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[Yoink]

The Saga of Billy the Kid

Sounds interesting! Especially since it was written back in the day, when apparently some folks involved were still alive to be interviewed and, more importantly, presumably written in an interesting old-world style. I might have to track down a copy.   

[Uthimienure]

The Saga of Billy the Kid

Sounds interesting! Especially since it was written back in the day, when apparently some folks involved were still alive to be interviewed and, more importantly, presumably written in an interesting old-world style. I might have to track down a copy.   

You're correct. It's worth reading for the reasons you said, it gives a bit of insight into how Billy really was (as far as can be given, probably).
Author is Walter Noble Burns, who interviewed witnesses to Billy's activities and were part of the Lincoln County War as it was called.
The book is written as the events happened, not like a documentary of interviews, which makes it a nice flowing story.
I'm halfway through the book and enjoying it.

[Craftsdwarf boi]

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
I'm currently on chapter two of the Restaurant at The End of The Universe

[Direction]

(spam removed)

[Yoink]

Hmmmm, I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be clicking that link to find out.   

[ZBridges]

(spam removed)

It's terrible and you definitely shouldn't ever use it. I hope that helps.

[Starver]

Reviewing the four other posts made by that user, I think the spammers are getting a little bit more sophisticated and picking up keywords to disguise their intended payload.

(Link of my own, re that: https://xkcd.com/810/ ...)

What am I reading, myself, while I'm here..? I've been meaning to catalogue everything laid around in various places for a while. So, from my current seat, without checking precisely...

• Fifth book of A Song Of Fire And Ice (whichever that is, I forget and can't be bothered to check)
• Red Storm Rising (was shuffling shelves the other day, and that battered copy fell out and reintrigued me)
• The Gormanghast Trilogy
• Dune (Trilogy? No, it's thick, but just the first I think, not a compendium.)
• Several books on mathematical problems (Gardner, etc)
• Dipping into a number of coding books for inspiration on issues, ending up reading completely unrelated chapters instead!

Recently finished: The Shepherd's Crown, Terry Pratchett (first reading as I'd put off reading it for far too long, after buying on day of publication); Dodger, TP (re-read); The Uplift Trilogy, David Brin;  ...

Like I said, I meant to do my list for a while, I've got books all over the place, part-read and ready to continue with. Some at different houses I go to, but the situation of late has obviously been non-conducive to that practice.


Tempted to mention Nation (Pratchett), Helliconia Trilogy (Aldiss), and several other topical titles, but they're just potential next-rereads at the moment, so would be cheating.

[Eschar]

It may be spam link, but I don't actually think it's malware. Because I tried it. Stupid, I know.

[ChairmanPoo]

(spam removed)

[Starver]

(Didn't have refer info, in the link, like some spammy ones, but I still think it was intended to advantageously draw traffic with a somewhat dubious context to it, and it now looks like Tarn agreed on that point. And the Escaped Lunatic's post-count is down from the 4 I saw earlier to just 1, so looks like the other posts were considered unimportant and removable - orobably because they were not replied to/after.)

For relevent context in this post, here's where I finally got to in my What Am I Reading list, unpolished as it is...

Spoiler: ISBNs for my various in-use books (excuse any invalidating typos) (click to show/hide)

Downstairs (at this location)
0-596-00311-0
1-57169-004-2
0-672-31835-0
0-596-00219-X
0-226-28254-6
0-09-102720-9
(Cannot find, in a 1982, fifth edition, world atlas)
0-07-135346-1
978-1-78087-322-0
978-1-84149-518-7
(No ISBN at all for an 1882, 9th edition (and very foxed, badgered and probably Gila Monstered), Inorganic Chemistry textbook)

Upstairs (ditto)
0-00-617362-4 - now (re)read, no direct successor
0-099-28438-3
0-88385-521-
978-1-909930-01-8
0-340-71550-2
0-8230-7331-9
978-1-4722-6125-0
0-596-00312-9
978-1-78888-8
0-586-21391-0
0-07-222880-6
1-884777-69-4
978-1781254318
978-0-575-08150-5
978-0-7136-8672-2
(No ISBN on a 352-page 2020 sporting handbook, whose printed calendar of events (pp.111-189, maybe listing 20 events or so per page) is almost entirely fictional now, but there's still other useful info in it.)
978-0-552-17542-5 (slight cheat, this set of books includes the ones I've read/am rereading elsewhere, but it's there on a 'current' pile in case I run out of other things here)
0-749-39946-5 - added to a 'casual reading spot' 17/May

That's (I think) every book around here that is currently laid open, or else actively bookmarked with old bus tickets or receipts or other books, which I claim to have been reading at some time in the last month and not yet finished (all through) or finished referencing from (dipping in). With the caveat, as given, on the last 'one'.

