Yay!

'Lost plots' is number 3 isn't it? If I'm onto 'Lost in a good book' by payday I'll buy that, if not I can wait. 'Treat for self' priorities are new Trainers plus the other 3 Scott Pilgrims. Plus I have 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' which I'd like to read soonish.

I think I'm going to come back to this one. The Mark Kermode book on my pile seems a much more enticing prospect.

Our Fforde covers were consistent too, until First Among Sequels. I really hate when publishers do that.

Is that "It's Only A Movie"? I read the introduction to that in Waterstones the other day. It was quite entertaining, if a bit heavy on in-jokes.

I finished reading Iron Council by China Mieville last night and, rather the finding it "dull as fuck", as one A. Davison described it, I really enjoyed it. Set in the Bas-Lag universe of Mieville's earlier novels, Perdido Street Station and The Scar, Mieville this time introduces his bizarre and wonderful steampunk/epic fantasy fusion to the world of the Western, as he spins a story about the eponymous Iron Council, a collection of rebels and prisoners who stole a train years before the main events of the story and, by laying down track and travelling through the harshest environments in the world, escaped the fascistic reach of New Crobuzon. Now, with civil unrest and war threatening to tear New Crobuzon apart, a group of political activists set out to find the Council in order to warn it of impending doom.

As I said, I really enjoyed Iron Council: I felt that Mieville was able to synthesise the Western iconography of trains, deserts and high plains drifters into his vibrant and imaginative world, and the introduction somathurgy - the creation of golems from earth, wood, metal, and even light and time - allowed him to create some fantastically inventive action sequences that frequently had my heart racing. I also felt that he managed to make the book political, with critiques of colonialism that piss over anything in Avatar, without losing sight of the story and wiorld-building. However, I would still say that the book was a disappointment because it falls short of either of its predecessors, both in content and in form.

Considering how I often think of fantasy literature as quite stale and uninventive, it seems counter-intuitive of me to criticise a book for having too many ideas, but sadly that is the case with Iron Council. Mieville puts so much on the table that it becomes indigestible. Perdido Street Station and The Scar were not simple books, but they never felt so crowded as Iron Council does at times. More importantly, I didn't feel any emotional connection to the story in the same way that I did with either of the previous books. The scenes of rebellion and fighting in the streets were genuinely rousing and had me feeling for the people trying to change things, but I never felt that same involvement with the individual characters in the story. It doesn't help that one of the main characters, Judah Low, is essentially a saintlike figure that is intentionally inscrutable and is hard to really identify with.

I also felt that, even if I wasn't bored, Mieville was. There's a terseness to his writing that wasn't in the other books. This is meant to match the Western motif. Comes off as half-finished. Not good for description. There's a sense that, whilst he loves the world he created, he perhaps feels confined by it, as evidenced by his general unwillingness to describe creatures that appear in the previous books.

Still, it's a very good book, but a somewhat flawed final entry into a trilogy that is otherwise so fantastic.

Well, I read the first two 'His Dark Materials' books in quick imte, and who ever told me I'd enjoy them wasn't lying. They are a cracking good read.

I went to the cheap book shop and bought the third part today. I can't wait.

And Serafina Pekkala is a mystery no more!

Please beware of spoilers in any replies.

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

A strange but enjoyable read. Got a lot better as it went along, with extra intricacy towards the end, creating some nice and some not so nice mental pictures in my head.

Pretty good, but not as good as The Crow Road for me.

Yes, and quite an entertaining read it was too. Nothing new learnt, other than his obsession since childhood with Jason Isaacs.

Just started "Renegade" by Mark E Smith. So far a surprisingly entertaining rant. Thank-ah, God-ah, it is not-ah, written in his "singing" voice-ah.

I stayed up til 2 in the morning last night finishing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, which was terrific. A gripping, complex crime novel with intriguing characters - Lisbeth Salander, in particular, is really fascinating - great pacing and a murky, political subtext that adds a real weight to its story of a journalist hired to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of a young girl 36 years earlier.

Highly recommended for anyone who like intelligent crime writing.

