Mr.E Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 I liked World Without End. I didn't connect with any characters in the same way as Jack and Aliena in Pillars, but the plot and scope are similarly epic and you still get really invested in what happens. Cool, that's good to hear.  I got sucked into the Jack/Aliena stuff in Pillars as well, are they in this at all? I wasn't sure if its a straight sequel or if its just set in the same world but a different time? truth me told I should have looked as it does mention the years it's working from, but I hadn't checked when Pillars finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 11, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) I'm chugging through a book called 'Second Hand Time' by Svetlana Alexievich. Verbatim interviews with Russian's after the collapse of Communism. It's excellent and really examines the psyche of Russian's who are obsessed with the country being perceived as 'great' over material wealth themselves. Equal parts tragic and fascinating.  Apologies for: a) quoting myself b) trampling over your conversation Mr.E and HG  But in the 'Second Hand Time' book I'm reading there was a long interview with a Russian Jewish woman recounting her experiences in WW2. Now, I know nothing surrounding WW2 should come as a surprise anymore, but this did. Basically in the early days of Barbarosa, about 200 Jews were rounded up, made to dig mass graves and then buried alive in them. Children first (this, sadly, isn't new). She was one of about 2 survivors, digged out by locals who were exhuming bodies for the clothes. She fled to the forest and lived on mushrooms/flowers etc. before being picked up by the Soviet Partisans (who also tortured/killed Jews  if they didn't have weapons to use) and she was kept alive solely because she was a cobbler. Her 'initiation' was to burn down a house with 9 people, 6 of them children, with them inside because they were allegedly Nazi collaborators.  The description of the screams/desperate attempts to escape were incredibly vivid. Guttural, animal screaming. I was welling up on the train. One child escaped through the window and instead of being shot, was thrown back into the fire. Because killing a 5 year old with a gun is too good for them and not showing enough of an 'example'. It's about the most appalling thing I have read since descriptions of the Rwandan Genocide and Tutsi's making families 'sleep in each others houses' (Google it, or don't) before pulverising them with machetes. I mean, why on earth you need to make carving someone to death with a knife worse, I don't know. I digress.  Anyway, I'm going nowhere with this other than it's truly staggering after reading history for years and being pretty switched on with world affairs, that man still can surprise me in it's barbarity. My Dad's side of the family is Jewish and Georgian. The random chance of deciding to emigrate means I'm alive and recent relatives didn't have to go through circumstances like the horrific one above. It really is one of those situations where death is probably preferable. Edited January 11, 2017 by Gus Mears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted January 11, 2017 Awards Moderator Share Posted January 11, 2017   I liked World Without End. I didn't connect with any characters in the same way as Jack and Aliena in Pillars, but the plot and scope are similarly epic and you still get really invested in what happens. Cool, that's good to hear. I got sucked into the Jack/Aliena stuff in Pillars as well, are they in this at all? I wasn't sure if its a straight sequel or if its just set in the same world but a different time? truth me told I should have looked as it does mention the years it's working from, but I hadn't checked when Pillars finished. Same world, 200 years later, so they're not still in it I'm afraid! But I remember there being some nice little callbacks to Pillars in the 'history' of the town, with the cathedral being the constant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.E Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Ah, that's good to hear then.  As potentially sad as it is, I really enjoyed the building of the cathedral in itself in Pillars, which then spurred me onto check out York Cathedral when I was visiting, and despite not being religious at all, I enjoyed it for the building that it is.  And Gus: Christ alive that sounds horrifying! I'm aware some nasty stuff went down in that time, but crikey that's bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 14, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2017 Â I am why we voted for Brexit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrasslin Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 I'm on a drunk American authors kick right now. Â Just got done with Rum Diaries and I'm just starting Big Sur by Kerouac. Â Between these guys and Bukowski I'm feeling bleak but I'm enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 14, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2017 For the love of all that is holy, don't touch anything by Burroughs with a barge pole. Naked Lunch is the worst book I have ever read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted January 14, 2017 Moderators Share Posted January 14, 2017 I haven't read that, but I couldn't finish the soft machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 15, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 15, 2017 Naked Lunch is even worst Chest, I'm not joking. I'm all for pushing the envelope and abstraction in literature, but Burroughs main work is just wank. It's the spewing of a heroin addict with no ability to construct a coherent plot, any degree of linear progression or indeed use more than about 12 words which are repeated constantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted January 15, 2017 Awards Moderator Share Posted January 15, 2017 Naked Lunch I can think of at least two things wrong with that title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 15, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) Yeah, it starts at a low level with that horrible title and then proceeds to plumb new depths of abysmal before finally settling somewhere around the earth's core during the 7000th ultra-violent gay orgy. Edited January 15, 2017 by Gus Mears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Sergio Mendacious Posted January 15, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 15, 2017 Â Naked LunchI can think of at least two things wrong with that title. Â top notch reference work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Really Big Shoe Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Reading Brian Wilsons autobiography at the moment. The newer one not the co author or ghostwritten by Dr Eugene Landy. Some stories are similar though just told in a different tone (the first one seems more angry etc) and more reflective. There's also books out about Carl and Dennis Wilson but I don't know how in depth or good they are. The BBC did a good doc about Dennis a few years ago. One not that known story or known to the mainstream is Dennis Wilson co wrote "You are so beautiful" with Billy Preston. His name isn't listed on the song credits though. Brian covered the song with one of his daughters (Carnie IIRC) on a compilation album and Dennis used to sing it live. It's on the Knebworth show the Beach Boys did as one example. If there's proof that Dennis did write the song they should amend the song credits so he's credited as a co author. He has wrote similar songs and he wouldn't have performed it if he hadn't had a hand in writing it. Unless he gave the song publishing away but that was more of a 50s/60s practice so writers could get their songs recorded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave. It's a Southern Gothic type novel full of incest and the wrath of God. Grim as fuck but brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 22, 2017 Into a book called Dreadnought. Ostensibly about the battleship,but in reality covering Anglo-German relations for many decades before WW1. Â Otto von Bismarck remains one of my few heroes. His pan-European plate spinning saved countless lives and is the greatest display of diplomacy ever. Also has solidified my belief that Kaiser Wilhelm II basically was defined by Napoleon Complex brought on by his Jeremy Beadle arm. A very, very small man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.