Whats everyone reading?

[SmallBlueThing]

Im working my way through his entire 'grand tour', including the rock rats and moon books, and taking little side roads into his voyagers series along the way. Bova's one of the most readable authors ive ever found, and any criticisms i may have are not in any way intended to put anyone off. He reminds me of early to mid stephen king, in that respect.

SBT

[TordelBack]

By this point pretty much every character's initial (and in some cases, secondary) motivation has been turned inside out and all sorts of ridiculous twists have taken place yet they never seem forced in just to move the plot forward.

When I originally discovered that [spoiler]Jamie Lannister[/spoiler]was going to be a POV character in SoS I was actually quite annoyed - who the hell wants to know what that bastard thinks?  How wrong I was. 

[Mardroid]

I have just finished The Gabble (anthology by neal Asher) a real good read with the tragic gabble ducks to the fore, 2000Ad trades Bison and Shimura

I'm reading Shimura at the moment. Pretty good so far* although I find it a bit hard to tell whats going on in certain panels. There was a really confusing moment earlier where they interspersed two threads on the same page. Some great ideas, good story but the story-telling itself looks like it could use some work (but maybe I'm just thick.)

I'm also rereading Rose Madder at the moment. Apparently King himself wasn't keen on his writing on this, but I have a soft spot for it. The story certainly has it's issues, but there are areas that are dealt with with real sensitivity. And I'm a sucker for stories involving everyday objects becoming portals to other worlds, right back to when I read the Narnia books as a kid.

*Incidentally where did the samuraiesque Hondo-city judge helmets go in the last series featuring Inaba in the Megazine? As I hadn't read Shimura then I didn't miss them, but seeing what they started with, it seems a shame they've been dropped.

[Colin Zeal]

I've just finished reading Supergods by Grant Morrison so time to have another crack at A Dance With Dragons. I've really enjoyed the series so far, but after starting ADWD for some reason I just stopped reading and didn't go back to it. I never do that with books so I guess I just got fed up.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Picked up at the library Vertigo's 2010 graphic novel Dark Rain: a New Orleans story by Mat "no, not the one that you're thinking of because that's two Ts" Johnson & Simon Gane.

Ostensibly a heist that takes place in the wake of Hurricane Katrina it felt alot like reading Crisis.

[House of Usher]

Since this year's exam marking ended I've read Othello, An Inspector Calls, Anita and Me (Meera Syall) and Rani and Sukh (Bali Rai).

Othello is one of the most boring Shakespeare plays I've read, and it lived up to my expectations. Full of pitifully flawed characters. The villain is the best part and has all the best lines.

An Inspector Calls was a different read this side of the financial collapse. Its text is the social responsibility of individuals, and how the wealthy in particular shirk theirs.

Anita and Me was warm and comic and useful as social history giving insight into a 1970s childhood and the lives of Indian families in Britain, but it was a messy, unfocused, undisciplined novel with a seemingly rushed and tacked-on ending.

Rani and Sukh is quite a contrasting novel to set alongside Anita and Me. It's about two Sikh teenagers in love whose relationship has to be kept secret from her family or there will be trouble. I haven't finished it yet but it's quite gloomy to start with and so far it has had nothing positive to say about Sikhism or ethnic minority communities, both of which come across as a source of repression and nothing else. On the plus side it is better structured than Anita and Me and the story always seems to be going somewhere.

[Zarjazzer]

Omnivistascope. What?  you ask-a softbook sized sci-fi  anthology in b&w by some of the boarders on these 'ere boards. Chris Askham and Paul Von Scott, Matt Timson, Leigh Shepherd and possibly others who I only know by avatar. It is a sublime combination of genius (54 Jones) to insanity (Dirk Despair the morose hero of the galaxy), and all i can say is all "All you freaks out there, better keep outta my way, you hear?". Some of the art is more than prog worthy but it's the breadth of ideas that is so fun. Wow. Best £2 I've spent in a while.

