Reading anything?

[indianasmith]

I watched THE WHITE QUEEN, does that count??

Many things I could forgive, but when your brother leaves you as custodian of his 12 year old and his 10 year old and they BOTH turn up dead on your watch, you're a child-murdering jerk!!

[Svengoolie 3]

I've been reading some ultra heavy duty grimdark wh40k novels,  the night lords omnibus featuring 3 novels,  soul hunter,  blood reader and void stalker plus a short story.

Some real grimdark here.  At one point the main character dives out of an airship with a jet thruster flight pack on his back powerdiving to save a brother legionaire who has fallen out of the aircraft after his flight pack was damaged.  Later the same character oversees an attack on a defenceless planet and the massacre,  torture and murder of millions of unarmed civilians as an attack against the empire they are part of.

[indianasmith]

I just finished reading FIRE AND FURY by Michael Wolf.  As with most controversial books, I would encourage people to read it before they dismiss it or embrace it.  Trump fans will find some things in it that they might actually like; Trump detractors will find plenty of ammunition also.  Truthfully, I think it's as balanced as a book can be about such a controversial figure, especially one who is still in office.  One thing I will say, though: Michael Wolf is a very entertaining writer. Love our President or hate him, this is a hard book to put down!

[Fox Sake]

Difficult Men: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad - Brett Martin

A behind the scenes look at some of the most controversial, ground-breaking TV dramas from the late 90s early 00s, and the men that made them.

Speciically, "The Sopranos", "The Wire", "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad"

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!
While I did say I'd do a half dozen graphic novels, we'll put that off to next time, as I want to do a compare and contrast this time.

Both writers(')
are fantasy writers,
are in the 1st part of a 3-part trilogy,
books have sexually diverse characters,
books have maps,
are good at nation building,
are bad at math. He numbers. She timelines.
books should be made into films. (IMHO.)

But, if one likes . . .
less sex,
less profanity,
more heavy fantasy (There be fae here.)
more twists and turns,
and a smoother story, or the difference between an experienced writer and a newbie,
then one should like . . .

Holly Black's
Cruel Prince
(1st in the Folk of the Air trilogy)

But, if one likes . . .
more emphatic minor characters,
more racial diversity,
a bolder writer (Children do not make good villains, but here he is not only bold enough to make some of his villains children, but child villains that are credible and  believable.)
a bolder writer  2 (the rarity of a male writer, but a female heroine)
a more visual book (Bar fight! Bar fight!)
a more typical heroine (or one that will not lie to you or betray you)
more emotional punch,
more realistic violence (It is brutal.)
knowing the ages of the teens. (A teen can be from 13 to 19, but that does not make them the same. So, here we have 18, 18, 17, 17, 17, 16 (?), 15, and 15.)
better villains (more individual types and individual appearances)
then, you'll like . . .

Andrew Shvarts'
Royal Bastards
(1st in the Royal Bastards trilogy)

This does not make one better than the other, as I found both to be both eminently readable and memorable. What it does is make both interesting (IMHO.) As here we have 2 writers who look at the same subject--here fantasy--but come up with 2 different books. 1 which I think is typically female, and 1 which is typically male, in some aspects. (Again, IMHO)

Next time: a half dozen graphic novels read and enjoyed.

[indianasmith]

You know, I would be awfully flattered as a writer if one of you guys read and reviewed one of my books here . . . .   

[ER]

I was asked to read a book called The Last Closet, by Moira Greyland, who is the daughter of Marion Zimmer Bradley, San Francisco-based author of The Mists of Avalon, and I have to say this memoir of a childhood is disturbing through and through.

I'd never heard of the book and asked what it was about. I was told: parent-child rape, sadism, brainwashing, battery, and it's a true story.

If Ms. Greyland is telling the truth about the abuse she suffered from her parents, then may MZB's over-rated books lie in dust, unread til the end of time. The twisted verbal, physical and sexual abuse she and her life partner, MENSA-founder Walter Breen, doled out to their child is off the scale, and were they not dead, I'd only hope Bradley and Breen would be hauled up on charges.

