Genre book list

[altariel]

Oh all right, since everyone else has done it...

1) Look at the list, copy and paste it into your own journal.
2) Mark those you have read however you want.
3) Feel free to tell your friends what you thought of them.

Bold = Read
Italic = Started, but didn't finish (either the book or the series)

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes, I have read this.
2. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien: And this.
3. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien: This too.
4. Foundation series, Isaac Asimov: Nope, and it’s probably not going to happen, is it?
5. Robot series, Isaac Asimov: Nope. But they make me think of Miles O’Brien’s alter ego in ‘Far Beyond the Stars’, and his reason for writing SF: “I like robots.”
6. Dune, Frank Herbert: I’ve read the first one, and I’ve watched the miniseries with James McAvoy, which had some remarkable hats. And I’ve seen the David Lynch film on fast-forward.
7. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein: Nope. I’m working through the SF Masterworks, though, so I’ll probably get there eventually.
8. Earthsea series, Ursula le Guin: Damn yes.
9. Neuromancer, William Gibson: I remember getting it from the library, and I remember opening it, then I remember nothing else about my time in Mr Gibson’s hands.
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury: I keep being thwarted in my attempts to get a copy of this.
11. The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham: I’m fairly certain I’ve read this. I rewatched the BBC adaptation quite recently.
12. A Book of the New Sun series, Gene Wolfe: WTF? Seriously, I have no idea what just happened there.
13. Discworld series, Terry Pratchett: I read these compulsively for a while, then decided I was getting the same three stories over again, so I stopped. I checked in again a few years ago with The Truth, and while it was funny, it was the same story again, so I felt like he and I had come to a natural break. I also found him oddly and old-fashionedly moralizing; I hadn’t remembered that about them.
14. Sandman series, Neil Gaiman: Gaiman doesn’t knock my socks off the way he seems to do with other people.
15. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams: Sad fuck that I am, I love the TV version best.
16. Dragonriders of Pern series, Anne McCaffery: Not a single one, and I fear the time may be past.
17. Interview with the Vampire series, Anne Rice: Vampires are not a high altariel-interest product.
18. The Shining, Stephen King: “The Shinning, boy! Are you trying to get us sued?!”
19. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula le Guin: Due a reread very soon, in fact.
20. The Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny: Nope.
21. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke: Yes, I think.
22. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke: The characters are non-existent, but I really liked this.
23. Ringworld, Larry Niven: Nope
24. Elric of Melnibone series, Michael Moorcock: Nope
25. The Dying Earth series, Jack Vance: Nope
26. Lyonesse series, Jack Vance: Nope.
27. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson: I tried several times with these and never got past the first couple of pages. Yuk.
28. A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R.R. Martin: I have this feeling that life is too short.
29. The Worm Ourobouros, E.R. Eddison: Nope.
30. Conan series, Robert E. Howard: I can’t see that I will...
31. Lankhmar series, Fritz Leiber: Nope.
32. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick: Absolutely brilliant.
33. The Time Machine, H.G. Wells: No, but I feel like I have.
34. The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells: Same with this. Have I read this? I honestly don’t know.
35. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells: I read this because iainjcoleman shouted at me when he found out I hadn’t.
36. Eon, Greg Bear: Nope.
37. Book of the First Law series, Joe Abercrombie: Never heard of it.
38. Miss Marple stories, Agatha Christie: HICKSON FTW!
39. Hercule Poirot stories, Agatha Christie: Read during a summer-long Christie binge with my two sisters.
40. Lord Peter Wimsey stories, Dorothy L. Sayers: Read, reread, adored.
41. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett: Um. I think so. Yes, yes I have.
42. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan: And a couple of film versions, still no idea what’s going on. Suspect I confuse it with The Riddle of the Sands.
43. Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Those Jeremy Brett DVDs must be due a rewatch soon...
44. Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft: Never read any Lovecraft. Bad Altariel, no cookie.
45. Inspector Wexford stories, Ruth Rendell: I just can’t bring myself to care.
46. Adam Dalgliesh stories, P.D. James: OH MY GOD PD LET ME GUESS IS IT ABOUT INCEST IN A MESSED-UP ANGLICAN COMMUNITY ON THE STORM-BATTERED NORFOLK COAST? There, I’ve saved you all the trouble now.
47. Philip Marlowe stories, Raymond Chandler: But I can’t remember which.
48. The Godfather, Mario Puzo: Nope.
49. The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth: Nope.
