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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 11:00 
SupaMod
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JBR wrote:
Squirt wrote:
Oh, and book question - if I were to read some Jack Reacher books, does it matter which order I read them in? Can I just grab one and get going?

I reckon you can, particularly with the later ones. For the earlier - from memory, only something like the first three - I'd probably aim to read them in order. There's a bit of scene setting and background life stuff that really doesn't matter, but it's nice to read in order. That said, there's much less of that later on, so I suppose it's not essential. I reckon Child spotted that this could be an ongoing franchise, and any kind of over-reaching arc would stifle that, so he didn't clutter the books with it.

A few of the later ones are in order, too, specifically 61 Hours, Worth Dying For, A Wanted Man, and Never Go Back. Make Me has a cliffhanger into Midnight Line, and Running Blind (aka The Visitor, book 4) needs to be read after Tripwire (book 3) as there's a spoiler in Running Blind.

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 18:52 
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Decapodian

Joined: 15th Oct, 2010
Posts: 5400
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1) The Defector by Chris Hadfield (the astronaut).
2) The Future Of Geography by Tim Marshall.
3) Curious Video Games Machines by Lewis Packwood]
4) What If? 2, by Randall Munroe
5) The Relenless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal
6) Harrier 809 by Rowland White
7) Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis.
8 ) Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country by John Kampfner.
9) The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
10) The Goodbye Cat, by Hiro Arikawa.
11) A Closed And Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers.
12) You Like it Darker by Stephen King.



13) Babylon’s Ashes (Expanse 6) by James SA Corey - still excellent sci-fi
14) Eject, Eject by John Nichol - a history of ejection seats in aviation. Very interesting stuff
15) Missile Commander by Tony Temple. Story of the creation of Missile Command and his world record scores. A fascinating look at the early years of the industry that would be interesting for anyone whether you are a gamer or not.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 20:01 
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Decapodian

Joined: 15th Oct, 2010
Posts: 5400
Kern wrote:
13. 1984 by George Orwell]


I’ve just bought Julia which tells the same story from her point of view. I’m intrigued to see what it adds.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/julia/ ... 1783789160


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 21:37 
SupaMod
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"Praisebot"

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I don't read but since I've been on holiday.... I've finished a book!

'How not to be a boy' by Robert Webb.

It was great. Loved it!


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2024 19:09 
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Heavy Metal Tough Guy

Joined: 31st Mar, 2008
Posts: 6611
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1.) The Third World War - General Sir John Hackett, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, MA, B.Litt, LL.D
2.) Maigret and the Nahour Case - Georges Simenon
3.) The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy - Michael Foley
4.) The High Window - Raymond Chandler
5.) As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
6.) Ramage - Dudley Pope
7.) The Ship That Died of Shame - Nicholas Monsarrat
8.) The Scandal of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
9.) Fateful Choices - Ian Kershaw
10.) Find You First - Linwood Barclay
11.) Verity - Colleen Hoover
12.) Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
13.) The Pearl - John Steinbeck



14.) Drunkard's Walk - Frederick Pohl
A profoundly strange book that, frankly, goes all over the place. An otherwise sensible mathematics professor has sudden, intense, suicidal impulses. Is there a baffling reason for this? Yes, there really is!


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Wed Aug 07, 2024 9:56 
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The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Lady gets kidnapped by pirates and married the leader of a faction in this romantic space pirate thriller.

It was OK

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2024 15:13 
SupaMod
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I snagged a book from a charity shop purely because it was called "Vampirates" and there's no possible way that could be bad.

But it was.

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2024 14:57 
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Sleepyhead

Joined: 30th Mar, 2008
Posts: 27354
Location: Kidbrooke
JBR wrote:
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin.
2. The Siberian Dilemma - Martin Cruz Smith.
3. Trust - Hernan Diaz.
4. Orphan X - Gregg Hurwitz.
5. Eversion - Alastair Reynolds.
6. Orbital - Samantha Harvey.
7. Satoshi Yogisawa - Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.
8. Linwood Barclay - The Lie Maker.
9. Summer Knight - Jim Butcher.
10. Ghosts - Dolly Alderton.
11. Milkman - Anna Burns.
12. Agent Running in the Field - John le Carré.


