Might read this to pad out my Goodreads stats
This is what happened last time I tried to read it. Just put it down around the third mark and never picked it up again
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donāt want to overhype it but The Chaser (in Stag Dance) is one of my favourite short stories ever
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Whoa
Iām enjoying IT but jeez this era Stephen King had some weird hang-ups about fat people
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Reading Fever House which I am enjoying loads more than Coffin Moon, really interested in it, has a sort of Stone Junction vibe to it (been so long since I read that, that maybe it doesnāt at all). But I see the authorās favourite word from Coffin Moon is even more prolific in this one.
WE GET IT, YOU LIKE THE WORD FEALTY, ITāS YOUR SIGNATURE THING OR WHATEVER BUT SHUT UP
Thatās fealty for ya!
Youre away before Iām back arenāt you?
no sooner have i posted that and Iāve hit a wall, itās 30% too long
You need to pay fealty to the long book goods
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Speaking of long books Iām reading Middlemarch and itās perfect. George Eliot might now be my favourite Victorian author (and thereās stiff competition). I think she had a really interesting life as well because she was really radical for her time, so Iām on the hunt for a decent biography next.
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I do like GE but I do find it somewhat frustrating that she doesnāt often give her characters the freedoms/resistances to social expectations that she carved out for herself irl.
Was having a bit of a choice paralysis of which book(s) to read next, so decided to go for some 
books:
Beyond The Sea - Paul Lynch
Decided to read my fourth Paul Lynch book (think thatās all of them now?), and all have been good, if bleak, although Prophet Song is still the easy favourite. This one is set in South America, a big storm is brewing, but a fisherman wants to fish, and brings a hapless young lad with him. Obviously good things donāt ensue. 7/10
An Evening Of Long Goodbyes - Paul Murray
Have previously just read The Bee Sting, but now mean to read his other books in order, starting with this one. and it was pleasingly amusing - the main character is enjoyably dense/oblivious/slightly obnoxious, where you enjoy seeing the things escalate a lot quicker than he does. I think I would have preferred it if the last part of the book kept up with the high levels of humour/quirkiness to the rest of the book, but still a very enjoyable read. 9/10
Molloy - Samuel Beckett
Not read any Beckett before, and so gave this a go as an audiobook after seeing an intriguing mention by another author as one of their Foyleās Four books on Instagram. Really enjoyed the narrators, with the first half following Molloy, and the second half of the book following some other chap. and the book just meanders a lot (especially the moving stones from pocket to pocket scene), and it doesnāt quite make sense to me, maybe flying over my head at parts, but a nice enough story to listen to. 6/10
Childrenās Children - Jan Carson
Iāve mostly liked her other few books Iāve read (especially the Fire Starters), including one other short story collection, all stories generally very Northern Irelandy, and sometimes a big magical realismy. So I had high hopes for this short story collection, but didnāt quite enjoy some of the stories. I think I preferred the weirder stories, and less so the non-weird ones. Sheās just released a new novel now I think. 6/10
The Spinning Heart (Rust 1) - Donal Ryan
I hadnāt read him before, so decided to give this duology a go. 21 chapters, each from the viewpoint of a different character, all quite short (10-ish pages/minutes each). It takes a bit to concentrate to keep on top of each of the characters and how they may be related/connected to each other, slowly building up to a finale of sorts, revealing itself more as it went on. A short book, really quite enjoyed. 8/10
Heart, Be At Peace (Rust 2) - Donal Ryan
and a sequel, but written/released 12 years later in 2024. Also 21 chapters/characters, set 9 or 10 years later. Iām happy I read it straight after, so I remembered them all, although it didnāt hit the spot as much. 7/10
When reading Donalās first book, I got The Goon Squad vibes, with all of the different characters / storylines. I found these Donal books easier to keep on top of, but not as great as the Goon books. Just checking now, and The Goon Squadās sequel was also released 12 years later.
Will read / am reading some other non-Irish books at the moment, and then will go back for another flurry of them, especially to finish off the next two Paul Murray books.
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Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary
Hey guys, do you think the narrator of this book is a scientist by any chance? I lost count of the number of times he said as much himself, or said ānow itās time to do some scienceā or āwe/I just did a few days of scienceā. It made me think the book was narrated by a cross between Tony Stark and Jennifer Aniston in those shampoo commercials. Here comes the science bit, concentrate.
Like, I get it dude. I havenāt seen the film, but thought it looked good so I read the book. I can imagine the film is better. I liked the premise of the book, and I liked the early parts where he had amnesia and couldnāt remember anything so it was like (and the book does acknowledge this) watching a character in a point-and-click adventure game solving puzzles but about 2/3 of the way through I was pretty bored. I liked how it ended, and Iāll definitely find a way to watch the film when itās streaming. But Iām not exactly salivating at the thought of reading The Martian and I think life is too short for that.
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My thoughts exactly. Took the kids to see the film and we all loved it. I was able to answer lots of their questions about the science behind it having read the book though haha
Classic Stephen King, letās be honest.
Andy Weir needs an editor
real clear tell of stuff thatās been self-pubbed and then bought by a publishing house (imo) is the glaring lack of editing; pacing is usually so uneven, tons of extraneous pointless details, weird dialogue, and length of like 400+ pages.
it seems like publishers are worried readers will be mad that the trad-published book isnāt near identical to the self-pubbed one
I always figured it was that they donāt like to mess with success, because you definitely notice with a lot of established authors that they have less editing than they could do with once they are a sure fire seller.
with that, I think there are some minor power dynamics involved as to who can hire and fire who, ie Stephen King will always sell out so he can publish with anyone he wants and if he feels that his editor doesnāt āgetā him or is tricky to work with, he can move on easily so the publisher has less power and the author doesnāt have to be as deferential or cooperative (imo)
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