Whats everyone reading?

[HOO-HAA]

Haven't read #0, so can't say. Might be a slip up of the artist. Batman should be at the age you say, since Dick Grayson is supposed to be in his twenties. Sure it wasn't the Grayson Batman? Ye Gods, continuity makes my mouth full of wrong. The trade feels pretty self contained which is part of the reason I liked it.

Nope, definitely Bruce. The reboot is set 5 years after origin stories, I think, which could explain the youth (or it might be the artist, as you say).

[Tjm86]

Quick question, somebody bought me the Fuller Memorandum but I haven't read any of the previous books in the laundry series, is it readable in it's own right or do I really need to have read the first two books?

Can't remember too many in jokes that require previous knowledge of the series.  Not quite like the Merchant Princes.  Most of the references tend to be from other sources.  An enjoyable read in its own right and I would recommend the rest of them anyway but no, fine on its own.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Bob Shaw's A wreath of stars. The self-imposed human neutrino  Gilbert Snook (geddit? Stealthy genius!) who becomes unwittingly entangled in  the discovery on an anti-neutrino planet set against a background of turbulent Third World politics.

Simply beyond brilliant.

So what's the deal with the British Isles consistently producing the highest standard in SF writers per head of population & allowing them to go out of print huh?

[Rog69]

Quick question, somebody bought me the Fuller Memorandum but I haven't read any of the previous books in the laundry series, is it readable in it's own right or do I really need to have read the first two books?

Can't remember too many in jokes that require previous knowledge of the series.  Not quite like the Merchant Princes.  Most of the references tend to be from other sources.  An enjoyable read in its own right and I would recommend the rest of them anyway but no, fine on its own.

Thanks, I'll move it to my in pile and give it a try .

[Keef Monkey]

A colleague at work has been very kindly passing the DMZ books onto me, on book 4 now and really enjoying it.

[SmallBlueThing]

Cycle of the Werewolf, by stephen king, which ive been reading to my boys as their bedtime story over the past week. Judicious on-the-fly censorship of naughty words aside, it's been an absolute pleasure. The boys love it, the chapters are short, and bernie wrightson's illustrations cause squeals of delight and horror in equal measure.
SBT

[Mardroid]

That's one Stephen King book I never got round to reading, and I've read most of his stuff!

I quite enjoyed the film 'Silver Bullet' that was based on it though. (I've seen that film derided on the web, but I thought it was quite fun.)

[TordelBack]

C. J. Sansom's fifth Shardlake book, Heartstone.  I've been trying to hold off on this latest indulgence until there was a least a hint of the next one coming out, but the library unexpectedly threw a paperback out of its eternal reserve queue (any sign of Storm of Swords there, lads? It's been 5 weeks and it'll be at least 5 more...) and I couldn't resist its sweet if anachronistic charms.  Och this is a lavish, compelling feast of rather implausible Tudor wranglings, with a worryingly large number of threads and characters from past books being woven into the tightening net - but as soon as the words Mary Rose appeared, I knew this was going to be right up my street.

Said it before, but if you haven't read Sansom's Shardlake books, your eyes are just not being used to their full potential.  They are in the very finest tradition of 'unputdownable' - I'll blindly ignore work, the kids, the cats, and especially sleep once I'm in the grip of the multiple mysteries, vicariously sharing Shardlake's latest stubborn obsession until 4am.

Also on the go, but temporarily on hold until the guilty of the 16th C are exposed, are:

Urchin in the Storm, a brilliantly illuminating collection of book reviews by the late great Stephen Jay Gould.

Flash for Freedom, by the equally late equally great George McDonald Fraser, in which Flashy takes the middle passage.  Never read this one, great if grim stuff.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Stevie found Dark side of the Sun at his local library & thought, "It's a mere slip of a thing, something that could be read in a single sitting without too much effort. So let's make his first Pratchet book be Pratchet's first book."

After picking it up & putting it down several times over the weekend Stevie's come to the realisation 60 pages in that, after the high concept extrapolation of Bob Shaw, this jaunty Vancian wink at Asimov just isn't what he's looking for at the moment.

So he's returned instead to one of his well springs: Arthur C Clarke's Expedition to Earth. The New English Library edition with that magnificent Tim White cover with the spacemen gazing out of their hovering, Foss-like craft over the African savannah.



Now that hits the spot yessiree.

[Spikes]

Just finished Titan book's Darkie's Mob collection, and John byrnes Next Men # 8.

