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Author Topic: Reading anything?  (Read 743054 times)
Psycho Circus
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« Reply #765 on: April 01, 2011, 03:44:31 AM »

I've just finished reading Catcher In The Rye after years of meaning to get round to it. I absolutely loved it, couldn't put the damn thing down and I was totally not expecting the language or writing style considering it was a book first published in 1951. It just seemed like it could have been written this year and for a book that's quite short where nothing of any note really happens, it had me engrossed. Don't know whether to be worried that I found alot of similarities with myself in Holden Caulfield though....
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Zapranoth
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« Reply #766 on: April 03, 2011, 10:28:42 AM »

@Circus, be afraid.  Be very afraid.  :)

I'm re-reading _Neverwhere_  (Neil Gaiman).   I love his writing style!  (If you love short stories that are grim, read _Fragile Things_, look up the story "We Can Get Them For You Wholesale.")  He has a truly wicked sense of humor, grim and capable of taking the oldest fairy tale concepts and twisting them to his own ends.

An example:  the protagonist is preparing to leave to London to seek his fortune, and he's sitting outside the pub during his send-off party, not feeling well.  A little old lady stops and talks with him, and reads his fortune (it is a disturbing fortune).  He thanks her by giving her his umbrella, as it's a stormy night:

The old woman took the umbrella, gratefully, and smiled her thanks.  "You've a good heart," she told him.  "Sometimes that's enough to see you safe wherever you go."   Then she shook her head.   "But mostly, it's not."
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #767 on: April 07, 2011, 05:27:14 PM »

Ye-es.

Darren Shan's "The Thin Executioner" Perhaps best known for his "Cirque du Freak" series, but if that is by an author who has yet to reach his full potential, then "The Thin Executioner" shows the reader, what he can do, when he has reached his full potential.

Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
If the animals don't get ya,
then the weather must.

For not only are the horrors more numerous in "The Thin Executioner," but more realistic. Beginning with a bloody execution and ramping up the horrors from there. Not only animal attacks, but freezing weather as well, and . . .

beheadings -- brandings -- cannibalism -- dismemberments --graverobbings -- lewd violence -- self-mutilations

And unlike the other series of books, it is not only a horror novel, but also an adventure story, a dark comedy, a political treatise, and a religious epic.

And the villains are more dangerous in this one. You don't underestimate the villains in "Cirque du Freak," but you do the ones in this book, which several characters do to their regret. And that's what makes them dangerous. The underestimation. Which is the kind of villain that gets you killed. Which may be why the author named two of the chief villains Bush and Blair. Yes, that Bush and that Blair.

An estimable piece of writing, which will not lead to a sequel, as the author has said it is a stand alone novel.

Next time: Still more miscellaneous or more brief reviews of recently read graphic novels.
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Newt
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« Reply #768 on: April 07, 2011, 06:10:23 PM »

I am just about to give up on The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury.  I don't usually quit a read I have started, but one more egregious error and I am outta there.  He started losing me by page 10.  I have not seen the movie, but as Khoury is first and foremost a screenwriter I am sure it is very similar - and no doubt works better.  The writing style is OK but the flaws in his factual research are too glaring to ignore (and he insists on tossing tidbits in there on stuff he does not know well enough Lookingup ) and I am afraid that spoils it for me.   Bluesad
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« Reply #769 on: April 11, 2011, 03:08:11 PM »

BILLY THE KID: THE ENDLESS RIDE by Michael Wallis.  Pretty interesting because Wallis starts out by saying a lot of what has been written about Billy the Kid is conjecture and there isn't a lot of evidence to back up the stories.  I'm only about 50 pages into the book, but so far Wallis has done a nice job presenting information about Billy and describing things that may or may not be accurate (such as exactly when and where Billy was born and who his father was).  Prior to reading this book, I always thought Billy's real name was William Bonney.  But that was just one of his aliases.  His birth name was Henry McCarty.   
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« Reply #770 on: April 13, 2011, 12:28:05 PM »

I'm reading Young Men in Spats. I've never read Wodehouse before and I have to say it's better than I expected.
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« Reply #771 on: April 15, 2011, 04:28:50 PM »

Ye-es.

Some "still more miscellaneous" or short reviews of some recently read graphic novels.

James Patterson's "Daniel X: Alien Hunter" and James Patterson's "Daniel X." Both graphic versions of the teen novel series about an teenage alien, who after his parents are killed, takes over their job of hunting down all the alien criminals on earth. The first takes place in Japan, and the second takes place on the West coast and then on Danel's home planet in outer space.

I like the first one better even though, the second one points out the credibility problem of a teenage boy running around earth without attracting attention to himself, and as the aliens can be seen by humans, the explanation of everyone who sees the aliens, having hallucinations, only goes so far.

Also the second graphic novel in Dean Koontz's Odd series "Odd Is on Our Side," which I actually liked better than the first graphic novel in that series, as the second one has a villain who seems to be guilty, but is actually innocent, and a villain who seems to be innocent, but is actually guilty, and alot of nice unexpected twists and turns in the story.

Also the first volume of Dean Koontz's "Fear Nothing" in graphic format. Which shows with a good adapter, how a novel, as in this case, can be stripped now to its bare essence. For example: any descriptive passages can be stipped out, as the illustrations in the graphic novel serve the same purpose. Thus, I'm looking forward to the other volumes in the story.