50. The Fourth Protocol, Frederick Forsyth: Nope.
51. Smiley series, John le Carre: Oh boy yes (though have not read The Honourable Schoolboy.
52. Gentleman Bastard series, Scott Lynch: What?
53. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson: Huh?
54. Watchmen series, Alan Moore: Is all the series contained in the big book? Because I’ve read that.
55. Maus, Art Spiegelman: Damn, that was brilliant and depressing.
56. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller: Can’t bring myself to be interested.
57. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi: Extremely good.
58. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling: Well, that’s that then. What now?
59. Chrestomanci series, Diana Wynne-Jones: Lovely and joyous.
60. Ryhope Wood series, Robert Holdstock: They’re on the piano waiting for me to start.
61. Wilt series, Tom Sharpe: Read a couple of the Porterhouse books, but they didn’t tickle me.
62. Riftwar Cycle, Raymond E. Feist: Fuck off.
63. Temeraire series, Naomi Novik: The first one is around the house somewhere but I haven’t read it yet.
64. Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis: I’m really surprised these are so low down. Loved them to bits as a kid, and never had the Betrayal moment of, “What? These are propaganda?!” because of being Catholic at the time. I do think The Last Battle is a nasty, ghastly book, however.
65. His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman: I think these declined in quality steadily. But Northern Lights is magical. I wish Pullman didn’t come across as such an arse in interviews.
66. Dragonlance series, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman: Can’t say I’ve been tempted.
67. Twilight saga, Stephanie Meyer: I seem to be passing through life blissfully untroubled by these books.
68. The Night's Dawn trilogy, Peter F. Hamilton: Nope. I like his detective series.
69. Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer: I read the first one and was diverted, but not enough to read any more.
70. Honor Harrington series, David Weber: These are always mentioned in the same breath as Bujold, but I have this feeling that they’re for people who like the mil-SF aspect of Bujold, which is not really why I read Bujold.
71. Hannibal Lecter series, Thomas Harris: Saw the films.
72. The Dark Tower series, Stephen King: I’m about halfway through these, but they’re slow coming via Bookmooch.
73. It, Stephen King: Great miniseries! Why isn’t The Stand on this list when it’s obviously King’s masterpiece?
74. The Rats series, James Herbert: No.
75. Dirk Gently series, Douglas Adams: I think I like these more than Hitchhiker’s.
76. Jeeves and Wooster stories, P.G. Wodehouse: Lots of these at various points, but certainly not all.
77. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown: I don’t think I’m the target audience, but then I read fanfic, so who am I to judge?
78. The Culture Series, Iain M. Banks: Still not read any of these. Read most of the non-M ones, but thought they went into decline around The Business.
79. The Duncton series, William Horwood: Sort of loved these when I was sixteen.
80. The Illuminatus! trilogy, Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson: Nope.
81. The Aberystwyth series, Malcom Pryce: Nope.
82. Morse stories, Colin Dexter: Really loved these at one point. They get better. I like it when Lewis is still a middle-aged Welshman.
83. Navajo Tribal Police stories, Tony Hillerman: The which?
84. The Ipcress File, Len Deighton: Fantastic film!
85. Enigma, Robert Harris: Better film than book.
86. Fatherland, Robert Harris: Not bad, not brilliant, fills an hour or two. Rutger Hauer is in the film, IIRC, which is always going to make anything better.
87. The Constant Gardener, John le Carre: I’m a bit lairy about trying the ones that aren’t about people dying miserably in East Berlin.
88. The House of Cards trilogy, Michael Dobbs: Telly makes everything better.
89. The Dark is Rising saga, Susan Cooper: Terrific (although I never can remember what happens in the last one).
90. Psychotechnic League and Polesotechnic League series, Poul Anderson: Not even heard of it.
91. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton: Of course not.
92. Star Wars: Thrawn trilogy, Timothy Zahn: Not yet.
93. Ender's Game series, Orson Scott Card: I’ve read three. Are there more?
94. Gormenghast series, Mervyn Peake: The first one and some of the second.
95. Miles Vorkosigan saga, Lois McMaster Bujold: I adore these, in case anyone hasn’t noticed.
96. The Once and Future King, T.H. White: I read this for the first time quite recently, and it’s amazing.
97. Fighting Fantasy books, Ian Livingston & Steve Jackson: Man, I loved these as a kid. I used to map them out instead of playing the game. I stopped around number 13 or 14 because GCSEs were taking up too much time which could have been devoted to mapping gamebooks, but I think there are now a hundred million of them.
98. The Stainless Steel Rat series, Harry Harrison: I wonder if I’d like these now?
99. The Lensman series, E.E. 'Doc' Smith: My brother had these, but I never got round to pinching them.
100. The Cadfael stories, Ellis Peters: Picking them up via Bookmooch. I think Jacobi was miscast.

