Whilst sitting in a book shop earlier drinking coffee, I started reading Steve Martin's memoir Born Standing Up having read a few good things about it. Needless to say I was hooked from the very beginning. Beautifully written, it's a hilarious and heartfelt account of his stand-up career taking in everything from his early days as a magician who told some jokes, through his megastardom and his retirement from stand-up in 1981. It's also very candid about his relationship with his family, particularly his father, and it is at times very touching. A wonderful insight into a great comedic talent.

In the Heart of the Sea which is an account of the event on which Moby Dick was based. The boat has just been nutted by the whale and I think that there is cannibalism coming. I think that I need to get a copy of Moby Dick to see how they compare.

I've got copies of both, and have tried - and failed - to read Moby Dick twice now.

I found it hard to get into Melville's writing style, but - oddly - what I did read I enjoyed, even though it was a bit of a slog! I still intend to read it through one day.

I've not attempted In the Heart of the Sea.

In the Heart of the Sea is very readable. Clips along at a nice pace and what description of whaling and Nantucket island life that is in there is very interesting stuff. Sounds like you might actually enjoy In the Heart of the Sea more than Moby Dick since I imagine that the content is rather similar but Philbrick's writing style is rather lighter.

I got it as part of a box set with two other books I was more interested in reading, and have always put off reading it because I want to finish Moby Dick first (so that I can compare the two the other way around).

If you want to find out more about the detail of whaling etc then Moby Dick will be the book for you, the amount of detail Melville packs in is amazing (he spends most of one chapter just talking about a dish of stew!).

I have just started the latest Iain M Banks novel, 'Matter'. So far, so weird, but that's to be expected.

I should be finished just in time to start:



Reynolds has posted an excerpt here.

Marvellous.

I just finished Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend by Christopher Moore, thanks to the lovely Craig.

Hands down, the funniest thing I've ever read.

I have two books on the go at present, both of them I should have finished by now as they're not exactly taxing reads. Brooker's Dawn of the Dumb and Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues.
Both brilliant.

Great book. You should check out A Dirty Job next; it's even funnier.

Well, I also picked up World War Z on Craig's recommendation, but I was definately about to ask which Moore is next. I have trouble believing it will be funnier than Lamb, or near as touching (even to a hardened atheist like me, it was a very sweet story)

It's perhaps not as touching, I too found Lamb strangely affecting, but it's got much more jokes.

World War Z is all kinds of wonderful.

I finished A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole last night and it was, without a doubt, one of the most consistently hilarious and entertaining books I have ever read. A wonderfully constructed farce with great characters, a wonderfully rich vision of New Orleans and written with such wit and intelligence. A staggeringly great book.

Still working through Peace and War. I've finished Forever War, and it's direct sequel Forever Free. Not that impressed. Themes include being forced into the army, not being a natural killer, time dilation, sexuality, reliance on technology for survival, the difficulty of civilans to relate veterans. It's dealt with fairly heavy handedly in my opinion, especially heterosexual/homosexual relations. The follow up book, Forever Peace, not a sequel, is what I'm reading now. So far it seems considerably more polished while covering a lot of the same themes. Again, soldiers who do not like killing, an inability for civilians and 'jacked' veterans to relate and the resulting disassociation from society, racial tension as opposed to sexual tensions, reliance on technology and the inequlities of the technological, organisational and miltary strengths of the two opposing forces. Obviously, a lot of the authors own feelings have gone into the story, from his days as a Vietnam vet, but I think he has expressed them far better in this book. Also, the repressed homophobia of the main character in the first two books was jarring, whereas the main characters in Forever Free is a victim of racial abuse which seems to be a better way of putting amessage across while not creating a character that your supposed to like but sometimes don't. I wouldn't recommend Forever War or Forever Free, but Forever Peace is definately worth a read.

