OCH Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 11 hours ago, Maryokutai said: Now that's an unusual combination, sounds interesting. I'll keep you posted. It says on the cover that it's a new novel, inspired by the film. Which brings to mind to the back story to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Which is a personal favourite book of mine, although I haven't seen the original mini series. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Just a quick update. My (Andy Serkis read) audio book of The Silmarillion arrived a few days ago. I haven't cracked open the plastic yet but I did read the content description on the back of the case: Quote 17 CDs unabridged Approx 19.5 hours listening 😬I knew the first few chapters I read were dense. But I see now that must have kept going from cover to cover. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinymcshine Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Blimey - I'm surprised they release it on 17 CD 'audio' format and don't just compress it onto a couple of CDs in MP3 format (since most CD players can play MP3 format) - not so much the cost of CDs - but for a big saving on packaging & transport costs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Yeah, I thought the number of discs was a bit needlessly excessive. I don't think I've ever seen any single thing spread over this many discs before? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinymcshine Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Flashback to installing Win 95 from 3.5" discs - "Insert Disc 1 of 15"...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimboxy Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 I'm listening to Serkis reading The Hobbit at the moment, it really is very good. I just found a slightly dodge podcast feed with it on though, haven't bought the CD's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Animal Farm 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.' Weirdly enough, I've never read or seen Animal Farm before. I've heard of it. But in spite of 1984 being one of my all time favourite books. Orwell's significantly shorter novel passed me by until last week. I had a voucher to use and it was there. I wonder if Orwell would be thrilled or disturbed by how timely both mentioned books would be for decades to come? While this is clearly anti-Soviet. I find it goes beyond that, in a big way. I spoke to a friend about the book and they remarked "you should enjoy it, Boxer." A reference I didn't understand until afterwards. The irony wasn't lost on the workaholic. Many books in this vein would try to end on some kind of uplifting note. But I knew, in light of 1984's ending. That wouldn't be the case here either. Whereas the book has an increasingly bleak tone. The ending hammers that home all too well. Thoroughly enjoyed it though... Poor Boxer! And remember kids, Never trust a pig! 9/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 I actually read that for the very first time roughly a year ago, too. It's the only fictional story I know that is impossible to detach from its deeper meaning. You can't just read it as a story with pigs and horses, showing just how relevant the portrayed issues were and unfortunately still are. I found the ending borderline disturbing as well, but perfectly in line in what it sets out to do. Spoiler Considering this is a gaming forum I'd also like to point out that there's a supposedly very good adaptation of the material available on PC: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1398100/Orwells_Animal_Farm/ 1984 I've actually never read, but I bought it a few months ago and will be the next one I tackle after I'm done with my current 'project' (Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World - a rather interesting read that playfully chronicles the evolution of humanity's desire to archive language and the written word). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Read both Animal Farm and 1984 many years ago. They were bloody amazing then, and clearly still stand the test of time. Taking several Reacher books with me on holiday. I’ve also treated myself to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest book. Should be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 One thing I hate about 1984 is how many people who probably never read a book in their life see a guy get cancelled on twitter or something and say 'just like 1984 fr fr' When 1984 is more like, what if a state had a method to make you too stupid to even be able to foment rebellion, where the words to express it literally don't exist and there's no longer any way to tell what is a 'fact' so you're completely rudderless. It's the ideal that a real dictatorship would work towards. Interesting book, there's a whole section in the back where they get into the way language operates in its world which if I'm honest I preferred to the actual story. It's one of those things where something is really influential and interesting with its themes but not necessarily all that narratively engaging I'd say. It's seen as prophetic but it was written about the year it was written in, 1948, turning the year around is more about saying that these are things which are kinda eternal to dictatorships. Tho again while I don't love the book I would love to force the aforementioned twitter people to actually read it. Offered to buy someone a copy before when he was on his whole 'the left === big brother' shit and he was like 'nah' Fahrenheit 451 is another good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinymcshine Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Doubleplusgood summary ! Now go back and rewrite it in newspeak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 1984 is like, what if the state had a method to keep you on the double plus good path of only expressing goodthink rather than being tricked by enemies of INGSOC into thinking that Big Brother could ever do [REDACTED]. