Good books you have read or are reading.

[Thorondor]

"The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects" is the kind of comic you'd unexpectedly find on a dusty bookshelf to the back, on some lost magic corner of an old bookstore.

 

Inside it has these little quirky, humorous short stories set in a place all their own and yet somehow familiar to any reader. Light-hearted, endearing and yet mysterious enough that, as in life, you won't get all the answers.

 

This inconspicuous small black book published in hardcover by Dark Horse Comics is the brainchild of Mr. Mignola and at least two of the stories deserved an Eisner award.

 

::

 

Go ahead and get it before it vanishes like a Zoltar fortune-telling machine.

[Pete]

Finished "I Shall Wear Midnight" - the latest in the Tiffany Aching series of Discworld stories (supposedly for younger readers, but not dumbed down any from the other novels which is refreshing).

 

It was good, as usual, but I feel he was covering a hell of a lot of ground trying to wrap Tiffany's storyline up a bit as well as the storyline of some characters introduced a long time ago - one in particular from some 30-odd books ago which was a lovely surprise!

 

I'm hoping as this is supposed to be the last Tiffany book that what this means is that she's now old enough to appear in the main series and this whole "the last Tiffany book" think (no idea where I actually read it) is all a decoy.

 

Even suffering from the early stages of Alzheimers, Terry's fortunately showing no signs of lack of imagination. Here's to the next 30 books!

 

"There can be only one thousand!"[/u]

[FullAuto]

Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks. One of the few writers that can blow my mind, his whole Culture series is great, and this is no different. Perhaps a little formulaic for him, as he's done this kind of story before (clashing civilisations of various technological levels) but still an excellent read. Not a good intro to the series (although nowhere near as indecipherable to a newb as say, Excession), nor better than The Player of Games, but a worthy book.

[chiasaur11]

Anyone else hear about Machine of Death?

 

Anthology about a machine that can tell you how you'll die (no details, just "drowned" or "electrocuted" or "Eaten by ravenous wildebeasts".)

 

Bunch of authors and artists, lot of them known internet types (Ryan "Dinosaur Comics" North got the ball rolling), lot of people who it's their first published book.

 

Currently the #1 amazon bestseller, first 40 pages are free online, worth a look.

[Knan]

Crooked little vein (Warren Ellis) is a good one. Especially when you are in a cynical mood.

 

"Stop it. You're frightening me." --William Gibson

 

Definitely not one for younger readers.

[Space Voyager]

Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks. One of the few writers that can blow my mind, his whole Culture series is great

Love Banks as well! Hope I get my greedy hands on Surface Details.

 

BTW, I hate the book if it is delaying the terror mission in your AAR.

[NKF]

Just finished reading "Unseen Academicals", yet another of the fine Discworld books. Since you can usually peg the various books down to a certain cast type, you could call this an Unseen University faculty and staff book. Mainly staff. A few of the old regulars in UU don't make any appearance unfortunately. But then there are so many new and interesting ones too, so can't complain.

 

Another fantasy species is brought into the city of cities, and it also involves football (soccer). While the game did feature in Jingo, it is re-invented up to modern day standards by the end of the book.

 

Finally got round to reading this book. I've had it sitting unread on my desk for the last 6 months or so. Reason why I didn't start reading it was because I kept worrying that it would be all over too soon. And sure enough, I'm now sad it's over.

 

- NKF

[FullAuto]

Crossed is getting a volume in 3D.

 

In the meantime, I've been reading the Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers. A literature professor brought in to guide some time travellers gets lost in 19th century London, and promptly gets involved with magic, alchemy, body swapping, treason, and a certain old religion willing to do anything for supremacy. Rather good.

[NKF]

Just spent the day reading I Shall Wear Midnight from cover to cover today, and enjoyed it all the way through. Was also quite pleased to see a few old faces reappear. I do wonder why I found it in the childrens' fiction section though.