Warriors Series book one, Into The Wild by Erin Hunter

I don't tend to read young adult fantasy book series. I had heard about this series before, which is about a Clan of feral cats, and decided that I didn't want to read it. Over time though, the book covers compelled me to try it out.

It was alright. It started off slow but I figured it was an easy enough read to slog on through it. It picked up and got a bit exciting near the end but as an adult it didn't really do too much for me. I have decided that I do not like my cats anthropomorphic. Even though these cats were supposed to be "real" they still did things like having a "medicine cat" tend to their wounds. It does leave off with unfinished story lines, so I may have a go at the next book some in the future & see if they improve.

Oi wahnt thaaat.

I often struggle to keep my interest in biographies, but I desperately want to read this. I've adored his wacky stand-up material for years, and still listen to his comedy albums now.


Oi goht thaaat.

I bought it for the sole reason that it was one of Bill Hicks' favourite books, and (surprise, surprise) I've still to read it. It's a tremendous shame that the author killed himself after having tried without success to get it published. His mother later submitted it to a publisher and, well, it went on to sell pretty darn well, so I understand.

I really must get around to all these unread books of mine.

I'm the same; unless the person's life is a cavalcade of hilarious anecdotes or unless they are a very engaging writer I tend to drift off and not pay attention. Fortunately, Martin's is both of those things and as such is very addictive. It's also not a ''biography'' as such as a book in which he discusses his craft, how he got into stand-up and how his style evolved through his interest in philosophy. It's also quite short and you never feel as if you've got a real slog ahead of you.



Whilst I was reading it I kind of wished I didn't know about its publication history since it made certain parts of the story seem much sadder than they were intended and made me wonder how much of the author was in the characters and their relationships. Of course, there's no way I could have ever read it without that knowledge since it was never published during his lifetime, but it does cast a pall over it. Still a wonderful book, though.

Yeah, I was already aware it was more of an analysis of his comedy than a bio, which is the primary reason I was interested in the book. I'm aware that Martin's writing style has been commended plenty by critics already, and I have yet to read my copy of Shopgirl, which needs to be remedied! Needless to say I shall be picking up a copy of Born Standing Up as soon as I can find it at a manageable price.

I finally finished reading Microserfs this evening - that's not a comment on the book, it's a comment on me being a very slow reader.

Very good - thank you Julie! I'm going to miss Bug, Todd, Abe, Dan, Micheal, Susan, Ethan and co.

Oh, and I'd really like to meet Karla - *sigh*

JPod next.

I haven't actually sat down and read a book cover-to-cover in over a year.

I've started many, but haven't finished any.

First up, I think, will be Al Franken's The Truth.

My pleasure! I'm always happy to spread the Copeland love.



This is correct.

Yep, you live - this time!





I already have it, but I'm going to leave it for a bit before I read it - I have Matter and Slaughterhouse 5 to read first (I suspect that after that pairing something more down to earth will be a welcome change!).

I enjoyed it - interesting, and it all came together really well. If I have any criticism it's that the ending was a little weak. I've also since read his Misspent Youth which is his weakest book by far, although it was still not bad. Back onto Alistair Reynolds now - almost finished Century Rain.

Spent some of this morning and most of my time in the hairdressers reading Chris Wooding's Poison for what must be the twentieth time. I always forget how much I love that book until I read it again.

APPLES - Richard Milward

The story of two young teens living in a Middlesborough council estate. Adam - a shy, Beatle obsessive with OCD, and Eve - a pill popping, party loving girl whose mum has been diagnosed with cancer. For the most part Adam and Eve narrate the story, but sometimes other characters get a turn, as well as a lampost and a butterfly! It reminded me a little of Trainspotting. Though why it was necessary to type a whole chapter backwards?
Quite a good little book about teen hedonism, unrequited love and trying to "fit in".

This week I've been reading Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett, and bloody good it was too. A Byzantine plot full of double-crosses, shoot outs and femme fatales anchored by the narrator, a Continental Ops Detective brought to Personville (or Poisonville, as it is otherwise known), a corrupt pit of a city which, through a confluence of circumstances and injured pride, he ends up being given the task of cleaning up. Which he proceeds to do by turning all the various gangs against each other.

