Re: The Book Thread

[Sid Seadevil]

Go for it. I'd certainly read them.

Yes, but you'd do anything than actual work. I'll make a start, though. That's three novels and The Bride of Cthulhu to be written. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my drafty garret.

You know me too well. Oh, and since you insist on starving while you work in a drafty garret, at least make sure you wear a woolly hat to stave off the mind-numbing effects of the winter.

[Zoltar]

Go for it. I'd certainly read them.

Yes, but you'd do anything than actual work. I'll make a start, though. That's three novels and The Bride of Cthulhu to be written. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my drafty garret.

*signs up for Bride of Cthulhu newsletter, eagerly awaits updates*

And I do believe I've also heard of this "Shadowchaser" of which you fine folks speak.

[Sid Seadevil]

[quote="Zoltar"]

And I do believe I've also heard of this "Shadowchaser" of which you fine folks speak.

Really? Random assorted people all over the forum keep mentioning how they've read this...how come I've only ever used it as a wobbly table leg prop?

[Lucy McGough]

Just finished King Lear. It was less than uplifting.

[Sid Seadevil]

Just finished King Lear. It was less than uplifting.

You should have tried tying it to a helium filled balloon first - it worked for me.

[Nick Barlow]

If you read it backwards, it's a heartwarming story of a family overcoming their differences and coming together. Of course, given that it starts with many of them rising from the grave, it's also a zombie story, which is another bonus.

[Sid Seadevil]

If you read it backwards, it's a heartwarming story of a family overcoming their differences and coming together. Of course, given that it starts with many of them rising from the grave, it's also a zombie story, which is another bonus.

Not to mention the fact that the musical interlude section was quite clearly the inspiration for hot hit flick Dirty Dancing.

[Lucy McGough]

If you read it backwards, it's a heartwarming story of a family overcoming their differences and coming together. Of course, given that it starts with many of them rising from the grave, it's also a zombie story, which is another bonus.

I think you may be onto something.

[Frank]

OK, pop pickers. Here's what's crowding my bedside table....

Currently reading:

Non-fiction -
Gothic Television (Helen Wheatley, Manchester University Press)
Big Ideas (James Harkin)
Torchwood Series 2 Guide - Something In The Darkness (Stephen James Walker)
Shock Doctrine (Naomi Kline)
Dalek I Love You (Nick Griffiths)
The Ode Less Travelled (Stephen Fry)
The Meaning of The 21st Century (James Martin)

Fiction -
Exilium (Richard Evans)
Shadowchaser (that Seadevil fella)

On the pile to read:

Fiction -
V The Second Generation (Kenneth Johnson)
Something Borrowed (Paul Magrs)
...and at least six BBC Doctor Who books

Non fiction -
White Heat (Dominic Sandbrook)
Telefantasy (Catherine Johnson BFI)
Saints & Avengers (James Chapman)
Fear And Fashion (V&A)
Cold War Modern (V&A)
Paul O'Grady - At My Mother's Knee...And Other Low Joints
Alan Clarke (Richard Kelly, Faber)
British Directors: Terence Fisher (Manchester University Press)

In the last week I've polished off Black Butterfly by Mark Gatiss, The Secret Tunnel by James Lear and Licence To Thrill by James Chapman. I will highly recommend Black Butterfly. Hilarious Bond/Avengers spoof by Mr. Gatiss and as good as the two prequels.

[Sid Seadevil]

I will highly recommend Black Butterfly. Hilarious Bond/Avengers spoof by Mr. Gatiss and as good as the two prequels.

Oooooohhhhhhh...sounds right up my alley - especially given how much I'm currently enjoying The Devil in Amber.

[Lucy McGough]

Currently reading:

The Ode Less Travelled (Stephen Fry)

That is a DECENT book.

[Frank]

I spent last night guffawing rather loudly in bed whilst reading Nick Griffiths 'Dalek I Loved You' - a very amusing 1970s memoir - and would happily recommend it to chase the blues away.

