Yes it's strange how he does so much research and yet still gets so much not quite right isn't it?

Reading the Eyre Affair at the mo.

Es muchos bueno.

Plock plock plock.

I was thinking that you guys would want to hear of the next Pratchett book:

Moist von Lipwig was a con artist and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet.It was a tough decision. But he's got to see that the mail gets though, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too.Maybe it'll take a criminal to succeed where honest men have failed, or maybe it's a death sentence either way.Or perhaps there's a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who's prepared to push the envelope

The title? of course it's Going Postal.

I've also just read Dawkins' new (I think) book of essays Devil's Chaplain. It was excellent.

So Sam, are you going to order a Ffordian t-shirt? I do believe they have some featuring the dodo.

Devil's Chaplain is indeed good, but didn't you find the letter to his daughter just a little bit disturbing?

I will admit that using the hypothetical "suppose I told you your dog was dead. You would be sad," seemed a little much for a ten year old. But I liked what he was trying to do, if only because in the daily reality of teaching 7th grade I wish someone had swatted some of my students about the head and said "just because you've heard it! Doesn't make it so!"

Which part didn't you like?

I agreed with everything the letter said, it just seemed like a rather strange way of communicating with a daughter.
I think sometimes he just needs to chill out a bit. He still rules though.

Fforde: Eyre Affair was excellent, will be reading the next one soon.

Hiaasen: Current one on the go is Native Tongue... will let you know. I think my favourite Hiaasen so far is Basket Case.

Pratchett: Have also started re-reading Discworld. Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic done. Equal Rites next.

Anyone read any Ed McBain? V. good US crime/detective thrillers. Recommended.

Recently read:

Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susannah both in the Dark Tower series by Steven King, both entertaining, and I recomend that you look into the series (perhaps once Vol 7 has been published...on the 21st).

Be My Enemy by Christopher Brookmyre, not quite up to usual standard but picks up once the killing starts (oh yes!).

Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pulman, not a patch on His Dark Materials but entertaining nevertheless.

Reading:

Daughter of the Empire by Feist and Janny Wurts, a view from the other side of the riftwar, quite interesting a slower read than most Feist though.

'salem's Lot by Steven King, vampires in Maine, chilling, only reading it 'cos a character from it turns up in Wolves...

That's your lot.

Kingol - yes the Fiest (with Wurts?) Empire series is definitely slower but I did enjoy it. Certainly read the 2nd two in the trilogy even though they get thicker and might put you off.

I don't know if I said this before in this thread but if anyone (Jennie?) wants a fine example of a really really shit book read "The Redemption of Althalus" - David and Leigh Eddings. It makes you want to pour boiling water into your eyes.
Admittedly I only read the first 100 pages (couldn't take it any longer) but a friend of mine told me it didn't get any better.
Maybe King/Jennie can give a 'professional' explaination as to what it technically that makes it so appaling.

Well Eddings' problems really started when he just wrote the same characters over and over again (as in the Knight whatsit series and the Tamuli) but I agree that handing half of the narrative over to his wife didn't help that book any. drivel, drivel.

On a nearly-equally horrifyingly terrible level. I just read The Fall of Reach which is set in the Halo universe. (loaned to me by a student) Now, clearly I am not as enamored of the game as I should be, but that doesn't mean that I couldn't appreciate a good action book. Sadly, that is what this book lacks: any action at all.

Although I do know now that

and yet they manage to smoosh them in...several pages of tedious writing--by which time I was rooting for the grunts.

Now, if you like your action in terms of many acronyms and numerous references to Grunts and the chain of command--you may want to give it a try. Myself, I prefer the other book I just finished, Hiaasen's Skinny Dip which begins with a splash (a naked one in fact) and ends in classic Hiaasen fashion. Except for a too brief appearance by the former governor, it's certainly a good read. Plus, you learn what a lethal combination sea lice and cologne can be. And what horrors two lost 7ft pythons can wreck on a retirement community. Very good fun.

I must have said this before but if not; if you like Hiassen then try Christopher Brookmyre. His subject matter and humour is similar but his style is Scottish.

Going Postal by TP was very good, I am ,however, disturbed to see paragraphs sneaking in...no need!

Got my hands on The Algebraist by Iain M Banks as well, it's not Culture misfortunately and it's a beast so it might take me a couple of days to read it...I'll get back to you.

The Algebraist was very good.

