The "I am currently reading" thread

[Jabberwocky]

Ohhh yes

 

Have you read any of the 'non M' books? Because some of those are excellent. 'Complicity' is my favourite. He is a twisted so and so though

 

I had never heared of him until a few months ago when I saw Excession on a shelf in the local charity shop- I only bought the book because it had a pretty spaceship and what looked like a black hole on the cover- Im glad I got it now because Im going to make it my obsession to read everything hes written

 

Since 2000 my obsession was The Diskworld books but now... now Im going to try Banks` stuff.

[fabulous_girl]

I am now on Emily Barr's Atlantic Shift..and I'm off to try and finish it so I can take a fresh book on holiday with me! its good, girly, but not fluffy-kitty, cecelia-aherne - girly! a bit feistier.

[samesame monkey]

I had never heared of him until a few months ago when I saw Excession on a shelf in the local charity shop- I only bought the book because it had a pretty spaceship and what looked like a black hole on the cover- Im glad I got it now because Im going to make it my obsession to read everything hes written

 

Since 2000 my obsession was The Diskworld books but now... now Im going to try Banks` stuff.

 

Top hole

 

There's quite a lot to go at, 24 books, should keep you busy!

[mrmist]

Have just been lent The Toyminator by Robert Rankin so that will be my next one

 

The Toyminator is a sequel to The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse so you should read that first really if you haven't already. It would still make sense (more or less) without reading the other one, but it won't be as good.

[Plain Talker]

Just finished reading Richard McCann's semi-autobiographical/ self-help books "Just A Boy" and "the Boy Grows Up" (RM-C was a child of just five, in 1975, when his mother, Wilma McCann became the first acknowleged victim of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper)

 

My latest two boks are by Anchee Min "becoming Madame Mao" and "Empress Orchid". the first one is pretty self-explanatory, it's a dramatised account of the life of Chairman Mao's wife.

 

Empress Orchid is a similar, novelised work, about one of the last empresses of China, and her life in the forbidden city.

 

I've read about three chapters of each, and am really enjoying what I have read so far.

 

A precis of the life of Madame Mao (courtesy of Amazon)

Many writers have engaged in the project of rescuing female figures from history, but few have tackled such an unsympathetic character as Anchee Min does in her historical novel Becoming Madame Mao. Known as the White Boned Demon during her reign of terror in China, Madame Mao was blamed for countless bloody and vengeful executions; she sought out those who had wronged her in the past and wiped them off the face of the earth. Eventually she was reviled in China and executed, even as her husband was revered as a hero.

 

Before her stint as Mao's first lady, Jiang Ching, as she was then known, was an actress, a singer, and a star in Communist films. Anchee Min grew up in Red China and watched Jiang Ching from afar; she was fascinated by her for many years, by tales of her independence and strength, and by images of her beauty. In a way, the great villain and demon was a role model for Anchee Min, and her teenage devotion is the engine of her remarkable novel. Moving back and forth between stories of the actress and the evil dictator, Min complicates the Madame Mao of history.

[taxman]

The Toyminator is a sequel to The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse so you should read that first really if you haven't already. It would still make sense (more or less) without reading the other one, but it won't be as good.

 

Don't worry, I've read them all from day 1

[taxman]

Ohhh yes

 

Have you read any of the 'non M' books? Because some of those are excellent. 'Complicity' is my favourite. He is a twisted so and so though

 

Complicity is THE best Iain Banks book. The Crow Road is also great and should be read in conjunction with Complicity...I think they show two sides of a very similar coin.

 

He has never written better stuff apart from in his SF

 

 

THE CHAIR.......lets never mention THE CHAIR to Jabbers....let him read and squirm and think "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!"

[Phanerothyme]

Just read a couple of books by Charles Stross: The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue.

 

It's quite good sci-fi. Turns out magic is just numbers, demons simply transdimensional entities, and the government is keeping it under wraps with apalling bureacratic foul-ups and endless dull powerpoint presentations.

 

Christopher Brookmyre meets Neal Stephenson at Robert Rankin's house. Curiously unsatisfying though, the ideas quotient is very high, but somehow klunkily executed.

 

-edit

he's foreworded by Ken McLeod (cassini division) who himself has been foreworded by Iain Banks. Something about edinburgh that makes for imaginative sci-fi

 

Ohhh yes

 

Have you read any of the 'non M' books? Because some of those are excellent. 'Complicity' is my favourite. He is a twisted so and so though

I remember "The Wasp Factory" with acid clarity, which pretty much launched his career. Branded a "literary nasty" at the time by the tabloid press, much like Ballard's "crash".

[Jessica23]

I've been reading Mr. Banks this week, too - The Crow Road. For about the third time. I wish i could get my act together and actually buy new books instead of just re-reading my old ones.

 

In other reading - lots of stuff about masculinity and gender.

 

If anyone has read Jonanthan Raban's Surveillance and can tell me whether it's any good or not it'd be much appreciated

[LitleMermaid]

Forgotton Voices of the Great War.

 

I find WWI incredibily fascinating.