Book talk.

lduke1990 · Post by **lduke1990** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:02 am

they were for a long time, and then they weren't (remakes generally bomb here), but now there's new ones and everyone and their grandma wants a copy

Jenos Ridan · Post by **Jenos Ridan** » Tue May 01, 2007 4:35 pm

lduke1990 wrote:they were for a long time, and then they weren't (remakes generally bomb here), but now there's new ones and everyone and their grandma wants a copy

And, at least locally, they bombed out here to the best of my knowledge.

lduke1990 · Post by **lduke1990** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:50 pm

the ones for the DS are good though

qeee1 · Post by **qeee1** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:37 am

*Bump*

Books I've read lately:

The Pearl-Steinbeck
Short and enjoyable, but not his best work. Like all Steinbeck's work it's depressing, which seems to be a characteristic of my most liked books.

Heavier than Heaven, A biography of Kurt Cobain- Charles R. Cross.
This was pretty interesting, but didn't quite seem complete, certain instances were gone into in great detail and other things were brushed over. I mean it's the author's prerogative to choose those things, but I guess I would have chosen differently. Also seemed overly sympathetic to Courtney Love, sometimes it read like it was a propaganda piece designed to justify Courtney's actions.

Thank You for Not Reading - Dubravka Ugresic
A series of essays from the perspective of a female Eastern European writer who now lives in Amsterdam, on the publishing market dominated by capitalistic concerns, and it's effects on writers formerly part of the Eastern Bloc. Ugh that was a mouthful. Anyway yeah some nice essays, mostly light hearted, though perhaps maybe a little too cynical and sarcastic sometimes.

Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Even though it was only written about ten years ago, because it's dominated by technology this book feels dated. Made me feel nostalgic for a time I was only vaguely part of. Enjoyable to read, I preferred this to Generation X which is his most famous work, though I feel he probably treads a lot of the same ground in his books. They seem to be dominated by the theme of strained human relationships in modern society, which is interesting though, so not a huge problem.

Right now I'm reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. It's interesting, particularly like the development of Colonel Aureliano Buendía. I feel like I'm missing out some by not being more familiar with Colombian history though.

flashleg8 · Post by **flashleg8** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:09 am

Thanks for the bump quee!

Just finished reading "History Will Absolve Me" by Fidel Castro (in preperation to my Cuban holiday!). Interesting read, a speech by Castro in defense of his (failed) rebellion against the Batista regime in 1953. Recommened for anyone with an interest in Cuban or cold war politics.

Also finished "Moondust" by Andrew Smith. The author reflects on the Apollo program and interviews the 9(!) surviving people who have walked on the moon. Anyone one with an interest in the space program (or lack of it!) will love this.

Another one I've read over the last wee while is "Farwell to Arms" by Hemmingway. I like him a lot and this one did not disappoint at all. Relates his experiences in Italy working as an ambulance driver in the Great War (also a beautiful love story). Try him, you might like his stripped down writing style.

And since I've last posted here I've read "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell and "The Stranger/Outsider" by Albert Camus on the recommendation of Guiscard and btwonmeggy. Both superb books. Thanks for the point in the right direction - enjoyed them both immensely.

And I'm reading "Tale of two cities" by Dickens just now - I've never really been a fan of Dickens but since a few of you here (Stopper I think?) were raving about him, I though I'd give him another go - so far so good.

qeee1 · Post by **qeee1** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:49 am

flashleg8 wrote: And since I've last posted here I've read "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell and "The Stranger/Outsider" by Albert Camus on the recommendation of Guiscard and btwonmeggy. Both superb books. Thanks for the point in the right direction - enjoyed them both immensely.

Aye, I also gave "The Stranger/Outsider" by Albert Camus a go a while back. I got it from the library, but I think I'll have to buy it now. I need to read it again. Probably my favourite book I've read this year.

cena-rules · Post by **cena-rules** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:09 am

The new Harry Potter book is a very good book and I also like the trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

I cant remember its name but the books are very good

lalaland · Post by **lalaland** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:27 am

cena-rules wrote:The new Harry Potter book is a very good book and I also like the trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

I cant remember its name but the books are very good

the phillip pullman books are the "his dark materials" series. I think one of them is something like 'the amber spyglass'

frood · Post by **frood** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:07 am

lalaland wrote:
cena-rules wrote:The new Harry Potter book is a very good book and I also like the trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

I cant remember its name but the books are very good

the phillip pullman books are the "his dark materials" series. I think one of them is something like 'the amber spyglass'

It goes "the golden compass" or "northern lights" same book it just has a different name depending on the country. Number 2 is "the subtle knife" and 3 "the amber spy glass"

MeDeFe · Post by **MeDeFe** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:55 pm

