finished the latest Expanse book - fantastic, as always. Couldn't put it down.

I think Stephenson did explain Enoch's presence, somewhere in his festival of words, but damned if I can remember what it was. With Stephenson I think it's just best to let the plot wash over you and not think too hard about it. But yeah, I wish he'd reel it in at times.

I liked Graham Greene's The End of the Affair. Lots of wizardly turns of emotion and phrase. Praise to the author's craftsmanship.

And I finished Brandon Sanderson's new Stormlight book, Oathbringer. The plot is getting a little contrived, and it's tough to keep up with a handful of new characters he focuses on -- is this person a Radiant or a Herald or a Voidbringer? what exactly are their special abilities? what's their Shardblade's name? -- but the overall story is interesting and the main characters continue to shine. For a series where each book is almost as long as the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, it's impressive how the pace seldom slackens and the main characters remain intriguing throughout.

ya the parker books are great (payback with mel gibson was a pretty decent adaption of the hunter tho make sure u watch the directors cut).

Finally finished Augie March, it's quite a book. I think some of it probably flew over my head, but the rest will stick with me. I'm now reading Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground. Such a kvetch this guy!

Fingerprints Of The Gods

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Zomg now Trotsky is writing some girl named Natalia about "tongue-****ing" her. Homeboy is off the chain.

Good choice for your next book. I think Bellow was, in Augie, channeling the Underground Man.

You might find of interest bob_124's remarks about Notes from Underground, earlier ITT.

As a follow-up, I recommend Rawi Hage's Cockroach.

I'm one of them 2.5x so far.

Insane, that book is hilarious. Sure, part of it is dark humor but still.

Find me a 1000 page book with no depressing parts, honestly.

Loved it when I was 14.

Read like 10 Elmore Leonard books, both kinds. Awesome.

Also doing the whole Wheel of Time re-read, except zero-star #10 in the series.

Currently on 11. Yep.

Not sure I ever expected a review of a book about Trotsky to include "Homeboy is off the chain." I like it.

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Thanks. Ended up giving it a quick googlin and found that



And yeah you're definitely right about the plot. He's a talented enough writer that I get through everything happily, but still he adds a lot of unnecessary stuff.

Lincoln in the Bardo is incredible. It involves the true story of Lincoln grieving over his son Willie, who has just passed away. Lincoln goes to the tomb the night Willie is entombed, takes him out and holds him one last time. This leads the story into something surreal because the spirits of the cemetery launch into animation as they have never seen this done before. Throughout the story are quotes from contemporary writers which are all fascinating, but the majority of the story follows three spirits who feel compelled to help Willie escape the Bardo (kind of like limbo) and go to the afterlife. It deals with all manner of people stuck in the Bardo due to their inability to let go of what happened during their time among the living.

Truly great, very different and would recommend.

As an aside I just saw Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri and read about how McDonagh originally thought of the idea for the movie because he saw some billboards somewhere with a similar message and the movie come to him from that. Saunders had a similar source of inspiration where he heard about this story of Lincoln while passing by the tomb in DC and the story to came to him from that. As someone who is completely lacking in creativity it's amazing to me that these stories can come to people from such small, seemingly trivial, events. How that results in these masterpieces is beyond me.

After Watching the new Blade Runner and Loving it I decided to buy the book which inspired the first movie, have to say Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep might be one of worst book titles IMO but will let you know how i get on with it.

Anyone got much to say about this book?

It's a great book (imo but I'm a big fan of PKD) but don't be expecting Blade Runner in book form, it's very different.

I’m not a huge fan of PKD - I like some of his work but find others of it too trippy. And this is one of the good ones.

I haven't seen the director's cut but liked this movie so I'll look for it. But nothing will ever come close to Point Blank with Lee Marvin.

I like all of PKD's stuff but prefer his weirder, tripier work. Normal people tend to prefer Electric Sheep and The Man in the High Castle.

I'm reading the lesbian Alison Bechdel's graphic novel Fun Home, about being raised in the family funeral home (wordplay!) by her wacky dysfunctional parents, mainly her bizarre closeted dad. This is really good. I've read a few of these comic book style books now, and this is head and shoulders above the rest. She's evidently also semi-famous for a regular comic strip called Dykes to Watch Out For.

Fun Home is great, there's a sequel which isn't as good.

Blade Runner book became maybe my "favorite" ever, but I was a freshman in college and possibly an idiot. I didn't care for the short stories of PKD's that I read after that.

If you want trippy, try The Exegesis of Philip K Dick. His personal journal after becoming completely unglued, hallucinating about Jesus & aliens & writing sometimes over a hundred pages a day. The published work is over a thousand pages. I only read a few parts on kindle some years ago but just picked it up on audible for sleepytime listening so that should be fun.

PKD is the man. I'm sort of saving Electric Sheep until I get a hankering, but of his novels that I've read, I'd say Three Stigmata is my favorite -- it's one of his more cerebral action stories; and Ubik is the most accessible -- quick and fun, reality in a spray can. Haven't read his Exegesis, but VALIS, from what I understand, is a fictionalized account of it. It's very heavy on religion, philosophy, and delusion, and I'd only recommend it for people who like those subjects. Decent trilogy, don't get me wrong, but it's a bit of a slog.

Finished up David Copperfield. I'd put it a rung or two below Dickens' top notch stuff. A couple of great underutilized characters -- Uriah and Steerforth particularly -- get lost among lame love interests like Agnes and Dora. And the plot seems not to turn so much as meander. But of course its Dickens, and he can guide me through his dingy London streets any day.

ETA: Eyes of the Dragon ranked among my least favorite King books when I was fourteen. Though I admit I don't think I'd come across much fantasy at that point and that probably turned me off. **** wasn't scary at all, pfff.

ETA (again, I can't shut up!): Lincoln in the Bardo was already high on my reading list, but once I read Bruce Catton's Civil War trilogy it shot up to the top. Looks like such an interesting premise and narrative style.

She's also pretty famous for the Bechdel Test.

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I just read about that yesterday when I wikied her! Also they apparently made a musical out of Fun Home.