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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostWould We Have Always Lived in the Castle be disturbing for those of us who watch horror movies from behind the couch? Looks great, but just have that doubt.
There's much greater pleasure to be had from the type of horror you get from a book than movies where a lot of it is just cheap tension building before having a boogeyman jump out at you. The couple of books I have read the horror takes more of the form of creepiness - you're going to end up feeling a bit unsettled at worst, when it's been good I find it kind of thrilling.
In any case, there's nothing in that book that would tend towards Hollywood horror. There's a character who is creepy and some moments of 'man's inhumanity to man' that might rattle you a bit, but I would definitely say to give it a go.
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Another example would be this Annihilation book that I read last week. I believe they are writing a film version of it which I would expect to be 100% bog standard horror but reading the book the tone is much more towards the 'disquieting' end of the spectrum a la Shutter Island (crossed with Alien).
Actually they should probably put that on the back cover in the blurb 'Shutter Island meets Alien'.
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostConclave. Thought it was brill, but have no ability to rationally judge his work given my unswerving crush on everything he writes. The background of how a pope is elected was rather fascinating.No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity, but I know none, therefore am no beast.
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Finished Breakfast at Tiffany's last night, thought it was great and only probably took three nights when the weekend is taken into account.
Read a few pages of Ubik afterwards, think it's short and got a great recommendation from Hitch back in the day. Slowly but surely getting that Goodreads challenge back on track!
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Ended up not starting Ubik the last night for one reason or another and instead landed on 'Time's Arrow' by Martin Amis.
It's got a pretty weird premise, in that the narrator is an invisible/undetected observer living inside the head of this guy as he wakes up from death in his hospital bed, gets a bit better, goes home and continues to live his life out in reverse order.
It's very compelling and the backwards flow of time leads to some deadly perspectives and some great lines.
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Originally posted by Keane View PostEnded up not starting Ubik the last night for one reason or another and instead landed on 'Time's Arrow' by Martin Amis.
It's got a pretty weird premise, in that the narrator is an invisible/undetected observer living inside the head of this guy as he wakes up from death in his hospital bed, gets a bit better, goes home and continues to live his life out in reverse order.
It's very compelling and the backwards flow of time leads to some deadly perspectives and some great lines.No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity, but I know none, therefore am no beast.
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Originally posted by pokerhand View PostSound like a rip off of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
This book is someone watching and describing the whole world (through one set of eyes) running backwards over the course of 50 years.
People arrive to hospital healthy and leave with gunshot wounds, letters jump out of the bin uncrumpling themselves in midair on their way into the protagonist's hand, people travel backwards looking at their point of departure rather than their destination etc.
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Put in mind to update this by Hitch's reference to the excellent 'I, Claudius' in the BBV.
Finished that Time's Arrow one from above. Ended up good without being great.
After that I went back to two audiobooks I bought a good few years ago but never got around to getting through - The Master & Margarita, and The Leopard. I'm pretty sure I got them on recommendations here, possibly from LuckyLloyd. Both are class.
Master & Margarita is about what happens when the Devil turns up in Soviet Moscow and starts fucking with everybody's shit. It is mad, but very funny, brilliantly written and very acerbic in places.
Mikhail Bulgakov's devastating satire of Soviet life was written during the darkest period of Stalin's regime. Combining two distinct yet interwoven parts—one set in ancient Jerusalem, one in contemporary Moscow—the novel veers from moods of wild theatricality with violent storms, vampire attacks, and a Satanic ball; to such somber scenes as the meeting of Pilate and Yeshua, and the murder of Judas in the moonlit garden of Gethsemane; to the substanceless, circus-like reality of Moscow.
Its central characters, Woland (Satan) and his retinue—including the vodka-drinking black cat, Behemoth; the poet, Ivan Homeless; Pontius Pilate; and a writer known only as The Master, and his passionate companion, Margarita—exist in a world that blends fantasy and chilling realism, an artful collage of grotesqueries, dark comedy, and timeless ethical questions.
Set in the 1860s, The Leopard tells the spellbinding story of a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy threatened by the approaching forces of democracy and revolution. The dramatic sweep and richness of observation, the seamless intertwining of public and private worlds, and the grasp of human frailty imbue The Leopard with its particular melancholy beauty and power, and place it among the greatest historical novels of our time.
