DeScribe

I'm in the middle of 'Mistress of the Empire', but i've had to set it aside for now. At present, i've got my text books to keep me company.

I don't really read fantasy, but I've heard nothing but good things about Feist. How does this co-authored book compare to his others?

Sometimes a co-authored book can be more of a marketing exercise...although The Talisman (Stephen King & Peter Straub) was sensational and because I was familiar with both authors I could see where either one was taking control of the narrative.

The sequel Black House was terrible, however. King should be banned from writing books where not much happens, because he still takes 400 pages to get anywhere.

Not a big fantasy fan either, well not fantasy which incorporates the lores. The concept is better then the pull off. Currently I'm reading a book on Chaos theory and almost pushed over a book called In Search of Zarathustra. I typically read more non-fiction then fiction, uni's giving me enough fiction though to keep me occupied. I have to read Wicked and Great Expectations, they're on my to do list, kinda read a little bit, uni keeps me from them until the break.

I've started two books: Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives, and Clive Barker's The Great And Secret Show. I'm paying more attention to Levin right now because it's from the library and it's due next week. But it isn't very thick, so hopefully I'll be able to finish it by tonight or something. I've neglected Barker for too long...

I tried with Clive Barker, I really did.

What I like best about him is he is obviously bonkers batshit insane. I think he has a lot of 'ISSUES' (capitalisation Barker's own) that get dragged through his writing, and there's nothing I like better than an artist who mixes their private craziness into their public work (although there are limits to this).

Cabal was good, and I like parts of his other books (like Imajica - the chapters dealing with the collapse of the city were intense), but many of them are too long. Still, he's a very popular horror author, up there with King and James Herbert. I just wish the three of them could pare their books down a little. King used to be able to fill a 500 page book with 500 pages of writing; now it's more like 200 pages of writing and 300 pages of padding.

Anyway, that's my random Saturday arvo rant. Back to post-colonialism for me...

The first I heard of Barker was when I watched Lord Of Illusions. It was only after I started reading the backs of video covers (when I was about 10, I know, it's embarassing), that I found out he was also a writer. The only Barker book that were stocked in the bookstores back home was Abarat. That book seemed to be everywhere...

The Great And Secret Show is my first Barker book, and to be honest, I was a bit doubtful initially, because even for one so well-known and well-established in the industry, not all books might be good. Luckily, TGaSS is proving to be an excellent read so far, and I feel it's a great introduction to Barker's work.

I'm sorry to say I've never heard of James Herbert, though. Before I looked him up on Wikipedia, I was under the impression that he wrote the Dune books (found out that it's Frank, and not James). Will keep an eye out for his works.

Just finished Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis (author of American Psycho and various other smashy poppy pornographic-type books). Haven't read any of his other stuff though have seen a couple of the film adaptations. Lunar Park is weird though. He's used himself as a main character and it seems to be an exercise in exorcising the many lurid demons of his past. I need to read American Psycho, I think. Has anyone else read it?

American Psycho is my favourite book of his by a mile.

Glamorama seemed average by comparison, and The Rules of Attraction was vapid and directionless. Interested in Less Than Zero, though.

I'm currently reading The Information by Martin Amis which I am enjoying, it's my first of his and he really does beautiful things with language. The little universe asides are possibly my favourite so far, because I am a space nerd and delighted to discover that Triton has volcanos that spit out pink snow instead of lava. Pink snow! Amazing.

I'm also reading The Broken Shore by Peter Temple (shameless pick up after they all loved it on First Tuesday Book Club) and it is really, really good. It's a nice change to read an Australian author describing areas I am familiar with, I guess, and he has a really evocative style.

Just finished Skellig, by David Almond - a kids book, really, but recommended through Nick Hornby's Believer column. It's really beautiful book about a boy with a seriously ill baby sister who discovers something living in his garage and has a Blake spouting home schooled girl living next door and...well, read it. It'll take you a day, and you'll feel wonderfully uplifted, I promise

Also recently finished Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down, and I'm undecided on whether I liked it or not. Great premise, mostly well executed, but I found it fizzled out towards the end and the ending itself was pretty disappointing.

Principles of Business Law by Luke Neal and others

Before Exam revision swept asside my reading time I was reading 'Castle of Wizadry by David Eddings' a seperation which was hard to make.

Cant wait for exams to be over ^^

@ Thiviya: nice to see you the other night. Hopefully we'll have a chance to catch up in week 1 or 2 next semester. Good luck with the exams.

@ Mina: like Peter Temple. Only ever read a (long) short story by him about gay wrestlers, which was great. I think it was in a Black Inc. Best Australian Stories collection.

Martin Amis has this collection of reviews that I love, because I'm a bit of a review Nazi. Great turn of phrase.

Oh, and kid's books: I worship the ground Shaun Tan floats across. Worship it.

I'm getting stuck into James Joyce's "Ulysses". As a result, I do think I'm better than everyone else.

"American Psycho" is a fantastic book. I get kicks out of lending it to my friends and waiting to see how long it will take before they throw it back at me in disgust.