Next time: Hal Butler's "Abandon Ship" and John Rousmaniera's "After the Storm"
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« Reply #772 on: April 15, 2011, 04:42:44 PM »

Sandman by Neil Gaiman.  I'm up to the second volume now and well, it's alright.  I'm not entirely into it.  It's good and all, but it's like Watchmen to me.  It just doesn't live up to this hype that surrounds it.  The only comic to ever live up to its hype for me was The Dark Knight Returns.
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« Reply #773 on: April 19, 2011, 09:39:30 PM »

Started re-reading Hitch Hikers Guide forget where I left off and this time im determine to find out the potted plants story!
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WilliamWeird1313
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« Reply #774 on: April 21, 2011, 03:00:14 AM »


Zombie Holocaust: How The Living Dead Devoured Pop Culture, by David Flint

I picked it up because, as the title implies, it's not a review or reference tome, nor an academic analysis of the zombie-as-metaphor, but rather a history of the zombie in pop culture in general, from their roots in voodoun to the early poverty row chillers a la' White Zombie and Revenge Of The Zombies to their predominance in E.C. and E.C.-esque pre-code horror comics, to the Romero reinvention, and on and on and on, covering literature, gaming, advertisements, etc. ...to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the Resident Evil video games to the modern phenomenon of Zombie Walks and the now-staggering number of low budget/no-budget zombie flicks on the market, to the point where we are now where zombies are mainstream and the culture, one might argue, is oversaturated.

Bummer. The book sucks. I really thought that it would be an interesting read, especially as I've been a diehard zombie fan ever since I glimpsed the NOTLD remake on TNT MonsterVision when I was a kid (the first zombie flick my innocent, prepubescent mind was ever exposed to, and a moment that also turned me into a full-blown horror fan for life). But it's more like Zombies 101, or Zombies For Dummies. The author gives himself too little room for the breadth of subjects he covers, which means that the book ends up moving too fast and discussing topics too superficially and vaguely. It's just a step away from being one big list of zombie appearances in pop culture and nothing more.

On top of that, the guy's tastes just clash really nastily with my own, to the put where I find it off-putting. You all know I'm a big Fulci fanatic, and any book where Doom (yes, the movie starring The Rock) gets more kind words said about it than The Gates Of Hell is a total turn-off to me.

Bah.

Oh well. I'm much more looking forward to reading Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut by J.A. Kerswell (the same fella who runs the excellent Hysteria Lives website).
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« Reply #775 on: April 21, 2011, 10:28:05 AM »

Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops, by James Robert Parish. Just getting into the first of 15 expensive bombs Parish discusses in this book, Cleopatra (1963).

The book's introduction was long, and a bit heavy on dry facts, but explained very well the changes in the film industry since the late 40s, and the factors that contribute to a big-budget cinematic disaster. Now that the book is dealing with an actual movie, I'm enjoying the way Parish follows the production from the first ill-conceived idea through every major misstep, while putting it all into the context of what was happening in the industry at that time, and what was motivating the people involved. Also nice that Parish adjusts the costs for inflation, since it really puts the numbers in perspective. Cleopatra, for the time it was made, was a more expensive movie than Waterworld.

Enjoying it so far, and looking forward to reading about the other movies. I know some of the story behind movies like Ishtar and The Last Action Hero, but nothing that goes as deep as Parish has been going in this book.
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« Reply #776 on: April 21, 2011, 11:06:03 AM »

I finally finished The Catcher in the Rye two days ago.  Thumbup
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« Reply #777 on: April 21, 2011, 10:34:45 PM »

Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops, by James Robert Parish. Just getting into the first of 15 expensive bombs Parish discusses in this book, Cleopatra (1963).

The book's introduction was long, and a bit heavy on dry facts, but explained very well the changes in the film industry since the late 40s, and the factors that contribute to a big-budget cinematic disaster. Now that the book is dealing with an actual movie, I'm enjoying the way Parish follows the production from the first ill-conceived idea through every major misstep, while putting it all into the context of what was happening in the industry at that time, and what was motivating the people involved. Also nice that Parish adjusts the costs for inflation, since it really puts the numbers in perspective. Cleopatra, for the time it was made, was a more expensive movie than Waterworld.

Enjoying it so far, and looking forward to reading about the other movies. I know some of the story behind movies like Ishtar and The Last Action Hero, but nothing that goes as deep as Parish has been going in this book.

Sounds good, and right up my alley. I'm going to have to check that out.
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« Reply #778 on: May 07, 2011, 02:00:58 PM »

Recently I read through the Old Mans War series by John Scalzi. The man seems to be the next Heinlein. Superb hard science fiction. The books are a hell of a good read.

I'm currently reading Hard Magic by the same author of the Monster Hunter International books. Pulpy, early 1930s detective novel with some magical elements thrown in. Excellent book so far, and is really taking the idea of alternative history and running with it.
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« Reply #779 on: May 07, 2011, 04:00:56 PM »

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.  This was a diary/collection of miscellaneous observations by a 10th century lady-in-waiting in the Japanese empresses court.  It's one of a couple of primary sources that reveal what life was like in medieval Japan.  It is interesting, because Sei's world is so different from ours or even from medieval Europe, but its very dry reading.  There are a ton of footnotes and lots of detail to catch up on, like the incredibly complicated Japanese calendar and the almost impenetrable system of ranking for nobles (I forget, does the Great Minister of the Right outrank the Chancellor?)

Also re-reading through this for the 3rd or 4th time:

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