Currently Reading

[Snowy]

Yeah, I read a Jay Kristoff series last year, Nevernight Chronicles I think, and enjoyed it a lot, so will check that out when I finished this current series

Yes he is a really good author, I also loved the Nevernight Chronicles. With the Vampire series he has really raised the bar though, such a fantastic story.

[ManBearSquid]

Southern Reach Trilogy

I love the movie for Annihilation, and I saw that before reading any of the books. Having now read the novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it and absolutely rinsed it in a few sittings.

The movie now feels like its own story set within this universe, like it was one of the prior expeditions, rather than a re-telling of the novel. It's a tense and strange read that I was enthralled by throughout.

Now I'm somewhere beyond the halfway point of Authority which is a very different style and about double the size. It's a considerably slower read remaining full of introspection from its lead character and it retains intrigue through an entirely different lense. However, is it as gripping - or even as neat - as the first book? No. Thusly, I've taken this one much more slowly than its predecessor, but I've still been enjoying it.

[Alan]

The Last Murder At The End Of The World - Stewart Turton
Really enjoyed it. Its a very well done sci-fi/postapoc Agatha Christie type thing. An flesh eating insect filled fog has encapsulated the globe leaving one island where the last of humanity managed to find a way to keep them at bay. A murder, the first in a century threatens that and we have to go on a wee whodunnit from there. The twists and turns were good and the ending rather satisfying. Also the page edges are sprayed and it looks nice


Trejo - Danny Trejo
Its his autobiography so you do have to take some things with a pinch of salt but its mostly cemented my opinion of him being a good guy with a big heart that has done some bad shit in his past. Its quite interesting. I did the audiobook though and that I wouldn't recommend, he's not a good reader. I did stick it out because I like hearing the person who lived it tell it but man it was tough going!


Frank The Voice & Sinatra The Chairman - James Kaplan
I wish I had picked something more concise than two fairly chunky ones but folk said it was the best bio of him and it was good. I never really had a view or an expectation of him being a terrific human but hes a bit of a shit to be honest. Treats few people well, has temper tantrums, had a few underaged girls (sure as hell sounds like at 38 he groomed a 15 year old Natalie Wood with the blessing of her mother) and just seems like a bit of an arsehole with some tallent. Its quite amusing that in this era of the Hays Code where married couples had to be shown with two single beds all the people making the films with just fucking each other all over the shop. Honestly when people talk about the immorality of today compared to in the past its pure BS. Humanity are naughty buggers and so they shall remain.

Good bio but it made me wish I was reading Ava Gardner's instead. She also seems like a bit of a shit but a very funny shit that didnt care for norms and enjoyed pushing peoples buttons. Famously when a reporter asked why she, one of the most beautiful women in the world was with a washed up 110lb hasbeen like Sinatra (was at the time) she answered "He's only 110lbs but 10lb is cock"


The Unexpected Return Of Josephine Fox - Claire Gradidge
Another whodunnit. I just bought it because it looked nice but quite enjoyed it. Its set around the time of Dunkirk, Jo Fox returns home trying to figure out who her father is and through taking a job at the mortuary gets drawn into investigating a possible murder and of course everything's linked because it always is. It was fine. An easy read but nothing mind blowing.

[Sly Boots]

Did anyone else hear about these allegations against Neil Gaiman? Apparently they've been bubbling away for the last couple of months, but only read something on it this morning.

Quite gutted about it, as he's one of my favourite authors. But, it's not good, guys.

With no income, Wallner said her work and family’s housing were now dependent on Gaiman. “There were little hints of, ‘we’re going to need the house.’ And I remember saying, let’s talk about it. Let’s figure it out. That’s when he would just come to my studio and make me give him a blowjob,” Wallner told Tortoise. “And he can say it was consensual. But why would I do that? It was because I was scared of losing my place.”

During these incidents, Wallner claims, Gaiman “used to say to me ‘Call me your master. Tell me you want it. Tell me you want it.’ He would choke me sometimes.” Whenever Wallner resisted these advances, Gaiman would insinuate that his then-wife Amanda Palmer wanted to reclaim the home that Wallner and her family was living in. “But you take care of me and I’ll take care of you,” Wallner said Gaiman told her.

Gaiman eventually left the Woodstock property but allegedly continued to send Wallner sexually explicit photos and videos, asking for Wallner to send him ones back. When Wallner stopped responding to Gaiman’s request, the author’s business manager informed her she had to leave the Woodstock property by December 2021.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/cu ... 235073080/

[Animalmother]

A girl I used to work with meet him at a book signing event once and said he was very sleazy around some of the women. Real shame.

[Alan]

FFS, why’s everyone a fucking Edwin? I was just about to read from the cheap seats too but it’s just soured it. :/

[Hatredsheart]

I'll feel dirty watching season 2 of The Sandman now.

[Sly Boots]

I'll feel dirty watching season 2 of The Sandman now.

Yeah, same

[Sly Boots]

So this is less about what I'm currently reading and more a request for recommendations...

