Pyramids

I did say that the next post would be Pratchett,

I have been reading this book for several months. I guess you're wondering why it has taken me so long and the answer is because i left it in one of my houses and only read it when i was in that house and i spent half my week in a different house so therefore i could only read it for a few nights at best.

For years the talk around the dinner table in my house has been about Pratchett, quoting and discussing various plots and the board games. So for ages the talk was about this name that Pratchett had given a place and this name took my sister ages to work out that it was Jelly Baby spelt Djellibabe (or something to that effect). Anyway, I had not made the connection until i read this book and I have to say that i had no trouble reading it for what it was so i don't know what my sister was going on about but anyway.
Like all early Pratchett books, this is a comical and very entertaining book. I struggle a lot with Pratchett because there is a lot of writing, no pictures and a small font. Occasionally I get so confused with what is going on that I just give up and move on to the next in the series but not with this one. I loved this one from start to finish and hope that the next one which is guards guards will be just as entertaining.
I read guards guards ten years ago and can't remember anything about it so it should be fun!
The only book that I have read which hasn't been on a level with the Death novels is the first one: The colour of Magic. I found it difficult to get my head around but from then onwards I have really enjoyed his novels. What I have enjoyed most is that you can read them in any order because some novels are character related and others aren't particularly so you can just pick a book and start with it and work your way around in any order.
I know that he had a new book out last year or the year before and I heard that it wasn't that good but come on, he's written like thirty of these books so he's probably reaching his limit in terms of character development and decent story line.
Anyway- greatly looking forward to the next book in the Pratchett series.
Next post will be on Bryan Lee O'Malley's latest book Seconds.

The Books of Magic

These are a series of comics by Neil Gaiman and I think that they were made into a graphic novel like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
These comics are about magicians. A young boy called Timothy has the potential to be a great magician and in each comic he is shown a different part of magic by a different type of magician. He explores the past and the future as well as alternate worlds.
Each comic has it's own sub story and makes for really excellent reading. As soon as you finish one you automatically pick up the next to see what is going to happen in the next comic.
The art work is fantastic and the story is gripping. I loved it, maybe more than neverwhere!

Lost at sea

Bryan Lee O'Malley's first book since the Scott Pilgrim series.

This is still a comic style book and equally as good as Scott Pilgrim. A young girl is in a minibus with a few people that she went to high school with and she is explaining how they are going to Canada and that she came from Canada originally. This girl is also not friends with any of the people on the bus but she's doing ok.
As the story goes on, we learn a little about her history and of course Bryan Lee O'malley has the great idea to incorporate the idea of the girls soul being inside a cat instead of her body- so in the middle of the book they all go on a search randomly in the middle of the night to find her soul by capturing as many cats as they can so that she can stare at them and determine which one has her soul.
On the trip she is told that she is cool and eventually things don't matter anymore.
I thoroughly enjoyed it- almost as much as i enjoyed all the Scott Pilgrim books.
Bryan Lee O'malley is doing a talk in London relatively soon and his new book also comes out soon!!

It's been a while

I know it's been a while- Sorry about that.

I've been caught up with my film blog and also been struggling to fit two blogs in with work and other projects.

I will keep updating my Homer post and any other posts that I have started but not yet finished. 

Anyway- I've struggled to read (it find it hard to read) but now i have found my medium which is graphic novels. I've read about 6 in a day and i'm loving getting back into reading them.

So this post is about Neil Gaiman's neverwhere. 

I'm told that the book is epic but i haven't actually read the book- only the graphic novel. I'll be honest and say that most of the graphic novels I have just read where Neil Gaiman but i'm looking to branch out into other ones as well so keep watching this space and i'll keep adding posts about other graphic novels.

So what can I say about Neverwhere? The art is amazing. I could just stare at the chapter pages all day instead of reading the book and be quite content. 

The story is about a woman who lives below London. Her family were all killed by two men who were hired to kill the entire family. She is trying to find out who wanted to kill her and then destroy him. Lady Door keeps running. Her power is that she can open doors. Anyway, she falls out of a door and is discovered by a man called Richard Mayhew lying on the streets. Richard is a normal man who has a boring job and is engaged to an important woman. When Richard helps this woman he ceases to exist in london above. 

Desperate to get his life back, he tracks down Lady Door and joins her on her quest to find her killer. Along the way he discovers that he does have a use, he can fight.

The novel takes you through Earls court and Knightsbridge. 

Neil Gaiman takes the london underground, mashes it up with his imagination and creates something truly remarkable. Full credit to the artists that are responsible for creating the world that you can see on paper in front of you- it is truly amazing.

I know some of you guys might want me to post about 'real' books again but unfortunately i'm slowly working through Terry Pratchett's 'The Discworld Novels' and they are taking me a while to read. I'm only half way through Pyramids, having read only Equal Rites and Sorcery this year. When i finish it, i'll post about it but it will take a while because books with no pictures take me a while to read and understand.