The Looking Glass War - John le Carré. Continuing my discovery of his work. This is the fourth George Smiley novel, though he's only in it from time to time. He's definitely in charge, but only behind the scenes as another agency tries incompetently to prove its relevance to the post war world. Apparently Le Carre was bothered by the veneration of the Spy who came into the cold, as people loved it more than spotting it was saying that spying was often ineffective. So this one goes all out on the incompetence, and has an air of 50s failure all over it. I found it a bit depressing, which I guess is the idea, but it's not a classic for me. There was a radio adaptation with Simon Russell Beale which I might look out for, though - if anyone can carry this sort of story, it's him.


I just read the first one in the Smiley series. Was nice enough.

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2024 17:45 
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Prince of Fops

Joined: 14th May, 2009
Posts: 4355
Curiosity wrote:
JBR wrote:
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin.
2. The Siberian Dilemma - Martin Cruz Smith.
3. Trust - Hernan Diaz.
4. Orphan X - Gregg Hurwitz.
5. Eversion - Alastair Reynolds.
6. Orbital - Samantha Harvey.
7. Satoshi Yogisawa - Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.
8. Linwood Barclay - The Lie Maker.
9. Summer Knight - Jim Butcher.
10. Ghosts - Dolly Alderton.
11. Milkman - Anna Burns.
12. Agent Running in the Field - John le Carré.


The Looking Glass War - John le Carré. Continuing my discovery of his work. This is the fourth George Smiley novel, though he's only in it from time to time. He's definitely in charge, but only behind the scenes as another agency tries incompetently to prove its relevance to the post war world. Apparently Le Carre was bothered by the veneration of the Spy who came into the cold, as people loved it more than spotting it was saying that spying was often ineffective. So this one goes all out on the incompetence, and has an air of 50s failure all over it. I found it a bit depressing, which I guess is the idea, but it's not a classic for me. There was a radio adaptation with Simon Russell Beale which I might look out for, though - if anyone can carry this sort of story, it's him.


I just read the first one in the Smiley series. Was nice enough.


The first one is pretty weak, they get much better.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2024 13:07 
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Soopah red DS

Joined: 2nd Jun, 2008
Posts: 3304
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin.
2. The Siberian Dilemma - Martin Cruz Smith.
3. Trust - Hernan Diaz.
4. Orphan X - Gregg Hurwitz.
5. Eversion - Alastair Reynolds.
6. Orbital - Samantha Harvey.
7. Satoshi Yogisawa - Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.
8. Linwood Barclay - The Lie Maker.
9. Summer Knight - Jim Butcher.
10. Ghosts - Dolly Alderton.
11. Milkman - Anna Burns.
12. Agent Running in the Field - John le Carré.
13. The Looking Glass War - John le Carré.
14. Kennedy 35 - Charles Cumming.
15. Luck of the Draw - Charles Murphy.
16. Marc Cameron - Tom Clancy's Code of Honour (Jack Ryan)
17. Raynor Winn - Landlines.
18. Mick Herron - Spook Street.
19. Rachel Joyce - The Music Shop.
20. Kazuo Ishiguro - The Buried Giant.
21. Alexander Mccall Smith - From a Far and Lovely Country.
22. James S.A. Corey - Leviathan Wakes.
23. Naomi Novik - Black Powder War.
24. Sam McBride - Burned: Cash for Ashes.
25. Mark Greaney - The Gray Man.
26. Mark Greaney - Ballistic.
27. Kim Stanley Robinson - Aurora.


Philip Pullman - The Secret Commonwealth, Book of Dust 2. I was looking forward to finishing the further adventures of Lyra Silvertongue/Belacqua. Somewhere around page 600 I realised I wasn't going to. Apparently the next is imminentish.

Antti Tuomainen - The Rabbit Factor. Translated from Finnish, pretty successfully. A thriller with its tongue firmly in cheek.

M.R. Carey - The Book of Koli. Book one of a trilogy, and I have the last two, hooray! Post-apocalyptic life in a village and beyond, inhabitants trying to understand and use remaining bits of technology, and living like with bits of lore.

Cheryl Strayed - Wild. Also a film. Had this for ages - she walks the Pacific Crest trail, underprepared and doing so to escape life and herself. She reads as she goes and burns the pages to lighten the load. Great travelogue.

