Finished The Scar by China Mieville
Mieville proves once again that he is one of the great contemporary writers of sci-fi. His complex and complicated worlds are a joy to dip into and he uses them to explore deeper, richer themes of existence, government and nationality whilst still managing to give the reader plenty of action, sex and excitement. Brilliant.

Agreed. Perdido and The Scar are quite a pair. I still have dreams about the ability to slide through reality that the little statue gives. I wouldn't recommend Iron Council however, it was dull as fuck.

Almost a quarter of the way through The End Of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas, and thoroughly hooked. Its various themes include homeopathy, theology, language and thought, plus quantum theory, and various other levels of physics that I don't fully understand. Oh, and a smattering of sex... it's all rather absorbing to say the least. I'll report back with a full verdict once I've finished it.

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - Christopher Moore

Thoroughly enjoyable. Can't wait for my next Moore.

Although now I'm reading one by Carlos Ruiz Jafon.

Thank you Craig!

About a hundred pages into JPod.

It's very quirky, even for a Coupland. Good so far though.

Yay! More Coupland!

I'd been meaning to read more Coupland for quite a while.

What should be next on the list?

The Shadow of the Wind?

Craig is a champion book-recommender.

My only negative with "The Shadow of the Wind" is it's quite a big book to read in bed.

What else have you read?

Girlfriend in a Coma and Microserfs. I know that Generation X is well regarded but other than that I'm unsure of where to go next.

The Shadow of the Wind?

Craig is a champion book-recommender.

That's the one. Book and recommender. My only negative with "The Shadow of the Wind" is it's quite a big book to read in bed.

Just read up on this, sounds very good. I may have to check it out at some point.

Angels and Demons

I wasn't really supposed to read anything during the exams, but I couldn't help myself.

I kept comparing it to the film and found several things that I'm annoyed the film left out and several things that I'm quite glad were left out.

I think it's the most violent book I've ever read. Are you going to move on to All the Pretty Horses? It's beautiful, brutal, and tragic.

...I'm going to take a crack at the whole of The Border Trilogy.

Just hit the halfway point of The Road and part of me wants to stop reading it while its on an up so I don't have to end up putting it in the freezer.

I completely adored The Brief History of the Dead right up until the last two chapters. Then, I was really disappointed.

News of the ten book contract is out there now, so many thanks for the congratulations and good wishes I've received, and the many kind things I've seen here and there on the internet. As some have noted, while it's good for me - no bones about that - it also says something encouraging about the state of the genre. Far from dying on its feet (I've been reading obituaries for SF for about as long as I've been reading them about rock music) it's not doing at all badly, and may even be in the ascendant.

The contract doesn't change much as far as my writing habits are concerned. I've been hitting about a book a year since I started with Orion in 1999 - in fact we've done nine novels and three collections in ten years, or will have by the time the year's out - and all that's really required of me is to keep on the same level of productivity for another ten. It's not to be taken lightly, but at the same it's not too daunting. I've always wanted to be a prolific writer, and so a book a year feels about right to me. The idea of spending two or three years of my life on a single work fills me with existential dread, although that's purely a reflection on my own approach to the craft, which is very much a case of diving in and immersing myself in a book at a level which would almost certainly drive me insane if it lasted longer than six or nine months. To put it in rock terms, I'd rather be Neil Young than one of those artists who only releases work every three years or so. At that same time, I'm aware of the hazards of over-production: there are writers whose work I followed assiduously, until they gradually outstripped my capability to keep up. In many cases I simply stopped them reading them entirely. Obviously I'll be hoping that isn't the case with all my readers, but at the same time I'm mindful of the possibility. Above all else, I'll be working hard to improve my books and stretch my range, while at the same time hopefully delivering the kind of big SF kicks that I'm perhaps best known for. Sitting here now, I can honestly say that the last thing I feel is complacent or smug. Excited and apprehensive in equal measure is more like it - and acutely aware that I've been fortunate on many levels. For all its flaws, my first novel found a readership, and while it wasn't everyone's cup of tea - hell, I'm not even sure it would have been mine - REVELATION SPACE did get me off to a good start. I'm in no doubt that timing and marketing played a massive role in that, but what mattered was that it provided a foundation for the subsequent books. I'm also truly grateful that both my publisher and my readers (or enough of them, anyway) were happy to see me strike off into different fictional universes, be it the faux-1959 of CENTURY RAIN or the near-future spacefaring solar system of PUSHING ICE. I love doing the Revelation Space stories, but - gratifyingly - I've never felt like I was a prisoner of them. Maybe that's why I still like doing them.

I've been lucky in many other ways. I've worked with a supportive and understanding editor - the excellent Jo Fletcher - for all my novels to date, and my agent Robert Kirby has been a genuine star. But I've also had the benefit of a great family, a wonderful and supportive wife, and friends who've been there when I needed them. I had a great job at ESA which involved working with some truly smart people (people who made me realise that I'm actually a bit of a thicko on many levels), and for most of the last fifteen years I've had the financial security to be able to treat writing as a glorified hobby - something I'll do so long as it's fun/challenging/whatever. That's still pretty much my attitude: it almost never feels like a day job. I've also had the benefit in my adult years of stamina and good health - something you can never take for granted. Anyone with a passing knowledge of the current SF and fantasy scene will know of writers who are dealing with issues of personal health that would make almost all the usual writerly grievances - certainly any that I ever have to deal with - look very trivial indeed. So I'm not only lucky, but mindful that there are writers (and readers, for that matter) out there who'd love the certainty of ten years of life, let alone ten years of income. So yes, a very happy camper here.

Cool. I'm fairly sure my brother leant me an Alastair Reynolds book after he'd read it, and I'm fairly sure it was 'Pushing Ice' - he gave it a pretty positive review as I recall.

Oh, you should definitely read it. Pushing Ice is one of my favourites, and as a stand-alone, much easier to get into than his series. It has more accessible characters than some of his far-future stuff, and has a really cool sci-fi action movie feel (although than makes it sound awful, films like The Abyss were a touchstone for the book). If you like that I can recommend his others! He's pretty much my favourite SF author.

Now reading..... Lamb - By Christopher Moore.

The Shadow of the Wind

Another one to thank Craig for. A well thought out and structured book with plenty to keep you guessing, as well as some things that seemed a little less surprising.

I think my favourite section was the big reveal towards the end where we read the notes written by Nuria .

My only grumble was that I thought more could have been made of Daniel's father.

I nearly bought the new book on Saturday but thought better of it.

Now reading..... Lamb - By Christopher Moore.

Is that the one set in Barcelona about the book? If so its an amazing book. I loved it (although as you can tell its been a while since I read it.) I fancy reading An Interpretation of Murder, but only because the cover of the book looks like Shadow of the Wind.

If its a different book though then please ignore this post.

I'm currently reading The Angel's Game, which is by the same author, and I absolutely adore it so far. I think it's a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind.