Reading List: Jingo by Terry Pratchett

A fairly ordinary Diskworld novel. Funny, but no real depth and kind of falls apart at the end.

Rating: ***

Reading List: First Among Sequels by Jasper Ford.

A belated fifth Thursday Next book. Not as good as the main quartet, or perhaps I just missed the jokes. A couple of laugh out load moments - a character called Isambard Kingdom Bunuel; and a good joke about a serial killer.

Rating: ***

Neal Asher

James Nicoll has a thread about Neal Asher and comments he has made in his blog. Some of the followup comments are from people who have decided not to start reading Neal Asher because of what he says in his blog.

I had already decided to stop reading Neal Asher, whose books I rather enjoy, because of what his blog revealed about his character. The blog was mostly rather banal, but there were a few comments which made me think he is not someone I would like if I met him - worse, he is not someone to whom I want to give my money.

Update: I wrote this some time ago but never posted it.

Reading List : The Illuminatus Trilogy

A classic of inspired lunacy. Difficult to read it all at once, but well worth it.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]

Reading List : Update

I've not been keeping this up to date (who does), so here is a list of what I've read since the last post.

Effendi	John Courtenay Grimwood	7/10
Followup to Pashazade. Another mystery in which the here of the first book, Ashraf Bey, has to defend his fiance's father against accusations of war crimes.
Fellahen	John Courtenay Grimwood	6/10
Third book in the trilogy.
Newton's Wake	Ken Macleod	6/10
Ken's first series The Fall Revolution was brilliant. His second Engines of Light, was no more than OK. This is better but not back to his best. He has some fun with politics as usual and this must be the only SF book with a Glasgow gang as one of the dominant forces in galactic civilisation
Market Forces	Richard Morgan	2/10
To be honest, I haven't finished this. It was too unremittingly horrible and I wasn't sure where it was going. I like Richard Morgan's other stuff a lot, but I am less sure about this one. I'll need to try it again when I'm less depressed.
The Men Who Stare at Goats	John Ronson	9/10
A look at various mad new age ideas which have been investigated and used as weapons by the US army and intelligence services. Some of the stuff seems to be in current use in Iraq. (The "stare at goats" phrase was that people were being trained to kill by power of thought alone.)
The Autobiography	Monty Python	4/10
Not very interesting really. I patchwork of reminiscence of the Python days by the Python team. Above all, its NOT FUNNY.
The Algebraist	Iain M Banks	7/10
Lightweight Banks. No startlingly clever ideas, and the story is only slightly engaging. The usual good jokes and set pieces.

Reading List : Skinner by Neal Asher

There are many good things about this book, but the thing that stands out is the eco-system. The food chain is dominated by a carnivorous 'leech' which injects a virus which makes its victims extremelly resilient. This ensures that the prey survives and regenerates and is available for further feeding.

Rating 8/10

Reading List:: How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World

How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions, by Francis Wheen.

Funny, but ultimately depressing look at how irrationality is increasing in all aspects of "modern" life.