Just for Dan: A Few Notes on the Culture by Mr Banks which includes a section explaining orbitals that starts:


Which should clear up any confusion eh? The article should answer your questions anyway.

I have to say, I wasn't impressed with going postal.

a) Chapters confuse and anger me.

Isn't this the same basic storyline he's used three or four times now.

That and for some reason he uses a different illustrator on the cover of the american version of the book. Madness.

I dunno, I quite liked it...not his best, better than Monstrous Regiment, and a bit similar to The Truth in format for its own good but I still zipped through it. Chapters...no need for them at all, I just ignored them completely though and it didn't seem to do any harm.
Strangely chapters work in Wee Free Men though.

Jennie - thanks for the come back on Eddings' . Not heard of haissen but i'll add it to my list (namely this thread).
In fact it would be quite good to insert a post at the beginning of this thread that people could edit each time they put a review on (say with marks / 10) so that we can see at a glance what books are referenced within. Pete? Possible?

King - could you give a suggested reading order for the Bainks stories? I couldn't really tell from a quick visit to amazon.

That article is incredible (read a good bit from the quoted section). It's amazing how someone can write so much, in such an authoritative manner, about something that is imaginary. Are his books of a simlar style?

Yeah, a similar style I guess but with added action; he is one of the few sci-fi authors who is actually a really good writer, it's not all great ideas but slightly weak characterisation (I'm looking at you Scott Card) it's got the lot.

As to order, there isn't really one as all the books are self-contained but I'd read in written order:

Culture:
Consider Phlebas
The Player Of Games
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward

State of the Art (Short Stories)

Any others are entirely self contained, and can really be read however you want...but I'd start with CP or TPoG.

Next on my agenda:

Skinny Dip - Hiaasen
Going Postal - Pratchett
Well of Lost Plots + something rotten - fforde

at the moment Equal Rites... ahhh bisto.

I recommend Inventing Temperature by Hasok Chang.

My recommendation is, of course, not in the slightest bit influenced by the fact that Hasok was my dissertation supervisor.

Powell Books just did an (very) lengthy and in-depth interview with Richard Dawkins. It can be found at their website. It's pretty interesting.


In other literary news, I just finished Robert Hooke: the man who measured London. Not as gripping as The History of Salt, but a good read anyways.

Good stuff.

I like the way that he says that the species level of taxonomy has a pretense of being objectively definable, cos it would be pretty hard to prove any objective definition.

Just read:

Shooting History by Jon Snow (and about himself as well). It was quite excellent. He clearly thinks of himself more as a foreign-correspondent-who-happens-to-be-stationary than anything else. He has been to more exciting/dangerous/interesting places than I thought was humanly possible, and his "quaint" stories of the pre-mobile phone on-the-spot reporting are fairly funny (weaving his bike in and out of traffic to get close enough for a short range radio to work, frantically trying to one-up the BBC by finding the fastest telegram operator). The bits of the book where I was most interested usually dealt with his travels or the people he met along the way. Quite often, it felt as if the historical background was glossed over or simplified, but, after all, the book was about him and not the history.
Things I learned:
1) Try your best to bring gifts when interviewing crazy dictators--they apparently like them.
2) Nancy Reagan was a giant pain in the ass.
3) American politics are always good for a laugh. (oh wait, I knew that).

Highly suggested. Good reading.

Cool.

One of my (very few) claims to fame is that I almost got knocked down by Jon Snow and his bike while crossing Euston Road.


A review! -

I should have read them much earlier, but having got Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy for Christmas I have spent since then catching up.
Oh my word these books are good. I won't bother trying to explain them because I won't do them justice. Northern Lights is very very good, The Subtle Knife is excellent and The Amber Spyglass is almost unbearably amazing. In fact, The Amber Spyglass is vying for the prestigious title of best book Jonnyboy has ever read. The second half is a heartbreaker.

If you haven't read them, do so. Now. Then read them again (I am).

Unfortunately I have to say that I thought the trilogy got better and better until the second half of the amber spyglass and then he gave up.

Still the whole lot is fucking ace. I'll agree with you there.

Yes the Dark Materials trilogy is good indeed. Especially if you're a religion hating zealot. My only critisism was that the dialogue was a bit childish - but considering it's the dialogue of a child this is understandable.

Jennie - american politics. Ridiculous. New Thread.

