I am always interested in what interesting people are reading, and in sharing what I am reading. There doesn't seem to be a currentlly active thread dedicated just for this, so I thought I would post a clean start.

I thought we could post thoughts about books we are reading or have just finished, significant undertakings in the comics arena (such as Essentials, Showcases, or maybe trades) or anything of that sort you feel like discussing. Nothing is out, but I had in mind everything BUT the normal weekly reading of new comics.

So . . .

What book have you just finished?
What book have you started?
What Showcase or Essential are you working on? Or trade?

I'm about halfway in The Prestige.

I just read the first volume of BONE.

I started reading Spirit Archives volume 1 last night.

I just finished A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge. I was disappointed. Vinge constructed one of the most interesting universes I've read about in SF, but his writing style was bloated and crammed with details which did not advance the story or enhance the characters.

I have just started Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson. For those of you who, like me, may have loved Devil in the White City, Larson has again returned to the same mini-genre (laser focused narrow genre): turn of the century non-fiction involving advances of technology and murder. This one is centered around the deployment of the wireless radio in Edwardian England at the same time that a high profile murder investigation was the talk of the nation.

P.S. I also just finished the Fantastic Four Marvel Masterworks, Vol. 1, and the Deathnote manga, Vol. 8.

I just read that in early November. I liked it a lot. There were numerous key differences from the movie, but at the same time it was very much the same work. This is one of those cases where the movie did indeed capture the essence of the book.

I had a client about a month ago who shipped EVERY Spirit Archive volume to a friend for his birthday.

I NEED to be friends with this guy.

For those who like name dropping:

I love Patton Oswalt. His work on King of Queens, and did you see his comedy documentary on Showtime (or one of the cable channels). It was called "The Comedians of Comedy," and one of the things it showed was him and Brian Posehn (the tall weird guy on Just Shoot Me) going for there regular Wednesday trip to the comic book store.

Oswalt will be the lead voice in that mouse movie coming out next summer (Ratatouille).

The most recent book I finished was Infinity Beach, by Jack McDevitt. Solid science fiction in the spirit of Arthur C. Clarke; McDevitt does good stuff. I also recently read portions of Ellison's Deathbird Stories and Eisner's Shop Talk, but read neither straight through (yet). Also, I bailed out of Greg Bear's Anvil Of Stars about 100 pages into it. I loved the prequel, Forge of God, but this was doing nothing for me.

I am currently reading Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly, the last of his masterworks I have not read. I've read all of his other most highly regarded work a slew of his lesser novels. Thus far, I'm greatly enjoying this. A stunning drug novel.

While I set all my Essentials back on the shelf and put comics aside early last week, I still managed to read the Mark Millar/John Romita Jr. run on Daredevil. Nice stuff, but I found the death tolls attributed to Wolverine to be preposterous.

Memory jolt: when I was a G.I. back in 1992, I used to go to this awesome used book stored called Edward McKay's every week. One week I picked up Deathbird Stories and Ellison Wonderland (both short story collections). I couldn't put them down. Awesome.


I'm a bailer. Life's too short to stick with a book that seems like work to pick up. Time is better spent on the legion of books that would captivate me.


I read this this year in the weeks prior to the movie coming out. I thought it was great. But I think just about everything he writes is great.

I just read, back to back;

KISS: Behind the Mask (The Official Authorized Biography)
KISS: Alive Forever (The Complete Touring History)

The “Behind the Mask” is separated into three parts. The first part is an unpublished interview with the band from around 1979, when they still toed the company line about how everything is just roses and Peter wrote ‘Beth’ for his wife. Great flashback stuff for long time fans. The second part is the standard ‘what really happened’ recap that’s not that different from “Kiss and Sell: The Making of a Supergroup” or “Black Diamond” or ever Gene’s own “Kiss and Make-up”. That kind of “tabloid” take on things is fun, but does start to were thin. Ok. They’re aren’t perfect people. Which is why the third part of the book was so satisfying to me. The third part is about the songs. Who wrote what. Who played what. Who thought what. Almost every song from every album. That really rekindled my interest in the music.

The Touring History is also full of interesting tidbits; mostly about life on the road and problems at the shows, but a good bit of it is stuff not covered by the other biographies.

Up next: ‘Leonardo Da Vinci: Flights of Mind.’

Probably. I’ve also got ‘An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber’ by Colley Cibber lined up.

And Essentials. Tons and tons. I’m years behind on my Essentials reading.

