Goodreads Reading Challenge/General Bookery

[VerbalPuke]

I read Junky by William S. Burroughs last week. It is pretty short to be fair but was a good read. I probably should have read his stuff years ago but just never did. 

[GhostMachine]

Finished Dark Hollow, and I definitely recommend it. It is pretty creepy but entertaining without going over the top. Not much gore in the book until the characters head toward the final confrontation with the monster. My only gripe is that I saw part of the ending coming a mile away, but it doesn't detract from the story at all.

Also has the most....interesting....way for the monster to be unleashed:

 

A woman gives a blowjob to a statue of a Satyr, which causes it to come to life as a flesh and blood being! (You do find out where the Satyt came from and how it ended up a statue at a point later in the book.)

*edited to add* Here's what I've read, so far: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/14652821

Edited March 17, 2019 by GhostMachine

[Liam]

Thought it might be easier to just post the Tweets about the books I've read.

[Liam]

Excellent book. Can't recommend it more highly.

[GhostMachine]

Just got done with this:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40109372-doctor-who - Based on the script for the movie they considered doing during the Fourth Doctor era. It was a good story. My only complaint is that the first half of the book, leading up to what's really going on, took too long. 

One reviewer, though, was an idiot for asking why Ian Marter got credit in the inside copywrite, etc info. Ummm....because he wrote or co-wrote the script it was based off.

[Malenko]

On 28/02/2019 at 21:44, Liam said:

I read every day. Normally, at least an hour though possibly two.

Primarily, it is because my wife goes to bed earlier than I would do normally. It gives me a reason to go to bed to be with my wife, but not to go to sleep too early.

Also, it generally is something that I try and use as a means to stop me drinking. Can't really read if I'm drunk...

I know you wrote this a month ago but I kinda envy people who are able to do this. My girlfriend is a light sleeper. I go to bed early because if I go when she's already asleep, she'll wake up, so I can't, and I'd never be allowed to turn on the light to read anyway. I still read everyday though. Spending over 2 hours a day n your daily commute gives you plenty of time to read.

[Skummy]

Offshore sounds great, definitely going to check that out.

I'm currently reading "Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire" by Akala, and it's absolutely brilliant.

I, to my shame, didn't know Akala's work until very recently, and it's a wonderful mix of sociology and biography. The first couple of chapters were interesting but "tell me something I don't know", and then the third goes into the public perception of black athletes, and constructs of blackness and whiteness, and I was just absolutely gripped. Phenomenal stuff.

[TMM]

4 hours ago, Skummy said:

Offshore sounds great, definitely going to check that out.

I'm currently reading "Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire" by Akala, and it's absolutely brilliant.

I, to my shame, didn't know Akala's work until very recently, and it's a wonderful mix of sociology and biography. The first couple of chapters were interesting but "tell me something I don't know", and then the third goes into the public perception of black athletes, and constructs of blackness and whiteness, and I was just absolutely gripped. Phenomenal stuff.

Akala's book is on my to read list for sure.

I read Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge a few weeks ago and it's a really eye-opening read. As a white person, you really don't consider any thing you have as an advantage or any of the subtleties about racism. The chapter about slavery in England was something I was completely unaware of because as far as school education went, slavery was an American thing.

On a completely different route, after seeing the film and having lots of people praise the book I figured I'd give Ready Player One a read. It's really good and while you obviously know the outcome, the journey to get there is so, so different to the film.

[Liam]

1 hour ago, TMM said:

Akala's book is on my to read list for sure.

I read Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge a few weeks ago and it's a really eye-opening read. As a white person, you really don't consider any thing you have as an advantage or any of the subtleties about racism. The chapter about slavery in England was something I was completely unaware of because as far as school education went, slavery was an American thing.

On a completely different route, after seeing the film and having lots of people praise the book I figured I'd give Ready Player One a read. It's really good and while you obviously know the outcome, the journey to get there is so, so different to the film.

Why I'm No Longer Talking... is a great read.

This is also the obligatory 'don't read Armada' post.

[GhostMachine]

Just finished Ghost Walk, the sequel to Dark Hollow, which introduced a new character that's the hero of this and subsequent books.

Unlike Dark Hollow, I have to give Ghost Walk a bad rating. I'll be giving it two stars, since Goodreads doesn't allow half stars. (Or it would be 2 and a half; I'm not rounding up to 3) There's not enough real horror for my tastes, and what the author did to the hero from Dark Hollow in this book was just....wrong. The ending felt rushed and just plain sucked. He's done two or three more books featuring the new character, and I'm in no hurry to read them. Might read more of Brian Keene's work, but not the rest of this series.

Debating what to read next. Is anyone familiar with a horror author named Edward Lee? I have his books Brides of the Impaler and The Golem. But I don't know which to read, or if I should go with a different genre.

 

 

[GhostMachine]

Just finished Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain. I was actually planning on reading it shortly before he committed suicide but never got around to it, and put it off until now because i didn't feel comfortable reading it right after he died. If you're a fan, I definitely recommend reading it. I have another of his books, Medium Raw, but am holding off on reading it for a bit. I rarely ever read two nonfiction books in a row, and never two by the same author.

Up next? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39681050-when-the-man-comes-around

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by GhostMachine

[Liam]

 

[Liam]

 

[Liam]

 

[Liam]

 

[Liam]

 

[GhostMachine]

I set my challenge for this year at 20 books, same as last year. I finished last year's challenge about a week and a half before it ended. 2017, I set it at 25, and fell one book short.

I'm going to end up changing my challenge, because I am already on book 14, and have it about 85% done. I'm 7  books ahead of schedule.

Currently reading: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25857588-doc-savage

 

[Liam]

 

[=BK=]

Anybody know of any good super hero novels?  Every one I've ever run across that isnt a Marvel or DC adaptation  just seem like cash grabs by people who really wanna be writing spy novels instead. 

[GhostMachine]

5 hours ago, =BK= said:

Anybody know of any good super hero novels?  Every one I've ever run across that isnt a Marvel or DC adaptation  just seem like cash grabs by people who really wanna be writing spy novels instead. 

Off the top of my head.....

Prepare to Die! by Paul Tobin is really good. 

Soon i Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman.

Super Powers of Mass Destruction by Jaron Lee Knuth (first book of a 3-book series. I haven't read the other two books yet, though.)

The Secret World Chronicles by Mercedes Lackey and others. 5 books. The series is based off a City of Heroes campaign that the authors ran, but it takes place in its own world. (Lackey was a diehard City of Heroes player and even posted on the forums for it.)