Going from classic Le Carre to Len Deighton. Enjoyed the movies, so high hopes for the books, and Michael Caine just looks so ****ing cool. Bought a rain mac like this the other week, gonna wear it down the pub on Friday.

Ooops that was just a typo. I've only read Fortune Smiles as well.

Well, it was a productive error. I have now learned that there's another collection that also sounds good.

I've always been a PKD fan, but partial to his weirder stuff -- like the 3, 5, 6 or however many books there are in the Valis trilogy. When I first heard the BBC radio version of HHGG, I had an AHA! moment. I saw that it was crazy to try to make movies of his stuff, but they would have made great radio plays. I would have loved to see the same BBC crew make a series out of, say, The Divine Invasion.

Finished Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon; it's like a long version of The Crying of Lot 49 or Gravity's Rainbow lite. It's a different story, but the same story, written in Pynchonesque prose and populated with, now, predictably oddball and repetitious characters. The prose, style, and plot delivered a new message 45 years ago, a new way to see the world, now those devices, and the novel's publication, only inform us that Pynchon is alive and not senile.

Channel 4 in the U.K. Are currently showing a 10 part series called 'Electric Dreams'. Each episode is based on a Philip K Dick short story.

The Daughter of Time (1951) by Josephine Tey. In 1990 it was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list compiled by the British Crime Writers' Association. I thought it was ok but wouldn't make my top 100

The thing I found interesting about Deighton is that he has all the same themes as Le Carre, and yet the feel is completely different.

One of my favorite authors speaks her mind

http://billmoyers.com/story/annie-pr...worth-reading/

I'm reading the great Saul Bellow's masterwork, The Adventures of Augie March. This is some work for a distracted reader like me, and I've been bested by it twice before. But this time I'm making it thru, by God. I love Augie's fighting spirit, making his way thru life and 1930s Chicago and all the rascals he runs into. A very American book, love that.

I think American fiction had never seen anything like it before, a novel with very little plot and not much character outside of Augie himself, it is carried sheerly by Bellow's creation of a voice. And what a voice.

It became fashionable to be dismissive of Bellow but I think you can't overstate the effect he had: the rules of narrative changed after this novel and Henderson the Rain King.

I recall fondly Bellow’s Humbolts Gift read forty years ago

Isaacson's new book on da Vinci is really good. I sped through his Einstein book and wanted to puke reading the Steve Jobs one so this is the first one of his I've really enjoyed. I knew a lot less about Leonardo than I thought I did.

Finished Wild Wives by Charles Willeford. This intentionally pulp fiction is as "pulpy" as it gets, not much more than a stylized short story with an ending that was acceptable when written, but not acceptable today.

Edit: wrong thread.

Hi guys! Long time, no spam thread every day with new books. Some high- (and low-) lights from the past however long:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. Some great philosophical insights, but the story didn't catch my attention, probably due to poor pacing.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Phenomenal depiction of America's post-reconstruction great migration told from three enlightening viewpoints. Maybe the best book I've read all year.

I finished the last two books of Bruce Catton's centennial Civil War trilogy. I like his descriptions of marches and maneuvers, even all the politics, but I found his battle scenes to be lacking. Learned a ton from these books.

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi didn't quite live up to the hype. Reminded me a lot of how I felt about Metro 2033 -- awesome atmosphere and setting, but lacking engaging characters or interesting plot.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. More high hopes dashed. Not a bad book at all, but a little too milquetoast and perky for my taste. Characters (ugh) always talk about their problems and (blech) find meaningful solutions to them. WTF kind of book is this? Still kinda liked it and already picked up the second book. This book fills a sort of "cozy sci-fi" niche.

Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October offended my highly tuned literary senses. So rah-rah 'Murica, so many instances of "How's the family doing?", that it was hard to swallow. Solid plot, though.

Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Excellent mystery, even if the revelation is telegraphed. Wanted to read this before I watch the new movie... haven't seen new movie yet.

Hammered by Kevin Hearne. I didn't like the use of Thor as the main antagonist (all Chris Hemsworths' fault) but it's another solid entry in the series.

The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin finishes off her Broken Earth trilogy well enough, but I was a little disappointed by the ending. Her second person narrative worked extremely well in the first book, but it's shoehorned into the second two books. And her clipped style started to wear on me by the end. Still, I very much like her perspective on fantasy, and I'm very interested to see what she does next.

Go Down Together by Jeff Guinn tells the story of Bonnie and Clyde realistically, pointing out where fact and fiction diverge and filling in a lot of details. Excellent book that shows them as the small-time raggedy gangsters that they were. Lots to like about this book: the depression-era backdrop, Bonnie's poems, trips to mom's house, backwoods camping, etc.

This echoes a reread I did a few years ago - ideas still interesting, good characters and eWorld building but a bit lacking as a story.

I have another one (the dispossessed?) on my shelf to reread.

I’m reading On Patagonia. So far so whatever.

Exactly right. Those are two pretty big things to miss in your big novel.

Excellent, I have been looking for a reason not to read this and going three books deep to an unsatisfactory end is just the thing, especially while I still have 5 books of Malazan to get through.

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My current trash novel is River God by Wilbur Smith. Abounds in engaging characters and interesting plot, along with supposedly solid historical accuracy for the period of ancient Egypt when the Hyksos were first invading. Great read.

I'm audio-booking again through The Third Reich Trilogy by Richard Evans, the absolute best possible books on the topic, especially regarding daily life under Nazism.

Whilst the book as a whole infuriated me, there were some great bits of colour about the latter days of the NaZis in The Kindly Ones, that always made me want to follow up on them. OTOH, there’s a limit to how much nazi I want to consume.

Collusion by Luke Harding long time Guardian (Russia) reporter. Heard interview last week on Fresh Air...transcript here https://www.npr.org/2017/11/21/56565...e-of-collusion
Very readable...while I’ve kept up with Russia-Trump connection since before the election the details and background Harding marshall’s gives new meaning to ‘devil’s in the details’.
On Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin was a wonderful work as were all his books.
My next literary novel (purchased) was to be Egan’s Manhattan Beach now derailed by several of the ruffians who prowl this thread. I guess it will now be Bend Sinister by Nabokov though just to piss off Vladimir’s ghost I’ll read Richard Thompson pulp first.

Edit: Jim Thompson...Pop. 1280

The Real Frank Zappa Book came out in 1990 and I purchased it and read it with gusto. Funny as hell and hell is funny. Frank did it his way all the way. Was perusing a few chapters today and want to recommend this gem to the Lounge Faithful.

Frank Zappa is God, wearing loud pajamas.

Frank Zappa

I read the first and liked it enough, but don't have a strong desire to continue. Have you read the Inheritance ones? The concept and preview chapter intrigued me.

kokiri,
The Dispossessed is the one of hers I really liked.

Baltimore,
If you're on the fence about Broken Earth, I'd say to skip it. While she does some very cool stuff, the story loses some of its steam after the first book. Still good and interesting, but nothing otherworldly. I've got the first book of the Inheritance trilogy lined up, but I've just started the new Brandon Sanderson, so it might have to wait a few weeks.

any really cool time travel books?