200 replies to this topic

[Dave Wallace]

Just finished Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" - what a fantastic novel. That a story about a dystopian future, written by a Russian in the early 1920s, can still seem so pertinent to my life and insightful about modern society and the human condition, is no mean feat. It's also very interesting to note the obvious influence that this cast over Brave New World and 1984. One of the best things I've read in ages.

[Mike]

It's really good isn't it? Always think it's a shame it goes relatively unrecognised.

[Dave Wallace]

Yeah, I feel like I need to be evangelical about this book. It deserves a much better - or perhaps bigger - reputation.

Well worth checking out if you've not read it, anyway, especially if you've got an interest in dystopian fiction (and postmodernism too - there are some really fun postmodern touches in there).

[Christian U]

Damn, I had forgotten that I needed to read that. As if I didn't have enough on my plate...

[Martin Smith]

Started reading Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride (partly for that worst of reasons: to impress someone). Such false advertising in the name! The book's made of paper, not granite and it's at best room temperature.

It's ok so far. I like that I'm getting to exercise my awful Scottish accents in my head as I read. I find it odd that given the use of strong language that it feels the need to report so much of it a times. Feels like either the author couldn't think of an appropriately sweary line or is somewhat apologetic about the language. It's also suffering from the real problem I have with crime fiction though: it'd work better on TV, I think. Law and Order could do a story like this in an hour.

[Steve O'Connor]

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. I'm a few chapters in and enjoying it. It's good-humoured and not overly sentimental for what is basically a modern romance novel... with zombies.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

Just finished Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and I enjoyed it a great deal. Definitely something I can see leaving a deep and lasting impression on a young reader’s mind. As is often the case with such epic narratives, the concluding quarter of Book Three dragged a bit but overall I’m almost tempted to call this a masterpiece.

Next up The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor, the spin-off novel written by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga. Can’t wait to find out how the Governor became that evil bastard he was.

[Dave Wallace]

Just finished Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and I enjoyed it a great deal. Definitely something I can see leaving a deep and lasting impression on a young reader’s mind. As is often the case with such epic narratives, the concluding quarter of Book Three dragged a bit but overall I’m almost tempted to call this a masterpiece.

I agree, I think it's a fantastic trilogy, and I must get around to rereading it soon. I like the way it builds from the relatively conventional fantasy of the first book (albeit underpinned by some unusually adult and secular ideas) through the more paranoid tension of the second into the full-on religious thesis of the third, without ever making you feel as though the tone has been completely shifted or the core stories of the central characters have been lost.

As a birthday present some years ago, my wife treated me to theatre tickets for two plays which together adapt the story of all three books. It was a great experience to see it brought to life in that way, and the way the daemons were represented (with some pretty advanced puppetry) was brilliant.

I also was lucky enough to hear Pullman participate in a roundtable discussion about children's books in general at a literary festival several years ago, and to meet him (briefly) afterwards. He came across as a very intelligent, eloquent and resolutely un-patronising person.

(I'd think twice about seeing the film, though. Whilst some bits are done well - particularly Iorek Byrnison - it just doesn't do the book justice. And they only made an adaptation of the first one.)

[Ulf Imwiehe]

I agree, I think it's a fantastic trilogy, and I must get around to rereading it soon. I like the way it builds from the relatively conventional fantasy of the first book (albeit underpinned by some unusually adult and secular ideas) through the more paranoid tension of the second into the full-on religious thesis of the third, without ever making you feel as though the tone has been completely shifted or the core stories of the central characters have been lost.

As a birthday present some years ago, my wife treated me to theatre tickets for two plays which together adapt the story of all three books. It was a great experience to see it brought to life in that way, and the way the daemons were represented (with some pretty advanced puppetry) was brilliant.

I also was lucky enough to hear Pullman participate in a roundtable discussion about children's books in general at a literary festival several years ago, and to meet him (briefly) afterwards. He came across as a very intelligent, eloquent and resolutely un-patronising person.

(I'd think twice about seeing the film, though. Whilst some bits are done well - particularly Iorek Byrnison - it just doesn't do the book justice. And they only made an adaptation of the first one.)

What I really love about His Dark Materials is that while its message is clearly secular and quite critical of organized religion it’s nonetheless spiritual and (after-)life-affirming. It’s not nihilistic or fatalistic whatsoever.

Regrettably, I saw the movie before I read the books. So whenever Mrs. Coulter showed up I saw freaking Nicole Kidman in my mind, and I hate Nicole Kidman. And still, Mrs. Coulter turned out to be my favorite character. Gloriously evil, stunningly human and she redeemed herself quite thoroughly in the end.

