Favourite Movies

These are my favourite movies, each of them I watch regularly.

I make no bones about my movie tastes being fairly mainsteam.

Life of Brian - not only is this hilarious, it is also very clever and a very good story. It is non stop comedy from beginning to end. The other Python films were a bit disappointing in comparison, although the Holy Grail does have some excellent individual sketches. "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy".

Aliens - the first movie set the scene, but was long and a drawn out, this one is a good (all be it simple) story, has great characters, has great action and really scary aliens. "Game over man, game over".

Stranger than Fiction - I love weird and quirky and this has it in bucket loads. It is also a nice romance with some real emotion (the guitar/song scene is wonderful). This is one of the only films I like with Dustin Hoffman in it. And it is about a book. "I brought you some flours".

Batman Begins - how a superhero movie should be, a great story, real/gritty atmosphere and a hero who is vulnerable. The city of Gotham also feels like a comic book city rather than just New York. "And why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up".

Parenthood - brilliant look at the roller coaster ride of parenting with many types of family and experiences. Excellent story, good humour, great characters/cast and the great Steve Martin (one of my favourite actors). "Women have choices, and men have responsibilities".

The Matrix - brilliant science fiction, mind blowing story and some movie changing affects. "You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.".

Speed Racer - a visual spectacular. Fun filled action all the way. Another feel good movie. And it has a hilarious chimp. "Cool beans".

Guardians of the Galaxy - real super/anti heroes with a huge dose of humour. Heroes, humour, evil baddies, sci-fi, aliens, a sentient tree and a 70s soundtrack. This is just great fun all the way. "I am Groot".

Back to the Future - a fantastic story. The time travel works, the characters are good and it's funny. This is a great family fun film. With the greatest car ever. "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads".

The Shawshank Redemption - wonderfully real story, full of atmosphere and emotion. Underpinned with some great acting. "Same old shit, different day".

Shaun of the Dead - British humour at its best. Wonderfully funny, great comic acting, what is there not to like. "Okay. But dogs CAN look up!".

Love Actually - I love feel good movies and this is one of the best. Excellent intertwining of stories. Some good characters, some good humour and it has some very emotional moments. "There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?".

Die Hard - the ultimate action movie, brilliant characters, fantastic story, great action and a dose of humour. "Yippee-ki-yay, motherf.....".

Toy Story - the best animated film ever. A wonderful story, great characters, full of emotion another feel good movie. It set a new standards for all subsequent animated films to follow. "To infinity and beyond".

Dodgeball - brilliant humour, very very funny. It manages to find exactly the right level without going over the top, which most comedies fail to do. "dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!".

Honourable mentions: LA Story, Watchmen, Big, Avengers Assemble, About Time, Airplane, Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Warriors, Big, The Secret Of my Success, Top Gun, An Officer and a Gentleman and Groundhog Day.

Sheri Tepper

Sheri Tepper is my third favourite writer (and I also collect all of her books).

She mainly writes Fantasy and Sci/Fi books (although she has written other genres, mostly under other names).

She is quite famous as a feminist writer, but she also tackles other worldwide issues such as over population and animal rights. What makes her very good is that she tackles these issues in very subtle ways, promoting her messages just within the great stories and characters (she normally has strong women leads) and not preaching.

Teppers stories are also on the weird/unusual side, which I like. Not massively but just enough to make them a bit more interesting.

I was introduced to Tepper by a work colleague, Dave Ufton, at work when I was in my early twenties. He lent me The True Game trilogy. This is a fantasy series about a world where the privileged people have limited magic like 'talents' which they use to play real life chess like games (with real people). It is still one of my favourite Tepper stories. There are also 2 follow up trilogies Mavin Manyshaped (the 2nd book is also one of my favourites) and Jinian, which are also good.

My favourite Tepper book, and one of my favourite books of all time, is Beauty. This is one of her stand alone novels. It features a lot of the classic fairy tales, linked together in a more real and gritty world (It did this before the current trend in the retelling of fairy stories). It is a sci-fi/fantasy cross and does get quite weird in places, but it is very atmospheric, has great characters and a good story. It has a lot of Teppers usual messages, feminism, over population etc, woven well into the story.

