Whats everyone reading?

[Theblazeuk]

Hint: Even more so than the movie, not everything that is described in the book is actually (for whatever value you can attribute in fiction) taking place. Loved the book myself but honestly by the end, I'm not sure that [spoiler]Bateman actually kills anyone. [/spoiler].  Still, I would personally prefer to read Discworld or Hitchhikers for the millionth time too

I'm reading When God Was A Rabbit as my wife couldn't stop telling me I had to read it. It's actually pretty good if rather maudlin and overburdened with eccentricity.

Along side this I'm reading Tor books massive ebook of short fiction, released for their 5th anniversary. Last one was a story by Paul Cornell (he of Dr Who, Marvel comics and the long-ago and never personally read Pan African Judges) - rather bloody brilliant. "The Ghosts of Christmas" follows a woman who creates a device which allows her to effectively possess her past self - and ultimately her future self too. She's not changing time because that moment always existed. One minor conceit though is that she can only travel to the same day across all the years, which sort of ignores the complications of leap years + the rather arbitary nature of the gregorian calendar.

[JudgeE1M1RT]

Hint: Even more so than the movie, not everything that is described in the book is actually (for whatever value you can attribute in fiction) taking place. Loved the book myself but honestly by the end, I'm not sure that [spoiler]Bateman actually kills anyone. [/spoiler].  Still, I would personally prefer to read Discworld or Hitchhikers for the millionth time too

I had the same feeling about everything not really taking place in the movie. But the book just goes far too much into describing things for my liking. It would probably be a pamphlet without the descriptions!

[shaolin_monkey]

I just finished Al Ewing's 'The Fictional Man'. It was a bloody good read! I couldn't put it down. Funny, quirky, original, morose, bitter, and twisted. Good stuff.

Now I don't know whether to get stuck into Milan Kundera's 'Immortality', or continue with the next volume of WJF Jenner's translation of 'Journey to the West'.

Decisions decisions!

[Sideshow Bob]

Just finished reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King on my Kindle....

For those who don't know,  this is the follow up to The Shining and follows the life of Daniel Torrance about 20 years on, as he tries to 'move on' from the horrific events at The Overlook hotel.....
He still has traces of his 'shine', resulting in 'flashbacks' but attempts to drown this out with alcohol,  and a nomadic lifestyle...

[spoiler]He discovers the existence of a young girl who has the 'shining',  and about a group of travellers who scour the country finding children with the 'shining',  and killing them in order to absorb it into themselves... A kind of 'vampire like'  coven.....[/spoiler]

What was it like ??............
Well, most enjoyable....and recommended for fans of the original book, who are interested in 'what happens next'....
A very good story, well told and in the same type of vein as The Shining....It has Kings' usual superb characterisation,  and the story flows well, with several memorable characters...It's not just as downright creepy as The Shining was.....( the isolation of the Torrance family in The Overlook contributing greatly to the overall feel of the 1st novel )....

All in all though, a welcome return to 'supernatural' form from Mr King....

Cheers

[sheldipez]

I'm reading Doctor Sleep too, only a few chapters in (Danny's just arrived in new town and trying to get himself a job).

Bloody good so far, it's the small things that King captures in his writing - the description in the chapter where Danny wakes after the one night stand is classic King.

[Sideshow Bob]

Yes, I really enjoyed it Sheldipez,

And as you say his description of the 'one night stand' is 'out and out' typical Stephen King stuff...
There are several pieces like that throughout the book,  where his descriptive prowess actually makes you strongly identify with the characters, and the situations they are in ...
All in all, an excellent read and for only £8 ( I think I paid ), from Amazon....a bargain !!....

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did and looking forward to your comments after finishing it...
Cheers

[hippynumber1]

Currently about half way through '2312'; Kim Stanley Robinson is my absolute favourite modern SF writer. The sheer scale of his novels are beautifully grounded in very human stories.

[Mabs]

Some Heavy Metal Mags I bought from eBay. It's been years since I read any, and I must say I'm really enjoying some of the strips in them. I talked about Pat Mills' 'Sha' which was a stonkingly good read. I finished the first instalment of a French steampunk strip called 'The Regulators', which was also a lot of fun with some great artwork in it. I'm also loving the shorter strips, most of which are humourous with great artwork. A lot of them wouldn't look out of place in the prog, esp. somewhere like Tharg's 3rillers or Terror Tales. I love HM as it's more 'hardcore' (sometimes literally!) in its approach. There's been works from great writers over the years from Jodorowsky to Pat Mills, and artists from Moebius, Rich Corben to 2000ad's very own Simon Bisley. I've come across some of his artwork in my reading, and frankly they're mindbogglingly good. Also, there was an advert for 2000ad and the Meg in one of the issues, with a pic of the sassy Durhamred which I thought was pretty cool! 

