Currently reading Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch trilogy thanks to a big Amazon discount. I’m enjoying the “good guys” being basically dishonest, selfish and/or deluded in many cases, and the “bad guys” being innocent and/or conscientious more often than not, and everybody really being driven by the same sorts of impulses. People are people, even if they’re not humans.
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There are more than 3 watch books… and another on the way possibly. I forget how they did it in the book exactly with the young kid asking I think Bear Cub and Tiger if ‘They are the good guys’ and the answer is ‘we are the forces of light’.
I like how both sides have their agendas and plots and are neither are really good or evil just trying to maintain the balance of power. They are probably my favorite modern fantasy books.
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Hmm, this set includes Night Watch, Day Watch, and Twighlight Watch. I see now that there’s also Last Watch and New Watch. I may have to look for those too.
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Well the last of those took me a full 3 months to read.
I’ve started Out of the Blues by Trudy Nan Boyce.
Full disclosure: I know the author, although we’ve never met in person.
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Picked up the new Sandman Slim, The Perdition Score from the library yesterday and went through at good 1/3 of already. Wonderful pulpy two fisted fun with a side of our hero trying to deal with not just blindly jumping in and beating things up angst.
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Got most of the way through Neil Gaiman’s enjoyable and thoughtful Neverwhere last weekend while sitting on a beach, which I’m sure was recommended by someone on this forum, so thanks!
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Even MrsTobinL who is not a big fantasy/magic fan liked that one quite a bit. So yeah for anyone out there who has not read that yet… DO IT!
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I enjoyed the movies (especially the artsy subtitles). I haven’t gotten around to the books. I’m not starting any new series anyway. I’ve yet to finish the Sookie Stackhouse novels, Stieg Larsson’s series, Game of Thrones, or even the most recent Pratchett novels.
Not to mention all the series I’m forgetting about just now. 
I’m presently re-re-re-re-reading Harry Potter and wondering if the novels were revised or if I’ve just forgotten that much. My shared (dead trees) copy is elsewhere so the ebook of Philosopher’s Stone is driving me up a wall.
Mm. I love Neverwhere. American Gods is pretty good too. I couldn’t get into the rest of his related books but I feel like American Gods stands alone pretty well.
While we’re talking about fantasy, I can’t say enough good things about Jonathan Norrell and Mr Strange by Susanna Clarke.
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What did you think of the mini-series?
I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know how well the series captured (and encompassed) its entirety, but I was quite pleased with the blending of history and magic.
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I loved the mini-series. I know it’s not outrageously faithful or anything but I wasn’t expecting it to be. I found it achingly hard not to watch all in one sitting. Just like the book. 
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The book was great. The TV series was great. There was enough difference between the two to make good telly, but they didn’t miss anything out when doing so. And the visuals were spot on.
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I adored the book. The series was very good, the book is light years better.
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Making a BIG note to find the book and read it!
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I bought a brand-new copy of that book at a “friends of the library” bookshop, without even knowing what the book was about. Who knew I’d end up liking it as much as I did? Gotta re-read it soon.
Any of you read Ahab’s Wife? I think I’ll re-read that when I’m done Pottering.
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Read the first one of those a while back and loved it; I really really need to get to the rest of them. Somehow 
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For a fantasy recommendation: Mary Gentle’s Ash: A Secret History, and its prequel Ilario: The Lion’s Eye.
Brilliantly original, incredibly well written. Awesome characters and a stunning plot. Make sure to read Ash before Ilario, though.
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Currently also working on Sarah Schulman’s The Gentrification of the Mind, which is a wonderful love letter to ACT-UP and a thoughtful meditation on what gentrification rests on and how it changes our mindsets:
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I’ve only begun ‘Quicksilver’ (and then got distracted and set it down), but there was some cool easter eggs from Crytonomicon in it. I love Stephenson, but for me he can be a slog. Anathema was the worst for me. I loved it, it was a great book, but over dense with ideas in parts. Took me much longer to finish. Looking forward to reading the baroque doorstops when I have more time.
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I LOVED this novel. Clarke’s collection ‘The Ladies of Grace Adieu’ is wonderful too (short stories set in Strange and Norrell’s England). The BBC television adaptation of Norrell and Strange was absolutely fantastic, a must see if you like fantasy.
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