#justread — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #justread, aggregated by home.social.
-
A haunting, philosophical sci-fi novel that probes what it means to be human. Following Rick Deckard, it blends noir tension with deep questions of empathy, identity, and artificial life in a stark, unforgettable world. The book inspired the film Blade Runner. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ #BookSky #BookReview #JustRead 📚📖
-
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (Book Review) | A Chillingly Precise Political Thriller That Feels Real
The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world’s most heavily guarded man.
One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.
How was it?
The Day of the Jackal is often described as a classic political thriller, but it really came on my radar when the Eddie Redmayne’s TV series was on the horizon. What struck me the most about this book is how much it feels like a meticulously constructed case study, almost like an investigative documentary, before it even becomes a fictional story.
The early sections of the novel, there are four parts of them, I think, are incredibly detailed, laying out the chain of events that lead to the hiring of the Jackal. Forsyth takes his time here, and while that might sound heavy, it’s anything but dull. Instead, it reads like a fascinating deep dive into the anatomy of an assassination plot. The inclusion of the Algerian War of Independence adds a strong historical background, effectively showing why someone like Charles de Gaulle was deeply polarizing and targeted.
What makes this novel particularly compelling is its blend of fact and fiction. Because parts of the story are rooted in real historical tensions, making the fictional elements feel grounded and believable. That sense of realism never really fades, even as the narrative shifts more squarely into thriller territory.
One of the standout aspects for me is the level of detail, especially when it comes to the Jackal’s preparations. The specifications of the rifle, the disguises, and the step-by-step planning are incredibly precise. Normally, this level of technical detail might slow a story down, but Forsyth manages to keep it engaging throughout. The pacing flows surprisingly well, and the perspective shifts between the assassin and those trying to stop him, pulling you right into the process on both sides.
That said, this same precision is also what holds the book back from being truly great in my eyes. There’s a certain emotional distance to the narrative. It feels intentionally cold, which makes sense given the subject matter and the character of the Jackal, but it also means I was more intellectually engaged than emotionally invested. I was fascinated by how everything would unfold, but I wasn’t deeply attached to the outcome, just curious.
Having just seen the TV adaptation of the story, I also found it interesting to compare portrayals. The Jackal’s meticulous nature, his attention to detail, use of aliases like “Duggan,” and careful planning are very much present here and clearly form the backbone of those adaptations. However, while the TV version added more emotional weight, the novel remains more clinical in its execution. It does make me curious about which elements different adaptations chose to use or leave out.
Overall, The Day of the Jackal is an impressively crafted thriller that excels in realism, structure, and details. Even if it doesn’t fully deliver on emotional depth, it’s a gripping and highly intelligent read that stands out for its precision and authenticity.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.If you want to support this site, help by getting me a coffee from the link below:
-
#JustRead #Coders by @clive – an exhilarating look at the history & culture of computer programmers.
My coding ability is limited to self-taught HTML & CSS, but I understand the addictive euphoria of coding that Clive talks about – the high of creating something essentially out of nothing.
I love that coding is one of the few skills that you can teach yourself – & that it demands such a perverse mix of logic, persnicketyness, & artistry.
#books #Bookstodon #Coders -
Finished - The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera.
As I get older, I worry less about 'getting' works of literature, and instead focus more on what I personally gain from them.
I loved a definition of 'kitsch' Kundera gives, that in a fascist/totalitarian regime where truth, questioning and self expression in art are not permitted, what remains is only kitsch.
“melodramatic tendencies, superficial relationship with the human condition and naturalistic standards of beauty”, ie nothing challenging. Like the song the prole washer woman sings in 1984, and the literature mass produced by the party.
-
#JustRead (well, finished listening to) Project Hail Mary.
Great book - some very funny moments, and a couple of quite tense ones (not horror tense).
I normally have difficulty with first person books - but between Weir's writing and Porter's voicing, I didn't even realise right up until the final chapter.
-
#JustRead The Bourne Supremacy - the second of the original Bourne trilogy. It's interesting to see how different the films turned out from the books. Obviously some changes were due to twenty years of shifting world politics, but there are core character changes for several of the main players.
I don't think it was quite as engaging as Identity - there were a couple of spots where it became a little confusing as to who was who, though that may have been intentional.
-
Ooooh - what are YOU excited for?
All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in March 2025 - Reactor https://reactormag.com/new-fantasy-books-march-2025/
#Writing #WritingCommunity #Words #Essay #Ideas #Writers #WritersCommunity #Writer #Author #Books #Reading #Literature #Read #TBR #Words #JustRead #ToRead #WorthReading
-
I #justRead and enjoyed a __Doctor Satan__ #pulp #thriller short by Paul Ernst, so I sought out more. I find out _The Doctor Satan Megapack_ exists. _Yay._ It only contains seven of the eight Doctor Satan stories written. _Boo._ But the one it's missing, the final story, is the one I already read. _Whew._
-
#bookstodon #justread #stephenking
⭐⭐⭐ Standard Stephen King: half amazing set pieces, half gimmick, fully entertaining.