Blaine Harden - Escape from Camp 14. Produced after interviews with Shin Donghyuk, who was born and raised in the camp and knew nothing else for years. It's a huge work camp, spread over miles and miles, in an inhospitable part of North Korea (but then, that's most of the place, for various different reasons). The way they treat people, and lack of food, means many North Koreans are physically and/or mentally underdeveloped, which may contribute to the bitty nature of the book. But reality resists a neat story. It's a great, short, enlightening read.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2024 19:36 
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Heavy Metal Tough Guy

Joined: 31st Mar, 2008
Posts: 6611
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1.) The Third World War - General Sir John Hackett, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, MA, B.Litt, LL.D
2.) Maigret and the Nahour Case - Georges Simenon
3.) The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy - Michael Foley
4.) The High Window - Raymond Chandler
5.) As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
6.) Ramage - Dudley Pope
7.) The Ship That Died of Shame - Nicholas Monsarrat
8.) The Scandal of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
9.) Fateful Choices - Ian Kershaw
10.) Find You First - Linwood Barclay
11.) Verity - Colleen Hoover
12.) Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
13.) The Pearl - John Steinbeck
14.) Drunkard's Walk - Frederick Pohl


15.) Trigger Warnings - Neil Gaiman
Despite having read a few of his books, its taken me his long to realise I don't particularly care for Neil Gaiman. This is a collection of short stories I didn't particularly care for.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2024 12:40 
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Heavy Metal Tough Guy

Joined: 31st Mar, 2008
Posts: 6611
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1.) The Third World War - General Sir John Hackett, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, MA, B.Litt, LL.D
2.) Maigret and the Nahour Case - Georges Simenon
3.) The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy - Michael Foley
4.) The High Window - Raymond Chandler
5.) As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
6.) Ramage - Dudley Pope
7.) The Ship That Died of Shame - Nicholas Monsarrat
8.) The Scandal of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
9.) Fateful Choices - Ian Kershaw
10.) Find You First - Linwood Barclay
11.) Verity - Colleen Hoover
12.) Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
13.) The Pearl - John Steinbeck
14.) Drunkard's Walk - Frederick Pohl
15.) Trigger Warnings - Neil Gaiman


16.) The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
PI Phillip Marlowe accepts a seemingly simple job to deal with a blackmailer, and get sucked into a much more complicated ( and, frankly, somewhat holey ) plot. Scotch is drunk. Dames be dames. Cars are tailed, guns are waved about, people are slugged on the jaw and complicated things happen with gamblers, bootleggers, pornographers and grifters. It's all very fab.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2024 14:27 
SupaMod
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Posts: 69719
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Squirt wrote:
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1.) The Third World War - General Sir John Hackett, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, MA, B.Litt, LL.D
2.) Maigret and the Nahour Case - Georges Simenon
3.) The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy - Michael Foley
4.) The High Window - Raymond Chandler
5.) As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
6.) Ramage - Dudley Pope
7.) The Ship That Died of Shame - Nicholas Monsarrat
8.) The Scandal of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
9.) Fateful Choices - Ian Kershaw
10.) Find You First - Linwood Barclay
11.) Verity - Colleen Hoover
12.) Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
13.) The Pearl - John Steinbeck
14.) Drunkard's Walk - Frederick Pohl


15.) Trigger Warnings - Neil Gaiman
Despite having read a few of his books, its taken me his long to realise I don't particularly care for Neil Gaiman. This is a collection of short stories I didn't particularly care for.

Isn't he a baddie now, anyway?

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2024 14:36 
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Unpossible!

Joined: 27th Jun, 2008
Posts: 38659
His take on Norse Mythology was a great read


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2024 16:11 
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Decapodian

Joined: 15th Oct, 2010
Posts: 5400
Grim... wrote:
Squirt wrote:
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1.) The Third World War - General Sir John Hackett, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, MA, B.Litt, LL.D
2.) Maigret and the Nahour Case - Georges Simenon
3.) The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy - Michael Foley
4.) The High Window - Raymond Chandler
5.) As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
6.) Ramage - Dudley Pope
7.) The Ship That Died of Shame - Nicholas Monsarrat
8.) The Scandal of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
9.) Fateful Choices - Ian Kershaw
10.) Find You First - Linwood Barclay
11.) Verity - Colleen Hoover
12.) Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
13.) The Pearl - John Steinbeck
14.) Drunkard's Walk - Frederick Pohl


15.) Trigger Warnings - Neil Gaiman
Despite having read a few of his books, its taken me his long to realise I don't particularly care for Neil Gaiman. This is a collection of short stories I didn't particularly care for.

Isn't he a baddie now, anyway?


