Bought a book recently?

[pxr5]

Last night I finished David J Haskins'  - Who Killed Mister Moonlight? : Bauhaus, Black Magick, and Benediction. The band insight was fascinating, not so much David's dabbling in the occult and magick (which is a big chunk of the middle of the book), but I did learn quite a bit about it all. I always felt they could have been a massive band had they continued on in the 80s but egos certainly seemed to get in the way.

Just started Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning.

[pxr5]

Completed Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning. It may be my favourite of his so far. The ideas he comes up with are amazing and this one has some brilliant sci-fi content.

Next was Jon Padgett's The Secret of Ventriloquism. Loosely linked short horror stories that's just a bit too weird for my tastes - some neat ideas though, just very odd.

Now I'm reading Cixin Liu's The Supernova Era - more great sci-fi here so far.

[Thenop]

Completed Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning. It may be my favourite of his so far. The ideas he comes up with are amazing and this one has some brilliant sci-fi content.

Next was Jon Padgett's The Secret of Ventriloquism. Loosely linked short horror stories that's just a bit too weird for my tastes - some neat ideas though, just very odd.

Now I'm reading Cixin Liu's The Supernova Era - more great sci-fi here so far.

Should we start calling it Chi-Fi? Then again, that is used for Chinese produced hi-fi... Hmm..

[Slim]

I've been reading Matt Goodwin's Values, Voice and Virtue while on holiday. Matt is the former professor of politics who stood for Reform at Denton and Gorton.

This is a very well researched book which uses real data to explain the rise of the populist right in the West, and to show that the roots and causes of this go back quite some time before the 2016 referendum.

There's a faint rustle of tin foil when he discusses globalisation. He repeats himself a bit, and he uses American English spellings for some words, but not for others. Annoying. But overall it's very good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Values-Voice-Virtue-British-Politics/dp/0141999098

[pxr5]

Finished Cixin Liu's The Supernova Era. Not his best in my opinion. I got the feeling he became bogged down with a story he couldn't foresee how to finish. An interesting story for sure and some of the ideas posed are very thought-provoking but for me he got it completely wrong with how kids would react in such a situation.

Anyway, now reading Project Hail Mary after just seeing the movie. The film was excellent, but this book is better - lots more science and maths which makes more sense of the story. I suppose the movie was limited by time but it's nice to slow down and absorb the vision and ideas.

[David L]

'Hunger' by Grace Dent has been stashed in the motorhome 'library' for some time. The wife bought it ages ago and started it but hasn't yet finished it. She said it was a good yarn, so yesterday I made a start on it myself. Finished it this afternoon.

An engrossing, human story told in a very amusing fashion. I've never been much of a fan of Grace but I have warmed to her quirky style presenting BBC's Masterchef. I like her even more now I've become familiar with her journey from rather humble beginnings to becoming a recognisable TV personality.

A very good read.

[Thenop]

Always Moving: the Strange Multiverse of Voïvod by Jeff Wagner.

Wagner is both journalist and superfan. He uses the oral history format and fills the gaps himself. Need to start, it arrived yesterday.

It'll make a nice companion piece to Worlds Away: Voīvod and the art of Michel Lange in by Martin Popoff.

[dom]

Just finished the audio book of The Correspondent by Virginia Evans.

Excellent - multiple storylines are uncovered as the main narrator and her fellow correspondents send letters and occasional emails to each other

Audio books properly done are made for books like this where each letter writer has higher own voice.

The only slight complaint is the "previous pages unsent" device. Apparently this is clearly indicated in the book itself but with the audio version you're not aware until the end of the letter which leaves you second guessing all the time.

[Thenop]

Wuthering Heights. About time I read another classic.
Actually the idea came from a reading 'challenge' the paper I read published (read 10 books this summer). Fun idea (sort of) really:
1. a (rediscovered) classic - so that's Wuthering Heights then
2. a book out of your comfortzone - I chose Oroppa by Safae el Khannoussi
3. a book about summer love (which I made into a book that takes place in summer) - a Dutch classic Nooit meer Slapen (Beyond Sleep), by WF Hermans, another classic. I read some of his other work, not this one yet.
4. 2 books on 1 theme. Interpreted this very widely Ossenkop (Oxhead) by Manik Sarkar and Chita by Lafcadio Hearn. Both books are about isolation.
5. a book that was graded 5 stars in the newspaper (NRC) - Tandenjager (tooth hunter) - Auke Hulst (dutch literary again)
6. a book with polarising opinions - To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
7. a book that's been in the cupboard for years - Joe Speedboat - Tommy Wieringa
8. a book translated from a language you have not read before. Challenging, but I chose Italo Calvinho's - If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Translated from Italian.
9. A book under 150 opages - I chose the parting work of Dutch poet and writer Lieke Marsman, she passed some weeks ago sadly, much too young, from cancer. This is a fun read, inspired by Dante's Inferno describing the current political climate and state of the world.

So let's see how far I get. 6 of them I have as hard copy, 4 of them I read through my Kobo plus account.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Wuthering Heights. About time I read another classic.
Actually the idea came from a reading 'challenge' the paper I read published (read 10 books this summer). Fun idea (sort of) really:
1. a (rediscovered) classic - so that's Wuthering Heights then
2. a book out of your comfortzone - I chose Oroppa by Safae el Khannoussi
3. a book about summer love (which I made into a book that takes place in summer) - a Dutch classic Nooit meer Slapen (Beyond Sleep), by WF Hermans, another classic. I read some of his other work, not this one yet.
4. 2 books on 1 theme. Interpreted this very widely Ossenkop (Oxhead) by Manik Sarkar and Chita by Lafcadio Hearn. Both books are about isolation.
5. a book that was graded 5 stars in the newspaper (NRC) - Tandenjager (tooth hunter) - Auke Hulst (dutch literary again)
6. a book with polarising opinions - To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
7. a book that's been in the cupboard for years - Joe Speedboat - Tommy Wieringa
8. a book translated from a language you have not read before. Challenging, but I chose Italo Calvinho's - If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Translated from Italian.
9. A book under 150 opages - I chose the parting work of Dutch poet and writer Lieke Marsman, she passed some weeks ago sadly, much too young, from cancer. This is a fun read, inspired by Dante's Inferno describing the current political climate and state of the world.

So let's see how far I get. 6 of them I have as hard copy, 4 of them I read through my Kobo plus account.

Surprised you went for Tooth Hunter. 😁

[pxr5]

Finished Project Hail Mary. Even if you've seen the excellent movie, this book is still worth a go.

Now back to Cixin Liu - a book of short stories called The Wandering Earth; it's as good as all his other stuff. There are actually 2 Chinese movies called The Wandering Earth (1 and 2) which I've got to watch. The book's version is very short and I think the film makers have taken the basic idea and forced it over 2 long movies somehow. Reading the synopsis of both the second film is more closely based on the book story:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7605074/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13539646/

[Thenop]

Finished Project Hail Mary. Even if you've seen the excellent movie, this book is still worth a go.

Now back to Cixin Liu - a book of short stories called The Wandering Earth; it's as good as all his other stuff. There are actually 2 Chinese movies called The Wandering Earth (1 and 2) which I've got to watch. The book's version is very short and I think the film makers have taken the basic idea and forced it over 2 long movies somehow. Reading the synopsis of both the second film is more closely based on the book story:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7605074/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13539646/

The story is good, the movie on Netflix feels very long, but is well made and actually quite entertaining.