Comments

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

35. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells: I read this because iainjcoleman shouted at me when he found out I hadn’t.

And it worked? Good God.

You have indeed read all of Watchmen.

I'm reassured to find that I'm not the only person who can't remember a thing about Neuromancer. In fact, I read my fair share of cyberpunk back in the day, and the only thing that sticks in my mind is Bruce Sterling's short story "Mozart in Mirrorshades", a delightful, clever and twisted SF idea played out with a light touch and a sense of fun.

[mrazalais.livejournal.com]

Neuromancer is all about the aesthetic. I don't think there's really much plot to speak of.

Genres'r'us

[mrazalais.livejournal.com]

I've never got the thing with Bujold. I just bounce off every time I try and read them.

Don't bother with anything after the first Dune book appears to be the consensus opinion. They get much worse and then don't improve much. On the other hand, recent diskworlds have been a bit of a return to form: Going Postal and Making Money where much more fun then the immediate predecessors.

I have read the Night's Dawn trilogy. Unless you like 1000 page per book trilogies that end with a massive (and almost literal) Deus Ex Machina because the author is too lazy to tie the ends up any other way I wouldn't bother personally.

Worth reading one or two culture books I'd have thought. Player of Games perhaps?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I don't like it when you're angry.

I think that's pretty much the only cyberpunk story I ever read.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

So better to see it in pictures.

Re: Genres'r'us

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Bujold is brilliant at character, one of the best. And at genre-bending.

There are a couple of Culture novels kicking around the house, although the hardback books are all piled up at the moment!

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

28. A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R.R. Martin: I have this feeling that life is too short.

You know what, it probably is at that. I enjoyed the first three the first time around, but I picked them up again after I had finished my LotR re-read earlier this year, and it just came off as resoundingly shallow and trite. There's a thirteen year old with silver hair called Daenerys, for goodness' sake. HOWEVER, they don't all take that much time to read, you can do ~100 pages an hour with ease.

As you might have gleaned from recent entries in my LJ I have grown rather fond of the Temeraire books, in spite of no previous interest or experience in the fantasy dragon genre. I do recommend the first one.

Also also: I think you've articulated very succinctly what bothers me about Pratchett - there's a somewhat plastic sameness to all the conflicts in his plots, and his benign moralising is pretty annoying even if it is agreeable. I do think Sam Vimes is an amusing character nonetheless.

Re: Genres'r'us

[mrazalais.livejournal.com]

Good grief, that post is riddled with spelling errors! I think I'm going to blame the fact that it's cold and I can't type as fluidly as normal. Yeah.

Oh, and I concur on avoiding the Dragonlance series. Not worth the effort.

