Reading anything?

[RCMerchant]

I'm rereading Shirley Jackson-Novels and Stories-its got the Haunting of Hill House,We Have Always Lived In The Castle,the Lottery,the one with women with a toothache goes into the twilight zone.
Basically-it's everything she wrote.
She is The BEST writer I have ever read! 

[Rev. Powell]

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!

Jamie Russell's
Book of the Dead :
the Complete History of Zombie Cinema

564 films or about 1 every 7 and a half weeks, since . . .

Chronologically
1932's White Zombie
to 2013's with several films.

Alphabetically
Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies
to Zombrex : Dead Rising Sun

Budget wise
from $100
to $200 million

Director wise
from a 12-year-old female to
a 69-year-old male

Geographically
Most from the U.S., but . . .?! also films from some 3 dozen countries in . . .
Africa -- Asia -- Europe -- North America -- and South America

More facts

Most of these films are a product of their time and place. Take the films made in any decade, they could not have been made in any previous decade, and by the next decade, they are mostly passé.

And they are both overtly sexual, especially in Europe, and overtly and covertly political, both here in the U.S. and in Europe.

While the author rues the lack of originality, for the most part only 59 or 10.46% are unoriginal or . . .

parodies -- prequels -- remakes -- sequels -- and/or WTFs.

The problem actually seems to be that more thought went into thinking of a title than making the film, but . . .?! here are . . .

The 10 Best Zombie Films (in Chronlogical Order)

1932 White Zombie
1943 I Walked with a Zombie
1956 Invasion of the Body Snatcher
1968 Night of the Living Dead
1978 Dawn of the Dead
1981 The Beyond
1993 Delamorte Dellamore
2002 28 Days Later
2004 Shaun of the Dead

and pick a 10th

1940 The Ghost Breakers

And yes, the author is a Brit. Thus you not only get a British sensibility to an American subject, you get that delightful Brit wit. You laughs may differ, but . . .?! I LOL! 88 times.

Next time: 6 of 1 mystery and a half dozen non-mysteries

[indianasmith]

I still think ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS ZOMBIES is an absolutely brilliant film, especially coming from The Asylum.
I enjoyed it more than I did ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER despite the latter's much bigger budget.

[Alex]

I remember reading an interview with the head honcho at Asylum. Think he was discussing Transmogrifiers and he was saying that he'd made his movie with 1/100 the budget of Transformers, but was Transformers 100 times more enjoyable?

[indianasmith]

I just finished reading DESTINY AND POWER: THE AMERICAN ODDYSSEY OF GEORGE H.W. BUSH by John Meacham.

This was a remarkable book about a remarkable man.  Meacham was given extraordinary access; over 100 hours of interviews plus free use of the former President's personal letters and journals.  He paints a powerful picture of a complex figure, a transitional President who was the last member of the Greatest Generation to hold the nation's highest office.  A fascinating glimpse of his interactions with famous figures ranging from Dwight Eisenhower and LBJ to Chairman Mao, Ronald Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev.  I highly recommend this book!

[javakoala]

Currently reading Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death.

Deeply disturbing and distressing stuff when you apply it to the technological explosion that took place AFTER this book, but the current trend matches his concepts built around the influence of television on communication and the fragmenting of attention.

You go to Youtube and look up something on international tax scams. In the recommended videos, you get a couple of music videos and clips from reality TV programs. Search for one thing on Amazon, and you get unrelated nonsense recommended.

Watch "the news" and get a blurb about the number of American troops shot in a foreign country immediately followed by 3 minutes of Jaden Smith's new moronic Twitter comment.

Sadly, when you point this stuff out to most people, they either respond with, "So?" or they can't be disturbed while playing with their phones.

[Rev. Powell]

It's been a while so I'm taking another crack at

[Rev. Powell]

About to crack open



Looking forward to learning about a few cool movies since I'm a novice in this genre (though I love what I have seen!)

The author didn't respond to my FB friend request so I'm not going to be able to pester him for more details... 

