currently reading?

[matt]

Originally Posted by Sardo

Im tossing that up with Iain M Banks after being told tha it is the king of current Sci-Fi - better than Hamilton and Simmons. I havent heard much from you guys about him or his alter-ego Iain Banks (I think when he drops the 'M' he writed Non-Fiction but am not sure this is true..). I know some of you guys have read him. What are your thoughts please? Where is a good starting point and should I go him with or without his 'M'?
Croz

Iain Banks is worth checking out both with & without the 'M'. Basically, he uses the M when he's writing science fiction and drops it when he's writing 'normal' fiction. Think he's only written one non fiction book but could be wrong. His Culture novels are phenomenal and I recommend you check out Excession and The Player of Games. I'd say he's on a par with Dan Simmons for sci-fi excellence and that both are absolutely streets ahead of Peter Hamilton who, IMO, writes overblown space opera that is in dire need of a good editor.

His fiction work is worth checking out too and my faves include The Wasp Factory, Whit, Complicity and The Bridge (the latter could almost have been written using the M)

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

This Watchmen shit is kind of scary in an ironical twist of paradoxial(sp?) WTF? How did...? way.

1/2 way through it.

[gambit]

Oh, it only gets better, jOHN.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

I have to put down sometimes.

Certain pages have really hit close to home(metaphorically speaking).

[GforGroove]

im reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and is HORRIBLE.
and i can't stop reading it..

will be done soon. hopefully.

[stimpee]

Finished Treasure Island just in time for Talk Like a Pirate day. a great read.

Now reading some Tony Parsons book i picked up at the Book Market for 2 euros... Stories We Could Tell. Seems to be drawing on his time at the NME as a writer but according to Amazon it doesnt get very good reviews. We'll see.

[grady]

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

Started it a few months back, had to return it to the library. A friend gave me his copy, now I'm back at it.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Originally Posted by Sardo

Howdy to those members who Ive shared music with via cd swaps and of course you, BeautifulBurnout.

Croz

Crozza! Good to see you gracing the boards again. Don't be such a stranger!

[GforGroove]

Im reading a little book with no author named CALL.

i think i just realized a few pages ago that is an actual communist manifesto. and is so wonderfull. Oh i love this book.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

A biography on Arnold Schwartzenegger(sp?).

The fourth of the Twilight Series.

and

a book on the history of gothic in fashion, art, architecture, etc.