Whats everyone reading?

[Kerrin]

Just ordered the "Stainless Steel Rat Collection".  Been meaning to read them for years.

You're in for a treat Fishy. They're great fun. It's about time there was a film of The Stainless Steel Rat.

[Something Fishy]

Just ordered the "Stainless Steel Rat Collection".  Been meaning to read them for years.

You're in for a treat Fishy. They're great fun. It's about time there was a film of The Stainless Steel Rat.

Ace!

I've fancied reading them since they were in the prog years ago, just never got around to it.

[Kerrin]

The original novels by Harry Harrison are well worth a read Fishy. Plenty more stories on top of the ones adapted for the prog.

[Paul faplad Finch]

I've just finished The Gunpowder Plot, which was, as promised, a very accessible and eminently readable overview of the whole affair. I'm not widely enough read to comment on how this account may differ from others on the subject but it seemed, to this layman at least, to be pretty unbiased and evenhanded to the various factions involved.

I was surprised to reads that there is zero evidence that the plotters mined there way in to the cellars and that this is generally poo poo'd by historians as Government propoganda, because I remember it being taught as fact at my school. In fact, this book did bring back a lot of stuff from school and then poke holes in it.

I can understand simplifying the facts slightly to give kids an overview of a complicated subject but to teach a blatant lie seems slightly off to me.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book and it actually made me quite moved at the fates of some of the players as the inevitable body count started to rise. It made me realise how easily we forget, with the passage of time, that these names in a book were once real people. Not an original thought I'm sure but I can honestly (and slightly shamefully) say that I never really think about these things in any meaningful way.

In fact, I got to thinking when I finished this that I couldn't recall the last non fiction book I'd read that wasn't some kind of 'making of' a tv show or something like that. I am resolved to do better.

Not yet thugh cos I'm reading Droid Files 2. Which sadly is leaving me a little cold at the mo. I loved the first book but this one started with a footie story (I wouldn't get the gags if they were aimed at contemporary sports figures so I've no chance here) and then launched into a musical story which requires you to put the dialogue to music. Often to tunes I don't know. Very off putting and drags me out of the story. I'm hoping that the whole book isn't full of these gimmicky types of stories because I was really looking forward to more like book 1.

[TordelBack]

Anyway, I enjoyed the book and it actually made me quite moved at the fates of some of the players as the inevitable body count started to rise. It made me realise how easily we forget, with the passage of time, that these names in a book were once real people.

That's exactly what I took away from it too, that and the reaffirmation that in behind every 'major event' of history there's at least two bunches of silly sods all pulling in different directions and tripping each other up.  Apparently it's just how we do things on my planet.  See also:  Robert Harris' outstanding Cicero novels.

[House of Usher]

Just ordered the "Stainless Steel Rat Collection".  Been meaning to read them for years.

You're in for a treat Fishy. They're great fun. It's about time there was a film of The Stainless Steel Rat.

You'd have filmgoers - and before it even got that far, studio executives - saying "so, where's the rat in this picture? And it's like this robot, yeah? Made of stainless steel? And this Jim Degrees fellow is hunting it down?"

[Something Fishy]

The original novels by Harry Harrison are well worth a read Fishy. Plenty more stories on top of the ones adapted for the prog.

That's the ones I've ordered.  A collected edition of three of them. Looking forward to them.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

ENFORCER by Matthew Ferrar a Warhammer 40 K omnibus novel type of thing.

[House of Usher]

I'm reading Omniviscope Mk5 and Mk6.

Paul Scott's inventiveness never ceases to amaze me, and as usual there's a wealth of artistic talent bringing the stories to monochrome 2D life.

[trapperconnor]

Damn, got a lot on my plate at the moment, currently reading Strontium Dog Vol.4, Doctor Who: Escape Velocity, Torchwood: Border Princes, Spiderman Clone Saga Book 1 and trying to get around to reading Iron Man: Worlds Most Wanted. PHEW!

[mogzilla]

stainless steel rat for me too

[puggdogg]

Last night I started Dredd Case Files Vol. 3.

[Something Fishy]

stainless steel rat for me too

The comics or books?


I only just found out they've released the GN. Funny timing that I just decided to get the books for the first time (having been reminded about about it in SFX).  I may have to get the GN too (though I have a few Dredd ones to get too).

[nev]

Just read The Road whilst camping, bloody amazing, I couldn't put it down.

[Mikey]

The Beggar Maid by Alice Monroe.

It's a series of linked short stories following the character Rose and her changing relationship with her parents, particularly her adoptive mother Flo, as Rose moves out into the wider world. Well, Canada at any rate. Semi autobiographical, it's not genre, as I'm sure you guessed.

Munroe writes with a directness and frankness that suits the humble home life of Rose, growing up on the poor side of Hanratty. I'd describe it as part social commentary, part local history exploration of who Rose is and the social changes she witnesses.

There's some great musings on being dirt poor and not knowing it until the wider world comes knocking, and how that feels - which strikes a chord with me. The dialogue between the women, their experiences and their attitudes to the world really remind me of my own mother and her family and how, ultimately, you can take Billy out of the Hill but not the Hill out of Billy. (explains my soft spot for country!)

Great stuff!

M.