Main Menu

Reading anything?

Started by ER, November 19, 2008, 09:52:20 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Doggett

#180
Clive Barker's Books of Blood Volume 2
So far, not as good as volume 1 but I'm only half way, so there's hope yet.
Only two stories are memorable...and I was dissapointed with The Forbidden.
                                             

If God exists, why did he make me an atheist? Thats His first mistake.

PhilosophyMixtapes

Just finished Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead (9/10), Rob Sheffield's Love is a Mixtape (6/10) and Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead vol 3 (9/10).

BoyScoutKevin

Nevada Barr's (Now, there's a name for you.) "Borderline." Subtitled: "a Novel." The 16th in the Anna Pigeon mystery series, but the first one I've read. Maybe because it takes place in an area, where I've been. Big Bend National Park. One of the few national parks in Texas, and as about as far west as you can get, before you hit the river than Mexico.

That is the hook of the series. Anna Pigeon is a National Park Service ranger, so each of the mysteries happens in a different national park.

Anyway, we are along way from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dame Agatha Christie, and Erle Stanley Gardner, where you reaped the clues and weeded out the red herrings to find out who did it, before the last page. Now, as in this series, it is more about the personalities of the people involved, than the puzzle of who did it.

And anyway, the best story in the book is not one of the fictional stories, but a true story used to illustrate a fictional point. It seems that a number of years ago, a bush pilot landed on a deserted beach in a National Park and picked up a load of contraband and tried to take off. Well, he was spotted by a National Parki Service ranger, who was determined to stop him. Well, the pilot was equally determined he was going to take off, and, as both men were armed, they pulled their six shooters on each other and opened fire. Now, the incredible thing is, that after both men had emptied their guns, they both stopped, reloaded, and opened up again.

Total shots fired: 24
Hits: 0
Misses: 24

And both men were only fifty feet apart, when they shot at each other. At that distance, they probably could have done more damage by throwing their guns at each other. Thus legends are made.

Enjoy this book or another one in the series.

BoyScoutKevin

Okay. Finished that one and began Joan Rivers' (Yes, that Joan Rivers) "Murder at the Academy Awards," subtitled: "a Red Carpet Murder Mystery."

It's the story of Joan Rivers (I mean Maxine Taylor) and her daughter Melissa Rivers (I mean Drew Taylor.)

Joan Rivers is a published author, but all her books have been in the non-fiction category. The mystery comes in part because of Jerrilyn Farmer, who has written eight mysteries, excluding this one.

Her name is in smaller print and comes beneath Joan's, but at least she gets credit as co-writer, which is more than I can say for some celebrity authors.

But, she lets Joan's voice through, for when you hear Maxine speak, you hear Joan.

There are actual people in the book. (More name dropping than you can shake a stick at.) Most of whom are well enough known you'll recognize them.

There are the totally fictional people

And there are the real people whose names have been changed to protect their identities. Those are the ones I find interesting, but I don't know Hollywood well enough to know who they are.

There is one more thing about the book. Each chapter title begins with the word "Best."

Whether this is only an one shot thing or will develop into a series of books, only time will tell.

Joe the Destroyer

Finished Weaveworld and began Lonesome Traveler by Jack Kerouac today. 

indianasmith

I am in the middle of THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE.

Preparations are underway. The zombies are coming.
"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"

Psycho Circus


Doggett

Quote from: indianasmith on July 23, 2009, 08:25:16 AM

Preparations are underway. The zombies are coming.

I've lived in Eastbourne.

Trust me, the zombies are already here.  :wink:
                                             

If God exists, why did he make me an atheist? Thats His first mistake.

lester1/2jr

I'm reading "jerusalem 1913"  it describes how the jews began returning to what was then palestine en masse and the arabs pretty much knew what was going to happen and were powerless to stop it and remain so to this day

The Burgomaster

I'm still working on the 100 Greatest Books collection from the Easton Press.  I'm currently reading 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW AND OTHER STORIES by Washington Irving.  Today, TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES arrived in the mail.  And, yes, I will read it.
"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."

AndyC

Still reading Stephen King's IT. Thanks to a rainy camping trip, I'm nearly halfway through it. It's been getting steadily more interesting.

I'm actually trying to convince my wife that it would be something she'd like. What I've read so far is mostly about misfit kids growing up in the 50s, brought together by a higher power, who discover their own hidden strengths and defeat an evil in their town. She absolutely refuses, because it's "that story about an evil clown in the sewer." I can't seem to convince her it's more than that.

Oh well, gotta keep reading. The final book of Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, which I preordered, has finally arrived. Read the first two books (tight, fast-paced and interesting) nearly four years ago. The third was due to come out in the summer of '06, but seeing as it involves all hell breaking loose in New Orleans, it was postponed indefinitely after Katrina, then Koontz rewrote it, and here it is, three years later than expected. Reading the back cover, it looks like Katrina might have been incorporated into the story. I've already interrupted IT once to read another book, so I think I'll wait until I finish it, but I'm looking forward to wrapping up the Koontz trilogy.
---------------------
"Join me in the abyss of savings."

lester1/2jr

I've never read any dean Koontz novels but I belive he wrote "demon seed" which is one of my favorite movies and a very demented one at that

AndyC

I actually haven't read much Koontz either. I just picked up the first Frankenstein book in a grocery store when I needed something to read, and I liked it. Mind you, I've tried reading Darkness Comes since then, and found it had little of what I enjoyed in Frankenstein.

Actually, Koontz has a few interesting sci-fi/horror books I might try. Demon Seed, the book, actually sounds quite different in tone from the film.
---------------------
"Join me in the abyss of savings."

lester1/2jr

#193
it was an incredibly strange movie. not strange like abstract or surreal, strange like it's about a woman who is sexually dominated by her computerized house, sorry for the slight spoil

indianasmith

Finished the Zombie Survival Guide; now I am reading WORLD WAR Z to see what the future holds.




It's bleak.
"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"