What are you reading?

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 3:08 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]I loved Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, the one about the lost world of the disused underground stations. [/quote]

After reading that book, I now have a totally different feeling about the underground, esp 'mind the gap'!

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 3:51 pm

So Many Partings by Cathy Cash Spellman. Late 19C Irish immigration pull yourself up by the bootstraps and make rich type of story, and perfect for being housebound on a cold December day.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 4:29 pm

Thanks for the Neil Gaiman recs, I am definitely looking at him after Xmas.
I'm still working my way through Daughter of Fire by Barbara Erskine. It's a big book and my time's limited. I'm enjoying it loads but it is weird reading a novel about research techniques that are almost identical to your own!

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 6:05 pm

I'm reading Twilight. My daughter shoved it at me. "What's not to like, Mom? A teen romance novel where the protagonists stay out of the sack, just what our culture could use."
I'm enjoying it, as long as I can forget that this is a romance between a 100-plus-year-old man and a teenage girl. And like others, I am getting a little tired of his good looks being mentioned every third paragraph.

Kasthu · Post by **Kasthu** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 6:27 pm

I'm currently reading an ARC of The Seance, by John Harwood (coming out here in the US in Feb., but out already in the UK). Deliciously creepy Victorian-era ghost story, complete with haunted houses and their mysteriously-vanished owners. Reminds me a bit of Susan Hill's short ghost stories.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 6:29 pm

Have you read John Harwood's previous novel, The Ghost Writer, Kasthu? I thought it was excellent. I have The Seance on my TBR pile.

Leyland · Post by **Leyland** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 6:29 pm

I think I'll put in an order for Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors and Graveyard Book on Amazon and continue to discover Gaiman. I've only read Neverwhere, and now the current read, American Gods.

I was skimming through Bulfinch's Mythology just a few weeks ago, but it seems that Gaiman is culling his gods from a much wider source. I got Kali right off the bat, but there are several 'obscure' gods I'm probably missing - like the old man who used to be a knacker I can't figure out. Thanks for the heads up on the website references, Ash.

I saw Stardust the movie, and when I can get the image of Claire Danes as a lead character out of my mind, I'll read the book so I don't see her anymore. I don't know what it is about her, but I just don't care for her much at all.

Kasthu · Post by **Kasthu** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 6:31 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]Have you read John Harwood's previous novel, The Ghost Writer, Kasthu? I thought it was excellent. I have The Seance on my TBR pile.[/quote]

I read The Ghost Writer, but liked it only a little. I think The Seance is much better.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 6:31 pm

[quote=""Ash""]After reading that book, I now have a totally different feeling about the underground, esp 'mind the gap'![/quote]

Yes, I agree.

I'm always nervous getting on and off tube trains anyway.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat December 13th, 2008, 6:34 pm

[quote=""EC2""]Thanks for the Neil Gaiman recs, I am definitely looking at him after Xmas.
I'm still working my way through Daughter of Fire by Barbara Erskine. It's a big book and my time's limited. I'm enjoying it loads but it is weird reading a novel about research techniques that are almost identical to your own![/quote]

[quote=""MLE""]I'm reading Twilight. My daughter shoved it at me. "What's not to like, Mom? A teen romance novel where the protagonists stay out of the sack, just what our culture could use."
I'm enjoying it, as long as I can forget that this is a romance between a 100-plus-year-old man and a teenage girl. And like others, I am getting a little tired of his good looks being mentioned every third paragraph.[/quote]

Both Daughters of Fire and Twilight are on my list to read next year. I have the sequel to DoF, too.