Considering how influential the book has been, not only on crime fiction but on popular culture as a whole with countless homages and rip-offs having appeared over the years, it was interesting to see the source and, when I wasn't getting slightly confused trying to remember who had actually committed what, it was really great fun. Sparse language, hard-boiled dialogue and a dizzying plot, it's just great.

Just finished The League of Gentlemen's Book of Precious Things, a compilation of each of the gents favorite bits from books, play, movies, etc.

Entertaining little read. Their choices are definitely in keeping with what I would have expected of each of them.

Spares by Michael Marshall Smith.

Wow. Just...wow. Such a vivid, disgusting, hilarious and electrifying imagination that man has. Had me gripped throughout and constantly had me guessing what was going to happen next.

I've recently been working my way through the first three seasons of Homicide: Life on The Streets and I've started reading David Simon's original novel/journalistic account Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets. Apart from the fact I keep trying to guess which person in the book turned into which character in the series it's very readable and enjoyable so far.

He may well be the only modern Science Fiction author I've read in the last decade or so. I can recommend all his books.

I think Spielberg bought the rights to, and intended to direct, Spares. Then again, he intends to make a lot of films. What happened to his Goodies movie?

Yeah, Dreamworks bought the rights not long after Spares was published but it languished in development for a few years and the rights expired. At which point The Island was released and, after deciding not to pursue legal action, Smith said that he didn't think a film version will ever be made.

John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness by Gilles Boulenger
More a lengthy interview than an actual biography, Boulenger discusses Carpenter's early life, each of his films individually and filmaking in general. Learnt a few things - he was lined up to direct Top Gun, Fatal Attraction & Golden Child , had it not been for Legend taking so long to film Tom Cruise would have been Starman, he was sacked from Firestarter because The Thing was considered a form of pornography by the studio!
If you have any interest in the man's films this is well worth a read.

Stormbreaker
OK, far sillier than Silverfin.

i read a book...

the cement garden by ian mcewan

isolation, family, incest, death and masturbation: what more could you want? i'd be interesting to see how it translated to the screen, in andrew birkin's film...

I read the new(ish) PJ Tracy book, Snow Blind, over the weekend. I have to say I thought it was much better than the 2nd and 3rd books but still not as good as the first. I was disappointed that the story didn't do as much as it seemed like it would but it definitely had me gripped in places.

Sweet And Low by Richard Cohen

Highly entertaining book written by the grandson of the Sweet & Low empire. It is literally not only the story of how the empire was built & the corruption that erupted through stupidity, but also the history of the first settlers of Manhattan, sugar, saccharine, organized crime, diabetics, & post-war Brooklyn. It also tells how the author's family was disinherited from the entire fortune.

Probably the biggest feel good book I've ever read. And yet it's so deep.

Reading Mein Leben im Schrebergarten by Wladimir Kaminer. A great laugh of a book. In a good way. I cryed tears for ten minutes at one point.

Right now I'm reading Yes Man by Danny Wallace & I don't know if I should continue or just chuck it. I'm finding a lot of it really stupid. He's insulting our intelligence to think that we would believe that he's really that naive.

However, the book is really well written and very entertaining. And the chapter I read last night actually made me laugh quite a few times. I would be a great book if it was fiction, but to try & pass it off as Non- is the problem.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have read Candy, Valiant, Sleepwalking and The Colour of Magic.

The first three were just random teen novels that I picked up from the library, and I didn't particularly enjoy any of them. I quite liked some of the characters in Candy, but the story itself just wasn't my thing. Valiant was simply dull and poorly written. Sleepwalking had a great prologue, but it all went downhill after that. I thought that all of the characters were highly immature and really annoying.