 

- NKF

[Pete]

Just spent the day reading I Shall Wear Midnight from cover to cover today, and enjoyed it all the way through. Was also quite pleased to see a few old faces reappear. I do wonder why I found it in the childrens' fiction section though.

 

- NKF

 

Yup - he really dug deep into Discworld's past for one of those characters!

 

They're in the kids section because the Tiffany series is intended for younger readers (I'm guessing 11+ for the start of the Tiffany series). In terms of Pratchett however this means he doesn't change his writing style one iota save for one or two less really long words - something I really like as it gets children to up their reading skills and enjoy a more complex story as well.

 

I reckon Tiffany will return at some point in a slightly smaller role, but in a mainstream Discworld book. At least, I hope she will.

[NKF]

You could look at it as the concepts and vocabulary have grown less restricted with the character. This one certainly read to me much on the same level as Discworld books compared to the earlier titles, particularly with Tiffany rushing into the aftermath of domestic violence right at the beginning, which was why I was wondering if it was suitable to be put in the childrens' section. Probably not for the very young, but certainly teen readers I guess. Plus I think my idea of what was child-friendly material in my day is radically different from today.

 

The return of the old characters definitely put them back in the story as such, since it felt like they just winked out of existence after the books they were in ended. Often did wonder about them. I suspect those of us who have read the previous Discworld titles will enjoy these little gems the most.

 

- NKF

[FullAuto]

Crooked little vein (Warren Ellis) is a good one. Especially when you are in a cynical mood.

 

"Stop it. You're frightening me." --William Gibson

 

Definitely not one for younger readers.

 

Picked this up at work and enjoyed the Hell out of it. Funny, and insane.

 

No one's filling my testicles with saline, let's put it that way.

 

Not quite as funny, and a whole lot darker, is In The Miso Soup, by Ryu Murakami. One of those books that is a good read, but cannot be called enjoyable. A psycho Westerner and his terrified Japanese guide tour Tokyo's nightlife. Quite a harsh look at modern Japan, its sex trade and underworld.

[FullAuto]

Battlefields by Garth Ennis looks so good I've been unable to stop myself ordering it.

 

Ennis tells a fantastic war story, does his homework, and nearly always works with a great artist. Plus, I got it for

[Knan]

The Last Page, Anthony Huso. Tense and good debut novel. Fallible protagonists, no swashbuckling. On the other hand: Zeppelins, gaslight and treachery.

 

And vocabulary worthy of Lovecraft, it's been a few years since I needed to bring out the Oxford this many times.

[Azrael Strife]

Elminster: The making of a mage by Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms himself. More decent than I expected, it's very good fantasy reading.

 

Can anyone convince me that Discworld is a good read? I'm aware there are some big fans around, like our good friend Pete, so I thought a brief comment to start my reading excited would be nice, especially since I bought the The Colour of Magic solely based on Pete's fanatism

[FullAuto]

Pratchett is a damn good writer. The Watch books (Guards, Guards, Men at Arms, etc) are the best of a great lot.

[NKF]

If you get The Colour of Magic you have to get The Light Fantastic. Those two have to be read together or you'll go beyond mad and out the other side finding out what happens after the cliffhanger. Being one of the first works in the series, it will be a bit rougher comparedt o later works but is no less entertaining.

 

It's hard to recommend any one, but perhaps try Guards! Guards!, Witches Abroad, Reaper Man, Hogfather and maybe the stand-alone Small Gods. The more recent books like Going Postal would be good too. That should give you a fair sampling of the various themes (Guards, Witches, Wizards, Death, etc).

 

While most books are stand-alone (bar a few of Rincewind's stories) there is continuity in the books and characters grow and the world gets more modernised.

 

- NKF

[The Veteran]

How boring and technology dependent am I? I've not read any fiction for at least a few years now! Last 4 books I read have all been bookumentaries and all follow a similar pattern. I now know everything there is to know about pirates the world over, battleships the world over, the battle of trafalgar and Titanic.

