rep as this profound thinker. He's the Joe Rogan of philosophers.