The Colour of Magic, on the other hand, was incredible! I've been scanning the posts on the Discworld thread and a lot of you seem to feel that it's one of the poorer books in the series. If that's true, I can't wait to see what the rest are like!

I've just bought Stardust and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, so I'm looking forward to reading them over the weekend.

Would anyone like a copy of The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson? There's currently a campaign on in Edinburgh to get everyone reading and that's the book that has been chosen. As a result there are free copies of it all over the place, including about 200 sat in a pile in the office at work, so I can nab some and get them out to you if you'd like one, all I ask is the postage cost in return.

This week I finished Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets by David Simon and The Straw Men by Michael Marshall. Both were books I read as a result of considerable interest in the authors' other work and both were fantastic.

Homicide is the story of a year David Simon spent shadowing a Baltimore homicide squad. Over the course of the novel, he details hundreds of murders, some in great detail whilst others are merely mentioned in passing, and offers a terrific insight into the lives and minds of men who spend every day dealing with the darkest side of humanity.

Admittedly, I spent much of my time being distracted by how many of the stories were recreated almost word for word in the TV series Homicide: Life On The Street, as well as how many of the more colourful exchanges resurfaced in The Wire, but for the most part I was engrossed in the brilliant prose and Simon's always wonderful ability to capture dialogue and tiny details. Well worth checking out if you are a fan of Simon's subsequent Baltimore epics.

Having been astounded by Michael Marshall Smith's science fiction work, I was interested in checking out his contemporary crime novels and was suitably impressed by this, his first foray into straight crime fiction and the first in his Straw Men trilogy.

Despite the change in genre and period, Marshall's unique voice remains intact, making an already engaging serial killer plot into something really very special. To talk about the plot is to reveal too much, but needless to say it was utterly mesmerising; a dark, funny, terrifying journey that managed to use technology to advance the plot in a natural way, without feeling forced or like it had been crammed in to make the story seem modern. I can't wait to see where the story goes next.

i'm currently reading The Big Sleep by raymond chandler. Thus far it's been witty and well-written. The suspense is already being set up. Loving it.

I love Chandler's writing; he's great at character and mood, which more than makes up for the fact that his plots (or anti-plots) almost never make sense.

They really are very good, I can't think of another author who has been so consistently good over so many books (I've just started reading Thud!).

So, any suggestions on which Discworld book to go with next?

I just finished Stardust last night, and I must say that I was really surprised at how drastically different the film is to the book. It's like they just took the bare bones of the plot and made up a completely different story around it. I still love them both the same though!

Onto Neverwhere now! I'm only about 70 pages in and I love it already!

Neverwhere is a very good book as well, and it works far better than the TV series.

On the Pratchett side of things, if you liked The Colour of Magic I'd suggest reading through the rest in order starting with The Light Fantastic as it is a direct sequel to TCoM.

If you want to skip ahead a few books I've always thought Mort, Guards! Guards! and Wyrd Sisters are good starting places.

Obasan by Joy Kogawa. So beautiful. Very poetic, but intense and painfully sad. Now my second favorite book after DUNE.

A reminder of our past and how much we are capable of hate.

I've just read Wuthering Heights. They're all a bunch of bastards, aren't they? I can't see why people would name their children after Heathcliff. My sympathy runs out pretty quickly and the great romance gives way to nothing but vicious misery. Still I rather enjoyed it. Been ages since I've read something worthy and literary like.

I am really, really enjoying Neverwhere so far. I almost refused to go into Maths after my hour break because I was sitting reading it and didn't want to put it down.

I think I'll try The Light Fantastic next then. That is, if my local library has it...

Can anyone help me, please? I'm after the name of the short (children's) story which, IIR, has a repeated line "give me back my hand". It's about a guy who's in bed and hears a noise. Sorry for the vague description.

Is it definitely 'give me back my hand'? I recall something similar with 'Who's got my toe?' Also about somebody in bed hearing a noise, and the line is repeated. I couldn't tell you where from though, sorry.