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!
6 of 1 mysteries

J. A. Jance's
Cold betrayal
10th in the Ali Reynolds series

Kathy Reichs'
Bones of the lost
16th in the Temperance Brennan series
If you want something to watch, rather than read, then watch the TV series "Bones."

Muller and Pronzini's
(husband and wife writing duo)
The Body snatchers' affair
6th in the Carpenter and Quincannon series
I have the next in the series, which I'll get to reading later.

Tasha Alexander's
The Counterfeit heiress
in the Lady Emily series

Nele Neuhaus'
Steven T. Murray, translator from the German
The Ice queen
3rd in the Police Detective Pia Kirchhoff series
I also have the next in this series, which I'll also get to reading later.

Anne Perry's
The Angel Court affair
26th in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series
She also writes the Monk series, and I also have the latest in that series, which I'll also get to reading later.
And if you want something to watch, rather than to read, then watch the TV film "The Cater Street Hangman," which was the 1st book in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series.

Next time: and a half dozen of the other non-mysteries

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!
A half dozen non-mysteries

Alistair Reynolds
Doctor Who :
harvest of time

George Veasey
Eight World Cups :
my journey through the beauty and dark side of soccer
15 more non-fiction (all non-sports related)
07 more juvenile non-fiction (all sports related)
and 1 more fiction

The 1 more fiction is the one with the interesting history. A number of years ago, the employees of a Long Island (New York) newspaper, the author being one, decided to write a tell-all, trash novel about the sex life of a Long Island divorcee. With each employee, including the author, writing one of the chapters in the novel. The only thing forbidden was any type of good writing. And lo and behold, much to the surprise of everyone involved, especially those who wrote it, the book became a massive best seller. So massive was it, that a female relative of one of the writers had to be hired to go around and pose as the book's writer. And they called it "Naked Came the Stranger." There was even some talk of writing a sequel called "Stranger Than Naked." Though, that never seem to have happened. So, take heed, even the worst written can become a best seller.

John Jackson Miller
Star Wars :
a new dawn
(graphic novel)

Lee Cockerell
Creating magic :
10 commonsense leadership strategies from a life at Disney
1 more non-fiction

Recommended by . . .
ABC Sports
Army Corp of Engineers
ESPN, Inc.
Girl Scouts of America
and the London Business School

By the Book :
writers on literature and the literary life from The New York Times Book Review
Pamela Paul, editor.

Frank Winan
The World of Post Secret

after . . .
1,000,000 postcards
10 years
5 more non-fiction books
art exhibits
live events
show performances
an app
a website

$1,000,000 raised for suicide prevention.

Next time: 6 of 1 (mysteries) and a half dozen of the other (non-mysteries)

[indianasmith]

I have four books going at once now:  Three biographies (Woodrow Wilson, Elizabeth I, and Thomas Jefferson) and one NT analysis: FABRICATING JESUS: How Modern Scholarship Distorts the Gospels.

[alandhopewell]

     Just finished this....



     Interesting.

[sprite75]

Going back to the old standbys - the Thrawn trilogy novels by Timothy Zahn.  The original Episode VII.



Damn that man can write.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!

6 of 1--mystery.

James Runce
Sidney Chambers and the problem of evil
3rd in the Grant Chester series
If you want to watch something rather then read something, then watch "Grant Chester," which will begin its 2nd season here in the U.S. on March 27 or there about.

Wiehl and Henry
A deadly business
2nd in the Mia Quinn series

Sara Blaedel
The forgotten girls
in the Louse and Camilla series

Donna Leon
Falling in love
in the Commisario Guido Brunetti series

Mike Befeler
Mystery of the dinner playhouse

Richard Castle
Driving heat
7th the Nikki Heat series
If you want something to watch rather than something to read, then watch Castle on TV.

And here we have fictional characters written by a fictional character played by a real person Nathan Fillion. Nor is this the 1st time this has happened. Earlier and still going on today we have the mystery series "Murder, She Wrote," which is written by the fictional character Jessica Fletcher, but . . .?! played by the real person Angela Lansbury.

Next time: a half dozen of the other--non-mysteries