and maybe read by just me, since most of my other comics are Belgian (although some of those have been translated and published in Britain)Joose wrote:
I have considered this myself, but presumed that 90% of the entries on it would be posted by me.
Recommended Reading
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Mr. Johnson
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FatherJack
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Here are some manga I can recommend without hesitation:
School Rumble - Comedy set in a school (!) where the juvenile delinquent Harima Kenji falls for the rather dim Tenma Tsukamoto (pictured). Naturally, she's oblivious. Constant complications and exaggerated reactions and all you'd expect from the genre, but done very and well pretty funny.
Yotsuba& - Same author as my favourite series, Azumanga Daioh, this follows the life of a kind of an odd young girl who takes delight in everything moving to a new town with her Dad. Nothing much happens, it's like his other work, where you just warm to the characters and watch them do normal stuff.
Welcome to the NHK - Rather dark story of hikkokomori (recluse) Satou who after becoming convinced (with a little persuading from his toaster and fridge) that the TV station NHK is an evil corrupting horse is "saved" by Misaki, who takes him on as her "psychology project". Of course, she's probably more fucked up than he is. Disappointingly the anime version of this is on hiatus, so the manga might be the only chance to experience it.
Genshiken - More okatu subculture, this centres around a group of students who run a club which encompasses anime, manga and videogames, with the pornographic versions of those being the main focus. Saki is the girlfriend of a new member, and we kind of follow her into the club as she uncovers the "horrors" of otaku life.
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service - Using their unique collection of skills, a psychic, a dowser, a hacker, an embalmer, a channeller and a "space alien" puppet, this group of students find dead bodies and deliver them where they want to go. Grisly and and gripping.
These next few, I am only a few volumes in, but am liking so far:
Remote - Detective Ayaki is the eyes and ears of the brilliant Inspector Himuro - who is unable to leave his house for reasons unknown as they solve serial killer cases together. A bit like the Bone Collector but with more pantsu.
Wild Adapter - The name of a mysterious drug, which seems to turn people into beasts, we follow Kubota - an empty shell of a man who was too savage for the yakuza as he searches for info on the drug, picking up the beast-handed Tokitoh along the way who has no memory of the events before they met.
School Rumble - Comedy set in a school (!) where the juvenile delinquent Harima Kenji falls for the rather dim Tenma Tsukamoto (pictured). Naturally, she's oblivious. Constant complications and exaggerated reactions and all you'd expect from the genre, but done very and well pretty funny.
Yotsuba& - Same author as my favourite series, Azumanga Daioh, this follows the life of a kind of an odd young girl who takes delight in everything moving to a new town with her Dad. Nothing much happens, it's like his other work, where you just warm to the characters and watch them do normal stuff.
Welcome to the NHK - Rather dark story of hikkokomori (recluse) Satou who after becoming convinced (with a little persuading from his toaster and fridge) that the TV station NHK is an evil corrupting horse is "saved" by Misaki, who takes him on as her "psychology project". Of course, she's probably more fucked up than he is. Disappointingly the anime version of this is on hiatus, so the manga might be the only chance to experience it.
Genshiken - More okatu subculture, this centres around a group of students who run a club which encompasses anime, manga and videogames, with the pornographic versions of those being the main focus. Saki is the girlfriend of a new member, and we kind of follow her into the club as she uncovers the "horrors" of otaku life.
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service - Using their unique collection of skills, a psychic, a dowser, a hacker, an embalmer, a channeller and a "space alien" puppet, this group of students find dead bodies and deliver them where they want to go. Grisly and and gripping.
These next few, I am only a few volumes in, but am liking so far:
Remote - Detective Ayaki is the eyes and ears of the brilliant Inspector Himuro - who is unable to leave his house for reasons unknown as they solve serial killer cases together. A bit like the Bone Collector but with more pantsu.
Wild Adapter - The name of a mysterious drug, which seems to turn people into beasts, we follow Kubota - an empty shell of a man who was too savage for the yakuza as he searches for info on the drug, picking up the beast-handed Tokitoh along the way who has no memory of the events before they met.
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HereComesPete
- Throbbing Cupcake
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Just bought some R.A Salvatore books about drizzt do'urden, mainly because I like the forgotten realms universe and the stories are quite light reads.
On recommendation from anham I've also bought "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, haven't really read his stuff, never got around to getting into the baroque cycle properly which I really should.
I've read a few chapters on the metro home from work and it's starting off about high-tech ninjas delivering pizzas for the mafia, which is always good.
When I've finished I'll post a review (unless someone's already read it, in which case they might as well put a review together).
On recommendation from anham I've also bought "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, haven't really read his stuff, never got around to getting into the baroque cycle properly which I really should.
I've read a few chapters on the metro home from work and it's starting off about high-tech ninjas delivering pizzas for the mafia, which is always good.
When I've finished I'll post a review (unless someone's already read it, in which case they might as well put a review together).
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MORDETH LESTOK
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and quite interested at the same time...what was on the pizzas?-
HereComesPete
- Throbbing Cupcake
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Anhamgrimmar
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Roman Totale
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Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse
Buy it, read it, love it.
Graphic novel about a worm that can animate and possess corpses. Has a fondness for stout. Drawn by the guy what did 30 Days of Night. Quite Lovecraftian mixed with Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman and Robert Rankin (and if that doesn't get Joose creaming himself then I don't know what will!).
Buy it, read it, love it.
Graphic novel about a worm that can animate and possess corpses. Has a fondness for stout. Drawn by the guy what did 30 Days of Night. Quite Lovecraftian mixed with Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman and Robert Rankin (and if that doesn't get Joose creaming himself then I don't know what will!).
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Gunslinger42
- Ninja
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Since I finished this year of Uni a month or two ago and now have plenty of free time, I've started reading again. I finally finished Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (which I found to be a bit tough to get through at times - so many characters and political plots, I started to get a bit lost - but thoroughly enjoying it, just as I did Cryptonomicon last year), then devoured American Gods over a weekend and then the first book in His Dark Materials which I had considered reading about two years ago but dismissed it on the basis that it sounded like a harry potter-esque kids book, though I found out it's utterly great and can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy
I'm sure I commented on Wormwood. As it happens I can't find it.
While I was sunning it up in Baghdad and Kuwait I read a couple of books. From a limited selection, I picked out Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. I had very little idea of what it was about, I just scanned the description and saw it was a crime thriller. Good enough, and I wanted to read it with absolutely no preconceptions. And I rather enjoyed it. Fairly intelligent forensic investigation with some interesting and memorable characters. Also included midgets and lesbians. They should have put that on the cover and it'd sell on that alone. I was a bit disappointed by what felt like a bit of a generic ending, and I'd correctly guessed the killer half way through. She also has a funny, but unavoidable I suppose, way of using fairly high tech talk (to a layman) of networking, then having the experts qualify acronyms like ISP by saying it in full straight afterwards. In all, a moderately interesting techy whodunnit made good by the characters.
Having finished that in about a week, I went to a bigger shop and got another novel by the same author, Isle of Dogs. Again, I wanted to experience the book with no preconceptions and so I fired right into what turned out to be a very odd farcical comedy. The story isn't particularly important, as the book is defined (again) more by characters and their interactions. Silly names, bizarre coincidences, and my brain providing redneck accents were a mainstay, some to good effect and some to bad. Most of the story just follows the series of calamities of the main characters, centred around the Governor of Virginia, a few cops, and some hicks. Sometimes it provides some amusing slapstick, other times it's just weird. Oddly enough, and in complete opposition to Scarpetta, I found myself not liking any of the characters, even if some were rather amusing. Apart from the crabs, who seemed to be the most intelligent characters in the story. I think it might make a better TV series than a book, with cheap visual gags and surreal outtakes that are almost certainly missed on those without a vivid imagination.
While I was sunning it up in Baghdad and Kuwait I read a couple of books. From a limited selection, I picked out Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. I had very little idea of what it was about, I just scanned the description and saw it was a crime thriller. Good enough, and I wanted to read it with absolutely no preconceptions. And I rather enjoyed it. Fairly intelligent forensic investigation with some interesting and memorable characters. Also included midgets and lesbians. They should have put that on the cover and it'd sell on that alone. I was a bit disappointed by what felt like a bit of a generic ending, and I'd correctly guessed the killer half way through. She also has a funny, but unavoidable I suppose, way of using fairly high tech talk (to a layman) of networking, then having the experts qualify acronyms like ISP by saying it in full straight afterwards. In all, a moderately interesting techy whodunnit made good by the characters.
Having finished that in about a week, I went to a bigger shop and got another novel by the same author, Isle of Dogs. Again, I wanted to experience the book with no preconceptions and so I fired right into what turned out to be a very odd farcical comedy. The story isn't particularly important, as the book is defined (again) more by characters and their interactions. Silly names, bizarre coincidences, and my brain providing redneck accents were a mainstay, some to good effect and some to bad. Most of the story just follows the series of calamities of the main characters, centred around the Governor of Virginia, a few cops, and some hicks. Sometimes it provides some amusing slapstick, other times it's just weird. Oddly enough, and in complete opposition to Scarpetta, I found myself not liking any of the characters, even if some were rather amusing. Apart from the crabs, who seemed to be the most intelligent characters in the story. I think it might make a better TV series than a book, with cheap visual gags and surreal outtakes that are almost certainly missed on those without a vivid imagination.
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FatherJack
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I mentioned SATA to someone the other day, then had to spend quite some time explaining what it stood for. It's one of those where you almost want to make something up like Superior Architecture Transfer Array, or just say "it's just better, alright"
To save anyone going through pages of wiki, it's Serial ATA (as opposed to Parallel ATA which we used to call IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics), ATA standing for AT Attachment, AT being the name of the original 286 PCs (Personal Computers) from IBM (International Business Machines) which at the time stood for Advanced Technology.
Yeah, they'd kind of stopped listening by this point and totally missed the hilarious irony of a 6MHz PC being called 'advanced'.
To save anyone going through pages of wiki, it's Serial ATA (as opposed to Parallel ATA which we used to call IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics), ATA standing for AT Attachment, AT being the name of the original 286 PCs (Personal Computers) from IBM (International Business Machines) which at the time stood for Advanced Technology.
Yeah, they'd kind of stopped listening by this point and totally missed the hilarious irony of a 6MHz PC being called 'advanced'.
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Sheriff Fatman
- Optimus Prime
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Anyone read A Game of Thrones ? Apparently HBO have confirmed a pilot starts filming in October, with Seen Been in a lead role.
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FatherJack
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Awesome books, I've had a Dance with Dragons on pre-order for about four years, though. Looks like Seen is going to be Ned Stark. A brave venture given the shit that happens to Arya and Sansa and Danny.Sheriff Fatman wrote:Anyone read A Game of Thrones ? Apparently HBO have confirmed a pilot starts filming in October, with Seen Been in a lead role.
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TheJockGit
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Under the Dome
Stephen King, Under the Dome.. I do like a lot of his stuff but he kinda got lost in the wilderness for a while, but now he's back with a book that reminds me of The Stand.
In this one we take a small town, in Maine (go figure!) that mysteriously gets suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible, impregnable barrier.
The story then concentrates on how society then suddenly goes to shit in a very small space of time.
Definitely one for anyone who has liked Kings books in the past, but probably a bit meh for those who don't like his "Apocalypse" style musings.
In this one we take a small town, in Maine (go figure!) that mysteriously gets suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible, impregnable barrier.
The story then concentrates on how society then suddenly goes to shit in a very small space of time.
Definitely one for anyone who has liked Kings books in the past, but probably a bit meh for those who don't like his "Apocalypse" style musings.
Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne (zombehs)
Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne
Find copy, buy copy, read copy and be very freaked out.
Basically it's a survivors journal of how he survives when the world goes to shit. It's awesome as it paints a fantastically grim picture of day to day living in a zed apocalypse.
May 16th. 1201 hrs. We are now under siege. Beyond the silo access doors, we have a small army of beaten and battered undead to contend with. They only want one thing...Day by Day Armageddon is the handwritten journal of one man and his struggle for survival. Trapped in the midst of global disaster, he must make decisions that could mean life, or which could condemn him eternally to walk as one of them. Enter, if you dare, into his world. The world of the undead.
Grab it in the 3 for 2 at Waterstones with the second chapter and you/ll be very happy.
Find copy, buy copy, read copy and be very freaked out.
Basically it's a survivors journal of how he survives when the world goes to shit. It's awesome as it paints a fantastically grim picture of day to day living in a zed apocalypse.
May 16th. 1201 hrs. We are now under siege. Beyond the silo access doors, we have a small army of beaten and battered undead to contend with. They only want one thing...Day by Day Armageddon is the handwritten journal of one man and his struggle for survival. Trapped in the midst of global disaster, he must make decisions that could mean life, or which could condemn him eternally to walk as one of them. Enter, if you dare, into his world. The world of the undead.
Grab it in the 3 for 2 at Waterstones with the second chapter and you/ll be very happy.
