Book Recommendations?

Finished "Silverview" the other day, John Le Carre's final book (although perhaps his son may complete some unfinished manuscripts from notes as he has in the past - he's a good writer on his own). This is one of his best.

For those unfamiliar with his body of work (luckily, but sadly too), Le Carre is the pseudonym of a gentleman who worked in some capacity for the British Secret Service for a period in the 50's and 60's. While he was there, he got the idea to write a book based on accurately portraying the life and work of an actual, bureaucratic spy in the Cold War, and eventually after he left to become an academic he finished it and published it as "Call for the Dead". It is the first book to feature George Smiley, who would feature in large and small roles in many of his later books. Unlike James Bond, Smiley is a deliberate thinker who is more involved in managing people than shooting at them or staring them down over card tables. The hallmark of Le Carre's Smiley or Cold War novels is his much more realistic portrayal of a life in the shadow services; his books were vetted before release, but are mostly period correct. If you want to understand what life was like for an actual spy in the Cold War, he's one of the best sources. And of course you can extrapolate to what goes on today. His viewpoint is not unique, others have written similar stories, but his deft exposition puts you in the minds of the pro- and antagonists, knowing what they know, and that lends a delicious build to the stories, mystery and ambiguity combining to create claustrophobic dread and a constant feeling of "what am I missing?". Often the endings depend on the nature of the characters themselves, not just what "should" happen based on events, and that sets him well apart from other thriller writers.

All of which is to say that Silverview is a fitting denouement to his career. The story takes place at the end of one career, and perhaps the start of another. It's a bit more clear than many of his others, easier to put the pieces together, because of... various things... But that makes it perhaps a better intro to his books than many of his others. And I have to say, the Afterword written by his son is completely plausible to me and a bit eerie.

All in all, a hell of a note to go out on. So grab a copy and raise a glass of sherry to John the Square, who has delivered us one final treat, on the square, and using the technique of looking back on one person's service in the same way that he must have been looking back on his own life. And yet it was largely written long ago. Genius, I suppose, is not limited in its vision of the world.

A real treat to read and fully equal to his best, in my opinion.

Just finish The Girl With all the Gifts and loved it. Wasn't a big fan of the movie except for the kid. The book was fantastic though. Oddly there aren't a lot of differences just works better as a book.

Finished A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik last night, and it was an absolute knockout. A magical school with no teachers, designed to protect students from carnivorous monsters hunting vulnerable magic users, monsters that do occasionally slip through the school's defenses to messily devour students. The main character is excellent, the world building is astonishing... it all works. It's also a remarkably compact story. I'm starting the sequel today.

I finished Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre last night. I thoroughly enjoyed the story but you have to like Max Brooks style of writing. It's all interviews, first hand accounts and journal entries.

After watching Dune and being disappointed I decided to start the books.

trichy wrote:

Finished A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik last night, and it was an absolute knockout. A magical school with no teachers, designed to protect students from carnivorous monsters hunting vulnerable magic users, monsters that do occasionally slip through the school's defenses to messily devour students. The main character is excellent, the world building is astonishing... it all works. It's also a remarkably compact story. I'm starting the sequel today.

I thoroughly endorse your opinion of the book, but I'll post my regular warning that the second book ends on a huge cliffhanger (and the third isn't out yet).

Glad you folks enjoyed it! I've been pushing that on my friends for a while now.

I just finished Uprooted by Novick and loved it!

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is absolutely specatular. Just amazing (if also extremely harrowing)

CaptainCrowbar wrote:
trichy wrote:

Finished A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik last night, and it was an absolute knockout. A magical school with no teachers, designed to protect students from carnivorous monsters hunting vulnerable magic users, monsters that do occasionally slip through the school's defenses to messily devour students. The main character is excellent, the world building is astonishing... it all works. It's also a remarkably compact story. I'm starting the sequel today.

I thoroughly endorse your opinion of the book, but I'll post my regular warning that the second book ends on a huge cliffhanger (and the third isn't out yet).

Finished it last night, and you're not kidding. Wholly worth it, though. At this point, Novik has completely earned my trust. Plus, this isn't a massive fantasy epic that we have to wait fifteen years for the next book... I hope.

Want to read a delightful story about two minimum wage employees forced to travel through a wormhole in the Swedish furniture store they work at, a week after their breakup, to battle carnivorous wingback chairs and Eldrich corporate spokesmen clones?

Of course you do.

Read Finna by Nino Cipri. It’s an anti-capitalist story featuring a wonderful trans character while exploring the challenges of coping with anxiety and depression. Also, CARNIVOROUS CHAIRS.

trichy wrote:

Want to read a delightful story about two minimum wage employees forced to travel through a wormhole in the Swedish furniture store they work at, a week after their breakup, to battle carnivorous wingback chairs and Eldrich corporate spokesmen clones?

