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The GOT Book Club

gonetomorrow said:
Homicide by David Simon, the book that inspired TV hit series The Wire.
It's a doorstop, full of detail about procedures in the police service in Baltimore's crime-ridden streets. Not as entertaining as the show obviously!
I wouldn't recommend it really.
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BigMick said:
It was also the inspiration for the earlier series Homicide: Life on the Streets.

Underappreciated series, ahead of its time.
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I really loved that book

Some of it is directly part of the story or is referenced in Homicide the TV show

I started watching the show again recently and it's great. Great writing and great acting. Noticed one episode Jake Gylenhalls appears as a kid, and his dad directed it.

I had to stop in season 3 as my dodgy box wasn't finding any links. Not sure if it's actually available for legal stream anywhere

The book I thought was a fascinating insight into that world, especially after watching the Wire a couple of times before I found it
 
Efcjake said:
Did you ever get into wheel of time?

Just started this and I'm about 50% of the way through The Way of Kings after a week. He is quite good at fleshing out the book universe.
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I have finally bought the first book, on audible and they've got Rosamund Pike to narrate it. I haven't started yet as I'm midway through Stone of Tears, book 2 of Sword of Truth. I'm struggling to get through it as they changed narrator after book one and this one is absolutely awful so I'm finding it hard going, only 14hrs left lol

Quite enjoying the tv series so interested to start on the books for more detail. Cheers for the recommendation anyway.
 
bicycleheader said:
I really loved that book

Some of it is directly part of the story or is referenced in Homicide the TV show

I started watching the show again recently and it's great. Great writing and great acting. Noticed one episode Jake Gylenhalls appears as a kid, and his dad directed it.

I had to stop in season 3 as my dodgy box wasn't finding any links. Not sure if it's actually available for legal stream anywhere

The book I thought was a fascinating insight into that world, especially after watching the Wire a couple of times before I found it
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Agree it's great - I've got the boxed set.

Andre Braugher was superb as one of the lead detectives, as were Melissa Leo and Kyle Secor. Yaphet Kotto was the Lieutenant.
 
Anyone read any of the ‘hard case crime’ series? These are mainly republished books from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, although there are some from more recent years.

They are the works of many authors like ed McBain, Lawrence block, Donald e westlake and max allan Collins. Mainly pulp noir and crime stories surrounding the lives of hitmen, PI’s and other unseemly characters and anti-heroes. Approx 130 books in the set.

Ed McBain has a series of books featuring the ‘87th precinct’ stretching back to the 50’s which are supposed to be superb. Over 50 books in all.

For any fans of this genre, these series come highly recommended by many, and after reading my first (a Max Allan Collins effort), I can wholeheartedly agree.
 
Just finished with 2001 A Space Odyssey.

The film follows pretty closely (Arther C Clark and Kubrick worked on both versions at the same time)
The book goes into way more detail with various parts and the ending is even more wild than the film.

It holds up pretty well in sci fi terms for a 55 year old story (as does Rendezvous With Rama, also by Arthur C Clark)

Definitely worth a read even if you’ve seen the film.
 

Tonight, I'll be mostly reading :

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Mine's a reprint of the first iteration of the series, published in 1959.
 

Simon Buttle said:
Reading a good true crime book at the moment, it's called The Snake Head by Patrick Radden Keefe. It goes back to the 90's and it's about this old Chinese woman who had a small noodle shop in New York and she was basically running a vast global criminal network out the back of the shop. It's complex but a good read.
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This is good one. I plan on reading everything from Patrick Radden Keefe. They read like novela.
 
Finished this a few weeks ago. Really good if you are interested in the psychology of conspiracy theories and spread of misinformation:
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Also, @SerenityNigh had recommended this book to someone else here; I gave it a shot, it was quite good especially the history of racism/structural racism in England. Really well-written and easy to read.

1699363148904.png


I just started this and I'm loving it. I'm familiar with Peter Turchin through his early work on ecology/demography, but the last 25 years of his career he has invented a "big data" approach to history (Historians tend to think history is immune to a scientific approach because there are no theoretical regularities and too many idiosyncrasies). In 2010 Turchin rightly predicted that the USA (and World) would be in turmoil in the early 2020s due to studying key predictors of societal collapse, which includes things like wage-gap between rich and poor, and overproduction of "elites" (too many wealthy/powerful people competing for too few "power slots" in society). It's a great read so far...

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Simon Buttle said:
Reading a good true crime book at the moment, it's called The Snake Head by Patrick Radden Keefe. It goes back to the 90's and it's about this old Chinese woman who had a small noodle shop in New York and she was basically running a vast global criminal network out the back of the shop. It's complex but a good read.
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Went out and bought this after reading your review ,looks superb
 

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