General Book Thread: Solicit Opinions Or Review!

[titch]

I am currently listening to this, Twenty Years' Experience as a Ghost Hunter 1916 Elliott O'Donnell. Must be about the 5th time!

It's time I looked for a physical copy. I find it very hard to take notes from audio material. So

*anyone read this? had thoughts about it? It's an extended IHTM and none the worse for that.

* anyone currently divesting themselves of books have a copy they would sell for a maximum of £10 inc p&p? I know I can go via sellers on amazon.

I wouldn't touch anything he wrote with a barge pole, he is an early most haunted (but at least he entertains more then MH)

 

[Lord Lucan]

Anybody read this yet?

 

[EnolaGaia]

I am currently listening to this, Twenty Years' Experience as a Ghost Hunter 1916 Elliott O'Donnell. Must be about the 5th time!
It's time I looked for a physical copy. I find it very hard to take notes from audio material. ...

Why not download and store the free electronic version from the Gutenberg Project?

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50775

 

[Frideswide]

Because I want paper and a cover and (hopefully) the scent of Old Book!

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Anybody read this yet?
View attachment 16457

An excellent read, I don't own a dog and I still found it highly informative, you should also look at:

 

[cycleboy2]

I'll be finished reading most of the Bryant and May detective novels soon and I"m looking for something similar....any ideas in that genre?

Not that similar, in that they are much darker, but the Charlie Parker series of crime/supernatural crossover novels by John Connolly (a lovely man, I interviewed him once and am going to a JC book signing tomorrow) are very readable, though as I've said, darker than Bryant and May; I've read a few of the B&M novels and will probably read the rest as and when I find them...

 

[Frideswide]

Amy Lukavics Daughters Unto the Devil.

One of the reviews says it's like Stephen King meets Little House on the Prairie.

I'd like to agree and add that it's much better than that!

 

[Frideswide]

I wouldn't touch anything he wrote with a barge pole, he is an early most haunted (but at least he entertains more then MH)

I do agree - and also a rather unpleasant chap.

However, I'm looking at the historiography of Scottish stuff, so he's prime material

 

[Newt]

I'll be finished reading most of the Bryant and May detective novels soon and I"m looking for something similar....any ideas in that genre?

Have you read anything by Phil Rickman? The Merrily Watkins books and some of the stand alones might interest you.

Merrily combines excorcism and police investigation on the England Wales border. Lots of folklore in all his books.

Is Bryant and May any good? I was looking at them thoughtfully, just last week.

Also, if you liked Simon R Green's John Taylor books, you may also like the Ghost Hunters series.

I too put in a vote for Peter Grant.

 

[Frideswide]

@Newt I'm a Phil Rickman serial re-reader!

 

[dr wu]

Have you read anything by Phil Rickman? The Merrily Watkins books and some of the stand alones might interest you.

Merrily combines excorcism and police investigation on the England Wales border. Lots of folklore in all his books.

Is Bryant and May any good? I was looking at them thoughtfully, just last week.

Also, if you liked Simon R Green's John Taylor books, you may also like the Ghost Hunters series.

I too put in a vote for Peter Grant.

I'll look into the Rickman books.....and Grant is on my list also.
I really enjoy the Bryant and May series...mind you it's not supernatural....but the cases have many strange elements to them and a good deal of London archaic history.
I have read 2 of the Green series ...Nightside and the Secret Histories with Edwin Drood. I'll ck out the Ghost Hunters.

 

[Frideswide]

The Illuminatus Trilogy.

I am trying this as an audio book to see if I find it more worthwhile than the other two times I've read it. So far... well, as it stays the same, I've not changed enough to appreciate it.

I know others here have got a lot out of it. What is the touchstone that stops me thinking "this is pretentious third-rate total bobbins" and starts me thinking... well, whatever it is that other people get out of it.

 

[Newt]

I read that in the 80s, originally.

I loved it a lot, it introduced me to all sorts of subjects that have continued to interest me. But even then it seemed a bit outdated. I suppose it would seem even more so now.

