No, I assumed this was the case - I'm all for some easy on the brain reading every now and again but not at the moment.

King--
(trying to think of books likely to be in a library)
David Sedaris
Scott Westerfeld (highly, highly recommended--especially his newest series as I think you would like that more than the "Uglies" series)
Vampirates--Justin Somper (like Cussler brain candy but it's Vampires+Pirates so it is also hilarious)
Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce mysteries
Have you read Bateman's "Mystery Man" yet?
The Passage (totally weird apocalyptic book)
Wolf Hall
The Yiddish Policeman's Union
Uh, I'll stop now.

King:

Left Hand Of God by Paul Hoffman. I enjoyed it, and I think you would too.

Cool, thanks I'll see what they have in stock out of that lot. Except Wolf Hall - tried reading it and decided I had better things to do than re-reading two pages three times to decifer that someone made a playful punch at someone else who reacted for a monent like he thought he was being attacked.

I 2nd Jboy's suggestion. Also, "The Name of the Wind" by...Rothfuss? I think. New fantasy novel, very good.

Brian Jacques just died. That's terrible. The "Redwall" books are consistent favourites of mine.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-12380763

That is sad - if his books were albums I'd say I had them on repeat fro much of my childhood...though I did prfer his earlier, funny ones (so to speak - I grew out of them I think).


After a minor flurry of reading inspired by my library visit I have this to say:

The Left Hand of God – An enjoyable view of religious extremist brain-washing from a fantasy viewpoint, though I’m not sure about the blatant rifling of real-life history to inform his final battle: It was a bit weird to be on the side of the French avatars at the virtual battle of Agincourt… I was also a little put out to find it was the first of a series (trilogy probably) – not sure why, perhaps it felt like it was going to be a self-contained story which stopped some way through.

Anyway a good read, will be interested to read the next one.

Enchanted Glass – Diana Wynne Jones

Good stuff as usual, though this too feels more introductory than a full tale, despite the thread-tying letter at the end.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 1

Fun to see the similarities to the film, this is an excellent little comic (with the emphasis on little as it contains but the first battle) with a distinct style sure to please any fan of stuff.

Mystery Man

Started this, decided I didn’t like the main character, put it to the back of the pile.

Currently reading Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Good so far.

Cool, I have a few things to pick up on from your comments Kingol:


Yes, I can understand that frustration although I actually quite enjoyed the blatantness of the sequel set up at the end. Reminded me of the end of The Fellowship Of The Ring for sheer cliffhangery-ship.


I remember you saying something similar as a reason for preferring the film of High Fidelity to the book. I'm interested how others feel about this topic: do you have to like to main character to enjoy a book? For me the answer is no, but I do think that the experience is different if you don't.



Comics: do people really like them? I have tried, and for the most part failed. I found The Killing Joke entertaining, The Dark Knight Returns okay until the end where it just got ridiculous, League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vols I and II incredibly over-rated, Watchmen also over-rated and again with a ridiculous ending (a giant alien squid? Really?), Batman: Hush just infantile rubbish.

I just can't think that I will ever prefer a comic to a book. I think part of it is the fact that drawing the action immediately impedes my sense of imagination and therefore the enjoyment that I would usually get from reading a book. Having said that, I don't mind a film showing me everything and essentially doing the same thing.

Am I wrong? Are there comics out there that I will genuinely enjoy? I'm tempted to try some of Neil Gaiman's work (mainly because I spent the whole of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen thinking that it would be a hell of a lot better if it were a book and written by Gaiman). I'm worried that I might be destined for even further disappointment if I do though.

Cliffhangery-ship; excellent.

I did say that about High Fidelity; I'm trying to remember a book I enjoyed while disliking the main character and not coming up with much. The best I can do is parts of Brookmyre where he writes from the point of view of a murderous nut-bar: I don't like the character but I perhaps empathise - I found I couldn't empathise with Rob Gordon as written by Nick Hornby, but give him John Cusack's face...I do think it's more down to the skillz of the author than anything.