I could go back and also name them/hyperlink them, but it seems to me to be much more fun to let anyone who is actually bothered look up themselves for any numbers that intrigue them (maybe I should at least have labelled Fiction/Non-Fiction?), and let everyone else just assume I'm bragging and not waste time on trying to justify myself in the face of such bald cynicism. 

[Yoink]

• The Gormanghast Trilogy

Oh nice, I loved Titus Groan!   
That reminds me, I eventually acquired a copy of the next book but never got around to re-reading the first one in order to finish the series.   

[delphonso]

Helliconia

Additional shout out to this series. I read all three in an omnibus and loved the whole weird experience.

[Uthimienure]

Helliconia

Additional shout out to this series. I read all three in an omnibus and loved the whole weird experience.

+1

[Yoink]

My Amazon-ordered copy of Hunting the Tiger: the Fast Life and Violent Death of the Balkans' Most Dangerous Man finally arrived today!   

Read just a little bit of the prologue but it is already oh-so-exciting. Very keen to get into a book I've been wanting to read ever since, probably at least a couple of years ago now, I was reading the subject's Wikipedia page and decided that "Hang on, this was far too exciting a tale to experience as a dry, bare-bones Wikipedia article" - but I figure I'd better finish reading Blood's a Rover first before getting completely distracted.
This is a very bleak but compelling book. Imagine if basically every* wild conspiracy theory of the '60s-'70s was revealed to be true, but in a credible, well-thought-out way and set against a rich tapestry of the social climate, villainous figures, culture clashes and political skulduggery of the era. Oh, and it reeks of noir, since this is a James Ellroy book we're talking about here.   

Very bleak, though. There aren't even really shades of grey, here, just shades of shit across a wide array of shitty people.   
I don't know if this post makes much sense, since I've been doing far too much reading today (and before that, way too much TV-watching) and my brain is kinda addled, but there you go.   


Oh, also! Before I forget, the other day I was in an op shop and spotted a book with an interesting cover, which turned out to be a book I read years ago, presumably as a teenager. It's called Psychoville, by Christopher Fowler. I can't speak as to whether it's any good or not, since I barely remember the book at all; it's a different edition in a different size with a different cover, though on closer inspection I recognised the original, larger cover artwork that I remember tucked away down on the spine of this version.   
I read just enough to spot a familiar phrase that shocked me into paying attention as a kid however many years ago, so yeah, this is the same book. I know it was a considerable mind-fuck for my younger self, but other than that I remember... well, actually on second thoughts I do remember a few basic-but-important plot points as well as a couple of disturbing quotes, but not how it all goes together or what the reading experience was like.   

Spoiler: Additional, weird coincidental story involving this book that is probably not interesting to anyone but me, spoilered in the hopes of not cluttering this unwieldy post still further (click to show/hide)

It's kinda weird that I even remember this book, but it gets weirder: just a day or two after buying this copy, I was in a secondhand store miles away, in a little town I've never been to before, and I found another copy of the same edition on the shelves. Now sure, both books could have come from the same source, someone's collection, a bookshop closing down in the region or something - but the store I got the first book from I go to reasonably often. I know it hadn't been sitting there for ages, I've thoroughly trawled their selection many times in the past.   
I dunno. It felt amazing at the time, considering what a fluke it was that I even recognised the book to begin with.   

   


* the ones that can coexist without completely contradicting one another, at least.       

[NRDL]

Just read Max Brooks' ( World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide author ) new book, "Devolution". It's got sasquatches.

I fucking loved it. I loved the main characters, I loved the yetis, I loved how gripping the struggles of the people were even before the bigfoots entered the picture. The whole thing was a suspenseful thrill ride.



I think "normal people hit by supernatural/unnatural horror, adapt to it" is one of my favourite premises now. Salem's Lot was great at this too. Max Brooks just loves that found footage documentary style and uses it to accentuate the horror and action.