Off Topic Chazz's Book Club

Both series are excellent as are The Grail Quest novels and the King Arthur series. In fact, I have never been disappointed by a Cornwell book.

I also recommend Irshad Manji's "The Trouble with Islam Today" and "Allah, Liberty and Love" for a modern, free-thinkig, Muslim womans view on her religion and politics.

 

I heard that, when she submitted the draft of Go Set A Watchman, her editor/publisher(?) asked her for a preceding book of the characters in GSaW and she wrote To Kill A Mockingbird.

 

Rum diary is a much better book than it is a film
Hell Angels is essential reading
Also try a compilation of short stories / articles. I think it's Kingdom of Fear?

 

Have you come across Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (Oscar Zeta Acosta)? Oscar is reckoned to be the Samoan lawyer in F & L (Doctor Gonzo).

 

Gave up on that series, the author uses deus ex machina to the extent that you wonder why you bothered reading the first 500 pages at all, got to book 3 and finished with it. Robert Jordan is much better, no easy get-outs and convenient endings

 

On a footy theme, Pirlos book is well worth reading, though a bit short. Robert Jordan and early Robin Hobb are the best fantasy authors, do like a bit of fantasy fiction, even the Malazan books are worth a go, not to my taste though

 

IMO what you get out of novels is overrated. It doesn't really change you as a person. Then when you've just finished one book and been wrapped up in all the characters and their egos then it's time to get manipulated by another one.

And if the best authors have great insights into the human psyche why is it that so many of them have been hopeless drunks, womanisers, depressives, etc? It should be like "Physician, heal thyself". Great authors should be exuding calm and wisdom, instead half of them have been absolute ****s.

 

Is it as good as Chaos Walking? Read those with my eldest and totally blown away by them, best books for that age group I've ever read

 

Never read Chaos Walking.

Started Monster Calls with the class and need to finish over the summer.

 

No I haven't
I have heard of him in relation to being the Attorney though
Have you read it?

 

No worries. I'd recommend it then, at least if you enjoy that one. We got A Monster Calls to read straight after Chaos Walking, but decided to read summat else in between just in case it wasn't as good and we were disappointed!

 

A Monster Calls is a good read. Kids were hooked with it. Each chapter drip feeds little bits of information about what happened in the first chapter. It's pretty emotional too with what is happening to his mum.

 

Sounds good, and similar to the storytelling in Chaos Walking then. Very adult themes and hard hitting, but told in a way that makes a younger audience more understanding of the complexities of the adult world. War in this case, and what it does to people. So so well done without the gratuitous cynicism of the Hunger Games, which just made me angry, or getting bogged down in issues like the otherwise excellent His Dark Materials.

 

I read WOT a few years back, thought the first book was great, all downhill from there, no idea why I carried on reading but I did. It was a slog, nevermind pages, but books full of pointless irrelevant tripe. Got way too carried away with it as well, too many too powerful characters, rendering the other 90% irrelevant and absolutely pointless, making them nothing more than yet another reason to fill pages.

Comparing them to the Malazan books is like comparing Mario kart to gran turismo. Imagine if Robert Jordan was writing about the chain of dogs, it'd take him 15 books to do it writing about what each of the 50000 individuals had for supper every night.

 

Terrible at reading books but promised my wife I would read at least 2 books /year a few years ago(she reads 3-4 a week!). Finished one about the memoirs of a guy born on Hedon Rd in 1920, Harold Snell, called" Gas Man's Been". Have now started one by John O'Hurley(Seinfeld) titled " It's Okay to Miss the Bed on the First Jump". Both very light reading.

Ps. Any oldies remember the following ditty I certainly heard as a young kid in Hull.

"Gas man's been this morning; children dance with glee
Counting out the coppers; rebate two and three
Fish and chips for dinner: sausages for tea."

 

I'm rereading the expanse series as the TV show begins soon. Beyond that I haven't found anything super interesting lately besides this Hannibal philosophy book I wanted to read but I don't feel like paying for.

 

Yep, but a long time ago.

 

Last book I bought was actually some poetry "Woodchip,anaglypta and nicotined artex ceilings" by JB Barrington
Probably need to see him live though to properly appreciate, do if you get the chance
Very good, lazy explanation would be modern John Cooper Clark, but it's good enough as a quick definition.

 

Why would you read it when the series begins soon? What's the point in watching it when you've just refreshed everything that's happened?

I don't get that.

 

Completely disagree, in fact Ericsson is far more long-winded and over-descriptive than Jordan but I wouldn't put people off having a go with the Malazan books, I just found that all the build-up in the 3 books was neatly solved in a few pages at the end of each one which was a bit off-putting when you have invested the effort to read to the end of them.