Books 2nd Edition, Foreword by m0r1arty Options

[mcraigclark]

The Gone-Away World- Nick Harkaway

A nameless soldier/narrator shepherds readers through a post-apocalyptic tale that I'm struggling to categorise; partly because my schedule meant it took me two months to get through it, and partly because it is a blend of just about every fiction genre out there. It's not a difficult read by any stretch, but Harkaway's scatterbrained style demands some dedication. Anyway, I really liked it.

[Crutch]

I'm reading Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov. It's amazing, but is making me feel slightly uneasy.

That's what I'd wanted to read right now. But then I bought Infinite Jest and couldn't resist this fat motherfucker sitting lying on my table. I've fought my way throught about 80 pages of story and 15 pages of end notes thus far and I friggin' love it. There are not many books like that out there.

[widowspider]

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks - I think this is his only novel to date that isn't set in a different time period to our own. It was definitely a departure for Faulks, but an interesting one - Mike Engleby is the protagonist and narrator of his story, which starts out as a sort of memoir of his life as a working class boy who, through his intelligence, ends up at a traditional boys' public school (complete with bullying and quasi-sexual events with other boys) through to his time at an unnamed university (which is clearly Cambridge). Then the whole piece switches gear after a girl who Mike was friends with goes missing, and becomes a kind of thriller. However, that doesn't really describe the style of the piece - it is almost langurous in its descriptions, and Faulks really toys with the reader in terms of giving you a one-sided perspective of the world through Engleby's memories, which are not always truthful. I half-loved it and half found it weird.

[Outatime]

I've just finished that too, my Mum recommended it to me and I quite enjoyed the Cambridge aspect of it as it's where I live. I'd say it's worth a read but Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris is better and in a similar style.

[mcraigclark]

Long Way Round

I was given this for my birthday and only just finished it last night. I don't normally take so long to read a book. Anyway, I loved it despite feeling that McGregor was sometimes acting like a brat. Made me miss my motorcycle a little.

[widowspider]

Long Way Round

I was given this for my birthday and only just finished it last night. I don't normally take so long to read a book. Anyway, I loved it despite feeling that McGregor was sometimes acting like a brat. Made me miss my motorcycle a little.

The thing I liked about the book was that they left in all the stuff when they were arguing, or one of them was being a prat. It seemed to be a pretty honest account of a long trip.

[sweetbutinsane]

Firestarter by Stephen King.

I ended up spending most of Sunday reading it because I couldn't bear to put it down. Very good indeed.

[mcraigclark]

The thing I liked about the book was that they left in all the stuff when they were arguing, or one of them was being a prat. It seemed to be a pretty honest account of a long trip.

I agree. There's no way I wouldn't be at someone's throat if I travelled like that either.

[widowspider]

I agree. There's no way I wouldn't be at someone's throat if I travelled like that either.

Quite. I did a one-month trip in Uganda with a group of people, and even in that short amount of time there were plenty of bust ups.

[maian]

I think that I need to read Haruki Murakami's books in one or two days at the most, since otherwise I seem to take weeks doing so. Anyway, after a few weeks, I finished Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World the other day and, as ever, it was terrific and strange. Murakami effortlessly blends two parallel, seemingly unrelated stories, one a vaguely sci-fi/Kafka-inspired tale of a man with an altered brain trying to piece together a mystery, the other a fantastical fable about a town surrounded by a wall at the end of the world, to form a surprising, coherent tale about the mind. There are moments of real tension and suspense in it as well as large doses of gentle whimsy, a combination that in anyone else's hands wouldn't have worked, but which most definitely does in Murakami's.

Also, his description of Bob Dylan's voice as being 'like a child looking out a window at the rain' really is about as perfect a description as I've ever read.

[rebelstar]

Reading Richard Herring's Bye Bye Balham - it's interesting re-reading his blog entries years later, with the additional background information as well. Must read Talking Cock again afterwards.

[Jessopjessopjess...]

The Steel Remains

Richard Morgan – author of hardboiled SF thrillers Altered Carbon and Black Man – embarks on his first foray into Fantasy, determined to bring the his brand of grit and violence to the flabby sword-and-sorcery genre. At first glance, it seems as though the same conventions are present – sword-wielding hero, exotic and long-winded titles, dragonslayers – but these conventions are soon stripped down and beaten to a pulp as the complex political story and bursts of steel-edged violence turn the pages.

As someone who has read all his novels, Morgan's laconic dialogue and outlandishly cocksure characters grated a little in the context of the otherwordly setting, but to someone new to his material and used to mock-courtly speech of stereotypical Fantasy will see this as breath of fiery fresh air.

Now I've started The Quiet War by Paul McAuley, as recommended on fellow SF author Alastair Reynolds's blog.

[Jubei]

Even Market Forces? I hadn't realised he had this new book out. I can imagine it being a bit like the Stath in A Dungeon Siege. Surly cockney skinhead hardmen don't really fit into swords and sorcery environs. Would you recommend it though? I like Morgan and I like different Fantasy too. In that vein, if you haven't already, read Tad Williams War of the Flowers. Odd post industrial revolution fairie land setting.

ETA: Ooh, it's book one of a trilogy.

ETA: Ah, just read that Michael Moorcock was one of RMs influences, and it apparently shows. I've only read one of Moorcock's books, his most famous, Elric, and I thought it was terrible. Unlikeable, intractable characters who fell into saving the world whilst trying to actually run away from it. More destiny than personal choice going on there. In fact Elric would probably have let the world go to shit if he'd had a choice.

I don't know whether you;ve read any Ken MacLoed either, I certainly hadn't until recently, but I've just finished Learning the World and previously read Newtons Wake. Both are a sort of first contact scenario, written from both sides. And they're both standalone novels, although he has a couple of trilogies which I'll plow into next. Learning the World is probably my favourite of the two, with two very different and not entirely informed or unbiased viewpoints on the situation that eventually unfolds. Newtons Waks is a bit more all over the place, having to fill in a lot of background to explain some of what's happening nerer the end, but some of the factions - expecially the 'bloody Carlyles' and the Demokratische Kommunistbund are realised brilliantly.

This post has been edited by Jubei: Dec 31 2008, 12:53 PM

[rebelstar]

cock

Ha!

I enjoyed it, although I though that the ending was a little bit rushed - I was starting to wonder how he'd fit everything into the last few dozen pages.

[Jessopjessopjess...]

Surly cockney skinhead hardmen don't really fit into swords and sorcery environs. Would you recommend it though?

I don't know where you get the 'cockney' from! Main protagonist Ringil is certainly a tough guy - with the necessary dark past - but his brusk attitude is appealing in the same way Takeshi Kovacs's is. I would certainly recommend the book to you as a fantasy reader, if only to see how the genre subversion works for you.

Ken MacLeod

He has passed across my radar now and again, but I always have something else to read, and without a recommendation I have not ventured to put him at the top of the list. I will bear your comments in mind when I'm next looking though!

After The Quiet War I'm probably going to read Sean Williams's Astropolis, which sounds large.

I enjoyed it, although I though that the ending was a little bit rushed - I was starting to wonder how he'd fit everything into the last few dozen pages.

It did seem rushed - especially with the inclusion of the epilogue - although that may have been deliberate. Maybe in the context of the trilogy Andy mentions above, the end is actually just a short respite before the cabal and the Dwellers reveal much bigger and more dangerous plans, and Ringil's dark destiny plays out...