Read Any Good Books Lately?

[bladan 293]

1 hour ago, gcreptile said:

Also, Philip K. Dick's Ubik, which begins as if the author was on something really good (probably true), and then becomes quite a lively story. Need to read more from him.

Check out also his novels Martian time-slip, Dr Bloodmoney, The game-players of Titan, Clans of the Alphane moon, Zap gun, Ganymede takeover, The world Jones made and Galactic pot-healer

 

[Phantom 2,533]

Just finished reading "Roots, Radicals and Rockers - How sniffle changed the world" by Billy Bragg.

[gcreptile 10,964]

On 17/08/2018 at 19:34, gcreptile said:

I have now finished the sequel "The Dark Forest". It is quite unlikely anything I've ever read. A totally different book from the first part which was very character-based, with boundless creativity.

 

First, the people behave more like ciphers for philosophical concepts, and the creativity leads to weird, boring places like a scientist being challenged by his girlfriend author to write a book on his own with his dream girlfriend and then the girlfriend becomes a hallucination that feels real (and then the tough detective from the first book finds a woman exactly like that hallucination for that scientist). But then, the narrative slowly pulls you in with aa couple of reveals, and the story turns dark, and then darker, and then darker. You literally lose faith in humanity. And then...

Aaaand two days ago I finished the final book of the trilogy "Death's End" - enjoyable but not quite as good as the other two. It is a book that goes on and on and on...and on.... and on. It fails a bit in the end and kind of devalues the superb second book. Glad to have read it all though.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

On 17/08/2018 at 19:10, bladan said:

I recommend his short stories, often brilliant, and Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich (a novel), in this order. Some of his novels,especially the late ones, are boring.

 

 

Hmmm

 

Those late "boring" novels...I'd rate VALIS as his very best and all the more compelling since it's only published as a novel because that would likely sell more copies (his reputation being cult level during his lifetime and gradually growing since his death in 1982).

 

VALIS is a thinly disguised autobiography chronicling a psychotic episode so all the alternative cosmology (up to and including a summary of the way things really are at the back of the book), is pretty much an eloquent insight into madness.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

On 17/08/2018 at 20:27, bladan said:

Check out also his novels Martian time-slip, Dr Bloodmoney, The game-players of Titan, Clans of the Alphane moon, Zap gun, Ganymede takeover, The world Jones made and Galactic pot-healer

 

 

 

Aye, Galactic Pot Healer...wryly funny in places and often under-rated.

[the_engineer 1,415]

Night film by marisha pessl.A unique read, using an app for extra content.

[bladan 293]

On 02/09/2018 at 17:17, maryportfuncity said:

his reputation being cult level during his lifetime and gradually growing since his death in 1982

He was often broke during his lifetime. Finally got money in 1981 when Blade Runner was being filmed. I liked his Ganymede takeover in which the Earth has been invaded by big pink worms

[Bibliogryphon 9,570]

11 minutes ago, bladan said:

He was often broke during his lifetime. Finally got money in 1981 when Blade Runner was being filmed. I liked his Ganymede takeover in which the Earth has been invaded by big pink worms

Didn't someone write a novel entitled Philip K. Dick is Dead?

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

46 minutes ago, Bibliogryphon said:

Didn't someone write a novel entitled Philip K. Dick is Dead?

 

Alas they did - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philip-K-Dick-Dead-Alas/dp/0586201513/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535990343&sr=1-1&keywords=philip+k+dick+is+dead

[bladan 293]

Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of champions. His best novel IMHO. Recommended for depressed intellectual masochists

[gcreptile 10,964]

On 17/08/2018 at 21:27, bladan said:

Check out also his novels Martian time-slip, Dr Bloodmoney, The game-players of Titan, Clans of the Alphane moon, Zap gun, Ganymede takeover, The world Jones made and Galactic pot-healer

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

I had bought "Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said" some weeks ago and finished it now. Apparently, it was one of his most critically acclaimed novels. Another elegy on drug use with the protagonists repeatedly having revelatory moments. But it didn't quite grip me entirely - and that even though, by sheer coincidence, I had a rare related experience this week.

[bladan 293]

On 08/09/2018 at 23:07, gcreptile said:

Thanks for the suggestions!

I had bought "Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said" some weeks ago and finished it now. Apparently, it was one of his most critically acclaimed novels. Another elegy on drug use with the protagonists repeatedly having revelatory moments. But it didn't quite grip me entirely - and that even though, by sheer coincidence, I had a rare related experience this week.

As you found out, Flow my Tears isn't among his best.