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Originally posted by Hectorjelly View PostI read two great books recently:
The Punic wars by Nigel Bagnall. It's a detailed look at the wars fought between Catharge and Rome. It's told from a military perspective. Its a fascinating story, well told. The writer is pretty good, one or two clunky sentences, but gets the details of the battles to the reader better than most modern popular historians.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
I really enjoyed this, I think I got about 80% of the plot, there were a few dream like sequences that went on for pages and pages, I was never quite sure what was real and what wasn't. Whenever I read a Russian novel I always feel like there is at least one part of the book designed to put off readers. That said, it's pretty funny, there are great lines about Jazz and Poetry. The central premise is that the devil comes to fiercely atheist Moscow, and the interplay between the supernatural Devil (and his cat) and the overly bureaucratic city.
Glad I checked back because 'The Punic Wars' sounds claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasss.
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Guest
Picked up a copy of mildly hyped Conversations with Friens by Sally Rooney purely on the basis of this quote from it printed on in inside cover
"He was awful, I said. He told me he loved Yeats, can you believe that? I practically had to stop him reciting ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ in the bar.
Wow, I feel terrible for you.
And the sex was bad.
No one who likes Yeats is capable of human intimacy."
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Originally posted by Keane View Post
Started 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' last night having never read anything by Capote before and the writing is just brilliant.
Recently Since I ran out of Leif GW Persson books to read I've been reading loads of scandi crime, Mankell's Wallander books are the best of them. I know Persson came after Mankell and others and borrows heavily but he is so good at it and improves anything he borrows.
Been struggling to find Sci Fi that I enjoy, maybe I'm spoiled by the worlds of Ian M Banks and Ken McLeod but most of the stuff I try just isn't connecting for me.
Read The left hand of darkness by Ursula Le Guin and it was ok but I haven't gone looking for any more by her. Tried Dune but never engaged with it and put it down after a hundred pages .
I have a couple of China Meilville books lined up to read, much as I enjoy reading him the books can be a bit daunting and just aren't as much fun as SF should be.
I also read Margret Atwoods Alias Grace that I had missed when I read her ages ago enjoyed that a lot and newer slightly SF Madadam series has jumped towards the top of my queue.
Barbera Kingsolver's Bean Trees was OK, not up to the standard of her wonderful Poisonwood Bible and Lacuna. If someone hadn't read her later books I would recommend starting with it.
By far the best reading I have done recently is Alice Munro's short stories. Could not recommend them highly enough, crystal clear, sharp as a razor and so insightful.
Don't let any prejudice's whether it be against short stories, Canadians or women put you off she is a superb writer.
There is a scene in a story called Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
where a woman tries on a dress in a dress shop that is probably the most ... I can't even find an adjective for it... Try a few of them you will not be disappointed.Turning millions into thousands
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Originally posted by Strewelpeter View PostYou had, its a modern day heresy to believe it but the truth is that to all intents and purposes Capote wrote To kill a mockingbird. Notwithstanding that his In Cold Blood is his greatest work, an extraordinary book and a thumping good read.
Recently Since I ran out of Leif GW Persson books to read I've been reading loads of scandi crime, Mankell's Wallander books are the best of them. I know Persson came after Mankell and others and borrows heavily but he is so good at it and improves anything he borrows.
Been struggling to find Sci Fi that I enjoy, maybe I'm spoiled by the worlds of Ian M Banks and Ken McLeod but most of the stuff I try just isn't connecting for me.
Read The left hand of darkness by Ursula Le Guin and it was ok but I haven't gone looking for any more by her. Tried Dune but never engaged with it and put it down after a hundred pages .
I have a couple of China Meilville books lined up to read, much as I enjoy reading him the books can be a bit daunting and just aren't as much fun as SF should be.
I also read Margret Atwoods Alias Grace that I had missed when I read her ages ago enjoyed that a lot and newer slightly SF Madadam series has jumped towards the top of my queue.
Barbera Kingsolver's Bean Trees was OK, not up to the standard of her wonderful Poisonwood Bible and Lacuna. If someone hadn't read her later books I would recommend starting with it.
By far the best reading I have done recently is Alice Munro's short stories. Could not recommend them highly enough, crystal clear, sharp as a razor and so insightful.
Don't let any prejudice's whether it be against short stories, Canadians or women put you off she is a superb writer.
