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My non-fiction pile is very peculiar to me (maths, probability, gambling, Rust and Elixir books, a backlog of a load of recent Humble Bundle deals), but I have
by PaulRobinson 3y ago
My non-fiction pile is very peculiar to me (maths, probability, gambling, Rust and Elixir books, a backlog of a load of recent Humble Bundle deals), but I have some solid fiction recommendations:
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is the sort of novel where you start to get sad as the weight of unread pages in your right starts to lighten. A novel about some friends who build some games (set in the 1990s and 2000s, with references to games of that era), it's really about friendship, social awkwardness and creativity.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke can't really take a review. When I first of it in Literary Review, the reviewer refused to disclose any plot for fear of providing spoilers, and I'm the same. I can just tell you, it's lovely. Her writing has got even better since she wrote Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and it's a really, really solid novel.
Yesterday, my Dad messaged me about a current read I'll share here as a warning, and because his style is just hilarious:
I treated myself to a copy of "A Stroke of the Pen" by Terry Pratchett: short stories unearthed after his death. Very disappointing. If I were you, I would wait until it is available at your local library and then you could scrawl cuss words inside it without damaging your personal copy.
Solid advice that, I hope you'll agree.
- riquisimo 3y agoI can't for the life of me understand Piranesi. I've read so many good reviews but I just couldn't stay focused reading it. It was very slow for me.
- PaulRobinson 3y agoIt's a slow fantasy. Maybe. There are lots of different ways of reading a book. I err towards looking at the use of language, the turn of phrase, at least as much as I do the plot. Piranesi suits me, if you're more plot oriented, it might be quite a jarring story.
- hermitcrab 3y ago>short stories unearthed after his death. Very disappointing Perhaps that is why he never published them?
- atombender 3y agoHe did. They were published in newspapers in the 1970s, under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns [1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/11/a-stroke-of-the-pen-by-terry-pratchett-review-newly-discovered-early-stories https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/11/a-stroke-of-th...
- hermitcrab 3y agoThanks for the clarification. I guess he was still polishing his craft 50 years ago.
- sshine 3y agoAs Neil Gaiman tells, Terry Pratchett had his hard drives steamrolled upon his death to prevent any half-done work from being released.
- mkl 3y agoNot just Neil Gaiman, it was widely reported at the time: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/30/terry-pratchett-unfinished-novels-destroyed-streamroller https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/30/terry-pratchet...