Book Thread 2021

Post by **dng** » Wed May 05, 2021 1:02 pm

the thematic reasons are that having no q's made it impossible to describe the equinox in less than two hundred words

Post by **dng** » Wed May 05, 2021 1:02 pm

also, hooray, thank you (again)

Post by **dng** » Wed May 05, 2021 1:12 pm

also apparently a book written without specific letters is called a lipogram, which is the rubbishest word possible. i don't like it at all

Post by **vom** » Wed May 05, 2021 3:16 pm

so it was actually a kwirk of the narrator, I see, I see

Post by **vom** » Wed May 05, 2021 3:21 pm

I want to know if there were any other hidden themes or things in the book but I don't know what questions to ask

Post by **vom** » Wed May 05, 2021 3:22 pm

I've never met an au-thor

Post by **dng** » Wed May 05, 2021 3:40 pm

One of the crabs was actually a spider I think at one point

Post by **dng** » Wed May 05, 2021 3:51 pm

and lots of them were definitely lobsters

Post by **dng** » Wed May 05, 2021 3:57 pm

Maybe I should have called it The World Where The Only Word For Any Animals Is 'Crab'

Post by **dng** » Wed May 05, 2021 3:59 pm

Crabs Are Wonderful

Post by **endar** » Wed May 05, 2021 4:06 pm

I would like to book a lipogram please

it's for a "dinner" party

Post by **dng** » Thu May 06, 2021 7:12 pm

Fair Play by Tove Jansson - two old women live and work together in some small studio on an island in the sea and have 'adventures' (ten or so short stories baout almost nothing). it was good i really liked it

Post by **blombluss** » Thu May 06, 2021 11:37 pm

That sounds like a calm book. I like calm books.

Post by **blombluss** » Thu May 06, 2021 11:56 pm

daren wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 4:06 pm I would like to book a lipogram please

it's for a "dinner" party

I was going to make a similar jokk, but I thought I shouldn't.

I wish I had now!

*shakes fist at Daz*

Post by **endar** » Fri May 07, 2021 1:13 am

Homfrus why are you shaking a dismembered fist at me

you are getting blood everywhere and it is slightly unnerving

Post by **blombluss** » Fri May 07, 2021 2:11 pm

I'm sorry Daren. In the heat of the moment, I went too far. I hope you'll be able to get the fist blood out of the carpet in time for your party.

Post by **endar** » Fri May 07, 2021 10:40 pm

It is too late, the lipogram screamed and ran away

Post by **vom** » Sat May 08, 2021 4:02 pm

https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/sta ... 07681?s=19

This made me think of The Discontinuity

Post by **dng** » Sat May 08, 2021 4:06 pm

Hooray. How amazing

Post by **dng** » Sat May 08, 2021 4:06 pm

weird sea phenomena are the best

Post by **blombluss** » Sat May 08, 2021 7:45 pm

That is so cool the Turks should definitely keep the Champions League final.

Post by **Pual** » Wed May 26, 2021 9:32 am

Hard to be a god by Arkady an Boris Strugatsky

This was good but I don’t think I really understood it.

Post by **vom** » Wed May 26, 2021 10:15 am

I read that last year (?) and liked it. It made more sense than the film, which I saw previously, because that made no sense at all

Post by **dng** » Fri May 28, 2021 10:36 pm

the goldfinch by donna tartt - crime story thing about a stolen painting that is quite good but also not anywhere near quite good enough to justify being a thousand bloody pages long really

Post by **dng** » Fri May 28, 2021 10:36 pm

apparently they made a film of it and it is terrible

Post by **endar** » Fri May 28, 2021 10:51 pm

jesus

Post by **dng** » Fri May 28, 2021 11:44 pm

I hope the film is 10 hours long

Post by **dng** » Fri May 28, 2021 11:44 pm

entirely needlessly

Post by **blombluss** » Sat May 29, 2021 12:53 am

I bet the audiobook version features the sound of the performer/reader coughing up blood.

Post by **endar** » Sun Jul 25, 2021 12:36 am

Dracul, by Dacre Stoker and J D Barker

I was not expecting it to be this brilliant. Based on and using bram stoker's notes, it starts with a sickly 7 year old boy who gets "better". Prequel. If only Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson were this good at copying the original author's style.

Dacre Stoker also wrote a sequel, called The Un-Dead, which was the original name for the book. Different coauthor though, but will have to read.

Along with Makt Myrkranna, the recently translated Icelandic version, which is rather different.

Yes.

CandyDarling · Post by **CandyDarling** » Mon Jul 26, 2021 3:32 am

dng wrote: ↑Fri May 28, 2021 10:36 pm the goldfinch by donna tartt - crime story thing about a stolen painting that is quite good but also not anywhere near quite good enough to justify being a thousand bloody pages long really

I can't remember exactly where I read this, but there was a literary website from the 2000s which had a brilliant quote about overly-long books. It went something like: "Writers often joke about not being able to start writing. You will note that they never joke about not being able to stop."

Post by **vom** » Mon Jul 26, 2021 7:41 am

Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse

I'm sure there used to be a bunch of these books at my grandma's house. I had never particularly been interested in them but this one was chosen for an online book club thing that I signed up for, and I really enjoyed it. Very funny, excellent use of language. Good stuff.

Post by **vom** » Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:03 pm

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

A most enjoyable Poirot mystery with a somewhat ridiculous ending and quite a lot of simmering racism baked into it, as was the style at the time. Enjoyed it though

CandyDarling · Post by **CandyDarling** » Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:54 am

I am currently working my way though I Hate The Internet by Jarett Kobek. It is very good, funny, depressing. But still funny. I like how blunt it is, and how Kobek managed to throw some "shade" at the UK publisher for censoring bits that aren't censored in the US printing by putting the text "[JIM'LL FIX IT]" after each blacked out bit. This ends up causing the bonus grim amusement of having the monster of Leeds associated in your mind with Walt Disney and Peter Theil among others, and all due to Britain's libel laws.

Post by **dng** » Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:50 pm

excellent

Post by **dng** » Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:50 pm

its the least they deserve

Post by **blombluss** » Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:53 pm

vom wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 7:41 am Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse

I'm sure there used to be a bunch of these books at my grandma's house. I had never particularly been interested in them but this one was chosen for an online book club thing that I signed up for, and I really enjoyed it. Very funny, excellent use of language. Good stuff.

Is zat the one with the Grammar School speeches?

It's very possibly ma fave 'J&W' book, that one!

Post by **vom** » Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:06 pm

It is!

Post by **vom** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 11:59 am

Tropic of Orange by Karen Tei Yamashita

An intriguing and strange book, following seven characters across seven days as the tropic of Cancer begins to move North from Mexico to LA, causing everything to go a bit weird. Each character has their own distinct voice and the story brings them all together in a climax that is fascinating but also I have no idea what really happened. I quite liked it though

Post by **vom** » Sun Nov 07, 2021 4:08 pm

Conjure Wife by Fritz Lieber

I picked this off my shelf when I wanted something suitably Halloweeny to read, but didn't end up finishing it until today. I loved it though, it's a 50s fantasy horror novel about a sociology professor discovering that his wife is practicing witchcraft and not believing in it until he asks her to stop, and their lives immediately fall apart. Really good fun, I'm gonna have to check out the film version, which is oddly called Night of the Eagle for some reason (although also known as BURN WITCH, BURN, hooray)