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What's top of your reading list?

Started by Ed, December 29, 2008, 06:05:13 PM

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delboy

Currently reading A Fine Dark Line by Joe Lansdale which cost me 30p(*) from the sell-off shelf at my library. Bit different to anything else I've ever read by Joe, but tremendous nonetheless.

I'm finding it really interesting to compare Joe's writing and the way he approaches things to the stories in the CD comp. I think I'm learning a lot from both sources.

Kind regards,
Derek

(*) And I've just downloaded Conan Doyle's The Lost World for free onto my Kindle. What a cheap obsession this is!  :dance:
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Rook

Quote from: delboy on November 03, 2011, 04:52:12 AM

I'm finding it really interesting to compare Joe's writing and the way he approaches things to the stories in the CD comp. I think I'm learning a lot from both sources.

I recently read Clive Barker's collection The Inhuman Condition and find myself doing the same. Interesting isn't it?

This was the first Barker I'd read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even The Age Of Desire, which halfway through I wasn't sure about. Great ending. :afro:

Now I've put Weaveworld pretty much on hold for the comp.  :shocked:
I think, Sebastian, there for I am.
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delboy

What's happened to Clive Barker? Is he still releasing stuff? ( I'm probably a little off the pace when it comes to the latest releases as I'm trying to catch up on my 200+ book backlog...whilst still buying cheap books from the library and downloading Kindle freebies!). I loved all his early and middle period work - a great vision in all his books.

Derek
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Rev. Austin

Quote from: delboy on November 03, 2011, 04:52:12 AM
Currently reading A Fine Dark Line by Joe Lansdale which cost me 30p(*) from the sell-off shelf at my library. Bit different to anything else I've ever read by Joe, but tremendous nonetheless.


One of my absolute favourite books! I love the 'folklore' aspect to it - it's like reading a Nick Cave album*

*I know Nick Cave writes books, but I th-SHUT UP!  :grin:
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jsorensen

@Rev--read King Ink I and II and The Ass Saw the Angel--nothiing else which is strange since I'm a huge Cave/Birthday fan...go figure (of fun)... :grin:

Right now reading Ethan Frome...again, go figure...
He had something to say. He said it. . . . He had summed up—he had judged. 'The horror!'

Grillmeat

Quote from: jazminsdaddy on October 17, 2011, 10:02:02 AM
I have just started John Dies at the End by "David Wong."
How did you like it? Almost picked it up a while back but got side tracked.
I just finished: "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. It was an interesting, yet slow, read. I'm glad I stuck with it but I can see how some would not.
I am now reading the final book of the vampire series by Del Torro and Hogan,  "The Night Eternal" just a bit of mind candy really but enjoyed it none-the-less.
OMG!! Soylent Green is people!!!

fnord33

I've been on a graphic novel kick of late. Lots of Garth Ennis, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore. Between Promethea, the Invisibles, Preacher I read 22 books in as many days. I know it's just an illision, but the feeling that I'm finally making headway in the books I want to read is horribly addictive. Going back to traditional novels with "Black Alice" by Thomas Disch and John Sladek. It's decent, but so far pretty bland for those guys.   
Life is an entanglement of lies to hide it's basic mechanisms. - William Burroughs

elay2433

Just finished Thomas Harris's Silence of the Lambs. Man, I love this tale. This was a book I had no problem reading, even having already seen the movie. Good tight writing, wonderful story that just keeps moving. Not a lot of wasted words in that one.

Before that I listened to Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Pretty good, interesting stuff. It's hardly an actual story, but given the way Kerouac tells the thing, coupled with Will Patton's narration, I wasn't ever bored.

Beore that I listened to Ann Hood's The Red Thread. I had high hopes for this one (having thoroughly enjoyed The Knitting Circle), but it didn't quite measure up. Pretty good nonetheless.

Caz

I've been wondering what all the fuss was about so picked up a Dan Brown book. 'Deception Point' was the one, and hey the guy knows how to write an addictive story. It was about NASA and stuff which pulled me right in and some of the technical jargon probably taught me more about rocks than I really needed to know, but on the whole it was a good read. There were a few things I found pretty far-fetched though. Special forces who seem anything but special...hmmm..I think not.

Anyways, on to Dean Koontz's 'Shattered' now, I love his stuff. :afro:
Some may say slaughtered is too strong a word...but I like the sound of it.

Ed

Yeah, I like Koontz, too -- easy to read, has a knack of coming up with an interesting premise. I don't know why he gets such a raw deal.
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

delboy

Thought I'd have a bash at Under the Dome. I've been putting it off for a long time as the beginning was so similar to an old story of mine that just opening King's book made me feel like a plagiarist even though when I wrote my story UtD hadn't even been released and I'd never heard of it. Now mine's been out there a while and I haven't received any hate mail(*) about blatently ripping off everyone's favourite author I feel a bit more relaxed about reading it. It is uncanny though...

Derek

(*) Quite the opposite in fact. My story led to an unsolicited email from a stranger telling me that my tale was her favourite in the book. Such a  thing had never happened before and hasn't happened since; although I did once get a letter intended for the great international rugby player Don Rutherford asking for my (well, his) autograph.
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Caz

Recently finished Lee Child's 'Echo Burning.' It was fairly slow for  a Jack Reacher novel, not sure if that was because of a change in tempo or the Texas heat of the story.
Onto something called 'The Strain' now. The follow up, that waits on the bookshelf, is called 'The Fall. And then there's one more. It's end of the world stuff. :cool:
Some may say slaughtered is too strong a word...but I like the sound of it.

Geoff_N

Caz, reviews of book one of the Strain trilogy shrieked at the poor writing. Apparently del Toro passed on the plot ideas to Hogan to write. Of course the writing style is so subjective but what do you think?

notsoscarey

Lovecraft then next is a text of forensic anthropology cases. 

Caz

Quote from: Geoff_N on December 16, 2011, 06:41:12 PM
Caz, reviews of book one of the Strain trilogy shrieked at the poor writing. Apparently del Toro passed on the plot ideas to Hogan to write. Of course the writing style is so subjective but what do you think?

I'm about a hundred pages in and for the most part enjoying the story. I can see why some say the writing is poor at times, it doesn't happen often but I do find that I have to go back and reread a paragraph or sentence as I'm not always sure what's being said. And then there's the acronyms, so many of them for different law enforcement agencies and the like that at times I have no idea who is being written about and as to what their purpose is within the story.
In short it's a good story where the flow could be better as could the sound of the narration. But then again I'm not sure if that's due to poor writing or my own unfamiliarity with the authors and their styles.     
Some may say slaughtered is too strong a word...but I like the sound of it.