The 'what book are you reading' thread.

[One-armed dwarf]

Pre-ordered that book that has Donald Trump upset cause of the streisand effect I guess

The release date was pushed to tomorrow.

Also I need something a bit lighter than what I'm reading right now.

Heard a funny extract from it where he apparently comfort eats a cheeseburger in bed after a rough day with the mean media.

[regemond]

Not even gonna lie, I've copied and pasted this from a list I've just left on Facebook...

So I started this year with the intention of trying to read, on average, a book a week. As of tonight I've finished three. The Wayward Pines trilogy.

I haven't watched the show, and I've heard minimal things about the plot aside from the fact it's heavily inspired by Twin Peaks (something else I've never experienced). I'm not going to lie, I absolutely loved this trilogy. From start to finish, the writing flowed really well, the pacing was fantastic and - the third book especially - it just had me gripped, wondering what the hell was going on.

The series as a whole managed to flow from a weird mystery novel into a strange sci-fi romp before leaning heavily into a horror story, and the fact that it never really settled on one genre made it so much better for me. It could have stuck to one thing, it could have played it safe, it could have kept up the mystery side of things from the first in the series (which in fairness was really good too), but it didn't. The author took risks, knew what he was crafting and did a damn good job.

For a start on this book a week idea, I'm happy with the three book head start and I'm happy these are the ones I finished first.

[One-armed dwarf]

You really should watch Twin Peaks.

[shinymcshine]

I watched the first series of Wayward Pines but wasn't that captivated by it. It isn't really that much like Twin Peaks which is often just a lazy tag used by reviewers for any slightly quirky/mysterious setting.

[merman]

Wonder - R. J. Palacio

This is the book that inspired the recent film starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. It's based on the author's real-life encounter with a young girl with a severe facial deformity.

Ten-year-old August has undergone many surgeries and been home-schooled, but now his parents want him to attend a proper school. The story shifts perspective between August, his sister Olivia and his friends to tell the story of Auggie's first year at school while his sister starts high school. There are friends and enemies and difficult situations for them all.

It's a sweet and gentle tale.

[Gsain123]

I also love to read suspense and thriller zoner books.

[One-armed dwarf]

Been really enjoying the Fire and Fury book. It's not really a book of bombshells (other than one shocker involving Tony Blair sliming up to Kushner) and tbh the whole Russia-gate stuff feels like a side-item in it (though I'm only 40% in). But as expose of how shambolic the Trump admin is and how much its policies are articulated through internal power struggles between moderates (Priebus), Democrat (camp Kushner, who comes across a total boot-licker in this) and hard-right/alt-right 'economic nationalism' (Bannon) it's really enthralling stuff.

For its journalistic merits it's hard to know what to think. The author does massage the truth of things I feel as he conjectures a bit via hearsay from unnamed sources as to what people's different motiviations are (like Kellyanne Conway using the failed Trump campaign as launching pad for her career). More than once they invoke Mel Brook's The Producers when talking about the campaign itself and that actually they all really really wanted to lose.

However even if the grounds upon which some facts are established seem a bit shaky it only gets legitimised even more by the behaviour by Mr Trump over on twitter and Bannon's own non-apology for his words as quoted in the book, so I don't really have any trouble believing most of it. It's a shocking account but also completely consistent with the whack-a-mole governance of the Trump admin. Strongly recommend even if the Trump subject can be a bit exhausting sometimes.

[One-armed dwarf]

In fact the book really reminds me of The Disaster Artist.

Like there's so much both books share in common I feel. Even with the weird neediness of their 'protagonists'.

[merman]

Now The Chips Are Down - The BBC Micro, by Alison Gazzard

Part of the MIT Press Platform Studies series, which started with the amazing Racing The Beam about programming the Atari 2600.

This book is centred on the social and cultural impact of the BBC Micro, looking at the Computer Literacy Project it was part of and the whole hobbyist scene that expanded and developed on the basic hardware. Three chapters are devoted to key games - educational title Granny's Garden, the seminal space exploration game Elite and the Repton series from Superior Software. It ends with a discussion of the ambitious Domesday Project (using a BBC Master and laserdisc, schools across the country - including my primary school - submitted information and data about their area to form a modern version of William the Conqueror's survey).

The tone is quite academic rather than being a history of the machine, with copious footnotes to refer to (a common feature of the books in the series). But I am enjoying it so far.

Next up will be I AM ERROR, the Platform Studies book on the NES/Famicon.

[One-armed dwarf]

Interesting reddit post on /r/all today by some guy who sounds like he's been in and out of prison for whom books are his escape*
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments ... uff_about/

*Not literally. You can't escape from a prison with books. That's silly. Not even Count of Monte Cristo.

[One-armed dwarf]

After finishing this Woolf book and Infinite Jest I want to read a fantasy novel cause Planescape turned me onto it.

Can anyone give me the lowdown on The Wheel of Time and what it is (or similar stuff).

If it's any help I've read Lord of the Rings when I was a teen. I tried Game of Thrones but found the books bad.

[One-armed dwarf]

600 pages through Infinite Jest now. Not including the footnotes I read.

I don't really get this book. Feels like it's sending me around in a big circle to nowhere.

[One-armed dwarf]

Free copy of first Wheel of Time book: https://ebookclub.tor.com/

It's legal not dodgy pirate shit. Though you may have to tell a few porkies about where you live (select US or Canada on signup)

I had considered reading this at some point so this is timely for me. Though I really don't think I will read the other 13 (!!!) books.

[shinymcshine]

After reading, a couple of months ago, Tony Wilson's semi factual 24 Hour Party People about the rise & fall of Factory Records etc I've moved now to a related book.

Unknown Pleasures by Peter Hook is an autobiographical book about his time in Joy Division (before he moved on to New Order, Monaco etc), focussed around the formation of the band and his notable workimg relationships with Bernard Sumner, Martin Harnett and Ian Curtis, and of course, their dealings with Factory Records.

I also read Crazy is My Superpower an autobiographical account of a tough childhood, dealing with bipolar parents and following a dream into WWE by AJ Mendez Brooks (aka AJ Lee). Really quite brutally stark and open in places, it was a compelling read, and doesn't really dwell on the WWE side of things too much, just one girl's struggle to find a place in the world. Really recommend this if you've even the slightest of interest.

[One-armed dwarf]

The Disaster Artist is 99p on Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00V3KJYH6

It's really good. Though more scary and sad than it is funny. The film version kind of cut out some of the creepy parts about Wiseau and just made him a bit eccentric.