The GOT Book Club

[Black Belt Jones]

Read a quick Gene Wolfe novel last week - A borrowed man. Wolfe is a great author - one of the most acclaimed SF writers alive, but his latter stuff is very quirky. More a puzzle than a book - written in very straightforward genre style but he's the master of the unreliable narrator, and there's always a deeper book hidden under the surface. Problem is, if the outer novel is not all that engaging, there's not huge motivation to delve into the text and uncover what's really happening. Either way it's good to see the old master still putting out new stuff.

 

[Black Belt Jones]

I spent 22 yrs waiting as the books came out 1 at a time...no spoilers but King kept on putting off finishing it for various reasons, but when he got knocked over by a drunk driver while out walking, he decided he'd better crack on with it.
The man never wrote a bum story in his life.

King's too good never to have written bad stuff. Great writers take risks, and in a career as long as King's he has put out some absolute stinkers. He's also penned garbage like the Tommyknockers which is nothing to do with taking risks, and everything to do with taking cocaine and ale like it's going out of style.

Dean R Koontz never wrote a bum story in his life. And never wrote a great one, either. Just 6/10 stuff his entire career.

 

[verreauxi]

Dr Sleep isn't in the same league as the Shining - how could it be ?.

It's still a good book in its own right though and a decent read.

It doesn't grip you like the Shining, but not many books do.

Wise words, no doubt. I'll still give it a shot though.

 

[Woolverhampton_Blue]

Working my way through this thread in search of some good reads. Any recommendations welcome!

I loved Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. Won the Booker Prize in 2003. One that takes a while to unfold but it's a real gem.

Currently reading Crime and Punishment and it's definitely lived up to its reputation as a classic.

 

[degsy]

King's too good never to have written bad stuff. Great writers take risks, and in a career as long as King's he has put out some absolute stinkers. He's also penned garbage like the Tommyknockers which is nothing to do with taking risks, and everything to do with taking cocaine and ale like it's going out of style.
Dean R Koontz never wrote a bum story in his life. And never wrote a great one, either. Just 6/10 stuff his entire career.

You make that sound like it's a bad thing.

I still say I've never found a book of his I couldn't finish.
Now this may speak more about me than about Him and his talent or lack of, as a writer...this of course is only valid for a given value of 'writer'...or should this be 'storyteller'

It all depends what you want from the words on the page. I read to;
a) pass the time.
b) find out what happens next / in the end

Before we drift any nearer into the minefield of 'Literature' (which is to my mind only a posh name for books)
IMO, There are 2 types of books; books you like and books you don't - That's it.
There is no 'Good' or 'Bad'

“The truth is, everyone likes to look down on someone. If your favorites are all avant-garde writers who throw in Sanskrit and German, you can look down on everyone. If your favorites are all Oprah Book Club books, you can at least look down on mystery readers. Mystery readers have sci-fi readers. Sci-fi can look down on fantasy. And yes, fantasy readers have their own snobbishness. I’ll bet this, though: in a hundred years, people will be writing a lot more dissertations on Harry Potter than on John Updike. Look, Charles Dickens wrote popular fiction. Shakespeare wrote popular fiction—until he wrote his sonnets, desperate to show the literati of his day that he was real artist. Edgar Allan Poe tied himself in knots because no one realized he was a genius. The core of the problem is how we want to define “literature”. The Latin root simply means “letters”. Those letters are either delivered—they connect with an audience—or they don’t. For some, that audience is a few thousand college professors and some critics. For others, its twenty million women desperate for romance in their lives. Those connections happen because the books successfully communicate something real about the human experience. Sure, there are trashy books that do really well, but that’s because there are trashy facets of humanity. What people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.”

“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”

If I read you correctly? being prolific means he must have, by the law of averages, wrote some 'bad' stuff?? - er no, it just means you found 1 you didn't like.
Me, like I said, I haven't found one, yet.

 

[summerisle]

Bought two books today : Alan Johnson's autobiography Please Mr Postman - one of the few politicians for which I have respect, and

If only because one of the chapter headings is : Sieg High.

 

[navidson]

That's quite a task! I definitely enjoy a good Stephen King novel, the last one I read was 11/22/63, which was a lot of fun--he basically makes unbelievable premises extremely digestable and down-to-earth (such as a diner where one can travel back to 1958!). I haven't read any of those however. I tend to like more of the horror stuff, (though 11/22/63, wasn't that) rather than fantasy stuff...those titles appear to be on the fantasy end, yes?