I also really like Plague of Angels. This is a Dystopia/Sci-Fi/Fantasy which has elements of The True Game. It is a very good story which twists and turns. One of Tepper's more recent novels The Waters Rising is a follow up book, but it is not as good (her most recent books are not to the same quality as the earlier books, they are still quite good though). Her latest book Fish Tails is very interesting as it brings together the True Game world with the Plague of Angels with an overarching storyline, again not her best but very interesting and its not bad.

The Gate to Women's Country is perhaps Tepper's most well known novel about a female dominated dystopian world. It was the one which started her feminist reputation as it features a strong woman lead and covers various sexism issues. Normally she does this quite subtlely within a good story, however this book puts forward quite strong messages. This it no tonne of my favourites.

I like the Marjorie Westriding/Arbai set of books Grass, Raising the Stones and Sideshow. These are sci-fi books and, although connected they are quite individually different. They all have strong characters and are atmospheric if not a little weird. Grass received a lot of critical praise.

Another book I really like is The Awakeners (originally published as two books Northshore and Southshore). This story is a sci-fi/fantasy cross and it is typical Tepper, atmospheric and obscure, with great characters and subtle messages.

The Revenants is one of Tepper's earliest books and its messages are subtlely woven into the story. It's fantasy/myth based with a questing story in typical Tepper atmospheric style. It's not bad, not her best but nowhere near the worst. After Long Silence (also published as The Enigma Score) is also within this ok category. It is more sci-fi based and typical Tepper. As is Shadow's End which has an over population, arrogant human message. Also in this mid range group is Gibbon's Decline and Fall, although technically sci-fi it is not a space/alien book, it is set on earth in the near future and features a lot of Teppers messages. It is not a bad story.

The Marianne trilogy are earlier books and are more magical realism stories. They are a bit weird, which I like, but overall in the mid range of the Tepper books. These books are quite rare. I do have all 3 books and also a trilogy copy.

The following are Teppers more recent books. I have to say that they are not quite as good as her early ones, but they are not bad. These tend to be a bit more drawn out and some are a bit overly long. Also also some of her messages are not so subtlely woven into the stories as in her earlier books, they are a bit more bluntly stated.

The Family Tree

Six Moon Dance

Singer from the Sea

The Fresco

The Visitor

The Companions

The Margarets

Tepper has also written other genres of book, under different names. Although I have most of these (I am a collector) I have only read a few of them. They are ok, but I am not a fan of the genre's. 

Horror:
as Sheri Tepper:

Ettison Duo:

Blood Heritage

The Bones

as E. E. Horlak:

Still Life

Mysteries:

as B. J. Oliphant:

Shirley McClintock Mysteries:

Dead in the Scrub

The Unexpected Corpse

Deservedly Dead

Death and the Delinquent

Death Served Up Cold

A Ceremonial Death

Here's to the Newly Dead

as A. J. Orde:

The Jason Lynx Mysteries:

A Little Neighborhood Murder

Death and the Dogwalker

Death for Old Time's Sake

Looking for the Aardvark (also published in paperback as Dead on Sunday)

A Long Time Dead

A Death of Innocents

I also have a few other Tepper rated items:

Lucus Magazine, Sept 1998 - Tepper Interview.

Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, Oct 1990 - short story "The Gazebo".

Strange Dreams book - short story "Prince Shadowbow"

Night Visions 6 book - short story "The Gardener"

Here is Teppers official website http://sheri-s-tepper.com

Favourite Books

I have already said how much I like reading in my very first blog entry, in which I touched upon some of the books I like, so this entry is all about my favourite books.

There are so many books I have liked, a lot by the same authors, but the ones below are those that are special to me. I have also put in the covers of the versions of each book which I have fondest memories of.

I also make no apology for the number of Fantasy/Sci-Fi on the list.

