Whats everyone reading?

[Roger Godpleton]

Just finished Rabbit at Rest, so I've just got Redux to go, if it turns up in the library. I'd prolly say the one where he tries to shove money up his wife's vag is the neatest.

Today I read Foundation & Empire in one sitting. (Give or take.) I really should stop alternating between SF and literary novels on such a singular basis as my crypto-snobbish tendencies always seem to be aroused and things become either leaden, gimmicky or blandly idiosyncratic in be my bedazzled visioneering.

Can't wait for New Stories #3.

[Kerrin]

"Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained" are belters TB. They actually work much better as a piece than the most recent trilogy IMHO.

[radiator]

Just finished The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 1. I've read it before, about 6 years ago, but enjoyed it a lot more this time round, so much so that I've just impulsively ordered LOEG Volume 2, The Black Dossier and Century.

I've never read the latter two titles, and am a bit ambivalent as I've heard the whole thing kind of disappears up it's own arse a bit, but I'm willing to give them a try - the whole order only came to £20ish, so can't complain really.

Really loved Volume 1 this time round - quirky, funny, exciting and a light read, while still having plenty to get your teeth into. Just wish Moore did more of this sort of thing these days!

Also really makes me want to investigate the source materials, having never read any of them properly. Where should I start?

[I, Cosh]

Next on the heap is The Eternity Artifact my first-ever L. E. Modesitt Jr. book, an author I always thought was female while avoiding (her) vast acres of shelf space in every bookshop that has a SF section,  but it turns out that it's a bloke called Leland who is indeed more prolific that Pratchett.

Bizarrely, I've always thought that too and I've no idea why. I've since checked and C.J. Cherryh is still a woman. Not sure about this J.K. Rowling though.

Read an old Stanislaw Lem this morning: The Invincible. A bit of a curio concerning a spaceship crew investigating the disappearance of their mates who come up against a form of machine intelligence. Contains mild divagations into the notion of inorganic evolution, but the most interesting thing about it is that it was translated from the German edition rather than the original Polish. Not sure what potential errors, elisions and compromises this might've engendered but it then got me thinking that there must be tonnes of genre fiction out there that's never been translated into English at all. Anyone care to recommend any languages worth learning just to read decent sci-fi?

The other night I finished Need for the Bike by Paul Fournel, a fabulous book and so outrageously French it should come with its own accordion and beret. It's a collection of autobiographical reflections, essays and/or pensees all thematically linked by cycling and bikes. Each piece brings an intense pleasure either through the smile of recognition, a gentle opening up of the author's family history or the clever way he twists a theme round to jab you with something to think about. Really it's the kind of thing you should have sitting on the bedside table and read one or two a night, but that sort of self-control is beyond me.

[Darren Stephens]

Not meaning to lower the tone too much, I've just started to read the 'Essential Marvel Team-ups : Vol 1'. Obviously very dated and quite camp (!) but for nostalgia value alone, excellent!

[Richmond Clements]

Not meaning to lower the tone too much, I've just started to read the 'Essential Marvel Team-ups : Vol 1'. Obviously very dated and quite camp (!) but for nostalgia value alone, excellent!

I bloody love the Marvel Essential editions- some awesomely value for money comics.

[Jared Katooie]

Flash for Freedom by George MacDonald Fraser

[SmallBlueThing]

Really bringing this down into the realms of whispered admissions, im currently reading 'Prime Directive', a Star Trek novel by judith and garfield reeves-stevens.

Now, i love me a bit of kirk/spock/mccoy action from time to time, and the books are where my love of trek really begins and ends. If i feel like something science fictiony, with deep space exploration and cosmic vistas, generally i just pick up a trek novel because i know and like the classic series characters and most of the time the books are a comforting time waster for 40 year old men in much the same way as mills and boon are for women of a certain age.

Prime Directive ticks all the boxes, and is currently killing an hour or so each night quite painlessly.
SBT

[HOO-HAA]

Currently flying through Brian Keene's Darkness on the Edge of Town. Very accessible read - highly recommended.

[Buttonman]

Read 'The Lovely Bones' on holiday and as good as it was I prefered the film - how often do you hear that?!

[TordelBack]

Really bringing this down into the realms of whispered admissions, im currently reading 'Prime Directive', a Star Trek novel by judith and garfield reeves-stevens.

Secret TOS Trek novel junkie myself - Prime Directive is a good 'un. My personal favourite is John M. Ford's The Final Reflection, but I also have a soft spot for Barbara Hambly's Ghost Walker and Vonda McIntyre's Enterprise.

[Spaceghost]

"Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained" are belters TB. They actually work much better as a piece than the most recent trilogy IMHO.

Pandora's Star is the first and only Hamilton book I've read. It took me about 2 years to read it, during which time I read 3 Iain M Banks books, 2 Alastair Reynolds books, Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley, The Noise Within by Ian Whates and a book of short SF stories.

I kept losing interest with the meandering, seemingly directionless plot and enormous cast of characters. It started to get much more gripping about two thirds of the way through and held my interest til the end. It just took it's sweet time to get it's hooks into me.

I intend to read the sequel though, so that's a good sign.

PS. If anyone has yet to read House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds, I strongly recommend it. It's proper good and that.

[HOO-HAA]

Read 'The Lovely Bones' on holiday and as good as it was I prefered the film - how often do you hear that?!

Not often at all!

Interestingly enough, the last person I heard to utter similar words was John A Lindqvist, talking about Let the Right One In.

[Richmond Clements]

Interview with a Vampire is another book-better-than-film one.
As is: http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2010/06/bored-of-rings.html

[TordelBack]

As is: http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2010/06/bored-of-rings.html

Oh Richmond.  How could you.