[lucy_who]

I have accidently packed all the books mr_lucy and I bought each other for Christmas. What can I say? I was in the zone...

Hence, I have just reread Wintersmith (and realised all over again that I will never be as good a writer as Pratchett) and am now trying to choose between The Project Managers Handbook and the Christmas edition of New Scientist.

[Aspadistra]

The Project Managers Handbook

Commiserations. In the midst of decluttering, I have a couple of books on project management, a book on Getting Things Done, and three Patricia Cornwell novels.

Yes, I know it's past my bedtime. Kept having weird dreams about school and falling off a cliff, last night. And at one point, a King Charles Spaniel turned up on my doorstep and I gave it a cuddle.

I'm planning on waiting until my eyes are dropping out before I go to bed tonight.

[Sid Seadevil]

Yay! My long awaited copy of The Writer's Tale has finally arrived!

All pretence of working on anything has summarily been dropped as my entire attention is shifted towards it.

[Lucy McGough]

I'm enjoying The Scarlet Letter more than I feared I would. Have any of you read it?

[Dave Webb]

I'm enjoying The Scarlet Letter more than I feared I would. Have any of you read it?

Yeah. Love amongst puritan colonial folk and the foundation of This Great Nation on Principles of Love and Understanding.

[Nick Barlow]

I've recently finished Ken MacLeod's The Night Sessions which, like most of his previous works, I'd heartily recommend. It's interesting that, after all the ideologies he's tackled beforehand, this is the first book of his to tackle religion head-on (though I guess one could say he did do it in the Engines of Light series, given how that featured actual Gods).

Anyway, this one is set sometime in the nearish future, after the world has come through the Faith Wars and most countries are militantly secular - religion's not illegal, it's just ignored. What's most impressive is that MacLeod manages to write a believable police procedural - the main plot of the book stems from the murder of a Catholic priest - in a futuristic setting. The trouble with most sf police novels is that the writer's so obsessed with futuristic technology that the human side gets forgotten, but here it's central to the plot, alongside the implications of AI, intelligent robots and space elevators. There's also the usual dry humour of a MacLeod novel, such as the fact that the central Scottish police AI is known to all and sundry as Paranoia.

[Lee Carey]

Just picked up Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, a true life Victorian crime story that shaped all crime fiction that followed (from country house murder mysteries to the creation of the investigating detective- the character of the detective in the Moonstone was based directly on newspaper reports from the case, and most crime writers point to the Moonstone as being, along with Murders of the Ruse Morgue, the template of all that followed).

Very rarely read true life crime stories, but even though I'm in the very early stages of reading, it's written in a scholarly and, more importantly, readable way.

Highly recommended.

[Nick Barlow]

Best book review ever?

[Sid Seadevil]

Best book review ever?

If it isn't the best book review ever - it should be.

[Zoltar]

Best book review ever?

"I'm not sure that everybody's life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I'm very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily."

Understatement of the year.

[Sid Seadevil]

"I'm not sure that everybody's life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I'm very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily."

Understatement of the year.

And then some!

[Sid Seadevil]

Currently very much enjoying Sebastian Faulks' celebratory 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth, James Bond novel: Devil May Care.

Faulks effortlessly captures Fleming's style, while adding welcome touches of his own - very mordant - sense of humour.

For fan's, it's almost a compendium of "Bond's Greatest Hits" - with its plentiful references to well-known and much loved past adventures. But it's also a rattling good read in its own right.

I suspect Ian Fleming would have enjoyed this book very much.

Certainly, it's the by far and away the best official non-Fleming Bond novel to see print.

[Frank]

Just finished first volume of Anneke Wills autobiography 'Self Portrait' and have gone straight into volume two 'Naked'

I highly recommend them. Superb, riveting, moving reads. Forget the Doctor Who bits and just be amazed at this woman's incredible life!

I heart Anneke!

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