What books have you read or are reading?

[srijantje]

i think sf books are much better then most movies,a real good one though,in fact one of the best movies i've ever seen is Solaris[the original one by russian director Andrei Tarkovsky]have a look if you got the chance,i'm SURE you'll like it

[heslopian]

I've seen the new George Clooney one, but haven't yet had the pleasure of reading the book by Stanislaw Lem or seeing the original film adaptation.

[srijantje]

the new one with clooney is a travesty,try to get the original one,it's great

[addy]

Nifty recs guys. Nice to hear from sci fi fans

[srijantje]

scifi fans?that's about the only thing i read

[Touchstone]

I'm reading "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson, the novel the Will Smith movie (and Charlton Heston's Omega Man) was based on. It's interesting. Somewhat seminal in the 'zombie apocalypse' genre; with subtleties that didn't make it into the movies; and (being 50 years old) amusing misses on predictions of the future--the hero relaxes listening to LP's for example.

Before that I read "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman. Essentially Harry Potter for grown-ups. Magic is hard and in many ways boring to learn (basic spelling is learnt by rote, like musical scales in all their variations). And, once you've mastered it, it's not quite as much fun as you would think--wtf do you do with your life when you're able to magic into existence anything you want any time you want?

[billy]

i remember seeing the omega man, it was comparable to will smiths portrayal though lacking in special effects.
i'm sure i read the book many years ago but can't remember doing so. i may give it another look at.

i like the look of magicians, will also give that a go i think. thanks.

[Touchstone]

It's been many many many years since I saw the Omega Man, but not so long since I saw Will Smith's version. The latter was certainly closer to the novel but it saccarinized quite significantly. The novel contained originality, the movie was generic.

Anyway, I've since read "Breathers" by SG Browne. It wasn't a great book, but it was an interesting one and quite original in its way. The supernatural is sooooo hot right now but it's still mostly vampires and warewolves. Here's a book about zombies, from their point of view (breaking the convention by assuming they're sentient). What would you do if you woke up one morning to find you'd died in a car accident which killed your wife. Your house was sold and all your possessions given away. Your child had been sent to live with distant relatives. You couldn't get a job because your tax no. had been deactivated. And when people saw you they either screamed and ran away, or attacked you. And then there's the tricky dietary issue.

As I said, not a great book (it's a first time author), but not a waste of time by any means.

--

I'm now reading "The Company" by K J Parker. In contrast to the above it really is (shaping up to be, as I haven't finished it yet) a great book. It's a fantasy, you won't recognise any place names, but there's nothing otherworldly (so far at least). Basically it's about 5 ex-soldiers from a world in which pikes were still the weapon of choice ie. it's set in a 16th Century earth-like world who set out to colonise an island. They take everything then need, including servants, and new wives, but someone isn't quite what they seem.

I'll get back to you when I've finished, let you know if it ends as strongly as its begun.

[mrmod]

My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl.

Perverted, but funny.

[Leanne]

My son is 9, so I'm currently re-reading every Roald Dahl book I can get my hands on so I remember them well enough to talk about. They're even better when you're an adult, believe it or not. I've already been back through the Narnia series, though he's reading some (politically incorrect, who gives a damn?) Enid Blyton stuff right now and admittedly, I can't manage that anymore.

I am eagerly awaiting the next George R R Martin book. We just managed to procure an illegal copy of the first 6 episodes of the Game of Thrones tv series, which hasn't aired in Australia yet, and it's... well, not the book. They never are. Still, better than watching more Friends reruns.

I haven't read sci-fi for a long while, but I did go into mourning when Asimov died. His Foundation series was beyond brilliant.

---

even the really famous poems i can't recite verbatim.
i love the jabberwock but ask me to recite it. i even did a homage poem to it
which i can't recite either

i'm not that into wanting or needing to know how people lived or died (no offence meant)
though i have retained some aspects of poets lives. i recall snippets of others lives of course
but i just want to read the words. their anguish and suffering and how they arrived at them is secondary.

Bloody hell billy, I could have written that.

Knowledge of the author seems to narrow the viewpoint of the reader so that everything they wrote must tie into some event the reader knows about. It's like a guessing game, or deciphering some kind of code. When I saw the latest Dorian Gray film, I couldn't believe how overtly homosexual it was -- the book itself was very subtle and that tension was important to the story, but because the film folk know Oscar Wilde had a bit of an interest in the lads they made it gratuitous. You can make anything about anything if you try hard enough to find a connection, but why?

[billy]

yeah, it's the reason i don't or never went the biography route.
have you tried terry pratchett on your son.
i desperately want to read his latest book but never seem to have the time.

[Leanne]

No Terry Pratchett yet... he's not quite up to it, but soon... and then it's a short step to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a must-read for all intelligent beings and even some from Earth.

[billy]

i have yet to meet anyone who said they don't like HHGTTG after reading it.

what about pratchett's wee free men or the maurice and the cat trilogy
they're pretty kid friendly
as are his digger, trilogy.

[Leanne]

Could hunt those out I suppose The earlier the introduction to absurdity, the better. Though he can already quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[billy]

he'll be okay with them then.
they're also okay for adults.

[Cthonian]

I'm currently reading The Exorcist, the novel by William Peter Blatty on which he based his Oscar-winning screenplay for the film of the same name. I half expected it to be trashy schlock, something Blatty knocked off before going to work on the script as a way of making more money, but I've just finished the prologue and so far it's gorgeously written. The scenes with Father Merrin in Northern Iraq are as compelling as they were in the film.

Blatty's The Exorcist is probably one of my favourite novels. The movie touches me like no other - I believe it to be a very powerful film. I've read the book countless times, and would love to read the (kind of) sequel Legion, too. The extra subplots involving Karl make it an absolutely stunning read.

Currently I'm reading various geographical text books about ancient monuments and megaliths, and hopefully I'm going to start reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy very soon.

[Touchstone]

Yep, last book lived up to it's promise. I can't really do it justice so I swiped this from Amazon: "This exquisitely written novel by a pseudonymous popular author blends gritty military fantasy with the 18th-century "island story" tradition. Seven years after the end of a war between unnamed countries, four friends who fought together have settled back into civilian life. Then their former leader, Kunessin, now a celebrated and embittered general, turns up and reminds them of their old pledge to retire together to a peaceful island. Better yet, he's found a suitable place and will fund the venture. A local matchmaker finds women smart and desperate enough to be colonists, and they marry the ex-soldiers in a group wedding that sets the tone of the book: humorous, grim and utterly unromantic. The would-be republicans soon reach the island and settle in, but the discovery of gold in a stream changes everything. With inexorable emotional logic and an eye for detail, deftly weaving in flashbacks to wartime, Parker carries the reader on a headlong gallop to the powerful conclusion"

"The Company" by K J Parker--one I'd particularly recommend.

[heslopian]

hopefully I'm going to start reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy very soon.

EXCELLENT choice. McCarthy is one of my favourite writers. Meridian is an incredibly violent but moving and beautiful book. Just don't read it on a full stomach.