I'll admit that I did think, 'Someone's been watching QI,' while reading this one. I already know that his books have running gags and similar settings but I'll see in the next couple of books - when I get round to getting them - if I have a similar struggle.

I can't afford to buy it and it's on permanent loan at the library currently. Most annoying.

Richard Morgan - The Steel Remains.

His foray into fantasy, definately in the modern sense. Lot's of viscous action scenes, graphic gay sex scenes (that's a new one) and anti-heroes, plus magic explained kind of as science and definate hints that there are sci-fi elements waiting to pop in later in the series. Enjoyable, but it definately seemed at times like it was out for the shock factor, which to be honest is one thing I've noticed before with Richard Morgan. Ended nicely set up for a sequel too.

Despite recommending it, I'm not sure I liked the book all that much. I found it quite confusing and I can't remember why...

I can understand that sentiment. By the end I was thinking, I wonder where this could go, and looking forward to it, but there were times where Ringil came across as a whiny self-righteous dick. Of the two other main characters, Egar Dragonbane was a barely 2 dimensional barbarian warrior with a bit of business acumen and a penchant for big tits on teenagers and only Archeth came across as a vaguely grounded character and she wasn't even all human. In fact, the character I liked the most was the Emperor of the southern... empire... (I never did really get to grips with the factions and geography) who was at times funny, at times cunning and at times honest and human. And he wasn't even a main character.

Almost bought this but bought Drood by Dan Simmons (whose Ilium and Hyperion/Endymion saga I loved immensely) instead. It's a tale of Charles Dickens hunting a murderer and going a bit mad with his opium addicted friend.Haven't started it yet.


I've read a few of his and enjoyed them. Is marrow the one with the ball of rock planetoid carrying whole species around in it? Good story.

EDIT: Checked and it is. I also read Sister Alice, which I would also recommend.

It's really excellent, if a bit over-long. Takes a bit of time to get going, but then is really gripping.

Currently reading Transition by Iain Banks, enjoying it so far, although it did take me time to realise it wasn't an Iain M Banks novel.

Cool, looking forward to starting it even more.


I thought for a brief second you were saying there was a new 'M' book out.

I'm starting it tonight. I've been reading The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell for a few days and I need a break from the depressing.

Nope, you've got the best part of a year to wait for Surface Detail.

Just finished War of the Worlds. Great stuff.

What next for me, guys?
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Call of Cthulhu, or A Study in Scarlet?

Could I just ask, if anyone here happens to be out and about book buying in the London area over the next couple of weeks could you let me know if you chance upon A Pub Crawl Through History by Mike Pentelow and Peter Arkell. I'd like to get it for my dad's birthday next month.

Reading Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis, then going to move on to It Can't Happen Here and Elmer Gantry.

Reading "Beautiful Losers" by Leonard Cohen.

I just finished "The Late Hector Kipling" by David Thewlis (the dude who played the werewolf in the Harry Potters). Was good. The end made me quite sad. But books like that usually do.

The local The Works has The Little Book Of Mornington Crescent for 2 quid. I can finally say goodbye to double inversions putting me in Nip.

I also bought The Pocket Book Of Boosh, Ultimate Spiderman - The Scripts, and Strontium Dog Vol 5.



I'm not a big fan of Verne, so maybe you should get that out of the way?

The main bonus of my awful minimum wage job there during university was the access to some brilliantly obscure books - I bought my housemate the Babylon 5 Cookbook for 50p.

I had a surprise in Waterstone's this afternoon; whilst browsing the science fiction section I found a new John Wyndham novel!

Plan for Chaos is a previously unpublished, complete, Wyndham manuscript that was written at the same time as The Day of the Triffids.

Of course, there may be a good reason why it hasn't been published before now, but I guess I'm going to find out because I've bought a copy!

How's this going Pete? I got recommended Sinclair Lewis by an English teacher some years ago, is he as good as I'm led to believe? He's got a cracking name, at least.

It's one of the better satires I've read in quite awhile. Just plowing thru the 1920's slang is fun in itself. I've downloaded a bunch of his stuff and I'm definitely going to read the rest if they're anywhere near as good as this one.

