Book review thread

[doc_bean]

Since we have a rather popular movie review thread here, i figure, why not try the same thing with books ? Most of us are literate, after all.

Greg recommended a book in the sci-fi vsfantasy thread:

doc, if you haven't already, give Orson Scott Card's Enders Game a read. Many people I've known have told me that it is the best or one of the best science fiction books they have ever read - and I agree with them.

So first of all I'd like to thank him for the recommendation

It's certainly an entertaining book. It's fairly traditional in set-up in that it's another "Only you can save us !"-type novel. But it is different enough. It concentrates mostly on the training of child prodigies who are being raised to command the intergalactic fleet of earth. The protagonist, Ender, is, of course, the best and brigthest student the school has ever had, and so they decide to push him to help him reach his maximal potential. This is somewhat the literary equivalent of the boot camp part of most war movies, except with kids, and laser tag in zero G. There are a few scenes focused on tactics, which most people on these forums will probably appreciate (don't expect Sun Tzu however, it's mostly in-game tactics, not grand strategy).

The book occasionally comments on the situation back on earth, and I think Peter, Ender's older brother is one of the most interesting characters in the book, I wouldn't have minded if the author had spent more time on his doings.

Overall it is a great book, especially because the 'environment' of the school just appeals to that little part in you that makes you think: 'cool !', like that word has never had gone out of style. The book does have its flaws, the children aren't very childlike, the backstory on eath feels a little tagged on and some tactical decision are questionable. But overall it's a very entertaining read.


BTW the short story of which parts still appear in the final book is available for free , in case anybody is interested. EDIT: For those who haven't read the book and would like to: the short story does spoil the ending of the book, and quite a few other important events, it's a condensed version of the novel.

[Beirut]

I have two books in the mail from Amazon. Liddel Hart's German Generals Talk, and John Keegans A History of Warfare.

Some light reading for the summer deck.

[Bijo]

To get myself into the spirit of warfare, tactics, strategy, etc., for when I enter officers training, I've been rereading The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and have been reading On War by Carl von Clausewitz, though for some reason I left it for a while and restarted again, but I hardly read much of it.


On War is truly a great book, and even after all this time it's used by the military all over the world. Pretty heavy book with "high-sounding" language used.

It's a bit philosophical, includes politics, history, and is about the nature of war: my kind of book. However the problem with it is that it's just too much text sometimes. Sometimes when you just say a couple of words you can be clear enough already. But that's me.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I'm currently reading Post-War, by Tony Judt, a history of Europe from 1945 to 2005. As such, it's a fairly hefty tome: this doesn't matter, though, as it's one of the most literary history books I've read in a very long time. Its sweep is truly epic, and I've yet to be anything less than absolutely fascinated by it. I heartily recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about why Europe is how it is today.

In fiction, I managed to find a bookshop near me which does the proper, really cheap Penguin Classics-£1 each-which I haven't seen for quite a while. So, I'm working my way through those. I'm just finishing The Count of Monte Cristo, and I'll start on Moby Dick after that.

[Fragony]

I higly recommend this,



Journalism as a commic book. Palestine was excellent, this one is even better.

Sample;




Oh and Glamorama by Brett Easton Ellis. Everything Brett Easton Ellis is great, by far my favorite american author.

[Banquo's Ghost]

I can heartily recommend the work of Andreï Makine for those of you who love lyrical storytelling.

My favourite of his novels is "The Woman Who Waited" a tragic love story that ranks with the best of Russian lyricism and lament. It is exquisite in the original French (Makine is a Russian who defected to France in the 80's) but the English translation is very good. If you love language and the human soul, you'll be captivated - there are sentences with imagery that simply stops you in your tracks to reflect. The evocation of the desolation of Siberia, and the hopelessness and indomitable spirit of the people that live there is moving beyond review.

