Red Mosquito

William Bloke wrote:

BurtReynolds wrote:Can anyone recommend any good fantasy books? Not dwarves and elves, though.

Neil Gaiman is in this field and is likely my favourite author.

Neverwhere is sublime. Stardust is excellent. Really, anything by him is pretty good.

But start with Neverwhere. So good.

bune wrote:The Graveyard Book is great. And it doesn't matter if you read the book or the graphic novel, they're both great. Hell I'd recommend both anyway.

BurtReynolds wrote:

William Bloke wrote:

BurtReynolds wrote:Can anyone recommend any good fantasy books? Not dwarves and elves, though.

Neil Gaiman is in this field and is likely my favourite author.

Neverwhere is sublime. Stardust is excellent. Really, anything by him is pretty good.

But start with Neverwhere. So good.

He is hit or miss with me, but Neverwhere sounds interesting.

Looks like I'll have to give Left Hand of Darkness a try, too.

William Bloke wrote:Like I said, I loved Neverwhere.

I'd been studying for a CPA exam for a week then had the actual exam on a Friday morning. I got home after, shattered, and found a package waiting for me. My brother had randomly decided to send me this book by this author who I'd never read before, but knew of vaguely through his work on the Sandman comics.

Anyways, I had the house to myself and the afternoon free, so grabbed a beer and sat down on the back verandah and started reading. The book just took me away to another place from the outset, and it was exactly the trip I needed having worked so hard (on accounting wank of all things!).

By the time the wife got home I was 8 beers, 2 cones and 150 pages in. I finished the book the next day. Loved Gaiman ever since (although I'll agree that I felt American Gods was more of a slog than my favourite works by him).

Perhaps my enjoyment of the book is wrapped in the whole experience, but I still love that book. 5 stars.

William Bloke wrote:

bune wrote:The Graveyard Book is great. And it doesn't matter if you read the book or the graphic novel, they're both great. Hell I'd recommend both anyway.

Oh yeah! I was trying to think of my other fave NG books but was posting in a hurry. I forgot about that one. I read that myself then read it to my kids later on. Such a good book and the kids still bring it up occasionally now.

On 5 September 2014, it was confirmed that the BBC would produce a radio adaptation of the novel, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, starting 22 December of that year. Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowicz led the cast, which also included Louise Brealey, Phil Davis, Mark Benton, Colin Morgan, Paterson Joseph, Josie Lawrence, Jim Norton, Adam Thomas Wright and Hollie Burgess.[19] Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett had cameo roles as a pair of traffic cops called "Neil" and "Terry".[20]

durdencommatyler wrote:I have every intention of revisiting both Neverwhere and American Gods. I still own both. Sometimes the timing of things is just off. I took me three attempts before I finally finished The Gunslinger by Stephen King. And The Dark Tower series is now one of my all time favorite fantasy epics. I'm sure I'll come around on Neverwhere and American Gods soon enough. It was just the wrong time for me back then.

bune wrote:

William Bloke wrote:

bune wrote:The Graveyard Book is great. And it doesn't matter if you read the book or the graphic novel, they're both great. Hell I'd recommend both anyway.

Oh yeah! I was trying to think of my other fave NG books but was posting in a hurry. I forgot about that one. I read that myself then read it to my kids later on. Such a good book and the kids still bring it up occasionally now.

My son read the graphic novel and loved it.

American Gods was my first Gaiman book and I loved it. Also if you like Good Omens, there's a BBC adaptation:

On 5 September 2014, it was confirmed that the BBC would produce a radio adaptation of the novel, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, starting 22 December of that year. Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowicz led the cast, which also included Louise Brealey, Phil Davis, Mark Benton, Colin Morgan, Paterson Joseph, Josie Lawrence, Jim Norton, Adam Thomas Wright and Hollie Burgess.[19] Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett had cameo roles as a pair of traffic cops called "Neil" and "Terry".[20]

ABNorman wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:I have every intention of revisiting both Neverwhere and American Gods. I still own both. Sometimes the timing of things is just off. I took me three attempts before I finally finished The Gunslinger by Stephen King. And The Dark Tower series is now one of my all time favorite fantasy epics. I'm sure I'll come around on Neverwhere and American Gods soon enough. It was just the wrong time for me back then.

I've had the same problem and intention with The Gunslinger. Now the movie's coming out, I have less impetus to dig back in.

ABNorman wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:I have every intention of revisiting both Neverwhere and American Gods. I still own both. Sometimes the timing of things is just off. I took me three attempts before I finally finished The Gunslinger by Stephen King. And The Dark Tower series is now one of my all time favorite fantasy epics. I'm sure I'll come around on Neverwhere and American Gods soon enough. It was just the wrong time for me back then.

I've had the same problem and intention with The Gunslinger. Now the movie's coming out, I have less impetus to dig back in.

bune wrote:

ABNorman wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:I have every intention of revisiting both Neverwhere and American Gods. I still own both. Sometimes the timing of things is just off. I took me three attempts before I finally finished The Gunslinger by Stephen King. And The Dark Tower series is now one of my all time favorite fantasy epics. I'm sure I'll come around on Neverwhere and American Gods soon enough. It was just the wrong time for me back then.

I've had the same problem and intention with The Gunslinger. Now the movie's coming out, I have less impetus to dig back in.

Now is the best time to dig back in! The reason is a little spoiler-ish though but the movies/tv shows actually take advantage of your having read the series. I'm sure it'll be fine for non-readers but there's a hook for having read the book.

Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

tragabigzanda wrote:Roberto Bolano has been on my to-read list for way too long. Anyone have an opinion on his stuff?