Book thread

[Dexter]

I generally use bookdepository. It always seems to be cheaper than Play.com, although I haven't been checking Amazon because of the delivery charges, so I guess it's worth a quick check before each purchase.

[Grumpy Old Man]

I generally use bookdepository. It always seems to be cheaper than Play.com, although I haven't been checking Amazon because of the delivery charges, so I guess it's worth a quick check before each purchase.

Have used Bookdepository but now find that Amazon is as cheap, if not cheaper, when you spend over £25 (due to free postage.)

[Hickiefan]

Recently got six paperbacks for under €26 delivered from bookdepository.com. Great value.

[Dexter]

Just read "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. Reasonably good and enjoyable, fairly whacky but not overly so, also reasonably lighthearted, nothing too heavy. Never read any of his books before, but I will check out some more. It's sort of fantasy, set in the modern world London, if you know what I mean.

SPOILER:
The ending reminded me very,very, much of "Life on Mars".

Written for a television series that was promising but ultimately disappointing.



You should try Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett. Fantastic book

That's the second time in as many days I've heard good things about Good Omens. Suppose I'll have to buy it.

Added to the list. Thanks!

[fourthirtythree]

Sorry to be completely nerdy but I buy books for work and purchasing rules mean I have to get different prices before buying. Just by coincidence I had to do some this morning (and due to the discussion here I added Play to my search which I wouldn't normally do) I just looked up a set of books on Amazon, book depository, and Play. They came in at €634, €553, and €716 (and they didn't have one of them) respectively... I also sent the list in to a local supplier and no doubt they'll give me around about as good a quote as the lowest.

Obviously in the real world YMMV - none of these were books that I'd be reading for fun so for example Play might be great for bestsellers. Amazon can do great deals in stuff like the new Harry Potter or something KPI like that. But in general they ceased competition on price some years ago (10-15 years ago they were unbelieveable value) and instead are focused on offering lots of choice of goods, reliability and service (they are easily the quickest), leveraging the semantic data from users and all that kind of stuff.

[Dexter]

Sorry to be completely nerdy but I buy books for work and purchasing rules mean I have to get different prices before buying. Just by coincidence I had to do some this morning (and due to the discussion here I added Play to my search which I wouldn't normally do) I just looked up a set of books on Amazon, book depository, and Play. They came in at €634, €553, and €716 (and they didn't have one of them) respectively... I also sent the list in to a local supplier and no doubt they'll give me around about as good a quote as the lowest.

Obviously in the real world YMMV - none of these were books that I'd be reading for fun so for example Play might be great for bestsellers. Amazon can do great deals in stuff like the new Harry Potter or something KPI like that. But in general they ceased competition on price some years ago (10-15 years ago they were unbelieveable value) and instead are focused on offering lots of choice of goods, reliability and service (they are easily the quickest), leveraging the semantic data from users and all that kind of stuff.

Interesting. I use Amazon a lot to read reviews but then never buy anything on it. I'm sure that's a common issue they have.

[brian_c]

Sorry to be completely nerdy but I buy books for work and purchasing rules mean I have to get different prices before buying. Just by coincidence I had to do some this morning (and due to the discussion here I added Play to my search which I wouldn't normally do) I just looked up a set of books on Amazon, book depository, and Play. They came in at €634, €553, and €716 (and they didn't have one of them) respectively... I also sent the list in to a local supplier and no doubt they'll give me around about as good a quote as the lowest.

You don't by any chance have a UK ip address when checking from work do you? If you can access The Book depository using a UK ip address everything is slightly cheaper (less of a delivery cost built in), and if you have an Irish delivery address it still charges the UK price. Handy way of bringing down costs.

I am currently reading "The Time Traveller" by Ronald Mallett, a non-fiction book about how a childhood desire to construct a time machine and warn his father about an upcoming heart attack led the author to a career in theoretical physics. Very easy reading considering the subject matter, half way through at the moment and it is difficult to put down.

[Danthefan]

I've just tried that UK proxy thing on bookdepository, for one book it's giving me a price of €25.11 or £22.27.

Another one €18.17 or £16.12.

If anything the € prices are cheaper.

[fourthirtythree]

I think it's just down to the kind of books really. Amazon doesn't any more, I think from my experience but have no real proof, concentrate on the "long tail" in bookselling. It's more like a typical supermarket KPI thing with them. On top of that when you have a dominant market player a new entrant has to either develop a niche in quality or service - doing something different in kind so creating a new subsection of the market, or offer a lower price. By this I mean: mass market Amazon may still be well priced, less mass market it doesn't - in my experience - tend to be. I imagine that play must concentrate only on bestsellers from the price gap on my spreadsheet this morning.