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Dr. kitteny berk
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FatherJack
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After reading Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga and the first two in the Void trilogy (waiting for the paperback) I looked for some similar authors and bought some titles, only to find most of them already mentioned early in this thread. :doh:
Iain M Banks - Matter
Having never read any of his books before and not sure where to jump in, I was very pleasantly surprised that even though this book is the eighth of his Culture books it was wonderfully self-contained. It explained everything about the aspects of the Culture you needed to know weaved into the story and never felt like you were reading (or needed to read) a reference encyclopedia. That's very clever writing indeed, plus it was a fine story with brilliantly memorable characters.
It's about the many layers within the Culture, on the ground a medieval-style kingdom at war, the aliens who posture for control over the fabric of the world they live in, and the Culture's Special Circumstances organisation who have their own agenda for keeping the balance.
Michael Cobley - Seeds of Earth
As his first go at sci-fi, this is a pretty good effort. The second part is due in March. The writing isn't fantastic as I'm used to reading, but the story and characters are very compelling.
Humanity got it's arse kicked by nasty aliens a bit like in Starship Troopers, but was able to send out three colony ships in random directions. 150 years on we find out what's happened to them. One lot cohabit peacefully with some spiritual-type aliens, but their planet hides secrets everyone wants. With humans back on the radar, the other groups try to reestablish contact.
Neal Stephenson - Anathem
This is an epic book, with absolutely superb writing. It involves stuff like multiple universes and how they interact at a quantum level and the philosphy of what is real, or merely perceived as real. That might make it sound rubbish and boring, but there's a cracking adventure yarn threaded seamlessly through it.
It's not easy-going at first, and there's a lot of checking the appendix to begin with, but once you're into it you'll notice yourself reading pages with ease that an over-the-shoulder observer would find utter gibberish.
Deliberately vague description: The main character lives in what resembles a monastery, but the guys in there aren't praying, they're thinking. They are a collection of all the brainboxes and outside their walls live all the thickos. For the first time in ten years, the gates are about to be opened.
I'm now reading Alastair Reynold's House of Suns, which is very interesting so far.
Iain M Banks - Matter
Having never read any of his books before and not sure where to jump in, I was very pleasantly surprised that even though this book is the eighth of his Culture books it was wonderfully self-contained. It explained everything about the aspects of the Culture you needed to know weaved into the story and never felt like you were reading (or needed to read) a reference encyclopedia. That's very clever writing indeed, plus it was a fine story with brilliantly memorable characters.
It's about the many layers within the Culture, on the ground a medieval-style kingdom at war, the aliens who posture for control over the fabric of the world they live in, and the Culture's Special Circumstances organisation who have their own agenda for keeping the balance.
Michael Cobley - Seeds of Earth
As his first go at sci-fi, this is a pretty good effort. The second part is due in March. The writing isn't fantastic as I'm used to reading, but the story and characters are very compelling.
Humanity got it's arse kicked by nasty aliens a bit like in Starship Troopers, but was able to send out three colony ships in random directions. 150 years on we find out what's happened to them. One lot cohabit peacefully with some spiritual-type aliens, but their planet hides secrets everyone wants. With humans back on the radar, the other groups try to reestablish contact.
Neal Stephenson - Anathem
This is an epic book, with absolutely superb writing. It involves stuff like multiple universes and how they interact at a quantum level and the philosphy of what is real, or merely perceived as real. That might make it sound rubbish and boring, but there's a cracking adventure yarn threaded seamlessly through it.
It's not easy-going at first, and there's a lot of checking the appendix to begin with, but once you're into it you'll notice yourself reading pages with ease that an over-the-shoulder observer would find utter gibberish.
Deliberately vague description: The main character lives in what resembles a monastery, but the guys in there aren't praying, they're thinking. They are a collection of all the brainboxes and outside their walls live all the thickos. For the first time in ten years, the gates are about to be opened.
I'm now reading Alastair Reynold's House of Suns, which is very interesting so far.
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Joose
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Most (possibly all, no exceptions come to mind) of the Culture books are like that. Although some of them vaugely reference things that have happened in earlier books, they are certainly not a continuous storyline or anything. You can pretty much jump in anywhere.FatherJack wrote:I was very pleasantly surprised that even though this book is the eighth of his Culture books it was wonderfully self-contained.
If you liked that one, I would also recommend The Player of Games.
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Roman Totale
- Robotic Bumlord
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
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Re: Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne (zombehs)
Read this this morning, enjoyed a great deal, also grabbed the sequel, which I'm half way through.Chickenz wrote:Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne
Couldn't put the first down, The second didn't grab me so much, but it's certainly a good continuation of the story.