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Post by BakFu on Oct 29, 2018 15:54:51 GMT
We used to have a thread dedicated to those dusty old paper thingies that we were forced to read in school that distract you from your screen/outside time... BOOKS!
I thought I'd bring it back in case anyone has read one or two since the last place rode off into the sunset, or, if you're new here and have a title or two you think fans of a pixely import wrestling game might be interested in you can share you enthusiasm for them here!
People here suggested The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie to me when I was asking for reading ideas, and because I respect the impeccable taste and wisdom of the CRITICAL! Club members so much, I took the bait. I'm almost finished the last book (Argument of Kings), and I don't want it to end. Logen Ninefingers and especially Sand Dan Glokta's stories have been some of my favourite in fantasy novels. The author knows his way around creating lovable monsters and making you question your choice of favourites. I'm a little past half way through the last book, and I might try to pound the rest out this week (I really only read during breaks at work when I can, so it takes me a while to finish books...). Thanks again for the suggestion, this has been a great series that doesn't overstay its welcome with a pile of volumes, I think a trilogy will tie the series up nicely even though I'm enjoying it and don't really want it to end.
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Post by LankyLefty17 on Oct 29, 2018 18:27:06 GMT
Two books for those of you knee deep in Red Dead 2.
The Sister Brothers
One of the better books I've read in a long time. The story chronicles two hit men brothers traveling from Oregon to California during Gold Rush times to kill a prospector. Its darkly humorous and at the same time sadly honest. If you enjoy Cormac McCarthy this should be up your alley.
The Last Gunfight
A historical deconstruction on the myth of Wyatt Erp. It is painfully researched to give accurate accounts as to not only what went down at the OK Corral, but also backstories of all the essential characters. I found everything in this book fascinating, and while at times it can read a little textbook-ish, it's mostly strung together with a very interesting and compelling narrative.
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Post by BakFu on Oct 30, 2018 0:30:20 GMT
Two books for those of you knee deep in Red Dead 2. The Sister BrothersOne of the better books I've read in a long time. The story chronicles two hit men brothers traveling from Oregon to California during Gold Rush times to kill a prospector. Its darkly humorous and at the same time sadly honest. If you enjoy Cormac McCarthy this should be up your alley. Seconded. I read this in one sitting, not something I normally do with books. And yeah, great summation, and yes, a McCarthy-light for sure, a little funnier, too (and unlike one of my favourites of McCarthy, Blood Meridian, you don't need the anti-depressants/booze after reading Sisters Brothers! :D). (Undermajordomo Minor, also by Patrick DeWitt, was odd and not a western, but I think it would make for a great Studio Ghibli / Miyazaki anime adaptation) I did a Red Dead list in the old place, but a few of my favourites in the RDR vein include True Grit (Charles Portis has a few really good titles), the ol' classic Lonesome Dove, there was a pulpy but funny and dark one called Smonk that I liked, Michael Punke's The Revenant (the book is pretty bad ass, I saw the movie a year or so after I read the book, the bear fight in the book is waaaaay cooler!), and The Winter Family (Clifford Jackman) wasn't bad, either. I will have to try The Last Gunfight as well, sounds pretty bad ass! |
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Post by Nth on Oct 30, 2018 8:50:23 GMT
Recently finished the three prequel Dune books: House Atriedes, House Harkonnen and House Corrino.
I steadily have a laundry list of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k books pre-ordered that just arrive at random because I always forget I pre-ordered them on Amazon so I am often pleasantly surprised when one shows up in the mail unexpectedly. Currently awaiting Imperial Glory an anthology of Imperial Guard related stories.
Still going through the original Shadowrun novel series that came out back in the 90's. I think it's 43 books in total and I've tracked down over half of them on Ebay. New ones have recently started coming out but I've been picking them up on Kindle.
Currently reading I, Mengsk at work. A prequel book about Arcturus Mengsk from the Starcraft universe.
At home have been picking up the Alien expanded universe novels and am currently reading Cold Forge.
I have a back log of book as long as my backlog of games.
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Books 2.0
Oct 30, 2018 13:25:46 GMT
via mobile
Post by amsterDAN on Oct 30, 2018 13:25:46 GMT
Now this is my kind of thread! I'd like to recommend The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove to anyone that likes alternate history with a peculiar sci-fi twist. The premise is pretty simple: The Confederacy wins the Civil War thanks to the intervention of time-traveling 20th-century South African white supremacists who supply the South with AK-47s and other advanced arms and tactics. A strange but fascinating tale.
I also finally just read The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. If you ever tried to form a rock band with your friends as teenagers, this is an absolute must-read. General premise: dirt poor, vulgar Irish lads decide to form a soul band. It is absolutely hysterical and a surprisingly accurrate portrait of what forming a band is like.
Lastly, just started The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. This book is almost designed to be impossible to synopsize, it would seem. Best I can come up with is this: Imagine a world where just about every conspiracy theory you've ever heard of is true, but has far more layers to it than previously thought, often to an absurd degree. (I.e. Good ol' boy redneck sheriffs in Texas = communist plants to discredit right-wing redneckery.) The writing is positively insane; it may switch narrators or verb tense mid-sentence, jump through time in space from paragraph to paragraph, and generally it just goes out of its way to mess with your mind.
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Post by Ramon on Oct 30, 2018 14:24:52 GMT
Metro 2033, Dmitry Glukhovsky Fantastic post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a great setting in the tunnels below Moscow. Great games as well.
