What are you reading now... II!

[Stuart Wallis]

I'm sure I used to half-know him years ago when he ran a fanzine! Be warned, that book gets oddly re-issued and updated about every 6 months with a new cover. So you could very easily unwittingly buy it again.

I met him once and bought a couple of issues from him. Skonnos, it was called.

[SiHart]

Pompeii by Robert Harris. I have a feeling I know what's going to happen to that town...

[Rob McCow]

What A Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe. Good so far!

[Stuart Wallis]

Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud by Andrew Lane. I gather he may have written a Holmes novel before...

[Paul Monk]

About a third of the way through The City and the City by China Mieviile and its rather good. After starting like a crime novel with the odd weird sentence, its suddenly just become clear what the main concept of the novel is and it changes how the story is viewed. I've no idea if it was written that way or if I've just been a bit slow to cotton on.

I've also started on Judge Dredd the Complete Case Files Vol 2 and thats wonderful as always. (No full frontal nuditity Mr Wallis will be pleased to hear!) Interesting that some chapters of Cursed Earth couldn't be printed due to copyright. Could a certain clown and Colonel have complained I wonder?

[Alex]

What A Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe. Good so far!

Glad you're enjoying it, that's one of my favourites by Coe.

I'm about a quarter of the way through The Handmaid's Tale, it's largely bleak stuff, but very well written.

[Stuart Wallis]

Interesting that some chapters of Cursed Earth couldn't be printed due to copyright. Could a certain clown and Colonel have complained I wonder?

Leave Lethbridge-Stewart out of it!

[stuartdg]

Short Trips The Muses

[Stuart Wallis]

...which, by coincidence, I'm waiting for from the library.

Til it arrives, I'm reading Mistress Of The Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts.

[SiHart]

The Making of Us by Lisa Jewell.

[SiHart]

The Thief of Time by John Boyne is up next for me.

[Rob McCow]

Oh yes, I'm reading Love And Poison, a book about Suede.

Man, they took a lot of drugs.

[Jeff]

I started Duma Key by Stephen King this morning.

[Alex]

I finished The Handmaid's Tale earlier this week and absolutely loved it, it's a rare modern novel that deserves it's status as a classic. The ending wasn't quite as bleak as I thought it might be, too, which was a pleasant surprise.

I'm on to David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas now, which is also superb, I really don't know why I didn't get round to reading it years ago after loving Number9Dream so much...It's 500 pages + though, so don't expect a review any time soon...

[Anthony Williams]

I'm reading the ever-thrilling Introduction to Bible Studies. Oh yes.

[Rob McCow]

Surely you and Bible Studies need no introduction? I thought you'd already done some of that?

[Anthony Williams]

Surely you and Bible Studies need no introduction? I thought you'd already done some of that?

A little, but I've never actually looked at the Bible from an academic viewpoint. So, I'm doing that now!

[Rob McCow]

Apparently, it had some influence over the development of modern English language and literature.

Might just be a rumour, I think I heard it somewhere.

[Stuart Wallis]

They say it's had some sort of effect on world history as well, but I've never been one to listen to the idle gossip of the proletariat.

[Nyder]

I'm a big fan of Tom Sharpe's books - so pleased he's written a new "Wilt" novel. I do like a good farce! Can anyone recommend any other authors who write in a similar vein?

[Rob McCow]

I'd think the obvious ones would be Robert Rankin, Terry Pratchett and PG Woodehouse! Try out 'Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls', 'Nation' and 'Summer at Blandings' respectively.

I did read a Tom Sharpe ages ago, but didn't really get on with it sadly. I think it was 'The Walled Garden'.

[Nyder]

Try out 'Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls', 'Nation' and 'Summer at Blandings' respectively.

They've just been added to my book backlog (which has spiralled out of all proportions!)

[Rob McCow]

Don't worry, if they click with you then you'll tank through them.

I'm reading my (signed copy!) of Stone Spring by Stephen Baxter. Goddam I should have asked him what happened to his Doctor Who story he was supposed to be writing for Big Finish.

[Alex]

I'm a big fan of Tom Sharpe's books - so pleased he's written a new "Wilt" novel. I do like a good farce! Can anyone recommend any other authors who write in a similar vein?

I've never read Wilt, but really must as I was taught by the man who the character was based on whilst at University (Anglia Ruskin, though it was known as Cambridge College of Arts and Technology at the time) - Sharpe was also a lecturer their back in the 70's, and based the novel around his life apparently.

[MacNimon]

Some of Sharpe's stuff can be patchy, but often he's simply brilliant. Ones which I really enjoyed included The Throwback and a couple of novels about a corrupt South African police force, the titles of which I forget for the moment.