And on a related issue: is this the first instance of the Leinsterfans forum making somebody do their real work more efficiently? I would have put the book orders on the long finger this morning if this topic wasn't on the forum, and I would have used one fewer websites to compare...

[Hickiefan]

That's the second time in as many days I've heard good things about Good Omens. Suppose I'll have to buy it.

Can second that. Good Omens is brilliant - highly recommend.

[Dexter]

I think it's just down to the kind of books really. Amazon doesn't any more, I think from my experience but have no real proof, concentrate on the "long tail" in bookselling. It's more like a typical supermarket KPI thing with them. On top of that when you have a dominant market player a new entrant has to either develop a niche in quality or service - doing something different in kind so creating a new subsection of the market, or offer a lower price. By this I mean: mass market Amazon may still be well priced, less mass market it doesn't - in my experience - tend to be. I imagine that play must concentrate only on bestsellers from the price gap on my spreadsheet this morning.

And on a related issue: is this the first instance of the Leinsterfans forum making somebody do their real work more efficiently? I would have put the book orders on the long finger this morning if this topic wasn't on the forum, and I would have used one fewer websites to compare...

As far as I can see, Play would have a more limited selection, mainly the more popular titles (as you thought), which bookdepositary would have anyway. If you can't find it on bookdepository then Abe books will tell you where it can be found. If it's not there, then you've no chance!

[hugonaut]

Recently finished Michael Lewis' The Big Short and Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole.

The Big Short is a cracking read that details the sub-prime mortgage bond crash that started the whole falling of the house of cards/domino run/insert cliché here.

I'm quite the Lewis fan, and have read a good few of his books [Moneyball, The Blind Side and Liar's Poker] and – at least in my opinion – there's a lot to be said for his style of personalising quite important aspects of American life [the social and economic sides of professional sport and the inanity of financial markets being the two undergoing the Lewis treatment in the aforementioned books] through interweaving the stories of about two or three interesting characters at the heart of the subject matter. I've read some criticism of his work that basically rubbishes this approach, but the micro/macro and personal/abstract style, while not lending to a comprehensive study, does make it extremely readable.

A Fraction of the Whole is l o n g, but basically a whirlwind that takes in all the major facets of life - philosophy, death, love, crime, punishment, isolation, megalomania, escape, media ... eh, everything. Plus it's as funny as f*ck!

[ronk]

Recently finished Michael Lewis' The Big Short and Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole.

The Big Short is a cracking read that details the sub-prime mortgage bond crash that started the whole falling of the house of cards/domino run/insert cliché here.

I'm quite the Lewis fan, and have read a good few of his books [Moneyball, The Blind Side and Liar's Poker] and – at least in my opinion – there's a lot to be said for his style of personalising quite important aspects of American life [the social and economic sides of professional sport and the inanity of financial markets being the two undergoing the Lewis treatment in the aforementioned books] through interweaving the stories of about two or three interesting characters at the heart of the subject matter. I've read some criticism of his work that basically rubbishes this approach, but the micro/macro and personal/abstract style, while not lending to a comprehensive study, does make it extremely readable.

A Fraction of the Whole is l o n g, but basically a whirlwind that takes in all the major facets of life - philosophy, death, love, crime, punishment, isolation, megalomania, escape, media ... eh, everything. Plus it's as funny as f*ck!

Interesting recommendations, I liked moneyball. Heard they're making a film of it.

[josie]

Another recommendation for Good Omens - I re-read it at least every year and still find it funny. Hated American Gods though (Douglas Adams did it infinitely better in The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul) and haven't read any other of Neil Gaiman's books as a result.

[honeyec]

Recent reads with a very short critique:

"Mutiny on the Bounty", John Boyne - loved it, loved it, loved it. One of the funniest, most original (ironically) books I've read in years.

"Wolf Hall", Hilary Mantel - painstakingly researched and a highly interesting read, but she uses a very irritating technique throughout, which genuinely detracts from the book as you find yourself having to reread passages to figure out who the hell she's talking about.

"The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ", Philip Pullman - Underwhelming. The whole thing read like a very long parable. No doubt that was the intent, but it came across as quite childish and slightly patronising. HUGE typeface on extremely thick paper made it pretty poor value for money too.

