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Whats everyone reading?

Started by Paul faplad Finch, 30 March, 2009, 10:04:36 PM

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I, Cosh

Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 10 August, 2009, 04:00:34 PM
Quote from: Radbacker on 10 August, 2009, 08:55:24 AM
Well I Started American Gods yesterday, is it worth it or am i wasting my time (opinionsplease I have 3 friends that have read 2 like 1 said it was a pile of crap).
Its ok a bit of a page turner but nothing too new for Gaiman.
I'd agree with that. There are very few surprises in it, but it's alright if you're on holiday.

Tordelback, it's the same basic idea that underpins most of Gaiman's writing, just a different pantheon. At least with Anansi Boys they were less familiar to me. It also suffers from the tendency of every book I've read by a comics writer (caveat: not that many) to overdescribe everything. Presumably because they're terrified that the reader wont be able to understand what's happening without pictures.

Your own mileage may, of course, vary but I also find Gaiman's novels to be promne to sequences that might have worked in a comic but that seem stupid or cheesy in prose.
We never really die.

Hoagy

Ed mcbain money money money
"bULLshit Mr Hand man!"
"Man, you come right out of a comic book. "
Previously Krombasher.

https://www.deviantart.com/fantasticabstract

OpusAndBill

A bunch of old D.C.T. Warlords for indexing purposes (and finding it mighty hard to get excited about them), and an old Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year. Some good stuff in that.
Boasting the efficacy of Oliver Wendell Jones' Hair Tonic.

strontium_dog_90

I've just read the latest Boys graphic novel, "We Gotta Go Now," and it's absolutely superb. The last three pages alone are worth the price, and further proof of why I love comics more than any other medium. Plus, in terms of prose fiction, recently finished the new Mark Billingham book. It rocks.


Paul faplad Finch

Quote from: strontium_dog_90 on 12 August, 2009, 04:28:14 PM
recently finished the new Mark Billingham book. It rocks.

How New is new? Is this In The Dark or has he brought something out more recently. I ask because I absolutely love his books (despite being beaten by the twist in, oh, all of them) but I've not been on a proper book run for a while.
It doesn't mean that round my way
Pessimism is Realism - Optimism is Insanity
The Impossible Quest
Musings Of A Nobody
Stuff I've Read

strontium_dog_90

Hiya Faplad! The Mark Billingham book is pretty much brand new, only been out a few weeks, it's called "Blood Line," and it's a new Tom Thorne one, not a stand alone like "In The Dark." It's well worth a read!

Paul faplad Finch

Quote from: strontium_dog_90 on 12 August, 2009, 09:19:00 PM
Hiya Faplad! The Mark Billingham book is pretty much brand new, only been out a few weeks, it's called "Blood Line," and it's a new Tom Thorne one, not a stand alone like "In The Dark." It's well worth a read!

Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend. Cheers for the heads up.
It doesn't mean that round my way
Pessimism is Realism - Optimism is Insanity
The Impossible Quest
Musings Of A Nobody
Stuff I've Read

Sefton Disney

Catching up on The Goon trade paperbacks and also about halfway through David Bishop's Fiends of the Eastern Front Omnibus. Bram Stoker meets Sven Hassel - possibly the ultimate concept in pulp fiction! I can't understand why someone hasn't bought the movie rights for Fiends... yet. I'd think it was a better bet than a new Dredd movie. On a more serious note, I'm really impressed by Bishop's historical research (thanks to Hellman, Johnny Red and Panzer G-Man in Battle, I developed a deep interest in the Eastern Front and the Winter War). Some time ago, I came to the conclusion that, rather than being a tortured, misunderstood Romantic, a real vampire would basically have the psychology of a Nazi serial killer, so I think that the vampirism-as-fascism metaphor works extremely well. Good stuff. I hope there's another comic strip in the works, sometime.

Ignatzmonster

Just got done reading Derek Raymond's How the Dead Live. Not the strangest thing I've ever read but up there. It's like someone cut and pasted Mickey Spillane dialogue and Pessoa's Book of Disquiet.

Now reading The Goshawk by White.

I, Cosh

Currently reading The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiesen, an account of his treks in the Himalaya in the company of a naturalist mate who's keen to get a glimpse of the titular beast. So far it's been long on Buddhism and noticably short on Leopards. I'm hoping this is not going to become some sort of metaphor for the enervating search for inner peace and enlightenment which we only finally catch a glimpse of at the end after having given up on the quest and accepted our lot in life. I'd much prefer an inundation of the beautiful, furry fuckers.

I got the book in a charity shop and, despite a lack of annotations so far, it has a name - emilyhunter - at the front and on the last page, just below "Whitman, Walt, 67", there is a hastily taken note: "free puppies 748-0916." Connoisseurs will agree that the lack of an area code only enhances the effect.
We never really die.

Richmond Clements

Quote from: Mikey on 10 August, 2009, 01:17:22 PM
QuoteWell I Started American Gods yesterday, is it worth it or am i wasting my time

I loved American Gods and have actually read it twice - a rare thing for me nowadays. The start is atrocious IMO - well, the first few pages at any rate - and judging by the rest of the book I always think it's intentionally written like a bog standard thriller, before the weird happens.

There are some overlong sequences late tin the book, but overall I think it hits the mark superbly.

M.



It was all a bit meh to me.
For me it just oozed 'Look at me! I'm a writer!'
And the writing wasn't half as clever as he seemed to think it was.

Sefton Disney

For the most part, I really enjoyed American Gods, especially Mr. Wednesday. But that quirky, chirpy, gay punk girl who turns up about halfway through is one of the most annoying characters in English-language fiction.

TordelBack

Interesting range of opinions on American Gods - think I'll line it up in my 'fiction' spot if I ever finish my re-read of Name of the Rose.  Currently occupying the Non-Fiction slot is Dava Sobel's The Planets, which is surprisingly engaging, and in the Comics spot is the paperback of Bish-Ops endlessly fascinating TPO.

Must confess that I actually 'read' Anansi Boys over a fortnight's commuting, through the miracle of audiobook.  It was read (performed?) by Lenny Henry, and it was a bit of a treat.  The different voices for Anansi and his 'sons' were spot-on for Lenny's range: primordial con-man, bored London office worker and Caribbean sleazebag.  Highly recommended for that alone.  

I also listened to Mrs. Henry's reading of Gaiman's Coraline, and I didn't enjoy it all.

Sefton Disney

I haven't got around to Anansi Boys. I should really get my skates on, because (despite the impression I may have given above) I loved American Gods and Anansi is one of the best characters in it. According to Neil Gaiman, though, Anansi Boys isn't exactly a sequel to American Gods, just a novel that shares certain themes and ideas with it.