What book are you reading at the moment? Part 2

[UncleDes]

I'm reading three books at the moment - King of the City, The Russian Concubine and run rabbit.

However, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to read nowadays. I used to read 2 or 3 books a week, now I'm lucky if I read that much in a year!

I lost my mojo. Any suggfestions as to how I should get it back?

Two words....

China

Plates

sorry...

China Mieville

[Kevin McCabe]

Des is right. Reading

Mieville

cover to cover is a daunting task. The reader emerges like a man who crossed a desert without water and emerged in deep night stumbling into a river. The man, of course, drinks from the river like there was no tomorrow. The experience is similar for the

Post-Mieville

reader, who is so happy to find any book that isn't like 500 pages of dry, dusty, foggy night that s/he knows everything else is sweetwater by comparison.

[johneffay]

Kevin, I should watch what you say about Mieville. I met him the other week and he looks like he spends more time in the gym than writing books. I reckon he could kick your a**e any day of the week

Oh, and the new book is only 300 pages long, but I haven't got round to reading it yet.

sandy, I found that the best way to read more was to drink less.

[Kevin McCabe]

I dunno John, I first saw the light of morning in the Bronx.

[sandy]

Thank you for the recommendation - is there any particular China Mieville novel I should start with - I haven't heard of him before.

I tried Charles Stross' Accelerando and gave up. The technology seemed to be the story, not the characters.

[thingfish]

sandy, I found that the best way to read more was to drink less.

Probably the soundest bit of advice i've heard in a long time that i fully intend to take erm.......soon(ish)!!
I want to see the Kevin/China bout live so no selling out to Sky now!!!

[johneffay]

I first saw the light of morning in the Bronx.

Oh wow, does this mean that you're really one of those wise cracking, cigar chomping lawyers like in the James Cagney films; the sort of guy who floors the judge with one punch if he doesn't get his way?

[johneffay]

Thank you for the recommendation - is there any particular China Mieville novel I should start with

Perdido Street Station. It's very long, but really is the best introduction.

[Kevin McCabe]

I first saw the light of morning in the Bronx.

Oh wow, does this mean that you're really one of those wise cracking, cigar chomping lawyers like in the James Cagney films; the sort of guy who floors the judge with one punch if he doesn't get his way?

It is beneath my dignity to strike a man in a black dress (in addition to judges, that would include guys named for porcelain).

[UncleDes]

"In the sulphur-kissed miasma under the glitter of the tremulous New Crobuzon night, the Mccabe lurked ominously over the thread on malformed bat wings. Its Remade senses thaumaturgically attuned to the least mention of Mieville, which would flood its mind with shattered crimson and peach images and drive it, relentlessly, relentlessly to sink its fangs into the helpless Des and leave it righteously pissed off that one of its favourite authors was being treated this way."

Des

[Kevin McCabe]

A fate that well befits a denizen of a City of Swine and the twisted consciousness that dreamed it into being. New Crobuzon stands among equals with Nixon's Washington and Thatcher's City of London. Indeed, the other two were Cities On The Hill by comparison. Despite the best efforts of the political animals that created them, they lacked the fog, sand, and miasma spawned by the oversized Child of Dresden to crush the human spirit.

[sandy]

Thank you for the recommendation - is there any particular China Mieville novel I should start with

Perdido Street Station. It's very long, but really is the best introduction.

Thank you. My locla library has a copy (out till 1/06), so I'll get a loan of it this summer.

[Talisant]

Reading Tarzan At The Earth's Core.

[johneffay]

New Crobuzon stands among equals with Nixon's Washington and Thatcher's City of London.

It probably does, but not for the reasons you think.

[white wolf's son]

gormenghast

Just finished the Gromenghast trilogy, really enjoyed all the books, now about to read the short story ' Boy in Darkness ' by Peake, along with his ghost stories and short items, in a candle lit room with a large whisky.