Been there. Done the whole daughter-of-an-american-history-teacher thing. Hey, a good book on the creation of the Constitution is Miracle at Philadelphia. Most splendid. And His Dark Materials? One of those trilogies where I got to the end of the third book and automatically picked the first one up again to re-read. Excellent. What are the other books on the list of "best of all time according to jonnyboy"? I am curious.

Hmm that whole conversation passed me by; HDM was excellent but I haven't felt compelled to reread it yet which is strange for me...

Currently reading Babel Tower by A.S. Byatt which is interesting, very literary, seems to be a theme of her novels, but not as good as Possession, yet. I'm halfway through and I'm still not sure where it's going or what the point is but I want to find out so...

Also interested by Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, a huge book about the rediscovery of magic in Victorian times written in a sort of Victorian novel stylee, perhaps slightly Austin-esque (but as I haven't yet read it who can say?). Looks interesting

Sorry the answer is so late, but I've been thinking about Jonnyboy's favourite book list and having some difficulty.
I guess The Amber Spyglass is doing even better than I originally stated. Lord of the Rings doesn't count because it's an event, not a book. I always enjoy going back to Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow, so that might be up there I suppose. Hmm tricky though.

Really? MSFFS lost too many points for me by turning into an episode of the X-files, as I have said before, but each to their own.

Current reads:

Present: Going Postal - Pratchett. Pretty good so far, particularly enjoy Stanley's pin obsession.

Previous: Skinny Dip - Hiaasen, good but too similar to previous ones. He is getting a bit samey. Basket Case is the only one that stands out as being really different from the others.

Faves To do list:

Fforde: Well of Lost Plots (have read first two Eyre Affair and Good Book)
Pratchett: Mort is next on my re-reading, done the first three.
Hiaasen: Might read Strip Tease next as I've had it for ages without reading it

Also reading a bit of Bryson/Grisham/McBain and a couple of biographies.

Recently finished:
Flynn's World by Gregory McDonald. This is the latest in his "Flynn" (suprised? no?) series--a series of very clever, very funny books about an Irish detective who...well, it's really too complicated to explain here. Start at the beginning, with Flynn, and continue through to the end. You will not regret it--really it's like sly, subtle Hiaasen.

He has also written the Fletch novels. I don't personally think they're as good, but they're also funny and well-written.

He has a website here.

Just finished:
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.

This is a hugely enjoyable epistolary lipogram about the tragic aftermath of the infamous Nollopian pangram (they tell you what those words mean at the start of the book, just to make you feel smart before you need to reach for your dictionary on page one).

Not my words dear readers, but the words of some random person. I found this to be a highly imaginative novel: Nevin Nollop left the islanders of Nollop with the treasured legacy of his pangram "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". But as the letters begin to crumble on the monumental inscription, the island's council forbids the use of the lost letters and since the story is told through the device of letters sent between family members the novel turns into a lipogram (a piece of work that avoids using one or more letter). First off it's Z, but the rate of decline quickly accelerates until the islanders are left only with LMNOP (hence the title) to express themselves. Can Ella do something about this worrying state of affairs? Probably. It's definately worth a look though.

to liven up this thread a bit I would like to offer Christopher Moore. In the fine tradition of Carl Hiaasen and Douglas Adams, this guys writes books that are hilarious and...slightly odd. I first found him (quite recently) with his book Fluke: or, I know why the winged whale sings. In a book that begins with "Bite Me" graffitied on a whale's tail and ends with the "real" story of what happened to Amelia Earhart, it's hard not to laugh a lot.

Some other titles:
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Bloodsucking Fiends
Island of the Sequined Love Nun
Practical Demonkeeping
Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
The Stupidest Angel : A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror

funny guy. good summer reading.
edited to add that I very much enjoy A.S. Byatt and Babel Tower, but have liked other books of hers more--The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye and Angels and Insects both come to mind.

Sounds interesting, I'll have to make a note.

I much preferred Possesion to Babel Tower which I didn't really enjoy all that much, won't be reading it again.

However I have found a new book that I really, really enjoyed and was reccommended by Richard and Judy; what more could you want?

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger tells the story of Clare and Henry who she met when she was 6 and he 36 and married when she was 22 and he 30. A feat only possible due to the fact that Henry suffers from a chrono-displacement disorder, a bit like epilepsy. It's a love story that never once becomes soppy, and the unorthodox running order will keep the grey stuff fizzing. The wedding is great, and even she quotes Possession.

