What Are You Reading 2

[Sjoerd3000]

That was great too

 

[Quatermass]

Just finished Half-Sick of Shadows. The review I did on another site follows:

Having read one winner of the Terry Pratchett Prize, Michael Logan's Apocalypse Cow, and found wanting, I decided to try the other winning entry, Half-Sick of Shadows. I had already gained the impression that it was a very different beast to its zombie apocalypse co-winner, but I wondered whether it would be as good, or even better. Time, and reading the book, would only tell...

The Manse: an isolated house in the middle of nowhere, home to the strange Pike family. Edward and Sophia are twins, inseparable, but all that begins to change starting from the day before Granny Hazel is buried. A stranger in a Morris Minor turns up, and asks the five-year-old Edward to be his friend, before leaving in the car that he claims to be a time machine. Not long afterwards, Edward is packed off to boarding school, while Sophia has been told by her father never to leave the Manse, or else she will be cursed. A strange tale unfolds involving life, the universe, and a strange boy known as Alf whose destiny, and that of the twins, may very well be intertwined...

Half-Sick of Shadows is of the same quality as Apocalypse Cow, but for very different reasons. This book is a far more intelligently conceived and written book than Apocalypse Cow, a bildungsroman (or coming of age story) set in the strangest of places. There is something darkly lyrical and even a little magical about the prose, which is a pity, as the story itself doesn't seem to have a point. I dunno whether it's because of my style of reading, or because the clues were too obscure, but I couldn't make too much sense of the ending at all. I get the feeling that David Logan is a fan of David Lynch's work, as this feels like a Lynch film. The connection with parallel universes as required by the rules of the competition is, while intriguing, not fully fleshed out, or at least not explained to my satisfaction. Apocalypse Cow, while not as intelligently written, was more entertaining.

Unlike Apocalypse Cow, the characters feel better fleshed out and less cartoony. Even with the lack of explanation I felt was in the story, one could still believe that they had lives inbetween incidents on the page. Edward is an intriguing protagonist, and the enigmatic Alf, while not quite explained, is still an interesting character all the same. I feel that the residents of the Manse are rather f***ed up, though, feeling like extras from a Stephen King novel made normal.

Half-Sick of Shadows is as good as Apocalypse Cow, albeit for very different reasons. While I give them the same score, I would prefer Apocalypse Cow in terms of sheer, unadulterated entertainment value.

I removed the score before posting it, as I had some controversy over my scoring system here doing a Discworld reading blog.

I have to say, David Logan's prose, I cannot match, and the payoff, while not as great as expected, was good enough. But I have to say that I could write a more entertaining yarn.

 

[chris.ph]

when dragons dream of robot sheep

 

[Quatermass]

when dragons dream of robot sheep

I'm sorry, is that the title of a book, or a challenge to write a better story? I'm not being rhetorical or anything, I actually am confused.

If the latter, I am currently 33K words into my current potential entry for the TP Prize. Just another 47K (at least) to go. Better get your dragon and an optic-encephalogram (sorry, couldn't resist a Quatermass and the Pit reference).

 

[chris.ph]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Man-From-U- ... =8-1-fkmr2

damn i was nearly right

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

when dragons dream of robot sheep

It would make a change from Android phones dreaming about Sheep, Chris

 

[Quatermass]

BTW, last night I finished the Doctor Who novel Love and War.

Brilliant book, but heartbreaking to see what happens between the Doctor and Ace...

 

[ShortStacked]

Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See. I *loved* Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, so hopefully this one will be just as good!

 

[Antiq]

The Emporer's Knife, by Mazarkis Williams. Enjoying it so far.

 

[raptornx01]

Working On Fahrenheit 451 still (could get in the mood). but got to the part of Montag's boss describing the history of Firemen and why they went from saving homes to burning books.

My first thought was, Holy **** he's talking about Twitter.

 

[Tonyblack]

The entertainment unit Montag's wife uses reminds me of Second Life.

 

[Catch-up]

Just finished Niceville by Carsten Stroud (I think that's the right spelling) and really enjoyed it. Spooky story, a couple of other good plot lines, ties together really well and some great writing.

Picked up What the Dickens by Gregory MacGuire from the library, started reading it before I realized I'd already read it. I remember liking it anyway.

 

[Penfold]

Just finished the Star Trek 'Destiny' trilogy. Very enjoyable.

 

[Bouncy Castle]

Kill Alex Cross - J. Patterson.

 

[Tonyblack]

Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs.

 

[michelanCello]

Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs.

Ohh, haven't read a single one of the Kathy Reichs books, but I intend to change that... are they any good?

 

[Tonyblack]

I think they are great. I tried to read a couple of Patricia Cornwell books, but those are dreadful. Kathy grabs the reader right away. There is a huge amount of laugh-out-loud humour in them and, thank the gods you can't smell the story.

 

[UnseenTerryPratchett]

I am currently in a frenzy of Scandinavian crime fiction!

In fact I lie, I have had a soft spot for the genre for a long time and have just started reading heaps of it. Authors like Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo and Mons Kallentoft.

Has anyone else been in a Scandinavian crime frenzy? : : :

 

[Sister Jennifer]

G'day UnseenTP, I read Stieg Larssons' Millennium Trilogy one after the other. Dunno that it was a frenzy but I became fairly immersed in the story.

He's not a crime writer but I do tend to read John Lindqvist at a quick pace, his books are a firm favourite. I have Little Star to read, it's the next book on my book pile. Looking forward to it.

Happy reading!

 

[Quatermass]

Just finished reading Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice, by The Long Earth co-author Stephen Baxter. It was actually excellent. He writes very well, and he captured the Second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe quite well.