What are you reading?

[Neon]

So they had emos after the great depression too then?

Ive read Fall of Reach, thought it was terrible. Characters of the Spartans are crap, Cortana was at least vaguely interesting, and i thought the idea of some of the starship battles were interesting, but the Covenent were TOO superior to make most battles interesting. And the final battle for Reach was shown from a distance, with the bulk of the battle getting covered in 2 very broad stroaked paragraphs. I might look at the rest of the series if a mate will lend them.

Ive just finished "Pirates: In an adventure with scientists" which i thought was the silliest, most bizarre and entertaining book ive read in some time. It follows a bunch of pirates lead by the Pirate Captain, and his second in command the Pirate With The Green Scarf, who end up sinking Charles Darwins ship off the Gallapogos, and for various reasons (Mostly feeling guilty, and the fact he has a flash card talking trained chimp) they agree to take him back to London and eventually help to track down Darwins kidnapped brother. Its completely barmy, and i thought it was great. Ive heard theres a few more in the series, so ill be looking for them.

[Herne the hunter]

Last night I finished The Magic Cottage by James Herbert.



There's not really much to say about it. It's without a doubt the blandest book I've ever read. Usually when I reach the end of a novel I get kind of an empty but satisfied feeling inside, like I'm sorry there's no more but happy that I know how everything worked out. When I finished this book, I literally just shrugged to myself, not because it was confusing but because it was just "meh". How it got such high reviews on Amazon I'll never know. It's not bad, but it's certainly not worthy of note.

Tonight I'm starting The Escapement by K J Parker.



It's the final book in a trilogy and I've been looking forward to it for some time (it only came out today, so I'm pretty pleased with myself about how well I timed my last book).

The first two volumes; Devices & Desires, and Evil for Evil (collectively known as The Engineer Trilogy) are quite simply the finest, most believable works of fantasy I have ever read. No monsters, no peurile magic quests, no Pong son of Pikestaff the Nerdy Faced Git, just science, politics and war. After reading the first book when it was fairly new I was so taken with it that I went so far as abandoning a book I was halfway through when the second volume came out. I've been waiting until I've read this to read both of Parker's other trilogies.

Detailed review soon to follow...

[J A Eyers]

Wow. Does SFX still exist?

[Cutter Zane]

Am currently reading R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy, consisting of the books Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn - set in the popular Forgotten Realms world.



The series is basically the backstory to one of the most popular FR characters of all time, the rogue drow elf Drizzt Do'Urden - who among his spiteful, treacherous and bloodthirsty race actually has a conscience and a sense of honor. Thus he ends up as the 'black sheep' of his high-ranking (and nefariously ambitious) family and an infidel to their fanatical worship of the drow goddess Lloth. Needless to say, problems arise.

I seem to remember first reading this series back in the early Nineties - but don't recall if I actually finished them all. Homeland is a solid read, since it deals with Drizzt's development and his increasing disillusionment with the society that spawned him. However, once we get to Exile, it just didn't seem as good (or gripping) - he leaves his society and becomes an outcast, which means the interesting characters from the first book don't play so much of a role in his doings. We get a new cast of supporting characters instead, which lack the same oompf. Not got to Sojourn yet.

[Game Start]

Wow, long time no post. Here's what I'm reading at the mo:


Clair Sterling "The Mafia - The Hold of the Octopus"


Dixe Wills "Places to Hide"


Barnet Schecter "The Battle for New York"


Chris Ayres "War Reporting for Cowards"

All put on hold while I try get some job stuff sorted out, but very much enjoying the Mafia one.

[J A Eyers]

I seem to have got back into the habit of having several books on the go again. I'm currently reading:

THE TOWN AND THE CITY by Jack Kerouac, which was his first major success, a big sprawling epic about a New England family spreading out from rural roots and getting lost in the big city. I started this one in January and have barely read a chapter in weeks. Your more avant garde literary critic says it's better than On the Road, but that's why avant garde literary critics tend to be the biggest twits of them all.

WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS by Kazuo Ishiguro, which is an historical mystery set in 1930s China. It reads a bit like Empire of the Sun going in the other direction, if JG's parents had suddenly disappeared and he'd gone back to look for them as the Japanese close in. Presently very impressed.

THE PARADISE TRAIL by Duncan Campbell, which is a murder mystery set in Calcutta at the time of the India-Pakistan war that led to the establishment of Bangladesh. I'm reviewing this for a newspaper, but I'll try and not be too avant garde about it.

MOAB IS MY WASHPOT by Stephen Fry, which is his autobiography of his childhood, school years and early adulthood, up until the point he first went mad. It jumps all over the place, full of trivia about things you never knew you wanted to know, and then goes of on long rambling rants about things barely connected. But then, what else would you expect/want from an autobiography of Stephen Fry?

[Angle]

[The Drunkk Machine]

i read "flatland" yesterday afternoon. loved it. tonight i begin "glamorama"

[J A Eyers]

And the dying came in waves!

