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The GOT Book Club

LostLegend said:
Took my time with this one and really enjoyed it. The writing is really beautiful, but you do have to take your time with it. There were a few occasions where I had to re-read a page to work out what the hell was supposed to be happening due to how poetic the writing style can get at times.

My only big criticism of the book is that the violence and cruelty gets so over the top at points that it almost becomes parody.
For example:

There's a part just after the midway point where Glanton's gang are on a full rampage, scalping just about anyone to cash in. Peaceful tribes, travelling merchant's, random townsfolk, men, women & children.
They end up in this town and the residents are out trying to sell them stuff, tack for horses, food etc. and the judge ends up buying a pair of puppies from this little boy for a gold coin, before walking across a near by bridge and throwing the puppies off the edge into the water whilst another of the gang runs alongside the river firing his pistols at them as they float by.
It's so needlessly villainous, like "no, not the puppies", that it's almost too on the nose.

Anyway, still a fantastic read non-the-less and yes, very bleak!

Decided to pair it up, with the audio book of Ian Banks' 'The Wasp Factory' which also has a reputation of being a bit on the violent side:

Frank, no ordinary sixteen-year-old, lives with his father outside a remote Scottish village. Their life is, to say the least, unconventional. Frank's mother abandoned them years ago: his elder brother Eric is confined to a psychiatric hospital; and his father measures out his eccentricities on an imperial scale. Frank has turned to strange acts of violence to vent his frustrations. In the bizarre daily rituals there is some solace. But when news comes of Eric's escape from the hospital Frank has to prepare the ground for his brother's inevitable return - an event that explodes the mysteries of the past and changes Frank utterly.

It has somewhat of a reputation this book as Frank is a psychopath and spends large parts of the book mutilating and killing small animals.
The thing is, it is also darkly hilarious in parts as well, but definitely not for the squeamish. I opted for the audio book version as it is narrated by Peter Kenny who also narrated the Witcher novels and is genuinely brilliant at the characterisations.

Definately worth the read if you have the stomach for the more brutal parts.
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Two of my favourite books of all time.

The ending of the Wasp Factory is one of the most jaw dropping things in a book I’ve ever read.

The passage with the kite and his younger brother made me feel sick.
 
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After reading a lot of good reviews about this book on here, I’ve just finished it - Wraiths of a Broken Land.

The first thing I’ll say, is that it’s screaming out to be made into a film and I believe that Ridley Scott has a had s look at doing it.

The second thing, it’s like two books and two authors welded into one.

The first half is very poorly written and then the writing style completely changes in the second half and the book just comes alive.

Not quite Cormac McCarthy, but the second half of it, isn’t far off.
 
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COYBL25 said:
Two of my favourite books of all time.

The ending of the Wasp Factory is one of the most jaw dropping things in a book I’ve ever read.

The passage with the kite and his younger brother made me feel sick.
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On the flip side, the parts about his various family members meeting their end in seeming more ridiculous ways were darkly hilarious.
His uncle who tried to gas himself with carbon monoxide, but ended up setting himself on fire when having a farewell cigarette and eventually drowning upside down in the rain barrel he'd jumped in to extinguish the flames :lol:
 
LostLegend said:
On the flip side, the parts about his various family members meeting their end in seeming more ridiculous ways were darkly hilarious.
His uncle who tried to gas himself with carbon monoxide, but ended up setting himself on fire when having a farewell cigarette and eventually drowning upside down in the rain barrel he'd jumped in to extinguish the flames lol
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Considering it was Banks first book, it’s astounding.
 
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I’ve been going down a rabbit hole of unusual books after finishing House of Leaves a few weeks back.

I’ve seen this recommended as it has some similar themes in the creative use of text formatting and with the story using liminal spaces a fair bit.

In truth they are very different novels. The Raw Shark Texts is very much a high concept thriller with mild comedy undertones.

It’s set in northern England and centres around a man who awakes with total amnesia, no idea who he is or what is happening (bit of a story telling trope at this point) and begins receiving letters from himself (pre amnesia) explaining that he is being pursued by a conceptual shark called a Ludovician, which exists within human language/storytelling and feeds on memories.

Quite enjoyed this one. While it does get a bit bogged down in the middle with the pacing, the opening caught my attention from the off and the latter 3rd of the story is really good and gets a fair bit bats**t in case you haven’t already guessed lol

‘S.’ By Doug Dorst & JJ Abrams next up.
Really looking forward to this one as it looks like a real trip:

 
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It’s probably the first time I’ve ever read a sports bio in one sitting.

Steve Thompson, ex England and Northampton rugby player, outlines in brutal detail, how his rugby career as a front row, has led to early onset dementia, his battle to fight the disease and prolong his life and his battle with the RFU to change the way rugby is played to save lives.

Wonderfully written, but heartbreaking in equal measure.
 
LostLegend said:
The_Raw_Shark_Texts-Book_Cover.jpg


I’ve been going down a rabbit hole of unusual books after finishing House of Leaves a few weeks back.

I’ve seen this recommended as it has some similar themes in the creative use of text formatting and with the story using liminal spaces a fair bit.

In truth they are very different novels. The Raw Shark Texts is very much a high concept thriller with mild comedy undertones.

It’s set in northern England and centres around a man who awakes with total amnesia, no idea who he is or what is happening (bit of a story telling trope at this point) and begins receiving letters from himself (pre amnesia) explaining that he is being pursued by a conceptual shark called a Ludovician, which exists within human language/storytelling and feeds on memories.

Quite enjoyed this one. While it does get a bit bogged down in the middle with the pacing, the opening caught my attention from the off and the latter 3rd of the story is really good and gets a fair bit bats**t in case you haven’t already guessed lol

‘S.’ By Doug Dorst & JJ Abrams next up.
Really looking forward to this one as it looks like a real trip:

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S is great as a concept.
 

wm02 said:
Is that when his son starts writing the books?
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Nope, he wrote the last two and I think a lot of the ancillary books.
Obviously joking a bit, I found Heretics (the book after God Emperor) turned what was becoming a weird series even weirder and had to put it down after that. The first three are great and the fourth is definitely worth a read. Enjoy the journey!
 
Are there any modern fiction writers who use descriptive narrative, as opposed to pages of people speaking to each other?

Also a clear linear narrative, IE a beginning, middle, and end?
 

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