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The Dark Forest - Liu Cixin

The sequel to ‘The Three Body Problem’ - Not sure what to make of it really - I thought the first two thirds were pretty dull but then the last third is really good and it ends really well - even managing to make the first two third better in retrospect. Less reliance on bat shit mental physics than the first book and leans on sociology a lot more which is both a good and bad thing (and pretty surprising for an alien invasion book). Will read the last one in the trilogy ('Death’s end’) to see how it ends. 7 wallbreakers / 10

A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne. Fantastic. Sort of a tamer version of ASOIAF, some good twists. 2nd book in the Seven Kennings series.

Outpost by W. Michael Gear. Took a chance on sci-fi, wasn’t disappointed. Purchased book 2 in fact. Kinda predictable, but enjoyable.

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman. Pretty typical FB. Heartwarmingish.

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin. Usually Love her books, but this is easily my least favorite books she’s written. Yeah, it has that Lovecraftian thing going on, yeah it’s uber diverse, yeah it’s as expected well written, but good lord the anthropomorphization of NYC is so freakin odd.

13 days later

‘The Secret Speech’ - Tom Rob Smith

The sequel to ‘Child 44’ - decent enough but not exactly gonna change the world. The writer has freely admitted he has the screenplay version in mind when writing these and you can tell with the brisk pace and general lack depth (definitely feels less of a snapshot into communist 1950s Russia) but sometimes all you want to read is a decent pot boiler.

The Three Body Problem is excellent Wally. Not read any of his others.

I have two on the go at the moment.
Allan Bateman - There and Back Again, rugby autobiography picked up in a second hand shop for a quid
Anthony Kenny (ed) History of Western Philosophy.
I wouldn’t particularly recommend either except for the Kenny book for Roger Scruton’s chapter on Husserl, Heidegger and Sartre.

9 days later

David Sedgewick - Brainwashing Britain. A very critical analysis of the BBC and how they manipulate the news to suit their agenda. Was very interesting in parts and confirmed a few things that I had always thought about the BBC.

John Kampfner - Freedom for Sale - a collection of essays discussing the political systems in a selection of countries, and how the populations of those countries have traded their freedoms/liberties for wealth. Moderately interesting.

Graham Greene - Our Man In Havana. I enjoyed this one, I’ve read a few Greene novels now and they are usually more hit than miss.

Michael Connelly - Fair Warning - the usual Connelly fare; easy to read, decent enough premise, although the main character is very odious.

You want to stop reading all those trashy thrillers and try something a bit more intellectually nourishing my friend.

Stick It Up Your Punter!: The Uncut Story of the Sun Newspaper - Very funny. Some of the shit that went down in Kelvin McKenzie’s era is farcical.

I only read when I’m on me holibobs.

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Only just started it but it’s good fun and well written so far.

    I read a lot of historical fiction. I finished a trilogy a couple weeks ago about Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Elizabeth Chadwick.
    1) The Summer Queen - about her marriage to Louis of France and their journey to Jerusalem for the Second Crusade
    2) The Winter Crown - annulment from Louis and the beginning to middle of her marriage to Henry II
    3) The Autumn Throne - mid-marriage, imprisonment and through her death.

    There’s a lot of great historical detail mixed in with some great fiction. Not too much romance, because this poor lady lived through some crazy shit, but a great story all the same.

    Wally Was a fair book, imo. Decent enough for me to read its follow-up Children of Ruin.

        Jules72 brilliant book, absolutely flew through it. just got a copy of Liberation Through Hearing which im looking forward to, think its by the guy that ran XL Records.

          21 days later

          ‘The Curry Guy’ - Dan Toombs

          (lol) Got it for father’s day as I quite enjoy cooking and decided to give it a whirl this week. Knocked up a top drawer madras that I would have been happy with from a restaurant so job done book. Good work. Recommended if you wanna make good home curries. Be aware though, it’s a three or four stage process the first time so not something you can knock up in a single go.

          ‘Children of time’ turned out to be fucking great. Loved it. Currently reading ‘Natives’ by Akala as I really like the guy and thought I would do some self education in light of BLM.

          Currently working through a few crime thrillers from the Kindle store, some have been ok, a couple have been below average, makes me wonder how they get published to be honest.

          I have some Norman Mailer books coming shortly, not read him before, so looking forward to a new author

          6 days later

          48 Laws of POWERRRRR!!!!! By Robert Green.

          Fucking amazing! Wish I’d read it 20 years ago!! Coulda saved me alot of trouble!

          Just finished The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.
          Yes, it’s a Richard and Judy Book Club recommendation. It’s a bit like a Wasily mix, not very challenging but it makes you very happy. A solid 8.5/10. If you have a better summer beach read then you’re lying.

          If It Bleeds. A new collection of four long short stories by Stephen King. He’s still on the good streak that started with The Outsider. Incidentally this has a sequel story to that, which is also the weakest of the four.

            Yeah, it surprised me too. Did not expect that direction.