EDIT: WTF, it wouldn't let me type all in capitals...

[Salvage Guy]

Song Of Stone by Iain Banks (if you couldn't tell, it's apparently 'a novel').

Post-apocalyptic setting set after presumably a world war of sorts but with spatterings of today's technology but dumbed down due to lack of resources. Typical Banks where not too much happening apart from a lot of thought processes and character building until about half way into the story. Interestingly, it's set in first perspective and third at the same time, where he refers to himself as 'I' or 'me', but refers to his lady as 'you'.

[BorderCollie-san]

10 minutes per week:


countless, never-ending hours that make me want to die:

[Socratis]

it is interesting to receive a true account of the native indians. you will find no whitewashed revisionist tales of mystical adventures, but neither will you see an endless barbaric savagery. oh, and its interesting to see the effects of capitalism being introduced to the tribes

also i was reading a book but then i drank too much and threw up all over my room and splatter hit the sides and i think that i will not finish it. it was not any good, anyway. worse than an airplane read

[Angle]

[J A Eyers]

Summer has arrived, so I'm back on Steinbeck's case. I intend to finally get round to East of Eden in a couple of months, but for now I am working my way through The Long Valley, a collection of short stories. Not sure when he wrote them, but I'm guessing it was before Cannery Row, there being several tales that, if not repeated verbatim, were certainly written about the same characters.

I'm also reading a collection of the writings of Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence, purchaser of Louisiana and pioneer of separation between Church and State. He won his first term exactly 200 years before Bush won his, and left office exactly 200 years before Bush will leave. Just goes to show what happens when you let Texas into America in the intervening years.

I am also due to start reading Netherland, by someone O'Neill, which isn't about people in Holland, but NYC after 9/11, which I am reviewing for a newspaper.

[Injektilo]

<-- Soul Music!

[The Drunkk Machine]

my house is stuffed full of books and it is my mission to read them all. i don't care if i've read them before, whether they're my kind of thing or even if they happen to be "the stand: uncut" [god i'm not looking forward to putting myself through that again] i'm off for a few weeks and i'm taking with me:

"glamorama" - bret easton ellis
"glue" - irvine welsh
"heart of darkness" - joseph conrad

the first two i've been meaning to read for the past year and the third is so slim it seems criminal not to take it. after that it will be whatever falls out of my jampacked cupboards first, probably one of the four hundred penguin classics my sister whored off ebay.

[Salvage Guy]

Originally Posted by Desdinova

There's a lot out there... but also a lot of crap. Among those that aren't shallow survivalist wish-fulfillment fantasies, I'd definitely recommend Earth Abides (so far), Lucifer's Hammer, and the Dies The Fire series in particular.

Currently reading one of the daddies of post-apocalyptic novels in 'No Blade Of Grass' (which is the americanised title of the original 'The Death Of Grass') by John Christopher. The book itself has been out of print internationally for years so the cheapest copy I could get my hands on set me back £20 which, for the first 40 pages, have a corner missing. Not missed anything though.

It has just been building up exactly as I hoped it would when I originally read the synopsis. Has the potential to be my favourite post-apocalyptic story and interesting as to show how a nation of pompous stiff upper lip English types who have superiority complexes over other 'lesser developed' nations resorting to such morally questionable activities in order to survive.

Set in the 50s and written in a manner current to the times, it's also interesting as to how attitudes, laws, political correctness, etc have changed yet aid the protagonists in some instances and inhibit in other especially in the technologically mire of said period. That in mind, it aids a more raw humanistic approach which, if read in or near the time it was set in wouldn't be appreciated so much as it is now.

I'm only half way too. Good luck getting a copy if you fancy it.

[Socratis]

the reverend had stopped his sermon altogether. there was no sound in the tent. all watched the man. he adjusted the hat and then pushed his way forward as far as the crateboard pulpit where the reverend stood and there he turned to address the reverend's congregation. his face was serene and strangely childlike. his hands were small. he held htem out.

ladies and gentlemen i feel it my duty to inform you that the man holding this revival is an imposter. he holds no papers of divinity from any institution recognized or improvised. he is altogether devoid of the least qualification to the office he has usurped and has only committed to memory a few passages from the good book for the purpose of lending to his fraudulent sermons some faint flavor of the piety he despises. in truth, the gentleman standing here before you posing as a minister of the lord is not only totally illiterate but is also wanted by the law in the states of tennessee, kentucky, mississippi, and arkansas.

oh god, cried the reverend. lies, lies! he began reading feverishly from his opened bible.

on a variety of charges the most recent of which involved a girl of eleven--i said eleven--who had come to him in trust and whom he had surprised in the act of violating while actually clothed in the livery of his god.

a moan swept through the crowd. a lady sank to her knees.

this is him, cried the reverend, sobbing. this is him. the devil. here he stands.

let's hang the turd, called an ugly thug from the gallery to the rear.

not three weeks before this he was run out of fort smith arkansas for having congress with a goat. yes lady, that is what i said. goat.

