5punk

Do we not already have a thread like this? Well I'll start one anyway and stick in a review of whatever I finish reading. I'm now just trying to remember what I was reading before this book. Anyway...

GB84
A mostly ficticious story of the people involved in the miners' strikes of 1984/5. The tale is dark and gritty, interspersed with violence. It follows a number of lines, from one of the board of the Union, to a government manipulator, to a criminal heavy. Inbetween the main story, at the beginning of every chapter, is a flowing narrative from the miners on the pickets.
I have to admit, aside from curiosity the subject didn't realy grab me, and the author's over-gravifying of the whole affair bothered me. Everyone involved has the conflict down as the greatest battle the world has ever seen, and while I'm sure it was very important to those involved it seems petty compared to the various military histories I've read. I've an issue with the language the book is written in too, but I can't quite place what it is. I do like the miner's tale running through the chapters though, it seemed genuine and honest.
Ultimately, despite some interesting moments (usually violent), I was pleased to reach the end so that I can start on my next book...

Next up: Operation Mincemeat

Transition - Iain Banks

Despite not being an Iain "M" Banks books, this is still pretty much sci-fi territory.

In brief, the story follows members of The Concern - an organisation whose agents are able to flit (or 'transition') through different realities. It mostly follows a chap called Temudjin Oh who is generally employed as an assassin. There is a power struggle within The Concern that sees him going on the run.

It's a thoroughly enjoyable story, but I have two main issues with it. First off, the plot holes are fucking enormous - you could drive a bus through them sideways. I'm not usually that bothered with every single loose end tying up in a scientifically proven manner, but some of the flaws in this are just common sense (I don't really want to go into them as it may ruin it).

Secondly, it feels like it was knocked out just to become a Hollywood screenplay (in fact that ties in with my first issue). It doesn't feel like a Banks book at all.

That said, read it - it's fun.

The Unincorporated Man

Hundreds of years into the future, society has developed the incorporated system where you can own shares of other people, and your net worth is tied to your stock price. In an abandoned mine, an ancient life pod is discovered, and a man from the distant past is revived. I don't want to spoil the plot at all, but the process of awkward integration into the strange new society of extreme capitalism makes for an excellent story.

The Unincorporated War, the sequel, is also really good, though it suffers from middle-chapteritis as it is the second of the planned trilogy.

As an aside, I bought a kindle not too long ago, bloody awesome toy, and some of the books here are silly cheap on kindle, and much easier for reading in bed when it's -8000c outside.

Stuff I've read recently, so very mini reviews;

And another thing
Some bloke who isn't douglas adams, trying to write a h2g2, not a total failure, but nothing special either, worth a read I reckon.

The Disappearing spoon
Hard to describe, a bit of an idiot's guide to the periodic table, damn interesting, fairly amusing. Probably not great if know lots of science, but a good read for someone who drew cocks on the wall through their GCSEs. I couldn't put it down.

Kitchen Confidential
Memoirs of a Chef (Anthony bourdain) working mainly through the 80s and 90s, funny, interesting, educational. If you eat food, read this.

Medium Raw
The Follow-up to Kitchen Confidential, written since he's become a TV personality, interesting for foodies and fans, but not nearly as awesome.

Blood, Sweat and Tea (and More Blood, Sweat and Tea)
The embookification of this blog interesting read, next to free on kindle, nice and handy for a few chapters, okay, that's a lie, half the book before bed. Weirdly compelling read, entertaining an interesting.

In Stitches: The Highs and Lows of Life as an AandE Doctor
Similar to the above, interesting if you want to know all about the hilarious fucked up nature of the NHS, and the problems it has. Also 80 year olds with an orange stuck in their Vagina.

The World's Worst... Book. Don't bother.
It tries to be a bit like DI, but covering the same subjects in less detail.

Mark Thomas Presents the People's Manifesto
Contains the line "We should disguise leopards as foxes to fuck up the gentry" which had me laughing like a total twat for a good 5 minutes.

