Post by merseystrangler on Apr 10, 2011 4:07:51 GMT 1
Im a big fan of Cormac McCarthy's East Tennessee novels (not only because I happen to live in East Tennesse myself, but his ability to create stark images is nearly unparalleled in the English language-- 100 years from now he will sit in the same company as James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, Shakespeare, as a true master of the English language)... The Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark, Child of God, Suttree.... although I think the strongest of them is Outer Dark, and Suttree the most difficult.. Of course of all his novels I would say Blood Meridian is his absolute best. But it's set in Texas/Mexico. There is no better living describer of grotesque and beautiful landscapes, both inner and outer, than he is.
And because I know you care, Im currently reading A Game of Thrones, by George RR Martin, my first bout with a long fantasy series in probably a decade. It's not bad. He's obviously put a gargantuan amount of thought and time behind creating the Westeros world and mythos. His prose is pretty good too, but not magnificent or anything. Not sure if I will read past the first book, but I may.
Last Edit: Apr 10, 2011 4:52:15 GMT 1 by merseystrangler
Finished The Absence - which I have to say I enjoyed, it did a good job of keeping the horror and suspense going all the way through and conjured up some good images.
Next up some zombie thing by some bloke called Whittle...
Novel in progress - first draft complete, word count 65722
Post by benedictjjones on Apr 27, 2011 12:30:53 GMT 1
recently read hans fallada's 'alone in berlin' which i thought was brilliant. also i've been reading some more fritz leiber from his 'night monsters' collection - not read a bad story by him yet!
Finished The Dead Shall Feed which I enjoyed very much despite my prejudices against zombie fiction. Written with a nice dry sense of humour but also with some nicely written moments of poignancy. And the science worked for me - a good explanation of how the zombification (?) process worked.
Since read Terra Damnata and Abolisher of Roses - both of which I enjoyed very much.
Just started Through a Glass, Darkly.
Novel in progress - first draft complete, word count 65722
Im reading The Alienist.. older book.. but never read it.. bought it for 20 cents at a used bookstore. Anyone read it?
And, who are you gaz?
i thought the Alienist and it's sequel Angel of Darkness were both excellent and wish caleb carr had written more of them. i also have his non-fiction book the Devil Soldier which is a great read.