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01/24/2011 06:35:15 PM · #276 |
Originally posted by Louis:
Yeah, in quick succession, I read "Under the Dome", "Lisey's Story", and "Full Dark, No Stars", in that order. Basically junk food for the brain. "Dome" wasn't any good, "Lisey" was okay, and "Stars", four novellas in one volume, was the best of the lot.
I'm enjoying King's maturity. He's a good storyteller. There's flashes of greatness in some of what he puts out, especially shorter pieces and short fiction. Seemingly by way of excuse, he says in "Stars" that his writing is the opposite of literary fiction. The latter, he says, is about extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances, whereas he writes about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Interesting take, but I mostly wondered why he felt the need to excuse his career in the afterward to that book.
(Also, in "Lisey", his main character, a successful novelist, is described as given to reading high-brow books by literary writers, one of which is Margaret Atwood. Please.) |
now that you've read "lisey" try Regulators/Desperation. they tie together with Lisey, and eachother, in quite a unique way. one is by bachman, one by king, same characters, same names, same story, but DIFFERENT. not his best work (the stand, the dark tower hold that honor) but definitely a different reading experience.
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01/25/2011 08:26:52 AM · #277 |
Originally posted by FourPointX:
now that you've read "lisey" try Regulators/Desperation. |
Read 'em in 1996. ;) |
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01/25/2011 07:51:16 PM · #278 |
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand who wrote Seabiscuit. True story about a man who ran in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. It was believed that he would be the first to run the 4-minute mile in the next Olympics, but WWII interrupted that. He was assigned as an officer to an aircraft division. The plane went down in the Pacific due to mechanical failure, and he and one of the pilots survived over 40 days floating. They were captured by the Japanese and sent to POW camps. His experiences there, his survival, and the rest of his life are the nucleus of the book.
It's a good read, often difficult and painful, but exceptionally well written and researched. Thumbs up...
Message edited by author 2011-01-25 19:52:45. |
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01/25/2011 08:38:43 PM · #279 |
| The Guvernator, basically an unauthorized bio on Arnold Schwarzanegger. Though I don't much like the man, I do have tremendous respect for him and even moreso considering how very early in life, he set out a plan to do exactly everything he has done. And apart from making it as next US President, he had indeed done it. Fascinating story although a bit draggy in the last few chapters where it focuses on his political career. |
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08/12/2011 01:37:32 AM · #280 |
For the geeks: NPR's top 100 sci-fi and fantasy books
I have to admit I've read a few on the list... may have to read a few more. :-) |
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08/12/2011 11:31:32 AM · #281 |
LOL, I scrolled through, and it looks like I've read at least half of that list, and I think 8 of the top 10. There is some really great stuff on that list, I must admit, but there is also some utter schlock, LOL!
I don't understand lumping SF and Fantasy together all the time, though, they truly are completely different things.
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08/12/2011 11:45:04 AM · #282 |
I've read quite a few of these too. LOL! I have to admit giving up on The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan by around book 8 or 9 (don't remember which) and from what I understand there are still more to come. |
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08/12/2011 11:58:02 AM · #283 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
I don't understand lumping SF and Fantasy together all the time, though, they truly are completely different things. |
I agree with you, SF and fantasy can't be in the same list.
I read at least more than 60 of those books and all the top ten!
My favourite ones are the Hyperion Cantos, The left hand of darkness, The Dispossessed, A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, Flowers For Algernon (I prefer the short tale), Childhood's End (my graduation paper was about it), I Am Legend, America Gods, Brave New World... but there are many many more I loved :) |
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08/12/2011 12:02:34 PM · #284 |
Originally posted by Kelli:
I have to admit giving up on The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan by around book 8 or 9 (don't remember which) and from what I understand there are still more to come. |
The problem is that Robert Jordan died a few years ago and the remaining books will be written by another author following the notes he left to his wife and friends. |
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08/12/2011 12:24:09 PM · #285 |
| I'm currently working through George RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series. I enjoy them (I'm on the 3rd book), but at the same time he's a little cynical in his willingness to kill off main characters. It makes for exciting reading (you really don't know if someone is going to live or die) but will the series end with any sense of uplift? Actually there are those who worry whether the series will be finished period... |
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08/12/2011 12:48:52 PM · #286 |
"Don't sleep,there are snakes" by Daniel Everett
Not the best ever written book, but the story is amazing....supposed to be true story and that makes is even better.