 

[Crankyoldgit62]

Morning folks, just bought with me books tokens for me birthday, just bought last two Bryant & May books and Lies Sleeping, the new Peter Grant book. Can highly recommend them both. Have laugh out loud will reading the Bryant & May on the tube to work, the stares I got from the rest of the carriage, same happened when I use to read the Garfield books!!!

 

[Timble2]

The Illuminatus Trilogy.

I am trying this as an audio book to see if I find it more worthwhile than the other two times I've read it. So far... well, as it stays the same, I've not changed enough to appreciate it.

I know others here have got a lot out of it. What is the touchstone that stops me thinking "this is pretentious third-rate total bobbins" and starts me thinking... well, whatever it is that other people get out of it.

I read it as it came out in the '70s, along with The Flying Saucer Vision (John Michell) it was a Gateway drug into Forteana and all manner of weirdness, I've alway read it as a send-up of the whole conspiracy madness. Started reading it again a few months back, but my copy's in Scotland, and I'm not.

 

[Frideswide]

That makes a lot of sense to me @Timble2 I can read it through that lens.

Like Foucault's Pendulum?

 

[Mythopoeika]

That makes a lot of sense to me @Timble2 I can read it through that lens.

Like Foucault's Pendulum?

I know Foucault about that.

 

[Yithian]

I'm often coming across books that look interesting at first glance yet are obscure enough that no review of any value appears online. I thought it might be fun/useful to start a thread where users can enquire about titles that catch your eye and about which you'd like more information or a brief review.

First up, has anybody read the following? It's only 89pp, but the single summary (borrowed in full or part by many sellers) sounds very interesting.



This is all I have:

A book describing the short life and brutal murder in 1931 of a young officer of the old Indian Army, George Ramsay Hext. A passenger on one of India's premier express trains, he was the innocent victim of an offence which shocked the Raj. Intended to aid the Indian nationalist movement inspired by Gandhi, the crime instead served the arguments of those who claimed that the sub-continent was not yet ready for independence. There were many politically motivated murders in India between 1900 and 1947. At first glance, the killing of George Hext was just one more in a long list of equally futile gestures. What set his death apart from many others was the savagery of the attack and the extraordinary events which followed it. A tale of the macabre, the story would be almost unbelievable if each of the component episodes was not so well documented. It has been the task of the author to trace those documents - and the few surviving eye-witness accounts - and to link them in a narrative spanning more than half a century. The result is a dramatic story full of high courage and astonishing coincidence. Illus., Appendices, Bibliog. and Index of Persons Mentioned. 89pp.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

The butler did it.

 

[AngelChat]

Doesn't exactly fit in with your request, but I've done a forum search for Dolores Cannon and her Convoluted Universe series of books to see if anyone here had mentioned them and was surprised to find no reference to either her name or the books.

I have 3 of them and found them absolutely fascinating - in fact I'm off to see if I can finish the collection this week.

Dolores talking about the book series

 

[Newt]

Anyone else read this?

https://www.amazon.com/When-Money-Fails-Stewart-Relfe/dp/0960798609

Weird and wonderful.

 

[Reverend D]

The Illuminatus Trilogy.

I am trying this as an audio book to see if I find it more worthwhile than the other two times I've read it. So far... well, as it stays the same, I've not changed enough to appreciate it.

I know others here have got a lot out of it. What is the touchstone that stops me thinking "this is pretentious third-rate total bobbins" and starts me thinking... well, whatever it is that other people get out of it.

I think the Illuminatus trilogy is a decent story desperately in need of a ruthless editor. Cut down to a single book, it could be so much better.

 

[catseye]

I'm another Rivers of London fan but cannot abide the Phil Rickman books. No idea why, I just find them full of atmosphere but lacking in actual plot.

 

[Reverend D]

I've mentioned before that I believe the sign of a good autobiography is when you can enjoy just reading the index.

(Some thoughts on the index of Rod Stewart's autobiography are here---> https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...you-doing-five-minutes-ago.57514/post-1945852)

Well, I've just been reading the index of the Judas Priest singer and all-round heavy-metallurgist Rob Halford's book and there are some very intriguing entries, such as;
Airfix models
Cruising ritual
Downing, Ken- fedora
Faggots and peas
Fireball XL5
Halford, Rob- learns to wank
Halford, Rob - crap in Amsterdam
Halford, Rob - porn shop manager
Halford, Rob - meets Andy fucking Warhol
Halford, Rob - everything catches up with at once
Halford, Rob - military-themed gay porn collection
Health and Efficiency
Hiroshima
Humanity at its very best
'I Am A Pig'
Ostend, supernatural experience in
Tipton, Glenn- delusions of medical ability
Virgin Mary, the
wanking
Yam-yam

I actually think the publishers should just have printed off the index and used it as a press release!

 

[FunkyTT]

The Illuminatus Trilogy.

I am trying this as an audio book to see if I find it more worthwhile than the other two times I've read it. So far... well, as it stays the same, I've not changed enough to appreciate it.

I know others here have got a lot out of it. What is the touchstone that stops me thinking "this is pretentious third-rate total bobbins" and starts me thinking... well, whatever it is that other people get out of it.

I have it here on my iPad. The whole trilogy. I really enjoyed it at first, however , it gets complex halfway through book 1. Too many charecters and scenarios to keep track of. Reviews are polarising . I abandoned it , as I sometimes do "to be read later' , as I have so many Ebooks to read .

It is bonkers and as Timble says, a tongue in cheek send up of conspiracy theories.

I must return to it at sometime,

 

[Analogue Boy]

I've mentioned before that I believe the sign of a good autobiography is when you can enjoy just reading the index.

(Some thoughts on the index of Rod Stewart's autobiography are here---> https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...you-doing-five-minutes-ago.57514/post-1945852)

Well, I've just been reading the index of the Judas Priest singer and all-round heavy-metallurgist Rob Halford's book and there are some very intriguing entries, such as;
Airfix models
Cruising ritual
Downing, Ken- fedora
Faggots and peas
Fireball XL5
Halford, Rob- learns to wank
Halford, Rob - crap in Amsterdam
Halford, Rob - porn shop manager
Halford, Rob - meets Andy fucking Warhol
Halford, Rob - everything catches up with at once
Halford, Rob - military-themed gay porn collection
Health and Efficiency
Hiroshima
Humanity at its very best
'I Am A Pig'
Ostend, supernatural experience in
Tipton, Glenn- delusions of medical ability
Virgin Mary, the
wanking
Yam-yam

I actually think the publishers should just have printed off the index and used it as a press release!

Or on the back of a Tour t-shirt.

 

[JahaRa]

Any other authors in the 'occult detective' area would be great...also 'supernatural fiction' or 'weird fiction'... in a similar vein.
I have read Butcher's The Dresden Files, Simon R Green- John Taylor books, Repairman Jack series, and a few others.....

I have a few books by Gigi Pandian. She writes parnormal romance/mystery type books. Fun, quick read. Also there is Shana Swendson and her Magic Inc. series. Hilarious. Same genre though. Much more fun than the vampire romance/mysteries by Charlane Harris. I prefer Jim Butcher and the oldies like Marion Zimmer Bradley and Ande (Alice) Norton. Their stories have more substance.

 

[dr wu]

I have a few books by Gigi Pandian. She writes parnormal romance/mystery type books. Fun, quick read. Also there is Shana Swendson and her Magic Inc. series. Hilarious. Same genre though. Much more fun than the vampire romance/mysteries by Charlane Harris. I prefer Jim Butcher and the oldies like Marion Zimmer Bradley and Ande (Alice) Norton. Their stories have more substance.

Heh there,,,,fancy seeing you here.
I highly recommend the Repairman Jack series by F Paul Wilson. Also really enjoyed the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch

 

[JahaRa]

Heh there,,,,fancy seeing you here.
I highly recommend the Repairman Jack series by F Paul Wilson. Also really enjoyed the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch

Thanks. I will add them to my list. I have written down some you suggest from the other forum.

 

[charliebrown]

Supposedly Nick Redfern took a lot of time and research to write a book called “ Diary of Secrets “ in which he lays out why Marilyn Monroe had to be disposed of.

Marilyn just knew too much information particularly about UFOs and with her love affair with JFK and his brother Robert Kennedy.