Re: Comics - people do really like them (Gov and Noj are the 'Festers for this). Comics are certainly a different art-form to books (and one I haven't really investigated fully). I am at some point going to invest in Sandman Vol 1 to give them the best chance; I've started reading them in Waterstones and they seem depthier than the usual Marvel-type thing. I think with the best comics the detail is in the background - it's the artist's imagination you are subjected to, rather than creating your own version of the author's world, and that takes some getting used to. I guess it really is personal preference. I have been interested to see, scanning through the Sandman books, the different interpretations of The Endless by different artists so I can see how it could provide interest. In the end though they're all really simply really short stories and won't replace a novel in my affections.

I will probably give Sandman a try too.

In other news:
Middle-earth according to Mordor.

Finished Leviathan and its sequel Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld in short order and enjoyed them both very much: historical, steampunk, young adult fantasy and very much up my street, so thanks for the sugestion Jennie.

Quick synopsis: It's 1914 and Europe is split into two factions; the Clankers, reliant on steam-powered fighting machines, and the Darwinists who have learned how to manipulate DNA to create creatures to perform useful tasks. The murder of Prince Aleksander of Austria's parents pushes the continent towards war and sends him fleeing in a walker to Switzerland. Meanwhile Derryn a Scottish girl, pretending to be a boy named Dylan, has just been accepted as a Midshipman on board the Leviathan, a living, hydrogen-breathing airship that has an important task to perform if devestating war is to be avoided. Will these two strands come together? What do you think?


Am currently reading Furies of Calderon, as both Dan and Jennie intimated the Codx Alera books were worth a look, and it's going very well indeed.

Edit: And it's just been elevated by the immortal line, "He followed me home! Can we keep him?" (you have to know the context to really apreciate it so you'll just have to trust me if you haven't read the book).

Haha! Glad you're giving Butcher a go King. I'm on the second book now having successfully spawned 3.5 new readers (you count as split between me and jennie).

I lent my brother Alex the first book a few weeks ago and I come back to find he's on book 5 having bought 2,3,4,5. Result.

Westerfield sounds very out there. May give them a go.

Jennie - I've just realised my task of buying some books that you haven't already read is going to be quite hard.

Yes, but I'm an avid re-reader, which means that all I really need is a book I like not really a book I haven't read.

Ahem, I would like to suggest PC Hodgell. If you like Butcher, you might like her as well (nowhere near as dark as Cook, but more.... inventive? than Butcher). And she deserves more sales than she gets.

Jennie - have ordered Hodgells first two books in Omnibus form (over 900 pages). Have also ordered a book I'm sure you won't have read (yes!) which might be fun. =)

Have just learnt from Twitter of the death of Diana Wynne Jones. This is sad news.

Very interesting bio.

"Later, when she went to St Anne's college, Oxford, two of her lecturers were JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. "

How amazing would that be?

Ideed; she appears to have been a person to whom Things happen; she said she didn't travel much because she suffered from a jinx, something that Neil Gaiman took as just a little joke until he was on a plane with her and the door fell off...

Anyway I highly recommend her books; I thik my favoutire is The Merlin Consiracy but Howl's Moving Castle and its sequels are hot on its heels.

Just read the most recent Fforde and enjoyed it hugely. It was very "meta", even for Fforde, which is saying something I suppose. Other literary highlights to follow as the recent trip allowed for some reading time--especially when stuck for hours in Chicago O'Hare airport.

ETA: one of the things I picked up to read were the first seven? volumes of Gaiman's "Sandman". It was...pretty good? Epic, for sure, but I think I actually prefer "The Graveyard Book". I was possibly distracted by some slight annoyance that he made his main character a) badass b ) look a lot like himself. For some reason, it rankled.

Sooooo. I have recently been picking up C.J. Sansom's "Shardlake" series: mysteries set during the 16th century--they are an interesting mix of entertaining suspense and fascinating historical facts. Sometimes the plot slows down a tad (often because, well, it just took longer to get places on horseback/foot and thus there is often significant travel time built into the action), but I like the main character's sly sense of humour and how Sansom isn't afraid to make him not-completely-sympathetic.

I also (finally) got my own copy of "The Complete Polysyllabic Spree", which saves me from considering nicking Jonnyboy's everytime I go visit.