Of course you do.

Read Finna by Nino Cipri. It’s an anti-capitalist story featuring a wonderful trans character while exploring the challenges of coping with anxiety and depression. Also, CARNIVOROUS CHAIRS.

Sounds fantastic. Eldich corporate spokesmen clones!

trichy wrote:

Want to read a delightful story about two minimum wage employees forced to travel through a wormhole in the Swedish furniture store they work at, a week after their breakup, to battle carnivorous wingback chairs and Eldrich corporate spokesmen clones?

I thought for a moment you were describing Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. Is IKEA Horror emerging as a new sub-genre?

Yeah, Horrorstor did it first. Grady Hendrix is a master of cross-genre horror.

misplacedbravado wrote:
trichy wrote:

Want to read a delightful story about two minimum wage employees forced to travel through a wormhole in the Swedish furniture store they work at, a week after their breakup, to battle carnivorous wingback chairs and Eldrich corporate spokesmen clones?

I thought for a moment you were describing Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. Is IKEA Horror emerging as a new sub-genre?

Same here.

I also just finished A Deadly Education and enjoyed it. Great last line as well!

I have now finished the 2nd book The Last Graduate and enjoyed it.

trichy wrote:

Want to read a delightful story about two minimum wage employees forced to travel through a wormhole in the Swedish furniture store they work at, a week after their breakup, to battle carnivorous wingback chairs and Eldrich corporate spokesmen clones?

Of course you do.

Read Finna by Nino Cipri. It’s an anti-capitalist story featuring a wonderful trans character while exploring the challenges of coping with anxiety and depression. Also, CARNIVOROUS CHAIRS.

I've already played Prey. (j/k)

Restarted the Blade Itself. It has taken some of the mystery out of the overall picture but still enjoying the POV characters. It has definitely cemented the areas in the brain bucket.

I just finished A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World. It's from the perspective of a teenager in a severely depopulated future so slightly YA but with adult themes. Writing was good and the story arch was great. It also starts off in the outer Hebrides Islands (Scotland) which is a really cool setting.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Just finish The Girl With all the Gifts and loved it. Wasn't a big fan of the movie except for the kid. The book was fantastic though. Oddly there aren't a lot of differences just works better as a book.

I have to read that one again. It was so good. There is a second book, in that world, that isn't quite as good but a fun read nonetheless. The Boy on the Bridge.

EvilDead wrote:

I just finished A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World.

Not to be confused with Harlon Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" which just happens to be about a boy and his dog at the end of the world (well, post-apocalyptic at least). It would be pretty hard to think of that as YA though.

I read it when I was like 14 and enjoyed it.

Just finished Parable of the Talents, the conlusion to Octavia Butler's Parable two-parter. A grim but very real story about the decline of America. Some very (now) obvious eventualities she wrote about in the 1998 release that was surreal to read after the last 5 years. I recommend this to anyone interested in something poorly categorized as only scifi.

Starting Devolution by Max Brooks and then going to muster up the courage to read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

Devolution was interesting, but could have been so much better. Still a great idea reasonably well executed.

Robear wrote:

Devolution was interesting, but could have been so much better. Still a great idea reasonably well executed.

The narrator on the audiobook was terrible. I ended up enjoying it, but very nearly quit at about the 40% mark.

bigred wrote:

Just finished Parable of the Talents, the conlusion to Octavia Butler's Parable two-parter. A grim but very real story about the decline of America. Some very (now) obvious eventualities she wrote about in the 1998 release that was surreal to read after the last 5 years. I recommend this to anyone interested in something poorly categorized as only scifi.

I read those books back-to-back. It's amazing to read Talents: you're right that it's almost prescient. Right down to the presidential candidate with the Make America Great Again slogan.

Anyone else having issues with Audibles website lately? Past month or so it barely loads for me...

ranalin wrote:

Anyone else having issues with Audibles website lately? Past month or so it barely loads for me...

No, I have used it quite a bit in the last month and haven't had any issues (I had to burn through credits before cancelling). Maybe use a packet traceroute utility to see if you are losing packets along the way. Might be some node in between you and them. Most internet quality testing websites have them or I can look up the app I have used if need be.

EvilDead wrote:
ranalin wrote:

Anyone else having issues with Audibles website lately? Past month or so it barely loads for me...

No, I have used it quite a bit in the last month and haven't had any issues (I had to burn through credits before cancelling). Maybe use a packet traceroute utility to see if you are losing packets along the way. Might be some node in between you and them. Most internet quality testing websites have them or I can look up the app I have used if need be.

I've had some sites get unresponsive or even refuse to completely load in Chrome over the last few months. Only way to fix was to clear all cookies or use another browser.

Everyone should be using Firefox anyway...

A Black Friday sale at Audible. I'm a sucker for the discounted Great Courses especially.