Books, books, books...

[Ben X]

+1, love John Waters.

[lobotomy42]

I recently finished Suzanna Clarke's The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, which is set in the same universe as Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It was great! Not quite as brilliant as Strange & Norrell, but often much more fun. It is kind of a shame that she hasn't written anything else yet because she has such a great style.

[Sal Limones]

This list of books to read makes me excited!

http://www.upworthy.com/101-books-to-read-this-summer-instead-of-50-shades-of-grey?c=ufb1&utm_source=PolicyMic+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5cb2efbb49-New_Newsletter2_29_2012&utm_medium=email

[Thyroid]

David Benioff'sWhen the Nines Roll Over is a commendable short story collection. Some stories are good, others are very good, and some are great. One or two made me shiver.

[Grufff]

I found out last week that one of my favourite reads from the last few years (Bitter Seeds) is actually the first part of a trilogy (The Milkweed Triptych) and the second part (The Coldest War) is due out in about 2 weeks.

Despite the silly sounding plot (alternate WW2 era where German scientists have produced superhumans and the British attempt to counteract it with warlocks & magic), Bitter Seeds was a really solid debut from Ian Tregillis and well worth a read.

[Codicier]

Just finished off The Lion and the Unicorn:Gladstone vs Disraeli, which although quite anecdote heavy gave a pretty good overview what was Victorian Britain's big political rivalry.

Perhaps the the best way I can explain these two gentlemen's importance to someone not familiar with their names is that they were Britian's Kennedy and Nixon. Except instead of having a brief but important rivalry they were at it for just short of half a century,

To me the most interesting part is not how they won elections, but how they reacted to loosing elections. In modern politics it seems to be expected that if you loose a election you slink off into political obscurity(Nixon being a notable exception), in contrast both Gladstone and Disraeli seem to be as one of their contemporaries puts it 'at their most dangerous on the rebound'.

I'm torn over whether I can recommend it or not to anyone who doesn't already have a basic knowledge of the era. For while the author does a excellent job of getting into the minds of the protagonists and understanding their personality's, it seems to lead to him occasionally forgetting to explain the importance of what they are fighting over.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Which one was Nixon? There's a statue of Disraeli in my hometown.

[Codicier]

I was more referring to how rare it is to have two political figures who both make a huge historic impact in their own right, who's rivalry defined their country's political climates as direct opponents more than a direct 1:1 match between the two pairs, though certainly there are similarities.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Gotcha. So... impressions of Disraeili?

[Ben X]

Next on my list: the Dexter novels, maybe the Game Of Thrones novels and maybe some Elmore Leonard as Justified has recently joined the group of EL adaptations that I've really enjoyed.

I can not overstate how much admiration I have for these books. I respect the TV series (it's mostly a good adaptation, the added, awful sex scenes aside), but it's simply texture to a very rich fruit. I think I read A Feast for Crows in two sittings. Yes, the prose can sometimes be clunky; yes, he takes his time fleshing-out certain characters, making them appear two-dimensional until the story allows him to show you more of them; and my goodness, yes, is it a daring, masterful work. The fact he never explains certain connections or themes to you until you re-read or read essays online is something I want to high-five him for.

I've started on the first book and it's fantastic. I think I want to read all of them before I watch the tv series, though, which is quite an undertaking.

[Thyroid]

Yeah, do that. I advise to, at least, read up to and including the fourth before tackling the TV series, because season two, in particular, is maybe 70% different to the source material. They've moved around events from different books, so reading book two and then seeing season two immediately will spoil things from book three. It's a big undertaking, but I think it's worth it.

[tabacco]

[ThunderPeel2001]

I've started on the first book and it's fantastic. I think I want to read all of them before I watch the tv series, though, which is quite an undertaking.

[Name drop alert!] Jane Espenson (one of the writers on the show) told me to read the first book before watching the first season, as they roughly equate. On the other hand, some people have told me they found the books easier to read when they'd seen some of the series, because it helped them remember who the characters were.

[Roderick]

They should probably release a new edition of the books where all the characters' names are replaced by their actor's name.

At that moment, Peter Dinklage slapped Jack Gleeson hard across the face. 'Take it like a man, Gleeson!' Dinklage spat.*

* Not an actual line from the book.

[Ben X]

I'm managing to keep Sean Bean's likeness out of my imagination, and I don't know who's playing any of the other characters, but Dinklage is firmly stuck in my head as Tyrion.

[Thyroid]

Eddard and Tyrion drawn closely as I see them. I actually have a better, more accurate one of Tyrion, but it has spoilers. I'll show it to you when you're a bit further along, Ben.

[Nappi]

Have they started printing A Song of Ice and Fire books with TV series covers yet? The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Cumberbatch still boggles my mind. I think I can stand Gary Oldman in the cover of Smiley Versus Karla novels, though.

[Thyroid]

Yeah, my girlfriend's copies of books one and two display promotional posters from the first two seasons.

[Chris]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Cumberbatch still boggles my mind.

Man that is gross.

[Nappi]

Oh god.. There is even one with Fake Downey Jr.

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/1453622152/

[ThunderPeel2001]

Fuck me! That's public domain for you, I guess!

[Roderick]

Hahaha, that one is excellent. Vampire Downey Holmes.

[Orv]

When did that start anyway? Lord of the Rings, maybe? It's a shame because the old LotR blue ink covers were really neat.

Re: Write Like The Wind, I love Paul and Storm.

[Murdoc]

I just finished reading You Can't Win by Jack Black.

God damn, this book was awesome. It's an autobiography about a hobo, theif, and professional shit heel during the 1920s. It was incredibly fascinating to read about the common class and underclasses of that era. Learning about hobo and thief society/politics was amazing and mildly depressing, but by the end of the book, there is an uplifting moral on life and a cautionary message about treatment of prisoners.

[TheLastBaron]

At first I was thinking the wierdest thing about that Sherlock Homes book was that it cost 8 pounds, but then I remembered that not everyone owns a Kindle/eReader and can get public domain books for free.

In other news, I finally got around to reading the whole Night of the Owls story line that DC has been running in their Batman series' since they did their New 52 reboot almost a year ago. I stopped reading any of the DC books that weren't Animal Man, after most of the ones that weren't Animal Man were, at least imo, not very good. I read all the tie-in books from the various Batman books along with the main line which ended up being something like 23 total issues, and did not care much for it, though I respect the balls it took for Scott Snyder to fuck with Batman. I still much prefer his work on American Vampire though, as it's really good and one of the only things the past 10 years that had to do with Vampires and didn't suck.