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[beartoo]

I've been using the Libby app a lot lately.

So far I have made it through:

Edge of Collapse - Kyla Stone Books 0, 1-3.
Red Sister, Grey Sister - Mark Lawrence
All Systems Red - Martha Wells
When we were orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro (one of my favourite authors)
A pale view of Hills - Ishiguro
A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens
Animal Farm - George Orwell

Currently reading/listening to The Great Gatsby and Holy Sister.

I like Kazuo Ishiguro. The Remains of the Day is my favourite of his. Liked everything else I've read of his apart from The Buried Giant, which I couldn't get my head around. Gave up after a few chapters.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Crow_Magnon]

We do, and this is it.

I haven't read The Road, but he's fantastic, I happily recommend No Country for Old Men Consolaçao

I'm a bit of a snob, I tend to stick to older titles.

On my bookshelf right now:

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon -
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Surface Detail, Iain M Banks
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Candide, Voltaire
Watchmen, Alan Moore
The Crying Of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon
The Man In The High Castle, Philip K Dick
We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Against The Day, Thomas Pynchon
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
Sea Of Rust, C Robert Cargill

I own a myriad more books than this, I will have to find them. Luckily I am doing a clean-out of the back room...

Just re-read A Brave New World - very interesting in the current topical discussions around globalisation, the Great Reset / WEF and UN control. "We" was next on my list, but the library only has audio-books, which I don't particularly like, so I may have to actually try to buy a copy!

 

[beartoo]

Also, if you're into dystopian novels and keen for something a bit different, try We by Yevgeni Zamyatin. It was written before Orwell wrote 1984, and not hard to see the echoes.
It was a critique of the growing authoritarianism in Russia post the revolution, and i think he was exiled for his troubles.
A strange book, but worth a read.

I'm not into dystopia. Orwell and Huxley said it all. However, you might like Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Ireland under dictatorship that leads to civil war. Beautifully written book.
We is important because of its influence on both Huxley and Orwell. Yevgeni Zamyatin was one brave Ruskie and one of the few lucky enough to die of natural causes.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[beartoo]

If you like light detective and spy fiction, try Fiona Mcintosh's work. English but resident in SA for many years.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[beartoo]

Just re-read A Brave New World - very interesting in the current topical discussions around globalisation, the Great Reset / WEF and UN control. "We" was next on my list, but the library only has audio-books, which I don't particularly like, so I may have to actually try to buy a copy!

Get the Kindle app on your mobile phone if can handle electronic reading. You can find We on there.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Anzacpaul]

I've been using the Libby app a lot lately.

So far I have made it through:

Edge of Collapse - Kyla Stone Books 0, 1-3.
Red Sister, Grey Sister - Mark Lawrence
All Systems Red - Martha Wells
When we were orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro (one of my favourite authors)
A pale view of Hills - Ishiguro
A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens
Animal Farm - George Orwell

Currently reading/listening to The Great Gatsby and Holy Sister.

How did you find the narration for a Tale of Two Cities? I burst out laughing every time Jerry berated his wife for her "flopping".

 

[DJ75]

How did you find the narration for a Tale of Two Cities? I burst out laughing every time Jerry berated his wife for her "flopping".

Ha ha I know exactly what you mean.
It always takes me a little while to get used to the Narrator. Generally I think they do a really good job.

 

[Anzacpaul]

Finished The Invisble Man by HG Wells.

Found it boring overall with some decent parts.

 

[Anzacpaul]

Currently listening to Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Probably a 1/3 of a way through this 64 hour epic.

Enjoyed it so far, the story has been good, and i've gone in blind so there's an element of "Is this the 1930's, is it a dystopian world outside history, is it a future world that's regressed"?.

 

[Anzacpaul]

Finally finished Atlas shrugged.

I enjoyed it for the most part except for the constant waffling.

The main speech of the book goes for 3 hours and adds little to the story outside of Rand pushing her philosophical objectivism.

 

[Mostyn]

The Great Zoo of China was his worst, in my mind. I've read basically all of them, since working FIFO they were ideal to finish on a plane ride (same reason I read all of Reacher).

But yes, his writing is....juvenile. He works OK in the Jack West / Scarecrow universe I think where it's been somewhat related to realistic concepts or he can crib from real history. When he had to make up everything wholesale, it was bad.

He's somehow managed to get worse with each book.

 

[MarcusP2]

He's somehow managed to get worse with each book.

I thought The Tournament was OK except the subplot with the lady in waiting.

 

[Mostyn]

If you like light detective and spy fiction, try Fiona Mcintosh's work. English but resident in SA for many years.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

I tried one of her recent books that was set in regional SA. I LOVE UK crime, but didn't take to it.

 

[beartoo]

I tried one of her recent books that was set in regional SA. I LOVE UK crime, but didn't take to it.

I liked her early books, not so much the later.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Crow54]

Question: What do you do when a friend lends you books which they like, but you can't get into? Do you pretend you read the book, and it was okay, or admit you couldn't finish it?

(One of my friends, via her mother, lent me several books in a certain genre that I don't read, and I regret returning them, saying they weren't my cup of tea.)