---

judge, how did you come to have the goods on that no-account?

goods? said the judge.

when was you in fort smith?

fort smith?

where did you know him to know all that stuff on him?

you mean the reverend green?

yessir. i reckon you was in fort smith fore ye come out here.

i was never in fort smith in my life. doubt he was.

they looked from one to the other.

well where was it you run up on him?

i never laid eyes on the man before today. never even heard of him.

he raised his glass and drank.

there was a strange silence in the room. the men looked like mud effigies. finally someone began to laugh. then another. soon they were all laughing together. someone bought the judge a drink.

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

Originally Posted by kirkyl

Brilliant book anyone who is a Halo fan should pick this up,First strike and Ghosts of Onyx rock too.

I'm going to get Contact harvest when i get paid too.

Originally Posted by Neon

Ive read Fall of Reach, thought it was terrible. Characters of the Spartans are crap, Cortana was at least vaguely interesting, and i thought the idea of some of the starship battles were interesting, but the Covenent were TOO superior to make most battles interesting. And the final battle for Reach was shown from a distance, with the bulk of the battle getting covered in 2 very broad stroaked paragraphs. I might look at the rest of the series if a mate will lend them.

ghosts of onyx and contact harvest are better books, they do a good job of what is essentially over complicating a very simple story frame and trying to give it some girth, in terms of details, plot revelations and so forth.

Originally Posted by The Drunkk Machine

my house is stuffed full of books and it is my mission to read them all. i don't care if i've read them before, whether they're my kind of thing or even if they happen to be "the stand: uncut" [god i'm not looking forward to putting myself through that again] i'm off for a few weeks and i'm taking with me:

"glamorama" - bret easton ellis
"glue" - irvine welsh
"heart of darkness" - joseph conrad

that's what i'm trying to do with all my books; i invariably read all the cool ones first, fear and loathing, the beach, time traveler's wife, number9dream, trainspotting; i want to read more irvine welsh though, great writing style, makes me want to speak scottish, at least while i'm reading it.



a masterpiece. i've never seen blade runner but if it's anything like this then i'm not surprised it's such a classic. so many levels of metaphor and existentialist discussion. how valid life and intelligence are, for a bounty hunter, androids, chickenheads, mercer and buster friendly; the fuss over animals, empathy used to unite a race divided and chased onto other worlds by war; deckard's existentialist depression after nearly being convinced he was an android himself and then fucking and killing them all day; a subtle and easily missed positive in the ending when deckard and iran refrain from using the mood organ, suggesting the veneer of artifice being rejected; but a generally bleak and refreshingly unsatisfying ending all the same; great stuff.



this is the last book i read; it's just a biography, although interestingly the man himself of course made other people's work and musical stories his own trade himself. anyway, it only rarely descends into subjective praise and it's pretty eloquently written, and it's a good book for someone like me who was always aware he was a significant musical identity but never knew how much influence he had and what he did within the industry, and discovered and quickly became a fan of his show only to hear of his death only a year or two later.



this is the book i'm trying to read now, and i can't even get past the fuckin introduction. it was released originally in episodes and it took 4 years for them to all get published. i don't think the monolithic bastard was ever meant to be read in one agonising go. i'm going to plough through it though, the premise at least is intriguing and i should learn to love challenges. anyway, see you in a few months

[Hamz]

the first 50 pages or so are good.

[Glexn]

All of those pages are fantastic. =]

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

Originally Posted by Semirhage

All of those pages are fantastic. =]

yep, it's an excellent novel. shadow's a great protagonist, good premise, well realised. mine doesn't have the bruckheimer productions cover; looks cool.

[yee haw]

I'm reading hustler magazine. Well, looking at it anyway...

[MacCabbe]

I eventually started reading the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I understand the hype around it... It's after all well written and you just can't put the book down. Thrilling story.

[Daemos]

I just finished the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; extremely amoral and delicious! It's also very educational with its myriad of historical tales and references. The book totally tries to reconstruct your perception of ethics, humanity, deception; your definition of power and its utter importance. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Salvage Guy]

Originally Posted by Hamz

the first 50 pages or so are good.

Got mine today!

[Glexn]

Got to get around to reading Anansi Boys...

[Tanzverbot!]

I liked Anansi Boys, but it's nowhere near as good as American Gods.

[noodle boy]

Originally Posted by Tanzverbot!

I liked Anansi Boys, but it's nowhere near as good as American Gods.

How could it be, really?

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

salvage guy thats the copy i've got

gave up on war and peace, it makes me want to cry. may take it up again when i've got spare time. started on american psycho; patrick says 'no, i'm a fucking evil psychopath' under his breath at a dinner party on page 5 or so in response to something and no one catches it. i think it's going to be an excellent novel!