Ellis really needs more meds and less internet

[Mischief]

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060723934/Crooked_Little_Vein/index.aspx

Wednesday I discovered that Warren Ellis (famed for his graphic novels and comic book writing) had written a novel. A bonified, "Hey Ma! Look no pictures!" novel. This most be encouraged.

Crooked Little Vein taught me a new word, a word the Ellis appearently came across browsing the internet. Macroherpetophilia., the love of big reptiles. 

The novel was demented, perverted and a lot of fun. Buy it now, so that his agent will bug him more.

[MugMug]

Thanks for the heads-up. And thank you to Amazon for recommending a new Gibson novel, the browsing of which popped up a recommendation for a new Stross novel.

That last one was published almost a year ago. I really need to cut down my work hours.

Walter

[MugMug]

It looks like Stephenson is releasing a new novel as well. I'll probably wait until this goes trade paperback before purchasing, as I have about 30 or so books in my current pile. [sigh]

All work and no play makes Walter a dull boy.

Walter

[Sletchman]

It looks like Stephenson is releasing a new novel as well. I'll probably wait until this goes trade paperback before purchasing, as I have about 30 or so books in my current pile. [sigh]

All work and no play makes Walter a dull boy.

Walter

I know exactly how you feel - These days I have 7 sitting on my bedsite table in a neat little pile, with another 6 on top of my book shelf.  I'm barely making headway on my current one and keep seeing new things I want.  There just seems to be less time in the day lately.

[MugMug]

There just seems to be less time in the day lately.

No, I feel every agonizing hour of each day.

Walter

[glimmerrat]

I usually read on the bus to and from work, so i read for several hours each day. Now i'm getting a car, and i can see that reading time vanishing completely.

[Wolverine]

Now i'm getting a car, and i can see that reading time vanishing completely.

You could always go for books on tape/cd/mp3, then you can listen to the books just about everywhere.

[Gentry]

I listened to the entire Harry Potter series while commuting.  It's strange now to leaf through a Potter novel and see how things are actually spelled. 

[MugMug]

I find the audio book format doesn't work for me. I can either pay attention to the audio, or pay attention to the driving. I choose the latter.

Other folks I know (my father is a good example) absolutely love the format as it opens up several hours of "reading" each day.

Walter

[Gentry]

I'd only consider it on the highway.  You get in a lane, press play, and drive for an hour (i.e. commuting).  Once I got onto surface streets, I had to turn it off or I'd have died.

As to format, I find that there's a vast gulf in quality out there in audio.  A lot of the vast array of crime/adventure books (Cussler, McBain, etc.) are generally really hard to listen to, partly because they're usually abridged (and so some chuck someplace is missing that breaks up the story's pace), and partly because the reader isn't always very good at it.

Jim Dale, who reads the Potter books' audio, is the gold standard for me.  He turns them into a one-man show, and is consistently entertaining. 

Anybody reading Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories is usually good, largely because Stout's prose is so great it's hard to screw up.  Ditto for Elmore Leonard.

I can't listen to anything Star Wars, generally.  Especially the stuff with the sound effects.  Though the old radio plays are fun in a retro kind of way (Ed Asner as Jabba the Hutt!).

[Wolverine]

Jim Dale, who reads the Potter books' audio, is the gold standard for me.  He turns them into a one-man show, and is consistently entertaining.

Is that the American version of the books? The ones we get here are all read by Stephen Fry.

I've got one of the Doctor Who audiobooks, read by David Tennant. He also does all the voices, which makes things bloody hilarious. It's also impressive to hear him switching between his native Scottish accent, and his Doctor Who English one

[Gentry]

Yes, Jim Dale reads the American version of the Potter books.  Ugly American that I am, it hadn't occurred to me that someone else would perform the originals. 

On an even further tangent, I consider it a crime against cinema that Dale wasn't cast to play Dumbledore in the movies.  Of course, I do derive a degree of satisfaction from fantasizing about Gagnon's Dumbledore going all Layer Cake on somebody.  But that's just the kind of weirdo I am.