The GOT Book Club

[COYBL25]

Said stack of unread books is over 20 after going through them. I need to stop buying books

Here's the list if anyone is interested or suggest which ones to prioritise:

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
The Sunset Limited, Cormac McCarthy
Augustus, John Williams
Butchers Crossing, John Williams
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
S. , JJ Abrahms
Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind, Yuval Noah Harari
Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
Alamut, Vladimir Bartol
Gulag, Anne Applebaum
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
Death in Venice & Other Stories, Thomas Mann
Down & Out in Paris & London/Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell
Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Riuz Zafron
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
The Rule, David Jackson
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn, Mark Twain
In The Distance, Hernan Diaz
NOS4A2, Joe Hill
11.22.63, Stephen King
Down Under, Bill Bryson
Made in America, Bill Bryson

You’ve got some stunning books to read there mate, but the one that really jumped out at me, is All The Pretty Horses - McCarthy.

It’s hard to put into words how good it is.

It’s McCarthy at the absolute peak of his writing and although there are flashes of his usual darkness and brutality, the majority of the book is almost “ light “ for a McCarthy book.

The whole trilogy is outstanding, but All The Pretty Horses wins by a mile.

 

[Shevin Keedy]

You’ve got some stunning books to read there mate, but the one that really jumped out at me, is All The Pretty Horses - McCarthy.

It’s hard to put into words how good it is.

It’s McCarthy at the absolute peak of his writing and although there are flashes of his usual darkness and brutality, the majority of the book is almost “ light “ for a McCarthy book.

The whole trilogy is outstanding, but All The Pretty Horses wins by a mile.

Good breakdown that, makes me want to read it again.

I notice Down and Out in Paris and London is on the list too, a fascinating read.

 

[COYBL25]

Good breakdown that, makes me want to read it again.

I notice Down and Out in Paris and London is on the list too, a fascinating read.

I’d forgotten about it too, so it’s due for a re read anytime soon.

If I was going to recommend one book to anyone who’d never read a McCarthy book, it would be All The Pretty Horses, as it would frighten them for life like Blood Meridian or The Road

 

[IV(AC)]

Yellow Face. Disappointing.

Agreed. Hyped-up tripe

 

[Shevin Keedy]

I’d forgotten about it too, so it’s due for a re read anytime soon.

If I was going to recommend one book to anyone who’d never read a McCarthy book, it would be All The Pretty Horses, as it would frighten them for life like Blood Meridian or The Road

I still wonder how he managed to write Blood Meridian; (like many others) it's like no other book I've read, weirdly I always recall its imagery as though I've seen it. But I haven't, I've only read it.

 

[davep]

Said stack of unread books is over 20 after going through them. I need to stop buying books

Here's the list if anyone is interested or suggest which ones to prioritise:

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
The Sunset Limited, Cormac McCarthy
Augustus, John Williams
Butchers Crossing, John Williams
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
S. , JJ Abrahms
Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind, Yuval Noah Harari
Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
Alamut, Vladimir Bartol
Gulag, Anne Applebaum
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
Death in Venice & Other Stories, Thomas Mann
Down & Out in Paris & London/Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell
Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Riuz Zafron
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
The Rule, David Jackson
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn, Mark Twain
In The Distance, Hernan Diaz
NOS4A2, Joe Hill
11.22.63, Stephen King
Down Under, Bill Bryson
Made in America, Bill Bryson

Last 3 are all great. Bill Bryson is in my top 2 writers.

 

[COYBL25]

I still wonder how he managed to write Blood Meridian; (like many others) it's like no other book I've read, weirdly I always recall its imagery as though I've seen it. But I haven't, I've only read it.

All The Pretty Horses is the same, you’re constantly visualising what you’re reading, which is what makes his dark stuff so harrowing, but makes his lighter stuff like All The Pretty Horses so magical.

 

[degsy]

Had The Stand on my to read list for ages, haven’t got around to it yet, mostly due to it being and absolute tome of a book. Over 1000 pages isn’t it?

Picked up 11.22.63 recently as it’s next months read in the book club I’m in.
Heard it’s up there with some of his best.

It is.

 

[LostLegend]

Picked up this nice Penguin clothbound edition of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley up for Halloween ("That's 'Fronkenshteen!'")

