Whats everyone reading?

[Charlie boy]

Recently started John Ajvide Lindqvist's HARBOUR. Interesting enough so far. I'd enjoyed LET THE RIGHT ONE IN but not HANDLING THE UNDEAD.

[SmallBlueThing]

No, like you i didnt enjoy 'handling the undead'- in fact, i dont think i finished it. 'let the right one in' was, as i hope most know, a superb and riveting read- one of those very rare books that i found i "lived" rather than just read, and which it was honestly upsetting to have to finish. I jumped straight into 'undead' afterwards, which in retrospect was probably a mistake as there was no way it could ever compare. Maybe it's long enough now that i could give 'harbour' a go.

Not being one for vampires usually, the only other contemporary bloodsucker novel i'd recommend (and maybe because i thought it shared a lonely tonal similarity) is robert masello's 'blood & ice'- which can be obtained from tesco for peanuts at present.

SBT

[Charlie boy]

Cheers- I'll keep an eye out for that. Looks like the stack of books I'm working my way through is destined to keep on growing.

[Professor Bear]

Dr Who Classic Comics, a pile of random early 90s issues of the Marvel UK series reprinting the adventures of the first seven incarnations of the Doctor, and it's a mixed bag as might be expected but so far there have been some solid mini-adventures from reliable hands like Alan McKenzie, John Freeman, Steve Parkhouse, John Ridgeway and Geoff Senior that I prefer to some of the more recent longform IDW outings, though I grant their brevity may be in their favor more than anything else.
Some good readin' all the same.

[TordelBack]

My pull-list in the local library yielded a rich harvest today - Reamde by Neal Stephenson...

I finished Reamde on Monday night. My short, spoiler free review (that can be stitched together with my previous comments, for those bored souls out there) is that I thought is was really good. Some reviews were a bit lukewarm and some criticisms I thought were valid, but I found it written in his usual easy to read, pulling you along way with an end sequence both tense and satisfying. Though I was quite glad to finish it as it's over 1000 pages! It's more akin to Cryptonomicon than Anathem but I imagine you've gathered that already.

Finally finished Reamde last week, thought it was great fun - a plain old modern thriller with a cleverly assembled cast, much lighter and simpler than some of Stephenson's stuff, but no worse for it.  Haven't read any reviews, but I can imagine some of the criticisms centre on the [spoiler]rampant islamaphobia, survivalist gunporn and obsession with Walmart[/spoiler], but I got over those hurdles pretty rapidly myself and went with it.  The enormous set-piece ending is undoubtedly contrived and flagged well in advance, but very exciting nonetheless.

My one gripe would be that the [spoiler]titular plot and its instigator seemed to get dropped entirely 3/4 of the way through[/spoiler], which was a pity.  Less of an issue was the way everyone seemed to forget about [spoiler]the helicopter cops that got blown up [/spoiler]near the end.

I enjoyed the realisation that most of Q's wildest spy-gadget dreams were now available to all in Argos, or to put it another way "what a contemporary globe-trotting spy thriller should be like when you can get Google Earth on your phone".     

[mogzilla]

elephantmen vol 1

[Bolt-01]

I've just finished Diana Wynne Jones: Howl's Moving Castle.

We got this for Nano-Bolt to go with the DVD of the Miyazaki film, and to my delight the book is a total pleasure to read. Very different from the film in places and really enjoyable. Might hunt up the sequels.

Next up is Michael Carroll: Stronger, which I'm not the first to read. I had to pass this straight to Micro-Bolt so he read it before me!

[judgefloyd]

I'm reading a rather good comic book called 'Voyager', about the 6th Doctor Who - some wonderful art and fun, wacky story telling in there.  At one point it adopts the format of the old Rupert the Bear comics.

I've just picked up my old copy of Gore Vidal's 'United States', an awesome large collection of his wonderful essays.  My only problem with it is that it's in three massive clumps - literature, history and politics, whereas the indiviedual collections like 'Pink Triangle, Yellow Star' have a nice mix which is more fun to read.

Oh and I'm part-way into 'Gimlet Goes Home' by Captain WE Johns, the Biggles guy.  It's not one of his best.  I'm reading one of the first Biggles books to my son and that is really good stuff.

