Just wanted to share my scrollback of books I’ve recently read, now when all good tv series are on break.
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Salman Ruchdie - Satanic Verses
Not sure if I liked this one or not, it was a bit too long for my taste, considering the intensity of the plot. Maybe it would have been better if it were two thirds of its size, or maybe even half the size. But the last 100-200 pages were amazing so maybe it can’t be cut down. I’m not that widely travelled in religions to understand the controversy of this book, but it makes a great story.
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We’ve all seen the movie, played the games, had the daydreams about Paul Muad’Dib, and perhaps even seen the mini-series, but at least I had unfortunately missed reading the book. This one was a real page turner and it’s probably a book I can read again if I ever get the time. An epic tale well worth reading, really really good.
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Not much to say. If you like Discworld, you’ll probably like this one too. I think I’m beginning to lose interest in this realm, but it was an okisch book with quite some laughter.
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Orson Scott Card - Enders Game
I was told by Anders and Daniel, who I studied with some years back, that this book was teh shit, now after reading it I can do nothing but agree. Real page turner this one too. An amazing story about the kid Ender going through tough training to save the Earth from the evil buggers. Very well written, you really feel for Ender as the plot unravels.
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Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama
This is the first Clarke book I’ve read, never even watched the movie 2001. The book has a very scientific feel to it and is very well written, after some pages you are suddenly a part of the group planning to, and finally exploring the landscapes of Rama, a master piece.
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A collection of psychedelic mind-bending short stories about the life in the alternate Noon-reality of Manchester. I’ve read Nymphomation and Vurt previously to this one so some stories feel familiar but I really like the way Noon formulates his sentences. The experience of reading the words together brings something on its own on top of the story, like listening to music, but instead of enjoying the tune, you enjoy the combination of the words, very strange. Anyway, Pixel Juice rocked, lots of the stories which I would like to see a full book of, and maybe in the future that might happen. Strongly recommend it if you like Jeff Noon, but if you haven’t read Noon yet, then maybe some of his other books might be a better starting point.
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Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead
This is the sequel of Ender’s Game, and was recommended by the same persons, and this one was also good. Not really as good as the first in the series, but well worth reading. Card is a great writer but it feels like he in this book tries to tie together too many diffrent strings and is not as thorough as in Ender’s Game. But overall a great story.
All the books are between 4 and 5 out of 5 so I can recommend them all (except perhaps Mort). I’m currently racing through another of Arthur C. Clarke’s books, The Fountains of Paradise, where an engineer is on his way of building a space elevator, pretty good too, not as good as Rendezvous with Rama yet, but it has a nice touch in its own way.