First on the list is Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien, the greatest book ever written. I have read this book many times and still love it. It is the classic genre Fantasy and it set the benchmark which no other Fantasy has reached again. It defined and introduced so much of the mainstay of the Fantasy genre. The depth of the world created is immense, with an incredible back history (a lot if it told in the also brilliant Silmarillion). The scale of the story is epic and the characters are brilliant. This book also spawned my major collecting habit.

Next is my second favourite book, Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. I could have included nearly all 40 of the Discworld series, they are just brilliant, but Night Watch is my favourite. I have read it many times and I enjoy it as much each time. I would say that you should read the preceding 5 guards novels first in order to get the full impact, particularly getting to know the excellent characters. The main character, the reluctant hero Sam Vimes, is one of the best created by Pratchett and is central in many ways to the brilliance of the book. This book has all the usual stuff in Discworld books, the humour, the real world parody, the great characters, the good writing. But what's really great about this book is the emotion, you really feel the characters and what they are going through, and they are very real. The story is excellent and the time travelling actually works, a very hard thing for a story to pull off.

To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee was one of the first classics I read when I started to read more than just Fantasy. It is an excellent book, full of atmosphere. I liked the fact that it is told from a child's nieve perspective but manages to tackle some serious race/justice issues. I also think that the film is very good (very few films of books are).

My next selection is 1984 by George Orwell. It may be a bit bleak, but it is iconic and a wonderfully envisioned view of the future. It is superbly written and very atmospheric. This was one of the first books I read in a book club.

Sheri S Tepper was an author I was introduced too when I was only reading Fantasy. Her writing is very good. I like lots of Tepper books and I will do a whole blog entry on her in the future, as i do collect her books, but Beauty is my favourite. It blends lots of classic fairy stories together into the real world (she did it long before the latest fad for this). It is very quirky and a bit weird. It is also more Sci-Fi than Fantasy. Like all of Tepper books it highlights a lot of moral issues (sexism, over population, abuse of natural resources etc) but does so very subtly and well.

I do like a lot of young adult books, although they can have a bit more simplistic style of writing. I find that they often tackle interesting and challenging topics within good story lines. One of the best is Wonder by R J Palacio. The way this book looks at the same story from the viewpoint of various characters is very interesting and very well done. It also looks at some serious issues very well.

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card is pure Sci-Fi and has one of the best endings to a book ever, I did not see it coming (It actually changed the way I read, in that I now think a lot more about where a story is going). I think the ending makes or breaks a book, it can make an ok book a good book or ruin a perfectly good book (I might do a blog entry of books with good endings). Saying this Enders Game is not just about the ending, it is well written and a good story which builds up gradually.

The next book is a book which I loved reading with all of my kids, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It is a perfect interactive and fun way to introduce books to kids. I love the story and it is also educational.

I'm not a zombie fan at all, but World War Z by Max Brooks is just brilliant. very well written. The scope of it is huge, it presents the story in a very real, and global, way, with no aspect ignored.

One Day by David Nicholls is a great way to tell a story. I loved the yearly concept, and yes it is a bit romantic but there's nothing wrong with that. What makes this story great is its ending, such an impacting twist and you don't see it coming, very, very emotional.

Another Sci-Fi next, a real classic, Foundation (trilogy) by Isaac Asimov. This is the first real space Sci-Fi I read and was a great introduction to the genre. It really is an epic which just grows and grows with some major twists along the way. It is very cleverly thought out. I love the way it starts off small and just gets bigger and bigger. You do have to read the first 3 in the series. The rest are ok but they are a bit more drawn out and also a bit weirder.

l like unusual and quirky books and Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde has a large dose of both. Again a young adult book with an interesting concept. A dystopia where social standing is determine by a persons ability to see colour, what more could you want, just brilliant. It is very well written, humorous and a great story.

Another emotional story is Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. It looks and starts like a chick lit, but don't be deceived, it actually has great depth. Despite tackling some serious issues it still keeps a level of fun ness. Actually it is the characters which make this such a great book, along with a thought provoking ending.

The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton was a huge influence in my reading as it started my love for Fantasy. I loved this book, along with the others in the series (and also the Adventures of the Wishing Chair), and read them many times. This book may also have induced my love for reading altogether.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi is a wonderful dystopian story about genetics, politics and corruption. It is incredibly atmospheric. The story is excellent and so are the characters. I read this book whilst on a business trip to Vietnam which was an amazing experience, enhanced by this book.

