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Printheads: The Book Club 2011
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- CommentAuthorian holloway
- CommentTimeApr 10th 2011
@DC
For where his head was (and probably still is) at in the late eighties and early nineties then the Third World War strip from Crisis is essential. he later dumbed the themes down quite a lot when he spun the series out into 2000AD with Finn.
It might also be worth your while having a blast through the book 2000AD Overload cause it's mostly a fun read and gives a nice insight into the magazine at the time.
Absolutely agree with dkotis about Marshal Law. the first mini series is all you really need check out. Charley's War is, of course, essential. -
@Warped Savant, sorry, i was being flippant again. i didn't read the speech because it seemed boring, because i figured i had gotten the gist from the other 1093 pages of the book. i read parts of it and skimmed the rest.
my friend mentioned Rand's relationships because i was contrasting the two books to him. i genuinely find the latter book to be greatly inferior to the former, and was wondering where she had gone wrong; he was just amusing me with trivialities.
i don't want to rant too much more about her (that's what notebooks are for) but i am surprised that so many people say she "changed their lives." i feel like a lot of these ideas are things you consider carefully and then discard in your rebellious youth years, you know? there's an undeniable appeal but also an undeniable naivete. they're stepping stones. (and i can't believe she's a Tea Party thing. that shit is so crazy. people hear what they wanna hear, i guess.)
i would say i'm definitely done with Rand for now, but if i ever get up the gumption again i'll surely look up the short stories. thanks. -
- CommentAuthorSteve Toase
- CommentTimeApr 10th 2011
Just finished If the Dead Rise Not by Phillip Kerr, the sixth in the Bernie Gunther series. This starts as a prequel, then wraps up the previous books post war in Cuba. You can tell in the writing that there is distance between the original Berlin Noir books and this, but that does not detract from an excellent story.
Currently reading Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite and Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. Unfortunately my German is not good enough to read Steppenwolf in the original language, and I'm always a little cautious of a translation getting in between the original prose and the reader, but enjoying it so far -
- CommentAuthorMercer Finn
- CommentTimeApr 10th 2011
I've got a bunch of essays to write this month, so am immersed in John Locke, David Hume, Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine. It's good.
Reading ASM when I need a break. Kinda glad Guggenheim quit, but Fred Van Lente's writing is a revelation. And that Joe Kelly / Eric Canete Deadpool issue was the FUN NEST. -
- CommentAuthorAnanzitusq
- CommentTimeApr 10th 2011
@Warped Savant
thanks.
Currently I'm reading The Dain Curse by Hammett, been loving all the Continental Op stories by him.
Not sure what I'll read next, maybe Absolute Beginners by MacInnes or another Doc Savage reprint. -
- CommentAuthorSteve Toase
- CommentTimeApr 10th 2011
@Ananzitusq
Read The Thin Man recently. Nora Charles appears as a fairly major character in If The Dead Rise Not. Not completely convinced that Phillip Kerr nails her character, but Hammett writes her fairly sparsely, leaving plenty of room for Kerr to work his own ideas in -
Thanks ian and dkotis. I'm not having luck finding the books. As far as I've seen, Third World War was never reprinted, Charley's War Vol.1 is out of stock and I was waiting for DC reprint of Marshal Law. At least I got 2000AD Thrill-Power Overload and the second volume of Requiem.
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- CommentAuthorJamie Heron
- CommentTimeApr 11th 2011 edited
Just got 'The Dragon's Path ' from Book Depository, I do so love that site. This what just after I'd decided to start a re-read of 'A Song of Ice and Fire' but I think I can put that off so as not to depress myself.
In any event, 'The Dragon's Path' is good so, far which is nice, here's hoping 'Leviathan Wakes' is as well. -
Finally got around to starting CLOUD ATLAS.
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In the last few month of so read Connie Willis' novel-in-two-volumes "Blackout" and "All Clear." Well-written and wonderful characterization, but the plot kind of lurches along. IMHO the core problem is that Willis is so enamored of the era that she lets the history get in the way of the story.
Also finished Jack London's "Martin Eden", which is a damned fine book. I blame Tom Waits, who wroteI know Martin Eden would be proud of me
Many before have been called by the sea...