For those of you interested in social psychology and learning and etc, Carol Dweck's "Mindset" is short and amazing. Just amazing. She goes into detail about her decades long research into intelligence and how people learn. It was one of those books that made me go "oooohhh, that makes sense!" about four times a paragraph. As an added bonus, she is often funny.

I've also read Rick Yancey's "Monstrumologist" series. I've reviewed the second book on BookGeeks's YA site (BookBitz). They are so much fun. And refer back to the Arthur mythology. And are also, so, so, so gross. It's been awhile since I was actively grossed out/creeped out by a book, but, woah, this one did it. So, highly recommended, of course.

Word up peeps.

I'm looking for a new author or two to start reading, any suggestions? Anything in the surreal, comedy/crime, fantasy area, or anything else for that matter.

Usual faves: Brookmyre, Hiaasen, Fforde, Bryson, Pratchett along those lines

Ta!

Try Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers Of London series.

Also, I enjoyed Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. It's a bit steampunky, but there's nothing wrong with steampunk if taken in moderation.

Finally, you really really really need to read Neil Gaiman. I would kick off with something lighter like Stardust or Neverwhere, with the aim of moving on to American Gods. Seriously, do it, right now. I know, Kingol, Jennie and Tartiflette will all back me up on this one.

Bo.

PS: Apple tried to autocorrect "Kingol" to "Klingon". I was sorely tempted to leave it.

Oh Gaiman, yes. "The Graveyard Book" is amazing. And I like the "Rivers of London" series as well. Hmmm, have you read any of the "Fletch" or "Flynn" books? Gregory McDonald. The "Fletch" ones are more famous (and were made into a movie), but I love, love the "Flynn" ones.
Also good are the Patrick Rothfuss books, if you've not given them a go yet.

Sorry, I should have replied earlier but I couldn't think of anyone else.

Gaiman is great, I really really enjoy Rivers of London (I think you'd get a particular kick out of it living in town). Also on a London magic kick (along with Gaiman's Neverwhere) Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift novels (starting with A Madness of Angels) are also fun.

Jasper Fforde's next Next book is out this week.

The crime/surreal/fantasy comedy genre is kinda tough to pin down but Tom Holt is probably your best bet. Quality varies but they all pass the time amenably, usually with a pathetic man to whom all sorts of things happen making him man up and come out stronger. I like Expecting Someone Taller and the Portable Door series.

Oh and you have read Douglas Adams's back catalogue right? If you haven't read Dirk Gently you need to get to the bookshop now.

Also, if you can, I would go to Foyles and buy them. Just so you are in there buying something other than "50 Shades of BDSM". Jonnyboy and I were there last week, and it looked like they needed people to buy....anything else.

As for even more suggestions, maybe even try some old school non-fiction, if you like the Bryson (Richard Halliburton, yes, *that* family, wrote a book called "The Royal Road to Romance" that is just brilliant. He Had Adventures.) Also, MFK Fischer (a food writer during the war but much more than that).

The Hydrogen Sonata - Iain M Banks

A new Culture novel is usually a thing of joy to behold but recently, as Banks has continued to bash out a book a year, the results have (much in the manner of Pixar films) failed to reach the dizzying heights expected of them: both Matter and Surface Detail were weighed down slightly by the sheer amount of both detail and matter contained in each and, while the new races and their cultures were fun, I felt they overwhelmed the story. This time Banks has returned to a more Excession-like Culture novel focusing on an equiv-tech level race called the Gzilt who are days away from subliming into a higher, pure energy state. The plot involves a Secret, an innocent but strong-willed female, a dodgy politician and a bunch of nosy Culture Minds thereby ensuring the ensuing shenanigans.

I enjoyed this one more than I have any of Banks's novels since Excession - the plot rattles along as expertly as ever and it's clear his imagination hasn't yet found a limit. Having said that I still feel he's not quite regained his peak form: Little niggles still bother me; areas where I feel it could have been improved if he'd sat on this one a bit and come back to it (as he did for Use of Weapons). The big secret is revealed rather early on so that it becomes a little underwhelming (though maybe that's the point); and the one time the book veers towards a sort of Cronenburgian body-horror highlights the edge that's lacking from the rest of the novel: no innocent-looking but significant chairs, no monstrously obese homicidal cannibals, no vessel earning its nickname of Meatf**ker, not even a series of artificial hells, just the removal of some [REDACTED].

