Reading List

I had this half-hearted idea this month to try to read more as I've got a big pile of books next to my bed which I haven't been able to finish. Trouble is my quality reading time basically consists of train journeys and those are being filled up quite nicely with a horrifying addiction to Puzzle Quest.

Anyway, rather than sitting on this post forever I thought I'd just go for it and let you know about my reading list:

1. The Time Traveler's Wife

Basic plot: Clare is reasonably normal, Henry suffers from time travel and bounces backwards and forwards through his life meeting Clare at various times, and generally shagging her. Not sure about this one, it has a non-linear quality which I generally like in my books, but I've taken a bit of a dislike to the main character as he comes across as a bit of an arsehole.

2. Quit Smoking Today Without Gaining Weight

Honestly don't know why I bother... It has a very amusing hypnosis CD to listen to, but I got turned off by his slightly annoying "if you can give up for a day, I don't understand why you can't give up for a week"-attitude. That sort of advice really doesn't help.

3. House of Leaves

Very odd book, written like an annotated scrapbook. Also very long, and I haven't been able to set enough time aside to get stuck into it.

4. Rip it up and start again: postpunk 1978-1984

Confession time, I subscribe to The Wire and as such I do occasionally read about music which I don't really listen to or know about, but I like to spread my horizons and Simon Reynolds is a half decent music journalist. Plus the companion CD you can get is pretty good.

5. The Sirens of Titan

So, Kurt Vonnegut. Never read anything by him, but the way that half of the internet carried on after he died I've been guilt tripped into picking up one of his books, it seems to involve an explorer, his dog and them both becoming probability waves and being able to view the past, present and future at the same time.

6. Grimm: Complete Fairy Tales

Couldn't find a decent picture of this... If you read as many comic books by Neil Gaiman as I do then an interest in the original school of story telling is going to rub off a bit. This book is the Bible of stories.

I'm also reading a bunch of comic book collections, but they can wait for another post...