Reed Rothchild | 9,523 Editorials Team · Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 The last 3-4 months The December book club entry. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but since the movie is such a close adaptation it didn't really leave any surprises. Same thing I ran into last year with The Silence of the Lambs. Great book, but if you've seen the movie a million times, you're going through the exact same, familiar, beats. ...whereas this one is completely different than the adaptation. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would, since I find older sci-fi to be pretty hit-or-miss. The movie's still better though. Very similar (in some ways) to Dark Tower IV, which I think was the best book in the series, but not as good. For being over 900 pages surprising little happens. It's all build-up to the last 30 pages. Which can be a good thing: I like slow burns. And this is a good book. But it falls into IV's shadow. A quick fun read. Maybe doesn't completely execute on the brilliant concept, but I'm still pretty eager to jump into book 2. I wouldn't say it's anywhere as good/fun as Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, but I find little is. Malazan Book 3. The best one so far. Love the idea of the cannabilistic Pannion Domin, and I think the new characters were strong, and the huge battles were great. Another Gaiman fairy tale, with a great setup, and plenty of great characters (especially the assassins), but overall I found I preferred the more concise and smaller-scaled Coraline and Ocean at the End of the Lane. The constant change of scenery and addition of new characters was almost dizzying at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickman | 3,983 Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 5 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said: ...whereas this one is completely different than the adaptation. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would, since I find older sci-fi to be pretty hit-or-miss. The movie's still better though. Interesting. I am the complete opposite! But I read the book first. There’s just so much that the movie left out or failed the capture properly. I actually felt like 2049 did a better job of feeling like the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel_Doyce | 470 Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 I almost never read any modern fiction since it's mostly garbage, but Cormac McCarthy is finally publishing what will likely be his last 2 novels later this year. Can't wait to get them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avatar! | 1,811 Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 3 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said: I almost never read any modern fiction since it's mostly garbage, but Cormac McCarthy is finally publishing what will likely be his last 2 novels later this year. Can't wait to get them. Myself, I almost never read fantasy, but George RR Martin is finally... oh, yeah, never mind. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel_Doyce | 470 Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 On 3/9/2022 at 4:28 PM, avatar! said: Myself, I almost never read fantasy, but George RR Martin is finally... oh, yeah, never mind. There's a great MadTV skit about George Lucas doing a Jane Pauley interview and this picture really reminds me of this. If you haven't seen it, it's hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabonga | 2,317 Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 I am in the middle of Seanan McGuire's latest entry in her Incrytid series - as is generally the case she is on top of her game in this one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,723 Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 I'm reading Family Bits I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,523 Editorials Team · Posted April 3, 2022 Author Share Posted April 3, 2022 Lots of downtime waiting or driving the last month Read this back in December but forgot to mention it. It was good - all 3 have been good so far - but nothing mind-blowing so far. I feel like most people claim the series gets better and better as it goes. Book club selection. Again, good, and has me eager to check out Finders Keepers. In King's top 20? No. Top half? I think so. Listened to the audiobook. Low Men in Yellow Coats, the basis for the movie, was by far the best story. Another coming of age tale, this time with heavy Dark Tower (V) references. Whereas the title story was merely okay, involving college freshmen getting addicted to card games and flunking out, with a heavyhanded theme of Vietnam war pushback running theoughout. The remaining three short stories were pretty throwaway, involving characters from the first story. An audiobook novella. Take one part Thinner, another part political commentary, and one last part sappy melodrama. It was alright. Probably in King's bottom 25%. An audiobook short story. I dug it a lot. It was a throwback to Kings earlier pulpy days with a simple yet easy-to-sell concept (siblings get lost in a grass field) Three short stories about "Dunk and Egg" during their early days. And in true Martin fashion I'm sure we'll never get closure on their tale. Or maybe the prequel show will do it. A bleak, feel-bad bloodbath. Can't wait to read the rest of his stuff! This is the first Ketchum I've read, though I've seen many of the movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabonga | 2,317 Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 On 4/3/2022 at 2:01 PM, Reed Rothchild said: Lots of downtime waiting or driving the last month Read this back in December but forgot to mention it. It was good - all 3 have been good so far - but nothing mind-blowing so far. I feel like most people claim the series gets better and better as it goes. A bleak, feel-bad bloodbath. Can't wait