There is a scene in a story called Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
where a woman tries on a dress in a dress shop that is probably the most ... I can't even find an adjective for it... Try a few of them you will not be disappointed.
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Hyperion Saga I devoured on hols a year or 2 ago based on a shoutout on this thread. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. Leave copies strewn around HBO offices, it would suck to condense into a film I suspect.Low fee Euro/UK money transfer, 1st transfer free through my referral
https://transferwise.com/u/bfa0e
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Originally posted by mocata View PostHyperion Saga I devoured on hols a year or 2 ago based on a shoutout on this thread. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. Leave copies strewn around HBO offices, it would suck to condense into a film I suspect.
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View Postre sci-fi. Finished one recommended by a sci-fi fanatic last week - Hyperion. Thought it was excellent except for one bit which I won't say as might be a bit of a spoiler.
The other one recommended was Mindstar Rising fwiw. Haven't read it yet.
tbh of all the sci-fi I've read, Phillip K Dick is the master. Not sure if he's mocked or loved in the sci-fi community as he's so unique.
Like yourself I'd love to get more into sci-fi but a lot of it just seems really depressing!
Read Isaac Asimov (have you read his short stories like this? http://multivax.com/last_question.html
Read Foundation trilogy. This is one of the masterpieces of science fiction. He is like the Tolkien of sci-fi.
Initially it reads like a bunch of individual stories separated by decades, even centuries. The characters, situations they face and what their goals are are completely non-linear. Slowly you come to realize it's all tied together, a balance between precision science and deep, introspective thought, between mob culture and groupthink and individual actions.
Old Man's War by Scalzi is a great read that I did recently (and the rest of the series), don't look it up at all and just read it. I find that the most fun with sci-fi books because you have no idea what is going to happen, moreso than usual.
Also read Dune and Enders game if you haven't (think you did enders game)Last edited by Tar.Aldarion; 07-09-17, 14:23.
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I read them all, two of the books were continuations I thought (Ghost Brigades, and Last Colony) but it is hazy, and one other was in parallel and much worse than the others (Zoe's Tale).
They are all more like popcorn reads than the other books that I mention which are head and shoulders above them, but popcorn is popcorn!
One of his books opens with "Dirk Moeller didn't know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident, but he was ready to find out." It can be silly stuff.
The biggest mindfuck are the sequels to Ender's Game, nothing at ALL like the first book and a lot of people hate them, I really enjoyed them as far as I remember.
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Originally posted by Strewelpeter View PostRead all the Hyperion and pkdick
Fred Vargas sounds interesting will add to the list.
Isn't there something that puts me off Scott Card before even reading him some sort of religious nutjobbery or NRA thing
Moral of the story is steal the books, don't give him money :P
Particularly recommend Speaker for the Dead (A lot regard it better than Enders Game) and the Enders Shadow series)
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Originally posted by Strewelpeter View PostRead all the Hyperion and pkdick
Fred Vargas sounds interesting will add to the list.
Isn't there something that puts me off Scott Card before even reading him some sort of religious nutjobbery or NRA thing
ender's game
speaker for the dead
songmaster
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currently finishing up I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes.
1000 page terrorist thriller which has been a very enjoyable read. Really looking forward to the finale and hoping it delivers!
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Originally posted by eamonhonda View PostI think I said it in bbv to you but the sequel of "Sapiens" called "Homo Deus" is really good on the subject.
Anything you have already finished you'd recommend?
Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostSecond Machine Age is great. Will have to add the other four to the kindle.
None of these are quite on topic, but ultimately speak to that idea.
Zero to One by Peter Thiel is a startup success future. But found his views on how companies are changing doing business quite interesting in terms of what a future company is going to look like. He's just a highly smart guy in how he thinks about things.
The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingoes is about how machine learning is remaking knowledge, but a bit technical in nature.
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Reading 'Senlin Ascends' at the moment.
It reminds me of China Mieville but if he was on less acid. Very enjoyable, I suspect I'll be looking for more.
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostSecond Machine Age is great. Will have to add the other four to the kindle.
Anything you have already finished you'd recommend?
Take farming for instance, there's been massive strides made in farm efficiency, new tractors now have a wealth of sensors that can adjust sowing and spraying for each tiny part of a field. The only thing is the likes of John Deere sell this as a service, so accrue a significant portion of the gains.
