What are you reading?

[Pingree]

Really decent short horror stories.

Am looking forward to the new Hellraiser book he's just finished writing!

[MacCabbe]

Reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. And it's absolutely brilliant.

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

i finished this a few hours ago, simultaneously watching the bale film; i feel really drained and upset, to be honest :unhappy it's a fucking difficult book. i think i feel pretty startled by how much i can empathise with bateman's dystopic, cold, empty world view - besides the relentless brutality - and the graphic and absolutely horrific torture narrations really fucked me up too

i skimmed a lot of those torture narratives and also those fucking tina turner, huey lewis and genesis band chronologies; i also found myself skimming his constant and pretty aimless conversations with fellow yuppies, students, bums, businessmen etc. although i get that the shallow, substanceless nature of pretty much everything anyone said was the point;

it's an interesting novel which left me thinking about it and had a lot of interesting things to say but the desperately and relentlessly insane, empty and evil bateman took a lot out of me. i know it's also the point but i really hate the way his victims died and felt sorry for them . horrible novel, but also a clever one.

[MacCabbe]

Currently reading Legends, by Robert Littell. Excellent spy thriller. Not an astounding writing style, but the main idea is simply fantastic. Properly made, it would be a superb movie.

[J A Eyers]

I'm currently reading Neil Gaiman's new 'kids' book. Only a few chapters in so far, but it plays like one of those Disney comedies about a baby being brought up by animals... except this one's brought up by the dead.

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

Originally Posted by J A Eyers

I'm currently reading Neil Gaiman's new 'kids' book. Only a few chapters in so far, but it plays like one of those Disney comedies about a baby being brought up by animals... except this one's brought up by the dead.

sounds awesome, didn't even know about it

i'm currently reading 'good omens' only a couple of pages in though

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

wait... i just read sonic the hedgehog in robotnik's laboratory. it was horrific. the only reason i didn't burn it was because i read that shit endlessly as a kid, and loved it. it has a cockney monkey in it. the writer keeps talking to the reader, and makes plenty of egg- puns.

[Firetalon]

I just finished Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I'd heard it was pretty good, but slacked on reading it. However, I needed something to do on my flights, so I picked it up and it was pretty good. Maguire took a 2 dimensional character and fleshed her out in such a way that makes you wish they wrote The Wizard of Oz about her.

[Emi]

Just started reading Pop goes the weasel by James Patterson. Liking it so far but like every other book i've ever started i'll probably never finish it.
The only books i've ever finished were Mao's Last Dancer and Great Gatsby.. oh and Bridge to Terebethia

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

great gatsby was one of the few books i liked which we studied at school. the film was shit

just read sonic in the 4th dimension; that and the other one i mentioned before were two of my favourite books as a kid. this one's by the same guys but it's a lot more serious and better written.

plenty of cool description illustrating the various environments they find themselves in; mobius in prehistoric times, mobius in a future where robotnik has totally mechanised the planet etc. the 4th dimension, and an awesome bit when kintober attaches a force field and a time machine to a treadmill and we are treated to an evocative description of what sonic and tails see as they run back to the big bang. the first book only focused on the zones we saw in the game

the organisers and the mythos creatures were interesting characters and it was cool seeing sonic averting robotnik's creation, if only until circumstances dictate he has to reverse that prevention to save the universe. the story is more ambitious then the first one with transmogrification and all that and sonic and tails took charge, used logic and made their own luck unlike the first book where they charged into confrontations and nearly died many times.

there's plenty of sonics and tails' from different timelines meeting, including an evil sonic from the mistake that turned kintobor into robotnik, and paradoxes, and dimensional travel and chaos energy and history rewriting itself in waves etc. that requires a lot of suspended belief and of course the conclusion requires, much like that new sonic game, that pretty much everything in the story never happened but it's nicely done and it's a good book. if you're a sonic fan.

i need a job.

[fromthedead]

Currently re-reading "I am Legend." Trying to wash my brain of that atrocious film.

