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Whats everyone reading?

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

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Dandontdare

Quote from: House of Usher on 13 January, 2010, 12:29:52 PM
Last night I read Harvey Pekar's The Quitter in bed over two sleepless hours.

I couldn't get on with this. Got it out of the library last year, but found it rather unengaging. Don't think I ever finished it.

Mattofthespurs

Bought the new Dean Koontz today. "Breathless" it's called.
Not exactly high art but it's been a couple of weeks since I read an actual novel having been reading some history tomes instead.
Should be some good, easy reads.

House of Usher

#902
I know where you're coming from, Dandontdare. I didn't understand the rave reviews that were splashed all over the cover. I found the circumstantial details of the times he lived in more interesting than the details of Harvey's own adolescence and young adulthood.

There were some revelations though. I'd never have sussed Harvey Pekar for a brawler, an 'A' student or a star football player if I'd not read this book.

At one point the artist gets a walk-on character's gender wrong. The text refers to Danny's friend and his date, but we actually see Danny's friend's date and another female friend of hers. The friend whose date Harvey cops off with doesn't even appear in the scene; instead some goofy girl appears who isn't even mentioned.
STRIKE !!!

I, Cosh

Recently finished my reread of Sandman. The Kindly Ones was a lot better than I remembered it and Marc Hempel's art is an absolute joy. He really manages to convey the central idea of the mythic being a way of interpreting the everyday in a way none of the other artists did. There's also an extraordinary quality about his art whereby depth emerges from something that initially seems deliberately flattened. That might seem like a description of any comic art but I know what I mean.

Also just started David Peace's Tokyo: Year Zero. Not sure what to expect from it.
We never really die.

starscape

Got a few X-Men Pocket Books, which has the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne classic run.  I'm enjoying them far more now than I did at the time.  Can't stand Wolverine (over-exposed and not really my kind of hero either) but, as just another member of the team, although a little grouchy, he's working pretty well.

uncle fester

Just finished Dark Entries by Ian Rankin. I must confess I know next to nothing about Constantine but this was good fun with some very black humour thrown in.

Richmond Clements

I'm about 50 pages from the end of A Game of Thrones.
Great, meaty stuff. I'll certainly be reading the rest of the series, but I think a shorter book first...

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: His Lordship rac on 15 January, 2010, 09:45:19 AM
I'm about 50 pages from the end of A Game of Thrones.
Great, meaty stuff. I'll certainly be reading the rest of the series, but I think a shorter book first...

An utterly superb book, that one, and I'm not really one for modern fantasy on the whole. So many genuinely shocking moments in that series, and Martin's casual attitude to the wellbeing of his characters really makes you fear for your favourites. It's also nice to truly wallow in the dirt and blood of the battlefield - not much fantasy seems to capture the sheer downright nastiness of mediaeval warfare quite so well.

The second book, A Clash of Kings, is very much the equal of Thrones in terms of quality. The naval battle climax is an absolute joy. The third book (published in two volumes in thw UK) wraps up the first part of the saga and brings the civil war to a close. After that things start to ramble a bit, and whether the eternally delayed fifth book ever appears is anyone's guess. I'm hoping it's not going to go all Robert Jordan...
@jamesfeistdraws

Richmond Clements

QuoteMartin's casual attitude to the wellbeing of his characters really makes you fear for your favourites

Damn right! I'n not a fantasy fan either- but so many folks told me this was good I could no longer ignore it.
I couldn't believe it when [spoiler]Eddard[/spoiler] was killed! I actually re-read the scene a few times to make sure I wasn't mistaken.

locustsofdeath!

Guys, you've got me really intrigued. Besides Tolkien I'm not a fantasy fan, but I love Sword & Sorcery, so would "Game of Thrones" appeal to me? Your descriptions make it sounds much more raw than most modern-day fantasy.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: locustsofdeath! on 15 January, 2010, 12:33:08 PM
Guys, you've got me really intrigued. Besides Tolkien I'm not a fantasy fan, but I love Sword & Sorcery, so would "Game of Thrones" appeal to me? Your descriptions make it sounds much more raw than most modern-day fantasy.

Raw is most definately the word. It's almost more 'mediaeval fiction', if there is such a thing, as much as it is fantasy fiction - much more concerned with the politics, warfare and nitty-gritty of a fuedal world than any of the usual high-magic gubbins of fantasy.

What few magical elements there are are very low-key and underplayed. There are no elves, goblins, dwarfs, or anything of that sort, few monsters, almost no magic users. I think the original intention was to do a sort of 'War of the Roses' style saga, centered mainly around a few royal families and their Shakesperean squabbles.

I suppose I'd describe it as 'fantasy for people who don't really like fantasy.'
@jamesfeistdraws

strontium_dog_90

Quote from: uncle fester on 15 January, 2010, 08:34:30 AM
Just finished Dark Entries by Ian Rankin. I must confess I know next to nothing about Constantine but this was good fun with some very black humour thrown in.


I thought this was a really great read, too, I read that Ian Rankin was supposed to be taking over the writing of the main Hellblazer comic itself at some point, does anyone know if any of that has happened yet?

Richmond Clements

QuoteI suppose I'd describe it as 'fantasy for people who don't really like fantasy.'

Spot on- that's me that is.

Like Jimbo says, it's not 'fantasy' as it's usually (by me at least) understood. Even the few occassions when something 'fantasy' happens, there's usually enough ambiguity about it to make you think it might have happened anyway.
It's really all about the characters though- there is a Big Story going on, but they way he has choosen to tell it brings it right in and focuses it on how it affects individuals- even if that individual happens to be the king.

Dark Jimbo

Rac, I have to ask - has Tyrion Lannister also become one of your favourite characters in, well, just about anything ever?
@jamesfeistdraws

uncle fester

Quote from: strontium_dog_90 on 15 January, 2010, 01:17:24 PM
I read that Ian Rankin was supposed to be taking over the writing of the main Hellblazer comic itself at some point, does anyone know if any of that has happened yet?

I have no idea but on the strength of Dark Entries I'd happily read more.