I just read this article the other day. And things are just going to continue to accelerate from here.
As for the individual books:
I got irritated by Abundance because he began by discussing the work of Daniel Kahneman and other well-known topics. Felt like he was wasting my time. The last couple of chapters covering innovation and risk are useful. Overall, I can save you reading it by telling you, everything is getting better and cheaper exponentially.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution suffered because it was the last book I read. I skimmed it because there was nothing really new or insightful. He makes the argument that this revolution is different, this is more exponential. There's little new here. Addresses the fact that we're having a slowdown in global GDP growth because we're using the wrong metrics. The massive growth in well-being from free tech isn't being reflected in GDP.
The Future of Professions focuses on the changes to specific industries. Law/Accountancy/Consultancy/Journalism/Clergy. One thing they note is that in interviewing across industries people are easily able to see changes that will occur in other professions, while stating that their industry is too personal to suffer the same change.
We're going to go from individual expensive professional output, to close to zero marginal cost output. We don't need to model human intelligence, language translation was thought to be too difficult to solve, but with enough brute force power and data it works. The main barrier to change is what made such guided professions exist in the first place, trust, reliability, craft. People may continue to pay a premium for human interaction and empathy (could be a new job, telling a patient what the robot doctor is going to do).
The Industries of Future was written by a guy that worked with Clinton in State Department. He goes off on tangents when he seems to forgot that he's writing a book about the future, not about the State Department. He likes Estonia. Belarus/China/Pakistan, not so much. He covers modern cyberwarfare. It's estimated that China is stealing about 6% US intellectual property a year. He claims Nortel went bankrupt due it having all it's intellectual property stolen.
Makes the point that Japan has always led with Robotics, and their current focus is on robot carers for their rapidly aging population. He likens Silicon Valley to a modern day ancient Rome collecting tribute from it's empire. Formerly a city would have a couple of taxi companies owned by wealthy people, now instead uber replaces them and collects a smaller stream from every taxi. The only issue is that Silicon Valley focuses on 10% of the worlds problems. So domain expertise + a layer of data analytics is the way forward.
The Second Machine Age was probably the best of the group.
When electricity first began to be used in factories it took about 20 years for the benefits to be seen. We had to wait until the previous generation of factory managers and engineers retired. Previously to that they had been replacing waterwheel with electric machines, rather than redesigning factories to take full advantage of the new technology.
Again it took 5/6 for computers to deliver the benefits in offices. For every $1 spent on tech it took $9 on training/software/systems to fully realise the benefits. So this revolution will be quicker but, is only really beginning there's still far more potential to be had.
Currently reading the Master Algorithm, which has far more meat in it than the other more general books.
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Originally posted by Keane View PostDune is a masterpiece. Had a similar experience to Strewelly the first time I tried to read it but went back and finished it and it's just wow.
Just started the new Phillip Pullman and so far its fabulous.Turning millions into thousands
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Originally posted by Strewelpeter View PostThat was good advice, went back and loved the rest of it, while it did flow I did find it a slow read . Not sure if I will dive in to the rest of the books at least not immedieatly.
Just started the new Phillip Pullman and so far its fabulous.
Funnily enough I'm actually reading the first of the Northern Lights books at the moment. I read it years ago as a youngster and wasn't mad about it but people here were saying the series is great so decided to give it another go.
Totally enjoying it this time around. As I said elsewhere it's just utterly charming. Having said that I can see how that might have grated on me at a time I felt I was too advanced for 'young adult' stuff. There's a weird sort of feeling to this where it's almost like a book for adults written as a book for kids. That's not quite right either but maybe those who have read it will know what I mean.
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Originally posted by Keane View PostThat's good to hear, I'm glad you liked it.
Funnily enough I'm actually reading the first of the Northern Lights books at the moment. I read it years ago as a youngster and wasn't mad about it but people here were saying the series is great so decided to give it another go.
Totally enjoying it this time around. As I said elsewhere it's just utterly charming. Having said that I can see how that might have grated on me at a time I felt I was too advanced for 'young adult' stuff. There's a weird sort of feeling to this where it's almost like a book for adults written as a book for kids. That's not quite right either but maybe those who have read it will know what I mean.