Otherwise, a political manifesto written and decided on by slightly odd people at MT gigs. Ver good.

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:"We should disguise leopards as foxes to fuck up the gentry"

I like Mark Thomas so I may investigate that.

Oops, fell behind a little;

Operation Mincemeat
This is a novelised but touted as accurate account of the titular top secret operation to convince the Germans during the Second World War that we weren't going to attack Sicily. The plot involves washing a dead body ashore in Spain and coaxing it through the spy networks. It's an interesting enough story in its own right, made quite fascinating by the fact it's as close to the truth as the author can get.

Aside from the main story, the insights into the cloak and dagger work of the intelligence agencies on both sides are also interesting. It describes the world in which Ian Flemming learnt his spy trade, and you can understand how the events coloured his imagination for the later James Bond novels.

I found the whole thing pretty gripping, with some characters so odd they could only have been created by real life. It probably dragged on a little, since once I finished I was hankering for something not war-related, but I definately enjoyed it.

Day of the Triffids
This Cold War classic had my legs going numb while sat on the bog, such was I unable to put it down. It's reminiscent of HG Wells in its first person narrative of a newly post-apocalyptic world, using the charming language of the time. It's interesting in that the end of the world and the rise of the carnivorous plants is very much played down in a style lost to all but the very best zombie stories, and the narrator takes the whole thing in a very English and matter-of-fact way. It's a little cliched, possibly because it was influential in the recent post-apocalypse template, but doesn't really suffer for it. It also has an interesting side-line in its approach to the ideas and behaviours of a post-civilisation society, with various groups posing various methods at various times. Finally, I don't know if I'm a little strange in this, or maybe a little influenced by Plants Vs Zombies, but I was kind of endeared to the triffids.

Dog Pants wrote:Operation Mincemeat

All of that, took me an age to get through, but really enjoyed it.

We
Classic dystopian fiction of the 1984 variety, the daddy of the genre in fact as far as I can tell. It's not a large book, and has the unrefined but raw feel of a pioneer. The story focuses on a mathematician, and as such lots of numerical parallels are drawn. This fits with the setting (that mechanical routine is the key to civilisation and happiness), but is also a bit dry if you're not a maths geek. It's interesting though, in that much of the writing refers to things familiar to us in the 21st century, but would be pretty alien to the author 100 years ago. I can't decide if he was a visionary or just that the translation is modern and takes liberties.

The tale itself is fairly typical dystopian fiction. The lead character is happy with his slave-like existence until another person shows him the error of his ways and he realises how wrong it all is. There are some minor variations which I won't go into to avoid spoilers, and it manages to avoid some cliches (although since it was the original you could say nothing in it is a cliche), but it rarely really rises above routine when compared to the likes of 1984 and Brave New World. Maybe that's just because I've read a lot of dystopian fiction though. It's not quite as out there as Fahrenheit and Slaughterhouse, not quite as grim as 1984 and Brave New World, so in the dystopian league I'd put it somewhere in the middle.

Been a while since I finished a book by the looks of it, in fact I think I just forgot to mention them here. However, this morning I polished off Storm Front, an account of the Battle of Mirbat where nine SAS men held off several hundred Omani communist guerrillas in 1972. It starts off a little slow as it builds up the story around the battle, but gathers pace as the campaign progresses before peaking at the end with a lengthy and detailed account of the troopers and their last stand. By the last few chapters I nearly made myself late for work sitting on the bog too long reading it.

Before that I read Phoenix Squadron, an interesting record of a marathon mission over Belize by Royal Navy Buccaneer bombers. Written by the same author as Storm Front, he really has a knack for making the details interesting. That's much needed, as this story is a lot less action orientated than its land based successor, and he provides a fascinating rather than thrilling account of life on board an operational British aircraft carrier in the 70s. It was rather sad to read at the time as the Strategic Defence Review was announced and with it the demise of the Ark Royal (albeit a different iteration) on which the events took place. Ironically, it was these events which saved the ship from the fame fate back then.

