Reading anything?

[Moreau]

'london fields' by martin amis. i like to read it in the bath with a cup of tea.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I am sure all of us are familiar with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. This is something similiar, as the author P. C. Doherty uses the same group of travelers to tell tales of mystery and murder.

This is the sixth in the series and entitled "A Haunt of Murder" and subtitled: "Being the Clerk of Oxford's Tale."

Very much English, as the author lives in England. Very much Catholic, as the author is a devout Catholic. I would say very much mumbo jumbo, but that does not do credit to the authors' faith. Perhaps, a better word would be very much mystical.

Even if you do not like mysteries, you might try this series, as it is part horror novel. The first in the series, which I also read is "An Ancient Evil: Being the Knight's Tale" and deals with vampires and vampire hunters. Also part historical saga, as the series includes real historical personages from that era. It is also part religious parable. And it is very short in length. This one runs under 200 pages.

The second in the series is "A Tapestry of Murders: Being the Man of Law's Tale." The third in the series is "A Tournament of Murders: Being the Franklin's Tale.. The fourth in the series is "Ghostly Murders: Being the Priest's Tales," And the fifth in the series is "The Hangman's Hymn: Being the Carpenter's Tale." All of which I'll have to go back and read.

Try 'em, you'll may like 'em.

[ghouck]

"Industrial Society and it's Future". On Chapter 87.

[Psycho Circus]

Still reading "IT"....

[AndyC]

Still reading "IT"....

That might be next on my list, assuming I can't acquire the next Michael Slade book in the next few days.

I'm just getting into the home stretch of Ghoul, where all the various story threads come together. You'd probably enjoy it, Circus. A late-80s setting (present-day when it was written), a Lovecraft-obsessed serial killer in the London sewers, and a heavy metal band somehow tied to the crimes.

[Psycho Circus]

Still reading "IT"....

That might be next on my list, assuming I can't acquire the next Michael Slade book in the next few days.

I'm just getting into the home stretch of Ghoul, where all the various story threads come together. You'd probably enjoy it, Circus. A late-80s setting (present-day when it was written), a Lovecraft-obsessed serial killer in the London sewers, and a heavy metal band somehow tied to the crimes.

Cheers Andy, I will make sure I check that one out. 

[BoyScoutKevin]

Harry Turtledove
The alternate history writer

What if . . .
If the earth, during World War II, had been invaded by space aliens.

What if . . .
If the South had won the Civil War, then several decades later, had become involved with another war with the North. This time the South being supported by England and France, and the North being supported by Germany and Russia.

What if . . .
The island of Atlantis had really existed in the Atlantic Ocean and had been settled by England and France.

And his latest what if . . . the one I'm reading now . . . "After the Downfall."

What if . . .
A Wehrmacht officer, during the fall of Berlin, had fallen out of our world and into a world of magic, dragons, and unicorns, and inhabited by two types of people: one tall, blond, and blue-eyed and the other short, dark haired, and dark-eyed, and our hero used what he knew from fighting the Russians to support first one side then the other in their constant struggle for superiority.

The book does two things well. It shows how complex life can sometimes be, as there is some bad in the best characters, and some good in the worst characters. And as the hero questions almost everything he has learned up to that point, the book also gets the reader to question his or her beliefs.

Try it. You'll like it.

[indianasmith]

Turtledove is an absolute genius.  He knows his history and is also an engaging writer.  The alternative versions of WWI and WWII he envisioned are so plausible as to be almost frightening!

[WingedSerpent]

Currently reading The Terror by Dan Simmons.  It's a Historical fiction meets Supernatural monster novel.  Its about the crews of two ships that got trapped in the ice looking for the North West Passage in the Artic. Both crews were lost. (That parts true).  The books says a lot of them were lost to some sort of spirit creature.

[InformationGeek]

Still reading Fahrenheit 451.  It's a pretty scarey universe they live in.  It's like a creep episode of the Twilight Zone.  Interesting enough, I heard the author worked on some episodes of that series and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

I'm now also reading Ghost Hunt, another Japanese comic.  Very interesting and it is the first book I ever bought on a wim.  The detail for the ghosts and supernatural are quite good and the book provides a proper feeling of dread for the horror in it.

[Pilgermann]

Recently read 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.  It's certainly a little less abstract than the film version, but still conjures up the awe inspiring feeling of one's littleness (I don't think I've ever used that word until now) in the universe.

I've begun to tackle Moby Dick.  So far it's actually pretty engaging and often amusing, but I'm not too far in and have a while before I get to the dreaded Guide to Whaling section.

[AndyC]

Turtledove is an absolute genius.  He knows his history and is also an engaging writer.  The alternative versions of WWI and WWII he envisioned are so plausible as to be almost frightening!

Ah yes. I read the whole Worldwar series a few years back, followed by the Colonization and Homeward Bound books that continued the story. Worldwar was an amazing piece of work. This cover pretty much jumped off the shelf at me:

My brother is an even bigger fan of Turtledove, having read pretty much everything he's written. But then, his taste in books is far more focused.

[Neville]

I'm always reading something, most of the times obtained through my local library. I always keep like six books piled up in my nighstand, and finish each in a week or two.

Last week I picked up a novel by Michael Connelly starring Harry Bosch. I've already read a bunch of them and enjoyed them all, although only a few struck me as particularly great.

Right now I'm reading Tom Clancy's Teeth of the tiger. I enjoyed The hunt for Red October a lot, but I've hated every single novel he's written since then, save for Red Rabbit. Too much jingoism going on, and the cardboard characters are laughable, they all come with "love me" and "hate me" crudely written post-its in their foreheads. This one isn't exactly memorable, but I found it slightly less bad than, say, Patriot games or The bear and the dragon.

Just don't ask me why I keep reading his books. It might be some kind of morbid fascination with how Clancy's mind works, but I'm not even sure of that.

[RCMerchant]

Still reading Fahrenheit 451.  It's a pretty scarey universe they live in.  It's like a creep episode of the Twilight Zone.  Interesting enough, I heard the author worked on some episodes of that series and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

I'm now also reading Ghost Hunt, another Japanese comic.  Very interesting and it is the first book I ever bought on a wim.  The detail for the ghosts and supernatural are quite good and the book provides a proper feeling of dread for the horror in it.

I read many of Bradbury's books years ago. Try SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES,the MARTIAN CHRONICHLES,the ILLUSTRATED MAN or for someting different-DANDOLION WINE. Bradbury also wrote the short story 'the Lighthouse'-which the film BEAST from 20,000 FATHOMS was based. Some of his prose is a little syrupy at times...and some reads almost like poetry.

Almost done with BELA LUGOSI:DREAMS and NIGHTMARES by Gary Don Rhodes and Richard Sheffield. Rhodes is an exhaustive researcher. An amazing piece of work about Lugosi's final years. Sometimes sad,always interesting-a wonderful book.

[Neville]

InformationGeek, if you haven't read The Martian chronicles yet and you are enjoying Fahrenheit 451, put that one in your list. It's even better than Fahrenheit, and, simply put, one of the most wonderful things I've ever read.