What are you reading now?

[Sherwood]

The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I am greatly enjoying it thus far. A departure from the interwoven storyline style I came to love from Mitchell, but the lack of plot devices has served only to highlight the depth of characters.

[Dusty Chalk]

What I really want to start reading is Fables, but I hate reading incomplete comics.

Sandman is great, but by all means, read Fables. There are a couple of endings to minor arcs that certainly are very satisfying. In fact, this last one was so grandiose, I thought it was the end to the series.

And by no means read the Walking Dead -- that one is never intended to end. But it's very good.

[laxx]

Yea, I have that too.

Recommend anything else? A few others that I was told were good are The Authority, Ex Machina, American Vampire...

What I'm currently reading...

Marvel's Cosmos Chronology, what leads to The Thanos Imperative

DC's Blackest Night, what leads to The Brightest Day

Vertigo's Sandman

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm actually not that voracious a comics reader as I used to be. Of those, I've only read Ex Machina -- which is good, but not as good as Fables or Sandman. I would say go with Preacher first, which is wonderful.

Sin City is fabulous, although if you've seen the movie, you've seen a little over half the stories in them. Still, worth it for A Dame to Kill For.

I tend to go by author:

- Gaiman, of course -- just read everything by him. Even little oneshots like Creatures of the Night and Black Orchid are worth the price of entry. Total fanboy.

- Bill Winningham -- definitely becoming a Bill Winningham fan.

- Warren Ellis -- you mentioned Transmetropolitan -- hell yes, by all means, anything he touches...

- Frank Miller -- a little too misogynist for my tastes, and the men are all a little too macho, but he plays to his strengths, so who am I to judge? Plus, sometimes it turns out quite fun, such as Dark Knight Returns, etc.

- Garth Ennis -- yeah, I mix up Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis all the time...fortunately, they are both good, so...who cares?

- Alan Moore -- a bit verbose, but necessary for what he does

- Steve Niles -- lots of one-shots and short runs, but he comes from old school horror and short stories, so they're all good -- the entire 30 Days of Night run (lots of short stories, and the first book was so much better than the movie), Remains, and Wake the Dead stand out. He has a serious black comedy bent, so it's not as serious as Sandman, but still some very human stories.

- Dave McKean -- anything illustrated by Dave McKean I find interesting -- Cages was hard to follow (you think?), but I'm such a fanboy, I didn't care

- Ben Templesmith -- another illustrator and sometimes writer -- great stuff in Singularity and his entry into the Dead Space curriculum is eye-opening -- he does to comics what Hero did to movies. But another one that's less "literature" and more just plain worthwhile reading.

Oh, and Joss Whedon -- I've been enjoying Angel Season Six and Buffy Season Eight quite a bit, but pretty much everything he touches is quite good (The Runaways, for example). But I was already a Joss Whedon fanboy before I started either of those, so if you're not, I have no idea how it'll come across to you. But if you do, start with Fray -- some of my favorite moments in comics are in that one.

[diebenkorn]

Good post Dusty. I highly recommend Lucifer By Mike Carey IMHO he "destroys" Gaiman Carey's writing is the best I have read in the world of graphic novels (I have read everyone mentioned above) even if you think I am moron please still look into Carey's work it is truly something special, Grant Morrsion's stuff is great as well (did not see his name mentioned). On another note I am reading a book that would be of interest to most HC'ers Amazon.com: Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music (9780571211654): Greg Milner: Books worth reading about the Loudness wars, Leadbelly, Edison and other facets of recording music.

[guzziguy]

Wrong thread.

[Dusty Chalk]

Grant Morrsion's stuff is great as well (did not see his name mentioned).

Only because I forgot -- he is on my list.

[Wmcmanus]

I'm half way through the Band of Brothers series on bluray, which I've had for some time now and finally got around to watching. Quite good and highly recommended.

[blessingx]

'If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This' by Robin Black. Her first short story collection. Really strong so far.

[laxx]

I'm actually not that voracious a comics reader as I used to be. Of those, I've only read Ex Machina -- which is good, but not as good as Fables or Sandman. I would say go with Preacher first, which is wonderful.

Sin City is fabulous, although if you've seen the movie, you've seen a little over half the stories in them. Still, worth it for A Dame to Kill For.

I tend to go by author:

- Gaiman, of course -- just read everything by him. Even little oneshots like Creatures of the Night and Black Orchid are worth the price of entry. Total fanboy.

- Bill Winningham -- definitely becoming a Bill Winningham fan.

- Warren Ellis -- you mentioned Transmetropolitan -- hell yes, by all means, anything he touches...