[stephanie familiar]

Just finished Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" - what a fantastic novel. That a story about a dystopian future, written by a Russian in the early 1920s, can still seem so pertinent to my life and insightful about modern society and the human condition, is no mean feat. It's also very interesting to note the obvious influence that this cast over Brave New World and 1984. One of the best things I've read in ages.

i bought that two years ago, and haven't gotten around to reading it yet. thanks for reminding me i have it.

[Christian U]

So whenever Mrs. Coulter showed up I saw freaking Nicole Kidman in my mind, and I hate Nicole Kidman.

YOU SHUT YOUR DIRTY MOUTH ABOUT NICOLE, YOU!

[Mike]

This is almost exactly how I'd imagine a real life MW book group going.

[Will]

Re-reading Sun Tzu's Art of War until my next batch from B&N shows up, which I thought was going to be yesterday.

Waiting on These Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN and Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan.

Outlaw Platoon has received quite a bit of praise, likening it to Band of Brothers for this generation and for the unflinching portrayal of what these guys went through. Apparently they had one of the hardest physically and mentally deployments of any conventional force in the US military.

[Will]

Re-reading Sun Tzu's Art of War until my next batch from B&N shows up, which I thought was going to be yesterday.

Waiting on These Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN and Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan.

Outlaw Platoon has received quite a bit of praise, likening it to Band of Brothers for this generation and for the unflinching portrayal of what these guys went through. Apparently they had one of the hardest physically and mentally deployments of any conventional force in the US military.

Want to add that I don't normally read stuff on Afghanistan or Iraq unless it is for work.
But the praise and reviews for Outlaw Platoonade me change my mind.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor is pretty entertaining so far. I smell a major twist coming, though, as the characterization is way too obvious. And that one creepy dream the main character has about his and his brother’s room back when they were kids? Iron Maiden posters in the mid 70s – seriously? These little boys from rural Georgia must have been really tuned into the fledgling UK Heavy Metal underground seeing as it wasn’t until 1980 that Iron Maiden’s rise to fame began. Sigh… sometimes it’s the little things.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

I’m reading Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Gross, nauseating and hilarious at the same time, this is Splatterpunk done right.

Btw The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor was pretty good. Not Pulitzer material but entertaining enough. The climax of the story (including the twist I suspected was coming) felt a bit rushed and kinda inconclusive, though. I’d been hoping for something more elegant.

[Paul F]

Started reading Angelmaker, by Nick Harkaway. Only read the first chapter so far, but enjoying it. The first paragraph, as an example:

At seven fifteen a.m., his bedroom slightly colder than the vacuum of space, Joshua Joseph Spork wears a longish leather coat and a pair of his father’s golfing socks. Papa Spork was not a natural golfer. Among other differences, natural golfers do not acquire their socks by hijacking a lorryload destined for St Andrews. It isn’t done. Golf is a religion of patience. Socks come and socks go, and the wise golfer waits, sees the pair he wants, and buys it without fuss. The notion that he might put a Thompson sub-machine gun in the face of the burly Glaswegian driver, and tell him to quit the cab or adorn it … well. A man who does that is never going to get his handicap down below the teens.

[GordonM]

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. I'm a few chapters in and enjoying it. It's good-humoured and not overly sentimental for what is basically a modern romance novel... with zombies.

Despite all the sub-Twilight dirge (and Twilight is a massive pile of shite to begin with) poisoning bookshelves I ended up cracking that book's spine based on the reviews and surprisingly enjoyed it. A nice, twisted take on the whole affair that doesn't get too sappy or dodge the whole creepiness of a girl and a corpse having feelings for each other.

[Rory Abel]

Reading the new Vampire Files collection (volume 5). I really like this series and think it's gone in some interesting directions. The idea of a vampire with PTSD is a good one, especially considering how much damage they can survive. Plus you can't go wrong with the 1930s setting.

[James Dodsworth]

The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor is pretty entertaining so far. I smell a major twist coming, though, as the characterization is way too obvious. And that one creepy dream the main character has about his and his brother’s room back when they were kids? Iron Maiden posters in the mid 70s – seriously? These little boys from rural Georgia must have been really tuned into the fledgling UK Heavy Metal underground seeing as it wasn’t until 1980 that Iron Maiden’s rise to fame began. Sigh… sometimes it’s the little things.

I think I'm probably at the same point in the book you were when you wrote this, the Iron Maiden thing really pulled me out of it. Still, fairly entertaining so far.