He’s not what you’d call one of the good ones if the allegations against him are true, and he seem to be hoping they just go away if he doesn’t engage.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2024 16:12 
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Decapodian

Joined: 15th Oct, 2010
Posts: 5400
Dr Zoidberg wrote:
Kern wrote:
13. 1984 by George Orwell]


I’ve just bought Julia which tells the same story from her point of view. I’m intrigued to see what it adds.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/julia/ ... 1783789160


It’s really good. It feels very faithful to the tone of the original, covers things that are going on away from Winston Smith, and continues the story past the end of what we know. Well worth a read.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 18:53 
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Soopah red DS

Joined: 2nd Jun, 2008
Posts: 3304
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin.
2. The Siberian Dilemma - Martin Cruz Smith.
3. Trust - Hernan Diaz.
4. Orphan X - Gregg Hurwitz.
5. Eversion - Alastair Reynolds.
6. Orbital - Samantha Harvey.
7. Satoshi Yogisawa - Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.
8. Linwood Barclay - The Lie Maker.
9. Summer Knight - Jim Butcher.
10. Ghosts - Dolly Alderton.
11. Milkman - Anna Burns.
12. Agent Running in the Field - John le Carré.
13. The Looking Glass War - John le Carré.
14. Kennedy 35 - Charles Cumming.
15. Luck of the Draw - Charles Murphy.
16. Marc Cameron - Tom Clancy's Code of Honour (Jack Ryan)
17. Raynor Winn - Landlines.
18. Mick Herron - Spook Street.
19. Rachel Joyce - The Music Shop.
20. Kazuo Ishiguro - The Buried Giant.
21. Alexander Mccall Smith - From a Far and Lovely Country.
22. James S.A. Corey - Leviathan Wakes.
23. Naomi Novik - Black Powder War.
24. Sam McBride - Burned: Cash for Ashes.
25. Mark Greaney - The Gray Man.
26. Mark Greaney - Ballistic.
27. Kim Stanley Robinson - Aurora.
28. Philip Pullman - The Secret Commonwealth, Book of Dust 2.
29. Antti Tuomainen - The Rabbit Factor.
30. M.R. Carey - The Book of Koli.
31. Cheryl Strayed - Wild.
32. Blaine Harden - Escape from Camp 14.


Ben Judah - This is London. A series of essays, loosely interconnected, looking at London from a variety of perspectives, meeting immigrants and the rich. Absolutely fascinating, and eye-opening.

John le Carré - Silverview. A man sets up a bookshop and is befriended by an older local. The latter is a bit mysterious, and eventually revealed to be a man of many parts. This is Le Carré's last book, only 200 pages or so, and maybe finished in a bit of a rush - it feels less fleshed out, and less satisfying than others.

John le Carré - The Mission House. First person retelling from a multi-national, multi-lingual protagonist who finds himself with more information than he knows what to do with. Hard to pull off first person, but this pretty much succeeds.

Ann Patchett - Tom Lake. A mother tells her daughters about her early love life, while her husband floats in and out of the story until becoming more important. The way she writes makes it look so simple that I believed I could do it, though the fact that one of the early sentences made me tear up because it was so beautiful suggests she actually writes and overwrites until it's perfect. Brilliant, along with everything else she's ever written.

Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Command. From the 2020s, a little bit on auto-pilot - like Rowlling in the later Potter books, he's probably too big to be edited now, but that leads to some very obvious repetition. The artillery man who has been peripheral finally gets the chance to blow things up towards the end, and invokes Barbara (Patron Saint of artilley) every sentence. And then again in the next sentence (Barbara's the Patron Saint of artillery, you know). But still, rollicking and all that.

Adrian Tchaikovsky - City of Last Chances. Dumps you right into the action, jumps from perspective to perspective with brief introductions to each one, but succeeds in building a word of an oppressed population, some magic, mysterious woods, post-apocalypic feel and more. First of a trilogy.

Ben Macintyre - SAS Rogue Heroes. The book that launched the TV series. Just as good as that, a good way to revisit the characters. And then more, because the TV series so far has only covered the early years. It all seemed much more bitty as they get out of the desert - once it's established that the SAS aren't going to be disbanded, which we all know, then they attempt to fight all over the place, sometimes more successfully than others. Great account of an awful lot of material, turning it into something readable and consistent.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2024 17:47 
User avatar

Joined: 12th Apr, 2008
Posts: 17970
Location: Oxfordshire
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
2. Around the World in 80 Games: a mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games by Marcus du Sautoy
3. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
5.Femina by Janina Ramirez
6.Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters by Joel Morris
7.The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World by James Ball
8. Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer
9. Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas
10. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
11. What Board Games Mean To Me edited by Donna Gregory
12. Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. Bloody Panico! Or, Whatever Happened To The Tory Party by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
15. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry

16. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard
The prof tries to create a job description for running the western world. You can't but hear her voice as you read, but ultimately I feel her attempt to understand the "Emperor" as a job falls back too much on the anecdotes she said she was trying to avoid.