Edit: I also finished reading Raymond Carver's Would you please be quiet, please?, a terrific collection of short stories, each of which perfectly captures moments in the characters' lives when things go ever so slightly awry. By turns hilarious and intensely sad, it's a really beautiful series of stories.

The film is getting some promising write-ups too.

I'm really looking forward to the film now. I was interested after seeing the trailer, and reading Sostie's comments on it here, but I'm now really interested in seeing how it transfers to the big screen. I imagine that it'll be a lot leaner than the book, even though it's still two and a half hours long.

What he said.

'The Amber Spyglass' was marvellous! Breathtaking in it's scope, but still very human.

Has anyone read the sort-of-sequal 'Lyra's Oxford'? Is it worth getting hold of?

Yes, I've read the other one too, it's a blue book and it's about Lee Scoresby. Definitely worth a read but they are very short books.

Edit: It's called Once Upon a Time in the North.

Yawn!

You should maybe try Richard K Morgan's 'The Steel Remains' if you are disillusioned with fantasy in general, it's a brutal and modern take on the genre.

I struggled very much with Mieville. I also found it rather 'undergrad' in terms of politicks.

Has anyone read anything by Nicola Barker? I've heard good things.

Worse than that, it's 'post-doctoral'.

Triage by Scott Anderson.

Quite gripping. I can't wait to see the film.

I knew about that. He would have gone down a storm in 1968.

Oh, you. I did enjoy it, and felt that it rounded out the trilogy nicely, but I think the move away from small, character driven stories set against the backdrop of huge events to huge events that happen to have characters near them was a big problem with it.



I tried reading one of his books a while ago (I think it was Altered Carbon) after you mentioned him but just didn't get on with it at all. Something about his style failed to click with me. I'll probably try again, though, since as a rule I always finish a book I start.

I thought I'd go for a thematic double bill of alternate histories by reading Fatherland by Robert Harris and Making History by Stephen Fry. The former was an excellent, gripping and hugely entertaining detective story elevated by its unusual and brilliantly realised context, with Hitler's Germania depicted as a world of the clandestine and eerily kitsch masking dark and terrible secrets. The latter was enjoyable and often very funny, with the added bonus of having my home city depicted, but it felt a little inconsistent.

I recommended it to you on Facebook, but in context of the other books I will again recommend The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Like a lot of Dick's novels, it's a bit spotty but the ideas behind it are terrific. His version of how the world might have turned out if the Nazis had won is very odd.

'The Steel Remains' is excellent, not really like Morgan's other work as in it's not hard sci-fi. A similar sort of gritty, brutal fantasy like Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. Their writing styles are very different but they are both very much grounded in character and events.

Hehe

Hmm, if it's not that similar to the other stuff he's done then I think I'll give it a go. That's not to say that I thought that the other stuff of his I have read was bad, just that I didn't take to it.

If you liked Fatherland, give Enigma a try, it's a much better book.

After reading a couple of pages in Waterstones, I've picked up a copy of The Steel Remains after Jessop and Igmeister's positive comments. I also picked up Fool by Christopher Moore, which I cannae wait to read.

You will love. Speaking of Moore, I am almost finished with Bite Me. I decided to re-read Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck! before I started this one, and I'm glad I did. I don't think Bite Me is as funny as it could be, but I like it.

Just finished 'The City and The City' by China Mieville . Not read any of his stuff before, but have meant to for a long time, didn't want to start with a series so decided to give this a try. At first glance it is a straightforward crime novel, that becomes more complicated when it is explained the two cities referred to in the title are actually in the same geographical space... Found it a very rewarding read, and will definitely have a look at some of Mieville's other work.

Starting now on 'Small Wars' by Sadie Jones. Thought 'The Outcast' was an excellent debut, so really looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

I've heard about this book before and it was recommended - will have to get hold of it methinks.