What an incredibly strange read it is. I'll be honest, my only knowledge of this book comes from the old horror movies with Boris Karloff and all the spin offs and interpretations.
The book has very little in common with the pop-culture version of the story as we know it. That famous scene in his lab with Igor, waiting for the lightning strike and shouting "IT'S ALIVE" is purely a movie moment.

In fact he creates the monster (Or 'Fiend' as he refers to it) within the first 50 pages of the book with little ceremony before it just gets up and buggers off whilst he's out with his friend.

The fact that the creature can talk was a turn I was not expecting and quite elequontly as well, compared to the brain-dead, lumbering monster we know. At one point it chases Victor up a mountain and starts referencing the book of Genesis at him. "Are you not thy creator? Am I not thou Adam?" This comes completely out of no-where and had me in stitches if I'm honest. "Be gone, vile creature, thou daemon of thy creation!"

Victor, for the record is a massive fanny as well. I lost count of the times he passes out whenever something bad happens and ends up as a rambling, bedridden madman for months or even years in one instance.

Also, Shelley really loves the words 'Wretch' and 'Wretched' - every other sentence.

Anyway, it was actually fairly enjoyable for a 200+ year old book, but absolutely bonkers

 

[Bilko]

Matt Haig latest "the life impossible ", Hmm, not his best by any means imo. If you've read his previous books, I'm guessing you would read this too regardless.
Shame really, It just was slow and plodding.

 

[Bilko]

I posted a book called Reservoir 13 on here a while ago. It was the second book by an author who won a prize for his first one. I decided it was pretentious rubbish. I've just read the first one - it is utterly amazing. Beautifully written and the ending is astonishing - totally unexpected. I now realise that the second book was an attempt to recreate the style of the first one and doesn't work

My next book

 

[LostLegend]

Listened to the Audiobook version of 'The Only Good Indians', by Stephen Graham Jones

"Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way."

Not sure I would have liked this as much if I went with the physical copy as the narrator, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, who is of Native American heritage added so much to this, with him being able to do the accent and pronounce some of the more difficult first nation wordage.

Some parts of the story are downright confusing, with lots of scenes taking place on Indian Reservations and going through just the day to day life of some of the locals and all the drama and soap-opera type stuff that goes along with it, before going from 0-100 with some quite visceral violence that comes out of nowhere.

For a large part of the book you are uncertain if there even is anything supernatural going on or if these guys are one by one losing their minds.

Definitively one of the more unique horror stories I've listened to, won't be for everyone though!

 

[Bilko]

I posted a book called Reservoir 13 on here a while ago. It was the second book by an author who won a prize for his first one. I decided it was pretentious rubbish. I've just read the first one - it is utterly amazing. Beautifully written and the ending is astonishing - totally unexpected. I now realise that the second book was an attempt to recreate the style of the first one and doesn't work

Well I struggled with "if nobody speaks of remarkable things ". I thought it was a decent ending but halfway through it became a challenge for me as Imo nothing or very little was happening and I was reading it more to get to the end than actually wondering where the plot was going.
Well written undoubtedly, but I'd hesitate to read any future books from the author.

 

[Goodison87]

The first fifteen lives of Harry August by Claire North. A great book I’m going to read again this weekend.

The story follows Harry August, who is born in 1919 in the women's washroom of Berwick-upon-Tweed station, and dies in 1989 in a hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is reborn in 1919 with the knowledge of his previous life, and learns he is an Ouroboran, destined to be reborn repeatedly. He joins the Cronus Club, an organization of those similarly affected, who look after him in childhood in subsequent lives. Harry studies science and medicine, and becomes a physics professor at Cambridge University. There, he meets Vincent Rankis, an undergraduate student, and they become friends. Harry and Vincent eventually realize they are both Ouroborans

 

[anjelikaferrett]

Well I struggled with "if nobody speaks of remarkable things ". I thought it was a decent ending but halfway through it became a challenge for me as Imo nothing or very little was happening and I was reading it more to get to the end than actually wondering where the plot was going.
Well written undoubtedly, but I'd hesitate to read any future books from the author.

I wouldn't read any more either. Reservoir 13 doesn't even have a central character to hold it together. It just meanders along. As I said - the author was definitely trying to replicate the first one and it didn't work.