I've primarily been on a Gene Wolfe kick. His shit is amazing. I read The Book of the New Sun to my daughter over a few months. She's two, so doesn't really get into the stories themselves, but I like to think I'm giving her some good vocabulary and a sense of wonder. I'm now reading The Urth of the New Sun to her, with the same hopes. I also recently picked up Gene Wolfe's Castle of Days, which is a combination of short stories and some non-fiction essays, the latter primarily on writing. As someone who hopes to do some kind of storytelling myself one day, I'm enjoying the latter quite a bit. In the car, I'm re-listening to the audio book of Woken Furies (the sequel to Altered Carbon) by Richard K. Morgan. I love everything he's written. I'm debating whether I want to give The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter Hamilton another try. This is the second in a sci-fi trilogy, but shit be looong. Each of the three books is about 1,200 pages. Unfortunately a lot of it feels like filler. The overarching evil keeps doing what it does over and over, and people are trying to stop it or whatever, but it's hard to get particularly invested right now because I know that absolutely none of it will be resolved for a long time, potentially up to 2,000+ pages depending on how much gets put off until the third book. It's a really cool premise and an interesting universe, but I'm just not feeling it. I think I'm going to try The Commonwealth Saga instead, which is supposed to be really good. Last week, I read Nameless, a six-issue comic written by Grant Morrison. It is terrifying in the best way, in that it operates on a very primal level. It's not scary because of what it makes you think, but rather in the way it causes you to do the spiritual/existential equivalent of looking over your shoulder. Next on the list: Locke and Key.
I love Hamilton. But yeah, that series can be hard to get into. Once I managed to finish it I ended up re-reading it twice over rhe years. The Commonwealth series is better, and I might re-read it this winter. Still long, but that's the point of space opera, isn't it?
Yeah exactly. I don't mind long per se, but too often these books feel like long for the sake of long.
He is amazing, but be warned that those series do not hold the reader's hand. There's a lot going on that is just mentioned in passing, and you have to pay very close attention. Comics-wise, not a lot. I don't like keeping up with ongoing series, I'd rather binge something once it's totally done. My favorite is probably Preacher, which I re-read once a year or so. The TV series is so-so. I really liked Saga, but have been waiting 'til the next hardback collection is out, at least, if not until the series is finished so I can read it all. I also enjoyed a short series (about 4 issues) called Pax Romana. That's been about it. I read some of The Boys, but couldn't really get into it ... just seemed kinda repetitive. And then of course Nameless recently, like I mentioned. I also read Neonomicon a couple of years ago and enjoyed that too. That's about it, but I'm always looking for more....
Oh. I'll try him out, but I might have to give him a pass. I'm not exactly what you'd call a strong reader, though sometimes I've been known to surprise myself. ;) If you haven't read it, The Sandman is considered a classic, though it can get a bit dark and a bit weird at times. The Unwritten is also a pretty good read as well. If you're big on Sci-Fi and don't mind comics with a slow, methodical pace, Brandon Graham's The Prophet is absolutely wonderful. The artwork often reminds me of some of Moebius' illustrations while still being able to be new and unique.
Ooh, that last sounds right up my alley. The Amazon page for the first issue definitely looks and sounds intriguing. Is it still ongoing, or is it finished?