@Ravix I’m in Chapter 5 currently, so yeah I think it’s The Lesser Evil. I’m still trying to get used to the short story format with the little extra sections going back to prior ongoing events. I’m not sure if these are supposed to have an overarching plot that somehow brings these separate stories together or not, but I’m here for it to find out.
One question as I look ahead to potentially listen to the other audiobooks in the series. Since I’m sold on this first book so far, I went ahead and used the rest of the $20 voucher that Audible gave me to purchase the Sword of Destiny, following the guide that @FuriousMachine posted the other day. I haven’t bought Blood of Elves yet, but when I went to wishlist it, there’s a “Booktrack” edition for it and the remaining audiobooks in the series, at least up through Lady of the Lake. Do you recommend the Booktrack Edition or the base edition? My understanding is that the booktrack adds some music. Does it make the audiobook listening experience better or worse?
@Th3solution I have literally never heard of the Booktrack edition. Can you preview it? I assume they'd want to show people what it was like to advertise and generate a sale? All mine are just standard. Just had a look and saw someone on Reddit asking the same and a response saying "I thought it would be cool, but ended up distracting me from the story"
The fact that it is even a possibility to be distracting would seal it for me. As the words alone are plenty enough.
As for the stories in-between. You'll have to wait and see 😛 (tbh, I have forgotten exactly how it all works out or is intertwined as the story is fully known to me in its completion, but i'm pretty sure it will add something worth my teasing remark in a satisfying way if you keep on listening. It sounds like it is, to me, on this current listen)
I finished Nietzsche and Asian Thought edited by Graham Parkes. I found it, on the whole, to be an excellent and valuable read, containing lots of knowledge and wisdom for the discerning audience that will probably take it up. I also found it to be more balanced in it's overview of Eastern and Western philosophy and religion than Zen and Western Thought ,which is also an outstanding book, in it's own right. Both thoroughly recommended for anyone interested in studying/reading about comparative philosophy/religion.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Hello and how are you, my friend? Looks like the swim in philosophical waters has been agreeable so far. What's next for you, do you have anything specific in mind? More philosophy, perhaps?
Spent a lot of the weekend reading and finished Jonathan Maberry's Patient Zero, the first in his Joe Ledger series. While not blisteringly original, it was still highly entertaining. It reads like one would imagine "Tom Clancy's Zombie Outbreak" would and this one thankfully doesn't feel the need to make any kind of political statement, as many books in this genre do - I don't know the author's personal political leanings after reading this and that is indeed a good thing. There is a pretty large character gallery in this novel and most of them are fleshed out and each gets at least a moment or two to shine. The villains of the piece are larger than life and have a very interesting dynamic between them. Looking forward to the upcoming adaptation shepherded by John Wick maestro Chad Stahelski and will absolutely keep reading this series. Four stars.
I mentioned that my reading list had been reordered a bit to favour a few impending adaptations, and one that was actually added was Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil. I haven't read this before, nor did I see the previous adaptation (which, funny aside, I for a long time conflated with "Blame it on Rio") and with a new adaptation on the way, it was time to remedy that.
@FuriousMachine Hey man! , haven't spoken to you in a while. Hope you've been alright? Yes, I've been doing okay myself, still volunteering for the mental health charity and playing guitar when I'm not gaming. Everything going alright in the world of software and cinema/music exploration for you?
Yes, it has been a lovely swim, indeed. I've just always been interested in a potential synthesis of Eastern and Western thought, which seems to be what Robert M. Pirsig was aiming for in his classic novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, ever since I read that book. Next up for me is The Taming of the Samurai by Eiko Ikegami, a sort of history of how Japanese culture evolved from the days of swordsmanship to the contemporary Japanese business role in terms of how many members of their society earn their keep, as it were. so that should be a fascinating and thought-provoking read. Then. yes, it should be more philosophy, but I'll go into that the next time we speak.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Sounds like things are going well. Happy to hear it Things are going okay here as well. Will be good to "get away from it all" a bit when Christmas hits. I'll be traveling to a town not too far away to visit my sister and brother-in-law for a few days and on Christmas Eve most of the family will be gathering for dinner and presents, which is always fun when young kids are involved. It will be my grandnephew's very first Christmas, so really looking forward to spending it with them.
I skimmed some reviews of The Taming of the Samurai on Goodreads and it looks really interesting! Added it to my (massive) reading list and looking forward to hearing your take on it when you've read it.
I'm currently reading a couple of short-stories that serves as a wrap-up of the first novel in Jonathan Maberry's "Joe Ledger" series, which I finished just yesterday.
