Who's reading what?

[Ros]

Ah well, you can't like everything (not even Mort? You did try Mort?)

PG Wodehouse I find works really well to listen to in the car, but I'm not so keen on reading him. Now he lays the satire on with a bit of a trowel, really. The Fry & Laurie versions were very good, too.

[David]

Oops. No, I didn't try Mort. Should I? I did like Death, but mainly because (if I remember correctly) HE ALWAYS TALKED LIKE THIS. Which I thought was very funny, and still do.

Satire? In Wodehouse? Not a bit of it!

It's pure comedy, in its highest form. At its best, it's Mozart on the written page.

I did go through a phase of reading all the novels of your man PKD. Some of them are astonishing. I still remember putting Ubik down when I'd finished it, in a state approaching shock.

[Ros]

Yes, do try Mort. It is indeed all about Death, who takes an apprentice.

I should confess I've actually read very little PKD, despite having pinched one of his quotes...

[Raisin]

Mort is fantastic, I love Death, he's the most hysterical character, I always grin when I read a bit about him. There's also Reaper Man which is ALL about Death. I loved the bit in Mort where he gets very strange and depressed, and the curry bit.

[Raisin]

I'm reading "Engleby" by Sebastian Faulks now, I re-read Birdsong (French mood) and then started Engelby, which has started to get pretty disturbing!

I liked the character at first, Faulks made him have a kind of vague intelligence and very few social skills, now he has started to get quite sinister and the story has a twist in it.

[David]

Hello Raisin. A/S Levels over now, then? Nice to hear from you again.

My own snotty 16-year old has gone to Rome on a school history trip. Epic day-trip to Florence today, apparently.

Anyway, on the reading front, I've just discovered a series of French detective novels by Fred Vargas. Very good. Very gripping. Very Parisian.

[Raisin]

Hi David

Yeah, AS are all done, quite a relief although now they're finished the "worrying about what I'm going to get" happens. I won't stop thinking about the results until I open the envelope!

I bet your daughter will have a great time in Rome, Florence is fantastic as well. We were told that our art trip will be to Paris, I was very annoyed. (I think it's a bit of a cliche, school trip to France, where should we go? Paris of course!) Lots of other great places in France but no one seems to know the names Ah well.

The French detective novels sound good, I think I may have heard of Vargas. Possibly. For A2 we'll be reading Othello and Wuthering Heights for English lit, and then comparing them with others, so I think that I'm doing the Time Travellers Wife which is my favourite book.

[Ros]

I'm not sure I really 'get' modern literature. I've just finished reading Atonement by Ian McEwan (yes, I know it's old hat now) and although I enjoyed it, appreciated the character development etc, I found it rather unsatisfactory overall. Not enough plot, perhaps? The major event in the first half was so obvious I was annoyed that no one else in the book spotted it, and half the characters lovingly described in the first half were barely heard of again.

So what am I not appreciating here?

Ros

[BenJohnson]

I don't know I pop out for a day and there is an interesting Pratchett discussion going on. A bit late to join in now, but that never stopped me before. I prefer his Ankh Morpork related books, rather than the witches ones. I have really enjoyed seeing Vimes grow in character and the way the city watch has grown. I love the books because they work on many levels, they are a good read, the political commentary is spot on, and the science fiction and computer, etc references are perfect.

I haven't read Atonement, but I found the film pretty dire.

[Ros]

ok, we can continue with Pratchett instead, as I much prefer him too
I still like his later books, but I'm not finding them funny any more? Monstrous Regiment is an example that springs to mind. Somehow the plots seem a bit more linear now.

[Travis]

I'm reading Earth by David Brin right now. He's one of the best science fiction writers out there, but this one is just ok. I think.

Near future, scientist creates a micro singularty in secret for a new power generation plant. Something goes wrong though (read the book, lazy arse) and they lose containment. "Black hole" then sinks into the Earth where it threatens to gobble the whole thing up.

The story is set against major environmental issues such as ozone depletion, species extinction, water shortage, things like that. All turned up a notch from present day though, as the implications of current problems are carried into the future and seen in their full potential.

Whatever.

[Raisin]

I got back from Edinburgh today and thought I'd bring up Ian Rankin again

It's really interesting walking around the city because you can see where he gets all his inspiration from. Across from the train station is Fleshmarket Close, a very steep set of stairs down a narrow passage way. In the National Art Gallery above the arch as you go in are the words "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" ("Wha Daur meddle wi' me?") and we also sat opposite the Balmoral hotel and bar.

Lots of fun, and all the galleries and monuments are worth visiting as well.

And, yes, there were beardy Scottish blokes playing the drums and bagpipes in tartan kilts!

[k-j]

I got back from Edinburgh today

Are you David's daughter?!

I'm currently reading The Tin Drum - excellent, about 1/3 of the way through - and the other day I picked up Winston Churchill's account of his own WW2 heroics which is strangely compelling. It's massive though, so I'll be stuck with it. I'm approaching the 1/3 point of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, which is exhausting but exhilarating, like ascending a suspended rope.

[Sharra]

Raisin - I really liked Engelby, but it was very disturbing!
Ros - I wasn't over impressed with Atonement (can't even remember what it was about now tbh) but try his 'On Chesil Beach' - it's fantastic, just blew me away
Sharra
xx

[OwenEdwards]

Uh, a book on the Religions of Oceania, trés academic so not much there for the normal crowd.

And some shorts stories by Isaac Asimov. =) Really finished Ender's Game, too.

[Travis]

I'm not a huge fan of Card, but Ender's Game is a must for the serious sf reader.

[Wabznasm]

I decided to get round to Asimov the other day after a few pestering people encouraged me to (space opera used to be one of my guilty pleasures) and, after finishing Foundation #1, I don't think I'm going to be reading anymore. I've heard so many people insisting on its intellectual merit, but bar a few polite nods to a couple of smart ideas on religion and its economics, I've realised that the book's more about dull macho men being smarter than each other. There are just so many arsing 'But I recorded the conversation' plot twists that I can handle. A bit disappointed, really.

Otherwise, I'm reading a fun history book on the Roman republic by Tom Holland.

KJ - I'm impressed you're tackling Gibbon. I think even Virginia Woolf said it bored the tits off of her at points.

[Sharra]

Dave - re the Asimov (he's one of my guilty pleasures too) - I can only say that they get better. I found the first 2 quite stilted in places but loved the series as a whole. What I thought was great about it was the vastness of the world he creates. Hmm, in fact to really appreciate that vastness, reading the Robot series too helps

[David]

I got back from Edinburgh today

Are you David's daughter?!

Indeed she is not, but if she shares my daughter's character traits it's probably time she went to tidy her room.

[Ros]

I decided to get round to Asimov the other day .

The only Asimov I could never get to grips with was Foundation. Everything else I loved, though when I did a course a while ago on creative writing, his style got completely slated. His short stories tend to only exist for the pun at the end, especially the early ones. But as a teenager I thought he was brilliant. Haven't gone back to them for quite a while, though.

[Wabznasm]

I thought he was quite a patronising writer, having to italicise the big twists just in case we a) didn't get it or b) didn't see it coming.

[Travis]

He comes from the era of demigods in the flesh. More modern "greats" look at us as being much more competent.

That bastard.

[Ros]

That bastard.

Asmiov? that seems a bit harsh.
One of my heroes. Well, was. Revisiting may prove dangerous.

[David]

Have you tried Alastair Reynolds? I was quite impressed by something of his I dipped into a while ago.

[Ros]

Yes, he's good. But I seem to be having trouble getting stuck in to the huge tomes people like him are writing at the moment. Why does everything have to be so loooonnnngg?