I think not understanding the Book of the New Sun goes with the territory. If you care you can go and look on the net for the full exegesis: more committed people than I appear to have worked out what's going on.

Re: Genres'r'us

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I suspect half of the pleasure of Gene Wolfe's books is working out the puzzle, but that not's the kind of thing that appeals to me. Having said that, I adore Riddley Walker, which is similarly experimental in its prose and laden in symbolism.

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

I was also suprised by The Stand's absence (maybe because it crosses genres so much?)

I can lend you Fahrenheit 451 if you want.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Tolkien spoiled me for most epic fantasy: everything is a pale shadow in comparison. Also, I won't pick up a series that isn't finished - I waited to start King's Dark Tower series for that reason.

I'd noticed you were fond of the Temeraire books! :-D You and domlamrothdame both, so the highest of recommendations!

There's lots to love about Pratchett and very little to dislike. I'm very fond of them still, although I can't see myself going out of my way to read any more of them.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's his best book. Perhaps The Shining is better known?

I daren't borrow any more books from you until I've returned some!

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

28. They're great, they really are.
37. is recent, but pretty famous. The first book is called 'The Blade Itself'. Well-written fantasy from one of the leading lights of the new British fantasy scene.
51. I don't know you, but you appear to be a fan of Ursula le Guin and John le Carre, just like my wife!
52. is also recent, but pretty famous. The first book is called 'The Lies of Locke Lamora'.
53. is also recent (maybe a pattern here) and very popular. Not read them though.
55. An excellent three word review of a wonderful work.
59. Yes, my wife's a big fan of these too.
68. I haven't read any of the detective books, but they look rather...thinner than his space opera. And that's a good thing.
83. Regional detective series. Morse = Oxford, Bergerac = Jersey, Taggart = Glasgow, Tony Hillerman = Red Indians.
85. Yes, I agree.
86. But this one is a better book than film.
88. You might say that. I couldn't possibly comment.
90. More influential than famous I think. 1950s and 1960s.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

15. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams: Sad fuck that I am, I love the TV version best.

Have to heard the radio version, the original and I still think vastly superior to all others?

I didn't think that "The Truth" was one of Pratchett's best, though still enjoyable. I think that you might like his three (with one more to come) Discworld books about Tiffany Aching, supposedly aimed at younger readers but IMO excellent as such books so often seem to be. The first is called "The Wee Free Men".

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD PD LET ME GUESS IS IT ABOUT INCEST IN A MESSED-UP ANGLICAN COMMUNITY ON THE STORM-BATTERED NORFOLK COAST?

Oooh, that's very exciting!

Terrific (although I never can remember what happens in the last one).

They got to you too? Bloody cunning Old Ones.

Re: Genres'r'us

[trixieleitz]

I found that Going Postal was Making Money, pretty much.

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

Totally agree on the children's books being the best of the series. Besides the Tiffany Aching books, another must-read is The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. Pratchett understands cats. And having had pet rats for several years before I converted to crazy catladyhood, I thoroughly enjoyed a book where rats were the good guys and depicted accurately (except for the talking part, of course, but that comes with the whole discworld package).

I rather enjoyed "The Truth", but was slightly disappointed by "Making Money". It wasn't really bad, but not as good as most of the other books, either.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

They're one of my complete comfort re-reads when I've got a bad cold or am very tired. They're very variable in terms of originality - I agree there are long runs where you think "I've read this before, only last time it was golems instead of vampires..."

I have to agree with mrazalais about recent return to form - Going Postal and Making Money are great (not much Vimes, but oodles of the Patrician, whom I adore with a passion). Thud I think is possibly his best one of all (yes, it's gently moralising, but in ways I find it hard to argue with - I love the unmasking of the creation-myth-revisionism that's gone on over the centuries).

And you can't beat some of the early Lancre-based ones with the witches, like Lords and Ladies (which also contains the best ever quote about elves), since when it comes to my Favourite Pratchett Character it's a straight split down the middle between the Patrician and Granny Weatherwax. For the same reason, I love his more recent Tiffany Aching trilogy - The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith - which make me wish I had an eight-year-old daughter to read them to...