Both good reads for fans of military history, the author, Rowland White, also wrote Vulcan 607, the bomber which flew from the UK to bomb Stanley airfield in the Falklands. I'll be picking that one up at some point.

I was interested in getting Storm front, but it's not available for Kindle yet... will wait and see if it gets a release.

Am reading a book by Richard Montanari, it's pissing me off. Big time. It's called Play Dead, and it's about this dude who is/was a master of illusion, and is now a serial killer come cabinet maker (i think the author is a stoner).. Anyways. It's crap. It's got me to the point where nothing makes ANY sense, and i'm dreading reading the next page, but I want to see if an editor could be so moronic as to allow a book to be published that is so crap and even in the end doesn't make any more sense.

What is more annoying in this novel is the inconsistencies. For example "if the killer was in the area, the K-9 unit would find him" (cue a master of disguise costume change by killer) "swann walks straight past k-9 unit" WTF?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!1111

Avoid at all costs. It burns your eyes.

Is it as good as this?
http://www.bspcn.com/2009/07/02/best-fi ... book-ever/

Stoat wrote:Is it as good as this?
http://www.bspcn.com/2009/07/02/best-fi ... book-ever/

Inspirational

Stoat wrote:Is it as good as this?
http://www.bspcn.com/2009/07/02/best-fi ... book-ever/

wow

Stoat wrote:Is it as good as this?
http://www.bspcn.com/2009/07/02/best-fi ... book-ever/

Holy crap, tell me that was self published. Or give me the number of the publisher; I have some alphabetti spaghetti, Cousin It, and a piece of steak on a string.

Has to be self published doesn't it, who in their right minds would even write that shite.

No it's not quite that bad, in fact, the writing itself is quite eloquent, it's just the plot that sucks.

Finished Book. Gone blind.

It really was that bad. Richard Montanari should come with a health warning!!!!

11/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy which occurred on November 22, 1963 (the date of the novel's title). The novel was officially announced on the author's official site on March 2, 2011.[1] A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011.[2] The novel was published on November 8, 2011,[3] and quickly became a number-one bestseller.[4]

Although the novel contains science fiction and alternate history elements, the majority of it is historical fiction dealing with real-life events and people between 1958 and 1963. The novel is a departure for King since it required deep research to accurately portray the late 1950s and early 1960s.[5] King commented on the amount of research it required, saying "I've never tried to write anything like this before. It was really strange at first, like breaking in a new pair of shoes."[5]

I'm reading this. Apart from the obvious King waffling, it's surprisingly nice reading, no horror for King is a bit of an eye opener, but I think you get to see another side to SK that isn't blood guts and gore. Is it possible that we're going to like him as a non-horror author?

I do quite like the book so far, but I also think he may have been watching too much "Goodnight Sweetheart" lately.

What Was Lost - Catherine O'Flynn

This instantly became one of my all time favourite books - a real page turner from start to finish. It starts off following a 10 year old girl who wants to start her own detective agency, and develops into part mystery and part ghost story. I don't really want to describe much more of the plot as I think it's best to just read it yourself and see where it takes you. Despite focusing on a child, at no point does it feel like a childish or condescending tone. The characters are really well written, and as much as I raced to the end to find out how it ends I was disappointed to leave them all behind.

If you do intend to check it out, don't read the plot details on wikipedia or similar as it gives away too much. Highly recommended.

Stephen King is just an amazingly talented author, even when he's not doing horror. I'd put him on the list of must-read authors for anyone serious about books or considering writing themselves, as his descriptive narrative is textbook in its execution, yet always manages to feel fresh and interesting.

While his output is pretty prolific, his non-writing work ethic is something to be admired, too. He reads voraciously, always keen to learn, as is evidenced by the volume and breadth of works he reviews himself.