Be Excellent To Each Other

2024 Thread

Is anyone going to challenge JBR's crown as Undisputed Beex Book Reading King?

1.) Prester John - John Buchan

Jolly old Boy's Own adventure, in which a doughty Scots lad foils a plot and saves the day. Bonus points for having a heroic dog named Colin and for extensive use of the word "Portugoose", meaning a single Portugeese. It's all old fashioned nonsense, and probably was even in 1910 when it as published but it is quite good at what it aims to be, and he's somehow very good at writing rock-climbing scenes.

I’ve only got about 10% of The Stand left (and it’s the newer edition with the additional chapters and extended wait) which I reckon I should be credited four or five books worth for.

Oh my, that thing is HUGE. Isn't it something like 1,200 pages?

1,325 for this extended/reinstated version.

1. A Voyage around the Queen by Craig Brown

The life of Liz as experienced by others.

It follows a similar path to his Beatles book, grouping anecdotes and stories in roughly chronological and thematic chapters. It just didn't have the pace of the earlier work, and some parts became a struggle to get through. For example, I get what he was trying to do in the chapters recounting his and others' dreams about the Queen, but a long chapter of such tales with little attempt to order them for even comic effort just became pretty tedious. Other parts work much better, including his lengthy descriptions of the corgi lineage, the rules on who should courtesy to whom, and It's a Royal Knockout.

His main argument throughout is that the Queen was ultimately unknowable, and people projected themselves onto her.

1. The Chronic(what?)cles of Amber - Roger Zelazny

An epic quest of siblings, godlike to us, who come from the 'real' centre of things, Amber, but can journey to our 'shadow' worlds to have a good time, recruit troops, as they see fit. It's long, made up of 5 short novels, and as the introduction says, a bit too much recapping in the later ones. But the interplay and plotting between the siblings is always good, and there's invention up the wazoo.
There's a second chronicle to follow a son, which I might get to eventually, but it would be too much of a good thing right now.

2.) The Hammer of God - Arthur C Clarke

Apparently the inspiration for Deep Impact, story of a Big Asteroid that may, or may not, kill everyone. A Spaceship goes to stop it from doing that. Quite good, in a sort-of "here are some space things happening" way. No character development or anything fancy like that, and an odd sub-plot about religious fantatics.

The Stand by Stephen King
Well, I finished this today. A few random thoughts:

I mean, it’s good. I almost gave up about a quarter of the way in because I kind of felt I had the measure of what was happening, and I did. You could have told the story well and richly in about 25% of the space, and I wouldn’t say that the character journeys were ground breaking, but the character studies were good.

Some of the race descriptors made me wince. They were supposed to, but they were so prevalent in the text that to modern readers in the U.K. you might be forgiven wondering if so many of the characters of the time would really have spoken like that, and then you realise that they probably would have, especially in parts of the U.S.

Stephen King shouldn’t write sex scenes.

It was paranormal light, but that’s a good thing, as it’s very much a human story.

People should not have used this book as a how-to manual during Covid.

I've read The Stand twice. First time when I was about 12 and voraciously reading every book I could get my hands on, so I read all my dad's books. That was the original abridged version and it still took me about 2 weeks to read through.

I read the unabridged version when I was commuting for 2 hours a day and it definitely kept me company during those long bus rides.

Great book. I love a long and detailed story. The climax is bobbins of course (Stephen King, innit?) but it works better on the page than it did in the 90s mini series for sure

I think I might have read it when I was about 12, too. Though I have no memory of the content, I have a memory of having and reading the book. I think I read a load of his books at that age, for much the same reason as you - hey we’re in the house. Also loads of Dennis Wheatley books, which for some reason my grandmother had a red leather bound collection of.

But the content of the stories themselves have disappeared with time, so it was fresh to me.

2. A Voyage Around the Queen - Craig Brown I have absolutely no interest in the Royal Family, but Craig Brown is great, and this was 99p on Kindle. And then Kern's review nudged it to the front of my mind. As Kern says, throughout he proves his point that people project onto the Queen, and he manages something similar in the book, in that if you like the queen, there's stuff for you, if you don't, likewise. If you're ambivalent? You can also find what you want. It's irreverent without being showily so, made me laugh a lot and tear up, too. Fabulous.

I love the 99p Kindle offers.

Whenever I see a book that looks interesting, I add it to my wish list then every so often sort by price to see which ones are currently discounted.

I also do this - and add a provenance-note to avoid wondering why the book's there. The simple joy of finding a wishlist book is now a bargain!