Be Excellent To Each Other

In other book news, I'm nearly at the end of Sandman Slim.

It's pretty good - the dude can do magic (real magic), but his magic pals sent him to Hell, and the book starts when he gets out again a decade later. And he's pissed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sandman-Slim-1/dp/000746097X

Just finished 'Gettysburg: the last invasion' by Allen C Guelzo . A highly readable account of the battle, taking in the civilian and black experience as well as that of the soldiers, and did it in a way that made their stories as important to the battle as the military side of things. Made me hate the Confederacy even more than I normally do, and realise just how close the Rebels were to victory on all three of the days. Recommended if you like military history stuff.

Really enjoying 'The Book of Drugs' at the moment.

Autobiography of Soul Coughing's frontman, Mike Doughty.

Pulls few punches about how he basically hated his time in the band and was always out of his mind on drugs.

I finished the first Flashman book. It was OK. Unless I'm missing something, I don't think I'll go out of my way to read the others straight away, though.

I read a book by John "Captain Jack" Barrowman about children that could draw pictures and bring them to life. It was pretty average.

The second Sandman Slim book was good, though. Get reading them, Beexers!

The new Ex Heroes book comes out on the 11th.

Wronger than Mr Chris putting the milk in first whilst wearing a hat indoors.

Awesome, remind me on the day would you. I'm assuming it's kindle at the same time.

Ex Communication (the third Ex Heroes book) is out today.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Communicatio ... 0091953642

The forth, Ex Purgatory, has been confirmed too.

Bought and sent to my tablet with one click of a button. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing.

Stoner.... brilliant book by john willianms, now sudenly a hit after twenty years (at least here),.. you identify with the main character (frustrated litrature professor) in an amazin way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoner_(novel)

italy by train by tim park.. always love parks' depictions of italian life (like a season with hellas verona).. and it's about trains, i love trains
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Parks

the art of descending.. about descending from mountains, and crazy speeds.. see Vicenzo nibali in the TDF

That was pretty good, not as good as the other two but still thoroughly enjoyable.

Two zombiefied thumbs up.

I liked it a lot, but

I'm reading Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp from 1979. Here's a plot summary:



Sound familiar?

I'd hope so, being as the film was based on that book

We're talking The Princess Bride, right?

Inconceivable!

Today only:



Imagine it on a dark background.
http://www.teefury.com

Excellent. Realising he was the guy from Criminal Minds and Homeland was a hell of a shock, I must say.

The girl on that link looks like a growed-up Arya Stark.

a) COOL.

b) I don't understand this bit " Leland not only believes their claims, but also that his daughter is involved.". It makes him seem complicit?

While on holiday, I stuck to my tried and tested technique of reading a book that curio recommends and I read The Passage. Over the first couple of days, I chatted at the swim up bar about how slow the book was and even debated ditching it. However, I find it hard to leave a book without finishing it so I soldiered on. At 39% was probably the time I was most close to dropping it but then it picked up and by the end I was really enjoying it and was glad I'd stayed with it. I went back to amazon, planning to buy and start the sequel, however most of the reviews I read seemed to suggest this second book was slower and not as good so I ended up giving it a miss. Curio, what are your thoughts on the follow up? My favourite bit of the first book was the second half if that helps with your recommendation of wether I should read the next or not.
Since then, I've started another of your recommendations, Shipbreakers (I think that's what it's called). I'm not particularly far into it but I'm really enjoying it so far.
Disgracefully, I've still not read the final book of the Patrick Ness trilogy. I really need to sort that out.

Awwww, you like my recommendations!



I agree that 'The Passage' had a dip in the middle. The sequel suffers a little from being not what is expected. Instead of simply carrying on from where the first left off, it goes back to the start of the crisis, but with different characters, or ones who were only in it briefly.

It does also carry on where the first left off, and those characters are still the most important, but there's a whole new second set too. It also has a bit of a dip, and occasionally I wanted it to move on, but it depends on what you're interested in. If you just want a 'bug hunt' then it'll likely disappoint, as it contains a lot more world building.

I'd say it's not as good as the first, but still worth reading. That said, I think I probably enjoyed the first one more, so YMMV.

Recent Reads:

Origin By J A Konrath on Grim...'s recommendation. Not a bad book but full of wasted potential. Feels like what it is: An author's first attempt.