A very good author I only came across recently is Walter Moers. I think all of his novels are available in english translation, too, so you don't have to know any german. His style is pretty unique, somewhere between humorous and "classic" phantasy with lots of adventure elements and occasional excursions in between, and you always feel that you might not get a happy ending, which is usually a given thing.
Something else I especially noticed is that a lot of authors I've read so far retrospectively seem to be afraid of creating too many things the reader hasn't heard anything about before. A made-up world and then throw in the usual variations of dwarfs and elves is usually it. Not so WM, you'll get dozens of plants, animals and whatnot that haven't been used anywhere else before. You often get lexical definitions and descriptions of these things, too, and where else do you get that? All books by him I've read so far were extremely captivating, I think whenever I started to read one I averaged about 300-400 pages per day.
So, two days for 700 pages. It's been a long time since I could say that for anything over 200 pages.

0ojakeo0 · Post by **0ojakeo0** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:59 pm

darren shan cirque de freak series-rangers aprrentice series maximum ride seeries- james patterson books-alex rider-gatekeepers

-=new series

MeDeFe · Post by **MeDeFe** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:07 pm

Well, that tells us a lot about those books. jake, you must be the master poster when it comes to summing things up so far that noone knows what they are anymore.

lalaland · Post by **lalaland** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:14 pm

0ojakeo0 is right... the maximum ride books by james patterson are pretty good. I think there are 3 in the series.

MeDeFe · Post by **MeDeFe** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:16 pm

He's right that they exist then, he didn't tell us anything else about them, and in an extremely messed up way, too.

lalaland · Post by **lalaland** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:19 pm

yeah i think that they are all real.

cena-rules · Post by **cena-rules** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:33 pm

frood wrote:
lalaland wrote:
cena-rules wrote:The new Harry Potter book is a very good book and I also like the trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

I cant remember its name but the books are very good

the phillip pullman books are the "his dark materials" series. I think one of them is something like 'the amber spyglass'
It goes "the golden compass" or "northern lights" same book it just has a different name depending on the country. Number 2 is "the subtle knife" and 3 "the amber spy glass"

thats it

dustn64 · Post by **dustn64** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:37 pm

cena-rules wrote:The new Harry Potter book is a very good book

I'm like half way through and it is getting boring

heavycola · Post by **heavycola** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:01 pm

flashleg8 wrote: Another one I've read over the last wee while is "Farwell to Arms" by Hemmingway. I like him a lot and this one did not disappoint at all. Relates his experiences in Italy working as an ambulance driver in the Great War (also a beautiful love story). Try him, you might like his stripped down writing style.

I had quite a big argument with two girls in australia once about whether For Whom The Bell Tolls and AFTA glorified war or not. I didn;t actually care if they did (and perhaps FWTBT does, but only cos it's what men do when they aren't brooding or boxing or hunting), but the testosterone gets flowing when you read his stuff. Stupid girls. Hemingway is incredible.

So is Orwell. Anything by him, really.

Aries · Post by **Aries** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:24 pm

"It" was an extremely good book, but scared the heck outta me

Minister Masket · Post by **Minister Masket** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:29 pm

if you want a book that will really take up your time, try the Bible. I'd like to see someone say they'd read that in 1 day.

The1exile · Post by **The1exile** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:32 pm

Minister Masket wrote:if you want a book that will really take up your time, try the Bible. I'd like to see someone say they'd read that in 1 day.

HorusKol · Post by **HorusKol** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:01 pm

they should do an abridged bible - get rid of all those boring sections with just the family lines...

good books... the dune series - including the ones done by the son, Brian Herbert...

Just read the original "Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?" (Bladerunner) - awesome mindf*ck! interestingly, the film is quite different in story, but is no worse (unusual for book-to-film jobbies)

btownmeggy · Post by **btownmeggy** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:19 pm

heavycola wrote:Stupid girls. Hemingway is incredible.

Ugh! He was a good drinker (La Floridita Daiquiri--mmmm!) but an unappealing writer. The Sun Also Rises was the first book I read since Catcher in the Rye that made me temporarily but utterly and completely hate the world.

Maybe we have discussed this before, though.

heavycola wrote:So is Orwell. Anything by him, really.

Oh, yes, yes. My copy of Homage to Catalonia (with the red and white cover and the really sexy picture of him) has the most beautiful and celebratory introduction all about Orwell, or Georgie as I like to call him. It acknowledges that he was not the best storyteller nor the best writer, but that "he was a very good man.

1984 is my favorite book maybe.

MeDeFe · Post by **MeDeFe** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:59 am

HorusKol wrote:they should do an abridged bible - get rid of all those boring sections with just the family lines...

I heard there is a bible like that a few years ago.

qeee1 · Post by **qeee1** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:15 am

btownmeggy wrote: made me temporarily but utterly and completely hate the world.

How is that a bad thing?