You see what I did there? Do you see? Try it yourself.

Just read The Rule Of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. It's the one with all the comments comparing it to The Da Vinci Code in order to get people to buy it. The Independent said it's 'The Da Vinci Code for people with brains'. This statement manages to be harsh on both books. For starters, it implies that only stupid people like the Da Vinci Code, which I don't believe.
Secondly, The Rule Of Four is actually quite a different book to The Da Vinci Code. Okay, so it's about secret knowledge hidden in a Renaissance book, but it actually has characterisation and prose that is actually pleasing to read in its own right. Also, since you won't have heard of the book involved (I think), there isn't the same feeling of finding out naughty church secrets that the Da Vinci Code gives (or tries to).
I really enjoyed this book. It's actually more than competently written and you care what happens to the characters. Usually, a book wih two authors makes me dubious, but there was no problem here.
Good holiday reading.

Just read Something Rotten Jasper fforde is such an amazingly wierd wierd but brilliant guy. i want a dodo of my own. Am doing a massive fforde re read essentail stuff.

i am with chris on the HDM issues. taken as a whole excellent but did go a bit of centre towards the end

I thought I would post this here: as it is about a book.

Johnnyboy: bring my book to Warren's party. In fact, go out RIGHT NOW and put it in your car, that's a good lad.

If you like, I will trade you for the newest Julian Barnes. It's "Arthur and George" and involves Arthur Conan Doyle gadding about trying to clear a man of a crime he didn't commit. (and, in the process, creating the idea of a court of appeals.) It's rather wonderful actually.

From this summer's reading I would also like to recommend:
Mary Stewart's "Merlin" Trilogy (begins with "The Crystal Cave")
Anthony Trollope: he has a silly last name, he wrote pretty funny books.
Barbara Tuchman's history books: Her best is probably "August 1914" which details the start of WWI
"Midnight's Children":Salman Rushdie
Kidnapped: Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island...only no island, no parrot, but WITH pirates...and Scots)
"The Royal Road to Romance" by Richard Halliburton. Which involves no romance at all--it's a travel journal in the early 1920's from a recent college grad whose one goal was "not to miss out on any adventures." It's great. It also includes pirates, albeit only briefly.

I also have Palin's "Himalaya," Brookmyre's "All Fun and Games," and others that could be exchanged for the..which book was it? it's been so long since I've seen it....

If you've got Fun & Games I want it...so to speak.

I shall look into some of those; Midnight’s Children is very good, magical realism and all that.

HPHBP is pretty good, quite a lot of exposition, not much really happens for most of the book but the last quarter is exciting. It’s a set up book for book seven really but a worthwhile read, oh and [censored] dies. So there you go.

yes, king, I'll be happy to lend you "Fun and Games." I agree about HP6. I enjoyed it, but I think a lot of my enjoyment was because I was interested in all of the backstory revealed in it.

Yes HP6 was a definite improvement on the previous two. I enjoyed.

Jennie: That book is in my car as we speak (has been for quite a while actually). Also, I have that cd you requested. So there.

Hmm not sure I'm a Julian Barnes fan, so I might try to steal a different book from you for the next two years.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Anyone read this 1000 page monster?
Is it worth the effort?

Yes I have actually; I really enjoyed it, though I'm not sure it had to be quite so huge. It's quite strange; a story of magic and faeries written, quite matter of factly, in a victorian style. As if Jane Austen wrote Harry Potter. (I know Jane ain't victorian but that's the analogy k?)

The book tells the story of Mr Norrell, a very dusty and reserved gentleman who happens to study magic (which everyone knows existed at one point) and who can perform it but who would rather study, and Mr Strange, a much more impetuous gentleman who finds he can just do stuff and does; helping the British army against Napoleon by magiking up roman roads down which they can march etc.

Imgine a tale of gentlemen in London and abroad and throw in the fact that they deal in magic and are put upon (with out their knowledge) by an arrogant faerie and you're about there. It's very intersting, I've not come across anything quite like it before. The size is daunting and the story doesn't really have to take up that much space but it's all the rest; the politics of society and the etiquette of gentleman that adds a more surreal air than any feats of magic. Try it if you have the time.

Currently reading: HP6

To read: Sourcery (next on Pratchett re-reads)
Something Rotten by JFf

Recent reads: Espedair Street by Iain Banks (on King's recommendation). Verdict: Pretty good, although got the feeling it was lacking something... not quite sure what yet.
Mort by TP: Cracking cheese Gromit

Tally ho

Bikinis?