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

Originally Posted by fromthedead

Currently re-reading "I am Legend." Trying to wash my brain of that atrocious film.

i know what the plot of the novel is, it's something like ionesco's rhinoceros, but with zombie vampires... realising you were the monster all along... i saw an alternate ending to the film which would have made it a better project altogether, although it still wasn't in line with the novel's events. i think.

[fromthedead]

Originally Posted by itsallgoodbabyGb

i know what the plot of the novel is, it's something like ionesco's rhinoceros, but with zombie vampires... realising you were the monster all along... i saw an alternate ending to the film which would have made it a better project altogether, although it still wasn't in line with the novel's events. i think.

Well, Neville was the actual last man on earth in the novel. That was the point of the title even. At the end, when he's held prisoner he looks out at a courtyard where vampires (subdued by a drug) await his execution. He takes a cyanide pill that another vampire gave him earlier as to not endure humiliation and says "I am legend." After he dies, humanity is no more than a myth. So yeah, the film was a brainless CG monster flick that completely missed the point.

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

Originally Posted by fromthedead

Well, Neville was the actual last man on earth in the novel. That was the point of the title even. At the end, when he's held prisoner he looks out at a courtyard where vampires (subdued by a drug) await his execution. He takes a cyanide pill that another vampire gave him earlier as to not endure humiliation and says "I am legend." After he dies, humanity is no more than a myth. So yeah, the film was a brainless CG monster flick that completely missed the point.

hmm, so it wasn't quite like i thought; the movie's alternate ending shows smith realising that the vamps just want their bird back - the chick he was trying to turn back to a human - and the head vamp stops slamming their glass door and takes the girl in a 'touching' scene of affection and mutual understanding. it wouldn't have explained the way they behaved in the rest of the film, of course.

swing and a miss

[Dangerous_D]

Aliens Original Sin

[Emi]

Originally Posted by fromthedead

Currently re-reading "I am Legend." Trying to wash my brain of that atrocious film.

Aww I liked the movie
but then again will smith can never do wrong by me

[Dangerous_D]

I read I am Legend, it was a good novel

[Conner Macleod]

Reading 'The Gunslinger', first book in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. Pretty good so far.

[Emi]

Back to reading insane amounts of tourism...

[aLiteSneeze]

I'm currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Slowly but surely.

[Socratis]

black no more (1931); incredible.

the book explores race in america with a simple concept: what if an operation could turn you white? throughout it takes shots at everyone and none are left unscathed.

"ever since the first sanitarium of black-no-more, incorporated, started turning negroes into caucasians the national social equality league's income had been decreasing. no dues had been collected in months and subscriptions to the national mouthpiece, the dilemma, had dwindled to almost nothing. officials, long since ensconced in palatial apartments, began to grow panic-stricken as pay days got farther apart. they began to envision the time when they would no longer be able for the sake of the negro race to suffer the hardships of lunching on canvasback duck at the urban club surrounded by the white dilettante, endure the perils of first class transatlantic passage to stage save-dear-africa conferences or undergo the excruciating torture of rolling back and forth across the united states in drawing-rooms to hear each lecture on the negro problem. on meager salaries of five thousand dollars a year they had fought strenuously and tirelessly to obtain for the negroes the constitutional rights which only a few thousand rich white folk possessed. and now they saw the work of a lifetime being rapidly destroyed."

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

Originally Posted by Emi

Back to reading insane amounts of tourism...

what for?

Originally Posted by aLiteSneeze

I'm currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Slowly but surely.

i'm reading that too i like it very much so far

Originally Posted by Socratis

black no more (1931); incredible.

the book explores race in america with a simple concept: what if an operation could turn you white? throughout it takes shots at everyone and none are left unscathed.

for a novel from 1931 it sounds like an interesting take on the subject, i'll be giving that a read when i can get a hold of it

[Salvage Guy]

Call Of Cthulhu and other weird stories. So far I've read the introduction which has already piqued my interest in Mr Lovecraft. Poor sod.

[Conner Macleod]

Originally Posted by aLiteSneeze

I'm currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Slowly but surely.