I'm forever conflicted about Stephen King. On the one hand, I feel his books are very hard to put down. He has amazing ideas and knows how to drive suspense. On the other hand, they always have something that makes me roll my eyes. This one is not different; too much deus ex machina, too much surprise magic for my taste.
-
Persuader (Jack Reacher 7) by Lee Child | Book Review
Jack Reacher.
The ultimate loner.
An elite ex-military cop who left the service years ago, he’s moved from place to place…without family…without possessions…without commitments.
And without fear. Which is good, because trouble–big, violent, complicated trouble–finds Reacher wherever he goes. And when trouble finds him, Reacher does not quit, not once…not ever.
But some unfinished business has now found Reacher. And Reacher is a man who hates unfinished business.
Ten years ago, a key investigation went sour and someone got away with murder. Now a chance encounter brings it all back. Now Reacher sees his one last shot. Some would call it vengeance. Some would call it redemption. Reacher would call it…justice.
How was it?
The seventh book in Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series kicks off with a bang – literally. The story screeches in with some action right from the start, pulling readers into the chaos before offering any explanations. I was thrown by some of what was happening in that opening scene. It was a smart move that set the tone for a relentless, twisty thriller that managed to hold my attention from beginning to end. I kept questioning and speculating about everything that was going on, and yet I was more surprised here than any other Reacher books that I’ve read so far.
One of the things I find interesting in this book is how it grounds Reacher in the era it was written. His uncertainty with emails, for example, is a subtle but telling reminder of the early 2000s – a marker of time that adds a bit of charm to his otherwise tough-as-nails persona.
The plot revolves around unfinished business from Reacher’s past, resurfacing through a chance encounter. This setup gives us a gripping combination of vengeance and justice, wrapped in Reacher’s signature approach – uncompromising, strategic, and ruthless. What stands out here is the back-and-forth narrative between the present-day operation and the dark incident that happened ten years earlier. The back-and-forth kept me on edge, it was slowly unraveling the mystery of what went wrong in the past while Reacher tackled the present-day threat. Although both have dark moments, the past incident is really the one that F’d me up because at some point in the book I didn’t want to know the details. But ultimately, the back-and-forth structure worked well in heightening the tension and tying together the plot.
There’s a lot of darkness hinted at in Persuader – disturbing acts and messed-up goons that push Reacher’s moral boundaries. These elements give the story an edge that makes it one of the grittier entries I’ve read. It’ll be interesting to see how these darker themes are adapted into season 3 of Reacher, especially since some of the hinted atrocities might not make it to the screen.
Overall, Persuader is a tightly wound, action-packed thriller that delivers classic Jack Reacher. With intense action, a gritty narrative, and a well-paced mystery, this book showcases everything fans love about the series. Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to Reacher’s world, this entry is a must-read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
If you want to support this site, help by getting me a coffee from the link below:
-
#JustRead Red Harvest by Joe Schreiber - a #StarWars "Legends" novel from 2012. It's not exactly a Zahn/Thrawn book.
Quick to read, but no real tension. The low point was when a Jedi used the force to deliver the "special set of skills" speech verbatim from Taken.
Slightly interesting that a lot of PoV was from various Sith characters.
-
⭐⭐⭐ Pretty gripping. I've always wanted to read about Boeing's loss of engineering culture, and this does a pretty good job explaining how that happened.
It's also a sad statement on how little we've learned from the 737 MAX debacle.
-
#bookstodon #justread #running
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book. Gripping, hard to put down. Exciting and informative, inspiring and emotional.
My one concern is that the author is very good at playing things up. He has a talent for telling stories, for bringing up emotions, and that made me question the facts behind it all. For a book with so many bold claims (i.e. towards minimalist shoes), the data seemed a bit one-sided. His talent made me skeptical, I suppose.
Totally into the running man theory though!
-
#bookstodon #justread #running
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Now this is a great book about running! Focused and without fluff, practical and with just the right amount of theory.
Can't speak much about the actual program (yet), but this book sure has given me many ideas to explore.
