Whats everyone reading?

[I, Cosh]

Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan. Could so easily have been completely up itself, but the wild mix of the ludicrous and the lyrical and its flights of deliberately over-inventive prose have me gasping and guffawing in equal measure.

Easily the best thing I've read since, oh, about six months ago when I read Dreams of Rivers and Seas.

[Colin YNWA]

Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan. Could so easily have been completely up itself, but the wild mix of the ludicrous and the lyrical and its flights of deliberately over-inventive prose have me gasping and guffawing in equal measure.

Yeah I really enjoyed 'Gould's Book of Fish' which I bought simply cos of the for the wonderful title!

[House of Usher]

Watching the Fire-eater by Robert Minhinnick, for a tutoring assignment.

[Strontium Jimmy]

The Commonwealth series by Peter F. Hamilton. Just on to the second volume Judas Unchained. Every bit as good as his Night's Dawn trilogy.

[NeilFord]

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving.

Finding it heavy weather, may have to abandon.

[Jared Katooie]

Flashman and the Great Game by George Macdonald Fraser.

[Mardroid]

The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales by Rudyard Kipling.

It's a book of shorts stories largely set in India during the time of the British Raj. It's dragging a bit. Don't get me wrong, the stories aren't bad, I'm just finding it a bit of a slog. Probably because

a) I've recently bought a new novel I'd like to get into soon, (but I wanted to read this first being a library book) and

b) the short stories, while okay, are very short. So while I find myself interested in individual stories, they don't last long so the volume as a whole drags a bit. I guess I prefer a bit more to get my teeth into.

I've decided to take a bit of a break from it and I've also started another library book called Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett.

This is the first non disk-world book of his that I have read, and it's proving to be very interesting.

[Paul faplad Finch]

Only You Can Save Mankind is the first in a trilogy. I read them all as a teen and I seem to remember 'Johnny and the Bomb', which is the 2nd or 3rd, I'm not sure, being absolutely brilliant.

The beebs adaptation a few years ago was worth a watch as well. Although ITVs adap of 'Johnny and the Dead' was a bit weak.

[Radbacker]

The latest Wheel of Time book, hey i know but i deserve it I've been reading this series since I was a teenager and when JOrdan died thourght i'd never see the end (even though the series had lost its shine i'd invested too much time in it to not mourn) but luckily this Sanderson guy who's finishing it seems to have the chops to get to the point and I'm finding myself enjoying series again as it winds up.

CU Radbacker

[Kerrin]

The latest Wheel of Time book

You're a better man than me Gungha Dhin. I managed till half way through the sixth book before I lost the will to live.

[Paul faplad Finch]

The Wheel of Time series suffers fro the same problem as the Sword of Truth books in that the sub plots and supporting characters are so much more interesting than the main story.

The Sword of Truth had the added hindrance of bing written by a man who believes his audience to be cretinous and therefore feels the need to explain every metaphor and repeat every conversation 17 times.

I intend to return to the Wheel of Time books at some point (I got to book six as well I think) but I doubt I'll do the same for Sword of Truth, which I also dumped mid series.

[Radbacker]

yeah I'd agree the sries did go a bit stale but as I said already so much time on the things, plus the series does pick up again about book 10 or so and the last one (the first non-Jordon one) uis a pretty fast read (not blaoted like Jordans style) its really getting to the point.  Finaly  seeing the main characters reach their potential is really paying off.
(I've also read the whole of  The Sword of Truth series, man that has some strange ethics going on.  And it spends the last four or five books beating you over the head with them).

CU Radbacker

[Paul faplad Finch]

Yeah, as I say, I will be finishing off the Wheel Of Time. To be honest, I didn't leave it because it bored me or was taking to long or anything. It was just that I'd read a few of them off the trot and decided I needed a break, then just never got around to going back.

When I do go back though, it'll be for Perrin and Faile rather than the tedious Rand or Egwene. But that's just me.

[Mardroid]

The latest Wheel of Time book, hey i know but i deserve it I've been reading this series since I was a teenager and when JOrdan died thourght i'd never see the end (even though the series had lost its shine i'd invested too much time in it to not mourn) but luckily this Sanderson guy who's finishing it seems to have the chops to get to the point and I'm finding myself enjoying series again as it winds up.

That was the new novel I bought! I've yet to read it, but I agree concerning Sanderson from my reading of The Gathering Storm.  That being said I don't dislike any of RJ's WoT books, but they do meander from the main plot points somewhat. (I remember getting bored particularly with the Perrin chasing Faile thread, although I like Perrin's character and powers. And the plot back in the Two Rivers was great!) I think it's largely because I like the world though, so I don't mind a lot of these other threads.

The Matt stuff has been great (I found the character irritating at the start but he really came into his own later) and I like the Egwene thread(s) to some extent although I find the character rather annoying. I also liked the girls chasing forsaken stuff. I do find the females rather irritating though. But the annoying characters are part of the fun of the story, if that makes sense.

Only You Can Save Mankind is the first in a trilogy.

I didn't know that! Might be worth checking out.

The beebs adaptation a few years ago was worth a watch as well. Although ITVs adap of 'Johnny and the Dead' was a bit weak.

Or this.

[I, Cosh]

The latest Wheel of Time book

You're a better man than me Gungha Dhin. I managed till half way through the sixth book before I lost the will to live.

Earlier this year, Adam Roberts undertook the mammoth task of reading and reviewing the entire Wheel of Time series to date. Some of the posts are long and detailed critiques others simply bilious spleen-ventings but overall its a pretty entertaining undertaking. I read the first few years ago as a flatmate had them and I can totally identify with the initial enjoyment slowly turning to bafflement that an 800 page novel could contain absolutely no forward plot movement before giving up around number 6.