- Frank Miller -- a little too misogynist for my tastes, and the men are all a little too macho, but he plays to his strengths, so who am I to judge? Plus, sometimes it turns out quite fun, such as Dark Knight Returns, etc.

- Garth Ennis -- yeah, I mix up Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis all the time...fortunately, they are both good, so...who cares?

- Alan Moore -- a bit verbose, but necessary for what he does

- Steve Niles -- lots of one-shots and short runs, but he comes from old school horror and short stories, so they're all good -- the entire 30 Days of Night run (lots of short stories, and the first book was so much better than the movie), Remains, and Wake the Dead stand out. He has a serious black comedy bent, so it's not as serious as Sandman, but still some very human stories.

- Dave McKean -- anything illustrated by Dave McKean I find interesting -- Cages was hard to follow (you think?), but I'm such a fanboy, I didn't care

- Ben Templesmith -- another illustrator and sometimes writer -- great stuff in Singularity and his entry into the Dead Space curriculum is eye-opening -- he does to comics what Hero did to movies. But another one that's less "literature" and more just plain worthwhile reading.

Oh, and Joss Whedon -- I've been enjoying Angel Season Six and Buffy Season Eight quite a bit, but pretty much everything he touches is quite good (The Runaways, for example). But I was already a Joss Whedon fanboy before I started either of those, so if you're not, I have no idea how it'll come across to you. But if you do, start with Fray -- some of my favorite moments in comics are in that one.

Great post. I'm a Whedon fan too, did you read Astonishing Xmen? I just finished Blackest Night. I don't know how I feel about the ending, I stayed up pretty late to finish it, so I'll be rereading it tonight when I get home from work. haha

Good post Dusty. I highly recommend Lucifer By Mike Carey IMHO he "destroys" Gaiman Carey's writing is the best I have read in the world of graphic novels (I have read everyone mentioned above) even if you think I am moron please still look into Carey's work it is truly something special, Grant Morrsion's stuff is great as well (did not see his name mentioned). On another note I am reading a book that would be of interest to most HC'ers Amazon.com: Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music (9780571211654): Greg Milner: Books worth reading about the Loudness wars, Leadbelly, Edison and other facets of recording music.

Will check out Lucifer.

[Salt Peanuts]

I'd be weary of Frank Miller's work, especially the recent ones. The Dark Knight Returns, IMO, is a must for any Batman fans. The Dark Knife Strikes Again, OTHO, is a pile of poo. Also, let us not forget the train wreck that is All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder.

[laxx]

I hear Allstar Superman is a good read.

[MoonShine]

LOVE Sandman and some of his other stuff.

Anansi Boys was OK.

Neverwhere was great.

American Gods - not so much.

Loved Stardust.

There is an anthology inspired by Sandman that's actually decent:

The reason I came to this thread was to say that this became available today:

Yay!

Note to George R R Martin: This is how you finish a series.

[HeadphoneAddict]

The reason I came to this thread was to say that this became available today:

Yay!

Note to George R R Martin: This is how you finish a series.

I kept checking to see if my Kindle pre-order was available for download, till about 1am and gave up. At 1:22AM it became available, go figure.

[morphsci]

Kindle Edition

[morphsci]

I guess I should have said rereading. I'm using it as the introductory book for my graduate seminar in evolutionary and ecological developmental genetics. It is very clearly written and will serve as a good introduction. Plus I now have it on my iPad

[laxx]

Just reread the ending to Blackest Night. Wow, I must have been really tired the other day because I don't remember half the stuff happening. It was pretty hot, lol.

[mypasswordis]

The Way They Play, Book 9

[The Monkey]

Can any of you smarty pantses recommend to me a good book on the Civil War. I'm looking for something that gives a very solid overview, but which is also not too dry.

[Voltron]

Can any of you smarty pantses recommend to me a good book on the Civil War. I'm looking for something that gives a very solid overview, but which is also not too dry.

This has GOT to be a page turner!

[Salt Peanuts]

Amazon.com: The Civil War: A Narrative (3 Vol. Set) (9780394749136): Shelby Foote: Books

[The Monkey]

This has GOT to be a page turner!

I started snickering and the dog looked at me funny. That's actually the kind of book Papa Monkey would love. He a lolyer too.

[Voltron]

He a lolyer too.

I know, I know.

[NightWoundsTime]

I would say that headshot is less-than-flattering, but he's got nothing on this one:

Edit:

Edited September 3, 2010 by NightWoundsTime
Because it's funny.

[The Monkey]

I know, I know.

I would say that headshot is less-than-flattering

And that's my dad's version of a smile.