Books thread

[pillowprocter]

Next up...



This book is shorter novella, only around 150 pages. Originally written in Japanese.

I felt really emotionally invested in it, the entire book takes place in only one location. By the end of it you feel you know all the characters inside out.

Only criticism, there was a stone left unturned, and one part of the story that wasn't really explored. Still, a well crafted book. 7.5/10.

 

[pillowprocter]

Only criticism, there was a stone left unturned, and one part of the story that wasn't really explored.

There was a part 2!


Even shorter, 120 pages, finished in a day.

I feel like this book introduced so much more to expand into. It's an endless rabbit hole.

 

[CerealKiller]

There was a part 2!
View attachment 289035

Even shorter, 120 pages, finished in a day.

I feel like this book introduced so much more to expand into. It's an endless rabbit hole.

There's 4 books in that series apparently

 

[pillowprocter]

There's 4 books in that series apparently

Will have to make it a tier list type thing. Maybe I can maintain one for all books in the thread

 

[CerealKiller]

I just started reading "Rise and Kill First" by Ronen Bergman.
It’s a history of Israel's clandestine intelligence services' use of targeted assassinations as a weapon of covert warfare. Really interesting.

 

[CerealKiller]

@pillowprocter i'd also recommend Moth Smoke

 

[pillowprocter]

@pillowprocter i'd also recommend Moth Smoke

I tried to find that but no luck

 

[pillowprocter]

@CerealKiller if it's really that good I'll consider buying it

 

[CerealKiller]

I tried to find that but no luck

I've DMed you

 

[pillowprocter]

Moth Smoke book review, brought to you by @CerealKiller: eradicate all cereals.


Some stories are linear. They have a start, they progress onwards, and eventually, they finish. Sometimes, they start in the end, and go backwards. Other times, in the middle, as you see past and present unfolding simultaneously.

Moth Smoke isn't a straight line. It's a map. You start in the middle, an entire world shrouded in clouds. Slowly, the clouds clear, bringing more and more events to light. The story expands in every direction, all at once. Different perspectives, from first person to third person to even second person POV.

The storyline itself was alright, a man slowly falling into insanity as his life crumbles before him. There are no heroes, everyone is a villain. Some of the stuff isn't what I'd usually read but I don't mind. But it was the Frankenstein of a storytelling method that really kept me reading, brilliant.

 

[CerealKiller]

Moth Smoke book review, brought to you by @CerealKiller: eradicate all cereals.
View attachment 289145

Some stories are linear. They have a start, they progress onwards, and eventually, they finish. Sometimes, they start in the end, and go backwards. Other times, in the middle, as you see past and present unfolding simultaneously.

Moth Smoke isn't a straight line. It's a map. You start in the middle, an entire world shrouded in clouds. Slowly, the clouds clear, bringing more and more events to light. The story expands in every direction, all at once. Different perspectives, from first person to third person to even second person POV.

The storyline itself was alright, a man slowly falling into insanity as his life crumbles before him. There are no heroes, everyone is a villain. Some of the stuff isn't what I'd usually read but I don't mind. But it was the Frankenstein of a storytelling method that really kept me reading, brilliant.

This is exactly why i wanna write a screenplay for this. The perspective is so unique.

 

[CerealKiller]

This is exactly why i wanna write a screenplay for this. The perspective is so unique.

Apparently it was made into a movie already in 2002…
Still would give it a shot though

 

[pillowprocter]

book update (credit to NMA for the reminder)



Both are historical fiction about the Syrian civil war. I think I preferred the storytelling of the first one but the second one offers interesting moral dilemmas that I never thought about before



bit of family drama. part of the book is set in jamaica in the 50s and 60s, so it was also really interesting to see the culture written about



loved the plot twist on this one. also interesting look into the mind of the psychotherapist, a job which i'd never really thought about how it must be like



It's 1000 pages long, i gave up around halfway through. still a pretty good read from what i read. set in india.

gosh i should be paid to do this

 

[Bevab]

Just finished reading Recursion by Blake Crouch.

This is my second book from him (read Dark Matter years ago and liked it) and it seems like this is his style? Write a mind-bending thriller that plays loose even by sci-fi standards with it’s rules, have very few main characters that are interconnected in some way but have their relationships not be as fleshed out during the story’s events shown, instead only alluding to how strong it is and make all of it as much of a blank template as possible so that it can be easily adapted into a movie or TV show. I’m not even kidding with the last sentence, Dark Matter is supposed to be out as a TV series next month.

I did like the thriller aspect of it though. The man can certainly write extremely compelling concepts and then flip them around causing chaos in a way you don’t expect to happen. I do think there’s a lot of wasted potential in these ideas, there’s only a slight amount of the philosophical and moral dilemmas raised by one protagonist and the consequences of it aren’t allowed to linger long enough to make you ponder before you’re rushed to the next sequence. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what is preventing the author and this work from becoming truly great along with the weak human aspects of it. Then again, I appreciate an author who can write a good thriller in less than 300 words and leave a mark without aiming to be an extraordinary one.

 

[pillowprocter]

Recently read this, and then saw it on cricinfo's featured page yesterday.



The first piece of cricket-related fiction I've read, it's a very insightful and thought provoking story. It's more about a man's life partially told through the lens of cricket, cricket in New York and The Hague.

One complaint I do have is it did leave me wanting more information rather than end the way it did, which I thought was a bit abrupt. Would still whole heartedly recommend it.