His most famous work "Le testament français" is a marvellous exploration of childhood and best read with "La Terre et le ciel de Jacques Dorme" as a follow on. This latter is not a sequel, but bears many of the same themes, shaped within a touching love story set on the Russian front of the last war. Both are available in English translation.

I'd make a good pitch for another favourite author too, Arturo Pérez-Reverte. His "The Fencing Master" is one of the most erotic novels I have ever read, set in 19th century Spain with dark murder and intrigue and a femme fatale to die for. No sex or skin, just incredible swordplay, allusion and atmosphere.

Well worth chasing are "The Flanders Panel" a smart art-history whodunnit and "The Nautical Chart" a modern smuggler's adventure with an anti-heroine that I am still in love with after all these years, the elusive Tanger Soto. I wish my Spanish was good enough to read him in the original, but again the translations are excellent.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius

and

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer

[Bijo]

I higly recommend this,

*snip image*

Journalism as a commic book. Palestine was excellent, this one is even better.

Sample;

*snip image*


Oh and Glamorama by Brett Easton Ellis. Everything Brett Easton Ellis is great, by far my favorite american author.

You reading it in French?

[Conradus]

There's one book I can recommend to all 'Dune' by Frank Herbert and most of its sequels. They're science fiction, but very enjoyable.

[doc_bean]

There's one book I can recommend to all 'Dune' by Frank Herbert and most of its sequels. They're science fiction, but very enjoyable.

Ah, I've been reading that series, finished God-Emperor a few weeks ago, read it right after Children and Messiah, I had read the original about a year ago (probably a little less). Still two more to go, but i'm going to take a little break so i don't get Dune overkill.

Do you happen to know if the Brian Herbert books are really as bad as people seem to claim ?

[Fragony]

For dutch/flemish members, 'Het Marokkanendrama' by Fleur Jurgens, mercilessly annihilates all the leftist myths. Get it.

[Conradus]

Since I've named Dune as a must read, I'll mention another sf-series of Frank Herbert: his Pandora books. Especially the first: Jesus Incident. It tells the story of a ship filled with colonist who escaped earth and now try to settle on the harsh world of Pandora. They have been ordered to do so by Ship, the AI they made to control their vessel and who became a god. At the same time on the surface of the planet a faction of the colonist tries to create a totalitarian regime and shut the outside world (the environment of Pandora) out. If you ever played Alpha Centauri, you'll see great similarities in the story. There's also a planetwide conscious brain: Avata ~mind worms in AC.

Another sf-author: Robert Heinlein also wrote some fantastic novels. I can recommend his most known Stranger in a strange land and Job. The latter tells the story about a man who's the toy in a gamble between God and the Devil. The story has some fabulous humour in it.

[sapi]

Have to agree with doc_bean's assessment of Ender's game - although it did seem a bit corny in places, I still found it very interesting, and I think it was the 'cool' factor that he mentioned. I'm grabbing the rest of the series now, seeing as I've got nothing else to read.

Other authors? Harry Turtledove's always good, although his writing does seem very repititive (compared to his other books) at time. His best series is definitely, imo, the one about the Confederate States, which is based in an alternate reality where the CSA won the American civil war. The characters and events in the series(s) broadly mirror those that occured in real life, with the CSA taking the place of Nazi Germany and the USA the western european powers.

'In the presence of mine enemies', another of Turtledove's alternate histories, is also worth a read. It focuses on a future in which Germany won WW2, and through following the lives of a Jewish couple in the new reigime it really gives food for thought.

[Banquo's Ghost]

I have just finished Ruth Scurr's "Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution".

I fiound it a very readable account, and a human insight into this most demonised of individuals. Scurr gets to the heart of Robespierre's motivations, and the flaws of character that led him to the Terror. Well worth a read if one is interested in the period.

