What are you currently reading??

[Just Kill Me]

Now beginning A Clockwork Orange.

Will soon be reading The Divine Comedy, The Cherry Orchard and The Castle of Otranto.

The Divine Comedy and A Clockwork Orange are two of my all time favorites! Have you checked out different illustrations of The Divine Comedy? The most properly scary are by Gustave Dore. Another book by Anthony Burgess is The Wanting Seed, very much a negative utopia/dystopia.

I just read a great short story out of a cheapy compilation of short stories called Women of the Night. I read Victims by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, it was like a political vampire thriller and I wish there were more. Pretty good stuff.

[LaFolie]

Animal Farm and The Island of Dr Moreau

[buttmunch]

Animal Farm is excellent and quite scary when seen through today's eyes.

Reading the second Stig Larsson. Very good so far.

[zigzag]

Cat Tales, classic stories by various writers. Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Saki, Charles Perrault and others.

[calcifer]

l'archiviste - les cités obscures - schuiten & peeters.

les cités obscures is a french/belgian collaboration. it's about a growing group of people who believe in the existence of a counter-earth, a sort of parallel universe. often referred to as 'the continent', consisting mostly out of autonomous cities. and each city is characterized by its own architectural style (bauhaus, art nouveau, art deco, ...)
the volume i'm reading, l'archiviste, is about someone, an expert in myths & legends, who's studying documents, that depict these cities.
it's a series that tries to give an insight into how architecture can define an urban society & vice versa. and how a change in structural order can lead to a change in the way people interact with each other.

needless to say, i love this series. beautifully drawn, too. schuiten, who's responsible for the artwork, received the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême for his oeuvre in '02.
/bd geek

[Just Kill Me]

I finished reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It is a very silly book but there are some humorous gems throughout.

The reader's discussion guide has lovely questions to "deepen your appreciation and enjoyment of this towering work of classical zombie literature."

6. Some critics have suggested that the zombies represent the authors' views toward marriage - an endless curse that sucks the life out of you and just won't die. Do you agree, or do you have another opinion about the symbolism of the unmentionables?

10. Some scholars believe that the zombies were a last-minute addition to the novel, requested by the publisher in a shameless attempt to boost sales. Others argue that the hordes of living dead are integral to Jane Austen's plot and social commentary. What do you think? Can you imagine what this novel might have been like without the violent zombie mayhem?

[Penny Lane]

God of the Small Things by Arundhati Roy... very enjoyable so far.

[Just Kill Me]

God of the Small Things by Arundhati Roy... very enjoyable so far.

It is quite interesting.

[Pandora]

Child 44, Tom Rob Smith's debut novel. LOVE it up until now; it's highly addictive, but it has lead me to too much reflection and making a parallel with systems/politics/principles/morals and so many other things it has been a bit mind-boggling. Still, I can't put it down and keep a notebook beside me to jot down my own thoughts.

[BBDSP]

I picked up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the library today! Haven't started it yet. Am supposed to be working but am avoiding it.

[Just Kill Me]

I am thumbing through Beautiful Death; I will admit that I stole this book from a bookstore when I was 14. It has a heartbreaking forward by Dean Koontz.

[immature]

Currently reading Bentley Layton's The Gnostic Scriptures and Agatha Christie's Crooked House.

l'archiviste - les cités obscures - schuiten & peeters.

les cités obscures is a french/belgian collaboration. it's about a growing group of people who believe in the existence of a counter-earth, a sort of parallel universe. often referred to as 'the continent', consisting mostly out of autonomous cities. and each city is characterized by its own architectural style (bauhaus, art nouveau, art deco, ...)
the volume i'm reading, l'archiviste, is about someone, an expert in myths & legends, who's studying documents, that depict these cities.
it's a series that tries to give an insight into how architecture can define an urban society & vice versa. and how a change in structural order can lead to a change in the way people interact with each other.

needless to say, i love this series. beautifully drawn, too. schuiten, who's responsible for the artwork, received the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême for his oeuvre in '02.
/bd geek

That looks absolutely gorgeous. Is there an English translated version anywhere?

[calcifer]

^ it's called 'cities of the fantastic'/'the obscure cities' in english.

from wiki:

All volumes of the official series are available in most Western European languages (in French and Dutch by Casterman, in German, Spanish, and Portuguese by local publishing houses), whereas as of 2008 only few of them have been published in English by NBM Publishing. Recently, Editions Flammarion has taken up publication of the series in francophone Canada.

also found this:
nbm publishing - schuiten & peeters
&
amazon

(they're only available in hardcover as far as i know.)

[immature]

Brilliant, thank you! Some of Schuiten's work is like a visualization of Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' filtered through Giardino, if that makes any sense.

[sputnik]

hey, calcifer, i'm going to be in brussels for a few days in october, can you recommend any good bookstores, especially ones where i can find good bandes dessinées? i know you're in ghent but if you know of anything in brussels it would be greatly appreciated.