Such terrible writing, it’s hilarious
It’s been a bad year for my ability to concentrate, for various reasons. A good escape however was this lot;
thanks to the recommendations here.
Amongst other books I have finished;
Survey of all the Roman frontiers across the geographical and temporal span of the Republic and Empire and asking if there is a common thread. Basically no. Different frontiers with different polities in different environments under different diplomatic and military conditions required different solutions. Yes, I was amazed by that conclusion too. The tour of all the frontiers was worth the read though.
A soldier’s memoir of a FOB in Afghanistan. Reminded me very strongly of Michael Herr’s Dispatches about Vietnam. Different war, same chaos and sense of futility.
Incredibly dry but well-argued history of the Second World War, focusing very strongly on logistics and industry as the pivotal factor in the Allied victory. The review of the strategic bombing campaign over German was interesting, arguing that the part of the campaign focusing on transport networks and industrial production worked, in that materiel production was reduced, what was built was lower quality, and a massive proportion never even made it to the front lines. The war crimes bits involving terror bombing of civilian populations were however indeed pointless.
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The latest in John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series has been released -
I haven’t read it yet, and have to admit to slacking on reading the last couple so can’t attest to whether or not they’ve held up over 20 books, but the series was solid for fans of murder mixed with a dash of the occult / troubled ex-police officer etc genre.
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I’ve been reading these since John Dies At The End was just a long series of posts on the internets, and it seems spectacularly unlikely that they have remained so good. But the unique mix of stupid humour, sadness, pain, misery, and the absurd, as our unqualified heroes struggle against world-devouring horror, is intact. Very few books feel like they were written for me, to give me hope, while still acknowledging the uncaring brutality of the universe. Unique and special.
Perhaps this book is a touch more sombre For Reasons, but this latest Slow Horses novel is just as good. Still irreverent and funny and well-observed, in a world that is still grim and thankless and sharp. I particularly love Herron’s description of his Dominic Cummings character:
Topped only by a friend of mine, who once saw Dom’s bulbous cranium on telly, and murmured “Head like a sniper’s wet dream.”
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I think the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees get worse and worse every year. That’s all I have to say.
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What’s up this year?
Nothing specific; just a general observation.
The way I would characterize it would be bland and utterly predictable. Not in every category, but in many of the ones I read, the choices are essentially what any mainstream media publication will have on their list (Blake Crouch, Marissa Meyer, Stephen King, etc). I read a lot (though not as much as you) (because you are a beast) and none of the books that I would count among the best I’ve read this year are in their lists.
@Mirefox For a better chance at discovering something new from this year, you might want to check out the blog largeheartedboy, which does a conglomeration of all the online year-end Best of book lists every year that is overwhelming but kind of awesome too. That link goes to this year’s so far. I have no affiliation with the site, just find that thing useful each year.
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As opposed to some recent ‘hard’ sf offerings lately that have left me deeply un-gripped, Cold Eyes was unevenly written but at least interesting, with an exploration of a new situation with some actual science behind it. Enjoyed it a lot, and felt uplifted by science, not nonsense.
The Between straddles a few too many lines to be entirely successful, but it does work better than I expected, going straight for a kind of magical realism under my house no wait it’s a fantasy realm no wait it’s a game no wait, as a pair of friends begin to explore it and grow apart.
I just read The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi and thought it was pretty bad. In particular, the dialogue was ridiculous. Nobody talks like that and I can count the number of sentences that started with “Dude,…”. Then book felt a little to me like Ready Player One, where the main goal seemed more to squeeze as many pop culture references into a book than to write a compelling story.
The thing is, I’ve never read Scalzi before but I’ve certainly seen his name mentioned as a top tier science fiction author. If this book is illustrative of his writing style then what an utter disappointment.
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I love Scalzi (I have not read The Kaiju Preservation Society yet though) but he is very polarizing overall. I am a huge fan of the Old Man War books and Red Shirts. But these books have a lot of criticism about the dialogue.
I’m the Afterward, Scalzi wrote of his troubles finishing the book, from the lockdowns to his own sickness to computer issues. Maybe it isn’t representative of his other work, but I probably won’t be rushing to his other noons any time soon.
If you do decide to try Scalzi again, I highly recommend Red Shirts.
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I almost bought it on Kindle because it was only $2.99. Maybe I’ll add it to the collection because the premise intrigues me.
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Bone was half price on Kindle, so I picked it up, having hers it was a classic of the graphic novel genre for years. Just finished it, and I’m still not sure what I think. Story-wise, it’s a pretty standard high fantasy bit, with dragons, fallen kingdoms, necromancy, and such. But three characters look like stylized, lumpy cartoon characters in the vein of Pogo, and … that’s odd. It perhaps sets expectations about a lighthearted tone or the author’s dedication to plausibility which are useful both to have and also to subvert. I wondered a few times why I was reading it, but, at the end, felt a surprising amount of affection for the work.
And the name “Smiley Bone” absolutely slays me.
EDIT: I will say, I was very sad that there’s a minor character who is pure anti-Semitic trope. In an otherwise charming universe which goes out of its way to show even the monsters having varied interests and motivations, the conniving merchant with the big nose sucked.
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I just read Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes. I’m always looking for a horror book that actually scares me. I can’t say that it was an objectively great book and for most of the time it wasn’t necessarily original, but it did have some moments of horror that I appreciated. The book literally gave me a “don’t look under the bed” moment. YMMV on this one but I found it at least enjoyable.
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Happy with this one. A modern magic tale, where although there’s a well-defined magical system, the uses to which it is put are endless, and limited only by the writer’s imagination, which is considerable. An aging, experienced wizard kills someone accidentally by proxy, and invites a legend to respond in vengeance. Superb characterisation, relentlessly inventive, good prose. What more can you ask for.
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Have you read any of Bujold’s Chalion novels? Sounds similar, apart from the 21st century setting.
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I loved Bujold’s books! Paladin of Souls is amazing.
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