17. Mort by Terry Pratchett
I'm sure I read this as a teenager but had no recollection of it. Other than a rushed finish, this tale of Death's apprentice remains a classic.

18. Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
The author has lots of rough sex.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 19:05 
User avatar

Joined: 12th Apr, 2008
Posts: 17970
Location: Oxfordshire
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
2. Around the World in 80 Games: a mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games by Marcus du Sautoy
3. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
5.Femina by Janina Ramirez
6.Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters by Joel Morris
7.The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World by James Ball
8. Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer
9. Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas
10. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
11. What Board Games Mean To Me edited by Donna Gregory
12. Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. Bloody Panico! Or, Whatever Happened To The Tory Party by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
15. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
16. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard
17. Mort by Terry Pratchett
18. Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood


19. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is not Naomi Wolf. Klein uses the confusion to look at why certain people previously on the left have gone hardcore alt-right.
It's an interesting story, especially when Klein reflects on the impact of her previous works, but a bit disjointed as she leaps from topic to topic.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 21:04 
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Heavy Metal Tough Guy

Joined: 31st Mar, 2008
Posts: 6611
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1.) The Third World War - General Sir John Hackett, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, MA, B.Litt, LL.D
2.) Maigret and the Nahour Case - Georges Simenon
3.) The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy - Michael Foley
4.) The High Window - Raymond Chandler
5.) As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
6.) Ramage - Dudley Pope
7.) The Ship That Died of Shame - Nicholas Monsarrat
8.) The Scandal of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
9.) Fateful Choices - Ian Kershaw
10.) Find You First - Linwood Barclay
11.) Verity - Colleen Hoover
12.) Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
13.) The Pearl - John Steinbeck
14.) Drunkard's Walk - Frederick Pohl
15.) Trigger Warnings - Neil Gaiman
16.) The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler



17.) Billion Dollar Brain - Len Deighton
Snappy little spy novel that, somehow, took me 6 weeks to read. Spies spy on our spies while they're spying on their spies. Cynical back-room deals and shady border crossings and a wealthly lunatic trying to take down communism. Very spy-y, quite funny in places, the sort of book you'd be happy to have if you were stuck in an airport.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 2024 20:32 
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Ticket to Ride World Champion

Joined: 18th Apr, 2008
Posts: 11897
I've just read all 5 of the light bringer books back to back. Really enjoyed them, nothing super out there, but the characters were varied enough to be interesting and it's one of those that just jumps between the characters to tell the story, so you don't have time to get bored with any of them. A good fantasy romp.

Although, I've no idea what number that is for the year!

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2024 15:14 
SupaMod
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The Light Bringer?!

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2024 22:51 
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Posts: 11897
I confess to that being at least a partial reason for looking at them initially

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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 11:31 
User avatar

Joined: 12th Apr, 2008
Posts: 17970
Location: Oxfordshire
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
2. Around the World in 80 Games: a mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games by Marcus du Sautoy
3. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
5.Femina by Janina Ramirez
6.Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters by Joel Morris
7.The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World by James Ball
8. Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer
9. Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas
10. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
11. What Board Games Mean To Me edited by Donna Gregory
12. Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. Bloody Panico! Or, Whatever Happened To The Tory Party by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
15. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
16. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard
17. Mort by Terry Pratchett
18. Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
19. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

20. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife by Bart D Ehrman

An overview of the development of ideas about death from early Hebrew thought, through the Greeks and Romans, to early Christianity.
It's very high-level and each chapter left me feeling that a lot was being left out, and I found the author's smugness about his answers to theological disputes irritating. I finished it unsure who it was aimed at as it felt a bit dry for the general reader but a bit simplistic for those with some existing knowledge or interest in the history of beliefs.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Wed Nov 06, 2024 12:17 
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Joined: 12th Apr, 2008
Posts: 17970
Location: Oxfordshire
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
2. Around the World in 80 Games: a mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games by Marcus du Sautoy
3. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
5.Femina by Janina Ramirez
6.Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters by Joel Morris
7.The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World by James Ball
8. Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer
9. Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas
10. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
11. What Board Games Mean To Me edited by Donna Gregory
12. Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. Bloody Panico! Or, Whatever Happened To The Tory Party by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
15. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
16. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard
17. Mort by Terry Pratchett
18. Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
19. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
20. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife by Bart D Ehrman