I loved the premise and I'm a big fan of Gaiman, but for me there was a disconnect between Gaiman and Pratchett's writing. I'm sure I would've enjoyed the book far more had it been written by Gaiman alone. There were some funny parts here and there, but it lacked depth, and overall just failed in execution. I could see this turning into a brilliant film though, if there's a serious rewrite of the story. Terry Gilliam was going to make it but it fell through, although I suppose that's just as well, I'm not impressed by much of his film making.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it more than I did, some friends of mine absolutely love it, but I think it's one of those books that's polarizing, you won't find many people who are somewhere in between, it's typically a love or hate thing. Having an intimacy with British culture is key, and although I grew up on British movies, series and sitcoms, there's still a great deal of inside humor that required footnotes at the bottom, and reading the footnotes broke up much of the continuity and overall enjoyment. Not my cup of tea

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

Originally Posted by Conner Macleod

I loved the premise and I'm a big fan of Gaiman, but for me there was a disconnect between Gaiman and Pratchett's writing. I'm sure I would've enjoyed the book far more had it been written by Gaiman alone. There were some funny parts here and there, but it lacked depth, and overall just failed in execution. I could see this turning into a brilliant film though, if there's a serious rewrite of the story. Terry Gilliam was going to make it but it fell through, although I suppose that's just as well, I'm not impressed by much of his film making.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it more than I did, some friends of mine absolutely love it, but I think it's one of those books that's polarizing, you won't find many people who are somewhere in between, it's typically a love or hate thing. Having an intimacy with British culture is key, and although I grew up on British movies, series and sitcoms, there's still a great deal of inside humor that required footnotes at the bottom, and reading the footnotes broke up much of the continuity and overall enjoyment. Not my cup of tea

up to page 43 right now and enjoying it quite a bit, it is distinctly british in style; it does seem a lot like what the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy would be like if they crossed it with the film dogma. it seems to have the same offbeat tone, quizzical style and sarcastic humour full of cultural and contemporary references. i think the kind of humour attempted inspires a love hate relationship because it takes the familiar and the mundane routines and aspects of everyday life and makes fun of it in epic, divine and cosmic terms, by mixing them. i guess those that hate it dislike the trivial attitude this denotes, and those who like it scoff at the references and like the familiar, cynical and offbeat point of view.

and i think gilliam directed the adaptation of fear and loathing in las vegas, in which case i like his style. i'll wait till i finish the book before i offer an opinion on a potential adaptation of good omens though because so far it seems like it would be difficult to differentiate it from dogma but i don't know how the plot will develop yet

[itsallgoodbabyGb]

just finished good omens; THERE BE SPOILERS WITHIN so skip to the end if you don't want it spoiled.

it sucks you in in the way that gaiman's writing often does; plenty of evocative and familiarising narrative and a slow and tentative progression to the ultimate point of the whole story; and interesting characters from the realms of mythology, theology and the supernatural of course; all woven together intricately and with many seperate and equally interesting threads.

being unfamiliar with pratchett's writing, i am not quite sure where his influence slips in; perhaps it's all that british humour. everything exclusively gaiman i've read tends not to have the same trivial, throwaway attitude towards all that Epic.

the big humanity ego trip the plot eventually drops on the reader and the fact that in their reality the universe is not that big and history only spans 6000 years weren't particularly original to me or plot points and themes i like much, but they fit the overall story and they were executed appropriately and humourously which made them easier to digest.

i guess that was the neutral middle ground outcome that gaiman performed in american gods with shadow diffusing hostilities between the old pantheons and the new gods of modernity, and it would be the only way to avert the actual apocalypse in this story with adam young choosing to just ignore it, telling the metatron and beelzebub to fuck off and being human, letting the chips fall where they may - the humanity ego trip, free will is so valuable, humans are powerful and contain vast potential etc.

the setting of the universe - 6000 years old and a lot smaller then physicists might think - also helped to slip into line with the humour and the seemingly nonchalant supernatural entities of all kinds and human characters.

