Whats everyone reading?

[TordelBack]

I do wonder if that affects my enjoyment of it, which would be daft, but I do wonder. The reason being whenever I'm reading it I ponder on what I'm missing to not think its the best thing since sliced bread and all that noise can be a distraction. 

I'm in the same boat there...

Mmmm, that boat is getting quite crowded.  Saga is okay, and it's certainly pleasantly different which is always welcome, but for many of the reasons outlined upthread, I find it disappointing.  See also: Unwritten.

[Theblazeuk]

I really enjoy Unwritten. But only whilst its laid out in front of me. Doesn't keep me waiting on tenterhooks so unless I have all of it I am not so blown away by any of it. However the artwork is very, very nice.

Currently reading Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions. Forgot about my ereader after finishing Locke Lamora.

[Dandontdare]

Jeff Lemire's Essex county and Sweet tooth.

Essex is three different stories in a canadian commune. One about a lonely boy who feels he needs to dress up in a mask and cape, the second about a dying man who looks back at a life of hockey and loneliness and the third about a nurse with some story.

I really liked it, especially how it could make such small stories feel grand. And how everything connects towards the end. Great art and storytelling. Only thing I found a bit so'n'so was that some deaths where a bit too convient, felt like every character needed at least 1-2 deaths in the family. But it's not a biggie.

Sweet tooth plays out as if The road was about a tragic man who meets a boy with antlers on his head. Some plague is killing of mankind and children are being born with animal qualities (for example antlers, or a pig nose). And just as The road it's a very dark but still hearth warming story. And same as Lemire's Essex County it's him on art and the writing. Love it. Really hope it'll see some omnibus or hardcover treatment some day.

Can't recommend these two books enough. It's basically two stories about parenthood/childhood and how things easily repeats themselves, both good and bad.

I loved Lemire's Underwater Welder, and I've read vol 2 of Sweet tooth - must track down the rest of it, as it was a fascinating concept and a really moving story. I'd not heard of Essex County, but I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Another vote for Blacksad - If Grandville is anthropormorphic Steampunk Sherlock Holmes, Blacksad is the noir detective version. Both are bloody brilliant. However, there's a French book that Talbot cites as an influence (That I can;t bloody remember right now) that didn't do anything for me at all.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Really want to get my face around Blacksad it looks marvellous but I missed an opportunity to get the first 'un for cheap a few years ago and I've lapsed in my efforts to attain it.

Broadcast: The TV Doodles of Henry Flint (Markosia)


Markosia's astounding collection of Henry Flint's nonsense scribbling is an absolute must-buy. Cy Dethan's well-judged commentary is fluidly constructed and self-aware enough to avoid coming across as purely sycophantic or overly leading and Sharman's stark design is wisely unobtrusive and lets the doodles speak for themselves. Really though the star of the show is Flint - one of the most visually striking British artists and easily one of the brightest talents from the already-blinding pages of 2000ad. His transcendentally cluttered inky confusions are appealing in the extreme - even the most abstract having some small anchor into logic that makes them instantly accessible and endlessly absorbing. His collaborations with his daughter Rosalie are a delightful highlight - but the whole book is outrageously good. Markosia have done a grand thing putting this out and it's the pride of my bookshelf. Just knowing that at this very moment Flint is likely drawing up a storm somewhere makes me absurdly happy.

[Ancient Otter]

Currently reading Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions.

It's great isn't it?

[Dandontdare]

Really want to get my face around Blacksad it looks marvellous but I missed an opportunity to get the first 'un for cheap a few years ago and I've lapsed in my efforts to attain it.

check out your library -(that's where I got it from). It's one of those books that tends to get chosen over most comic books because it's French and has won awards.

[Tombo]

Really want to get my face around Blacksad it looks marvellous but I missed an opportunity to get the first 'un for cheap a few years ago and I've lapsed in my efforts to attain it.

The omnibus with the first three books is only £15.75 on Amazon at the moment.  It's a lovely oversized hardback, and it is indeed marvellous to look at.

[Hawkmumbler]

I've never actually read either Death: Boyhood of a Super Fiend or My Name is Death. So i've ordered the US trade in the absence of a UK edition of either.

[ZenArcade]

Read Mark Gestons Lords of the Starship during the week. Jesus that has to be the most depressing Sci Fi novel I've ever read; and I've read a few in my time. Highly recommend it.

[The Legendary Shark]

Just finished 'The Stars my Destination' by Alfred Bester - hugely entertaining and imaginative and bursting with energy. There are so many classics like this that I haven't read yet and, if this book is anything to go by, I've got some cracking reads still to come!

I'm also slogging my way through 'The Grand Chessboard' by Zbigniew Brjinski (sp? - can't be arsed checking), which is a U.S. book about geopolitics. It's fascinating how the author thinks of Europe. France, he says, desires reincarnation through an independent and (French) cultured European Union; Germany desires absolution through a globally integrated and (Germanically) efficient European Union. Britain desires neither of these visions and so continues to do what it always has done in Europe - foster enough dissent to keep everyone at each other's throats so that neither vision can take hold. Gripping stuff zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

[ZenArcade]

Snarky some of that 50's - 70's stuff is amazing. I read a lot of Norman Spinnards stuff from early 70's recently: Agent of Chaos; The Men in the Jungle; Bug Jack Barron and The Iron Dream. All fantastic reads, The Iron Dream in particular - an alternate history wherein Adolf Hitler emmegrates to the USA and becomes a hack Sci Fi writer.

[Theblazeuk]

Is that the one otherwise known as Tiger Tiger? Cracking read. The Demolished Man is another good one from Bester

[ZenArcade]

Sorry to jaunte back into this thread, yes same novel.

[Mardroid]

Avengers Forever Part 2 from Marvel ' s Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection.

I wasn't too keen on the first one very much to do be honest so I had second thoughts about getting this. On the other hand the first volume was readable, and I don't really like keep leaving a story half told. So I went ahead.

Still early days yet, but I'm actually quite enjoying it! [spoiler]An interesting twist involving one of the characters has helped in that regard.[/spoiler] Not sure I will ever consider it the classic many do but I think it helps if you're a major Avengers fan acquainted with their previous history. Not that this isn't accessible for others like me: in fact all the books in this collection are pretty accessible purely on their own terms. That's one of the great things about this series. But I imagine long term fans will get something extra.

[von Boom]

Just finished 'The Stars my Destination' by Alfred Bester - hugely entertaining and imaginative and bursting with energy. There are so many classics like this that I haven't read yet and, if this book is anything to go by, I've got some cracking reads still to come!

Be sure to check out The Demolished Man by Bester as well, which won the very first Hugo award in 1953.

Edit: Ack. Blaze beat me to the recommendation.