Do you read?

[MrWeedMcGrass]

Hmm. So I assumed correctly then.

[Chindie]

I'm probably at risk of being branded a book snob, but Grisham et al is Just Not My Sort Of Thing.

Pratchett? Well I like sf, and I like Douglas Adams's sf parodies. I don't like fantasy at all (LOTR excepted), and have little inclination to read Pratchett's fantasy parodies. And, yes, I know, I know, they're not just that - but I've read a few excerpts and thought "meh".

TBH I almost distrust on principle anybody who can knock out that many books so quickly.

I'm a big Pratchett fan, I think the quantity of books he can knock out is partly to do with the fact he's not exactly writing worthy literature, and partly because he's managed to conjure a world that has allowed him to right about just about anything he wants in it. He's also thinking about the books he's going to right a couple ahead of where he is.

To be honest he's not even really doing fantasy parody any more IMO, he's increasingly doing parodies of real world situations and items that happen to be set in a fantasy world.

I mean his next book is on taxation, following in the footsteps of a character that has already done the madness of the postal service and the completely insane world of finance.

I'd recommend some of his newer books to you as throw away fiction but if you've better things to read I wouldn't bother.

As for myself, I got Whit finished the other night, which I think slots in at number 4 in my Iain Banks list, behind the Crow Road, Complicity and the Wasp Factory, probably about tied with Steep Approach and Transition. All very close though.

An enjoyable read though and often quite funny, I was expecting more ripping on religion, he instead quietly pokes fun at it throughout, whilst also being rather kind to them really.

Moved onto Blood Meridan last night. I still am not that keen on McCarthy's style of writing but I think it'll be another enjoyable one.

[mjmooney]

For that classic British humour, my faves are Saki and Jerome K. Jerome.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Moved onto Blood Meridan last night. I still am not that keen on McCarthy's style of writing but I think it'll be another enjoyable one.

Brilliant book, but grim.

He uses quite a bit of spanish in it though, so get google translate at the ready.

[mjmooney]

Moved onto Blood Meridan last night. I still am not that keen on McCarthy's style of writing but I think it'll be another enjoyable one.

Brilliant book, but grim.

He uses quite a bit of spanish in it though, so get google translate at the ready.

Loved it - and a classic case in point of what I was saying upthread. A violent western - but quite definitely literature.

[MrWeedMcGrass]

For that classic British humour, my faves are Saki and Jerome K. Jerome.

There is no one quite like Saki , is there?

I haven't read as much of Jerome K Jerome other than a few stories in Compilations.

Roald Dahl for dark humour as well. 8)

[leviramsey]

I like Cusslers books, but that's more down to the things he writes about more than him being a good writer. He really isn't that good a writer. But decent stories.

Cussler is a better Ian Fleming than Ian Fleming...

In the sense that Fleming once said that he wrote for red-blooded heterosexual males who were waiting for some sort of public conveyance. There probably is no better author for that sort of reading than Cussler.

[Chindie]

Moved onto Blood Meridan last night. I still am not that keen on McCarthy's style of writing but I think it'll be another enjoyable one.

Brilliant book, but grim.

He uses quite a bit of spanish in it though, so get google translate at the ready.

Loved it - and a classic case in point of what I was saying upthread. A violent western - but quite definitely literature.

Aye I understand it's one of the most highly acclaimed American novels.

I'm trying to read wider and get back my joy of reading I used to have, and guessed that McCarthy might have some of the grit I want. I got on with No Country, and loved the story... I just not that keen on McCarthy's style, it doesn't click me.

I've not grasped the conscious decision he makes to not use speechmarks for instance. It's a really minor thing, but it does for some reason make my reading of his work get knocked slightly off kilter, like I'm on unsure footing with it. I think it may be something to do with the occasional times it makes reading dialogue difficult - it can be, if your casually reading a section, sometimes difficult to quite realise we've had some speech happen, or who's beginning/ending a dialogue.

It takes a second sometimes, for me anyway, in those rare instances, to quite grasp whats gone on. And its so far eluded me why he does it.

[mjmooney]

I like Cusslers books, but that's more down to the things he writes about more than him being a good writer. He really isn't that good a writer. But decent stories.

Cussler is a better Ian Fleming than Ian Fleming...

In the sense that Fleming once said that he wrote for red-blooded heterosexual males who were waiting for some sort of public conveyance. There probably is no better author for that sort of reading than Cussler.

I loved Fleming when I was about 15, I suspect I would find him unreadable now.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

It takes a second sometimes, for me anyway, in those rare instances, to quite grasp whats gone on. And its so far eluded me why he does it.

He did an interview a while back (with Oprah of all people) and he said he basically doesn't like speechmarks and quotations. He says they clutter up the page and take away from the flow of the prose he writes.

In Blood Meridian you can see what he's aiming for, there are a lot of long passages without breaks which are meant to add to the desolate western feel.

I watched a lecture about this book also, because I'm a bit of a geek, and it suggests pretty much the same. Basically it's something that annoys him and he feels he works better without the 'cluttter'.

[maqroll]

I like non-fiction. I just read "River of Doubt" about Teddy Roosevelt's journey into the depths of the Amazon, and the last unmapped area of the world. Absolutely fascinating, and an easy read.

[mjmooney]

I read lots of non-fiction too. Just started Steinbeck's "Travels With Charley".

[regular_john]

Currently reading Dawkin's latest - The greatest show on Earth (the evidence for evolution)

What a book! If you're remotely interested in science, I suggest picking it up. It's endlessly fascinating

[villadude]

Just finished reading this, really funny read that I couldn't put down.

[theboyangel]

Just started to read 'The Night Sessions' by Ken Macleod - pretty good beginning and enjoyable so far!

[mjmooney]

Just started to read 'The Night Sessions' by Ken Macleod - pretty good beginning and enjoyable so far!

I absolutely LOVED Macleod's "Fall Revolution" quartet. The "Engines of Light" trilogy was not quite as good, but still enjoyable. But "Newton's Wake" I thought was terrible - gave up on it before the end. And I've read nothing by him since.

[Nigel]

Just finished reading this, really funny read that I couldn't put down.

There was a bit in that book (the part with the masturbating monkey) where I literally cried with laughter!

[Rodders]

Currently reading Dawkin's latest - The greatest show on Earth (the evidence for evolution)

What a book! If you're remotely interested in science, I suggest picking it up. It's endlessly fascinating

yep, tis one of my non-fictions at the moment. Only on the 2nd chapter, but thoroughly enjoyable, he really does write well for us ignoramus' on the subject. When I picked it up it also prompted me to flick through a chapter of the God Delusion. I remember loving it first time round, though I winced a bit second time. I much prefer him waxing lyrical about a subject I know far too little about, than reminding me how... well you know.

[villadude]

There was a bit in that book (the part with the masturbating monkey) where I literally cried with laughter!

Yep me too, I was reading that chapter in the airport departure lounge, and my gf got really pissed with me as everyone kept looking whilst I had a good guffaw!

[Nigel]

There was a bit in that book (the part with the masturbating monkey) where I literally cried with laughter!

Yep me too, I was reading that chapter in the airport departure lounge, and my gf got really pissed with me as everyone kept looking whilst I had a good guffaw!

Funny that, i was on a coach on the way to a resort.