Regrettably, the Ku Klux Klan will not be appearing in this entry...

[amalekite]

I've been working as a book seller for over half a year now and according to my direct superior, I'm far and away the most enthusiastic person working there. That's hardly my fault, since it's rather hard not to be pleased about being paid-admittedly, only a bit above minimum wage-to hang around a store directing various people to the astrology

Comments

[dracko]

I've started the Culture series with Consider Phlebas at the moment and past the introduction, I'm honestly finding it a bit shit. For such an awesome concept as post-scarcity anarchist societies to get bogged down by senseless space opera bullshit is pretty annoying, and does little to justify how fucking long it is. I'm at the part with the cannibals (ugh) and the Planet of the Dead is nowhere in sight.

Am I just reading the wrong book or is the rest equally as under-delivering and stuck in this sort of mushy and unexplained flights of fancy?

[amalekite]

Sorry, looking back at the original post I made, it does seem to portray me as an expert on Banks when I'm not. I've only read two Banks novels, Use of Weapons and The Wasp Factory, the latter of which isn't sci-fi, but both of which I've liked. I've always intended to read some more Culture novels but never got round to it (I was originally attracted to it mainly for the PS anarcho themes that you mentioned) so I can't vouch for the quality of any of the other novels.

His most recent ones The Algebraist and Matter received nothing but positive reviews as far as I can tell but then again that could mean next to nothing. So, in summing up, CP could just be a bad apple or I could've just read the best in the series or it could be different strokes etc.

[a_tannenbaum]

I used to work in bookstores. It would be the perfect job for me if any of those places paid a living wage, which of course they don't. History was always my section, wherever I was. Surprise, surprise. That meant that I would also get stuck with something like crosswords or gardening, too.

The new Jaime Hernandez, "The Education of Hopey Glass," is out. My review of same is here: http://community.livejournal.com/loverockets/22177.html#cutid1 (That's part 1, there's a part 2 also and part 3 is coming.) Anyway, it's well worth whatever you spend.