Anyway it's great; I recommend you read it...(don't talk to me about contradiction; I'm human, I can handle cognitive dissonance).

Bosh, and indeed, bosh

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Nice one Sam.

Indeed; excellent choices.

Also note that Radio 4 is doing an awesome-looking radio play of Neverwhere starting on 16th March and starring, James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee, Natalie Dormer, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Bernard Cribbens...lots of names.

I would pay cash-money to watch a film version with that cast.

Bugger!

What a way for the Culture to end.

Yes, very sad. This is not the only way that cancer has screwed the world over this week: Roger Ebert Dies.

That is sad. Really liked this description of him from MacLeod:

"The way Iain has reacted to his situation is not really with a sense of unfairness but more that it's just the way the universe works, the way matter works, that there's nobody out to get us, nobody to blame for it all," said MacLeod. "It's a very courageous and stoical attitude in his situation. There's no doubting the style of the man. What you see is what you get, and the Iain who comes across in his books is very much how he is."

I've actually never read his books but now really want to.

Yeah he seems to be reacting with class, I just hope he enjoys the rest of his time . Most of his books are excellent Dan; I'm surprised you haven't delved yet. I'd start with The Crow Road for his 'normal' books and probably The Player of Games or Consider Phlebas for his Culture stuff.

As to Ebert The Onion's tribute was great .

Oh yeah: #Fuckcancer

I would second "Phlebas"; it's excellent. I'm sure we have a copy somewhere, actually.

Thirding Consider Phlebas. It's really quite astonishingly good.

Player of Games is also excellent and also probably more accessible if you want a gentler introduction to the Culture. I'm glad I read Consider Phlebas first though because I think not knowing anything about the Culture beforehand makes it all the better. I guess what I'm saying therefore is, even if you do want a gentler introduction to the Culture, resist that urge and read Consider Phlebas first.

So there's no chronological or other definite storyline that needs to be followed? I'm not sure my mild OCD would allow me to cope with this. Perhaps one of the reasons I couldn't handle Pratchett

There is a chronology but there's very little in the way of a cross-book storyline.

Consider Phlebas (the first written) is set during the Culture-Iridian war which most subsequent books mention as being the last great conflict in which the Culture was involved.

So no they are all self-contained with perhaps a passing allusion to other stories but very rarely any distinct cross-over like TP.

However Use of Weapons does have a Russian-Doll-like structure with odd chapters going forward in time and even chapters going backwards in time that may bake your noggin.

While I'm here (which seems to be rarely at the moment... but that's way off topic) I thought I'd fourth the consider phlebas which is great and does set you into the culture nicely.

Also I just listened to Battlefield Earth, which they made such a horrible film of that I never saw and put me off the me book, and was pleasantly surprised. He starts slowly and then sort of explodes into an "oh this is sci-fi - I can do whatever I want" spasm of incredulity which you just kinda accept because you like Jonny. Trash but enjoyable.

Interesting...I've always been put off by the whole crazy cult/religion thing but maybe I'll gve it a go.

While I'm here I should mention Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson: It is set in a post-government collapse America and has a fully immersive virtual reality called the Metaverse and so feels rather like Ready Player One (though clearly it's the reverse as it wa written in the 90s).

It has a particular sense of humour (the main character is called Hiro Protagonist for example and is a pizza delivery boy for the Mafia to start with), some highly imaginative sci-fi elements, some strange but not tiresome diversions into Sumerian culture and a plot set around religious conversion and the benefits of the Babel myth.

I really enjoyed it and am reading his next one atm.

Snow Crash is excellent and also has a really good audiobook version. I like "The Diamond Age" quite a bit myself and even Stephenson's non-fiction essays are ace. You've a lot to look forward to!

I finally got around to reading "Sandman Slim" and quite enjoyed it.

Yes The Diamond Age was really enjoyable once it got going and then he ran into the 'Mill On The Floss problem' of how to finish it all off and chose a smilar path of not really bothering. Where's my closure dammit?!