[House of Usher]

Omnivistascope

I've got #7 on order, £5.00 + £1.00 p&p.

http://www.omnivistascope.com/shop2.html

[Mardroid]

I'm currently reading 11.22.63, the time travel story by Stephen King surrounding the JFK assassination.

I was a bit uncertain of this since the idea isn't exactly original. Red Dwarf did it. So did Quantum Leap (although I never watched that one all the way through.) I think I also read a spoiler from King himself concerning this story before he decided to publish it. (I believe that was an earlier version and he has rewritten it since then, so hopefully there'll be changes.)

I am enjoying it so far though! I actually wonder if the earlier plot concerning Derry and The Janitor (not to spoil anything) will be more interesting than the JFK stuff to come later. And it was nice to see [spoiler]Richie and Bevvie from IT[/spoiler] again.

[Roger Godpleton]

Red Dwarf did it. So did Quantum Leap

Those are some illustrious forebears right there.

[Mardroid]

Red Dwarf did it. So did Quantum Leap

Those are some illustrious forebears right there.

The second was pretty popular (although not personally my cup of tea, I found the format too repetitive) and the first has a new series coming out next year. And that one was totally my cup of tea.  It was a good comedy it had some good sci-fi stories too.

Anyhow, granted tastes are subjective. My point stands it's been done before, and probably otherwise than the examples given. I'll enjoy seeing King's version though, and the other Derry stuff is worthwhile.

[Buddy]

Finally got round to reading The Walking Dead (with great thanks to King Trout)

Book one done... half way through book two.

Surprised to see how much the TV strayed from the comic, some of my fave characters from the TV aren't even in the book... well, not yet anyway.

Like both, and readaing the book makes my zombie sketch from Charlie all the better!

[judda fett]

Just read Neonomicon- Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows as I quite enjoy the odd Cthulu yarn and will revisit Haunt Of Horror on the strength. Omnivistascope #7 is good too not like Im biased or owt...

[Alski]

Transmetroplitan books 1 and 2 - a great series, I want to read some more.

Elephantmen book 1 - Intriguing, hopefully worth pursuing some more.

[TordelBack]

The library threw up three interesting new GNs this week:

Ascent, by Jed Mercurio and Wesley Robins.  I loved this, it was so up my street it had my bins outside.  An orphan of the Great Patriotic War becomes a jet fighter ace in Korea, and from there... well, you'd never forgive me if I spoiled it, suffice to say the ending is magical and tragic in equal measure.  A fabulous mix of Battlefields: Happy Valley, [spoiler]The Right Stuff[/spoiler] and [spoiler]Ministry of Space[/spoiler].  Art is beautifully undertstated, combining rather expressionist characters with precisely drawn materiel, and getting noticably better as the book goes on.   Apparently adapted from the writer's own novel, which I'll have to check out. A corker of a read, 9/10.

Mr. Wonderful by Dan Clowes.  I really like Clowes, but lately I've found his books a bit miserable and samey (Wilson, for example - it's very good, but jeebus, reading it left me down in the dumps).  Happily, this one is different, an oddly formatted (I can't decide if it's 'lavish' or 'outrageously padded out') short tale of a first date between two middle aged divorcees.  Some masterful use of the medium (in one example, the captions of the main character's self-absorbed internal monologue continuously block out his date's speech bubbles, even as he tries to listen to what she's saying) and believable characters, all with a refreshingly tight focus.  Very good example of how comics can deliver satisfying short stories in a unique way.  7/10

American Vampire Vol. 1, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque.  A spin through American history from the perspective of warring vampire breeds and the people who hunt them, sounds standard enough fare.  It certainly starts out well enough, with Snyder's opening episode, but once King starts into the backstory and Albuquerque switches styles to distinguish the time periods, it becomes turgid and unlikeable.  Halfway through I was thinking that King (an author I really enjoy) had screwed up a promising   
premise, but by the second half it was obvious that Snyder was doing just as bad a job. Atrocious dialogue, art that is by turns crisp and murky but usually confusing, and a truly baffling bunch of villains, but still with some moments of interest, I thought this was overall an incoherent mess.  4/10.