21. The Great Indoors: At Home in the Modern British House by Ben Highmore

Room-by-room look at how domestic life changed over the 20th century. Short enough to maintain interest but I think Bill Bryson did it better.
I never realised how recently the duvet became popular over here, nor how it was distrusted as a "continental quilt" by some.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2024 20:49 
User avatar

Joined: 12th Apr, 2008
Posts: 17970
Location: Oxfordshire
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
2. Around the World in 80 Games: a mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games by Marcus du Sautoy
3. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
5.Femina by Janina Ramirez
6.Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters by Joel Morris
7.The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World by James Ball
8. Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer
9. Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas
10. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
11. What Board Games Mean To Me edited by Donna Gregory
12. Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. Bloody Panico! Or, Whatever Happened To The Tory Party by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
15. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
16. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard
17. Mort by Terry Pratchett
18. Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
19. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
20. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife by Bart D Ehrman
21. The Great Indoors: At Home in the Modern British House by Ben Highmore

22. Ghosts of the British Museum: A True Story of Colonial Loot and Restless Objects by Noah Angell

Ostensibly a tour of the British Museum with accounts of hauntings in various locations, it's more a reflective essay on the legacies of colonialism, the dubious way most of the collection was gathered, and whether the museum is itself a relic of the past.

Reading on a dark November night, one or two of the encounters described gave me the chills, especially the one in the King's Library late at night. I was less impressed with some of the mediums the author shows round the museum, thinking that I probably could have cobbled together a story about a spirit based on general awareness of a particular period provided I was convincing enough.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2024 20:54 
User avatar

Joined: 12th Apr, 2008
Posts: 17970
Location: Oxfordshire
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
2. Around the World in 80 Games: a mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games by Marcus du Sautoy
3. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
5.Femina by Janina Ramirez
6.Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters by Joel Morris
7.The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World by James Ball
8. Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer
9. Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas
10. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
11. What Board Games Mean To Me edited by Donna Gregory
12. Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. Bloody Panico! Or, Whatever Happened To The Tory Party by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
15. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
16. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard
17. Mort by Terry Pratchett
18. Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
19. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
20. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife by Bart D Ehrman
21. The Great Indoors: At Home in the Modern British House by Ben Highmore
22. Ghosts of the British Museum: A True Story of Colonial Loot and Restless Objects by Noah Angell

23. Failed State by Sam Freedman

Another of these "the UK is governed terribly" books I keep on picking up in the library or when the price of the Ebook drops to under a quid. Nothing wrong with his arguments and I'm always grateful for new case studies to add to my file, but you could probably save yourself some money by asking me the right question after I've had a couple of pints.

I did like his observation that journalists and others heavily into politics fall back on the same lazy comparisons (eg Thatcher; "Winter of Discontent"; "donkey jacket") which not only comes across to the less-engaged as a series of in-jokes and akin to hearing fans discussing their favourite B-sides, but stifles our understanding of the present.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Thu Nov 14, 2024 23:22 
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Joined: 31st Mar, 2008
Posts: 6611
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
1.) The Third World War - General Sir John Hackett, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, MA, B.Litt, LL.D
2.) Maigret and the Nahour Case - Georges Simenon
3.) The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy - Michael Foley
4.) The High Window - Raymond Chandler
5.) As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
6.) Ramage - Dudley Pope
7.) The Ship That Died of Shame - Nicholas Monsarrat
8.) The Scandal of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
9.) Fateful Choices - Ian Kershaw
10.) Find You First - Linwood Barclay
11.) Verity - Colleen Hoover
12.) Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
13.) The Pearl - John Steinbeck
14.) Drunkard's Walk - Frederick Pohl
15.) Trigger Warnings - Neil Gaiman
16.) The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
17.) Billion Dollar Brain - Len Deighton



18.) Falling Free - Lois McMaster Bujold
Lois McMaster Bujold has written about 100 books and won a whole bunch of Hugo and Nebula awards, yet I had never heard of her. Somewhat bonkers scifi where a bunch of experimental humans, genetically engineered to function better in zero-g, break free of the megacorp that owns them. Starts off slow, got properly good towards the end, in a laser-beams-and-hyperdrives sort of way.


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 Post subject: Re: Finish 52 Books 2024
PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2024 23:00 
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Posts: 69719
Location: Your Mum
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