The Fisherman, John Langan Great cosmic horror, really reccomend this one.
John Dies at the End, David Wong Funny, creepy, delightfully self aware. This trilogy is really good. A great read overall.
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Post by Nth on Oct 30, 2018 14:50:00 GMT
Metro 2033, Dmitry Glukhovsky Fantastic post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a great setting in the tunnels below Moscow. Great games as well.
Totally agree. I have the second and third books still to read and I also picked up the Metro one off comic. Picked up the Metro Redux set on PS4 a while back and loved the games, plan to play through them again before Metro Exodus comes out.
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Post by BakFu on Oct 31, 2018 0:47:31 GMT
Metro 2033, Dmitry Glukhovsky Fantastic post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a great setting in the tunnels below Moscow. Great games as well.
The Fisherman, John Langan Great cosmic horror, really reccomend this one.
John Dies at the End, David Wong Funny, creepy, delightfully self aware. This trilogy is really good. A great read overall.
These all sound cool, I keep forgetting about Metro, that story sounds bad ass. I like a lot of Eastern European fiction, even though it's translated, it always has a different vibe to it. Kind of like Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher stories, there's an odd, dark but almost humorous undertone to everything, most of the stuff I've read by authors from that region of the world seems to follow suit. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about or what I'm trying to say, but I do know I like the fiction I've read by authors from that area of the world! Thanks for posting these! :) |
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Post by Ramon on Oct 31, 2018 11:47:50 GMT
Metro 2033, Dmitry Glukhovsky Fantastic post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a great setting in the tunnels below Moscow. Great games as well.
The Fisherman, John Langan Great cosmic horror, really reccomend this one.
John Dies at the End, David Wong Funny, creepy, delightfully self aware. This trilogy is really good. A great read overall.
These all sound cool, I keep forgetting about Metro, that story sounds bad ass. I like a lot of Eastern European fiction, even though it's translated, it always has a different vibe to it. Kind of like Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher stories, there's an odd, dark but almost humorous undertone to everything, most of the stuff I've read by authors from that region of the world seems to follow suit. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about or what I'm trying to say, but I do know I like the fiction I've read by authors from that area of the world! Thanks for posting these! :)
My pleasure! :) I think you'll really dig Metro 2033, it's one of my all time favorite books. The rest of the trilogy isn't all that good, but still worth reading. And if you like Eastern European/Russian sci-fi, then I can really reccomend Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was partly based on this book.
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Post by Ramon on Oct 31, 2018 11:48:56 GMT
Metro 2033, Dmitry Glukhovsky Fantastic post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a great setting in the tunnels below Moscow. Great games as well.
Totally agree. I have the second and third books still to read and I also picked up the Metro one off comic. Picked up the Metro Redux set on PS4 a while back and loved the games, plan to play through them again before Metro Exodus comes out.
I didn't know there was a comic! Will definitely have to check that out! :)
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Post by Nth on Oct 31, 2018 23:16:37 GMT
Totally agree. I have the second and third books still to read and I also picked up the Metro one off comic. Picked up the Metro Redux set on PS4 a while back and loved the games, plan to play through them again before Metro Exodus comes out.
I didn't know there was a comic! Will definitely have to check that out! :)
It's called Outpost and takes place in America and is basically to let Metro fans get a glimpse of what else is going on in the world aside from in the Metro itself.
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Post by Nth on Nov 18, 2018 22:12:38 GMT
John Wick and Agent 47 of the Hitman series are both getting prequel graphic novels explaining their origins. I just pre-ordered them. Also William Gibson's original Alien 3 script is being turned into a graphic novel which I just pre-ordered as well. Quite a bit different from the script they ended up using for the Alien 3 movie. In fact Gibson's script would have been the one they would have used as the basis for the still in limbo Alien 5 movie which would bump Alien 3 and Resurrection films out of the canon of the franchise as Hicks, Newt and Ripley are all still alive.
Also because of the upcoming Resident Evil 2 Remake release I ended up ordering Resident Evil: The Marwha Desire series which takes place between Resident Evil 5 and 6.
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Books 2.0
Nov 18, 2018 22:24:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by LankyLefty17 on Nov 18, 2018 22:24:41 GMT
John Wick and Agent 47 of the Hitman series are both getting prequel graphic novels explaining their origins. I just pre-ordered them. Also William Gibson's original Alien 3 script is being turned into a graphic novel which I just pre-ordered as well. Quite a bit different from the script they ended up using for the Alien 3 movie. In fact Gibson's script would have been the one they would have used as the basis for the still in limbo Alien 5 movie which would bump Alien 3 and Resurrection films out of the canon of the franchise as Hicks, Newt and Ripley are all still alive. Also because of the upcoming Resident Evil 2 Remake release I ended up ordering Resident Evil: The Marwha Desire series which takes place between Resident Evil 5 and 6. Who’s doing the John Wick stuff? |
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Post by Nth on Nov 18, 2018 22:34:08 GMT
Dynamite Entertainment, written by Greg Pak and drawn by Giovanni Valletta. I guess it's going to be an ongoing series since this is Vol. 1.
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Post by Nth on Nov 27, 2018 23:35:45 GMT
The first of the graphic novels from the next book in the Game of Thrones series has now released. Just ordered A Clash of Kings Volume one of four. Also managed to track down the Battle Royale manga set on ebay for a decent price. I liked the book and movie but I enjoyed the manga most of all so when I happened on someone selling the entire set I jumped on it.
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