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coldbrightsunlight wrote:I read Sourdough on the train this morning, it was a delight!! Very of the moment and trendy topic of course, but it was a really warm story and strange enough to be interesting. Will definitely check out his other books.

Wow. that was fast. Both getting the book and reading it . I've just read two of Robin Sloan's books (the other being Mr Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore) and really liked both.

Any specific Culture books recommendation ?
I've read Look To Windward, and I bought Use of Weapons just before getting a kindle and never finished it (it's just a big book and I can't carry that during the day). I guess what felt weird to me with this one when I started it would be "normal" now that I've read a few others from the series so I might just get the kindle version too...

They're all good, is the problem! I really like Consider Phlebas, personally but you really can't go wrong. As for the weirdness, Banks can get pretty far out sometimes but the quality of the writing holds it all together.

Just starting The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville, only read Railsea so interested to see how it goes.

Last days of new Paris is a good one. If you like that, definitely check out The City & The City.

D.o.S. wrote:Last days of new Paris is a good one. If you like that, definitely check out The City & The City.

I really liked the City & the City, so I'll have to add Last Days of New Paris to the list.

China Mieville is pretty fucking great.

Rereading the Broken Earth trilogy.
Fifth Season is so fucking good.

oscillateur wrote:

coldbrightsunlight wrote:I read Sourdough on the train this morning, it was a delight!! Very of the moment and trendy topic of course, but it was a really warm story and strange enough to be interesting. Will definitely check out his other books.

Wow. that was fast. Both getting the book and reading it . I've just read two of Robin Sloan's books (the other being Mr Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore) and really liked both.

Any specific Culture books recommendation ?
I've read Look To Windward, and I bought Use of Weapons just before getting a kindle and never finished it (it's just a big book and I can't carry that during the day). I guess what felt weird to me with this one when I started it would be "normal" now that I've read a few others from the series so I might just get the kindle version too...

Yes, the beauty of ebooks and long train rides!

I haven't read all of the culture books but I really loved Player of Games and Use of Weapons in particular.

Dapper Bandit wrote:Iain Banks was truly a national treasure, his non-genre fiction is as good as, if not better than his Culture series. That said, Use of Weapons could be a real career highlight.

Yes, absolutely. Only read 2 or 3 of his non sf books but they've been very good.

I've got a couple of non-fiction books about music coming on interlibrary loan: the autobiography of Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, and the memoir by Brix Smith Start of the Fall. both promise to be intriguing.

I started reading the second book of The Expanse. I had forgotten that while the story and characters are globally great the writing style is... not great . Still, enjoyable reading.

I'll get Use of Weapons for my kindle too, there's no way I can read the paper book these days. Kinda sucks to have to buy it twice though.

Upping my bread game:

That bread book looks amazing, need to look at getting some more cook books soon.

Finished Last Days... and my expectations were thoroughly exceeded! Railsea was a bit of a meh experience for me, a quality reimagining of Moby Dick but it didn't really blow my socks off beyond that but this book was very much it's own thing. Got some stuff out from the library at the moment but once those are finished a dive through my book shelves may be in order to drag some more Mieville to the front of the queue. Might have The City & The City but I'm more certain of Perdido Street Station and possibly Rat King. Would either of these be a better jumping off point than others?

Anyway, next up is Legoland by Gerard Woodward, looks like fun.

Which of those would be best depending on your tastes! I've not read Last Days... but I would probably recommend City to most people out of those three if I wanted to convince them. It's a good book, tightly written, interesting story. King Rat is not one of my favourites of his for whatever reason. It was definitely good and full of interesting ideas but it felt a bit less polished, I found some of the use of jungle music (which it's not much of a spoiler to say is prominent) a bit corny. Perdido Street is great, and I like all the Bas Lag books a lot. Again, partially because of world-building, but the plot and characters in those are better/darker/more interesting than in Railsea.

I mostly agree about Railsea, it was one of those books where I enjoy the imagination and world-building enough to justify a less than perfect story and characters. So overall I enjoyed it, but I'm pretty tolerant to that sort of thing if I find a book interesting.

Best shihizzle I can remember reading on/for halloween....

Dandolin wrote:https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51oVF7yZDJL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Best shihizzle I can remember teading on/for halloween....

That sounds wild, adding that to my list!

Yeah, it's a mind-bender