-
#JustRead "The Man Who Evolved" by Edmond Hamilton, a 1931 short story that reminds me very much of the classic _Outer Limits_ episode, "The Sixth Finger." So much so that I checked to see if the episode was based on the story. The episode was written by Ellis St. Joseph. From Wikipedia:
❝As originally scripted, Gwyllm devolves into the protoplasmic form of a jellyfish. However, ABC executives would only allow him to regress to the stages of early man, due to concerns that religious viewers who did not accept the theory of evolution would be offended.❞
The Hamilton story has the scientist evolving to an enhanced human, to a large head on a spindly body like classic Martians, to two other stages, and finally "advancing" to just a pool of protoplasm. That seems a significant similarity. #ScienceFiction #television #reading
-
#AmReading (okay I'll be honest it's always #justRead) #BlackSun by Rebecca Roanhorse. First epic fantasy I've read in a long time, and affirmed my hypothesis that it wasn't high fantasy I was sick of, but medieval europe.
Well, mostly. :P it's been a long time since I read a book designed for a trilogy so was unprepared for the book to end but for elements of the story to be unresolved. But other than that highly recommend. No themes of good vs evil, a non-moralistic depiction of religion and magic.
-
#bookstodon #justread #running
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Awesome book.
Super informative and up-to-date, even if focused on sub-marathon distances. Also, much more approachable and relevant than "Daniels' Running Formula", even if less seminal for the science of running.
-
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazing story. One of the richest in the whole series for me.
-
#justread #bookstodon #skunkworks
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Super interesting story on the eternal battle between technical excellence and everything else that stands against it.
Sprinkled with a lot of interesting cold war history.
This one has been in my queue for a long time. Glad I finally read it.
-
#JustRead #AcaboDeLeer Edward Chancellor - The Price of Time
-
#JustRead #AcaboDeLeer Jorge Dioni - La España de las piscinas
-
#JustRead #TheSecretHours by #MickHerron.
While I wanted to take my time, savour the jokes, & marvel at the stop-you-in-your-tracks sentences, I couldn't resist racing through it, hell bent for leather.
It's a thriller, a frightening & hilarious exposé of MI5 & UK politics in all their shoddy, ruthless skulduggery — but written with a poet's touch, dark, beautiful, & very funny.
As a bonus, it's a delicious adjunct to the #SloughHouse series.
#Bookstodon
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/08/the-secret-hours-by-mick-herron-review-secrets-and-spies -
#bookstodon #justread #murakami #running
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great (albeit short) memoir, full of introspection and interesting thoughts on running.
This is the book I wanted to read and didn't know. It's an awesome read about running, writing, and the author's own mind. I found myself nodding in agreement to him too many times, thinking "damn, this guy gets me". Pretty inspiring as well.
I haven't read any of Murakami's books yet, but after this, I'll really have to!
-
#JustRead #AcaboDeLeer Jorge Dioni - El malestar de las ciudades
-
⭐⭐⭐ Informative, yet funny.
As a kid, of course I loved the idea of colonizing space. As an adult, I was already a bit skeptical about the whole endeavor (before reading the book). Reading it reinforced this feeling: it convinced me it's harder than we're appreciating it for, and even pretty pointless at this time.
-
#JustRead #AcaboDeLeer Thomas Mann, La montaña mágica (Trad. Isabel García Adánez)
-
#AmReading: The Undertaker’s Assistant by Amanda Skenandore
Ooooh, historical fiction about a woman embalmer?! Yes please!
I rather enjoyed this book, particularly because the author did her homework. She referenced both current and historical embalming texts and visited with her local coroner for insight. She also employed sensitivity readers and referenced primary source documents written by Black people (specifically women, though they’re difficult to find) living in New Orleans or the South during that era.
““The dead can’t hurt you. Only the living can.” Effie Jones, a former slave who escaped to the Union side as a child, knows the truth of her words. Taken in by an army surgeon and his wife during the War, she learned to read and write, to tolerate the sight of blood and broken bodies—and to forget what is too painful to bear. Now a young freedwoman, she has returned south to New Orleans and earns her living as an embalmer, her steady hand and skillful incisions compensating for her white employer’s shortcomings.
Tall and serious, Effie keeps her distance from the other girls in her boarding house, holding tight to the satisfaction she finds in her work. But despite her reticence, two encounters—with a charismatic state legislator named Samson Greene, and a beautiful young Creole, Adeline—introduce her to new worlds of protests and activism, of soirees and social ambition. Effie decides to seek out the past she has blocked from her memory and try to trace her kin. As her hopes are tested by betrayal, and New Orleans grapples with violence and growing racial turmoil, Effie faces loss and heartache, but also a chance to finally find her place . . .”Learn more at www.bookshop.org/shop/hisandhearsepress
#HisAndHearsePress #JustRead #TBRPile #Books #BookRecs #BookRecommendations #HistoricalFiction #ReconstructionEra #NewOrleans #Embalmer #Undertaker #MortuaryScience #Mortician #Bookstodon #Bookwyrm #AmandaSkenandore