May's Meanderings in Fabulous Fiction...

[Hypnos164]

Finished Six Bad Things, Charlie Huston ... picked up A Dangerous Man immediately and am now about half way through it.

 

[Hypnos164]

And finished A Dangerous Man, great stuff ... the only fault I can find with Huston is that he's not writing them as fast as i'm devouring them

 

[HoopyFrood]

Damnation...forgot that there was something I was supposed to be reading...

The Towers of Trebizond - Rose Macaulay

 

[soulsinging]

And finished A Dangerous Man, great stuff ... the only fault I can find with Huston is that he's not writing them as fast as i'm devouring them

I tore through that trilogy pretty quick too. I've got the first of his Joe Pitt novels on my shelf, but I'm trying to wait before getting started on those.

Right now I'm reading Brothers K. It's fantastic.

 

[AE35Unit]

Finished Six Bad Things, Charlie Huston ... picked up A Dangerous Man immediately and am now about half way through it.

Another author I'd not heard of. Kind of noir thrillers. I see a movie is being made of one of his books,Caught Stealing.

 

[Allegra]

Finished The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks. The novella The State of the Art is the best in the collection. bitter sweet, thought-provoking and beautifully written, you get a good version about how the Culture (or shall we say Mr. Banks?) perceive the Earthers' world and life. I'm not too impressed by the other short stories though.

I decided to leave Feersum Endjinn for later since it's not a Culture book and everyone is saying it's a hard nut. So I may go ahead to read Excession (really looking forward to it) or, take a break (will be brief) from the Culture.

 

[clovis-man]

I decided to leave Feersum Endjinn for later since it's not a Culture book and everyone is saying it's a hard nut. So I may go ahead to read Excession (really looking forward to it) or, take a break (will be brief) from the Culture.

Excession is a good "Culture" choice (the first Banks book I read). So are The Player of Games and Matter. But then, I like them all.

 

[Ursa major]

I agree with clovis-man: Excession is a good choice.

 

[Allegra]

If I read all the Culture books back to back, soon I'll end up no Culture to read at all, unthinkable! After four books my *Mind* is already stuffed with funny ship names (especially after The State of The Art in which all the titles of the chapters are ship names - clever).

 

[Hypnos164]

Started The Warrior Prophet by R Scott Bakker - couldn't really leave it at the 1st book ...

 

[ratsy]

I read "Storm Front" by Jim Butcher

Now I am back to "Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I am now reading The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien.

I will also be continuing my reread of Harry Potter and starting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

 

[Tillane]

If I read all the Culture books back to back, soon I'll end up no Culture to read at all, unthinkable!

Ah, but you'll still have all of them to re-read - and they're just as good second time around. Better, in some cases.

I'm nearly finished Before They Are Hanged. Would have finished it much earlier, but I seem to have so little reading time these days. Anyhoo, I have much enjoyed it - it's very much a middle, but none the worse for it - and look forward to Last Argument of Kings (and thence on to Best Served Cold...) Hurrah for Mr Abercrombie!

 

[Ursa major]

Another dip out of SFF: I'm just starting to read another Carl Hiaasen: this time it's Sick Puppy.

 

[murphy]

Another dip out of SFF: I'm just starting to read another Carl Hiaasen: this time it's Sick Puppy.

But it's worth it. Very funny books.

 

[Connavar]

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

This is one i have heard is one of few Hammett that is quirky,funny than his darker Noir books. Im on Hammett kick and it was the only book in the library of his they had in right now.

 

[soulsinging]

I tore through that trilogy pretty quick too. I've got the first of his Joe Pitt novels on my shelf, but I'm trying to wait before getting started on those.

Right now I'm reading Brothers K. It's fantastic.

My girlfriend stole Brothers K from me! I guess I had been raving about it too much for my own good While that's on the backburner, I've picked up Before They Are Hanged by Abercrombie. The first one was a quick, entertaining read, but I'm hoping this one at least has some plot, hehe. The good news is that 100 pages in and almost nothing about Jezal!

 

[AE35Unit]

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

This is one i have heard is one of few Hammett that is quirky,funny than his darker Noir books. Im on Hammett kick and it was the only book in the library of his they had in right now.

You like your crime novels huh. Whenever I think of these books I think of american 1940s gumshoe movies,dark and mysterious with a damsel in distress and too much music and melodrama!
I'd have to read one,see what they're really like.(I've read some Sherlock Holmes stories but they're somewhat different I think)

 

[murphy]

Actually, the Thin Man was one of the better movies of the time. See here for details.

 

[Connavar]

You like your crime novels huh. Whenever I think of these books I think of american 1940s gumshoe movies,dark and mysterious with a damsel in distress and too much music and melodrama!
I'd have to read one,see what they're really like.(I've read some Sherlock Holmes stories but they're somewhat different I think)

Not much melodrama in good Noir in books or film noir.

They are dark,lean,cool. Watch a Humphrey Bogart film like The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon. The Detour(1945), Le Samurai(french film noir)

Plus Hammett isnt traditional,more romantic with damsels that seduce the hero PI Noir like Chandler,Marlowe.

Good crime fiction is as important as Science fiction for me and more important than fantasy. Noir are perfectly to my taste. Its darker,less drama,typical heroics,awesome characters.
I almost hate cosy mystery alà Christie and her kind. Sherlock Holmes,C.Augustine Dupin is the only really old classic crime that works for me.

Plus all Noir isnt about detectives. My favorite kind are about criminal,sickos,heist like Donald Westlake,Jim Thompson,Elmore Leonard.