Don't worry, according to not only Pablo Picasso but - more importantly - me, here's a masterpiece:

Guillaume Apollinaire's THE ELEVEN THOUSAND RODS (Les Onze Mille Verges), debauched aristocrat Mony Vibescu and a circle of fellow sybarites blaze a trail of uncontrollable lust, bloody cruelty and depravity across the streets of Europe.

 

I really liked it.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

FFS - this thread's been woefully inactive, seriously I thought we had some proper intellektuals hereabouts.

 

Anyway, picked this up on a whim this afternoon and it's way better than you'd think considering it's nowt but extended interviews transcribed by someone who used them for a documentary - some fairly candid stuff about the cameraderie and ongoing tragedy of 60's/ 70's F1

 

[Toast 16,130]

I am on a retro kick and have been re-reading some old favourites, including Patricia Highsmith. 

Picked up 'The Two Faces Of January' in a charity shop, and to my great surprise I have NO recollection of it, though I could have sworn I had read it.  

Such a pleasure to find an unread book by a favourite author, especially after all this time.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

Contacts With The Gods From Space, by George King, a former taxi driver, who, thanks to his encounters with various cosmic deities, went on to found the Aetherius Society.   

 

A startling read, mainly due to King's radical departure from traditional Christian teachings when he drops the bombshell that Jesus Christ was actually originally from Venus.   Even having read the book, I am unsure how King arrived  at this conclusion.   However he was convinced that a mysterious cloaked man he met in North Devon in 1958 was indeed our Lord and Saviour.   

Quote

"I knew, although he didn't tell me, I knew that he was Jesus and that he had come from the planet Venus - I didn't have to be told, I just knew this."

 

King (who died in 1997) was by his own account a man capable of spiritual networking on a grand scale and regularly communed with extraterrestrials from the comfort of his flat in Maida Vale.   This is where, in 1954, he was informed by a hitherto unknown voice  that he was to be the Earthly representative on an 'interplanetary parliament' and he appears to have dedicated himself from that day onwards to representing his constituency to the best of his abilities, even moving to California which he believed to be a better location to converse with outer space than West London.  

 

Later in the book, King shares his views on  UFOs, mediumship, religion, karma, reincarnation, Atlantis, spiritual energy, holy mountains, spiritual ecology, prophecy and the future of life on Earth.  Sadly,  I fear that King perhaps might have been a little over ambitious in his scope by attempting to cover all of these topics within a mere 173 pages, but then again I doubt incredulous and uninitiated readers such as myself could have coped with much more.    

 

P.S  I didn't pay money for this book, but instead found a brand new plastic wrapped copy on Yes Tor, Dartmoor at the weekend, which I now understand to be one of the Aetherius Society's holy mountains.  As someone went to all the effort of leaving it there, I decided I would review it here.  For some reason, I thought @maryportfuncity would approve.  

[Sir Creep 7,070]

8 hours ago, DevonDeathTrip said:

...Jesus Christ was actually originally from Venus.   Even having read the book, I am unsure how King arrived  at this conclusion.

 

“And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus

Leaving Levon far behind....”

 

How clear does Sir Elton John have to say it?

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

14 hours ago, DevonDeathTrip said:

Contacts With The Gods From Space, by George King, a former taxi driver, who, thanks to his encounters with various cosmic deities, went on to found the Aetherius Society.   

 

A startling read, mainly due to King's radical departure from traditional Christian teachings when he drops the bombshell that Jesus Christ was actually originally from Venus.   Even having read the book, I am unsure how King arrived  at this conclusion.   However he was convinced that a mysterious cloaked man he met in North Devon in 1958 was indeed our Lord and Saviour.   

 

King (who died in 1997) was by his own account a man capable of spiritual networking on a grand scale and regularly communed with extraterrestrials from the comfort of his flat in Maida Vale.   This is where, in 1954, he was informed by a hitherto unknown voice  that he was to be the Earthly representative on an 'interplanetary parliament' and he appears to have dedicated himself from that day onwards to representing his constituency to the best of his abilities, even moving to California which he believed to be a better location to converse with outer space than West London.  

 

Later in the book, King shares his views on  UFOs, mediumship, religion, karma, reincarnation, Atlantis, spiritual energy, holy mountains, spiritual ecology, prophecy and the future of life on Earth.  Sadly,  I fear that King perhaps might have been a little over ambitious in his scope by attempting to cover all of these topics within a mere 173 pages, but then again I doubt incredulous and uninitiated readers such as myself could have coped with much more.    

 

P.S  I didn't pay money for this book, but instead found a brand new plastic wrapped copy on Yes Tor, Dartmoor at the weekend, which I now understand to be one of the Aetherius Society's holy mountains.  As someone went to all the effort of leaving it there, I decided I would review it here.  For some reason, I thought @maryportfuncity would approve.  

