Karsa Orlong

I think James Ellroy is fantastic. Be warned: his writing style is brutal - be prepared for it to smack you around the head and leave you a bit dazed. As he's progressed he's started to use very short sentences and seems to choose each word for maximum effect. He uses a lot of slang and street-talk and his characters are always painted in shades of grey. He's brilliant at taking real-life events and working his stories around them. I started with L.A. Confidential. I'd never read any Ellroy before seeing the film, so it seemed the obvious place to start. It's actually the third book in his L.A. Quartet, but I don't think it made any difference to me when I read it, so if you're looking for a safe place to start - and especially if you liked the film - that's probably it. If you're a completist, though, go for The Black Dahlia. If you're feeling brave, go for the Underworld USA trilogy. This one does have to be read in order, so start with American Tabloid (which is probably my favourite crime novel I've read to date), then The Cold Six Thousand, then Blood's A Rover (which I've yet to read). Hope you enjoy whichever you choose

More Mongrels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw5AaqOeLJE&feature=related

There's something wonderful about those old sf movies, but I must admit The Day of The Triffids isn't one of my favourites. Now, if it were the original Invasion Of The Body Snatchers or The Day The Earth Stood Still I'd be glued to the screen Shall probably try and watch part five of the Pillars Of The Earth mini-series tonight.

1. Age (<18, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55+) 44 2. Gender Male 3. What do you read on a daily basis? (blogs, newspapers, books, etc.) Books, newspapers 4. How often do you read for fun in a week? Daily 5. What time of day do you like to read? Evening, morning - usually when I'm most alert. 6. Where do you read? At home, on the tube 7. How many books have you read in the last 6 months? 40 8. What type/genre do you enjoy reading most? Fantasy/sf, crime/mystery/thriller, history 9. Why do you read? (entertainment, relaxation, learning, etc.) All of the above. The genres I read tend to be pure escapism. 10. What barriers prevent you from reading more? Work! 11. Do you think reading for fun is important? Yes 12. Do you fold page corners or use a bookmark? Bookmark! I don't even break the spines on my books, let alone fold page corners. 13. Do you prefer to read to music or in silence? Silence 14. Do you discuss books with your friends? Yes 15. Do you borrow books from the library? No, don't have a library near me 16. Do you borrow/loan books from/to friends? Occasionally but, like Kylie, I do it with a great deal of trepidation - unless it's a book I don't want

Started reading Jeffery Deaver's A Maiden's Grave last night. It's the first book of his that I have read. After the first few pages I was a bit unimpressed. A hundred and fifty pages later I had to force myself to put it down and go to bed

Even moreso, probably. There's a thread about it here: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/4739-wolf-hall-by-hilary-mantel/ and you can read an excerpt here: http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Hall-Novel-Hilary-Mantel/dp/0312429983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282633056&sr=8-1#reader_0312429983 I bought the rest of the Shardlake novels yesterday, although I'm not going to read them all at once. If they're all as good as Dissolution I kind of want to make them last a while and savour them

I loved C J Sansom's Dissolution so much I may just have bought the other books in the series ... Dark Fire, Sovereign and Revelation - so that's now 13 books I've added to my TBR pile in the past few days

Under A Glass Moon by Dream Theater

Yeah, eBooks will never replace them, for me. Like you, my problem is shelf space. I'm using my ereader for books/authors I'm not sure about (or don't want to collect). I certainly can't imagine replacing my Steven Erikson collections with ePub editions

Just finished Dissolution and thought it was terrific. In a way, I read it at the right time, because I only recently read Wolf Hall, so seeing Thomas Cromwell from another point of view was really interesting. I thought the central mystery worked well and kept me guessing. I'll be making a point of buying the other novels in the series pretty much immediately

I'm not quite sure what Waterstones are trying to achieve with their eBook prices at the moment. W H Smiths are generally cheaper. For instance, Waterstones still want £5.49 each for Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, whereas Smiths are knocking them out for £2.72 each. Waterstones want £13.99 for Justin Cronin's The Passage, Smiths have it for £10. It's putting me off buying from Waterstones at the moment. Edit: D'oh, just saw you'd already replied to my post in the other thread

I saw that W H Smiths have reduced the prices of their eBooks (so they're now competitive with the Kindle prices on Amazon, yay), so got the following five books for a total of £16: A Maiden's Grave by Jeffery Deaver Gravity by Tess Gerritsen Redbreast by Jo Nesbo The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson My TBR pile seems to have increased dramatically this week Also read about 100 pages of C J Sansom's Dissolution last night. Absolutely loving it

I remember giving a little (silent) cheer every time he appeared Actually, I completely forgot about Jack Reacher. In the first few books he was great, although he is starting to get a bit omniscient now

Interesting choice - I read it before seeing the film and thought it was quite a lot better than the movie. And it had the advantage of making me go out and buy Ender's Game by the same author, which is one of the best sf novels I've ever read. Last night I read about 80 pages of C J Sansom's Dissolution and was really enjoying it

I seem to remember reading those two years ago and enjoying them. I seem to remember quite liking Children Of The Jedi as well. Same here. A shame, really, cos I still love the original versions of the first trilogy, but I've got no time for the special editions, and the prequels are just cgi nonsense.

Whiff? It's positively a stench I might also have pre-ordered their 3cd/2dvd Live At The Albert Hall package which is coming out next month ...

Fade To Black is a stunner

Cricket

Finished Christopher Priest's Inverted World. Couldn't wait to finish it, to be honest - I found it rather dull. Next up, C J Sansom's Dissolution.

At the moment: Karsa Orlong (obviously!) from Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of The Fallen Arya Stark from George RR Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire Silk from David Eddings' Belgariad Iorek Byrnison from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Gully Foyle from Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination

A few of my faves: "Now these ashes have grown cold, we open the old book." - Steven Erikson, Gardens of The Moon "In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the boy, Paul." - Frank Herbert, Dune "'Tonight we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man.'" - Joe Haldeman, The Forever War "Then, it was as though everything was stripped away: sensation, memory, self, even the notion of existence that underlies reality - all seemed to have vanished utterly, their passing marked only by the realisation that they had disappeared, before that too ceased to have meaning, and for an indefinite, infinite instant, there was only the awareness of something; something that possessed no mind, no purpose and no thought, except the knowledge that it was." - Iain M. Banks, Feersum Endjinn "America was never innocent." - James Ellroy, American Tabloid although the one that always sticks in my mind is: "Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick." - Stephen King, The Shining