the COMC is my all time fav novel just such an epic tale of revenge and so perfectly crafted.

it also makes for a great audiobook just make sure you pick a good narrator and of course the unabridged version.

it's sooooooooooooooo good.

I always liked that guy's sandwiches. And the movie version with the great Richard Chamberlain.

48 hour ban.

There's a new film of COMC out. Very good reviews. It's three hours long, but then any adaptation of this book should have a lengthy runtime.

oh sweet had no idea ty for the heads up

Loved Gone Baby, Gone.

Shutter Island just seemed very predictable and silly by the end. JMHO.

COMC is so goaty. Best tale of revenge ever.

Currently reading The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner. Very impressed about 30% of the way in. I can see why it was Nat Book award finalist.

The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox - this is a contemporary-set fantasy, highly praised by mainstream critics for reasons that escape me. It starts well enough, with the protagonist, Taryn the historian, arranging the revenge killing of her sister's murderer. The police get suspicious. Mysterious things start happening, and then Taryn and detective Jacob literally stumble into fairlyland, and the book goes downhill.

There's a distinct lack of wtf-ing when they discover fairyland, which is indicative of how bad the character writing is. The dialogue is the stiffest I've read. Every time a character opens their mouth, it took me out of the novel because I couldn't believe this was a person talking. This is a a quote of Jacob talking while in mortal danger:

He goes on for much longer. He is a cop about to die, but sounds like a university professor delivering a lecture. At another point, Jacob says:
Again, this is meant to be a policeman having a conversation. I found it impossible to care about anyone as they weren't credible people.

I said the reasons for the praise eluded me, but re-reading the Guardian review, I get it: Hit the leftist high notes and you score big with some critics, no matter how heavy handed your approach. The book's ending devolves into a ridiculously clumsy vision of a greener, less capitalist world. I'm in danger of sounding like a right-wing loon, but it's the approach which is objectionable, not the message.

As a proud, dyed-in-the-wool right-wing loon myself, I'll probably steer clear of that book.

I've been rereading parts of Sarah Bakewell's Humanly Possible, and I still can't get over how she's choosing to align herself with somebody like ****ing Bertrand Russell. ugh

I still love her previous 2 books though, on the existentialists and Montaigne respectively.

Thumbs-up to the Flamethrowers.

Started Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, never read any of his non- WoT books.

I liked the Mistborns a bunch. I think a lot lighter than WoT. Very easy to read and hard to put down.

Bookbub is literary crack. A daily alerter of heavily discounted Amazon ebooks. My digital library is becoming like a gamer's Steam library during a summer sale; keep buying books that I don't know when I'll get around to reading.

have you checked out libby? just need any library card and you get access to the entire library of audiobooks which is massive obv.

I have an audible membership as backup but man libby is awesome and has cut down on the number of audible purchases I make in a BIG way.

I'm not sure if Libby is as good in the UK as it is in the US. My library only has 18k e-books and 1k audible books, which isn't that many given a large bulk are total rubbish.

The first one was fine, very easy to read, doubt I'll read the rest of this trilogy though. The original novel was complete.

I certainly may try others of his.

ahh gotcha.

All Library’s are worth the effort to burn down!

How to Astronaut by Terry Virts.

He was an astronaut in the ISS/Space Shuttle/Soyuz era. Writes about what it's like to go through training, missions, and recovery.

He makes it clear he's not a professional writer, but it's well-written. A good read for anyone who's into space stuff.

Libby is stellar. Also "hoopla" -- for some reason i have access to some different books there.

A couple of weeks ago I binge watched Black Sails on Netflix. It was okay to good. But it really got me thinking about Pirates (obviously!). I decided to read the classic Treasure Island this week. I feel shame in saying this but I had never read it before or even seen a movie or TV show about it. Well, other than Black Sails. I thought I knew the story although I didn't. This is a book geared for young males but it was a great story. Not sure I really liked Stevenson's style though. My opinion was great story not greatly written.

I always thought Long John Silver was a pirate captain rather than a cook. Although now Long John Silver's Fish & Chips makes more sense I loved those places but none around anymore Anyway Long John Silver is one of the greatest fictional names ever invented.

I am glad at my advanced age I finally read this classic and I need to read more of the classics as the only ones I ever read were required by school or Mark Twain who is my favorite.

Paul Auster's New York Trilogy - it's all quite intriguing and mysterious, but does the self-reflexivity and intertextuality serve a meaningful purpose? I'm not entirely convinced it's more than a gimmick. The overall message seems nihilistic, questioning the concept of 'self' and whether anything has meaning.

Salammbô by Flaubert.

Fascinating on many levels, and densely packed into 275 pages.

This is a historical novel about Carthage and its war with the mercenaries it hired for the first Punic war with Rome. Though 150 years old, it is very cinematic with wall to wall violence, vivid characters and a bit of sex.

It reminds me a lot of the mad max series as various bands of warriors from places ranging from Spain to Ethiopia clash in a brutal natural environment, battling starvation and thirst as often as the enemy. Each tribe has it's own weapons, aperance and tactics.

I can invision a George Miller version, that would capture the insane violence and the crazy societies.

I can invision a very different Kubrick version capturing the dark spiritual and psychological forces that drive the story, as they do in The Shining.

There is a whole thing about the violence of men and how, though women cry over their loses, they love violent men. There is another whole thing about how the Carthagenians worship cruel gods who feed on pain and resort to child sacrifice.

Flaubert strove for historical accuracy and a few decades ago most thought the child sacrifice thing was Roman propaganda. But archeological evidence now says it was real.

This is a great book for the internet age. It's a fun read and Flaubert is a great writer but I'm not an expert in the ancient world and sometimes got lost. Luckily I could just look stuff up.

Carthage itself is fascinating. Probably a closer cousin to the US than is Rome. A society dominated by commerce, violence and a dark spirituality. I would listen to a couple podcasts or something first. I heard about this book via Tom Holland's pod. In our time has a god one.

Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick.

In this, Gleick explains the beginnings of chaos theory.

The version I got was published 1988, so undoubtedly out-of-date. The beginning part was understandable, but then it got past me and became a grind.

Maybe newer editions are more approachable. It's not meant to be a technical paper, it's directed at the layman, so maybe it's me too. Anyway, not great for me but ok.