Currently Reading

[The Jackal]

It's due in part to a quest to watch all ofthe films of the WW3 genre, like Threads and The War Game* and The Day After, that led to me acquiring books like Alas, Babylon and Commander-1 and Red Storm Rising, that once expended (or at least less easy to sustain) led to other apocalyptia,such as Triffids and so on.

I have no one to blame but myself.

[Tommy]

I just finished reading Artemis by Andy Weir (of 'The Martian' fame).

I enjoyed it. I haven't read much for years (bar Economics/Finance journals and textbooks), but it was gripping and accessible enough. A quick check shows the film rights have already been bought which is entirely unsurprising.

Also has the added bonus for me of not being shit enough to push me back into the arms of social media trawling.

[Maturin]

...and Red Storm Rising.

I loved that book, but haven't read it in years. I think it's one of Clancy's best 2 books - that and Hunt for Red October. RSR is downright bonechilling at times, due to the realistic setting. In fact, I might look out for the two of them on kindle and read them again.
...

Currently reading The Reality Dysfunction by P. Hamilton. It's blimmin huge and it's part of a trilogy, so it'll take me ages. I really enjoyed the Commenwealth Saga, and Fallen Dragon by him, so hopefully this will be up to the same standard.

I enjoyed my LotR readthrough immensely, but I find I'm more drawn to sci-fi/realworld techno stuff than the fantasy genre in general these days. LotR will always be an exception though. I'll probably read it again & again as the years go by, there's nothing else quite like it.

[The Jackal]

...and Red Storm Rising.

I loved that book, but haven't read it in years. I think it's one of Clancy's best 2 books - that and Hunt for Red October. RSR is downright bonechilling at times, due to the realistic setting. In fact, I might look out for the two of them on kindle and read them again.

Trudat. I also love Red October, it was in fact my favourite Clancy until I finally got a copy of Red Storm Rising.

Have you read The Third World War? It's even more scarier because it's without the story-arcs of RSR and is much more objective. Sir John Hackett helped write it, who fought at Arnhem as it happens. It has the same "the West gradually fights back through technology" but through a much harder fightback and a less happier ending for all sides.

[Maturin]

Sounds interesting. I'll keep that in mind, although it'll probably scare me to bits.

I've since discovered RSR isn't on kindle and the new release of Red October on kindle apparently is full of spelling/formatting errors, plus chunks of the story are actually missing. So I'll probably end up getting them the old fashioned way.

[Jez]

...and Red Storm Rising.

I loved that book, but haven't read it in years. I think it's one of Clancy's best 2 books - that and Hunt for Red October. RSR is downright bonechilling at times, due to the realistic setting. In fact, I might look out for the two of them on kindle and read them again.
...

Currently reading The Reality Dysfunction by P. Hamilton. It's blimmin huge and it's part of a trilogy, so it'll take me ages. I really enjoyed the Commenwealth Saga, and Fallen Dragon by him, so hopefully this will be up to the same standard.

I enjoyed my LotR readthrough immensely, but I find I'm more drawn to sci-fi/realworld techno stuff than the fantasy genre in general these days. LotR will always be an exception though. I'll probably read it again & again as the years go by, there's nothing else quite like it.

Reality dysfunction series is his best work in my opinion. The middle book dips a tad but the first book and last book are great reading. I gobbled all 3 up in a few weeks thanks to long train commutes years ago.

[Rusty]

I think I've read most of his stuff over the years. I loves him.

I got lucky at a car boot sale one day as one guy was selling a fuck ton of his work all in hard back at about a £1 a book. I walked away with more books than I could shake a stick at!

[Maturin]

Yeah, he's brilliant. But I do find I nearly always laugh out loud at how he writes sex. It's like he hires a randy 14 year old to do those bits while he concentrates on the sci-fi.

[Rusty]

That is true. Whenever he tries to describe something out of the ordinary sex wise he ends up writing something really lame. I can watch worse stuff on the internets.

[The Jackal]

Finished (and loved) Kraken. Am now through the haul of books I had for my birthday, which in turn I was delayed from starting due to still having books from Christmas. Went into a charity shop in my new surroundings at the weekend and came out with The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. I remember press for it when it came out, when I was in my old job, so I had it in mind to read eventually in spite of not reading any Roth before.

in short, it's 1940 and Charles Lindbergh runs for - and wins - election against FDR, told from the perspective of a Jewish family in New jersey. Not very far in, but I'm enjoying the domestic friction of the characters that has the alt-history (what little of it there is so far, it's only just gone 1941) in the background not bringing too much attention to itself, which potentially will let Roth not have to sweat over the fine details. There's a long argument between the father and his nephew (who sacks off a scholarship to run to Canada and join the army there) that's just pure dialogue without narration, almost, and it timed almost precisely to finish just as my train from work got in.

[Maturin]

Currently halfway through Reality Dysfunction, although a more fitting title would be Confessions of a Randy SpaceTrucker.

Even by Hamilton's standards, this is hilariously shagadelic at times. Enjoying it though; it's definitely the most fantasy/pulpy/horror style I've seen from him - it's a more casual space opera compared to the Commonwealth saga, which was packed with a lot of hard scifi.

[Rusty]

It was the first book I read by him and still has a place in my heart It soon changes and expands into the commonwealth. I love how all the different fragments start to come together.

[Jez]

Was my first one of his also. I don't think any of his other stuff resonated anything like as much as the reality series

[The Jackal]

"'ow do, yer bastards" to quote Mel B.

Went Back Home for a fortnight and (either side of a trip to Poland) forgot the forum URL... In the meantime, I finished The Plot Against America. As good as it was to begin with, it starts to fall apart as soon as it begins to telegraph later historical events in the narrative, giving less weight to what's actually happening in the then and now. Also, the way it self-rights to the "real" timeline has been described as a bit deus ex machina by proper critics, and I have to agree tbh. Still, I stand by all my good points about the book. Well worth a read as long as you're not looking for alt-hist lore to digest.

As I was home, I delved into my library, to the effect that I'm now re-reading Winter by Len Deighton. It's the story, starting in 1899, of two German brothers who grow up in Imperial Germany, are affected by the First World War and the Depression, and then part ways during the Nazi period. The whole story's laid prefaced with a prologue set at the very end of the timeline, where you don't quite know just which brother is which in that exchange until a certain way through the book.

It's a ridiculously good depiction of German domestic and political life in the period, and goes some way toward trying to explain to English audiences just why Johan Public would ever join the Nazis, tolerate them idly, or maybe just say "fuck it" and try letting the 30s roll past them.

[The Jackal]

Now re-reading All Quiet On The Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque.

if you haven't read it yourself, I present a better, more poignant precis than I could manage: