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Currently reading [i]Idoru[/i] by William Gibson on the iPhone. Had to wait for the Kindle app to come out to get [i]Virtual Light[/i] to complete the trilogy. Also dipping into [i]Bicycle Diaries[/i] by David Byrne of Talking Heads. Very enjoyable book of observations made while cycling around various cities when touring. Nice to see Alan Garner's [i]Wierdstone of Brisingamen[/i] mentioned. Love that book, got it in a four-book slipcase set with [i]Moon Of Gomrath[/i], [i]Elidore[/i] and [i]The Owl Service[/i]. Brilliant children's books that are dark and don't patronise. Catherine Webb's books are in a similar vein, although she wrote her first one, [i]Mirror Dreams[/i], when she was fourteen, astonishing when you read it and see the adult way she writes, with lots of Roger Zelazney influences.
Whit - Iain Banks
Deadhouse Gates - Steven Erikson
Thinking about starting American Gods - Neil Gaiman
awaiting the latest Maruki Hurakami to be translated, so working through Salman Rushdie's stuff; currently a few pages from finishing Grimus.
His newest work - The enchantress of Florence - was good; as was Midnights Children. Satanic verses for all the controversey, was one of his weakest I'd say
[i]Nice to see Alan Garner's Wierdstone of Brisingamen mentioned.[/i]
+1
[i]The Owl Service[/i] is still of my favourite books, ever - sparely written & very dark. I was lucky enough to see him give a talk about [i]Thursbitch[/i] a few years ago. He's a national treasure.
Annapurna South Face by Chris Bonnington. Quite detailed and climbing techy but an insight into just how hard climbing above 20,000ft really is, the effort required is amazing.
Nice to see Alan Garner's Wierdstone of Brisingamen mentioned.+1
The Owl Service is still of my favourite books, ever - sparely written & very dark. I was lucky enough to see him give a talk about Thursbitch a few years ago. He's a national treasure.
The BBC series was very dark too, and has recently come out on DVD, I believe. I think [i]Elidor[/i] was made into a TV series as well. There's a sequence in either [i]Wierdstone[/i] or [i]Gomrath[/i], can't remember which, where the children have to pass through the mines of Fundindelve, which never fails to induce an extreme sense of claustrophobia in me. Brilliant writer, and, as you say, national treasure.
Work related for me, but very interesting nonetheless:
R.F. Port (Ed.) [i]Mind as Motion: Explorations in the Dynamics of Cognition[/i]
Just started Orlando by Virginia Woolf. We have a book club at work, which is usually rubbish. However, last week they had a set of 9 "film from a book" Penguin Classics for £5. I'm looking forward to the Jungle Book 🙂
[i]Brilliant writer, and, as you say, national treasure.[/i]
Not least becasue of his enduring concern with (and for) the [url= http://www.alderleyedge.com/images/current-archaeology.pdf ]landscape.[/url]
Rereading Freefall by Charles Bruce (writing as Tom Read). The autobiography covers his time with the SAS and his plans to break Joe Kittinger's parachute altitude record, but the main focus is on the mental health issues he suffered, which lead to him trying to kill his girlfriend with a pair of scissors.
Bruce committed suicide eight years ago by jumping out of the plane his girlfriend was flying without a parachute.
Very interesting book, and very different to the Andy McNab style, despite the fact that the two served together.
Decided to reread it after seeing this: [url= http://redbullstratos.com/ ]Red Bull Stratos[/url]
Just finished The Road, and bloody brilliant it was too! Very haunting!
Not sure what us next on the list but I quite fancy On the Beach by nevile Shute
Nevil Shute is always worth a read, they made a good film out that book too.