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Quote "It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It isn't only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other words? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take 'good,' for instance. If you have a word like 'good,' what need is there for a word like 'bad'? 'Ungood' will do just as well--better, because it's an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of 'good,' what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like 'excellent' and 'splendid' and all the rest of them? 'Plusgood' covers the meaning, or 'doubleplusgood' if you want something stronger still...In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words--in reality, only one word." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Been reading the first book by Becky Holmes, and it’s very funny indeed. I follow Becky on Twitter (I’m never calling it X, because it’s shite). Becky is often targeted, as so many people are, by romance scammers. Utter arseholes, pretending to be celebrities, or people they aren’t, to get money from unsuspecting targets. Becky replies to them, in increasingly hilarious ways. Answering to their “what are you doing?” questions, with things such as “I like watching tv, reading, and molesting the frozen chickens in Waitrose”. I’m certainly enjoying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 The Rats Quote 'They saw the crying baby, the bowl of dog food by her side. They slid forward, sniffing the air as they went. The food disappeared rapidly. They turned to the tiny figure.' James Herbert knew how to write good horror. This is no exception. This is a grim tale. It's starts off so and escalates from there. There is an underlying theme about the precarious foothold humans have at the top of the food chain. How opportunity is all it takes for that to unravel. How unprepared we are to naturally repel a challenger to our dominion. If you're not a fan of rats ala Musophobia. Or claustrophobic. Or squeamish over often highly detailed gore. This might not be the book for you. While I wasn't a fan of the ending. Being a bit too "action movie" for my tastes. I was a fan of the rest. 8/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nag Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 That's a blast from my past... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Yea! One of my favourite books from when I was younger that. Isn’t there a sequel called the Lair or something too? Remember loving that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nag Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Yes... there is, trying to think if it's the first or second that had a Rat-King in it... or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 ^ 'Lair' and 'Domain', apparently. Which focuses on the Mutant Rat angle at the end of the first book. That I didn't really care for. So I think the one book is good enough for me. Quote 'Ah, there you are. Hello, Ace.' The baby cocked her head and looked at him, wide-eyed, unsure of the stranger. 'This isn't exactly how I wanted to talk to you.' He stared down at the baby. 'I.. I just wanted to say..' Dorothy met his gaze. 'I'm sorry..' 'Forgive me..' An collection of short stories from 1998. One for each of the (then) Eight Doctors. In chronological order. Ironically, the last story focused on the most current Doctor. Details on the 8th are incredibly vague. Both in describing his personality and look. Chiefly because the TV Movie was the only real reference point at that time. His characterisation would be defined much later. Overall a really solid collection, without any real weak links. 'Mondas Rising' is quite a poignant tale of 1st/2nd Doctor companions Ben and Polly and their lives after leaving the Doctor. A decent read that I would recommend to any fans that haven't read it. 8/10 Oh and a nice little bonus piece of history with this book. I bought it second-hand. Opened up the back cover and found a receipt. From the original owner, from where they bought the book from in 1998. Thought that was pretty cool. Meanwhile, Very pleased with myself for finishing things so far this year. Three books so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Quote Ofelia didn't remind her mother that for her, there was nothing better than a book. Her mother wouldn't understand. They could be windows and doors, paper wings to help her fly away. Maybe mother had just forgotten how to fly. Or maybe she'd never learned. Wonderful. A slight oversight on my part. The Del Toro film is one of my all time favourites. But It's actually been a while since I've seen it. Maybe I should have before reading this? Yet, as adaptations go. This brings it all back. Everything great about the film is represented here. A captivating read that was so engrossing I was reading chapters on my way to and from work. I'm not familiar with the author at all. Nor how much of the additional world building text was their writing alone. But on the strength of this book, I will look into the name now. 9/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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