Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 4, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 4, 2016 (edited) Â Loved this. I adore The Mats anyway but this goes REALLY deep. Loads of stuff I haven't heard about before, personally and professionally.It's long but really enthralling - finished it in a day! Need that! Edited May 4, 2016 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted May 4, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 4, 2016 Â The Martian is an excellent adaptation of the book, imo. Â I'm glad you enjoyed Ender's Game, Chest! Don't research the author though, he's not a pleasant chap! Â I'd also recommend the Expanse series of books, starting with Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey. I may have already recommended them, to be fair. I started reading The Expanse series after getting half way through the SyFy TV version I figured that since I was enjoying the TV show, the books would be better for me in terms of detail etc. I was right. Just finished the second book. To follow up on this, I've just about finished book four of this series. Book five is out this month and book six is due in November. I really can't recommend it enough if you like big, dramatic, Hollywood-esque sci fi books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.E Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Not long finished "The Lost World", now onto "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie , which so far is cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted May 5, 2016 Awards Moderator Share Posted May 5, 2016 Going to pick up a copy of The Girl On The Train once it's out in paperback. I've heard good twisty-turny things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 I finished His Dark Materials recently for the first time since I was a kid, when I lost interest and didn't make it past the first few chapters of The Subtle Knife. It's probably better read as an adult. Or that stupid part of your early to mid twenties where you're existential about absolutely everything. A lot of the anti religious elements get hackneyed towards the end with huge sounding antagonists introduced that aren't really fleshed out, granted, but it blew me away. I blubbed my way through the last few chapters and felt absolutely broken at the end. A feeling I have not gotten from reading a book for a long time. Flowers For Algernon, maybe. Â I just kept going after I finished it, that brilliant thing happening where OCD is applied to reading. Tearing through some of Robert Rankin's stuff as a reading break from reading. I want to go through Neuromancer again before reading it's sequels which I've never gotten around to. It can be confusing to follow (are my in the Sprawl or the real world?) but it's aesthetic is sublime. Really want to go through Discworld again too. Â What I really want is a massive fantasy series to get stuck into though. The Eye Of The World looks tempting but a bit dry. Terry Goodkind also looks good but I've been told he's a bit depressing. I can't find The Book Of The New Sun anywhere in shops and that's ace so I might order online. Â Books are the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 5, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 5, 2016 Up to you about The Wheel Of Time series, but I really wouldn't bother. I read up to instalment 10, at which point even my obsessively completist bent gave up on me and I just couldn't go on. The first four books are alright, but as an overall story it's badly characterised, the plot just becomes cumbersome and repetitive, and there are also a couple of really hideously patched-up continuity errors. Â If you want an epic series to get into, The Wars Of Light And Shadow by Janny Wurtz are good, if a bit verbose - it's absolutely harrowing in places as to the characters and what the author puts them through, but she constructs a fascinating world and the plot is well-crafted, using a lot of subtle elements to drive it as well as obvious ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted May 5, 2016 Moderators Share Posted May 5, 2016 A couple books I read recently - Burmese Days by Orwell. He writes great stuff, and I was in Myanmar, so it seemed appropriate. Fantastic little book, as expected. Historical fiction is the best way to learn! I find straight up non fiction too boring, but when interesting history is mixed in with such well written characters and narrative it's a world of difference. Â Continuing on with my newly found enjoyment of sci fi, I read Ringworld as it is supposed to be a classic. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. Perhaps I expected too much from it. It came off a bit corny, but unfortunately I think that is something that happens any time you try to get into a piece of art that was very influential in its time much later, because you are already so familiar with what has come since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Thanks for the suggestion, Carbomb. I'll check it out!  Also read Ringworld recently and had a similar opinion. It's...of it's time. It kind of reads like it was originally intended for serial consumption in a pulp sci fi magazine of the time. There's times when I'm not sure is it intending to be real camp or what.  For some daft reason I just assumed it had Halo's operatic, mystical kind of tone throughout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted May 5, 2016 Awards Moderator Share Posted May 5, 2016 Thanks for the suggestion, Carbomb. I'll check it out! Â Also read Ringworld recently and had a similar opinion. It's...of it's time. It kind of reads like it was originally intended for serial consumption in a pulp sci fi magazine of the time. There's times when I'm not sure is it intending to be real camp or what. Â For some daft reason I just assumed it had Halo's operatic, mystical kind of tone throughout. I'm extremely late to the Robin Hobb party but if you haven't tried her, she's got a few good series to get stuck into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsfromlee Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Just finished Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. I heard that Alex Garland, who wrote and directed Ex Machina, was going to be adapting it into a movie with Natalie Portman and Oscar Issac, and I loved that movie and all of Garland's work so I thought I'd give it a go. Â Thought it was really good but leaves a lot of unanswered questions at the end which was very annoying. It was written to be part of a trilogy so they'll probably be answered in the other book but I've heard they're a bit shit so I'm unsure if I should carry on with them. Â Great premise but I'm not sure on how he'll pull it off as a movie. It's going to have to deviate from the book quite a bit for it to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Nexus Posted May 5, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 5, 2016  Thanks for the suggestion, Carbomb. I'll check it out!  Also read Ringworld recently and had a similar opinion. It's...of it's time. It kind of reads like it was originally intended for serial consumption in a pulp sci fi magazine of the time. There's times when I'm not sure is it intending to be real camp or what.  For some daft reason I just assumed it had Halo's operatic, mystical kind of tone throughout. I'm extremely late to the Robin Hobb party but if you haven't tried her, she's got a few good series to get stuck into.   I would echo this (and probably already have), but the Farseer trilogy is my favourite, closely followed by the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Her next two books in the arc are also good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 6, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 6, 2016 Thirded. The Farseer and Tawny Man (Fool) trilogies are excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.E Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Going to pick up a copy of The Girl On The Train once it's out in paperback. I've heard good twisty-turny things. I might be wrong but it's out in paperback already, I saw it in my local mini-sainsburys yesterday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted May 6, 2016 Awards Moderator Share Posted May 6, 2016  Going to pick up a copy of The Girl On The Train once it's out in paperback. I've heard good twisty-turny things.I might be wrong but it's out in paperback already, I saw it in my local mini-sainsburys yesterday! Yep, grabbed it yesterday for a mere £3.49! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted May 7, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2016 I finally got a Kindle after about 4 years of umming and arring. Is there any tips for getting decent prices on books, as I think I'm being a bit thick operating it. I pretty much exclusively read history/politics/philosophy if that's any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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