"Book Summary
Everett, then a Christian missionary, arrived among the Pirahã in 1977–with his wife and three young children–intending to convert them. What he found was a language that defies all existing linguistic theories and reflects a way of life that evades contemporary understanding: The Pirahã have no counting system and no fixed terms for color. They have no concept of war or of personal property. They live entirely in the present. Everett became obsessed with their language and its cultural and linguistic implications, and with the remarkable contentment with which they live–so much so that he eventually lost his faith in the God he’d hoped to introduce to them.
Over three decades, Everett spent a total of seven years among the Pirahã, and his account of this lasting sojourn is an engrossing exploration of language that questions modern linguistic theory. It is also an anthropological investigation, an adventure story, and a riveting memoir of a life profoundly affected by exposure to a different culture. Written with extraordinary acuity, sensitivity, and openness, it is fascinating from first to last, rich with unparalleled insight into the nature of language, thought, and life itself." |
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08/12/2011 01:19:09 PM · #287 |
The Mason Williams Reading Matter ... Mason Williams was a "righter" (sic) for the groundbreaking Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and composer of the popular guitar instrumental "Classical Gas" ... it is a miscellaneous collection of essays, stories, poems, jokes, and photographs. It's mostly pretty funny and short enough to read in one or two sessions.
MAN: What's he got that I haven't got?
WOMAN: Awareness.
MAN: What's that? |
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08/12/2011 01:51:26 PM · #288 |
Originally posted by signal2noise:
'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy. Certainly not as good as The Border Trilogy, but a well-written post-apocalyptic tale. |
After reading 'The Road' I wanted to stick my head in the oven. |
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08/12/2011 01:55:57 PM · #289 |
| 'The Only Thing Worth Dying For' by Eric Blehm - True story about 11 Green Berets who were some of the first US troops on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11. Fascinating for those who want to understand how unconventional warfare works. |
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08/12/2011 01:58:24 PM · #290 |
| 'Zeitoun' by Dave Eggers. True story of a Syrian born US citizen who stayed behind in New Orleans when Katrina hit. What happened to him is un-friggin'-believable, but true. |
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08/12/2011 02:33:21 PM · #291 |
| Dreams of Joy which is the sequel to Shanghai Girls. The sequel is not nearly as powerful as the first book but still a well-told tale. 7/10 |
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08/12/2011 02:37:05 PM · #292 |
Originally posted by Spork99:
Originally posted by signal2noise:
'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy. Certainly not as good as The Border Trilogy, but a well-written post-apocalyptic tale. |
After reading 'The Road' I wanted to stick my head in the oven. |
Oh man, I couldn't make it through the Viggo Mortensen movie version. Brutal stuff... |
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08/12/2011 02:40:02 PM · #293 |
The Cases that Haunt Us - A retired FBI Super-Expert examines a few unsolved and "somewhat" unsolved cases. This includes:
Jack the Ripper
Zodiac
Lizzie Borden
The Lindburgh Baby Kidnapping
but the best is his opinion on the JonBennet Ramsey kidnapping/murder.
$7.00 from Ibooks. |
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09/08/2011 04:26:45 PM · #294 |
Originally posted by PuppyDogMom:
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand who wrote Seabiscuit. |
Just finished this book and will have to echo the recommend. Fascinating on many levels and I always find it incredible what people of that generation went through whether they were military or civilian. |
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09/08/2011 05:29:38 PM · #295 |
wow... I never would have thought of "flowers for Algernon" as science fiction... |
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09/08/2011 05:35:48 PM · #296 |
Originally posted by vawendy:
wow... I never would have thought of "flowers for Algernon" as science fiction... |
And yet, it's considered one of the great classics of the genre...
R. |
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09/08/2011 05:55:35 PM · #297 |
The Reversal by Michael Connelly...
One of my all time favorute authors and it has two of his hereos in it who usually have their own stories. Loved it!
A solid 8
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09/08/2011 07:45:43 PM · #298 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Originally posted by vawendy:
wow... I never would have thought of "flowers for Algernon" as science fiction... |
And yet, it's considered one of the great classics of the genre...
R. |
I remember the movie "Charlie"- and also, wasn't the movie limitless loosely based on this as well? |
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09/08/2011 07:56:32 PM · #299 |
| Sum by Eagleman. 3 I guess this book is for people who know nothing about world religion or science fiction. Even watching Star Trek would eliminate some of the surprises in here. |
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09/09/2011 01:53:58 PM · #300 |
| I read Cybill Shepherd's autobiography. It was free on the kindle. Entertaining and amusing. Solid 5. |
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