-- "Shiver Me Timbers" by Tom Waits.The ending isn't quite as mysterious given what we know today
Martin seems to have a classic case of clinical depression
but it's powerful and effective nonetheless.
Now working my way through "Heart of Darkness." Yeah, I'm just a glutton for punishment. -
i'm reading some fantasy on the recommendation of a friend - Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erickson. the good thing about reading fantasy, for me, is that it makes me so sick of generic narrative that i actually want to read non-fiction afterwards. so i'm gonna try to tackle Deleuze & Guattari again.
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Novels Read
Blood Line by Mark Billingham
From The Dead by Mark Billingham - My favourite thing about the Tom Thorne books is how human he is. I didn't realise how used I was to detectives having a certain moral code until the first time he did something which was at the same time so completely unexpected and so completely understandable.
Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs
Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs - The realism of the forensic details both interests and grounds me, when you know how much truth is in the fiction you realise what people really do to each other. And yet I still love crime fiction.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - In an alternate history world where crimes against literature can be persecuted, people play with time and villains with inexplicable abilities are apparently commonplace a Literary Detective called Thursday Next tries to protect living fictional beings from acts of terrorism. I can't help it, I enjoyed the puns, I blame my father. A fun read.
The Stone-Cutter by Camilla Läckberg - Läckberg is an excellent writer whose back-stories and side-stories are just as detailed, well-researched and compelling as her main characters' story-lines. The murder of a young girl, first assumed to be an accidental drowning, reveals the deep problems of several families in a Swedish seaside town and shows how the actions of one person can have an insidious and far-reaching effect.
Plucker by Brom - Brom's artwork is as beautiful and dark as his writing. In this illustrated novel a child's toy must fight a dark force that threatens to destroy a child who lives in a world no longer equipped to fight it or even aware of its existence.
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach - I've enjoyed most of Mary Roach's books (Spook was a bit of a dud for me because it's hard to be too analytical about the supernatural so it ended up being more anecdotes than anything else) and this one was one of my favourites next to Stiff. The complexity of the astronaut's environment and the science that went towards putting them there is amazing. Made me feel more than a little claustrophobic and glad that I get to shower regularly but also really excited about space travel.
Graphic Novels Read
Northlanders 3: Blood in the Snow by Brian Wood - Beautifully drawn as always, the characters' lives harder and harsher and defiantly resisting the romanticism that people like to cast over the period only making the hope they have more poignant.
Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader by Neil Gaiman - I enjoyed this but thanks to my dorky brain reduced the end revelation to'Ha! Batman is Lister!'which took away the dramatic weight somewhat.
Reading
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
No Logo by Naomi Klein
Up Next
Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente -
- CommentAuthorundulatingungulate
- CommentTimeApr 24th 2011
The Crippled God - Steven Erikson
Tenth and concluding volume (at least of Erikson's sequence) of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Fuck knows what to say at the end of a 3.5 million word journey. A lot is tied up, but still a lot of questions unanswered. Horrible feeling may have to reread the set at some point. -
- CommentAuthorundulatingungulate
- CommentTimeApr 28th 2011
Report on Experience - John Mulgan
Somewhere between a war diary and psychological observation on NZ, England, politics, life, etc. The first few chapters are brilliant and probably necessary for any kiwis. -
- CommentAuthorgovernment spy
- CommentTimeApr 28th 2011 edited
Just finished If Chins Could Kill, about to start reading Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way.
If possible, I'm more of a fan now than I have ever been, and I've been a big fan for a long time. No idea why it took so long for me to read these. Reading an autobiography like this makes me want to collect all the tales I've been telling in recent threads... but is there a market for that? -
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CommentAuthorFauxhammer
- CommentTimeApr 28th 2011
@government spy Kick it up to Amazon as an Ebook, or via a POD service. There's no reason not to. -
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I didn't care for make love as much but it was a good read. I've thought about gathering, and rewriting to compile a pod, it never went anywhere.
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- CommentAuthorgovernment spy
- CommentTimeApr 28th 2011
What's a good word count to start with? I have no idea what I'm doing. I think I'm up to 10,000 or so. -
Seems like a good place to start. do you have any samples of your stories I could read?
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Almost finished with once in a decade re-read of The Return of the King. Rothfuss' A Wise Man's Fears is up next.
On the side, reading a collection of 1962 vintage Fantasic Four comix.