to read the rest of his stuff! This is the first Ketchum I've read, though I've seen many of the movies. I found the Dresden Files to get less interesting the longer the series went on. There is a widespread (and detrimental) trend in urban fantasy to make the characters become progressively stronger in order to bring in stronger opponents - they often lose what made the main character appealing in the first place. There was a short lived Dresden Files tv series which you might like: Ketchum wrote a sequel to Off Season called The Offspring which is pretty good. There was a movie made from that one which, while not great, is entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabonga | 2,317 Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 I am working on the 8th book of the Black Magic Outlaw series by Domino Finn - it is about a necromancer so it tends to be more dark than most urban fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabonga | 2,317 Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 I just got this from Amazon a few minutes ago - a collection of short stories set in the Shadowrun universe: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabonga | 2,317 Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) I am going to re-read this: It offers some interesting insights into the legal system and slavery in Louisiana - which differed a fair amount from the rest of the south because of the French history of the area. Edited April 20, 2022 by Tabonga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabonga | 2,317 Posted May 6, 2022 Share Posted May 6, 2022 I just finished this (the latest in the Junk Yard Druid series): https://www.amazon.com/Druids-Curse-Druidverse-Urban-Fantasy/dp/B09GJGFZ2K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MEGSG8XTFCBK&keywords=druids+curse&qid=1651809403&sprefix=druids+curse+%2Caps%2C555&sr=8-1 This storyline just keeps getting better and better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,885 Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 (edited) Coupla things at present. The first struck me as probably the longest title of any book I've ever read - - Explorations and Adventures in and around the Pacific and Antartic Oceans. Being the voyage of the U.S. exploring squadron, commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy, in 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842: Together with explorations and discoveries made by Admiral D'urville, Captain Ross, and other navigators and travelers; and an account of the expedition to the Dead Sea, under Lieutenant Lynch. - By John S. Jenkins. Curiously, Antarctic is spelled Antartic... I'm about a fifth of the way in and mostly its dry yet colorful descriptions of various locales, populations, culture etc. along both South American Coasts. Exotic Time Travel for the imagination, as I like to think of it. Also reading Moonraker by Ian Fleming. I'm about half way through and so far it's mostly a lot of: Eating, Drinking, Smoking, and Card Playing; as well as a lot of Commander Bond sizing up various men and women. In other words it has a lot in common with other Bond books and is certainly not uninteresting. I think my favorite part so far is when M. declares that English food, when it's the best English food is the best food in the world. That's an exploration I'd definitely be up for... Edited May 23, 2022 by PII 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickman | 3,983 Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 I've started the manga series よつばと! (Yotsuba). It's a nice simple slice of life type manga about a quirky 5 year old girl growing up. She's often ignorant of a lot of things which leads to a lot of funny situations. Definitely recommend it if you're in the mood for a light slice of life type manga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel_Doyce | 470 Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 12 hours ago, PII said: Coupla things at present. The first struck me as probably the longest title of any book I've ever read - - Explorations and Adventures in and around the Pacific and Antartic Oceans. Being the voyage of the U.S. exploring squadron, commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy, in 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842: Together with explorations and discoveries made by Admiral D'urville, Captain Ross, and other navigators and travelers; and an account of the expedition to the Dead Sea, under Lieutenant Lynch. - By John S. Jenkins. Curiously, Antarctic is spelled Antartic... I'm about a fifth of the way in and mostly its dry yet colorful descriptions of various locales, populations, culture etc. along both South American Costs. Exotic Time Travel for the imagination, as I like to think of it. Also reading Moonraker by Ian Fleming. I'm about half way through and so far it's mostly a lot of: Eating, Drinking, Smoking, and Card Playing; as well as a lot of Commander Bond sizing up various men and women. In other words it has a lot in common with other Bond books and is certainly not uninteresting. I think my favorite part so far is when M. declares that English food, when it's the best English food is the best food in the world. That's an exploration I'd definitely be up for... Charles Wilkes had one of those 19th century lives full of different adventures, even before he earned a place in history in the Civil War. Have you read Dana's Two Years Before the Mast? Definitely recommend it, and he also did some interesting stuff during and after the Civil War. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,885 Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 4 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said: Charles Wilkes had one of those 19th century lives full of different adventures, even before he earned a place in history in the Civil War. Have you read Dana's Two Years Before the Mast? Definitely recommend it, and he also did some interesting stuff during and after the Civil War. I've been unfamiliar until now, but I just read the wikipedia entry on Dana/Two Years.. and it sounds like something I'd thoroughly enjoy. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. It was also made into a film. I don't know much about Wilkes as of yet either, but apparently he was inspiration for the Captain Ahab Character and one mean s.o.b. ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabonga | 2,317 Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 I just got this in the mail today - most books of this ilk are mostly commentary -this one is mostly full color reprints of the comics under scrutiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,523 Editorials Team · Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 Audiobooks are a blessing. aka Book of Blood 4. Every single one of the stories was good, especially the one about the raging sex maniac. But none of them were quite on the level of Rawhead Rex or the story about the towering masses of humanity from BoB 1-3. The (last?) book of the month selection. I enjoyed this quite a bit, even if it was rather short and fast-paced. I bought this a LONG time ago, and started it over ten years ago, but only just now managed to finish it. Loved it. Love Yossarian. Love the repetition. Love the absurdity. Only thing I didn't care for is Milo. His little sidestory was one step beyond credulity. Way to absurd, even for one of the most absurd stories you'll ever read. Knocked it out in one sitting. The third "True Crime" story by King. While The Colorado Kid was basically an extended Twilight Zone episode, and Joyland is a coming-of-age tale with a tiny bit of crime drama at the end, I'd say this one actually kind of fit the bill, sortof. One of the stronger books he's done in the last 10 years. It's funny, but when I watch shows like The X-Files or Supernatural, by far my favorite episodes are the "Monster of the Week" variety. I just can't get into the bigger overarching storylines. Werewolves in Montana, or killer tree infections in Washington are way more fun. Alternately, Dresden 4 starts to develop the bigger overarching storyline, and I'm actually rather glad it did. I wasn't that interested in the fairies' war, or their major players. I instead want to know more about the bigger picture. So, this is generally agreed to be the weakest of all of the Dark Tower novels, and so far I'd have to agree. Maybe it's because I'm a man, or maybe it's because King is a man writing women, but I just don't have any interest in Susannah's story here. Schizo woman talks to herself about having a baby. For 200 pages. Blah. And unlike most people, I don't mind the meta stuff. Another feel-bad bloodbath. Bring 'em on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 On 6/2/2022 at 12:21 AM, Reed Rothchild said: I bought this a LONG time ago, and started it over ten years ago, but only just now managed to finish it. Loved it. Love Yossarian. Love the repetition. Love the absurdity. Only thing I didn't care for is Milo. His little sidestory was one step beyond credulity. Way to absurd, even for one of the most absurd stories you'll ever read. Catch-22 is a must-read for everyone. Ready Player One is one of my all-time favorite popcorn reads, so I decided to give Ready Player Two a try. So far, it's been a huge disappointment. I'm only about 25% of the way through, but so far it reads like really bad fan-fiction. Also, I'm pretty sure I've already figured out where the plot is going. I'll see it through to the end, but it's nowhere near the page turner the original was. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
360collector | 289 Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 I am reading a book called Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony. Very intersting. just finished the first chapter where he talks about his childhood and growing up all into WW2 and the nukes fell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
360collector | 289 Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 3 hours ago, DoctorEncore said: Catch-22 is a must-read for everyone. Ready Player One is one of my all-time favorite popcorn reads, so I decided to give Ready Player Two a try. So far, it's been a huge disappointment. I'm only about 25% of the way through, but so far it reads like really bad fan-fiction. Also, I'm pretty sure I've already figured out where the plot is going. I'll see it through to the end, but it's nowhere near the page turner the original was. I have heard a lot of ppl say similar things. I have the first book but not read it yet. I skipped on getting the second book because I kept hearing stuff like this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickman | 3,983 Posted June 27, 2022 Share Posted June 27, 2022 Just finished Volume 1 of ハピネス (Happiness). I flew through volume 1 and I'm hoping to start Volume 2 soon. It's about a school kid who is sort of an outcast at school and one night gets turned into a vampire. It's sort of got this let the right one in vibe so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aguy | 772 Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 I just finished Jurassic Park, quite different from the movie, especially the ending. I'm wondering how different Lost World is from the movie now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,523 Editorials Team · Posted July 23, 2022 Author Share Posted July 23, 2022 13 hours ago, Aguy said: I just finished Jurassic Park, quite different from the movie, especially the ending. I'm wondering how different Lost World is from the movie now. My (ancient) memory says it retcon'ed a major development in the first book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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