what are you reading?

[F-ZeroOne]

No - its a major something that goes on throughout the series. You can probably guess what it is.

[SimonB]

Since last post:

Paper - Gareth Roberts: Doctor Who Only Human, Harold Mills West: Little Dick The Smuggler and Other East Anglian Eccentrics and now Pratchett: Making Money.

Audio: Bill Bryson: The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid and now Anne McCaffrey: Moreta - Dragonlady Of Pern.

[HGFB]

Flood by Stephen Baxter and very good it is too.

[Orava]

A Handful of Honey by Annie Hawes.

Modest and nicely written, classic English abroad genre.

[thalamus]

I'm blessed with a boss who lets me read during the quiet spots at work (14 books since the middle of June ).

The Hundred Year Lie (Randall Fitzgerald)
Compelling book about chemicals, additives, drugs, and pullotants. Transformed my life overnight.

Twinkie Deconstructed (Steve Ettlinger)
Fascinating book which dissects a Twinkie to source the common ingredients we eat.

Fat (Rob Grant)
Humdrum, and rather disappointing.

Survivor (Chuck Palahniuk)
Exceedingly clever, offensive, and gratifying.

Diary (Chuck Palahniuk)
Predicatble but the atmosphere drips like a 70's horror mystery.

Lullaby (Chuck Palahniuk)
Great fun

Talk of the Town (Ardal O'Hanlon)
An Irish Catcher in the Rye, packed with teenage angst and grim violence.

Sudden Wealth (Robert Llewellyn)
His books get steadily better; this one is pretty hit and miss.

The Green Mile (Stephen King)
Superb. Very similar to the film, albeit with much darker overtones in places, and the final chapter (Alabama) had me in tears.

Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man (Tim Allen)
Disposable stand-up snippets mixed with gushing sentiment over his daughter.

The Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger)
Can't beleive I waited so long to read this; angsty, but with a neat redemption.

E (Matt Beaumont)
Extremely simple but effective novel (composed purely of emails), a must for fans of Drop the Dead Donkey.

The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
Not laugh-out-loud funny, but certainly endearing with some beautifully crafted writing. I'd put off reading his stuff for too long, so I'm about to plough my way through everything he's done.

K-Pax (Gene Brewer)
An amazing book; really makes you think about human nature and communication.

[HGFB]

Fat (Rob Grant)
Humdrum, and rather disappointing.

Agreed. Incompetence was far, far better.

[F-ZeroOne]

I'm blessed with a boss who lets me read during the quiet spots at work (14 books since the middle of June ).



The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
Not laugh-out-loud funny, but certainly endearing with some beautifully crafted writing. I'd put off reading his stuff for too long, so I'm about to plough my way through everything he's done.

The series begins evolving from the next book (The Light Fantastic) onwards, becoming less a straight parody of fantasy and more a world in its own right. Mort or Guards! Guards! are probably where Discworld becomes recognisably... well, Discworld.

[merman]

Just finished "Friends Like These" by Danny Wallace. Brilliant. And I have a signed copy!

[piku]

Reading Piloting Palm. A book explaining how Palm Computing came to be. It's really interesting and currently they've just seen Apple announce the Newton and are crapping it slightly.

I like "history" books like this, part of me is fascinated by the way lots of these giant computer corporations were started by a few people who didn't really know what to do.

The book is well written, in small chapters that are easy to digest while sitting on the toilet. By the time your legs are going numb you've come to a natural place to stop reading.

[nyarla]

Just started reading William Gibson's Spook Country, the sequel to Pattern Recognition. So far it's excellent. It feels very related to Neuromancer.

Up next are Glasshouse by Charles Stross and The Stand by Stephen King.

[thalamus]

Masters of Doom (David Kushner)
Fantastic little book, which I steamed through in just a couple of sittings. Particularly interesting for games industry veterans, as it really encapsulates the pioneer spirit of the late 80's and early 90's.

[thalamus]

The Dinner Party (Gordon Houghton)
Extremely compelling, moving, and chilling. Reads a lot like Chuck Palahniuk, which is by far the best recommendation I can give it.

[nyarla]

Well I'm finding it hard to get into Glasshouse. It's very cold. Awesome ideas, but the characters don't have much life. I'll have to try some of Stross's other stuff, hopefully the ones with lovecraftian bits.

So I stopped reading it and went on to The Stand (The Complete & Uncut Edition), which is completely awesome. I had no idea what it was about, and haven't seen the miniseries. Bonus spooky points because I happened to borrow it from the library just as I got a really bad cold/flu/fever/thing, which I am only just getting over.

[HGFB]

I started Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan yesterday after the urging of almost every one I bloody meet (Including some random guy working in Waterstones who said I should read it while I was buying the new Greg Bear).

So far it's been a normal solid example of that genre. Isn't it lucky that it's a genre I love anyway To be fair though so far it's nothing I haven't read many times before. Just well written and entertaining. Kovacs is really starting to grow on me.

It is getting better the more I settle into it though so with any luck I'll be singing its praises and moving onto the next one as soon as I'm done.

[HGFB]

After reading a good chunk more on the train to work I'm afraid to say I'm hooked. I'll be over at Amazon if anyone needs me.