i liked adam young and how he was not a clear cut antichrist but due to the satanists' mix up actually ended up human and not moulded by either good or evil; his them crew were interesting too, and their whole hot fuzz accent deal made their dialogue quite fantastic. i had hoped Dog would at least turn back into a fucking awesome hound of hell at some point though.

the 4 horsemen were awesome too and i enjoyed their banter and their role fulfillment; they had good lines of dialogue and were described in visceral terms that made them all the more spectacular, especially near the end. the human characters were largely interesting and varied; anathema and newt were probably my favourites due to their funny little relationship and the whole agnes nutter prophesy thing.

aziraphale and crowley were probably my favourite characters overall; the reason being the concept of an angel and a demon becoming mates over time was a superb one; their nonchalant and continuous banter served as a standard for the sort of attitude every other character adopts, besides DEATH and the devil, who only adam in full bloom stops from coming and fucking shit up himself after armageddon is ruined, and the fact that both are in actuality quite human in character, with little, stereotypical quirks that identify them as angel and demon, rather then full blown evil and holy personalities, helps reinforce the eventual point of the plot. i thought that crowley would at some point betray or totally fuck over aziraphale, or that aziraphale would at some point be compelled to forgive crowley for something, but no, just interesting banter and blurring the lines in their choices.

the humour was welcome too, little references to milton keynes, lunchboxes, accents, the M25 etc as well as some awesome lines intersparsed throughout helped give the novel a feeling of completeness and confidence which helped me as a reader cruise effortlessly through it, interested to the end.

k, SPOILERS NOW OVER; i give good omens a 7.5 out of 10. it's an interesting little british comedy about a very british armageddon. if you've seen or read the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, seen dogma and read american gods, imagine them spliced together. that's pretty much what you're in for.

conner macleod raised a good point about the british humour and references; they permeate everything in this novel, and they won't be for everyone. if you like that sort of thing though, definitely check it out, you won't be disappointed

[Conner Macleod]

Excellent review, itsallgoodbabygb I'm glad you liked it, it's certainly an interesting story to say the least. I'd have to say that I agree with you about Anathema and Newt, out of all the characters in the book they were the only ones that I really enjoyed, I think they were the most human out of the book, literal meaning aside. My main gripe is that the book bounced around too often to the point where I felt I didn't really connect with any of them, so had more time been spent on that I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more.

Next book from Gaiman I read will be 'Anansi Boys', which I bought just as it came out, but I have been slacking and just haven't found the time for it. I need to finish 'The Gunslinger' right now. So many books, so little time

[Kimarhi Ronso]

I'm trying to read through Scott Card's second novel in the Ender Series, Speaker for the Dead. After the excellent first installment, I'm not really digging this one. I can understand the progression, its just not my cup of joe.

I'm also trying to read through Neuromancer by Gibson. Its obvious where series like Ghost in the Shell, the Matrix, etc were influenced by...............but I'm really NOT digging Gibson's choppy writing style and disjointed story telling.

[Dangerous_D]

Alien DNA Wars, about halfway thru it

[fromthedead]

Originally Posted by Emi

Aww I liked the movie
but then again will smith can never do wrong by me

After you read the book you'll see how the film had so much lost potential. Everything was ruined. The car chase (in a station wagon) was supposed to be long and grueling with Neville hurrying to get back to his house with Vamps on his tail. It was a hollywood car chase with vamps ripping at the car and everything before hollywood had chases like that. All Smith had was that dumb viper and his SUV that had the dumbest plot device ever. And Neville actually was infected with the virus in the book. In a recap he had been exposed to it before everyone else while in Panama and grew an immunity to it. Eventually by the time it spread he was fully immune. The whole cancer thing was dumb as shit. The vampires in the book talked and kept their personalities. They were just bloodthirsty and undead with sharp fangs used to act to syphon blood out of a victims body. So yeah, again, the movie sucked. And the dog was supposed to come at the end. And it was supposed to be infected when he met it.

Now re-reading Clive Barkers "Cabal." At least Nightbreed was closer to Cabal than I Am Legend was to I Am Legend.