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostMissed this post above Denny. That's interesting stuff. I have a few good books at the moment that seem like they're worth reading from a twitter thread by one of the Collision brothers. Will post up at the weekend. Haven't read any of them, but he seems smart as a button.
A guy made a list of the ten most popular choices, no real surprises
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Read five of those (Sapiens, The Black Swan, Guns Germs and Steel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Selfish Gene); not counting the bible, ugh.
The only two that actually 'influenced' me were The Selfish Gene (easily more impactful on me than any other book) and Guns, Germs and Steel. Sapiens and The Black Swan were just OK and Zen very underwhelming.
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostMissed this post above Denny. That's interesting stuff. I have a few good books at the moment that seem like they're worth reading from a twitter thread by one of the Collision brothers. Will post up at the weekend. Haven't read any of them, but he seems smart as a button.
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Originally posted by ionapaul View PostRead five of those (Sapiens, The Black Swan, Guns Germs and Steel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Selfish Gene); not counting the bible, ugh.
The only two that actually 'influenced' me were The Selfish Gene (easily more impactful on me than any other book) and Guns, Germs and Steel. Sapiens and The Black Swan were just OK and Zen very underwhelming.
He has this out in Feb: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skin-Game-H...sap_bc?ie=UTF8
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostAh, I clearly read the thread the wrong way around, but was interested in the books that he said had influenced him as have read a fair few places (in non-fawning articles) that he has an excellent insight into the future of tech based on his study of the past of tech development. Think the first book will be best, but they're all very highly ranked on goodreads.
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that transform the world.
Masters of Doom: How two guys created an empire that transformed pop culture.
Showstopper: The breakneck race to create Windows NT and the next generation at Microsoft.
The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal.
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostWife has devoured this (the series: can't remember if the third book is out yet) on your recommendation and wants to subscribe to your newsletter. Like literally. She started the first book thinking: where's the story? But then started to relax and just enjoy it as a brilliant experience. Looking forward to reading it.
It's darker and a little more like the author is on lsd but I'd have it down as brilliant where Senlin was 'merely' very enjoyable. I haven't read the subsequent Senlin ones yet - did she find the next one better or the same?
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Originally posted by Keane View PostDune is a masterpiece. Had a similar experience to Strewelly the first time I tried to read it but went back and finished it and it's just wow.Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostDune is a beautiful book. Remember watching some TV series or movie based on the book after reading it and hating it, as the beauty of the book is it's slowness while the show constantly needed to be doing things. Took maybe two months to read the thing. Somewhat like the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. You feel the whole thing could hurry itself along, but then afterwards it leaves a lovely feeling
I did find it a slow enough read for some reason but no less enjoyable for that.
Not sure if I will work my through the sequels looks like there is a lot to choose from.
Read Phillip Pullman's Book of Dust the new novel set in the Oxford of His Dark Materials. Its a very enjoyable read set when Lyra is a baby it I'm not convinced by Pullmans assertion that it should stand alone, it doesn't seem to me that it would work nearly as well for someone who hasn't read the trilogy.
In that nice position today where I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to pick off the queue to read next.Turning millions into thousands
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Spent over an hour in hodge figgis looking at books on Friday, real books still have something about them. Ended up getting nothing for myself but got the complete robot - asimov and Hyperion - Simmons for one of my brothers and am excited for him to read them. He doesn't really read fiction as he is more into the real world and politics, psychology, ethics and philosophy but loved the Asimov short stories I linked him. Feel these would be a good philosophical entrance to sci-fi.
No idea what I will read now, maybe ready player one, guns germs steel or high rise.
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I was never in Hodge Figgis until last weekend, it's a really nice store. They have a great range.
I bought The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley which I'm reading now.
Similar to Sapiens but as the name suggests a more optimistic outlook. I'll pick up Genome of Ridleys too.
I arrived home to Kildare last night to find the physical form of my kindle books arrive plus a few extras I bought and had shipped here.
I'll probably try Homo Deus next
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High-rise is short so I read that yesterday, still not sure what to make of it tbh. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I didn't. A good writer yet too academic. I think I read a surrealist painting in book form, the mundane with the extreme.Last edited by Tar.Aldarion; 18-12-17, 11:35.
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Originally posted by Strewelpeter View PostRead Phillip Pullman's Book of Dust the new novel set in the Oxford of His Dark Materials. Its a very enjoyable read ...
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