[doc_bean]

Another book I read recently is Snow Crash bu Neal Stephenson. It's somewhat of a classic in the cyberpunk genre and I can see why. A lot of parts read like fanfic you'd find on the internet with movie style action sequences and sword wielding hackers. But in this book it actually works. The book is set in some sort of near future libertarian dystopia, and the description of the world are the best parts of the book. If you don't like the first chapter you might as well put the book down. The actually story is okay, it tries to blend (sumerian) mythology with religion, big business, genetics, memes, cyberspace and a couple of other things. It mostly succeeds though some expositary parts aren't ery interesting (an they can be repetitive).

I'd definately recommend pikcing this one up, but be warned that it isn't for everybody.

[Fragony]

How could I forget this?



Without spoiling too much, you have never seen anything like this. The first novel to use typography as a storytellingdevice. It's about a house that is bigger on the inside then the outside, doors magically appear and dissapear, and there is something there. Think Blair Witch project meets Eternal Darkness (gamecube game)

Does this seem weird to you?



It is, and trust me it's effective. Sometimes when the tension rises, there are only a few words on a page, it works! It all does, a truly unique book.

[Kralizec]

Ah, I've been reading that series, finished God-Emperor a few weeks ago, read it right after Children and Messiah, I had read the original about a year ago (probably a little less). Still two more to go, but i'm going to take a little break so i don't get Dune overkill.

Do you happen to know if the Brian Herbert books are really as bad as people seem to claim ?

The House trilogy was decent, albeit very light reading. Of the Legends of Dune trilogy I've only read the first one, wich I really disliked. I've read Frank Herberts Dune novels 3 or 4 times, but I never felt the desire to read any of Brian Herbert/KJ Anderson's books a second time.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Do you happen to know if the Brian Herbert books are really as bad as people seem to claim ?

They are, trust me.

I see no one has mentioned Watership Down, a gross oversight. That is a masterful piece of storytelling - a story about a group of rabbits traveling several miles across the English countryside for a new home.

There are no gimmicks like sci-fi or fantasy to spice up the book - it doesn't need any. It is simply a marvelous story.

Crazed Rabbit

[Beirut]

How could I forget this?



Without spoiling too much, you have never seen anything like this. The first novel to use typography as a storytellingdevice. It's about a house that is bigger on the inside then the outside, doors magically appear and dissapear, and there is something there. Think Blair Witch project meets Eternal Darkness (gamecube game)

Does this seem weird to you?



It is, and trust me it's effective. Sometimes when the tension rises, there are only a few words on a page, it works! It all does, a truly unique book.

Neat. Makes me think of the Martin Amis book Time's Arrow where the story unfolds as time moves backwards. Weird, but good. After thirty or forty pages your brain gets tired but it's well worth the effort.

[Martok]

In the presence of mine enemies', another of Turtledove's alternate histories, is also worth a read. It focuses on a future in which Germany won WW2, and through following the lives of a Jewish couple in the new reigime it really gives food for thought.

I second this one. Another one of Turtledove's books that I really enjoy is Ruled Britannia. It focuses on an alternate history where the Spanish Armada successfully conquered England, and how people such as Shakespeare and Marlowe are trying to cope under Spanish (and therefore Catholic) rule. It's very well done, and the character of Constable Strawberry is quite amusing indeed!

Another book I read recently is Snow Crash bu Neal Stephenson. It's somewhat of a classic in the cyberpunk genre and I can see why. A lot of parts read like fanfic you'd find on the internet with movie style action sequences and sword wielding hackers. But in this book it actually works. The book is set in some sort of near future libertarian dystopia, and the description of the world are the best parts of the book. If you don't like the first chapter you might as well put the book down. The actually story is okay, it tries to blend (sumerian) mythology with religion, big business, genetics, memes, cyberspace and a couple of other things. It mostly succeeds though some expositary parts aren't ery interesting (an they can be repetitive).

I'd definately recommend pikcing this one up, but be warned that it isn't for everybody.

That's a pretty good nutshell description of it. I enjoyed it too, but you're right in that not everyone will.

