The Book Clud

bob26

Member
Welcome to the Clud Bob, how is the reading bundles from Humble. I've been on the verge of picking them up a few times, do they just send you the raw text file that you can read anywhere?
The Humble Book Bundles vary in quality depending on the publisher. I am only really interested in technical topics and have bought bundles by O'Reilly, No Starch, APress and Make. There have recently been bundles from Manning and Prentice-Hall which weren't in my sphere of interest. O'Reilly and No Starch books are excellent with APress not quite as good and I avoid Pakt completely.

The books are downloadable in drm free pdf, ebup and mobi formats and you have access to all past purchases. I tend to use pdf on an iPad with KyBook reader and the experience is excellent.

There are regularly bundles from the same publishers and they often include repeat titles but can still be worthwhile.

I have just bought the 'Learn You More Code' bundle and although I have many of the books from earlier bundles it was well worth £12.90 for those I don't have including Effective C which is currently £23.74 on Amazon for the Kindle version.

From my own experience I can highly recommend these book bundles.
 

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
The Humble Book Bundles vary in quality depending on the publisher. I am only really interested in technical topics and have bought bundles by O'Reilly, No Starch, APress and Make. There have recently been bundles from Manning and Prentice-Hall which weren't in my sphere of interest. O'Reilly and No Starch books are excellent with APress not quite as good and I avoid Pakt completely.

The books are downloadable in drm free pdf, ebup and mobi formats and you have access to all past purchases. I tend to use pdf on an iPad with KyBook reader and the experience is excellent.

There are regularly bundles from the same publishers and they often include repeat titles but can still be worthwhile.

I have just bought the 'Learn You More Code' bundle and although I have many of the books from earlier bundles it was well worth £12.90 for those I don't have including Effective C which is currently £23.74 on Amazon for the Kindle version.

From my own experience I can highly recommend these book bundles.
Good to know mate, I'm old fashioned in that I like having the book in my hand. I also kind of like collecting them but I love reading comics digitally these days so I've interested in their comic bundles, just didn't know what way the were distributed. I'll definitely pick them up in the next run of things I'm interested in
 

Bhuna50

Author Level
do tell more on the Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices and processes by which a company is directed and controlled. Corporate Governance refers to the way in which companies are governed and to what purzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :coffee::coffee:

Yep - but sadly I have to read / look into some subjects in a bit more detail every now and again for my work so as Im currently doing an audit along the lines of Corporate Governance....out comes the books :D
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I've tried reading a number of books by Russian Authors and I don't know how to describe it but there's certainly a vibe you get from them. I'm not sure it's entirely for me but I'll check these out
They’re very gritty and raw. Much like the Australian horrors, there’s no attempt to polish anything or grandise at all, it’s extremely down to earth and can be quite hard hitting.
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
If anyone’s seen the film Night Watch, the books it’s based on are well worth a read, by a Russian author, Sergei Lukyanenko

There are 6 books in the series:

I've tried reading a number of books by Russian Authors and I don't know how to describe it but there's certainly a vibe you get from them. I'm not sure it's entirely for me but I'll check these out
Seconded on the Night Watch series, enjoyed them very much.

I’m tempted to try the Metro novels next, I’ve played the first two games so it might be interesting to delve into the literary side of that world 👍
 

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Well I finished up reading The Collector this over the Easter break. I don't know how I really feel about it to be honest, a little unnerved and slightly disgusted but I think that was the point which it nailed. The whole book was just out there, the characters almost didn't suit the concept but I think that helped make it feel more absurd. I have to say I did enjoy it though. Heavy Spoilers below

It's a book of two halves, the first half from the perspective of Clegg who has an unhealthy infatuation with student at a local university. The obsession builds to the point of stalking to then kidnapping and keeping her hostage in a dingy basement. With him trying to make her fall in love with him in his warped way. He vows not to sexually molest her or to hurt her but to shower her with gifts and love in an attempt to make her fall for him which obviously doesn't happen. The relationship between the two characters I found most interesting in this section because it all comes from Cleggs warped perspective of reality, he genuinely believes that Miranda should be grateful for the things he does for her and can't understand why she would want to escape or why she treats him so badly.