[SmallBlueThing]

Got a couple of things on the go at the moment- firstly, China Miéville's 'Kraken', which i'm finding a bit of a chore to be honest. Now, i like China's books, and have read him since King Rat came out in paperback, attracted by his Romanticism of London's underworld and 'secret history'. But, while Kraken is as straightforward an adventure as you can get, i cant help feeling he's guilty of massively over egging several puddings, and deliberately muddying his tale with the most dense language possible. It's like he knows he's basicalling telling stories ripped from old british comics (kraken wouldnt be out of place in Lion, or drawn by d'israeli in the prog), but seeks to disguise it by clouding the prose as much as possible.

That said, his characters are fun, and when he writes a paragraph in plain english, he's unbeatable. Here though, it's all too familiar- two characters especially, Goss and Subby, intended to be magnificently creepy bastards who crawl under your skin, just seem lifted wholesale from an old Hellblazer, an old Stickleback, an old Cursitor Doom.

Im about halfway through, and it's very wearying. Not a patch on the novels ive previously read, but there's still a glimmer of hope so i'll continue. I can see why the literary establishment creams its jeans over his work, but all im seeing is a middling vertigo miniseries without the pictures.

The second book is altogether better; 'Lob', by Linda something, which i'm reading to the boys. It's a gorgeous tale of a litle girl who shares a secret with her grandfather- they can both see Lob, the spirit of the hedgerows, the Green Man. Then tragedy strikes, and both the girl and Lob have to make their way in the world, alone. It's obsessed with the mechanics of gardening and the turn of the year, is mysterious and powerful and lyrical, and has my boys rapt. Recommended for parents searching for bedtime stories.

SBT

[TordelBack]

Got a couple of things on the go at the moment- firstly, China Miéville's 'Kraken', which i'm finding a bit of a chore to be honest.

Coincidentally, I've just started Mieville's Embassytown, plucked unread from the Library's New Acquisitions shelf (mmmm, deflowering novels is a particular vice) and I'm finding it hard to get into (ooo-err).  Kraken on the other hand I thought was magnificent, his best since Perdido Street Station.  There's no doubt that it feels very Vertigo, but I thought the characters and humour really carried it through its many, many pages.  The tribulations of Wati and his mates alone would have kept me entertained through a far longer book.  The language and vocabulary are self-consciously overwrought, I completely agree, but I thought that went a long way to to giving each sub-group and mini-cult, even each of the innumerable characeters, their own identity in the midst of strong competition.

Ultimately I really enjoy this kind of vast, sprawling book that builds a huge complex diverse world and then draws it all together in an apocalyptical plot convergence.

(I also see a lot of Kraken in Absalom, which is no bad thing).

[SmallBlueThing]

Yes, as i say i do generally really like his books. Perdido, especially, is just incredible. Simply as an exercise in world building it takes your breath away, and i'd not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. It also helps that i have it on good authority from a friend who is reasonably close mates with ol' china, that he's a top bloke and completely unaffected by his considerable success.

As for Kraken, there's something about it that's making me continue with it. I spend all day aware of its heavy presence in my bag, or on the chaise, and dreading picking it up- but once i do, it absorbs me completely for an hour or so. I'm only halfway through- and i seem to remember feeling something similar about perdido at this point, so i will keep going.

SBT

[mogzilla]

started " a feast for crows" in the song of fire and ice saga... ok so far but no tyrion in this 'un! but brienne gets her own sections so that has to be good....seen who theyve got to play  her in series 2 shes too pretty! unless they go for a heavy makeup /austin powers teeth get up...trying to resist buying the new one til it comes out in paperback....unless i find a good deal....

[Mardroid]

Currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and thoroughly enjoying it.

I actually read Anansi Boys first, not realising it was a spin-off from this novel (not that it matters. They're both self-contained, and the only real spoiler is that [spoiler]Mr Nancy survives the 'war' in American Gods.[/spoiler]

A very interesting, intriguing, idea. It's a much slower paced novel to Anansi Boys, and it's quite a meandering novel, probably even more so than the first version that was published. (This is Gaiman's preferred version including text that hits the cutting room floor in the first edition.) For people who like a nice tight story that keeps to the  main plot, this might not be for them. Personally I really like it though, and I'm happy to take little detours exploring this world further. If they ARE detours, they might have a point at the end.

It's not as funny as Anansi Boys, but I think overall I'm enjoying it more.  There are some rather eye popping sex scenes some rather grotesque. The scenes seem to be rather pointless, and I'm not keen on that stuff just for the sake of it*. A slight shock when considering most of the raunch happens off-page in Anansi Boys. That's a small quibble though, even if it even counts.

*Okay, part of me likes the sexy stuff, but at the end I'm just a single bloke reading about someone else getting lucky. Or unlucky if you include [spoiler]the bloke who got gobbled up, quite literally, near the start of the book. He seemed to die happy though.[/spoiler] Best to avoid that stuff, I find.