[Mardroid]

Yes, I really enjoyed it Sheldipez,

And as you say his description of the 'one night stand' is 'out and out' typical Stephen King stuff...
There are several pieces like that throughout the book,  where his descriptive prowess actually makes you strongly identify with the characters, and the situations they are in ...
All in all, an excellent read and for only £8 ( I think I paid ), from Amazon....a bargain !!....

Yeah, I was tempted to go for the kindle version when I saw the price, but I opted for the hardback in the end. Still a bargain at £10 mind. I got on well with digital books, but like my King books physical for some reason. Not a whole lot of logic in that really, particularly as I've run out of space on my bookshelves meaning it will end up laying around on a surface somehere. While I prefer physical books overall, that preference becomes immaterial when I actually get into the story.

Anyway, I've yet to read it, but I got the message today stating it has been dispatched.

[Skullmo]

Some Heavy Metal Mags I bought from eBay. It's been years since I read any, and I must say I'm really enjoying some of the strips in them. I talked about Pat Mills' 'Sha' which was a stonkingly good read. I finished the first instalment of a French steampunk strip called 'The Regulators', which was also a lot of fun with some great artwork in it. I'm also loving the shorter strips, most of which are humourous with great artwork. A lot of them wouldn't look out of place in the prog, esp. somewhere like Tharg's 3rillers or Terror Tales. I love HM as it's more 'hardcore' (sometimes literally!) in its approach. There's been works from great writers over the years from Jodorowsky to Pat Mills, and artists from Moebius, Rich Corben to 2000ad's very own Simon Bisley. I've come across some of his artwork in my reading, and frankly they're mindbogglingly good. Also, there was an advert for 2000ad and the Meg in one of the issues, with a pic of the sassy Durhamred which I thought was pretty cool! 

There are some great stories in Heavy Metal - Dayak by Adamov was amazing.

[Mardroid]

Legends of Shannara 2: The Measure of the Magic.

Not bad so far. I'm not over keen on Terry Brooks style of writing though. Too repetitive.

[Simon Beigh]

On a break from reading Meg, I polished off 100 Bullets Vol. 1. A simple concept about a mysterious stranger who comes into an individual's life with a briefcase containing details of someone who has wronged them in the past, and untraceable gun and 100 untraceable bullets - with the promise of no comeback on whatever action they take.

So it might be a simple concept, but the dilemma facing the individuals involved, and how it will impact their lives is told really well. I will pick up the other volumes sometime... Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso are the creators behind it.

[Theblazeuk]

Got some good ones from the library. Baltimate: Plague of Ships, Sweet Tooth v2 and a collection of the original Firestorm stories. Old flame head used to be my favourite character when I first started reading my dad's old stuff - he could turn anything into anything! He could walk through walls! And his head was on fire! Still pretty solid work if a little histrionic, definitely picked up later on following CoIE from what I remember. Always thought it was funny Ronnie Raymond graduates straight to JLA whilst really being more Teen Titans material.

As for the others - well Sweet Tooth is excellent. See why its been so lauded. Can't wait to get the rest of the series one day. And Baltimore, well it's Mike Mignola doing damn spooky plaguepunk horror. What's not to like? Must check out more of this stuff beyond the BPRD/Hellboy epics.

[Ancient Otter]

I finished the first instalment of a French steampunk strip called 'The Regulators', which was also a lot of fun with some great artwork in it.

I haven't read this but I have read The Bombyce Network by the same writer, Corbeyran, if you want to check it out.  The comic shop I got it from thanked me for getting it becuase they thought it so was good, which was weird.

[TordelBack]

You know a book has really got into your soul when you get to the end and there's one of those cheesy last-page happy endings where a character who seemed to be killed at a dramatically appropriate moment turns out to have survived, and instead of going 'oh for flip's sake', you give a little cheer?

That's how much I loved Grandville. 

As a massive Talbot fan I've been putting off reading this until I could assemble the dosh to buy it (it's such a lovely looking shelfworthy book), but I'm not getting any younger or richer and the library just put a shiny new copy on the shelves.  It was fantastic, an artist at the height of his powers, great characters and a cheeky little story too.  I'm not sure what I liked best, from the world itself to the amazing way Bryan draws animal's teeth (I've really never seen anything like it), or the sweet little artistic, cinematic and comics homages throughout ([spoiler]Dogs playing poker, '"we don' need no steeenkin' badgers!", Milou[/spoiler])... damn it, the whole thing was amazing. 

I now can't decide whether I should buy this one myself, or plunge straight on to get the next volume.  Outstanding work from one of the greatest comics geniuses of them all.