"The House of Special Purpose", John Boyne - kind of a weird one; the narrator/protagonist is a very dislikeable character and you know the outcome before you even start (it's about the last Romanov imperial family) but is still an extremely compelling story that I think will engender a lot of interest in that period of history.

"The Whisperers", John Connolly - I'm a big Connolly fan but I think he's in danger of going down the Michael Connelly one-Bosch-a-year-no-matter-how-formulaic-it-is route with Charlie Parker. Not up to his usual standard. Time for another stand-alone novel, methinks.

"Shutter Island", Denis Lehane - I'm still undecided about this. It was a very original premise and you have to admire Lehane's chutzpah in tackling it, but I just don't think he quite had the writing ability to pull it off. His prose just couldn't quite keep up with his imagination, unfortunately.

[Dexter]

[quote="honeyec"]Recent reads with a very short critique:

"The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ", Philip Pullman - Underwhelming. The whole thing read like a very long parable. No doubt that was the intent, but it came across as quite childish and slightly patronising. HUGE typeface on extremely thick paper made it pretty poor value for money too. - Hmm, that's a pity. Did you read the "His Dark Materials" trilogy? It's the only Pullman stuff I've read, and probably the most famous, and I absolutely loved it. I read it a long time ago though and it wouldn't be everyone's taste.
"The Whisperers", John Connolly - I'm a big Connolly fan but I think he's in danger of going down the Michael Connelly one-Bosch-a-year-no-matter-how-formulaic-it-is route with Charlie Parker. Not up to his usual standard. Time for another stand-alone novel, methinks. - I'm actually a big fan of Michael Connelly and the way he switches between Harry Bosch and stand-alone novels. I've probably only read about 60% of his books though, so maybe it gets a bit "samey". At the same time, I guess it's all about personal taste.
quote]

[honeyec]

Did you read the "His Dark Materials" trilogy? It's the only Pullman stuff I've read, and probably the most famous, and I absolutely loved it. I read it a long time ago though and it wouldn't be everyone's taste.

Yep, read the trilogy about 3 years ago and enjoyed it, then re-read it earlier this year and loved it even more second time round. There's actually two more related books, "Lyra's Oxford" and "Once Upon a Time in the North", which I think will have to be next on my list.

[Hickiefan]

Did you read the "His Dark Materials" trilogy? It's the only Pullman stuff I've read, and probably the most famous, and I absolutely loved it. I read it a long time ago though and it wouldn't be everyone's taste.

Yep, read the trilogy about 3 years ago and enjoyed it, then re-read it earlier this year and loved it even more second time round. There's actually two more related books, "Lyra's Oxford" and "Once Upon a Time in the North", which I think will have to be next on my list.

Oooh. Didn't know that.

Have a Folio Society set of the other three which is a prized possession - must re-read them (the paper backs though).

[fourthirtythree]

Doh! I came across that "once upon a time... " recently but haven't read it. Must give it a go - but the following still holds:

Philip Pullman:I think you might mean "the shadow in the North" which predates "His Dark materials". It's part ofa series called "the Sally Lockhart Quartet". I was actually going to recommend them here. If you have a, say, 12yr old (but reading to a very high standard) child, get them onto this. The books are phenomenal.
They're not set in a fantasy world like HDM (part Blake, part Milton, and all taking the mick out of CS Lewis which is to the books' detriment), but rather in 19th Century London. The first book, "Ruby in the Smoke" deals with the British government's trade in official opium from China and the misery it caused. Sally is a great character with much in common with Lyra. But at its heart the book is about the love of a father for his daughter. He's dead before it begins. And the first line says that in a few minutes Sally will kill a man.

I just read all four back to back a few weeks ago (won't say where I bought them...) they were so traumatic and emotionally powerful at one point that I took up a supposedly serious, literary, adult novel just to get a bit of lightness. I found it trivial and silly in comparison despite being regarded as one of the high points of the American novel in the last few decades.

No Disney endings in these. The world is dark and people are discarded by those with ambition. But the characters are loved and let breath.

[brian_c]

Just been going through my wishlist on Amazon and discovered that a lot of books are now cheaper on The Book Depository. Last time I checked the euro was a lot stronger against the pound, things have since changed. Cheers for the tip off.

I am going through a popular science craze at the minute. I can highly recommend "The Canon" by Natalie Angier as a good general overview of modern science. Also anything by Carl Sagan is worth reading. Also Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" is not as scary as I had always imagined, in fact it is quite readable. Worth a read if you are interested in theoretical physics, and aren't put off by the thoughts of additional dimensions.