The GOT Book Club

[Efcjake]

Yeah see this is also what I've heard - wife has read them and liked them for what they are, but even she was more on the "well, the first book is great and the others are... good, BUT...". I'll finish Ender's game when I can and will decide then*.

* Sadly not a lot of time left for reading recently.

It has been a while since I read them. The first book is great and leaves you wanting more.

He did spin-offs based on what happens with both Bean and Ender who take very different paths after the first book. From what I read online they both end up going a bit weird like Dune does eventually. I did like the first Bean book and it explores some interesting ideas. The more you learn about the author though you learn he really did have some mental beliefs and they started to infect his later work which is why it isn't as popular.

 

[DualityNSNO]

It has been a while since I read them. The first book is great and leaves you wanting more.

He did spin-offs based on what happens with both Bean and Ender who take very different paths after the first book. From what I read online they both end up going a bit weird like Dune does eventually. I did like the first Bean book and it explores some interesting ideas. The more you learn about the author though you learn he really did have some mental beliefs and they started to infect his later work which is why it isn't as popular.

The first odd and subsequently the first outright racist comments happen within a chapter or so, and I know about his more questionable beliefs from other places, so I am kind of in that position where the art is good but if the artist is a prick I won't bother to read the full anthology of the work in question, if that makes sense. I'm defo into the first book, even with some of those weird comments the world is still interesting and the pacing is good, but we'll see...

 

[scratchnsurf]

The Devils - Joe Abercrombie. Would recommend. If you've read any of his other stuff you'll know what to expect and won't be disappointed. If you haven't, this one's a good place to start as it's a stand alone novel, not related to his other stuff.

 

[bicycleheader]

Listened to Children of Memory audiobook again as I felt like I hadn't really taken it all in properly, and I'd been reading about how great the first two books were. Really love this series. Some imagination

Next one in the series, Children of Strife, is out on audiobook on the 26th

 

[rigg]

Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia
Book by Kate Manne 2024

Nonsense form a particular type of self hating person. Medical reality and self control is an abstract to this author who desperately craves a place in the oppression Olympics... and cake.

 

[rigg]

The Defector: The Untold Story of the KGB Agent who Exposed the CIA and Saved MI5 by Richard Kerbaj 2025

The story of a small time defector that is used to give an overview of the spying scene post war upto the 70s. Was OK, only shortish so didn't get bogged down.

 

[rigg]

Unfortunately, She Was a Nymphomaniac by Joan Smith 2024

Awful "history" book by a feminist that tries to rewrite the lives of Roman women through the prism of misogyny and patriarchy. Which, ironically, in turn strips them of any agency. Awful book, should be in the sociology section not history.

 

[rigg]

The Idiot Brain Book by Dean Burnett 2016

A book that dumbs down the processes of the brain for idiots like me. Not bad, I'll forget everything about this book before the year is out though.

 

[Bilko]

Been on a run of bad books until I came across this,decent read ,historical fiction on the seige of leningrad

 

[COYBL25]

Been on a run of bad books until I came across this,decent read ,historical fiction on the seige of leningrad


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Have you read Antony Beevor`s books ?

Although his historical war books are factual, he somehow manages to write them so that they flow, aren`t dry and as a result they flow and are very readable.

In particular his books about the Russian defence of Stalingrad and the allied advance and the capitulation of Berlin, are truly great reads.

 

[Bilko]

Have you read Antony Beevor`s books ?

Although his historical war books are factual, he somehow manages to write them so that they flow, aren`t dry and as a result they flow and are very readable.

In particular his books about the Russian defence of Stalingrad and the allied advance and the capitulation of Berlin, are truly great reads.

Oh cheers, 100% will check them out.

 

[COYBL25]

Oh cheers, 100% will check them out.

They`re both stunning books to read and I guarantee that you`ll love them both.

I`d start with Stalingrad first, as it`s his definitive work.

 

[summerisle]

Read a short story called The Black Stone, by Robert E. Howard. He was the author of Conan the Barbarian, and was a prolific writer crossing many genres. The story is very reminiscent of H P Lovecraft (a bit of a hero to him): pagan doings in wildest Hungary.

First published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in the 1930s ; I wonder if there are reprints, there must be some excellent fantasy stories in them that are long forgotten. Anyway, if sado -masochist pagan rites is your thing you'll be well happy. He committed suicide at the age of just 30 by shooting himself in the head - just thought you'd like to know.

 

[COYBL25]

The Wide Wide Sea - Hampton Sides.

Chronicles the third and fatal voyage of Captain Cook, as he set off around the world again and attempted to find the North West Passage.

A truly fascinating read and the author has the rare gift, of being able to make what should be a dry subject, into a very readable one.

Like Antony Beevor, his attention to detail is superb and at no point feels dull or flat.

They were at sea for nearly five years

I’ve ordered a further two historical books by Sides on the strength of this one.

 

[rigg]

How to Defeat the Far Right: Lessons From Hope Not Hate by Nick Lowles 2025

First half of the book is a retrospective of how Hope Not Hate used it's position as a government/intelligence services asset (obviously they don't mention this) to undermine democracy through subversion, intimidation and infiltration against people it deemed socially detestable. The second part is about how these tactics are ripe for capturing the youth via subversion and infiltration of the green/net zero movement. But that other means will have to be evolved to tackle growing political islamicfication because they are a relatively closed group to infiltrate on the scale they need to.