Never let it be said an abusive parent trying to push his or her own lifestyle position onto a diverging child has to always be a heterosexual one persecuting a homosexual offspring, because while Breen was"merely" a molesting pedophile, Bradley's torture of her daughter for her heterosexuality is arguably more insane and terrible to read about. She wanted her child to be androgynous before the world and ideally gay in orientation, bi-sexual as a last resort, considering heterosexuality a sociological lie and a hate crime, and when Moira grew up saying she was straight, and when she showed femininity as a teenager, the abuse reached its height.

This book is so disturbing I am not sure I'd recommend it, truthfully, but it does make a point, that abuse of anyone is intolerable whatever its goal, and no parent should ever behave the way Greyland says her own did.

[Alex]

Oh wow, I'd picked up a bunch of her books meaning to read them some day, although I haven't gotten around to it yet.

If this is true I really wish I hadn't bothered.

[indianasmith]

I just finished THE BUNKER, by James O'Donnell.  Written in the mid-1970's, this is a detailed account of Hitler's last days, based on 500 hours of interviews with some 40 survivors of the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin.  Fascinating, repulsive, and pathetic, this account of the dying gasps of the Third Reich should be required reading for everyone who promotes the ridiculous lie that Hitler somehow escaped from the rubble of Berlin, made it past the entire Red Army, and escaped to safety in South America or somewhere else.  Lots of historical details, as well as almost amusing accounts of the lies, backstabbing, and power-grabbing among the pitiful remnants of the Nazi leadership that persisted right up to the last minute.

[TYTD Reviews]

Im currently working through "Nomad" by Alan Partridge (A.K.A Steve Coogan) its basically a travelogue following a well loved (Washed up) british chat show host as he follows in his fathers footstaps (Allegedly) on a 160 mile trek from one side of England to the other...only it transpires that the walk might not have actually ever happened...and it also becomes quite apparent that Alan is more interested in turning it into a pitch for a TV show than honouring the memory of his father...its a rediculously funny book though I think a lot of the humor comes from knowing about Coogans Partridge character from the various shows he's been in (I'm alan partridge, Knowing me; knowing you, Scissored-isle, The Day today ect...) its a really good read if you know the backstory mind as Alans recalling of events are often drastically different from what actually happened 

[Rev. Powell]

"Catch-22." A classic I somehow skipped over until now.

[ER]

Im currently working through "Nomad" by Alan Partridge (A.K.A Steve Coogan) its basically a travelogue following a well loved (Washed up) british chat show host as he follows in his fathers footstaps (Allegedly) on a 160 mile trek from one side of England to the other...only it transpires that the walk might not have actually ever happened...and it also becomes quite apparent that Alan is more interested in turning it into a pitch for a TV show than honouring the memory of his father...its a rediculously funny book though I think a lot of the humor comes from knowing about Coogans Partridge character from the various shows he's been in (I'm alan partridge, Knowing me; knowing you, Scissored-isle, The Day today ect...) its a really good read if you know the backstory mind as Alans recalling of events are often drastically different from what actually happened 

Isn't he the man who played Tony Wilson in 24-Hour Party People? I think that film got closer to the real Ian Curtis than Control did.

[Alex]

I remember when Ian Curtis died and his manager hired a town crier to announce it. That was on the national news, although I don't remember if I had really heard their music.

[316zombie]

rereading a series of unfortunate events before i donate it to the murdock free library.

[Alex]

Oh wow, I'd picked up a bunch of her books meaning to read them some day, although I haven't gotten around to it yet.

If this is true I really wish I hadn't bothered.

Can't quite seem to bring myself to burn these books. Just feels wrong after it being something I'#ve been against all my life. Will figure out some way of getting rid of them though. I am glad I got them second hand though so at least the author won't get any money from me.