Only started the prologue of 'Deadhouse Gates' and it already seems to be dealing with some pretty serious repercussions from the first books. I love the fact that I can just read the whole series, I don't have to wait for the author to finish the books.

Would you say the whole series is good or are there some duff entries?
Is there not another series by another guy but set in the same world?

Finished Catch 22 today. I must admit I found it a bit of a slog to begin with but after about 100 pages it started to click. Loved it in the end.

Next up will be the third Hunger Games book, looking forward to a decidedly breezier read.

Reading
 His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. - I know - but I really like it.

The Facebook Effect - Kirkpatrick - Good read. 

The B&B forum - Everyone. - Messy with some character development - its very Bad Dudes VS Dragon Ninja..

It is a lovely book, full of incredibly sharp humour especially when it comes to conversations.

I finished How to be a Woman, it was a lot of fun.

I am currently reading Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveller which is rather mental.

Pullman's stuff has always sounded decent enough. Never got around to it, and I feel like I owe it to myself to make up for reading 6 Potter books, although I am young enough to say that I got hooked as a kid, and grew out of it in the end.

I love his pantheism themes in the trilogy. They are better than potter and deserved a better film.
I've read it 4 times now. Just starting again.
worth some of your time tempy

Massively excited for The Unholy Consult, the conclusion to R. Scott Bakker's second trilogy which is out soon. I Iove Erikson, GRRM and Abercrombie in varying degrees but Bakker's stuff is the best fantasy I've ever read.

I hated Stonewielder and have yet to read a decent Malaz book by Esslemont. Probably not even gonna bother with Orb.

Tempy wrote:

Pullman's stuff has always sounded decent enough. Never got around to it, and I feel like I owe it to myself to make up for reading 6 Potter books, although I am young enough to say that I got hooked as a kid, and grew out of it in the end.

Not sure anyone should feel off for reading HP if they started with them as a youngster. Maybe the prose isn't up to much once you're a bit older and can detect such things, but Rowling did a decent enough job with the world fiction. Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is superb and well worth a read.

I hate book snobbery. Fuck you, snobbists. Let people read what they want to read and don't judge them for it. 

Railsea continues to be a delight. Life of Pi next, then

Anybody read any Jim Thompson? He wrote The Killer Inside Me, After Dark My Sweet, and The Grifters. He looks like he might be fun.

Finished The Blade Itself and The Devotion of Suspect X.
Blade Itself was consistently great, just took me bloody ages to get through so I'm taking a breather before the next 

The Devotion was a nice little surprise. Saw it in HMV and took a punt, quite a tidy little murder mystery.

China Mieville - I read Embassytown and thought it was really very good, interesting other-worldy scifi that does a great job of conveying alien-ness with a well-paced plot.

Off the back of that just finished The City and The City which was okay, was expecting more sci-fi type stuff but it's more "New Weird" apparently - alternate reality-ish Columbo police investigation type thing, really slow to start, ramps up quite well later on but way too late and the lynchpin idea is retarded. Embassytown was much, much better.

It was, I dunno, it was okay I guess, the characters were quite well realised and the dialogue believable skatty and that, the invetigative stuff and plot ticked along but just wasn't as engaging as Embassytown, which I thought was much better paced as well. Was never really sold on TCaTC's central conceit.

Oh cool - I might give Railsea a shot then. Ta

I_R wrote:

I read a few a long time ago, thought they were OK, but his prose didn't really do much for me. I'd imagine that the bleakness was a revelation at the time.

Yeah I heard Stanley Kubrick rave about him, I think because of how dark they were. Might give him a try soon.

I ordered some books from Amazon the other day.

La Brava by Elmore Leonard, about some fellow who falls in love with a film noir actress from the 50s. I loved Rum Punch, and City Primeval. He has a sharp, quick style that doesn't require the commitment that a lot of Ellroy does. Won the Edgar award, so should be good.

Three by James Ellroy: My Dark Places, The Hilliker Curse and The Best American Noir of the Century collection that he edited. Looking forward to reading My Dark Places in particular. I saw the documentary he made around the time, and am aware of the story, but I reckon that it will become even more apparent how every woman in every book is his mother.

Two by Charles Bukowski: Post Office and Factotum. From the little bits of his I have read, and the films of his I have seen, I'm pretty sure I'm going to love these. Haven't been this excited about getting into a writer since Hunter Thompson. (Not just cause of the booze thing.)

And the other Penguin Modern Classics collection of Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake and other novels.

I'm having a beer and reading it now.