I'm now on Cryptonomicon, still good stuff, fingers crossed for an ending.

I decided to start on Cryptonomicon. Not sure if that is going to turn out to be a good plan or not.

Yeah, endings are not really his forte. I found Cryptonomicon a bit of a slog. I do enjoy "Zodiac" which was one of his early books and more eco-terror sort of novel than sci fi, but good fun.

I loved Ready Player One, and it definitely owed a lot to Snow Crash and other bits of classic sci-fi culture.

Real Readers recently sent me a book to review so here:

Brother Kemal by Jakob Arjouni

Brother Kemal is German author Jakob Arjouni's fifth novel in the series of mysteries starring private detective Kemal Kayankaya; written after the author's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer it represents a return and farewell to the character with whom he first found success 28 years previously. Set in Frankfurt, a town Kemal refers to as the ugliest Europe, this novel finds the titular character gaining two separate jobs more-or-less on the strength of his name and the white, middle-class assumption that he must be Muslim and hence able to handle the seedier aspects of the job. Naturally both cases intertwine leading to trouble for our protagonist. Despite the set-up and tropes used being very much reminiscent of Chandler, the author's main strengths lie in depicting the social issues that come with being (or being seen as) an immigrant in Germany and portraying the 'pungently seedy' details of Frankfurt's rougher areas. Kemal faces the casual racism and social anxiety of his clients with an irreverent humour that seems disarming but doesn't quite translate; there is the sense that he is being sardonic and witty (and there is the odd fantastic turn of phrase "As he saw it, Lewandowski was the Cristiano Ronaldo of the German culture pages: incredibly talented but 'not very bright...'") but the jokes mostly don't hit home in English. This sense of distance is to be expected and could be overlooked if the plot was more engaging - as it is the two cases are a little mundane; there's an almost incidental murder, a little kidnapping and Kemal is involved in some fisticuffs, but he's a little too well adjusted for it to represent much of a problem and hence excitement.
In short the book provides an interesting insight into the immigrant experience in Germany but doesn't quite work in translation as an engaging mystery.

Well Real Readers liked my review s sent me another to read:

Others of my Kind by James Sallis

James Sallis is an American crime writer who is perhaps best known for his 2005 novel 'Drive' (indirectly bringing us sight of Ryan Gosling being a bit naughty whilst wearing a Scorpion jacket), and his New Orleans-set series featuring typically down-at-heel PI Lew Griffin. His latest offering, Others of My Kind, is a different sort of beast; its protagonist, Jenny Rowan, was kidnapped aged eight and kept in a box under a bed for two years, escaped and lived in a mall for a further 18 months and finally was swept up by the almost equally isolating governmental care system. It's an arresting introduction to a character and her bald statement of her history and the glimpses afforded to us of a faintly dystopian (and distressingly plausible) future in which America is engaged in yet another unannounced war, bodes well for an intriguing story.

"Words such as liberation, democracy and freedom blazed up like fireflies from commentary and call-ins...Once upon a time there was a pretense that such wars had to be declared. Apparently no longer."

However, it's story that a reader will have to concoct themselves as Sallis chooses to write more of a character sketch than a novel; an experimental novella exploring the mind of an abused woman who chooses not to become a victim or even censure her abuser, but instead spends her life "...hanging out at the edge of the world watching". Sallis's prose is spare yet poetically descriptive, with the words left off the page being just as important as what is included, yet in the end the book left me frustrated by what was left unsaid: The gaps in the narrative become ever greater as events proceed, with a sympathetic letter to the Vice-President resulting in a visit that happens between chapters and leads in a moment to the conclusion of the tale. It left me lamenting a story untold but for those willing to inject more of their own narrative imagination or simply admire the imagery it may prove more rewarding. Jenny says herself "...there's really no structure here - only my life" and so it proves.
3/5

So I read Red Rising (Pierce Brown), and it turns out it is awesome. Fortunately, the sequel, Golden Son came out on the 6th Jan so I read that as well.

They are kinda class-war in space with castles and shit. Don't judge them on my description.

In Red Rising, there is a comparison to "Alexander or Wiggin". Top stuff.