[temeres.livejournal.com]

22. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke: The characters are non-existent, but I really liked this.

Why should it matter that the characters are non-existent (one-dimensional, whatever) if the story doesn't demand anything more of them? There is a snobbish prejudice infesting the literary mindset that Character Is Everything. It isn't. Sometimes ideas are more important than people, and SF is the obvious genre for that to be the case.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I haven't read "Making Money" yet. The most recent in the "main" series that I've read was "Thud", which I thought was very good indeed. Of course, it had the advantage of being a City Watch book, which I think are his best. I think the Rincewind ones tend to be the weakest, perhaps because Eincewind isn't as three dimensional a character as Vimes or Granny Weatherwax.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure three dimensions are enough to contain Granny Weatherwax. Surely at least five?

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree with you more. I started this meme because I was annoyed by the 100 classic books meme that was doing the rounds - most of the books on that list were lit-crit faves with deep characterisation but shallow stories.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It matters to me because I like character-driven fiction.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

It's not lit-crit snobbery. (Or at least, it's not just lit-crit snobbery). The idea that character is story and story is charactger runs all the way from Sophocles to Shakespeare to Albert Square. If the characters are thin then the stories are thin.

Rama is a one-note book. The note is "awe". Now, Clarke plays this one note very well, better than anybody. That's why the book's worth reading. But with better characters there would have been a better story - and potentially a great book, instead of just a good one.

If anything, a book like Rama is closer to the mindset of high literature than anything else on this list. If you approach it as a literary experiment in the suppression of human individuality in an effort to explore humanity as such in its eternal confrontation with the ineffable, you could spin a good five minute slot on the Culture Show to that effect.

[manna]

12. A Book of the New Sun series, Gene Wolfe: WTF? Seriously, I have no idea what just happened there.

Heh. That's very true. But I think that's part of why I liked it. It was...like reading fiction from Heian Japan. Everything about the culture is so alien, but because it's written from inside, the writer never explains all the stuff which they expect their reader will just know. It was a cool effect. I'm a little disappointed by the idea that it might be possible to work out what was actually going on. I think that would take a lot of the charm away for me.

I also found him oddly and old-fashionedly moralizing; I hadn’t remembered that about them.

It grows over the series, I think. I found I was enjoying them less and less as they came to be more and more About something. And not always about something that seemed to have been thought through very well, either.

[avon7.livejournal.com]

93. Ender's Game series, Orson Scott Card: I’ve read three. Are there more?

About 40 million, I think - every time I go near this shelf in the library another dozen seem to have sprouted. I think you can probably now read about Ender's grandma, Ender's great grandkid and Ender's second-cousin's dog.

Temeraire - I love them so much I BUY them. NEW. That puts them in extremely rare territory.

[(Anonymous)]

4. Foundation series, Isaac Asimov: I tried so hard to read this after "I, Robot" and a collection of Asimov short stories. I got through book one, part of book two, and then skipped to the last bit of book three to figure out the end. Bored. Bored, bored, bored.

(In hindsight, I find that the whole story is like a bad, wretchedly positivistic Hegelianistic philosophy of history: The Absolute Spirit has its prearticulated end - we must find the determinate negations and help them along so that barbarism does not last longer than it has to!)

92. Star Wars: Thrawn trilogy, Timothy Zahn: Not yet.

Take my advice and don't. I read all three of them, because back in the day, everyone was excited. Especially as the other authorized books came out, everyone said, "Oh, the Zahn cycle is miles better - it's the best!" So I read it.

I felt as if every conflict was more or less artificed in, that it was too much about technologizing the problems of the force - creating deus ex machinae to get us out of one that really did not need to be explained in naturalistic turns in the first place. I never really connected with the characters, which was surprising, since I loved them all in the first place enough to pick up these books and to persevere through the entire Zahn cycle.

20. The Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny: Nope. I have a definite nostalgic attachment to these. I haven't reread them in years, though, so I don't know how justified the nostalgia is! My suspicion is that I would love the first one all over again, but be progressively less interested in the later ones.