[Colin YNWA]

I'm reading a rather good comic book called 'Voyager', about the 6th Doctor Who - some wonderful art and fun, wacky story telling in there.  At one point it adopts the format of the old Rupert the Bear comics.

Is that the recent(ish) Panini collection, if so its bloody great. Some wonderful John Ridgway art, great stories and in Frobisher one of the best companions the telly show never had.

[Bolt-01]

I read stronger in a single day. All 374 pages of it. I literally could not put it down. Superb storytelling and a fantastic end to this chapter. Recommended so much it is scary.

Next- the 'last' Artemis fowl book.

[Zarjazzer]

After some discussion here i got me Haunted Gotham a sort of alt universe Batman. Still reading it but it's an enjoyable read.Baroque art from Kelly Jones.Bats iis alot more ruthless a real killer in this tale.

[James Stacey]

...then a bit of 'Gimlet Comes Home' by none other than Captain W.E. Johns

I used to love Gimlet, even preferred his commando antics to Biggles - does it stand up to adult re-reading? 

Gimlet Bores In must be one of the greatest book titles of all time, plus it has Biggles in it (doing taxi duty).

In other Johns news, I tried to re-read Kings of Space recently, the start of a series that was probably my favourite thing in the world when I was 9 and desperately waiting for Empire Strikes Back to come out, and it was... disappointing.

The Gimlet books do stand up to adult re-reading yes. Gimlet Mops up even has Nazi werewolves in it. Not bad for a book from the 40s. The space books really haven't dated well at all. There is much better junior sci fi from the time, like the Angus MacVicar books.
I'm actually reading Biggles Charter Pilot again at the moment and it actually holds less mad 1940s pseudo science than I remember. (Although 5 foot carapaces on crabs is still about 3 foot bigger than the largest ever recorded)

[Dandontdare]

elephantmen vol 1

I love these books. The storytelling is slow - relatively little happens over four fat volumes - but the artwork is just gorgeous. And while I often get annoyed at the amount of 'filler' at the backs of TPBs, I do like the idea  collecting convention sketches as they do in these.

There is much better junior sci fi from the time, like the Angus MacVicar books.

Now that has unearthed a long-fogotten memory. My brother used to have a collection of books that I devoured as a kid, but I can't for the life of me remember the name. They were sci-fi from the 50s or early 60s all had titles such as "<insert name> and the something something" and were slim hardback books with great cover illustraions. Very close in feel to Dan Dare or Rick Random type stories. I'd entirely fotgotten about them, but the memory has just bubbled to the surface. Anyone help me remember the name?

[Dandontdare]

Never mind, Google came to the rescue - It was the Tom Swift books - I was amazed to find that this series began in 1910 and was relaunched several times with different authors, with the most recent published in 2007. the ones I remember were probably the 1954-1971 series published under the pen-name "Victor Appleton"

[Mikey]

Haven't read any reviews, but I can imagine some of the criticisms centre on the [spoiler]rampant islamaphobia, survivalist gunporn and obsession with Walmart[/spoiler], but I got over those hurdles pretty rapidly myself and went with it.  The enormous set-piece ending is undoubtedly contrived and flagged well in advance, but very exciting nonetheless.

My one gripe would be that the [spoiler]titular plot and its instigator seemed to get dropped entirely 3/4 of the way through[/spoiler], which was a pity.  Less of an issue was the way everyone seemed to forget about [spoiler]the helicopter cops that got blown up [/spoiler]near the end.

Bingo on the reviews pretty much, also the lack of Big Ideas as summed up in Zula's line [spoiler]"When will the pirates on dinosaurs show up?" [/spoiler] I don't know about the [spoiler]Islamophobia so much - they came across as mostly scumbags which fundamentalist terrorists undoubtedly are and I found Jones at least a convincing antihero.[/spoiler] I was ok with the [spoiler]gunporn and survivalists[/spoiler] and I take the [spoiler]Walmart (does that really need a spoiler? Ach, it get's one anyway)[/spoiler] thing as a mark of consumerist ubiquity, and despite their lofty ideals the terrorists see no irony in buying from it.

M.