[Fragony]

Neat. Makes me think of the Martin Amis book Time's Arrow where the story unfolds as time moves backwards. Weird, but good. After thirty or forty pages your brain gets tired but it's well worth the effort.

Took a while for me to figure that one out, great stuff

[General-Winter]

Just finished "The minotaur takes a cigarrette break". After seeing the title at Barnes&Noble I decided right then and there :Ok, now I HAVE to buy this book. Good book, not the best i've ever read but deserves some honorable mentions, if only for the unique perspective.

Apparently Theseus was a girly-man and offered the Minotaur freedom in exchange for his life; he exited the labyrinth claiming to have killed it, and the Minotaur snuck off. And the rest, is five thousand years of history.

The book details two weeks in the Minotaur's new life in America. An interesting perspective and how the author writes; the Minotaur is never referenced by anything but contractions of his race: M, or bull-man. I did not like the way the author described the creature though: it was merely a man with the head of a bull; I've always pictured it something more like the tauren of Wow.But then again so does everyone else. Sue me.

After leafing through it again I noticed other references to Greek mythology in M's same predicament: Immortal beings, trying to live in a modern world. Hermaphroditus and The Medusa were two prominent ones.

At the end of the day, well I thought it was a good way to waste a few hours.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

But Not for the Fuehrer by Helmut Jung

and

Walking Away From the Third Reich by Claus Sellier

I can get both of these books signed by the author if you guys want. They are both veterans who live in the states whom I converse with.

[Csargo]

That reminds me I need new shoes.

[Avicenna]

The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins.

Currently about halfway through, and I'm quite enjoying this. Gives me something to think about other than GCSEs

[Hosakawa Tito]

The last book I read, a few months ago, was "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin. A well researched and written piece on the political genius of Abraham Lincoln. An excellent read for those interested in that era of US history.

Now that the major part of my home remodeling job is finished I'll have more leisure time to read. I picked up two today.

"The Fools Path" by Nancy J. Attwell - historical fiction of 13th century Kingdom of Lothemia. Heck, the title could be a description of my life story.

"The Harsh Cry of the Heron" by Lian Hearn (The Last Tale of the Otori Saga).
I've read the other 3 books. It's a fantasy fiction set in medieval Japan; a light fun read, that sure beats hitting my thumb with a hammer while balancing on a ladder 20 ft. off the ground.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Operation Valkyrie: The German Generals' Plot Against Hitler by Pierre Galante

[Caerfanan]

The House trilogy was decent, albeit very light reading. Of the Legends of Dune trilogy I've only read the first one, wich I really disliked. I've read Frank Herberts Dune novels 3 or 4 times, but I never felt the desire to read any of Brian Herbert/KJ Anderson's books a second time.

Amen to that. OK, but not tremendous, I totally agree with that!

[Caerfanan]

Oh, I would highly recommend the books written By Eiji Yoshikawa about Miyamoto Musashi. I think they have been translated in many languages. The french titles are "La pierre et le sabre" and "La parfaite lumière"

[doc_bean]

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke is simply one of the best books I've read in recent times. It's technically a 'fantasy' book, since it involves magicians and fairies, but it has little to nothing in common with the pulp genre that is usually indicated by the term 'fantasy'. It's a book which succeeds perfectly in creating its own little world, full of history and little details and touches. It's an 'alternative' history of (early 19th century) England, it manages to mix history with fantasy very well. It also doesn't skip on some of the issues with a magical world that traditional fantasy tends to avoid, such as religion. It certainly is deep.

It's also rather slow. It's not a page turner, only in the latter hundred pages does it really pick up the pace (it's a good eight hundred pages long). The first few hundred pages can perhaps be a bit of a chore to get throuhg, since they focus almost exclusively on the very unlikable character of Mr Norrel. But the writing itself is excellent, so you won't feel like you're wasting your time.

Highly recommended

(also, thanks to Lemur for first mentioning this book)