A few other books worth a mention are Day of the Triffids, Hunger Games, Wolf Hall, Harry Potter, The Help, American Gods, The Book Thief, Life of Pie and Cloud Atlas.

Terry Pratchett and Discworld

This blog entry is about my 2nd favourite author and another of my collecting obsessions, Terry Pratchett.

Everybody remembers their first Discworld book with fondness and I am the same. My first was Mort and I loved It from the start, the character of Death is one of Pratchett's greatest achievements. From then on I was hooked on Discworld.

But why do I love his books? Here are 10 good reasons:

First, there are so many fantastic characters. Death, Granny, Vimes, The Librarian, Nanny, Tiffany, Rincewind, The Luggage, The Patrician, Moist, Carrot, Angua, Dibbler etc, the list goes on and on. And they are brilliant characters, some of the best written in fiction. You really do love them.

Second, the humour. It is subtle, it is very funny and there is a lot of it.

Third, the stories. There are so many great stories.

Fourth, the emotion. A lot of the books have got real emotion to them. You really buy into the stories and situations and they pull on your emotions.

Fifth, the real world issues in a fantasy context. The way real world issues, even big issues, are explored within a fantasy, but real, setting is brilliant.

Sixth, the whole series. Although each book can be read on its own, the whole series, and sub series, links together to give you something even more special. And there are over 40 books to enjoy.

Seventh, they are unique. There is nothing like them, just try to find anything close.

Eighth, the Discworld. A flat world, on the backs of four elephants, on the back of a giant turtle swimming through the universe. What more do you need.

Ninth, there are no chapters. Just readable sized chunks.

Finally the man himself. He was such a great man. British, humble (always grateful to his fans), genuine (he didn't start out to be a writer) and principled (right to the end).

So which are my favourite books?

My top ten are:
1. Night Watch - just brilliant, so very emotional and time travelling.

2. Going Postal - great story, the Moist character is excellent.

3. Small Gods - a god trapped in a tortoise with only one believer, enough said.

4. The Wee Free Men - very atmospheric, Tiffany is a great character and it has Nac Mac Feegles.

5. Moving Pictures - a wonderful parody of the movie industry.

6. Mort - Death is a genius character and he takes on an apprentice, plus it's the first Discworld book I read.

7. Monstrous Regiment - a great story with great characters, exploring war, woman's rights and racism.

8. Guards Guards - the first of the amazing guards series, a fantastic group of characters.

9. I Shall Wear Midnight - the peak of the wonderful Tiffany series.

10. Soul Music - a parody of the music industry, with some great humour.

There are a few weaker books, still good but, in my opinion, not to the same level as the others (although some people like these a lot). I'm not a big fan of Pyramids, Eric, The Last Hero or Hogfather.

Another thing I like about the Discworld books is the original cover artwork by Josh Kirby. It is original, fun and iconic, and I'm sure it added to the books original popularity. It is a shame that he died and couldn't do the whole series.

There has always been a heated argument about what is the best order to read the books. This is mainly based on the fact that the first 2 books (Colour of Magic and Light Fantasitic) are a bit weirder than the rest of the series and people can be put off if they read these first, therefore a lot of people, me included, recommend that you should start with one of the others (I always recommend Guards Guards). The other camp insist that the series should be read in order. I have been involved in a few heated exchanges on Goodreads about this.

There have been a few tv/film adaptations of some of the Discworld books. I'm not a fan of the 2 animated films. The newer tv films are better, very well made and quite good, I liked Going Postal, but I thought David Jason was poor casting as Rincewind in Colour Of Magic and Hogfather.

Collecting Pratchett and Discworld stuff is another of my hoarding obsessions. Unlike Tolkien there is not as much to actually collect. There are the books themselves, and the various versions.

 I have all of the series in paperback (a lot in different versions) and almost all of them in hardback, in fact the highlight of my Pratchett collection is a first edition Eric (which I got from a car boot for £1).