The second half is from Miranda's perspective, it's interesting enough when she comes to the conclusion that he will not sexually assault her she begins to pity him. After multiple escape attempts she starts to fantasise about killing him and then attempts to do just that, when she is on the verge of being successful she decides that killing him would just make her as bad as him. There's a lot going on in this section of the book, the excerpts are written from the perspective of a diary that Miranda is keeping.

Near the end Miranda falls ill, the sickness begins killing her and as she slowly descends to her death we begin to see Clegg feeling embittered towards her. The finale ends with Clegg disposing of the body and planning to kidnap another girl, starting the cycle over again.
 
D

Deleted member 41971

Guest

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I've my booked picked out for this week. It's actually a fairly large one so I imagine this will take me a couple weeks to go through, don't know whether to count it as multiple books because it technically is?

The Works of Arthur Machen: House of Souls, The Hill of Dreams, The Three Impostors and Other Tales of the Sacred and Profane.

Looking forward to this one it's been on my shelf for a while
 

ColEyt

Gold Level Poster
Anyone who has seen my post in the Cable Mismanagement thread, will probably have a good idea about what type of books I like to read, as there were a whole two shelves of Bernard Cornwell hardbacks, the paper backs were on a higher unseen shelf. So I am a fan of historical fiction, but at the end of the day my book collection is nearly as varied as my music collection.

If it's fiction related I probably go through 3 or 4 books a week, non fiction probably about 2 per week.

Been in a non fiction mood for the last week, so have read the following :

The Butcher; Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath by Philip Carlo - Superb biography about Mafia Hitman, Tommy Pitera

The Big Red Train Ride by Eric Newby - Travel log about the Trans Siberian Express

The Dark Side of Genius, The Life of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto

Currently back to reading fiction with Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco, book 3 of her Stalking Jack the Ripper series
 

rouchie

Rising Star
I am a lot more mainstream and boring in my book selection, so bear that in mind! But I really enjoyed Stuart MacBrides series of books set in Aberdeen and centring on a world weary detective Logan McRae, in my view if you like the police crime thriller type books, well worth a read
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
I am a lot more mainstream and boring in my book selection, so bear that in mind! But I really enjoyed Stuart MacBrides series of books set in Aberdeen and centring on a world weary detective Logan McRae, in my view if you like the police crime thriller type books, well worth a read
Logan McRae? That’s amazing, is that is the most Scottish name ever? Until someone names their child Haggis McSporran.
 

Bigfoot

Grand Master
I am a lot more mainstream and boring in my book selection, so bear that in mind! But I really enjoyed Stuart MacBrides series of books set in Aberdeen and centring on a world weary detective Logan McRae, in my view if you like the police crime thriller type books, well worth a read
I really like those books. Living in Aberdeenshire and working in Aberdeen, it is interesting to see local places in the story. Some locals might be upset by the characterisation of their town or village.
 

KippleKat

Enthusiast
Good idea! I'd love to say I'd read 50 but I just about manage to do one book a month at the moment.

At the moment I'm just finishing reading Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal. It's a very well written book and really develops the characters. I highly recommend it. The blurb reads 'Should We Fall Behind is about the passing of time, and the intricate weaves of joy and suffering, love and loss which shape human life along the way. It is about the people who have somehow become invisible, and how their stories make them visible once more.'

The book I read prior to this one is called Earthlings by Sayaka Murata. An interesting and bizarre story that focuses on the life of a girl who experiences a number of traumas and retreats into a fantasy to cope. I can also recommend checking it out.
 

ColEyt

Gold Level Poster
If you want amazing names look no further than John Sandford who actually named a character in his Prey series Del Capslock
Just got a set of those, not read any yet, but on the basis of the above, they have moved forward in the queue of what to read next :)
 

rouchie

Rising Star
Just got a set of those, not read any yet, but on the basis of the above, they have moved forward in the queue of what to read next :)
They are a good read and I would definite recommend them despite the lazy naming of one of the characters, at least its not the lead character!
 
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