What are you reading right now?

[Capellini]

I'm pretty sure the second book is called the Subtle Knife. His Dark Materials is the name of the trilogy. I haven't got very far through Gunslinger. Besides, I'm only reading the Dark Tower books so I can understand the Dark Tower comics later.

I know, I was referring to the series intentionally, because it was the series in its entirety that I despised. The Golden Compass, the Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spyglass. The second biggest literary disappointment of my life. In both cases, though, I was referring to the whole series, so I should have referred to 'the Dark Tower' rather than the Gunslinger. The first one was actually very good, it's the series as a whole that enrages me.

I was so disgusted by the last three books in the DT series, I don't even care that the comics exist. Maybe if you're coming from the other direction and have read the comics and want to know the background it's different, but seriously, if I ever met Stephen King, I think I'd kick him in the nuts.

[Wawizzle]

I say: READ the Dark Tower series. I thought the first book was horrible but the 2nd and onward really picked up (the 2nd in particular is my favorite).

[Capellini]

I say: READ the Dark Tower series. I thought the first book was horrible but the 2nd and onward really picked up (the 2nd in particular is my favorite).

NO! Don't listen to him, he's being paid to spread propaganda, it's all downhill from book 5 on!

Where is the snarling, slavering FSM when you need him??

[~NoodleDemon~]

I say: READ the Dark Tower series. I thought the first book was horrible but the 2nd and onward really picked up (the 2nd in particular is my favorite).

NO! Don't listen to him, he's being paid to spread propaganda, it's all downhill from book 5 on!

Where is the snarling, slavering FSM when you need him??

Stephen King is more hit than miss, all the same, in this case.

Book 5 wasn't all bad, but yeah, the ones afterward did not do the series justice.

HDM, on the other hand, was just okay all around. While I like much of Phillip Pullman's work, that particular series was not the masterwork it was made out to be, IMO. But I still thought The Subtle Knife was a good time-killer. And he spits in the faces of fundies everywhere, which is always a plus. If only he didn't have that annoying habit of taking it too far...

[Detective TurtleHolmes]

I suspected this argument would begin again.

I say: Read it and draw your own conclusions.

[Charlie]

I liked the series, but I didn't think it was his best work. Lyra was a loser and Will was way cooler. I liked his Sally Lockhart books much better because there seems to be more of a thought out plot in them. And fight scenes.

[Capellini]

I suspected this argument would begin again.

I say: Read it and draw your own conclusions.

Excuse me, but we're talking about LITERATURE here. This is NOT the time to be diplomatic! This is the stuff wars should be waged over!

[Wawizzle]

I suspected this argument would begin again.

I say: Read it and draw your own conclusions.

Agreed!

You truly are touched by His Noodly Appendage!

[tris]

While I like much of Phillip Pullman's work, that particular series was not the masterwork it was made out to be, IMO. But I still thought The Subtle Knife was a good time-killer. And he spits in the faces of fundies everywhere, which is always a plus. If only he didn't have that annoying habit of taking it too far...

I agree, it aint a masterpiece... there are some bits which seem rather ridiculous, or wilfully obscure... especially when the angels came into it... and Lyra went down to the underworld... but somehow he managed to pull it off, probably due to the strength of his conviction and descriptive powers (altho' if I hadnt been bedridden with food poisoning when I read them books I guess I might not have finished them!)... I'm sure he could have got the same message across just as well in 2 books instead of 3!... I suppose that's what you mean by "taking it too far"?
I also agree with DTH that the wheeled mammoths were truly awesome... what were they really called?
I think the wild digression from the story-line was justified in their case!
Anyway I just finished reading Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, which I heartily recommend as a study in outdated sexual mores and the problems caused by sexual prudery and repression. it's also "a good time-killer"... his prose is really beautiful! (I think Atonement, Enduring Love and Saturday are probably his best tho')
Then I re-read (The) Lord of the Flies... nice microcosmic symbolism!

[Detective TurtleHolmes]

I suspected this argument would begin again.

I say: Read it and draw your own conclusions.

Agreed!

You truly are touched by His Noodly Appendage!

Ah-thankyou, ah-thankyou. Just a reminder, I am up for re-election as Prophet next June!

[fueledbycoffee]

I'm rereading Transmet for the umpteenth millionth time. I think after that, I may start tackle the various Thomas Pynchon books that have been gathering dust for the last year.

[~NoodleDemon~]

I'm thinking about picking up some more occult/fantasy/scifi...

How is R.A. Salvatore?

[black bart]

Finally got round to reading Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns'...Fantastic.

[Wawizzle]

Finished "Freakonomics"

Just started "Revolutionary Wealth."

[Scott the Pirate]

Oddly enough, The Cat Who Went to Heaven.