Whats everyone reading?

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

The Gabbleduck and other short tales by Neil Asher. Very good ideas and set ups in a Universe called the Polity or something.

[Zarjazzer]

Glimmer Rats by Gordon Rennie (for it is he) and Mark Harrison (for it is him)-i got this simply because boarders  mentioned it in the new art strip comp for June. Having no memory of it at all mahhnn, just like the sixties, it was all new.

Fuck- a -duck tis ace!  Bascially euro- neo- fascist state sends it's dregs,enemies and losers to fight aliens/icky things in another dimension,even though they caused the rift with the alt universe to open. Fantastic dark art and ultra grim storyline (your "comrades" are as likely to murder you for your stuff or your ears as the orrible "spooks".) I got a decidedly wh40k vibe from it all only here there's no super troops to save you from being dissolved/absorbed and death isn't even an escape.Fantastically nightmarish.

Oddly Dark Horse published my copy but Rebellion have a nod in there.

[ThryllSeekyr]

Still reading The Walking Dead. Onto to Book Ten now.

I have just purchased two of the Dafoe graphic novels.

Should be great reading, having been written by Pat Mills and also concerning zombie apocalypses.

[LorcanQ]

Half way through Catch-22. Absolutely brilliant book. I started off finding it annoying but it's grown on me hugely. The format is so helter-skelter and hugely original. Also, very funny. I never laugh at books but this has some gems in it.

[Mardroid]

Hungry Hearts by Gary McMahon (One of the Tomes of the Dead book)

I saw this advertised (I think in the Prog or Meg)  and on seeing it in the library I decided to give it a crack.

The cover is amusing in that it plays on the fact this is in part a love story by giving you a Mills and Boone style cover... except the woman is a rotting corpse. All the more amusing in that the story itself is completely different in tone, apart from the gore.

I haven't gotten that far but it's pretty grim, disturbing and kinda nasty. That probably looks like a criticism, but I mean nasty in that 'nasty things happen', but it's rather interesting and compelling. It does something rather different with the Zombie outbreak thing.

[judgefloyd]

LorcanQ, Catch-22 is one of my favourite books ever.  A lot like Alice in Wonderland as far as paradoxes go.  Me, I'm still trying to get to the end of a pile of London Review of Books issues - fun, but time-consuming.  Just read an interesting article called 'Advantage Pyonyang' about North Korea, which was dead good.
   Rather than go without novels until the distant day when I finish the LRBs, I've started reading at least a page of Tristram Shandy a day.  Wonderful rambling stuff.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n09/richard-lloydparry/advantage-pyongyang  is the link to the LRB article, a critical review of a book about Nort Korea by one of Bush's people (the gist is the book makes Bush look like a tool in spite of wanting to defend him, the North Korean leadership, although horrible, aren't insane and the situation won't get better any time soon)

I'm also reading 'the Wisdom of Solomon', a book of the Bible, for the first time (it's not in the protestant bibles I grew up with).   Spoiler Alert: It's good to obey God and seeking Wisdom is a good idea.
      It's a good read and has this wonderful line: "we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been.  For the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts; when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes and the spirit will dissolve like empty air'(this is supposedly the foolish non-believer speaking)
.......which makes great poetry and perfectly sums up the materialist position now. 

[sheldipez]

I'm three quarters way through Lone Wolf 2100 omnibus I'm a big fan of the original Lone Wolf series and was put off from the reviews I've read of 2100. I wish I never listened as I think it's a great homage to the original with a cool sci-fi setting. The art is stunning too and I'm a bit sad that artist Francisco Ruis Velasco hasn't done much else in comics in following years as it appears he's become a concept artist for Guillermo del Toro.

Recommended to anyone on the fence as I once was!

[Hawkmumbler]

Thanks Seldipez. Like you I was scepticle, but now i'll certainly give it a go.

[Sideshow Bob]

Just finished reading the huge Graphic Novel,  Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie..

Now I love most of Alan Moores' stuff....Not all of it though,  but enough of his material,  for him to rank amongst one of my favourite writers.....
His Watchmen ( for me ) set an extremely high 'bench mark' for future Graphic Novels to aspire to......Absolutely loved it when it came out 20 + years ago.......And his From Hell is one of my absolute favourites of all time, and remains one of my 'all time top' recommendations for anyone who loves the Comic medium.......And just for these two alone, he should be immortalised in Comic history,  BUT....

And I'm really sorry here, but, Lost Girls for me was just awful !!.....
Now I know there are those out there who will claim it has huge artistic merit and shouldn't be only 'judged' on its' ( pornographic ? ) content but on what Moore was actually trying to say in it....
.........It's not that it has very graphic sexual content in it....It has !! ...... so DO NOT buy if you are easily offended by material of a pornographic nature...
.........It's not that it's not beautifully drawn....It is !! ....In places,  the artwork by Melinda Gebbie is sublime.....  Beautifully coloured and intricately drawn, but for me, a bit inconsistent, with pages of brilliance followed by pages that are just not as good....

