#48

I was aware of the title but that’s playing my interest in looking further

#49

Next on my list - finishing off a 14 book fantasy epic first (on book 14/14). Something short and harrowing will do nicely as a palate cleanser.

#51

Yeah that nails the kind of thing I’m talking about

#53

I really need to get a year off from life to catch up with books. I had stopped reading Discworld by that point but always meant to go back.

#54

Shall we have a Read Catch 22 In A Specific Amount Of Time thread?

It’s excellent. Would read again.

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#55

Yeah, I found that. It also read like it was written with an eye firmly on getting it made into a multipart HBO series. Not a huge issue, but it felt a bit simplistic in its approach to characterisation - thinking particularly of stuff like the ‘look after your brother David, he’s not strong like you’ bit in the first book, obvious setup for reveal near the end when he realises the comma has been in the wrong place for the entire book. But, yeah, was a fun read.

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#56

Pencil it in for 2020

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#57

It’s probably unfair I wrote off the book because of it, it is such a minor part of the book, but it’s one of those cases where I just thought ‘nope.’

#58

Finishing a reread of the Wheel of Time series (on book 14 / 14), then Blood Meridian next, for something completely different.

Current audiobook is Adults in the Room, by Yannis Varoufakis - which (despite being pro EU in general) is actually making me a little tiny bit more sanguine about the whole Brexit thing.

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#59

Catch 2020

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#60

Aye, really enjoying it

#61

Yeah cheers @AQOS. Never knew that song was a reference

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#62

I just finished Thomas the Impostor by Jean Cocteau (he wrote books as well! What a talented fucker). It was excellent.

I’m going to try and finish off this Jelinek book called Greed.It’s been a slog tbh.

Have A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch to read next. Which gives me the opportunity to post this ultra banger:

#63

Yeah never going to have time for it. Is the Sanderson bit better written do you think? I hear he didn’t make any attempt to emulate Jordan’s style

#64

Ooff, yeah that would do for me. I work in medical neuro-genetic research at the moment and can be quite confident in saying that there is a huge genetic predisposition element to all those things (particularly schizophrenia). Really, mental health diseases are just neurological diseases we don’t understand as well yet.

It could be argued that the pressures of modern life affect the way these things are treated, but I suspect that people with acute schizophrenia were probably just burned burned at the stake for demonic possession in pre-capatilist times.

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#65

I think Jordan’s writing improves a lot as the books go on (as one might expect really).

The difference in styles in a lot more noticeable in the first book Sanderson wrote. There are things I prefer about both - Jordan did description a lot better but tended to overstuff with it. Jordan’s dialogue felt a lot more suited to the world (Sanderson tends towards more casual dialogue). Sanderson definitely got things done a lot faster - I suspect if he’d written the whole thing it would have been closer to 8 books long.

It’s an odd one - I love the series in a big way, but I think I first read it at the right age for reading epic fantasy novels. I don’t think that if I was approaching it for the first time now I’d have the patience for it.

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#66

Yeah but if you’re writing a novel, you ain’t got time to post excellent DiS threads

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#67

Also Le Guin - The Farthest Shore.

It felt like time to return to Earthsea, having read the first two brilliant books over the past year or so. This one might be even better…

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#68

I am reading ‘i’m not with the band’ by Sylvia Patterson and I’m very much enjoying it. Trying to read more music books by women and finding some great stuff because of that policy.

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#69

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on Leviathan Wakes (and to a lesser extent Words of Radiance) when you’ve finished them.
I really am enjoying The Expanse books. Finished Persepolis Rising last week.

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General Reading / Book Thread for 2019