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Daniel said:
If anyones read herbert, you'll know he devotes every other chapter to a grizzly set-piece featuring unrelated characters who end up dead.
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It was a trend in horror in the late seventies/early eighties. His later books (Haunted is his best, in my opinion, followed by The Magic Cottage) moved away from this trend. His latest, after '48 haven't been much to write about.
 
Started the Witches of Chiswick by Robert Rankin last night. I need something short and frivolous after A Suitable Boy.
 
I loved Clan of the Cave Bear! Valley of Horses and The Mammoth Hunters are both pretty good books as well (although prepare for a lot of sex - those ancient humans were at it a *lot*). Plains of Passage and Shelters of Stone were not as good, IMO.

But Clan of the Cave Bear is superb and highly deserved its place in the top 100 best-loved books.
 
I just finished jingo by terry pratchett.I know some of you thinks his discworld books are tiresome because you think his jokes are old but i really enjoyed it.It was about the watch so that was a great incentive for me to read it.
 
Just finished Iain Banks' The Crow Road, which was excellent, and my next read will be Ben Elton's High Society.

Cheers
 
cajunmama said:
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
A classic, but not a tough read, like a lot of classics can be.
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Woohoo! I've got that on To Read pile, but I'm waiting till I've built up enough resolve to read the whole of the series. His books maybe wordy, but there's so much dialogue that they don't get bogged down and boring. He's the king of adventures.

I'm currently reading Lolita. I'm sure I'll get lots of comments thrown my way today when I'm on my break. And I'm sure most of those will be from people who haven't read it. Maybe next week I'll take in Fanny Hill.
 
I just finished Monkeys by Susan Minot. It's an autobiographical novel, and two of her siblings have written about a similar time period in the family, so I might seek those out to compare. (George Minot, The Blue Bowl; and Eliza Minot, The Tiny One). Monkeys is a great example of minimalist fiction, moving through 20 years or so in terse vignettes. It worked so well that it's expanded my ideas about how to write descriptive, character-driven fiction.

Now I'm reading The Constant Gardener by John LeCarre. About 1/3 the way through. I've read all LeCarre's other works, including the new Absolute Friends. Like AF, the Constant Gardener has polemical passages that I could live without, but it's better written in terms of the main plotline (a murder) and discovery process. The characters are far more sympathetic, IMO, though I have to admit a weakness for British colonialist settings and I'm a blatant anglophile (married to it). Aside from that, I also think The Honourable Schoolboy and Tinker Tailor are two very fine books that will stand as THE classic Cold War spy novels.

Martin, I'm interested in the books you've read--The Crow Road and High Society. I saw the BBC prod. of The Crow road and thought it OK. I couldn't find any excerpts of The Crow Road online. Would you describe the writing as rich and dense or more minimal and sassy or some other way entirely?

Novella
 
Litany-
I've discovered I can only take it in small doses. I agree, some classics (and modern novels, for that matter) spend pages and pages describing stuff. Lolita, huh? Okay, that's now on my TBR list.
 
cajunmama said:
Lolita, huh? Okay, that's now on my TBR list.
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Beware, the man's a bit of a perve. He goes through how it wasn't always unacceptable to do saucy things to young girls, and fair enough, in the grand scheme of things, a 16 year age of consent is a relatively recent occurence. But even taking that into account, he's still a big fat perve.
 
I'm a third of the way through A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin.It's the 3rd book in his Song of Ice and Fire series.

I'm sure most of you have heard about them from someone or another, cough *wench* cough, but they are very well done, none the less. :p

In a perfect world, he'll release his latest addition as soon as I finish this...but I'm not holding my breath.


RaVeN
 
I just started Game of Thrones this morning - Only about 40 pages in though so I'll reserve judgement for now :)
 
Freya said:
I just started Game of Thrones this morning - Only about 40 pages in though so I'll reserve judgement for now :)
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I'd say by 100 pages or so you'll be hooked. I especialy like the way he gives the main characters their own chapter. My favorites are those of Tyrion, but they all are rich in depth.

RaVeN
 
Another biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Allison Weir and Slightly Settled by Wendy Markham, which is better than average chick lit.
 
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