Finished Transition by Iain Banks A very good novel, once the maze of the first 50 odd pages is unravelled. Makes you think about the kind of world that we live in and the people who run it, Banks' most political novel since 'Dead Air'. Definitely blurs the lines between his M and non-M output too.

I finished 'The City & The City' by China Mieville this week. At first it seems like your run of the mill detective fiction set in a made-up Eastern European city, but it quickly becomes something much more metaphysical and surreal. It took me a while to get my head around the incredibly inventive language that he uses, but once in the world it is a fascinating and absorbing story.

I just started 'The Skull Mantra' by Eliot Pattison. Another strange crime/mystery novel, this time set in Tibet under Chinese oppression.

Continuing my mission to read things I haven't ever got around to before, I've started reading Lord of the Rings.

Good stuff so far. Those Hobbits sure can eat.

Moved on to Downtown by Pete Hamill.

After discussing the upcoming TV adaptation in another thread, I've spent the last two weeks ploughing through A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. It's very good, but quite slow-going for the first 500 pages (out of 807). It's clear that Martin has an epic story in mind, and for that reason I can forgive his decision to make the first book largely about setting the scene and moving the pieces into place. It helps that he populates his world with fun and fascinating characters. (My favourites so far being Tyrion Lannister, a frequently insulted and kidnapped dwarf who gets some really funny, sarcastic dialogue, and who will be played by Peter Dinklage in the adaptation; and Daenarys Taegaryen, a young girl who family previously (and violently) ruled the Seven Kingdoms in which the book is set, and who spends the entirety of the novel in exile, preparing for her no doubt violent return.) It's also, in places, bracingly violent and bleak, which helps to undercut the mysticism that creeps into the story at times.

As I said earlier, it's a slow-burner, so anyone interested in investigating it will have to be prepared for the long haul of reading all of Martin's books in the Song of Ice and Fire series, since it works best as a piece of a larger puzzle than as a self-contained story. (Although Daenarys' is pretty nicely self-contained.)

Oh maian, you poor fool. You will be like all of us who have read this series, up at 3am with Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords because the books are impossible. to. put. down. There really should be a support group. Or at least a separate thread. Good luck.

Has anyone read the Coldfire trilogy by Celia Friedman?

Just finished Underground London by Stephen Smith. An interesting read about the history of London's sewers, bunkers, tube system cellars etc. A lot of it revolves around the Thames - nice to know half a millenium ago my office would have been under water! One worrying thing that was mentioned - between 1982-1991 the Thames barrier had to be closed 9 times. Between 1992-2001, 63 times. During the winter of 2001-2, 20 times!

Just started $20,000 by Bill Drummond. The ex-KLF man's book about one of his (many) odd art projects. This time round he travels the length of country with a rare photo he bought for $20,000. Having fallen out of love with the photo, he puts up estate agent style For Sale signs for the photo along the way and then givs talks about his intentions at gallerie, cafes, homes etc. The photo is of a stone circle in Iceland. He wants to sell said photo for $20,000 in cash (well below market value) put the money in a wooden box and then bury it in the middle of the stone circle. Regardless of whether you believe what he is doing is art, a sham or just pain stupid, Drummond's books ar always a great read.

I can't wait to join the horde of people who are so frustrated by his lax rate of productivity. Just release the fifth book already, dammit! (See, it's started already.)

So much for only reading a chapter or two of The Girl Who Played With Fire and then doing my reading for uni - I've ended up almost halfway through it this afternoon and I already like it even more than the first book.

I bought The Xeelee Sequence omnibus by Stephen Baxter because I was bored in town yesterday. Already finished Raft. Loved it. \proper thought about science too, even if it is tenuous.

And finished! Marvellous stuff. I am very glad I bought The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest at the same time because now I don't have to wait to find out what happens next.

Just finished The Princess Bride again. Still as awesome.

I recommend reading Neil Gaiman's opinion on the matter here:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/enti...ent-issues.html

I found it genuinely helpful after finishing the 4th book and slavering for the fifth.

Oh, I totally agree with Gaiman on that matter; I'd much rather he took his time and wrote a great book than rushed it and delivered something that was a disappointing. I was being facetious, more than anything.