AND I KEEP BUYING MORE?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I wasn't always. Previously, I was one of those people who felt compelled to finish any book I started, no matter how much I was disliking it.

And then, yeah, I realized that that's a damn waste of time. With so many great books out there to experience, why waste time on something I'm not enjoying?


Agreed. I don't think I've read an out-and-out dud from PKD yet. Even a relatively weak work like The Cosmic Puppets is wildly imaginative and highly entertaining.

What really strikes me is that Dick is able to create complex, believable worlds with little more than sparse, passing description. You never really get extensive exposition from PKD; he trusts the reader to become acclimated to the worlds he creates by just diving into his story, explanations be damned. And he does it writing books that are 200, 250 pages long. Modern Sf writers and their 900-page monsters could learn a lesson or two from that.

This has become my standard for good writing, and it's how I aspire to write. Maybe it's why A Fire Upon the Deep was drudgery to me -- too much description of stuff and explanation. I now have hyper-sense for when an author begins to describe the physical environment, particularly in the omniscient voice. Man, have a character feel it, see it, or think it, if it's important to the story. We'll go with you if it's a good story and we become involved with the characters.

What's the real story about "Beth?"

It was a running gag about the girlfriend of a guitarist in one of Peter’s old bands. The girlfriends name was Becky and the song was originally called ‘Beck’ – her nickname. The story is pretty much the same; the guys are rehearing late into the night, but instead of a touching longing for one another, the original song was more of a “I wish that stupid witch would quit calling already!” type sentiment.

Also; Bob Ezrin is the one who probably rewrote the lyrics to "Beth" and added the arrangements for the orchestra.

The part I find really funny is that EVERYBODY takes credit for suggesting Peter rename the song “Beth”. Except Peter. He won’t say!

Just finished reading: Casino Royale. I'd read it a few years back, so this was more to compare it to the film. Also read Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley. Mosley's one of my favorite writers, and I never remember that until I read one of his books.

Currently Reading: A Gentleman's Game by Greg Rucka. I bought this a few months back, but am only now in the mood to read it (fits into my mini Bond obsession). Had some trouble with it at first because I've only read a few of the Queen and Country comics, but once I realized that you don't have to have read them (duh.) I got sucked right in.

Comic Reading: Essential Iron Man.


Great topic, Jay.

Today, I picked up the following from the library:

The Great Comic Book Heroes ( Fantagraphics edition ) - Jules Feiffer ... I'd read about enough people praising this work that I nabbed it when I saw it.

Men of Tomorrow - Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book Industry - Gerard Jones... I've been wanting to read this for a while.

As far as Essentials ... I still have a couple of Fantastic Four's, The Human Torch, and Tomb of Dracula to get through. Unfortunately, I've been really wanting to re-read my TPB's of The New Gods and Mister Miracle ... so the Essentials may have to wait.

See Delphi and Die by Lindsay Davis. It stars Marcus Didius Falco, who is a Roman PI (public informant). It takes place ca. AD70.

I'm working my way through the Bond novels for the umpteenth time. I'm currently up to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". I find myself "casting" Daniel Craig, even though the last time I read it, Bond was kind of a faceless cypher with dark hair. It's been a nice mental exercise.

I really want to buy "The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril" by Paul Malmont, but I put it on my Christmas list, so hopefully my wife will get it for me.

I'm also looking forward to the new Michael Crichton book, "Next".

I could not put this book down. I like non-fiction books about comics. This was one of the better ones I've read.

As I told Yvonne (I think) in another thread, I couldn't get through Silver Pigs about 10 years ago. Lindsay Davis has hung around and made me regret not getting on board. I'm a huge Roman history fan. It would be so cool to look forward to a new Marcus Didus Falco book ever so often.

David and Matt: I read Casino Royale about two weeks ago, in order to get pumped for the new film. I was pleasantly surprised. It will probably start off a phase of reading all the Ian Fleming books. I like to have a "go to" series in my back pocket. I use them to get up to $25 on Amazon orders (free shipping!) then read them to break the ice when I've been on some thick thing with millimeter print.

Plus I love the covers they put on those Penguin reissues.

These come out about once a year (except that she had some problems with her American publishers for about a year and a half.

Silver Pigs has just been reissued as a mass market paperback. I actually jumped on board with The Iron Hand of Mars. It took me almost 3 years to find a copy of Silver Pigs though. I think she's on book 16 or 17 now, but one thing about the series is, you don't have to read them all to understand the current one.

When I can find the time, I'm trying to get through:

Spook - Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

The Masked Rider - Cycling in West Africa by Neil Peart