100. The Cadfael stories, Ellis Peters: Picking them up via Bookmooch. I think Jacobi was miscast.

Interesting. Who would you cast? I tend to like Jacobi in the role in the earlier parts of the series, and then once the new Hughs start arising, the more egregious performances start to come in as everyone overacts to try to sell unnecessary plot twists that I don't think anyone would've bought with Sean Pertwee as the sidekick sheriff.

Dwim

[gair.livejournal.com]

contains the best ever quote about elves

No, though! Because the best ever quote about elves is in Diana Wynne Jones's The Dark Lord of Derkholm:

They were all over six feet tall. Derk found them a bit much.

Ahem. Sorry. I couldn't help it. Plz to continue with your internet experience now.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

That is fabulous - and scores in succinctness over the Pratchett one (I was thinking of the lines about "Elves are marvellous. They create marvels. Elves are glamorous. They provoke glamour... Elves are terrific. They inspire terror. Nobody ever said elves are nice." [I paraphrase as no time to go and find L&L right now...]

[temeres.livejournal.com]

It matters to me because I like character-driven fiction.

Fair enough, I s'pose. I tend to rate plot over characters, or jokes if it's a humorous yarn, but then I only read fiction for entertainment.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Temeraire - I love them so much I BUY them. NEW.

Hah! Now that's a recommendation!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

46. Adam Dalgliesh stories, P.D. James: OH MY GOD PD LET ME GUESS IS IT ABOUT INCEST IN A MESSED-UP ANGLICAN COMMUNITY ON THE STORM-BATTERED NORFOLK COAST? There, I’ve saved you all the trouble now.

Hahahaha. Oh dear. Yes. But on the other hand, Martin Sheen is looking good.

I adored Neuromancer the first time I read it, but I was completely blown away by the aesthetics; there's really not much else to it, and I like it less every time I read it. It's all shine and no substance. Very groundbreaking in terms of shine, though. I actually like Virtual Light better, though - the world is better realized, and the characters are marginally more engaging. I think his style works better for short stories - Burning Chrome is good.

I find the Discworld novels slightly unpleasant, and I've never quite been able to put my finger on why. I've read a lot of them, and I did enjoy the guards novels, and I've found them funny, but - I don't know. His depiction of women always put me off slightly, and I think I find his style smug.

The Honourable Schoolboy is boring and pointless. The Constant Gardener is riveting - a real return to form, I thought. The problem with Le Carre is that he only really good about writing about the British upper class circa 1970, but he's managed to find them convincingly (if depressingly) in expat diplomatic communities.

Silence of the Lambs is a brilliant book, I think.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggled with The Book of the New Sun and the Thomas Covenant books. Alex recommended both hugely, but he's much more into epic fantasy than me, and I just couldn't get into them at all.

I think you might really like some of Iain Banks' Culture novels. The Player of Games is pretty good, but The State of the Art, IIRC, is brilliant. They're worth reading just for the names of the spaceships.

The Day of the Jackal is GREAT. A real old-school political thriller/crime/spy blend. I recommend it for any holiday.

PS. - you're so right, vampires are boring. Why is that?!

[temeres.livejournal.com]

If the characters are thin then the stories are thin

Characters only need to be as substantial as the story demands. It might be a little, it might be a lot. More than necessary needn't hurt. What gets up my nose isn't so much dense characterisation for its own sake, as a virtue in its own right, but the notion that that is, somehow, the definition of Proper Literature. Bollocks. There is no proper literature, there's not even good writing and bad. There's just writing.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for a fun meme! I do indeed like the Les Guin and Carre.

I've heard of The Lies of Locke Lamora but not read it. And you're right I don't read much in the way of contemporary fantasy.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

the radio version, the original and I still think vastly superior to all others?