 

 

MPFC has read it, met many Aetherians and even spent a truly memorable afternoon on a Devon hillside chanting mantras with them as some more skilled initiates twisted, twirled went closer to free-style rapping and generally directed the prayer energy. 

 

Actually some of the most agreeable and approachable people you'll find anywhere in the UFO community though I struggle to recognise literal truth anywhere in their cosmology and for the sake of balance you might want to read Flying Saucery by David Clark and Andy Roberts which is a social history of the whole movement and discusses a purported event much earlier in King's life where in a state of some agitation and advanced refreshment he disrupted a meeting set up to investigate the flying saucer mystery (as it was then known). The implication of the social history is obvious - suggesting that King may have figured he could advance himself from taxi driving to something akin to a deity if he could come up with a load of impressive mumbo jumbo and keep a straight face. He crashed a meeting in London in the 50's and died in California in the 90's, just thought I'd mention that.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

5 hours ago, maryportfuncity said:

 

 

MPFC has read it, met many Aetherians and even spent a truly memorable afternoon on a Devon hillside chanting mantras with them as some more skilled initiates twisted, twirled went closer to free-style rapping and generally directed the prayer energy. 

 

Actually some of the most agreeable and approachable people you'll find anywhere in the UFO community though I struggle to recognise literal truth anywhere in their cosmology and for the sake of balance you might want to read Flying Saucery by David Clark and Andy Roberts which is a social history of the whole movement and discusses a purported event much earlier in King's life where in a state of some agitation and advanced refreshment he disrupted a meeting set up to investigate the flying saucer mystery (as it was then known). The implication of the social history is obvious - suggesting that King may have figured he could advance himself from taxi driving to something akin to a deity if he could come up with a load of impressive mumbo jumbo and keep a straight face. He crashed a meeting in London in the 50's and died in California in the 90's, just thought I'd mention that.

 

It's funny, because I did think this fine piece of work would appeal to you.  I should have guessed that it wouldn't have passed you by.  

 

I might have to take in next year's gathering harnessing cosmic energy near Combe Martin, as it's only a short drive away.  Keeping a straight face may be a challenge though.

 

Agree that part of the book's charm is King's straightforward assertion that his various encounters with other life forms are nothing less than the truth.  He doesn't waste valuable pages trying to justify himself, which fails to make him any more believable, but adds some literary appeal to his quirky train of thought.

[Toast 16,130]

I'm now torn between this and the_engineer's computer game theory.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

20 hours ago, DevonDeathTrip said:

 

It's funny, because I did think this fine piece of work would appeal to you.  I should have guessed that it wouldn't have passed you by.  

 

I might have to take in next year's gathering harnessing cosmic energy near Combe Martin, as it's only a short drive away.  Keeping a straight face may be a challenge though.

 

Agree that part of the book's charm is King's straightforward assertion that his various encounters with other life forms are nothing less than the truth.  He doesn't waste valuable pages trying to justify himself, which fails to make him any more believable, but adds some literary appeal to his quirky train of thought.

 

 

If you took that location in you'd be where I was - Holdstone Down being where Jesus got out of the UFO and had a pleasant chat with Sir (knighted by the Imperial Order of Byzantine in exile - not the Queen)  George. Decent day out - kind of trippy without the obvious medical damage from other forms of tripping. 

 

And "appeal" is probably a good summary of how I found that book. Teaches you a lot about why people believe anything IMHO but most of that teaching you have to work out for yourself. In terms of hard facts it goes downhill once you get past the page with the publisher's name and address on it! Easy and entertaining read though. It's because of books like this I don't read much fiction. 

[charon 4,943]

 

Santa has been early

 

 

[gcreptile 10,964]

On 17/08/2018 at 21:27, bladan said:

Check out also his novels Martian time-slip, Dr Bloodmoney, The game-players of Titan, Clans of the Alphane moon, Zap gun, Ganymede takeover, The world Jones made and Galactic pot-healer

 

Okay, I read Martian Time-Slip (and kind of want to read everything by him).

The characters and their interactions were very well done, just a bit of a weakness in the plot. You kind of want more to be happening in there than there is.

[the_engineer 1,415]

The last by hanna jameson. A book about a group of people in a hotel and while saying there the end of the world happens.Also there is a killer among them. Great book very much recommended,read it in 2 days! 

[runebomme 377]

17 minutes ago, the_engineer said:

The last by hanna jameson. A book about a group of people in a hotel and while saying there the end of the world happens.Also there is a killer among them. Great book very much recommended,read it in 2 days! 

"killer among them"

 

hardly seems  relevant in the given situation

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Have cut down on novels lateley because they're often a poor second best to real life but enjoying A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole at the moment.