What are you reading at the moment?

[The Boatman]

For Murakami fans, there's a new short-story collection out next month. Waterstone's will have a limited edition version, but I don't know if it will be signed like the Kafka on the Shore one.

[CJ.]

I'm currently reading Popcorn from Ben Elton. As I don't usually read books often enough, I went on the recommendation of Ben Elton's novels and I haven't been disappointed by Popcorn which serves me with it's dark comedy and Hollywood backdrop.

[Cosmic_Guru]

Any British writers in there other than Stross, Reynolds and Baxter?

The British writers are:

David Langford

Justina Robson

Ken Macleod

Neal Ascher

Peter Hamilton

Paul McAuley

Stephen Baxter

Oliver Morton

Adam Roberts

Alastair Reynolds

Liz Williams

thats 11 from a total of 31 authors, a pretty good ratio.

[Headache]

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb is my main book at the moment. Any Hobb fans out there?

Also dipping into Foucaults Pendulam, Dune and Pandora's Star.

Yeah Hobb fan here. Her new series is also pretty good, Shaman's Crossing (Soldier Son Trilogy) is a bit slow but I really grew to like it by the end. Pandora's Star was good too, I'm holding out from getting Judas Unchained at the moment, I managed to pick up Pandora's Star from The Works in Oxford for £4 in hardback so I'm checking out the cheap bookshops as often as possible to see if they get any hardback copies of Judas Unchained in stock.

I'm reading The Chronicles of Narnia at the moment, turns out I'd never read them as a child, I thought I had but all my memories are from the old BBC series. All the books are fairly brief and there's not much description and detail in them but I'm finding that refreshing from my usual reading material.

I've also just started The Novice (Black Magician Trilogy) by Trudi Canavan, I've seen her series sitting on the shelves in Waterstones for years and decided to bite the bullet and see if the book is as interesting as the cover and synopsis.

[sandman]

I've also just started The Novice (Black Magician Trilogy) by Trudi Canavan, I've seen her series sitting on the shelves in Waterstones for years and decided to bite the bullet and see if the book is as interesting as the cover and synopsis.

How are you finding The Novice - I've been tempted, but haven't tried them yet.

[Hemzoozlefluff]

Ooooh I think I've been tempted by the Black Magician Trilogy too....but always found something else to read.

I have a feeling one of the charity shops in town may even have all three. Hmmm.....charity shop book shopping ftw.

[christaylor]

I'm currently reading Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker

Finding it pretty heavy going, as my biology is rubbish, but I'm determined to finish it.

It's like learning!

[Ravern]

It's a good book, well worth finishing, as long as you can stand the God-bashing it gradually descends into.

[christaylor]

It's a good book, well worth finishing, as long as you can stand the God-bashing it gradually descends into.

It's been quite amusing so far, watching him rip into other theories.

[Headache]

How are you finding The Novice - I've been tempted, but haven't tried them yet.

I'll be able to tell you in a little over a week, I'm away next week so I'm taking it with me.

Don't know if anyone here reads Neil Gaiman books but I recently read Anansi Boys and that was really good, got it for £4 from Waterstones when they had it on special offer.

Check out Amazon's 3 for £12 deals as well, there's some decent books on offer there. 'Princess Bride' by William Goldman and 'The Darkness That Comes Before' by R.Scott Bakker were both good. I got those two and The Novice together (although Amazon charged me full price for all and I had to contact their customer services to get the discount back.)

[Guest]

I've had a bad run recently of starting books I just can't get into. This has included:

Don DeLillo - Underworld

Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy

Hal Duncan - Vellum

So I've gone back to writing my own damn novel instead.

[ZOK]

I just read The Long Goodbye, which was in book containing 3 Raymond Chandler stories about Phillip Marlowe. The other two were The Big Sleep and Farewell, my lovely. Yesterday I bought another set of 3 stories, The Lady in the Lake, The High Window and The Little Sister.

Heh, good luck stiff. I started with that first collection myself, and then had to keep reading everything he'd written until I'd read them all. It's very hard to read anything else in the middle of a Chandler jag, because his short, sharp prose makes anything written by anyone else sound verbose. Especially don't try to read Captain Corielli's Mandolin in the middle of it, as you'll never touch the book again.

Which might be a good thing - I don't know, I never got past the first two pages.

[Silent Runner]

I've had a bad run recently of starting books I just can't get into. This has included:

Don DeLillo - Underworld

Yeah, I couldn’t get into Underworld. The first 50 odd pages are fantastic, the section with Jackie Gleeson at the baseball match and the young guy grabbing the ball, but once the book starts I thought it lost it’s way completely.

[Spacehost]

I'm about seven chapters into Steven Pinker's How The Mind Works, an interesting view of how our brains operate with a lot of research from a Darwinian standpoint. It's quite fun, and not too heavy going.

[Dork Knight]

Currently:

But I must make a start (as I keep putting it off) on:

The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune

And get back to:

[Rsdio]

Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy

I read that recently, thought it was great. The concept of 'postmodern literature' seemed a bit wanky to me but it won me over, probably because it was in the guise of detective stories which gives you something familiar to cling on to.

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper.

It's totally absurd and utterly hilarious.

[layten]

Harry Potter slash fanfiction.

[Guest]

(Paul Auster - New York Trilogy)

I read that recently, thought it was great. The concept of 'postmodern literature' seemed a bit wanky to me but it won me over, probably because it was in the guise of detective stories which gives you something familiar to cling on to.

Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with detective stories, so the "wanky" part over-rode everything. I made it through the first story before giving up though.

[Sabreman]

Yeah, I couldn’t get into Underworld. The first 50 odd pages are fantastic, the section with Jackie Gleeson at the baseball match and the young guy grabbing the ball, but once the book starts I thought it lost it’s way completely.

I had the same initial reaction to Underworld - I read the baseball game, lost interest a bit and left it for over a year. I idly came back to it one day and was completely captivated for the rest of it - I think I polished the remainder off in a couple of days. In the end I think it's one of the best things I've ever read.

[jobe1]

I've got a few on the go:

Bertand Russell - History of Western Philosophy. It's a bit heavy for me to be honest. Theres alot in there that really interests me but too much to take in on my own (without discussion/lessons). I'm not sure I'll finish it...

Jonathan Glover - Causing Death and Saving Lives. A logical look at the ethical issues of abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment etc. I loved his book Humanity, which linked the common themes running through attrocities commited throughout history and so how to avoid them in the future, and am enjoying this so far.

I've also just started Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. It's one of those books that a lot of people had to read at school and I loved all the books I had to read so I thought i'd give it a go. Not far into it yet...

[anewman]

anewman's thought's on Ulysses:

It's actually really enjoyable to read. Just stop trying to figure it all out and read the thing like a novel, and it's actually a bit of a page turner, mainly because the language is so beautiful - like the way he says things and the images he describes are very beautiful.

Try and get that Penguin edition that has a page or so of explanation about each of the 18 sections of the book. Reading those explanations before starting each section really helped me relax and enjoy the prose, I think.

I don't think it's the greatest novel of the 20th century, because it's a little bit too masculine. It's really all about what it's like to be a man, and fret about girls and procreation and making money and being successful and that you might turn out to be like your dad etc etc. I found this a little bit suffocating at times.

I could be wrong...

[Nick R]

Re-reading this:

It's great fun; better than when I read it the first time (just after it came out) as I now have a better idea who those minor celebrities and politicians he keeps mentioning are. And Dale Make Me Normal Again! should be made into a real programme...

I've also been dipping into this collection of Isaac Asimov short stories:

[Rev]

I've got The Pilgrimmage, and The Alchemist .. had them for ages but haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

You might as well start The Alchemist - it only took me an hour and a bit to read it. Good too, in a modern-life-affirming-fable sorta way. Bought tons of the rest of his books for 20p a pop at a bootsale.

Currently I'm reading Men without Women - Ernest Hemmingway. Again, because I bought most of his books cheap at a bootsale but I've been meaning to read some Hemmingway books for ages. I'm about 4 chapters in so far and enjoying it - the first chapter (a bull fight, surprisingly) was awesome though.

[a big boy]

An hour and a bit?! How long is it?

Bet it would take me two days minimum.

[Tefleon]

Just finished this

And about to re-read this one

[biggerbob]

I've just finished reading Ludmila's Broken English by DBC Pierre, and I need to warn everyone off it.

I ignored the bad reviews, because Vernon God Little also got some bad reviews, and that was genius, but it really is appaulingly bad. It's possibly the worst book I've ever read. I forced myself through to the end because I'd bought it in hardback and also because I thought maybe it'd have a smart ending (like VGL), but it doesn't. It's just horrifically bad from beginning to end.

On the plus side, I've just started Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. I'm two chapters in and loving it. He's got genuine talent - although the book's basically about nothing (so far, and I understand for the rest of it) it's absolutely captivating.

[Monkeyboy]

I'm reading Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen. It's about the chaos that ensues after a hurricane in Florida and the various scammers and gangsters who arrive, looking for a piece of action. Add a whole bunch of escaped animals (monkeys gone mental, hungry lions etc.) to complicate matters.

It's the first Hiaasen book I've read and it's very good. The writing style and dialogue is quite laid back, a bit like an Elmore Leonard novel but with more of an eye for the absurd things that can happen in life.

I'll certainly be picking a few more of his books up on the strength of this one.

[Silent Runner]

I'm reading Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen. It's about the chaos that ensues after a hurricane in Florida and the various scammers and gangsters who arrive, looking for a piece of action. Add a whole bunch of escaped animals (monkeys gone mental, hungry lions etc.) to complicate matters.

It's the first Hiaasen book I've read and it's very good. The writing style and dialogue is quite laid back, a bit like an Elmore Leonard novel but with more of an eye for the absurd things that can happen in life.

I'll certainly be picking a few more of his books up on the strength of this one.

I’m a huge Carl Hiaasen fan, I love his stuff. The Elmore Leonard comparison is spot on.

[gandhi]

I've just finished reading Ludmila's Broken English by DBC Pierre, and I need to warn everyone off it.

I ignored the bad reviews, because Vernon God Little also got some bad reviews, and that was genius, but it really is appaulingly bad. It's possibly the worst book I've ever read. I forced myself through to the end because I'd bought it in hardback and also because I thought maybe it'd have a smart ending (like VGL), but it doesn't. It's just horrifically bad from beginning to end.

That's a bit gutting, I was going to ignore the reviews too as I loved VGL; having said that I don't know precisely what it is people have a problem with, care to elaborate? I like the idea of it having seperate threads (but according to him still being personal) but is this just not something DBC can do? Where does it fall flat on it's arse?