One of his most underrated IMO - Decent TV adaptation of it too

 

[summerisle]

Looks interesting.

https://www.nsno.co.uk/everton-news/2017/08/everton-faith-families/

Everton: The Faith of our Families

Faith of our Families.

Five years have passed since publication of my Everton Encyclopedia and nearly fifteen since Everton: The School of Science was written, says James Corbett.

Since the last book to carry my name on the cover I have collaborated with some of the most distinguished figures in the club’s history on their memoirs – Neville Southall, Howard Kendall, Dave Hickson and Bob Latchford. But after that work the time seems right to add another, more wide-ranging contribution to the club’s history.

Everton appear at a crossroads in their history and it’s a fascinating and fast moving time. The changes heighten the imperative to capture something more of Everton’s past before it transforms forever. But what else can be added?

Quite a lot as it happens.

In this new work I have set about telling the story of Everton Football Club in the voices of the people who made it the great institution we know today. I and my colleagues have interviewed just about every significant living figure in Everton’s history: a total of 180 people – players, managers, directors, chairman, officials, supporters – generating hundreds of hours of recordings and 2 millions words of transcripts. Never before has a study of any sporting institution benefited from so many original interviews. Allied to this is significant new research on Everton’s early years, utilising lost and long forgotten documentary sources.

The more people we spoke to, the more layers and stories we built, and the more possibilities opened. It was a little like building a football team and then having that magic realisation that you have something very special on your hands. Our belief that Everton was ‘more than just a club’ was reaffirmed many times, and we show a complex institution that touches people’s lives in many different ways.

The resultant book, Faith of our Families, is what I believe, an unprecedented study of a football club, charting, over the duration of 500 pages, the inner workings and highs and lows of Everton Football Club, from its inception as a church team in 1878 to its position today as an aristocrat of the English game and one of the wealthiest clubs in the world.

The book is out on the 26 October, but as with previous works we have opened up a subscription for those who would like to have their names listed in the book’s appendix. This period is open until 8 September and comes with free UK and subsidised overseas postage.

In addition there is a special limited edition version of 250 numbered copies that are signed by Bob Latchford and Neville Southall, featuring an Archibald Leitch balustrade, which is laser cut into the wibalin book cover to reveal a blue flyleaf. This is an exquisite and unique collectible designed by the ever-brilliant Thomas Regan of ToffeeArt and is sure to sell out quickly.

I hope that Evertonians and all fans enjoy this work as much as we all enjoyed working on it. And I hope in years to come it is referred to as an essential part of every Evertonians library. I’m very confident it will be.

Best wishes

James Corbett

Related Items:Everton, Everton books, Faith of our Families, James Corbett

 

[AndyC]

A shameless plug for my brothers first novel, published in a few days by Urbane Publications and available from Amazon...

Buy through the Amazon link here on GOT, and support the site in the process

To all those who haven't yet read this, I thoroughly recommend it... it's a slow burn, but worth sticking with as the plot and characters - set in occupied France in WW2 - develop...

To all those who have bought a copy (and hopefully enjoyed it), I have it on excellent authority that the sequel (which won't be as long) will be published in the New Year.

The author is a rabid and passionate Evertonian

 

[Dylan]

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/09/...being-turned-into-a-must-have-childrens-book/

@ijjysmith

 

[COYBL25]

Been mentioned many times before, but just finished - The Passage Trilogy.

For those that haven't heard of the books - The human race is all but wiped out by a viral infection that kills 90% of the global population and turns nearly all the rest into a vampiric army.

Follows the tiny pocket of survivors, as they battle not only to survive, but to stop the human race from being wiped.

It's been done before, but never as well as this. ( the author is a Professor of English )

Think of a much more literate and involved version of Stephen Kings - The Stand.

It wanders a bit at times, but there's over 2000 pages, so it's only to be expected.

@anjelikaferrett you were right, the final chapters are very emotional !

 

[Professor Toffee]

Working my way through this thread in search of some good reads. Any recommendations welcome!

I loved Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. Won the Booker Prize in 2003. One that takes a while to unfold but it's a real gem.

Currently reading Crime and Punishment and it's definitely lived up to its reputation as a classic.

Read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel its fanastic

 

[Woolverhampton_Blue]

Read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel its fanastic

I have a copy but haven't read it yet. I watched the TV adaptation with Mark Rylance and loved it so will bump it to top of the reading list.

 

[Gladystweet]

Read this on holiday. It's what the Tv series Gomorrah is based on. Pretty damn boss.

 

[zebedee]

Currently working my way through the discworld by Terry Pratchett. It's costing me a small fortune on my kindle but hey ho. Great Author great books.