What are you reading?

[Phil]

Just finished up Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, now going for Hannibal. Both were fairly solid reads, although if you've seen the films then they pretty much follow them to the letter.

[martin]

Digging in and out of Charlie Brookers 'Dawn of the Dumb' which is very funny. Picked up 'A Thing of Unspeakable Horror' by Sinclair McKay as I realised that I've not seen or know too much about Hammer flicks.
Got a couple of books on Asian cinema that I'm inching through too - 'East Asian Cinema' by David Carter, and a book on Korean Cinema who's name escapes me right now. I think it might just be called 'Korean Cinema'.
All of the above are worth a look!

[monkeyboy]

Just finished "Grotesque" by Natsuo Kirino. I adored her first book translated into English, "Out", but I actually found this one to be a bit of a chore. A commentary on the place of women in Japanese society, wrapped up in the murder of two prostitutes, the book covers a whole host of dark subjects - prostitution, incest, paedophillia, murder, etc. It is so dark, full of completley unredeemable characters. Not without merits but I would have a hard time recommending it.

[Phil]

Just finished Koji Suzuki's Ring and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's actually quite a departure from the film with several differences in both the characters and storyline. It also goes into quite a bit more detail in regards to the girl from the well herself and leaves it wide open for the sequel (which I'm going to check out next).

[monkeyboy]

Phil, I have always found it suprising how different the Ring novel and movies were - the novel taking on a more sci-fi approach than the horror portrayed in the film. I think you will find Spiral even more satisfying, although nothing like the movie sequel (The Korean "Ring Virus" does take some elements from the novel though). The final part of the trilogy,Loop, on the other hand goes somewhere rather unexpected - I liked it very much, but be prepared for the story to end up many miles away from where we started. There are a couple of short stories in Birthday which add some meat to the general mythos, but are far from necessary (I think "Ring 0" adapts one of these).

[martin]

I think you will find Spiral even more satisfying, although nothing like the movie sequel (The Korean "Ring Virus" does take some elements from the novel though). The final part of the trilogy,Loop, on the other hand goes somewhere rather unexpected - I liked it very much, but be prepared for the story to end up many miles away from where we started.

My thoughts exactly - 'Spiral' is very very clever and 'Loop' is just a headjob. I loved all of those and am embarrassed that 'Birthday' has sat on my shelf unopened for a year...

[monkeyboy]

Koji Suzuki's Dark Water is also well worth a read - the Japansese film version is pretty darn close to it also. No idea about the US remake. I have it unopened in my collection, but having watched Jennifer Connolly get defiled in Requiem For A Dream I can't face seeing her on screen anymore

[Phil]

I actually have Dark Water lined up to read, so will probably move onto that after I finish the Ring series. Thanks for the info

[Phil]

Just finished up Spiral which, as you guys pointed out, was a really good read and took the story into some very interesting territory. Now just need to get my hands on a reasonably priced copy of Loop (ie - cheap).

[Charlie Parker]

Slimetime, a compendium of trash movie reviews