I was recently recommended Revival by Stephen King and enjoyed it... despite being a fan of 'classic King' if you like, I fell out of the habit of reading his new stuff in the 90s after being disappointed by one of his books that came out then, and much like certain bands in the years since I've restricted myself to rereading his golden oldies rather than trying his new stuff.

Revival was good, very good in fact, a real slow-burn but the writing and characters were good enough that I didn't mind that. I'd heard the ending was really scary, but maybe I'm just desensitized to horror, but it was a good ending even if it wasn't scary to me. It strongly evoked Lovecraft, actually, which I both enjoyed as someone who's read a lot of HPL (thanks to our forum literature club, RIP), but maybe also why I didn't find it as shocking as other readers lol.

Anyway, I was wondering if there were other more recent King books people have enjoyed and would recommend - by recent I'd say anything since 2000 or thereabouts really? I did just buy a few more as I was in the mood for more: The Institute, Mr Mercedes and one of his more recent short story collections (the name escapes me right now).

[Alan]

Anyway, I was wondering if there were other more recent King books people have enjoyed and would recommend - by recent I'd say anything since 2000 or thereabouts really? I did just buy a few more as I was in the mood for more: The Institute, Mr Mercedes and one of his more recent short story collections (the name escapes me right now).

Mr Merc is really good (if you overlook all the computer stuff, its like King has never used the internet or a computer before). As that series goes on; Finders Keepers is good, End Of Watch is probably the worst book King has ever written (yes, worse than Cell). Then The Outsider and Holly are pretty decent too. They get more silly as the series progresses.

I seem to remember liking The Institute somewhat but its in a memory hole where I can't remember that much about it... someone crawls under a fence at one point I think.....

I don't like The Shining much (movie or book) but I really enjoyed the sequel Doctor Sleep.

Quite enjoyed Fairy Tale. Its not set in mid-world but it's almost like what a fairy tale version of mid-world might be as thought up by its inhabitants. Its not horror though, just a dark fairy tale.

11/22/63 - Time traveling JFK assassination fun.








....and for a what I've been reading.
Bloom by Delilah S Dawson
A reclusive woman starts becoming enamoured by the lass that makes her cupcakes. Some romance, some death, some foreboding ensue. I thought it was excellent except for the silly final scene. So I picked up another of her books....

Midnight At The Houdini
So turns out this is very much a YA deal aimed at girls. I am not a teenage girl but I did very much enjoy it! Girl gets stuck in an alternate reality hotel and must escape my midnight. It has the tropes of quiet nerdy introvert girl just happens to meet a super hot boy in this strange otherworldly place etc... Everytime I went to put it down because I'm a grown ass man dagnabit, I thought "just a little more" and then I was done and had to admit I had a good time with it and wouldn't mind some more.

Not Till We Are Lost (Bobiverse #5)
I think its one of the weaker Bob books but still very enjoyable. It just felt like it could have done with an extra 50-100 pages and not rush through some pretty major things quite as much.

[Sly Boots]

Anyway, I was wondering if there were other more recent King books people have enjoyed and would recommend - by recent I'd say anything since 2000 or thereabouts really? I did just buy a few more as I was in the mood for more: The Institute, Mr Mercedes and one of his more recent short story collections (the name escapes me right now).

Mr Merc is really good (if you overlook all the computer stuff, its like King has never used the internet or a computer before). As that series goes on; Finders Keepers is good, End Of Watch is probably the worst book King has ever written (yes, worse than Cell). Then The Outsider and Holly are pretty decent too. They get more silly as the series progresses.

I seem to remember liking The Institute somewhat but its in a memory hole where I can't remember that much about it... someone crawls under a fence at one point I think.....

I don't like The Shining much (movie or book) but I really enjoyed the sequel Doctor Sleep.

Quite enjoyed Fairy Tale. Its not set in mid-world but it's almost like what a fairy tale version of mid-world might be as thought up by its inhabitants. Its not horror though, just a dark fairy tale.

11/22/63 - Time traveling JFK assassination fun.

Thanks for those, I've seen a couple mentioned in other places so will pick those up. I did read Doctor Sleep already though, enjoyed it (the film is worth catching as well )

Good to know which series books to get and avoid too, I've been burned before (looking at you, sequel to Ender's Game... -_-)

[Snowy]

Have you read the Dark Tower books Sly?

[Sly Boots]

Have you read the Dark Tower books Sly?

I haven't actually, worth a read?

[Snowy]

Oh most certainly. The books are quite the sprawling story but it is a really good one. There were elements of it that tested my suspension of disbelief, which I won't mention (they make up a small part of the 8-title sprawl though and come late in the series), but there is loads of fantastic stuff in there that I loved. Blaine the pain, the house, the alternate worlds and travel between the two, the gunslingers as a concept, all stuff that will mean nothing now but will very much as you read.

It is far more a fantasy tale than his usual horror although there are horrific elements.

[Sly Boots]

Cool, will add the first one to my to-read list!