 

I'm reading The Titanic Experience now which is interestingly different in that it has removable facsimile documents like boarding passes, inventories, telegrams, weather reports and all sorts. I think I've know every rivet of the Titanic and her fateful adventure since we had to write a creative account of her maiden voyage in year 9 english. I just fell in love with her and I had to read my piece to the class because I'd spent so much time on it

 

When I do sit down with fiction it's invariably Mr Pratchett, a very popular man in these forums it seems. My first Discworld story was bought for me by my godparents at a very young age in fact but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. So it went away for a good few years but when I came back to it with a slightly expanded vocabulary I immediately fell in love with it.

 

For those who haven't already experienced the rest of Terry's work (shame on you) I'd highly recommend Truckers, Diggers and Wings. It's a great little trilogy and it's not quite such heavy reading as some of the discworld novels either so good for a casual read!

[FullAuto]

I find his earliest stuff (TCOM, TLF) to be the weakest. His writing isn't as good, the Discworld isn't yet a coherent setting, the characters don't have a lot of depth...but when you read them, move on, and look back, it's an absolutely superb journey.

[The Veteran]

I'm not sure I agree. While both Pratchett and the Discworld has seen constant improvement over the course of it's lifetime I still love the first ones and it was essentially those 2 books that captured my interest in the rest of them.

 

I guess when the first book was written he wasn't really expecting to do a whole series of books in this setting so he didn't feel the need to think in depth about the planet right from the start. Same can be said for the people who live there and everything else. Perhaps he was just intending it to be those 2 books as if memory serves me they're the only 2 parter he's ever made.

 

Just a thought

[Pete]

I think during his earlier books he still had a full-time job if memory serves.

 

*grabs random early Discworld book off shelf* Oooh! Wyrd Sisters!

 

In fact, the short bio you'll find in the front of the earlier books states that it was 1987 before he started writing them full-time, and I recall reading somewhere that he realised he was really onto something when writing Mort.

 

I do like the fact that throughout the series he's never forgotten where it all started. In his latest - "I Shall Wear Midnight" in fact ties in with a character from a very early book, though I won't say which.

 

(Incidentally, anyone put off by the fact that the "Educated Maurice" and Tiffany Aching series of books are supposedly for younger readers should read them anyway - Pratchett's idea of writing for younger readers is writing the same as he always does and letting the publishers stick a badge on the books suggesting it's for a younger audience - he doesn't dumb them down one bit and they're the stuff of nightmares in places, quite literally).

 

And if you want something a little more realistic that always reminds me a bit of Moving Pictures (it's the cave for some reson) then read Nation. Not set on Discworld, just a slightly different parallel Earth but no less enjoyable.

[The Veteran]

I seem to recall seeing one of the other books he did, maybe a Tiffany one as I remember a sleeved hardback with an image of a girl on a black background... I didn't realise they were Discworld books when I saw them so never paid them much attention. Haven't bought any books for myself in a long time though so remember my birthday this year guys

[FullAuto]

Here's something interesting I saw over on Charles Stross' blog:

 

Charlie, what is the % of females among Science Fiction authors? My guess is a lot less than 55%.

 

Funny you should ask this ...

 

Among SF and Fantasy authors, the percentage of females is 55%.

 

Among SF authors, it's around 45%, if I remember the survey correctly.

 

Among hard SF authors, it's lower ... but, per discussions in a forum for working SF/F novelists, a lot more women want to write hard SF: it's just that their publishers steer them away from it "because hard SF readers won't read books by women". Although around 40-45% of hard SF readers are women ...

 

Would not have guessed that at all!

 

P.S. Anything by Stross is excellent.

 

While you're browsing for books by him and deciding whether to buy them (do so) read Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear, because it's great.

[Azrael Strife]

Has anyone read the Chronicles of Narnia? is it for kids or can be also read by adults like, say, Harry Potter?

It picked my interest since Richard Garriott (Lord British from Ultima games) said it was one of its inspirations for the series.

[FullAuto]

I'd say it's meant for children but it can be enjoyed by adults. The Christian overtones are rather overpowering for me these days, but they are a classic for a reason.