After that, I'll delve into The Boys from Brazil, Ira Levin's classic about Nazi hunters trying to stop Mengele from restoring the Third Reich. Supposedly a very good suspense novel and there's a movie with Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and James Mason which I haven't seen. Will rectify that when the novel's done and dusted
After that I'm looking at the new Witcher book, another Inspector McLean book and I'll also be starting the murder mystery series "Thursday Murder Club", which I've been hearing good things about (also turned into a movie recently, as it happens). Not sure which order I'll tackle these in, but seeing as one of them has the potential to be the 50th novel I've read this year, if I should manage to finish it, I may "cheat" and pick the shortest of them to make sure I end the year with a nice round number
@FuriousMachine Ah, the "Thursday Murder Club" series. I'm very familiar with that, despite not having read it. Richard Osman, the author, is very well-known over here as he was formerly the "brainy" sidekick on a popular quiz show , "Pointless" where you try and get the lowest score possible, in order to win, it's on the BBC with a revolving door of celebrities currently filling Osman's shoes now. Osman's role was to fill in the facts with regard to any information that the contestants couldn't guess accurately, with the alleged use of a laptop, facing away from the camera, which Osman later clarified "was never even switched on." 🤣
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN haha, I didn't realise it was that Richard Osman! I haven't seen "Pointless", but he's been on "QI" a few times so I remember him from there. Now I'm looking even more forward to trying out the series
@FuriousMachine they are very good books (I actually need to carry on the series at some point) A lot different to most things that get mentioned here, but charmingly written, witty and entertaining.
I have not watched the adaption yet, because, to me, Ron had to have been Ray Wintstone, it was the most open net type of casting, with him also working on some other Netflix stuff too! The rest of the casting did appear to be pretty much bang on, as imagined, however.
They are very character driven books, and it won't take you long to get to know Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim. (And Bogdan, whom I imagined being played by Niko Bellic for my own entertainment) 😄 it is actually quite a visual book in that regard. It seems so easy to paint yourself a picture of the various characters, as they really do spring to life from the words and characterisations. High praise, I suppose.
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
@Ravix Sounds very promising, then. Sometimes I like it when the cast for an adaptation is known when I start reading the books, especially if it's an adaptation I'm planning to watch. Cuts down on jarring disconnects from my imagination when watching the adaptation. On the flip side, it limits the imagination, too.
A good example is The Expanse series. It hadn't been cast when I started the the first book, but was announced as I was nearing the end of it. Most of the cast wound up hitting the mark except for Holden, one of the main characters and that was really jarring at first (especially as I was continuing to read the books between TV seasons). By the time I got to "Caliban's War", which introduces the character Chrisjen Avasarala, Shoreh Aghdashloo had been cast in the role, so that character was always Shoreh for me (and that is one of the most brilliant casting choices ever made, in my opinion).
So, I preferred "my" version of Holden (although that version did eventually morph into the TV version), but there was no way "my" version of Avasarala could have been anywhere near the perfection of the TV version.
@FuriousMachine yeah, you're probably best going in with your own imagination, but it is cool when that then becomes pretty much as you imagined in an adaption, or even... bettered, as you say.
I can't imagine any world where Pierce Brosnan can be considered better than old Ray Winstone, though 😬 but at least they transformed him to kind of look alike, haha
(Nothing screams more of "how didn't we get Ray Winstone?" Than this image)
I've heard it is only a middling adaption anyway, but i'll probably watch over christmas some time.
I have finished "Written in Bone" by Sue Black a fantastic follow up to "All that Remains". She talks about her own personal dealings with death as well as cases she has worked on giving bodies back their identities. Not a book for the squeamish with cases involving the deaths of children and body dismemberment.
Next up I have "All You Need Is Kill" and "The Adventures of Pincchio".
@Ravix@FuriousMachine I have reserved "The Last Wish" from my local library to dip my toes in. Also all this talk of the "Thursday Murder Club" is making me want to give it a go. I do enjoy Richard Osman as a t.v. personality, his podcast with Marina Hyde is good too. My library has a few of the books I guess I'll read the first one!
@MightyDemon82 Ah, I had forgotten about "All That Remains" (which is such a clever title, btw); it's somewhere in my reading list and it sounds really interesting. Think I'll bump it up to the top of my non-fiction reading list or at least high enough that it will be a priority (that list contains quite a few books that have been shuffled down the list as something new and shiny caught my non-fiction interest so I feel bad about a couple of them )
@FuriousMachine When you do get around to it I'm sure you will find it fascinating.
I finished "All You Need Is Kill" absolutely fantastic. I will track down the novel and read that too as it was the manga I read. I still need to rewatch the movie with Cruise & Blunt, Everytime I've sat down to watch it I get interrupted.
I am a few chapters into The Adventures of Pinocchio" vastly different from any version I've seen on the screen. Lemony Snickets annotations are hilarious and Mignola's art is as brilliant as ever. It's a bit big to take into bed with me though so I'll start "The Chessmen" really excited about this one after @FuriousMachine got me into Peter May's China Thriller series!
@MightyDemon82 Did you already read the two previous books in the series? ("The Chessmen" is the third of four and while the case is standalone, everything else follows from the other two and will spoil a few things, I think)
@FuriousMachine I had it first on my shelf, they may have arrived jumbled up in that order. I'll go and grab the 1st one. Thanks for jumping in so quickly.
@MightyDemon82 Sheer luck, I was just checking the site before heading off to neverland myself (though I'm pretty sure you would have figured something was off before getting too deep into it)
Sol, I retract my previous guesstimate. You must definitely read/listen to Sword of Destiny too. I knew it was a good book, but I'd forgotten some of the main important short stories are actually contained in that, too. Like the major developments to set up the Novels. I thought it was just some further developments, but it is definitely the major stuff 😄
Also... Peter Kenny says Dandy-Lion! 10/10 (but I do believe he may switch back for one more book, depending on who translated it and when it was recorded 😅 a wild ride, indeed)
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