Whats everyone reading?

[Radbacker]

The Omen Machine - By Terry Goodkind.  Wasn't sure if I was going to get this one but caved in last week and grab it, rather light and sparse tale set in the same universe as Goodkinds Sword of Truth series (with the same characters and set after the War with the Imperial Order so i suppose you'd call it a sequal) but infinatly more entertaining than the last few Sword of Truth books (no more beating his reader over the head with the same mesage again and again, ok we get it communism is bad, people need to think for themselves and be pro-activ in life, no need to keep repeating it for 4 books).  Very nasty baddy and some rather horrorish sequences for a fantasy book.

CU Radabcker

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Killing Pablo.

An account of the rise and fall of notorious Columbian drug baron Pablo Escobar. I've been reading a lot about criminals, and for all their faults, there was something to be admired about their sheer audacity and deviousness. Not Pablo Escobar though, he was just a brutal savage who killed his way to the top of Columbia's Criminal Cartels. It would be interesting to see how the current iteration of the Internet community would react to his assassination

[Colin YNWA]

Just finished the latest Charley's War Volume (8; Hitler's Youth) and have to say its a blinder. Not only is the story and art as wonderful as ever the real joy of this volume is the quality of the reproduction finally matches the story. A lot more of the material is reprinted from the original art and it makes the package as a whole an absolute joy.

On top of that they are still advertising Rat Pack and Major Eazy, so you never know they might actually see the light of day still?

[StrayCatBlues]

I have just finished the Hunger Games, really enjoyed them and that third book covers some pretty brutal topics.

[Keef Monkey]

Read through 'The People Next Door' by Christopher Ransom which was part of my xmas book bundle from my mum Looking at Amazon it seems to have universally awful reviews which I find really surprising because I couldn't put it down for the day and a half that I ploughed through it in. It's very rare (especially these days) that I'll rattle through something that quickly, and maybe being at the in-laws for a couple of days factored in but I loved it.

Just started Game of Thrones, which seems very more-ish, I can see why people get so absorbed in it and I'm only 5% through it according to my kindle. As with most fantasy there's so much setting up of the world and so many names flying around that I'm not really taking any of them in, but I'm sure over the course of the books the world will solidify for me.

[Mardroid]

Bit by bit I'm working my way through the first Red Seas volume. It's not slow going because it's bad (it's actually rather good, one bit of silliness aside). I've just been reading the new Stephen King book 11.22.63 too. (Just finished that one. It was good too but not one of his best for me.) Now I've finished that one I'll plough through the rest.

[Zarjazzer]

The Dead Man ace writing and art by Wagner and Ridgway-i really enjoyed it and I may buy Dreddy case files 14.

And an anthology book Lovecraft Unbound-mmmm a very expensive book -it's not OTT Lovecraft pastiches but some of the tales so far seem slightly misplaced and are just the usual horror fare with vague Lovecraft elements. Okay but probably not worth £14.99. Not enough tentacles IMHO.

[Roger Godpleton]

Mum got me the Booker shortlist for Xmas and one of them, Pigeon English is the biggest, most patronising piece of shit I have ever read.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Finished 'The Outcast Dead' by Graham McNeill the latest in the War Hammer 40k Horus Heresy series. Slower than some of the others but certainly worth a read.

[NorthVox]

Just picked up Durham Red: The Scarlet Cantos, halfway through my yearly Watchmen re-read, and awaiting a delivery from Amazon for Midnighter: Assassin8 and Midnighter: Anthem. Good start to the year methinks!

[Mardroid]

The first Harry Potter book.

Quite good so far. Pretty close to the film (or rather the film is pretty close to this) but still better overall.

[I, Cosh]

I bought the latest couple of Requiem: Vampire Knight collections before Christmas so I've been rereading the story so far. As has been discussed at length, the setup is mental in a good way and the first five or six books rattle along at a frenetic pace. There's the odd bit that doesn't make a lot of sense, but the demented energy, cascade of novelty, continual reversals of what we think we know and lovely art all conspire to take your mind off it. The early introduction of Torquemada as a werewolf whose human side is indistinguishable from the lovable rogue we know from Nemesis seems perfectly logical and a nice little reference for those that get it.

It's started to get a bit drawn out now, however. Book 7 is largely set in a mock-Elizabethan britain populated by lizards which seems like a step too far towards a sexed-up Dinosty. Book 8 is basically one long fight interspersed with Pat's familiar imaginative weapons-porn wrapped in a fascinating series of jibes at the "fan" or "collector." There's also a sexy, evil chick with Black Siddha's sword.  Got the latest volume with books 9 & 10 to get into sometime soon, so hopefully this is just a temporary lull.

I also started reading Rabbit, Run by John Updike but that's all words and feelings of being trapped and stuff.

[radiator]

Day of the Triffids, which I got for Christmas.

Quite enjoying it, but it's bloody weird, not quite what I was expecting.

[Dark Jimbo]

Triffids has been one of my favourite books since I was about twelve, and it's always really interesting to hear people's thoughts on reading it for the first time - usually their surprise at the lack of actual triffids throughout the first two-thirds of the book! I think it's all the stronger for that, though. It's those images of 'blind London' that have stayed with me all these years, more so than the triffids (glorious though they undoubtedly are).

[radiator]

Eh? Triffids are a constant presence throughout the first third of the book  - there's a whole chapter explaining what they are and where they came from, and I've just read a section where the two leads are being chased by a load of them.

I'm finding some of it a bit of a stretch. The idea that newly blind people could subdue and take prisoner a seeing person seems extremely unlikely to me.

I'm also finding it very difficult to relate to the narrator. He's explaining events in such a matter of fact, detached way, when any sane person would be freaking out.