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Author Topic: Reading anything?  (Read 742983 times)
BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #1635 on: June 22, 2015, 02:55:08 PM »

Shannara

the original shannara trilogy
the heritage of shannara tetralogy
prequel to the original shannara trilogy
the voyage of the jerle shannara trilogy
high druid of shannara trilogy
genesis of shannara trilogy
legends of Shannon duology
the dark legacy of shannara trilogy
the defenders of shannara trilogy
and paladins of shannara

Plus . . .

the word and void series
the magic kingdom of landover series

Plus . . .

the novelizations of . . .
"Hook" and . . .
"Star Wars Episode 1: the Phantom Menace"

And, yes, I have read most of these going back to the 1st one "The Sword of Shannara" in 1977.

Of course, if you prefer to watch rather than read . . .

While Warner Brothers did have the option to do a film version, but . . .?! When they let that option expire, it was picked up by MTV to do as a TV series--apparently--live action called "The Shannara Chronicles" aka "Shannara." Scheduled for at least 10 episodes, and scheduled to be seen this year (2015) the pilot or 1st episode has yet to be broadcast.

One similarity between Warner Brothers and MTV, instead of starting with the 1st novel in the series "The Sword of Shannara," it starts with the 2nd novel in the series "The Elfstones of Shannara" from 1982.

Despite all the years and all the novels since, the 1st one "The Sword of Shannara" has always remained one of my favorites, if not my favorite, for its . . .

action scenes
hero, one of my all time favorite characters of all time, Prince Menion Leah, and its . . .
battle cry "LEAH! LEAH! LEAH!" which I rate right up there with the real battle cry heard by Henry Morton Stanley in Africa "MEAT! MEAT! MEAT!"

Wherever one starts in all those mentioned, I have enjoyed most of them, as their author Terry Brooks, is one of my favorite fantasy writers.

ENJOY!


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pennywise37
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« Reply #1636 on: June 22, 2015, 03:36:21 PM »

the (1977) one i think is the one i just haven't finished for some strange reason. and really MTV? i never pay any attention to MTV anymore cause it's not even a music channel anymore and hasn't been since i was in my 20's. and i think i have the rest of the original trilogy all on paperback. and those i haven't started either. after i wake up a bit i may start a book soon. i just dunno what yet. i'll of course post what i start.
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #1637 on: June 28, 2015, 01:40:02 PM »

Ye-es!

With random reading, sometimes you come across consecutive, but different, books with the same story, as in . . .

Peter Robinson's Children of the revolution
and
Victoria Thompson's Murder on Murray Hill
and a story of . . .
murder, rape, and revenge.

As to which is the better read . . .

M: a Brit
W: an American

M: the present
W: the past

M: the U.K.
W: the U.S.

Man's villains more dangerous. String pullers and influence peddlers.
Woman's villains less dangerous. Just physically violent.

Man's weak villains more credible.
Woman's weak villains less credible.

Man more moral. Murder and revenge never justified.
Woman less moral.  Murder and revenge sometimes justified.

Man writes better mystery about the horrors of rape and revenge than woman.

Man writes more believable female characters than woman writes male characters.

Man's better plotted than woman's, as fewer twists needed to get to ending.

Excluding, man writes in time when sex was more open. Woman writes in time when sex was less open. It is not a total walkover by the man, as the woman does do a couple of things better than the man.

Woman more clear when story takes place.
Man less clear when story takes place.

Woman's story more focused.
Man's story less focused.

Next time: another compare and contrast



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pennywise37
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« Reply #1638 on: June 28, 2015, 05:38:33 PM »

i don't really pay attention to if a woman is a better writer on certain things than a woman and vice versa. i always go by if the writer is a good writer or if it's written poorly. it doesn't matter if a man or woman writes it. all writers have their own style they develop themselves and they i think should have their own style. nobody wants to read a copy cat even though some writers do feel like that.

as for what i picked up. i did end up picking up Deja Dead' it's the 1st Tempe Brennan novel. and i like it so far, but it took forever for things to actually happen in it. for those who have read her in the past. are all her books like this? or is it just this one? cause it's her 1st book and you can easily tell it is.

