The Books Thread

[DMt.]

Miss Ann Thropic is a natural storyteller, I reckon. I'm at Chapter 28 already.

[fish]

Chapter 28 already?

I'm still trying to remember where I hid my dictionary.

[Ian]

It's a fantastic story, certainly one of the very best I've found since I started reading fan-fic a couple of years ago.

[Ian]

Currently reading Doctor Who - Nightshade. The first book (and dip into Whodom) by future scriptwriter Mark Gatiss, this 1992 novel (only the 8th original Who book ever published) is a cracking StephenKingesque horror tale that remains a firm favourite. A sleepy English village in 1969 finds itself isolated and under attack from an amorphous alien menace that takes on the image of memories from its victims' subconscious - dead loved ones and old nightmares (and in one rather sacrilgeous scene, a notable religious icon!). A real 60s ambience and a strong cast of characters (including Edmund Trevithick, an elderly actor best known for his Quatermassesque role as "Professor Nightshade", who finds the monsters from his 50s sci-fi show coming back to get him!) coupled with real horror make this a classic. I still don't know why they haven't done a 2part TV adaptation like they did with Human Nature (and cast Tom Baker as Trevithick lol!).
I still reckon its the best thing Gatiss has ever written.

[fish]

...under attack from an amorphous alien menace that takes on the image of memories from its victims' subconscious...

Love it.
That sounds like something that really should be made into a TV special.

Do you have any background as to why it hasn't been done yet?

[Ian]

No, I've no idea, especially given that they have Gatiss writing for them as it is!

[DMt.]

I don't usually have much time for crime fiction/police procedurals, but in the right hands, like those of Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason, it's as good a form as any other. I'm reading everything of his I can find. Titles I know about are;

The Draining Lake

Jar City

Arctic Chill

Silence of the Grave

Voices

Hypothermia

There's a very strong seam of Nordic melancholy in the writing, but it's balanced by a dry humour and a deep, if utterly unsentimental, compassion for human suffering. I was reading The Draining Lake on a bus ride and listening to Sigur Ros [yes, an Icelandic double-whammy ] and I had to stop reading before I started crying on the bus, it was overwhelming.

[DMt.]

...and that sort of thing doesn't happen very often, because I'm well 'ard, me.

No, really.

[fish]

... because I'm well 'ard, me...

Never known a bathroom scale to get that lippy before.

[DMt.]

We innocent-looking-but-deeply-sinister bathroom scales are tired of being trampled underfoot.

Rise up, my brothers and sisters! Free yourselves from the crushing heel of the human oppressors!

[fish]

Look at what you've started now, Ian .

[Ian]

Uh uh, I take no responsibility for your lot's conversations.

[snaps]

I don't usually have much time for crime fiction/police procedurals, but in the right hands, like those of Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason, it's as good a form as any other. I'm reading everything of his I can find. Titles I know about are;

The Draining Lake

Jar City

Arctic Chill

Silence of the Grave

Voices

Idk if you have caught the film 'Jar City' Very very good. Just interested in your opinion. It is very gory. Most everyone I know though reckons the most horrendous bit is when ... (a pity we can';t cover for spoilers like LTROI Forum :/ ) is when he grabs a drive-in take-away, which turns out to be a boiled sheeps-head which he picks apart and chomps on the grey meat

Hypothermia

There's a very strong seam of Nordic melancholy in the writing, but it's balanced by a dry humour and a deep, if utterly unsentimental, compassion for human suffering. I was reading The Draining Lake on a bus ride and listening to Sigur Ros [yes, an Icelandic double-whammy ] and I had to stop reading before I started crying on the bus, it was overwhelming.

[Ian]

Currently re-reading the 500,000+ word Forever Knight. It may well be the greatest Harry Potter story of them all. I don't know if I can make through the next two chapters without blubbing.

[Ian]

Read the amazing novel-length Harry Potter fan-fic Forever Knight for the second time. Best fanfiction, best Potter period, and one of the best fantasy stories I've ever read. A masterpiece. Only wish there was some universe in which we could have seen this made into a movie (or two).