What are you reading? What was the last book you enjoyed?

In the middle of:

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A new short story collection. Mostly pretty good.
 
About halfway through Jasper Ffordes Shades of Grey. It's extremely enjoyable as a dystopian style of novel. The whole world as it should be is imagined and you have to pay attention as not much reverts back to our society.
 
I dug out my Under The Dome I bought many months ago so that I can read it before the miniseries comes on.
 
jammer06 said:
About halfway through Jasper Ffordes Shades of Grey. It's extremely enjoyable as a dystopian style of novel. The whole world as it should be is imagined and you have to pay attention as not much reverts back to our society.
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I just finished the Hunger Games series, and was in the mood for more dystopian fiction but the market has been flooded with a crapload of YA dystopian fiction after the Hunger Games movie's success. It's nice to see another adult dystopian novel, aside from the classics which I've already read. Thanks for the heads up on this one, Jammer. I'm going to check it out!
 
RoyalSubject said:
I just finished the Hunger Games series, and was in the mood for more dystopian fiction but the market has been flooded with a crapload of YA dystopian fiction after the Hunger Games movie's success. It's nice to see another adult dystopian novel, aside from the classics which I've already read. Thanks for the heads up on this one, Jammer. I'm going to check it out!
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Yeah I don't think this one falls into the realm of YA, as with all UK writers half the times I'm not sure if there's hidden UK jokes in there I'm totally missing as well.
 
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Just started this. Not sure yet. It may be a little TOO sci-fi/fantasy for me.
 
I've been slowly moving through them for the past few years and am now through Pain Management. I still like the newer ones but I miss many of the female characters from the earliest books.
 
lagwagon0 said:
I've been slowly moving through them for the past few years and am now through Pain Management. I still like the newer ones but I miss many of the female characters from the earliest books.
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Amen to that. I kept hoping that someday Flood would show up again. Do you have a favorite so far?
 
Currently reading two:

Jefferson's War
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and Zen-master Brian Enos' guide to the mental side of practical shooting
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Just finished this and since this type of book isn't my normal read it probably shouldn't count for much. This book was SO slow I really had a hard time finishing it. I kept waiting for something to happen that would pick it up but nothing came. It took me about a month and a half to get through this. I can't imagine the movie could be much better.

Off to Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts.
 
Whitstable (Book) Review - Dread Central

Released just in time to mark the centenary of British screen legend Peter Cushing, Stephen Volk's intimate and dramatic novella Whitstable sees the recently bereaved Hammer icon struggling to manage his grief after the loss of his beloved wife, Helen. Dredging up the courage to step out for a walk on the beach of the titular seaside town where he lives, Cushing is approached by an enthusiastic young boy by the name of Carl. Addressing the actor as his on-screen vampire hunter persona, Van Helsing, Carl's discussion takes an ominous turn when he asks Cushing to eliminate his soon to be stepfather, whom he insinuates hurts him in the night.

Taken aback by the young boy's strange allegations, and wrestling with an internal quandary of responsibility versus the already overwhelming burden of grief, Cushing takes it upon himself to locate the boy's home and speak with his mother. His questions are unsurprisingly not taken particularly well, prompting an evening doorstep visit by the accused man -- blue-collar dock worker Les Gledhill. What initially appears to be a friendly clearing of the air quickly metamorphoses into a much more uncomfortable and threatening encounter that sees the beginning of a battle of wits between the conscientious old Cushing and the abusive, monstrous Gledhill.

Whitstable stands proud as a literary triumph for a number of reasons, most notably Volk's painstaking effort in his research and understanding of Cushing's life and behaviour, coupled with his ability to generate palpable gravitas and a profound sense of connection to the people and places around which the story unfolds. Volk's opening chapter alone is a deeply heart-rending distillation of grief, expertly placing us in the shoes (or slippers) of man who feels that the very soul has been ripped from his world. From the first sentence, the emotional connection to Cushing is so authentic -- so human -- that the weight of his despair will put a knot in your stomach and pressure on your chest.

As a low-key drama, Whitstable never veers into the realm of the supernatural -- the monster here is most assuredly a human one -- and this realistic sense of restraint extends also to the climactic battle of words between Cushing and Gledhill, which takes place over a stunningly realised sequence as the pair sit in a darkened auditorium during a screening of The Vampire Lovers that impresses with its own remarkably cinematic style. Volk's research and determination to paint a realistic world here lends a huge amount of minute detail to almost every sequence, and while the ultimate fate of one Les Gledhill feels slightly too dismissive and casually presented, the passion behind Whitstable wins out at every turn.

Volk's novella is a beautiful piece of work -- heartfelt, respectful, elegant and brave, it's also a perfectly fitting tribute to one of horror's greatest artists and essential reading for anyone harbouring an admiration for the inimitable gentleman that was Peter Cushing.
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This sounds pretty groovy.
 
Finished this doorstop:

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A Stephen King book where the first 900 pages are really compelling and then all of a sudden it has a crap ending? Never seen that before. The television version will probably be pretty good because I would expect them to keep those first 900 pages and toss the ending. There is no way the big left turn ends up on network TV. Does Stephen King just get to 900 pages and then decide "oh crap, I better wrap this up as quickly as possible"? They will make a 1400 page book for you if you ask - you're Stephen King.

And what was the deal with the shout-out to Jack Reacher? I guess now he is in a universe where dogs can hear the voices of the dead, among other things from the Stephen King book that are much more consequential so I won't risk spoiling them.
 
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