I have a lot of the Clarecraft figures, which are excellent. It was a shame that they stopped producing them. I also have some of the Clarecraft pewter miniatures

I have also collected all the Discworld calendars since they were first published.

I do have quite a lot of odd other bits and pieces. Other books, Pratchett did write some non Discworld novels (probably my favourite is Good Omens, with Niel Gaimen), and there are some books about Discworld. I have DVDs and Videos, t-shirts, puzzles, games etc.

I must admit that I don't collect the stamps, this is a large area in itself and I haven't had the time or money.

Favourite Albums

There are a lot of songs which form the soundtrack to my life, I shall explore these in another blog entry but there have also been a few outstanding albums which fit into this category as well.

I'm not including compilations or greatest hits.

These are the albums where I listened to the whole album, many times, normally from beginning to end, without skipping any tracks.

I have to start with the greatest album ever produced The Wall by Pink Floyd. This is not just a series of individual songs, but is a total story from begging to end. The highlight has to be Comfortably Numb. I listened to this continuously when I was about 17 with my good friend Richard Espin. We knew all the words to the whole double album and sadly used to sing it as we walked around town. My biggest regret in life is that I missed an opportunity to go and see it performed live. I must also give an honourable mention to another Pink Floyd album which I listened to a lot Dark Side of the Moon.

Next up is Queen II by Queen, my favourite group (with the greatest singer of all time). OK so I listened to Queens Greatest Hits a lot as well, for all their best individual songs, but II is again a story where the album is greater than the sum of all the parts. I think the Black Side is slightly better, but it is a close run thing. It is also fantasy based which I love. My girlfriend (future wife) and I listened to this constantly whilst playing fantasy based computer games.

Hot Fuss by Killers is a brilliant album I listened too over and over. It is not a story album, but all of the songs are good and it also has some exceptional ones, particularly Mr Brightside. This is also a very significant album to me as I played it a lot when my wife and I were having problems. I will also mention the Killers Greatest Hits which I have also played a lot recently.

The next album is from my new romantic period in the early eighties and is Lexicon Of Love by ABC. Although not a concept album it does have a continuous theme throughout all its songs and they do fit together very well. This was from a time when I had started my first job. Although I liked a lot of the music, I was never an extreme new romantic i.e. I didn't dress up or wear make up.

From my earlier teens, when I was finding music for myself (rather than being influenced by my parents) comes Out Of The Blue by E.L.O. This is a big album to include (4 sides), and I have to admit that side 2 is slightly weaker than the other 3, however I did love the whole album and played it a lot. I love the epicness of the songs. I remember playing this album whilst I was developing my first computer programs as homework from school.

No Parlez by Paul Young is an album which was played a lot whilst I was dating my future wife. It does have it's ups and downs, with Common People being at the top. I remember that we used to listen to it whilst playing games on the ZX Spectrum, particularly Manic Miner.

The next album is from the early years of marriage and is an album my wife and I played a lot together, Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf. OK so it is OTT and the songs are very long, but it's huge and epic, it makes you feel good and you can't not sing along to it. Also, all of the songs are good, there are no low points.

Again from my early teens comes Parallel Lines by Blondie. This album was huge with everyone at school, everybody raved about it and all the boys were in love with Debbie Harry. Again it has its highs and lows, but it has a lot of all time 70's classics on it, I particularly liked Picture This and Sunday Girl.

One of the newer albums is Escapology by Robbie Williams. This is quite a surprising choice as it does not feature his big hits (with the possible exception of Feel). But my wife and I played this a lot, we liked all of the songs, particularly Me and My Monkey. We played this album over and over in the car on some long journeys.

Finally there is 21 by Adele. This is a great album, again individual songs but a brilliant set with some real classics.

There is one compilation album which deserves a mention, the Shrek II Soundtrack. This is a great collection of songs and we listened to it a lot after watching the film whilst on holiday in Great Yarmouth.







I will also give a mention to a few greatest hits albums which were played a lot: Sweet, Elvis, Simon and Garfunkel, Beatles, Queen, 10cc and Neil Diamond.