What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (3 Viewers)

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi. The opening chapters describing the discovery of the bodies had me so spooked that I triple checked all the doors and windows were locked before going to bed last night.
 
Finished La Belle Sauvage just there last night.

It walks a fine line between telling its own story and filling in stuff in the universe that threaten to bog it down with "i created a wiki" kind of fanboyness. It's helped by being tonally quite different to His Dark Materials though, it doesn't jump straight into action this time and takes a long time meandering pleasantly around Oxford. There were a few unexpected moments in the latter half of the book that I was iffy about at first but won me over once by the end.

Hard to make any kind of judgement because it literally ends with "to be continued" and there's loads of stuff just kicking off but I certainly enjoyed it.

The print is still too big though, fucking ridiculous.
Suppose I'll have to reread this now in preparation for book two, out at the end of the week


here he is in The New Yorker moaning about Tolkien


nothing like a writer of fantasy talking about how they don't read fantasy but know that all fantasy books aside from theirs suck :rolleyes:
 
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My summer/early autumn reading:

The Library Book - Susan Orbach ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Constellations - Sinéad Gleeson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Surprisingly Down to Earth, and Very Funny: My Autobiography - Limmy ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Leonard and Hungry Paul - Ronan Hession ⭐⭐⭐
New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future - James Bridle ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Winter - Ali Smith ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division: The Oral History - Jon Savage ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Farewell Happy Fields - Norah Hoult ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Here Comes Everybody: The Story of the Pogues - James Fearnley ⭐⭐⭐
Spring - Ali Smith ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
 
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Loved this. I learned a lot about Nigeria and Boko Harem. Very harrowing and not for anyone with a weak stomach or low tolerance for distressing scenes. Really beautifully written. One thing that left me feeling a little uncomfortable is the fact that this is written by a white, western woman. I was hoping the proceeds at least would go to girls affected by this and their children, but it didn't mention that.

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Highly enjoyed this. One of the best Irish written books of contemporary times I've read. A harrowing and moving personal story along with providing an insight into the social and cultural issues of modern Ireland and feminsim. Very talented writer.

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Brilliant. Love her style, her honesty. Similar to Pine in personal essay style retelling of the problems of her life and struggles of being a female writer.

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Beautifully written dystopian fiction and impressive but the female character irritated me. It was quite divisive but nonetheless impressive.
 
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Loved this. I learned a lot about Nigeria and Boko Harem. Very harrowing and not for anyone with a weak stomach or low tolerance for distressing scenes. Really beautifully written. One thing that left me feeling a little uncomfortable is the fact that this is written by a white, western woman. I was hoping the proceeds at least would go to girls affected by this and their children, but it didn't mention that.
We went to see her do a reading of that a few months back and CANCELLED HER from our seats when it became clear that she didn't stay in her lane.


Joking aside though, it's probably more a sign of her age that she isn't afraid of being cancelled on Twitter by writing from a different culture's perspective. I think it's fair enough as long as you realize that you're leaving yourself open to that kind of criticism (and in fairness, what kind of decent writer wouldn't factor that in at the very, VERY beginning? ). But also, lol, what proceeds would they be? Profit in literary fiction?
 
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Beautifully written dystopian fiction and impressive but the female character irritated me. It was quite divisive but nonetheless impressive.

I read this recently too, it's definitely the most entertaining of the handful of her books that I've read. I find her too negative, her female characters are generally really weak neurotic people dependent on dominant men, people are nasty generally and there is a complete absence of joy of any kind. Totally miserable.
 
We went to see her do a reading of that a few months back and CANCELLED HER from our seats when it became clear that she didn't stay in her lane.


Joking aside though, it's probably more a sign of her age that she isn't afraid of being cancelled on Twitter by writing from a different culture's perspective. I think it's fair enough as long as you realize that you're leaving yourself open to that kind of criticism (and in fairness, what kind of decent writer wouldn't factor that in at the very, VERY beginning? ). But also, lol, what proceeds would they be? Profit in literary fiction?
Yeah, I definitely think her being 88 is a part of it. If it was a 21-year-old she would instantly be cancelled...Twice.
 
I read this recently too, it's definitely the most entertaining of the handful of her books that I've read. I find her too negative, her female characters are generally really weak neurotic people dependent on dominant men, people are nasty generally and there is a complete absence of joy of any kind. Totally miserable.
This is it. "Everything about her begged to be victimized..."

Um......
 
Yeah, I definitely think her being 88 is a part of it. If it was a 21-year-old she would instantly be cancelled...Twice.

My view on it would be that she's earned the right to do whatever the fuck she wants.
 

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