i just hope her 2nd novel is better written. this one isn't at all horribly written but it has far far too much detailed in the science,  now don't get me wrong that stuff is important to the story but there's litary pages and pages of talking about Saws. that it was boring. Patrica Cornwell in her 1st Kay Scarpetta novel
also did the same thing as well when talking about the science. it brought the story to a stand still cause she put too much of the science in the novel. i realize what these women's jobs are in real life and in the novels. but with Patrica Cornwell in her 2nd Novel in the Kay Scarpetta Series which is like i said before called Body of Evidence. that i read not that long ago, she fixed that and paid more attention to the story and the characters. and yes she did put science in it but only when it was needed. she didn't overdue it like she did in her 1st novel. she in short learned what NOT to do. i'm curious if the same happened with Kathy Reichs?
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #1639 on: July 07, 2015, 10:30:02 AM »

Ye-es!

Another compare and contrast or 24 Reasons G. M. Malliet's "A Demon Summer" is a better read than Tana French's "The Secret Place."

01. The female characters are better written.
Thus . . . they are more credible and believable.

02. More variety of characters.

03. More differentiation of characters.

04. The male characters are better written.
Thus . . . they are more credible and believable.

05. Less stereotypical characters.

06. The blame is both greater and lesser when a female character has a male problem.

07. The female characters blame themselves more and the males less.
Thus . . .

08. The female power is mightier, as they realize they have the power to initiate change. They don't need to rely on a male for change. And so is the liberation.

09. It is clearer who is the villain and who is the victim.

10. The villainy and danger is broader.

11. The blot on the innocent is wider, involving those who are innocent, but caught up in the plot.

12. The provocation is higher and vaster to do in the villain.

13. The victims' woes are more troubling.
Thus . . .

14. The loss of the villain is a smaller loss.

15. Malliet's characters who have no children or no children--yet, seemingly love children with more love than French's characters who do have children.

16. A truth. We oft love more what we do not have, then what we do have.

17. The denouement is brighter.
Thus . . .

18. It may be a cliché to gather all in one room at the end, but . . .?! it is used cleverer here.

19. The characters' morality is higher. There are no ifs ands or buts, but . . .?! only a wrong.
Thus . . .

20. Those who admit wrong, admit not only to the others gathered together of their wrong, but . . .?! more importantly, they admit to themselves their wrong.

21. The writer's admissions are higher thru the characters. It is a sad, sad tale made sadder by the ending.
Thus . . .

22. The readers' emotions are broader and bigger and deeper.

23. No unborn children were used as major characters in the making of this book. Indeed, the youngest major character is 18 or the age of majority in much of fiction.

24. And the book is shorter by 70 pages.

Next time: actually, there are 27 reasons why Malliet is a better read than French, and we'll get to those reasons next time, and the 1 reason French is the better read.
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FatFreddysCat
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« Reply #1640 on: July 09, 2015, 08:37:21 AM »

Just finished: Batman and Me: An Autobiography by Bob Kane

Just started: Stan Lee and the Rise & Fall of the American Comic Book by Jordan Raphael & Tom Spurgeon
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pennywise37
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« Reply #1641 on: July 09, 2015, 11:25:44 AM »

Bob Kane did a bio? i don't remember that coming out. and if i do than it was eons ago. anyways i have since Finished Deja Dead and i enjoyed it, but too much Science Talk, it took me out of the book actually, are all her books like that i sure as hell hope not. cause i'd love to read more of them when i get the 2nd novel at some point that is. anyways i've since started Cruel and Unusual which is Patricia Cornwell's (1993) 4th Kay Scarpetta novel and it's pretty good so far. i'm only 90 pages into it and on Chapter 4. the chapters in this sucker are longer than normal cause there's only 14 chapters for some reason?
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indianasmith
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« Reply #1642 on: July 11, 2015, 10:16:52 AM »