I've almost finished The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski. Part memoir of his days as a reporter in Africa, part narrative, it's a fascinating description of a continent in the turbulent years of the 1960s-1980s, trying to understand its place in the world in the post-colonial period. The chapters when he was in Uganda evoked a lot of memories for me and the non-linear structure of the book (each chapter is in a different place and time) serves to create an overall picture of a chaotic, multi-faceted place, one that is probably more accurate than any dry description.

He is a fantastic writer and I loved this book. Thanks to Luke for getting it for me!

I love Altered Carbon - obviously. Try again!


Let us know what you think...


Spoiler?

I'm very excited. I bought Alastair Reynolds shiny new one, Terminal World today.

And I recently started 'Marrow' by Robert Reed, bought on the strength of a short story in an anthology I bought at Christmas. It's extremely weird, but good reading so far.

Excellent, I didn't know that was out yet. Will be picking that up soon.

He's signing at FP on Saturday. I can't make it but he's always delighted to meet fans.

I'm quite tempted - I'll see if I can spare the time.

I've not read the book, but if that's a spoiler then every review - and the back cover of the book itself - gave it away.

I did wonder, but as maian said it tells you in the blurb. Terminal World is on my to read list, let us know what it's like.

Just Started "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. I was a bit nervous when I first picked it up, due to the main character being so loathsome, but I'm actually liking it. Especially the parts with Officer Mancuso and Jones. Is quite intelligent and funny. Very unexpected.

Finished Christopher Moore's new book Bite Me. I wonder if it's the last we'll see of the Jody/Tommy love story? Anyway, Moore fans won't be disappointed, but it will help immensely if you've read Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck first, and in that order.

Nearly two years after I started it, I finally finished Stephen King's Skeleton Crew. It took me so long to read because the book is a collection of short stories, so I just dipped in and out between reading full novels, and when I bought the book I did so mainly to read The Mist in advance of seeing the film version, so once I had read that I felt no real impetus to read the whole thing in one go. As well as being the longest story, The Mist is probably the best of the bunch, which run the gamut from creepy ('The Raft') and disturbing ('The Survivor Type') to goofy ('The Jaunt') and fucking dull ('The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet'). Very much a mixed bag, but the good stories are terrific and do at least outnumber the bad.

I'm re-reading Never trust a Rabbit by Jeremy Dyson. I think this is one of my favourite collection of short stories ever. It's so pitch perfect.

I love Jeremy Dyson.

SFX have put the Top 25 Sci-Fi and Fantasy books as voted for by the readers online.

Not much of what I voted for has made it, and I certainly don't agree with the order...

I voted for The Day of the Triffids and The War of the Worlds, which both made the list, and The Player of Games which did not.

I'm surprised Mort didn't make the list, given how many other Pratchett titles did.

I voted for 'The Stars My Destination', 'Good Omens', 'I Am Legend' and 'The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe', so I was glad to see them included.

If I voted now, I would have included His Dark Materials in my votes, so much did I enjoy them.

You were only supposed to vote for three!

I've got a second id on there, due to my own incompetence a couple of years back!

Just finished Small Wars by Sadie Jones Set in Cyprus in 1956, it's the story of an officer and his relationship with his wife, and the army during the British occupation, well written and engaging for the most part, the Small War of the title is easily transferable to any other conflict of the past 60 years, it could just as easily be set in Iraq or Afghanistan. Not perfect by any means, several characters exist merely to justify actions taken later in the book, and several plot strands seem to be forgotten about altogether. Having said that it is a very good example of how little we learn from history.

I got a free copy of The Twits in my Shreddies, so I'm reading that.

Legend Of A Suicide by David Vann.

A non-chronological account of a father suicide set in Alaska.

I found it really compelling and unputdownable, but was left perplexed and confused by the ending. I had not the faintest clue what had happened or what was going on. I think I needed my book face on. Answers on a postcard...

The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code - Robert Rankin


My first dip into Robert Rankin after catching the audio of The Brightonomicon a few weeks ago. Really enjoyed it. Clever nonsense and seriously funny.

I read his first which I enjoyed, but found myself struggling with anything else I tried after. I don't think it's because the first was so good, more that all his books seem a bit samey.


Anyone finish the new Fforde yet?