Jon Evans Book Recommendations & Book Mentions

Jon Evans

Finally finished this 944-page book (SHANTARAM by Gregory David Roberts.) I think @tylercowen called it "the best bad book I've ever read," which I'd second. Fervidly overripe & melodramatic & overwritten, but so earnestly so it gets a pass. Glad I read it despite its many flaws.

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Jon Evans

Reading Hilary Mantel's A PLACE OF GREATER SAFETY for the 4th time. It was supposed to be inspirational for my own new book, which is…thematically similar…but is having the opposite effect of making me want to give up forever, out of awe at her skill level I'll never attain.

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Jon Evans

😞 Patricia McKillip died, alas. Her RIDDLE-MASTER OF HED trilogy is just absolutely magnificent, ought to live on for endless generations, and I really liked FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD and HARPIST IN THE WIND too. https://t.co/BDRqKiwtUF

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Jon Evans

"In the style of Iain M. Banks's Feersum Endjinn" and "in the style of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting" do nothing to the stylistic output. Maybe avant-garde-punk-ish Scottish stylists were underincorporated in the corpus. 😅

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Jon Evans

This (from Michael Lewis's THE FIFTH RISK) explains a lot about covid reactions, too. (Needless to say all these claims are utter nonsense.) https://t.co/BScR37u6af

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Jon Evans

"In the style of Iain M. Banks's Feersum Endjinn" and "in the style of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting" do nothing to the stylistic output. Maybe avant-garde-punk-ish Scottish stylists were underincorporated in the corpus. 😅

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Jon Evans

I reread the first 400 pages of THE STAND last night, for the first time in decades, and I gotta say, prime-era Stephen King was one hell of a writer. Just absolutely, utterly compelling. (I still heretically suspect the edited version is better than the uncut one, though.)

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Jon Evans

As a neutral, this Wolves-Liverpool game is good fun. Wave after wave after wave of Liverpool attacks, reminiscent of the glory days of Ferguson's Man U or (emotional pause) Wenger's Arsenal, against a doughty Wolves defense managing even an occasional riposte. Still somehow 0-0.

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Jon Evans

"The Icelandic version of the Count is much more political. Dracula is a fierce believer in social Darwinism and what’s more, he leads an international conspiracy that tries to overthrow Western democracy! The story is more erotic and… also way shorter." https://grapevine.is/mag/2022/05/09/the-literary-mystery-of-the-icelandic-dracula/

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Jon Evans

Well, I guess it had to happen: after SANDMAN's absolutely stunning first six episodes (and I speak as someone on public record as really-not-a-Neil-Gaiman-fan) ... S7 is, alas, an utter clanger of a dud. Hope this doesn't set the tone for the rest of the season.

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