Just so you are all impressed and i will post a review of this sometime in 2020 i have started War and Peace - oh yes all 1146 pages. So far 3 weeks and i have read 99 - so hang on for 2020.

I have just read a truly odd book. Titled Darkly Dreaming Dexter, it is a suspense/mystery story with a twist: the narrator is himself a serial killer--although one who attempts to channel his errr..."urges" into more positive actions. This book should not be read in search of a hugely original plot-line (it's a little too clever for its own good), but it's narration and voice are top-notch. Dexter is not merely a serial killer: he's a serial killer with a grasp of puns and witty one-liners. See the amazon page here.

Best bits:
previously mentioned sense of humor of narrator
hilarious send-up of standard serial killer novels
Dexter's clothes obsession
Dexter himself

Not-so-great bits:
mehh ending--very "ooh a twist!"
plot-line occasionally seems a bit random

Weird, but good. A rainy-day with cup of hot drink of your choice sort of book.

Cool, I shall look it up in the library.

I've just read Wolf Brother by Michelle Palver - The tale of Tovak, a young boy in pre-cilivlisation, brought up by his father away from any tribe and cast out into the world when his father is killed by a possessed bear. Tovak natuarally sets out on a quest to invoke the world spirit to help him kill the bear, aided only by a wolf cub he befriends on his way.
Another children's fantasy-type novel, this stands out by appearing to be well researched giving the reader a good feel of how people lived in the times it was set. Other than that it's a pretty standard beginning of a trilogy/forging of a hero type novel with some added animal companionship. It is however a fairly easy read, and was too short rather than too long.

Thud! by Terry Pratchett - The latest discworld offering from TP focusses again on Sam Vimes and the escalating emotions surrounding Koom Valley. Not quite as thoughtful and in-depth as Night Watch but much better and comfortable than Going Postal/Monstrous Regiment. TP seems to be content to plough a slightly different furrow nowadays, concentrating more on a humorous tone without much humour, rather than trying to make you laugh every page. Not a bad thing just...different...and familiar. Back on form.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - Fat Charlie Nancy isn't actually fat (nor was he ever anything other than slightly soft around the edges) but his Dad once called him Fat Charlie and it stuck. This is because he is Anansi the Spider God, something Charlie only finds out when his Dad dies performing Kareoke. He also finds out he has a brother he didn't know about who got all the Godly powers. A brother who proceeds to move into his flat and gradually take over his life (fiancee first). Then things go bad.
This novel has a tone much lighter than that of Neverwhere, an earlier Gaiman book I'd reccommend, but with much the sam basic theme; everyday guy has strange things happen to him, discovers unimagined depths within and ends up a real man. This book however, keeps a light-hearted tone throughout; things never go nearly as bad as I kept expecting. It is a good, if a little slight, read that shows Gaiman isn't a one-trick pony. If you weren't convinced by the graphic novels/screenplays/etc. that is.

Good i like the prompt on book postings...

Reading Skin Tight (yet another Hiaasen). Have discovered that Hiaasen's can be very very samey, with slight variations and therefore have gone off him a bit. Each book on its own is fab but when you've read a few of them they all seem to blend in to one.

For instance, all involve
1.) Hugely mutated and disturbing henchman/killer hunting the hero/heroine.
2.) A scheming bad guy with a lot of cash (in the case of Skin Tight its a plastic surgeon)
3.) Environmental/Natural disasters
4.) 'The captain' - ex governor turned nutbar (actually he hasnt turned up so far in this one!!)
5.) Strange incidents/accidents with animals
6.) A love story between the main protagonists who dont really like each other and have dodgy pasts but actually hey for the sake of the book why not get them together because it adds a bit of twinkle

Just seems to me Hiaasen is 'painting by numbers' now and is of the 'if it aint broke dont fix it' persuasion. The only one I can think of which is completely different and probably his best one is Basket Case which is about a music journalist.

Semi-rant over.

Yeah I've read three of his books and he never ventures far from his comfort zone as far as I can tell. They were all pretty similar, quite entertaining but not exactly original.

Read Brookmyre instead...he's Scottish you know.

Jennie,

Darkly Dreaming Dexter much different to American Psycho (sans humour, mais avec attention to fashion items and toiletries?).

Dan