What makes this a HUGE letdown for me is.....I really don't think it's a story 'worth' telling.....

I'm not averse to the pornographic content, honestly I'm not,  but it all just seems to be an excuse for a bit of 'old man' letching over pages of naked ladies ( and men ) having lots of sexual 'hanky panky'......
Now,  some may say that this is an integral and necessary 'part' of the story, and it may very well be....??!!.....BUT the whole problem I have is that the story, ( about Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz,   Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Wendy Darling from Peter Pan ) just isn't really interesting and seems just a bit 'porno' clichéd...... 
But, is this a story worth being told ?? ....Was there really a point to it all ??.....For me,  No, although I'm sure someone can explain it to me.....I know Moores' work can be a bit 'convoluted' at times but I really didn't get this at all !!

Definitely NOT Recommended, and one I won't be reading again....

[TordelBack]

As I recall Moore and Gebbie were specifically trying to make high-quality pornography for all genders and orientations in comics form, rather than tell a particularly compelling story.  As with most porn, the narrative is mainly there to string the scenes together, but I do think there's a lot of very interesting ideas and techniques (oo-err) in the story itself to engage the brain - just not enough to survive without the rude bits.  If it worked as porn, it worked.

Much as I like Lost Girls, it is the only Moore book I thought about selling during a recent bout of ebay fundraising.  Luckily I didn't, 'cos you've made me want to read it again.

[Sideshow Bob]

As I recall Moore and Gebbie were specifically trying to make high-quality pornography for all genders and orientations in comics form, rather than tell a particularly compelling story.  As with most porn, the narrative is mainly there to string the scenes together, but I do think there's a lot of very interesting ideas and techniques (oo-err) in the story itself to engage the brain - just not enough to survive without the rude bits.  If it worked as porn, it worked.

Much as I like Lost Girls, it is the only Moore book I thought about selling during a recent bout of ebay fundraising.  Luckily I didn't, 'cos you've made me want to read it again.

Thanks for that Tordelback....I didn't realise that they were specifically trying to make high quality 'pornography' for all genders......I agree that there are several interesting ideas contained within........but as you say " not enough to survive without the rude bits"...
I do hope you enjoy your re-read of it, but for me it's a.... Mehh !! ....Take it, or leave it and I didn't really want to feel that way about Moores' work...So for me...very disappointing ....
As for selling it, it's also the only Graphic Novel I also considered selling.....Strange that.....

[von Boom]

From Hell. I'd never read it before and after seeing all the praise for it here I decided to pick it up. The praise is completely justified. I'm only three chapters in and I can't seem to put it down. Amazing work. I'm definitely going to pick up the companion book now.

[Sideshow Bob]

Glad you're enjoying From Hell, von Boom.....

In my opinion, and also many other folks, it's a Masterpiece of the comic form....and a fantastic and very long read....An 'adult'  graphic novel, packed full of ideas and 'facts' and the 'after notes' are also amazing.....
The artwork is also so suitable for the tone of the novel that it further 'enhances' the whole experience..

One of my all time 'top' recommendations, and in fact my wife who doesn't like the 'comic medium' also read this one holiday we were on,  and thoroughly enjoyed it as well.......In fact she said it was decidedly 'creepy' and quite disturbing.....Quite a compliment,  as she prefers mostly historical books ( The Tudors etc )...

Enjoy !!

[Ancient Otter]

Glimmer Rats by Gordon Rennie (for it is he) and Mark Harrison (for it is him)-i got this simply because boarders  mentioned it in the new art strip comp for June. Having no memory of it at all mahhnn, just like the sixties, it was all new.

Fuck- a -duck tis ace!  Bascially euro- neo- fascist state sends it's dregs,enemies and losers to fight aliens/icky things in another dimension,even though they caused the rift with the alt universe to open. Fantastic dark art and ultra grim storyline (your "comrades" are as likely to murder you for your stuff or your ears as the orrible "spooks".) I got a decidedly wh40k vibe from it all only here there's no super troops to save you from being dissolved/absorbed and death isn't even an escape.Fantastically nightmarish.

Oddly Dark Horse published my copy but Rebellion have a nod in there.

Rebellion published it in the U.K but Dark Horse & Strip Art Features published it the U.S. I think - I like the way Tom Berenger, Michael Biehn and Jean Reno are in it....

[Zarjazzer]

Thanks Ancient Otter thought it was a bit odd. I could see this being done as a sci fi horror film. I guess it wasn't too popular but i'D LOVE A SEQUEL.