h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nemesis by Lindsey Davis. The latest (I think) in the Falco series.

Stephen King's Dark Tower series, love these books.

Now working my way through the Famous Five.

But I spent Christmas Day reading Dean King's excellent 'Harbors and High Seas: an atlas and geographical guide to the complete Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian'. So I feel another series re-read coming on there, too.

I finished the Hobbit on Christmas Day too, because I was a bit puzzled by some of what people are saying about the film.

Mol

Monstrous Regiment (Pratchett) it's reminding me of my Basic Training but with more Vampires)

and The Time and Space of Uncle Albert. Which is a science book for children. Just about my level.

I should re-read Monstrous Regiment at some point.
I'm reading How to Measure Anything: Finding the value of Intangibles in Business. Its a really interesting look at how to apply some really simple, but often overlooked concepts in statistics and measurement theory.

A couple of references to Pratchett and his books
in the last page or two has sent me to his homepage
where I discover to my delight and surprise that there
are 6 new titles!

Dodger (Fiction)
The Long Earth (Sci-Fi)
A Blink of the Screen (Short Stories)
The World of Poo (Children)
The Compleat Ankh-Morpork (Guidebook)
Judgement Day (Science of Discworld #4)

This winter of 2013 promises a lot of good reading!

~jwf~

This listing shows a couple more coming in 2013!
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/terry-pratchett/


~jwf~

seems like he's trying to get it all out there before he can't do it anymore. Bittersweet

I had worried that he was slipping a little. There had been a couple of clunkers (Unseen Academicals particularly).

But in Snuff and Long Earth there has been, IMHO at least, a brilliant return to form.

FB

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs. Looking at the blurb, I didn't think I'd read it before, but actually I have. I think I remember the ending.

I found Snuff pretty so-so the first time I read it, better the second. A bit like Unseen Academicals too actually.

I did read that he'll be passing the Discworld mantle on to his daughter, who's already screen writing the TV series based on Guards Guards. Never too sure how that sort of thing works out, Anne McCaffrey's son Tod is not the writer his mother was at all in the slightest. But I shall wait and see before passing judgment.

it's not working out too badly with the Dick/Felix Francis baton passing though, so maybe it will be ok.

Snuff was such a surprise and even a bit of a shocker
in its subject matter with a long complex plot line and
beautifully controlled narrative. It was a re-affirmation
of his brilliance that went down well after the clumsy
editing that was done on Academicals where the Leopard's
shorts joke was embarrassingly repeated at least ten times
and a dozen new and unfamiliar characters struggled to win
our hearts while the well known and beloved characters sat
watching from the bleachers.

Hopefully Dodger will again take us into the underbelly of
the rot among the flowers that is modern urban life.


~jwf~

Leviathan Rising by Jonathan Green. It's the second (I think) in the Pax Britannia series, which seems to be a steampunk thing where dinosaurs still exist. It's okay, but I'm not that enamoured of it.

Our Man in Hibernia - Charlie Connoley. I loved The Shipping Forecast and the others of his I've read. And this seems equally as good (but he is never going to top the Shipping Forecast)

My name is Red, by Orhan Pamuk, which is good if quite dense - about minituarists and a murder in an Ottoman court. Also the Hundred year old man who climbed out of a window, which was good fun. Good job too as I gave it to one brother for xmas, as the other brother gave it to me!

sprout

I keep meaning to try My Name is Red. I read Snow and it was a fantastic piece of writing, but very very dense prose and a lot going on.

Makers by Cory Dotorow. He's an author I know of from his postings on boingboing.net and occasional jokes I don't get on xkcd.com. Unsurprisingly it's about techy stuff. Seems good so far.

I enjoyed 'My Name is Red' immensely, but couldn't finish 'Snow'

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

MC