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Rob Shalda
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 February 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 419
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| Posted: 20 October 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | 1
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Dr Sleep by Stephen King. The past couple Kings books have really been good,this is no exception. I generally don't like sequels,but this sequel to The Shining is top notch. King is King again!
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Robert Cosgrove
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1710
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| Posted: 20 October 2013 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | 2
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Just finished listening to book on CD, Pukka's Promise: The Quest for Longer Lived Dogs, by Ted Kerasote, an interesting if sometimes demoralizing book. Just finished reading Evan Thomas: Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle to Save the World, which left me profoundly grateful that this boring old bald guy who used to interrupt my favorite tv shows with speeches when I was a very young kid (or so he then seemed to me) was president when he was, despite a few missteps. Now advancing a few years and listening to Berlin 1961 by Frederick Kempe, about Kennedy, Krushchev, Adenauer, and the erection of the Berlin wall, and going back a few years for a piece of fiction, The Spanish Gambit by Stephen Hunter.
Rob Shalda, I never actually read The Shining, although like everyone else in the world I've seen the Kubrick movie. I might try listening to that and Dr. Sleep in one gulp after I finish the Berlin book--that should occupy me during my commute for a few weeks.
Edited by Robert Cosgrove on 20 October 2013 at 5:24pm
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John Popa
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 March 2008
Posts: 4368
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| Posted: 20 October 2013 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | 3
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I re-read King's CARRIE and it holds up, although it's a book I like much more reading it as an adult than I did reading it as a teenager. It's a thin and bleak little thing, and every character has a deep ugliness to them. It's a different kind of tragedy than DePalma's movie which is more of a Cinderella story. The book's more hostile.
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Thom Price
Byrne Robotics Member
L’Homme Diabolique
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7593
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| Posted: 27 October 2013 at 10:36am | IP Logged | 4
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After abandoning the aforementioned "The Map of Time" due to an annoying trick the author played not once but twice, I moved onto the "Blood Oath" series suggested by someone (sorry, too lazy to look up who -- but thanks!) in the book recommendation thread.
A very enjoyable horror/thriller series. Quite interesting to see an author so greatly improve from book to book. The first was one of the most awkward and amateurishly written novels I've ever encountered. The dialogue was particularly groan-worthy; every conversation is in "direct question and answer" format, the bane of dialogue writing. Despite this, the novel had a lurid sense of fun, and each novel was better written than its predecessor.
Following those, I moved onto what is very possibly my favorite novel, Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon". This was the first 'grown up' novel I read, and certainly my most frequently read book. This is the Arthurian legends re-told from the point of view of the women characters, most notably Morgaine.
Then, "The Darling Strumpet" -- Gillian Bagwell's novel about Nell Gwyn, actress and mistress to Charles II. Fun, light and breezy. Perhaps too breezy. The plague, the Great Fire of London and political conspiracies are skimmed past for the latest round of bed hopping.
I'm currently reading "The Firebrand", Bradley's take on the Trojan War from Kassandra's perspective. Not quite as good as "Mists", but a solidly enjoyable read.
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Aaron Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 10461
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| Posted: 27 October 2013 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | 5
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I moved onto the "Blood Oath" series suggested by someone (sorry, too lazy to look up who -- but thanks!) in the book recommendation thread.
***
That was me. Glad to hear you're enjoying it.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132240
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| Posted: 01 November 2013 at 8:13pm | IP Logged | 6
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Began rereading THE TWO TOWERS last night.
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Jozef Brandt
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 March 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 2657
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| Posted: 01 November 2013 at 9:00pm | IP Logged | 7
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JB, I revisted the Lord of the Rings books for the first time since 1987 and I was surprised how smooth Tolkien's prose is. In my memory it was really dense and unmoving but it was a perfect balance between pace and poetry.
I also had forgotten about the Scouring of the Shire. I think it shows how much the Jackson films weren't about the characters and are really more plot driven. It doesn't make them bad, but I really appreciated the character arcs of the hobbits that conclude so nicely in that section.
My current books--I just finished reading the 4 "Hollywood" novels by Joseph Wambaugh. Excellent quartet of books all based stories from real officers then fictionalized by Wambaugh.
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Clay Adams
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 April 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 411
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| Posted: 02 November 2013 at 8:51pm | IP Logged | 8
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WHIPPING BOY. I think the author has done some comics.
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Ed Love
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 October 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 2712
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| Posted: 02 November 2013 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | 9
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The Scouring of the Shire is very important thematically to the heart of the story being told, something Jackson missed completely. It shows that this big war spills over and affects even this remote idyllic place. Our heroes return home to find that it is not un-touched by the horrors of war and evil can rise up just around the corner. Likewise, it drives home that these returning lads are no longer simply a reclusive country squire, his gardener, and two carefree goofballs.
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Matthew Chartrand
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 1357
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| Posted: 02 November 2013 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | 10
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The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter. A fiction novel about the hunt for the real killer of JFK. The fictional conspiracy theory in this book seems more plausible than most of the "real" ones I've read about.
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Ronald Joseph
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1784
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| Posted: 02 November 2013 at 10:07pm | IP Logged | 11
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Summer Knight by Jim Butcher - my favorite from the Dresden Files so far.
Edited by Ronald Joseph on 02 November 2013 at 10:08pm
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Jodi Moisan
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 February 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 6832
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| Posted: 03 November 2013 at 6:58am | IP Logged | 12
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Never Give In! The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches by Winston Churchill "We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!" You can listen to the speeches on youtube, Churchill is not as powerful speaker live, as Roosevelt (IMO), but I am wondering if his gait and calm manner is an English thing. He kind of has a mumble quality. The speeches seem more powerful in written form.
Edited by Jodi Moisan on 03 November 2013 at 7:20am
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