Storm Front (The Dresden Files Book One) by Jim Butcher. Recommended by my brother. This is right up my alley: Magic and mystery in a modern setting with sarcasm and wit. Will read more.

And I've just started Assassin's Apprentice from the Farseer Trilogy on Dimrill's recommend. Seems good so far. Pretty standard fantasy fare.

The good news for you, then, is that there are about 13 of the Harry Dresden books, and the more recent ones are significantly better than the first ones.

If you like that kind of urban fantasy then also check out:

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne
The Felix Castor books by Mike Carey

I will add them to my Goodreads list. Ta!

Aye - it's like he totally didn't know how to finish it. You read Whisky Sour first like what I said though, right? Right?



And the Sandman Slim series. I'm ploughing through them, so it's quite fortunate that the new one comes out on Saturday.

Erm... ah, y'see...

No. Should I have?

Yes, it's a far better book.

Cor, these were a bit good!
1st book was good, second was better, third was amazing. Great trilogy. Now i've moved onto the 4th book that follows on from that.
Incredibly innovative and interesting in what is a somewhat stale genre these days.

Reading the new Ben Aaronovitch book. It's a good series. Police procedurals in London, but with some added magic.

Which is, admittedly, getting to be something of a crowded genre, but the standard of writing is amongst the highest.

Just finishing off Gibson's Bridge Trilogy, not as good as the Sprawl Trilogy.

Ben Aaronovitch, eh? On the list. On a similar urban fantasy tip, the Alex Verus novels by Benedict Jacka are pretty good.

Book count for 2013: 43 so far.

Okay, Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series is really bloody good. They do a good job of grounding the fantasy parts with real life, but at the same time can be more fantastic than most 'proper' fantasy.

yeah, I just read the first 3 of these, really liked them.

Finally started reading 'Dune'. Enjoying it so far.

ohh have not read the 4th one yet, will take a look. Make sure to read Warbreaker, it is pure amazing.

Am trawling my way through the Jack Reacher books at the moment, some of them are pretty dull, but overall pretty good imo.

Warbreaker is next on the list after I finish The Way of Kings.

Read the 4th book, I think it might surprise you in a good way

Just read 'Ack Ack Macaque' by Gareth L Powell. Surprisingly really good. Sorta post-cyberpunk in an alternative history. With the titular Spitfire flying, cigar chewing, ass-kicking primate.

This. I enjoyed it a lot and read it in two long sittings this weekend. The final epilogue was very touching and would have worked as a part of a short story in its own right too.

Warbreaker was great. I've thoroughly enjoyed every book Brandon Sanderson has written so far, and i've now downloaded Elantris. I've pretty much run out of books from him after that, but luckily he is a fast writer.

Just started reading 'The Blunders of our Governments' by Anthony King and Ivor Crewe. It's a discussion of (domestic) political failures by recent administrations. Really enjoying the horror stories of our recent history: no doubt once I've finished it I'll let you know what I think of their analysis of why they happened.

Just finished Book 2 of the Farseer Trilogy. Things are looking grim for our hero!

As a change of pace, I'm reading The Neverending Story. The translator (it's originally German) lacks a bit of flair in his descriptive writings, it has to be said.

I loved that book as a kid.

Although when I first read it, I didn't read any of the italics (when Bastian is not reading the book) as I just thought they were footnotes. It made a lot more sense when I went back and read those bits as well!)

Malc

When on holiday I read:
Warbreaker, Sandman Slim book 1, Hounded - iron druid book 1 and Gateway.

They were all good, but Sanderson is clearly a superior writer.

You got some more for Holiday #2?

Hurrah!

Wife enjoyed that too.

Re: the neverending story. I was wondering about what Malc said about italic text as I hadn't yet encountered any . Then I realised, the ebook I'm reading separates the two worlds by putting Bastian's text in a slightly darker shade. Seemed a bit subtle but according to the wiki, the original book had red and green text. Maybe the kindle is rendering the colours as best it can

It was italics and normal in the copy I borrowed from the library in 198? not sure exactly when, but certainly before the film came out.

Malc

And that being the year, it would explain why I was dumb enough not to read 1/2 the book. The Film came out in 1984 (1985 for the UK) and the book (English version) in 1983. So I would have been 8, 9 or possibly 10!

Malc