Book Recommendations

This is the place where you can conflab about all the other stuff besides videogames
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Alex79
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Alex79 »

eastmcduck wrote:People can feel free to enjoy a chuckle if they like, but I've discovered, at the age of 30, that the Harry Potter series is a great series. It's a little on the juvenile side, but it's very well written and darker than you might think. I would definitely recommend those to anyone. I listened to both Jim Dale's and Stephen Fry's versions of the audiobooks and both were excellent. I tend to listen to a lot of audiobooks at work. My job is painfully boring and I've found audiobooks help me avoid getting burned out and depressed. Audible is worth it's weight in gold, by the way, in case any of you have considered trying it out and are still apprehensive.
I started reading them at the age of 20 - so 17 years ago. I really enjoyed them to be honest.
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KissMammal
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by KissMammal »

No shame in that - I like the Potter books (and films) too.

Being totally critical, I would say that plot and story are Rowling's weak points. The mystery/plot element of her stories are almost always very contrived, convoluted and/or downright illogical, and often hinge on some pretty hard to swallow coincidences and unlikely deus ex machinas - and thus come across as unsatisfying and pretty much impossible for the average reader to have a chance of predicting. They also tend to be quite inconsequential, in that Harry is often a passive observer to events, and in some cases his actions have no bearing on the outcome, aside from maybe endangering people (I'm thinking of books 1, 4 and 5 especially).

And - it's a cliched point - but Rowling could have really done with a stronger editor, especially in books 4 onwards, which really needed a lot of chaff cut out imo. I mean, how many maguffins were there towards the end?!?!?! There are very longwinded subplots that ultimately have very little bearing on the overall narrative. I remember in particular the chapters related to Hagrid's half-brother dragging on and on, and ultimately leading nowhere important.

For these reasons, I'm in the minority(?) that thinks the films that were shorter, bolder and took more liberties and shortcuts with the source material (rather than slavishly following the plot of the books) were by far the strongest - in particular 3, 5 and 7. In fact, I wish they'd gone a bit further in condensing things down to make them more cinematic. Cuarón's Azkhaban is the clear standout, injecting indie art movie credibility that reinvigorated the whole franchise - it seems hard to believe now, but there were real doubts at the time over whether there'd even be enough interest to sustain adapting all 7 books.

But where Rowling excels is imaginative world-building and engaging, warm characters. Despite my misgivings about the storytelling, the books are full of charm, and are just nice to read and spend time inside - the equivalent of a comfy old jumper.

The Stephen Fry audiobboks are great.
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Alex79
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Alex79 »

I'm after some book recommendations since rediscovering my Kindle a couple of weeks ago. I tend to go for quite easy going books, and am not really in to sci-fi or GoT type fantasy - to give some background, I love most of Dave Gorman's books, and the last few books I read were Slash's autobiography, The Beach by Alex Garland (again!) and The 100 Year Old Man That Climbed Out Of The Window - so like I said, easy going and not high-brow in the least! I've got plenty of autobiographies to read so after some fiction for a while.

Hit me up!

EDIT : Quite in to crime stuff, is The Godfather worth reading? I really enjoyed the Donnie Brasco book which was the true life account of Joseph Pistone's undercover work in the mob.
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Flabyo
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Re: Book Recommendations

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Hmm, that's quite the challenge...

Im going to recommend the author Austin Grossman, and specifically the book 'you'. It's a mystery story set within the halls of a game developer in the late 90s. I really like it, but it seems almost no one else has even heard of it. (His other books are fun too)

I'm also a huge fan of the 'Peter Grant' novels about magic in the present day and the branch of the MET police that deals with it. Rammed full of heavily researched detail on police procedure, with a very dry wit and a diverse cast that reflects present day London in a way you don't see that often. The first book in the series is 'Rivers of London', so start there (I think that first book was released in the US as 'Midnight Riot' for reasons that no one understands, least of all the author Ben Aaronovitch)
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Chopper
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Chopper »

Alex, these are easy going, but stone-cold classics at the same time

Crime:
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris - The first Hannibal Lecter book.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (can't remember, this may be a bit heavier)
Fatherland - Robert Harris - A crime thriller set in an alternate universe where Germany won WWII

Classic
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - don't be put off by its 'classic' status. Extremely funny book

Non Fiction
Based wholly on your recommendation of New Star Cricket - Rain Men by Marcus Berkman. Very funny account of a village cricket team. Quintessential British humour.
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Tleprie
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Tleprie »

Alex, you should look into John Dies at the End. Pretty quick comedy/horror book. I prefer the 2nd book, and they stand alone, so you wouldn't have to read the first, but it's still excellent.
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Alex79
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Alex79 »

Thanks all - the Austin Grossman novel you recommended looks good, Flabyo, and I've managed to get hold of a copy of Chopper's cricket suggestion for a penny off Amazon! Not Kindle, but I'm not going to argue for a penny haha.

Yeah, I've heard of John Dies At the End, it's written by one of the Cracked regulars isn't it?

And in the meantime, I've started Cormac McCarthy's The Road which I've been meaning to read for years since enjoying the film.
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Tleprie »

Alex79uk wrote: Yeah, I've heard of John Dies At the End, it's written by one of the Cracked regulars isn't it?
Yep! David Wong, their executive editor.

I'm not sure if we're also allowed to recommend graphic novels here, but I recently read Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley (the Scott Pilgrim creator), and I thought it was really excellent. A nice self-contained story.
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Flabyo
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Flabyo »

Lost at Sea is great, and someone really should adapt it for film. It'd be a much easier task than Scott Pilgrim (or even Seconds for that matter)
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Alex79
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Alex79 »

Thanks, I do love comics and graphic novels so I shall definitely be investigating that one further.
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Stanshall
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Re: Book Recommendations

Post by Stanshall »

Service Games is a very interesting, somewhat dry account of the history of SEGA. I've been listening to the audiobook over the last couple of weeks at bedtime. It's sent me and my wife almost straight to sleep but when I've remained awake, it's been great. Don't listen while driving.
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