I was slightly too young to have heard the radio version, so the TV version of Hitchhiker's was the first one I encountered (devouring the book after I'd seen that). When I finally got to the radio play (about ten years ago), it couldn't displace the TV in my mind. I think I prefer the Dirk Gently books. I remember weeping with laughter in an A-level English class whent the teacher read out the opening of the first one. (Nobody else found it funny and so they were all staring at me as if I'd finally cracked.)

I'll keep an eye out for those children's books by Pratchett - thanks!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD PD LET ME GUESS IS IT ABOUT INCEST IN A MESSED-UP ANGLICAN COMMUNITY ON THE STORM-BATTERED NORFOLK COAST?

Oooh, that's very exciting!

Round about the fifth or sixth time it loses the thrill slightly ;-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Tolkien spoiled me for epic fantasy: I can't quite be bothered reading any more. Too much investment required. Oh, obviously I read any fantasy that Le Guin or Bujold write!

I plan to read some of the Culture novels at some point: the bits and pieces I've come across I've found very funny. I think we have a couple around here somewhere, possibly The State of the Art (which I think has a radio adaptation coming soon).

We have a copy of The Day of the Jackal from which someone has carefully and thoughtfully removed the final page.


PS. - you're so right, vampires are boring. Why is that?!

I found Dracula boring; Angel was nowhere near as good as Buffy; the vampire storyline is the least interesting bit of Being Human... Basically it's late teenage angst masquerading as something sexy and mysterious. And "sexy and mysterious" never really captured my late teenage years! :-)

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Basically it's late teenage angst masquerading as something sexy and mysterious. And "sexy and mysterious" never really captured my late teenage years! :-)

Haha, that makes sense. Mine neither...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Zelazny's Lord of Light at the moment: so far so good, which makes the Amber Chronicles tempting. If I had world enough and time...


Cadfael: Who would you cast?

I want someone who is a cross between Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone. Jacobi is too sophisticated. I want someone bluffer and tougher.

[(Anonymous)]

Nine Princes In Amber is 175 pp. You could blow through this in two hours, I'd say, so if you ever wanted to read just a part of the first, best, and only (so far as I'm concerned) Amber series, this would be doable.

a cross between Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone

Bluffer I think could be good, in that it'd fit nicely with his inability to care overly much about the dogmatic sensibilities of Prior Robert and Brother Jerome, and it would go along with his soldier-past. On the other hand, I think his failing to present as tough lets him say a lot of the more joyfully contemplative lines believably.

On a third hand, if they'd kept Pertwee about for Jacobi to play off of, I'd probably swallow anything they fed me, even if Jacobi decided to put his fist through someone's face one fine Easter Sunday at Shrewesbury! ;-)

Dwim

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

If you haven't got hold of them by the next time we cross paths, then prod me, because we have all 3 of the Tiffany Aching series.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Wilco! Oh, I borrowed a Ken McLeod novel from the Resident Geek while I was at yours, and I put it in the post yesterday - shout if it doesn't materialize.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

Will do. (And now I'm forewarned, the RG won't get too excited about the appearance of the mystery parcel...)

Wed night edit: it has.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Nine Princes In Amber is 175 pp.

Yes, I could probably knock through that in a train journey, or instead of watching a Family Guy marathon. I'll see what BookMooch can supply...


his failing to present as tough lets him say a lot of the more joyfully contemplative lines believably.

Yes, good point, he delivers that well. And he did do menace so brilliantly in Doctor Who...


I'd probably swallow anything they fed me, even if Jacobi decided to put his fist through someone's face one fine Easter Sunday at Shrewesbury! ;-)

I'd pay good money to see that episode!

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, I could probably knock through that in a train journey, or instead of watching a Family Guy marathon. I'll see what BookMooch can supply...

It's definitely a one train-ride book, provided your ride is just sufficiently long enough.

I'd probably swallow anything they fed me, even if Jacobi decided to put his fist through someone's face one fine Easter Sunday at Shrewesbury! ;-)

I'd pay good money to see that episode!

*empties pockets of their linty emptiness*

Er, I'd write a great review for anyone who pulled if off in fanfiction...

Hope you had fun storming the con this weekend,

Dwim