200 replies to this topic

[Rory Abel]

Just finished rereading the Queen & Country comic series and so, as I always have to do, I've begun rereading Private Wars to remind myself that Chase's story doesn't end on such a depressing note.

[Ben the Obiwomble]

Make sure you've your copy of The Last Run available too Rory.

[Rory Abel]

Make sure you've your copy of The Last Run available too Rory.

I do, I read them back to back. Private Wars ends of downer but not nearly as depressing as the ending to Operation Red Panda. I actually hadn't read any of the novels when I finished Red Panda and immediately went out and bought Private Wars in the hopes that her situation would improve.

[Rory Abel]

Finished Last Run yesterday and as always it leaves me wishing Rucka would come back to the series (in either novel or comic form). Starting on The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. I was worried on the first page as some of the dialogue was a little awkward and I was afraid that it wasn't going to be as good as I remembered it being (it was one of my favorite novels the first time I read it) but then by page two it all clicked back into place and I'm loving it again. I really wish I could get my hands on the HBO pilot and see how it turned out (or that it had gotten picked up for that matter).

[David Meadows]

Reading Stardust, which is actually the first non-comics work I have read by Neil Gaiman. It's just as good as I was expecting. I have Neverwhere to read next, then I suppose I should get American Gods, or whatever it's called.

[Christian U]

Ohhhh you're in for a treat, then. Those are all great.

Neverwhere may still be my favourite novel of his.

[kieranbeech]

Just started reading the first book of A tale of the Malazan book of the fallen.

[Dave Wallace]

Reading Stardust, which is actually the first non-comics work I have read by Neil Gaiman. It's just as good as I was expecting. I have Neverwhere to read next, then I suppose I should get American Gods, or whatever it's called.

American Gods is quite good fun. I also enjoyed his short story collection "Smoke and Mirrors", which is full of all sorts of interesting story ideas.

[David Chapman]

Just started reading the first book of A tale of the Malazan book of the fallen.

Be patient with it. Erikson was an archaeologist before he became an author, and it shows in his work - you get thrown in at the deep end with little explanation, and the world doesn't immediately come together. The first book sets up some very important threads, but the whole story doesn't start coming together until later on.

[David Meadows]

I'm loving Stardust because it's channeling George Macdonald, who is one of the earliest authors I can actually remember reading. I grew up reading Victorian fairy tales (which were basically written for adults, not children) and this reads just like one of those, with slightly more explicit violence.

Though it's slightly spoiled by my having seen the movie first and constantly comparing. Not that the movie is better, but I'm too conscious of the differences and it distracts me from the prose. I suspect Neverwhere will present the same problem.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

Just cracked open The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. So far so awesome.

[Christian U]

I liked it a lot. I still have to catch up on a few Barnes books, I notice... and somehow I never made it round to reading Love, etc., although Talking It Over is one of my favourite novels. Maybe that's why.

[Ogul]

I just finished Halo: Primordium by Greg Bear. This was the second part of the series set in the distant past of the Halo universe, the time when the Halo builders existed, and followed the proto-human character from the first book as he explores one of the Halo installations. Like the first book in this set (Cryptum), this book was a bit opaque in places, as while this character was at least human, he was still a human so far removed from modern man that it's hard to relate to him, making his first person accounts of his travels a bit hard to picture sometimes, but this one was at least considerably easier to follow than the first book, which followed an entirely alien character and did very little to explain things that this alien already knew but that of course we would not.

In any case, it was a solid enough book in the series, very similar to its obvious inspiration, Niven's Ringworld, It mostly focuses on him and a small band traveling this Halo structure (an artificial ring in space large enough to encircle a small planet and carrying thousands of ecosystems and collected creatures), and also reveals some backstory into the flood and some of the side characters of the Halo series, potentially setting up elements that will play into Halo 4.

Overall, this series wasn't nearly as fun as the "modern" Halo novels (which tend to be really quality sci-fi), but it was still an entertaining read and really filled out some of the deep backstory of the Halo universe. It's definitely worth a once-over for Halo fans, but shouldn't be a gateway into it.

[Dave Wallace]

I'm loving Stardust because it's channeling George Macdonald, who is one of the earliest authors I can actually remember reading. I grew up reading Victorian fairy tales (which were basically written for adults, not children) and this reads just like one of those, with slightly more explicit violence.

Though it's slightly spoiled by my having seen the movie first and constantly comparing. Not that the movie is better, but I'm too conscious of the differences and it distracts me from the prose. I suspect Neverwhere will present the same problem.

Which version of the book are you reading? There's a nice edition from Vertigo that has some lovely illustrations by Charles Vess:

[Christian U]

That's how the story was originally published, actually.

[kieranbeech]

Be patient with it. Erikson was an archaeologist before he became an author, and it shows in his work - you get thrown in at the deep end with little explanation, and the world doesn't immediately come together. The first book sets up some very important threads, but the whole story doesn't start coming together until later on.

I nearly chucked in after first few pages, but carried on, despite not knowing too much of what's going on I'm slowly enjoying it more by end of first chapter, or st least I'm intrigued to find out more about Paran anyway.

[David Meadows]

Which version of the book are you reading? There's a nice edition from Vertigo that has some lovely illustrations by Charles Vess:

It's a standard paperback (I forget which publisher) but it's got extra material at the back -- the prologue to an unwritten novel "Wall", the author's introduction to the prologue, an interview with Gaiman, and (bizarrely) a page of questions for reading groups to talk about (can't people make up their own questions?)

[Rory Abel]

Started my reread of Heart Shaped Box, another favorite.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

I'm looking for some new Urban Fantasy/Horror reading material. I worship at the altar of China Miéville, love Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt novels and am a big fan of Mike Carey's Felix Castor. The Dresden Files on the other hand are ok for the most part but not really my thing. I want something grittier. Any recommendations MW? How about the Iron Druid Chronicles?

[Ogul]

And from the news posting:

Neal Stephenson was my favorite author for a very long time, and The Diamond Age remains my favorite book, even if I can’t read any of his newer books with so much as an approximation of enjoyment.
I should emphasize that when I say “newer books,” some of these books are by now quite old: I loved the original Cryptonomicon, but every book past that has been torment. I choked down Anathem from about the half-way point, jaw set, lower teeth pressed hard against the upper, determined not to be defeated. He’d already gotten my money, but I was determined not to lose my honor.
The difference between Neal Stephenson and China Miéville for me is that I never liked the latter, even though I’m supposed to; even though it is simply an accepted fact that people of any cognition whatsoever are turning each page with a shaking hand, ready to receive his next sacred revelation. I own every one of his books, each time thinking this will be the one until his unique ocular drill begins to whir and I must hurl the book across the room or be blinded. This may be the first time you have read on a website that China Miéville is something less than a God; I’ve certainly never seen it typed, which was reason enough to do it.
In trying to understand what it was precisely I found so intolerable, I recalled a song called “Fit But You Know It” by The Streets. Being smart, or beautiful, or strong, or confident, or epitomizing any other virtue is whatever. But you can push these things, you can grind them into another person, and we have social censure for this kind of behavior. His writing is incredibly smug. I can feel him leering at me through his typewriter, shoulders up, breathing hard. That’s when I stand up, walk over to the bookshelf, and place it with the others. No way. We have no shared history; I’m not going to bore through one of these things out of deference to some prior affection. I don’t owe him shit.
Apparently he has a book where there are two cities and they, like, overlap. That’s what I heard anyway, and if someone else had written it maybe that would matter.