what are you reading?

[juice]

I've read all the Ender books. As people are saying the first one is definitely the best but for me that's not saying much since I found the first one pretty "meh". I just found it pretty dull. I didn't empathise with any of the characters. Maybe I should have read it when I was a misunderstood teenager

I liked the first one - the content seems a bit stretched out and the "shock twist" at the end was a tad predictable, but overall it was an interesting concept.

Spoiler: show

By which I mean the idea of stripping a small child to his basics and turning him into an unbeatable war machine capable of genocide: it's basic Army training taken to the next level, with everyone except the poor kid fully aware of what they're doing and the effect they're having on the child.

The later sequels just seemed to be some form of misguided attempt to cash in and promote some odd ideas and beliefs. A bit like the Wizard of Oz, where there's literally dozens of sequels.

I've just finished reading Accelerando by Charles Stross (available online for free!) - sad to say, I prefer his Laundry works by a significant margin. It's actually too geeky and suffers from thing that most post-Neuromancer cyberpunk stuff has gotten stuck in: it focuses on lovingly detailed tech and lots of geeky in-jokes, which just becomes tiring after a while. People tend to forget that Gibson generally used tech to set scenes, rather than focusing on it.

[Dungeon-Dave]

Lucifer, that I picked up in Oxford last weekend during Markie's bash.

Got the first two; completed first and enjoyed it immensely, on second now. It's slow-paced and gentle, and Mike Carey is an excellent wordsmith - Lucifer has no arrogant posturing nor drooling snarl but comes across as confidently lethal, smug without being brash. A grown-up Constantine.

Well recommended for those who have met Samael in Hellblazer or Sandman (some references to both tales, too).

[HGFB]

I think I'd forgotten just how entertaining a writer John Scalzi could be. Last Colony and Zoe's Tale bought, de-protected and stuffed onto my 505 for some chain reading.

[Portland]

Oddly got the urge to re-read Belgariad and Mallorean the other day.

[Orava]

Wife in the North

Strangely adept, except we are in the west.

[betamax]

I'm digging in to the first of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy- Red Mars. It's pretty good.

[HGFB]

I'm digging in to the first of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy- Red Mars. It's pretty good.

I found that series incredibly dull and yet I still read all three books. By the end I even think I enjoyed it. Still bloody dull though.

[betamax]

I'm digging in to the first of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy- Red Mars. It's pretty good.

I found that series incredibly dull and yet I still read all three books. By the end I even think I enjoyed it. Still bloody dull though.

It's very dry and occasionally colder than the nocturnal surface of Mars itself and yet.. the writing style keeps me reading in short bursts. Its like Columbo- it lets a really big firecracker off right at the start, then takes you back through the events leading up to the explosion. Plus it echoes my own views on socialisation and the dominance dynamics of primates

[SimonB]

James May - May On Motors

Now about to start Susanna Clarke's short story collection The Ladies Of Grace Adieu

[thalamus]

How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill)
Rich Advertising Executive fucks up his life and ends up working at Starbucks. Describing the book is the only good thing I can find to say about it.

Almost Green (James Glave)
Story of one man's quest to build himself an eco-shed and reduce his carbon footprint. Well written, intelligent, and extremely inspiring. Loved the phrase "Culdesactivism".

[HGFB]

Over the last couple of weeks I've read Ghost Brigades, Last Colony and Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi and Woken Furies by Richard Morgan. I was a bit stumped for what to read after that. I have a huge pile but nothing was screaming "READ ME NOW". In the end I settled on a series I should have read years ago and started Foundation's Fear by Gregory Benford.

In the work kitchen while making my noodles I'm slowly rereading The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross on my phone and my current toilet book is A Writers Tale by Russell Davies which when he isn't being so fucking emo is actually a fascinating look into Doctor Who series 4.

[benedictw]

Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko

Really enjoying this, very different to 'western' takes on the same subject.

[zip accident]

This.

I read silent unicorn and turk182's discussion of him, and went looking. I heard of someone of a similar name a long time ago, and was intrigued when the name resurfaced.

The book consists of short stories, very short, mostly a page or less, though one or two get up to five or six, and the stories are interesting rather than amusing, to me, so far.

[20thCenturyBoy]

I'll tell what not to read. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, apparently "Britain's favourite book" according to some wankpoll. It's a steaming pile of medieval bollocks soap opera with some sex scenes, hangings, and Thomas Becket getting his brains spilled.

[nyarla]

I am busy reading the Swallows & Amazons series of childrens books by Arthur Ransome. My grandfather and mum were both read them as children. I read them when I was ~10-13, and then not again since then. Found and liberated the whole series from my grandparents' garage a few weeks ago.

So far I've made my way through: Swallows & Amazons, Swallowdale, Peter Duck (metabook written by the characters themselves), Winter Holiday, Coot Club and Pigeon Post.

They're even better than I remembered, and I've been a bit surprised to find myself totally engrossed.

Fuck Harry Potter. Swallows & Amazons are the best