What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (4 Viewers)

I think maybe it's one of those books that's best read before you've read other wizard's and dragon books because one wizard or dragon is basically much the same as another. Some of it was great, other bits were all like "they went to this island and then they went to another island" etc
 
If you think one wizard or dragon is basically much the same as another then yes, I would say that wizard and dragon books are not for you at the best of times.

I don't mind agreeing to disagree but I also reserve the right to POUR SCORN upon you
 
First Earthsea book is great, second I fuckin looove, third is great but not as good as the first two, fourth is enjoyable but definitely a decline in quality. I actually can't remember if I've read the fifth one or not, I think I did and thought it was boring actually, I think.
 
The second one was probably the best alright. I liked the 4th one a lot stylistically, I guess her writing was better by that point, but it didn't really deliver in terms of a story, it felt a bit like an interlude.
 
Well anyway, I read another of her books recently, Threshhold, and it was not great at all let me tell you. It was very clever but it really left me with a bad taste in my mouth by the end. Did not enjoy.
 
My new book arrived and I will start reading it tonight and check in here in 4 months when i finish it.

I ordered another book at the start of lockdown and it never came and i feel a bit haunted by it.
 
over the course of this year I have read all of the Harry Potter series. Finished Deathly Hallows over the weekend. Hadn't seen the films etc. so the story was unspoilt. I say read, listened to them on Borrow Box, brilliantly read by Stephen Fry. Really enjoyable few months with them I gotta say. Pretty much only listened to them when out walking. Overall thought they were very good for what they were. Pure gold for getting kids stuck into books, which was/is obviously great
 
Skagboys. Put this off for ages. It's no secret that it's been all downhill with Irvine Welsh since Trainspotting but this is deadly. Think a lot of this was written around the same time as Trainspotting so great to be back in the company of these characters before Welsh ruined them. Now, should I read Dead Men's Trousers next? Porno was awful but T2 the film was deadly.
 
My reading's been a mixed bag lately.

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murukami - My first Murukami and I think need to read a couple more to get my head around his vibe. Magical realism for adults; not sure how to deal with that. But enjoyable enough in its oddness.

Volume 1 Collected Short Stories by Philip K Dick - Great fun, and mindblowing to that he wrote these (25 short stories) in the space of nine months. Lots of these have dated a bit but some fun ideas. He's a weird writer, Mr. Dick. I've read a decent amount of him and still find his style tricky. Sometimes he's definitely joking or having fun; other times I'm not so sure.

William Trevor: The Complete Collection - One writer who can blow your mind in the space of a few pages. I'm working my way through this at a leisurely pace between other reads (it's >1300 pages of short stories). Very few weak stories. Most stories are good. Some are excellent. Some leave you just agog. The Ballroom of Romance is incredible. But so are plenty of others.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin - A direct influence on Orwell, who you could say almost plagiarised it (I think Vonnegut did too in Player Piano), I nonetheless found this to be a little bit prototypical of the dystopian novel and to be honest I think I struggled with the translation a bit. I did like the glassy weirdness however.

The Loop by Ben Oliver - YA dystopian sci fi in the style of The Maze Runner. Didn't blow me away but had its moments.

A friend’s book that I was critiquing - good, hope it gets published!

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut - have to say, I was a bit disappointed with this. Maybe I was expecting too much as it's considered one of his best. Loved the first half and his prose style is off-the -charts in its skill but I'm not sure if I'm sick of his offhand way of throwing characters around like they don't matter, just to get across his big idea and to espouse his homely midwestern whimsy. It feels like the main character in every Kurt Vonnegut book is Kurt Vonnegut. I don't know, maybe I need to read this again but the last quarter dragged.

The Light Years by James Salter - My first read of James Salter and I found this to be about a hundred pages too long. Story of a bourgeois Eastern-United-States family in which the bon-vivante mother gets bored with married life and gives up on it. I didn't really like any of the characters, who were privileged and la-de-da. I guess that didn't help. I might give JS another go soon though, he sure writes with elegance.

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan - hard boiled sci fi in which everyone, indcluding the women, talks like Humphrey Bogart. I gave up on the Netflix series but intuitively thought the book would be better. It is. Sometimes amazing, imaginative like the best sci fi (e.g., Ready Player One), it enthralled. Other times it dragged like an episode of Miami Vice with flying cars.

Daytripper by by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá - really excellent, beautiful graphic novel that contemplated the meaning of death. Every page shimmered.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Nice to indulge in a classic. Similar-ish theme to The LIght Years now that I think of it. Only a bit into this but so far, brilliant in a very nice way and thoroughly enjoyable. But then it is considered the greatest novel ever written or something, so...
 

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