(Having said that, if I had started reading his work years ago, and had to wait as long between books as regular readers have, I almost certainly wouldn't be as relaxed about it.)

Reading Ulysses.
This book is the hardest thing... It just really makes no sense to me. It's not the references that are bugging me, it's the fact that the book just does not make sense.. It's so scattered! I don't get it. I know the basic plot, but I can't follow it. I feel utterly stupid reading this book.

Joyce is extremely hard to read, because of his style of consciousness writing. Have you read any of his 'easier' works before? If not, you might find that a way to get into how he writes - I'd definitely recommend A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or Dubliners, his short stories.

Read this regardless if you haven't before, it's one of the best books ever written. Portrait of the Artist gets a bit boggy in places and meanders a lot, but Dubliners' stories are so meticulously crafted it never feels OTT. Definitely worth reading if you like Joyce or not.

I think I may actually put Ulysses on hold, it was a bit better (more enjoyable) reading it last night and this morning, but I could still only get about 5 pages in before my eyes started to glaze. I think that this will probably be my new Crime & Punishment. I tried reading that when I was 10 and failed enormously (I was 10, what was I expecting?). However, I've been rereading it each year and with each reading I am understanding it more and more. The last time I read it I was actually reading it for enjoyment and not as some odd punishment to myself.

I am going to the library on my lunch hour though and they do have a copy of Dubliners in.... I think I might borrow it.

Can anyone recommend an interesting accessible book about Da Vinci. And one on Greek Mythology. One with pictures would be nice.

This is a good biography about Da Vinci. If you want his complete works rather than commentary on his life - try this. Both reasonably priced and available at your local library probably.



I don't know about pictures but The Greek Myths by Robert Graves is the classic of all classics. He puts together stories from various sources (Homer, Herodatus, Apollonius Rhodius) into narrative form. Highly recommended.

There is also this volume by Jean Pierre Vernant - I haven't read it but I've heard very good things.

Cheers . Think I'll pick some of them up after I get paid.

Just finished Rise of the Iron Moon by Stephen Hunt. It's the third part of his Jackelian series of novels set in a world that is very much based upon a steam punk Victorian Britain. Found it a big improvement over the second book in the series 'The Kingdom Beneath the Waves', which I found a good read, but lacking the pacing and likeable characters of the first part of the series 'The Court of The Air'. Rise... is undoubtedly helped by the return of the main protagonists from the first book and a story that dives straight in offering plenty of twists and turns, before building up to a fantastic climax.

Have just started Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, not sure how much further I'll get as the joke is rapidly wearing thin.

I got that as a birthday/Christmas present. Even though I know it was meant to be sweet, a little unreasonable part me is a bit miffed about receiving such a horrible book. Burn it, it would make better kindling then reading material.

I finished Dubliners on Sunday. Quite good. Thanks for the recommendation!

I still think a proper zombie film set in that period would be awesome.

They've put the film version into production, so we'll get a chance to see it soon enough.

I've given up on it, couldn't get into it and found it seriously unfunny. Started on Ark by Stephen Baxter instead.

I agree, as a concept it is very interesting, however the execution of the concept into a book is the most painful thing I've ever read. It's garbage. It's one of those things that was only created to make money. Given the right treatment the book could have been really good. But it just wound up being cheesy cliche, and not even good cheesy cliche, frustrating crappy cheesy cliche. Maybe it's just because I adore the original Austen books. Those might be mindless drivel but they are fun! Plus Northanger Abbey is hilarious!

Engrossed in "The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher" by Kate Summerscale. It's fascinating.

Before work this morning I finally finished Great Expectations, which I'd be reading in increments for the better part of a month. I thought it was great, though I think my love of David Lean's incredibly pacy film version did make some of the slower sections seem more of a slog than they might otherwise have been. I also thought that my habit of reading bits at a time, usually during quiet periods of work, doesn't do any favours to Dickens' prose, which is very rich and seems to be best read in long, unbroken bursts, rather than in brief snatches here and there.

Great Expectations is the reason I hated Dickens for a decade. I came to my senses, but I still can't stand that one.