I just finished SOUTHERN STORM: Sherman's March to the Sea, by Noah A. Trudeau
This is an exhaustively researched and very well written account of the Civil War's most controversial campaign: General William T. Sherman's drive from Atlanta, in the NW corner of Georgia, to capture the seaport of Savannah, over 300 miles away.  Cutting loose from his supply lines with some 60,000 men under his command, Sherman destroyed every military resource he could lay his hands on, wrecking hundreds of miles of railroad, burning warehouses full of cotton, and devouring or destroying foodstuffs that could be used to support Confederate armies.  All the while he and his men lived off the land, sending out foraging parties to gather enough food for the entire army, and liberating over 100,000 slaves along the way.
   Drawing heavily on contemporary sources, especially letters from soldiers on both sides and from civilians who lived in Sherman's path, Trudeau debunks some of the mythology surrounding Sherman's march - civilian casualties were almost non-existent, and there was only one rape recorded during the whole march - but does not flinch away from describing the massive property damage and harshness of the war overall.  This is one of the better Civil War books I have read in awhile.
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FatFreddysCat
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« Reply #1643 on: July 16, 2015, 08:30:55 AM »

Quote
Bob Kane did a bio? i don't remember that coming out. and if i do than it was eons ago.

Yep, it came out right around the time of the first Batman film w/Michael Keaton. It was an OK read, even though it's obviously a bit out of date now.

Right now:
Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes & Trends of the '70s and '80s by Gael F. Cooper and Brian Bellmont
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pennywise37
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« Reply #1644 on: July 16, 2015, 02:17:58 PM »

i think i faintly very faintly remember that. cause i saw batman back than in the theatres and i still love that movie. i even remember how it was such a big deal that Keaton was playing batman. well out of date or not Kane died just a few years later anyways i believe. didn't he?
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FatFreddysCat
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« Reply #1645 on: July 17, 2015, 02:01:08 PM »

i think i faintly very faintly remember that. cause i saw batman back than in the theatres and i still love that movie. i even remember how it was such a big deal that Keaton was playing batman. well out of date or not Kane died just a few years later anyways i believe. didn't he?

Yep, Bob Kane passed away in 1998... which means he lived just long enough to see George Clooney and Joel Schumacher utterly destroy the franchise with Batman & Robin, haha.
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pennywise37
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« Reply #1646 on: July 17, 2015, 08:47:31 PM »

that one i doubt he even saw. but i don't hate that film as much as many people seem to. it's not a great film but for me it's watchable.
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indianasmith
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« Reply #1647 on: July 17, 2015, 10:51:46 PM »

I just finished THE LAST LION:  WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL, DEFENDER OF THE REALM - 1940-1965
This was the last volume of William Manchester's 3 part biography of Churchill, which the great author was unable to finish due to encroaching health problems.  Before his death, Manchester asked Paul Reid to finish his masterpiece for him, and Reid did so in a remarkable fashion.  I can't really tell where Manchester's voice ends and Reid's begins.  This is a fantastic story about a remarkable man, a man who, for all practical purposes, saved the world from Nazi domination by refusing to surrender in 1940.  It was a wonderful look at the man and his times, and a reminder that, for all the faults of our modern world, things would be very, very different if this brilliant, stubborn, prejudiced, courageous, cantankerous, and awesome human being had not been there to stand in the gap when the rest of the free world had its head in the sand.
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #1648 on: July 21, 2015, 10:47:24 AM »

Previously, I gave 2 dozen reasons I thought Malliet's 'A Demon Summer" was a better read than French's "The Secret Place." For me, here are 3 more reasons, and 1 reason it is not (IMHO.)

And the 25th reason.
For me, a character with a good sense of morality, even if they lose it for a moment, especially if they lose it for a moment, is far more interesting than a character with no sense of morality or a bad sense of morality.

And the 26th reason
For the most part, adults are far superior to children as the villain, because (IMHO) a child has not been steeped in villainy long enough to make a credible villain--normally.

And the 27th reason.
Malliet comes nearer to stating that fact that not everyone is heterosexual, and thus is truer to real life.

And the not reason.
My favorite character in both books is--even though truly mischaracterized--is Christopher (Chris) Harper in French's "The Secret Place," because he is the character with whom I have the most empathy. And that is Chris Harper IV, and his son will be Chris Harper V.

Next time: 6 of 1. A half dozen of the other.
And then: a retro look at Batman.
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« Reply #1649 on: July 23, 2015, 10:03:42 AM »

I'm going to start Strunk and White's "Elements of Style," the writer's Bible, which I think I may have read before but forgotten---if so, it's clearly time for a refresher.

Also "Love Sick," which is a collection of vintage graphics about love and dating, with some snarky commentary by Mike Nelson.
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