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Robert Cosgrove
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1710
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| Posted: 08 March 2014 at 8:44pm | IP Logged | 1
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After an early aborted try, just finished Stephen King, Dr. Sleep, the sequel to The Shining. Liked it. Also finished David P. Goldman, How Civilizations Die (and why Islam is Dying Too). And on the comics front, Vol. 12 of Leonard Starr, Mary Perkins: On Stage, the best narrative comic strip of the second half of the 20th century.
Have three possibilities to start next, a mystery novel, a book on the Pueblo Crisis during the Johnson administration, and the one I think I'm going to go with, Deborah Solomon, American Mirror, The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell. It's received a mixed reception, with the Rockwell family largely repudiating it.
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Ed Love
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 October 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 2712
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| Posted: 08 March 2014 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | 2
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Thom,
I remember enjoying THE WOLF'S HOUR by McCammon back in the day. More of a supernatural action book than horror I'd say. Apparently, there's a collection of short stories and novellas featuring the main character as well.
I also enjoyed THE NIGHT BOAT by him about a sunken Nazi submarine that's discovered in the Caribbean with its supposedly long dead crew.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 14 March 2014 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | 3
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Just finished GUILT by Jonathan Kellerman, the latest paperback in his ongoing Alex Delaware mystery series.
Tonight I dive into THE COLD DISH by Craig Johnson, the first book in the Walt Longmire series that the current A&E TV series is based on.
After that it will either be ALIBI by Joseph Kanon or THE BLESSING WAY by Tony Hillerman.
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Robert Cosgrove
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1710
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| Posted: 15 March 2014 at 6:14am | IP Logged | 4
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Finished Deborah Solomon, American Mirror, The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell. It's an interesting bio, and I learned a few things I didn't know about Rockwell (having read a previous bio plus his own book of biographical anecdotes), but Solomon tries a bit too hard to see sexuality, especially an interest in young boys, in Rockwell's work. I think the criticisms of the book (lots of links to same at Gurney Journey, December 2013 entries) are largely just.
I've just started Death of a Red Heroine, by Qui Xiaolong, a writer I became aware of based on a newspaper article a year or so ago. The hero, Detective Chen Cao of the Shanghai police department, is investigating his first murder, but everything in contemporary China is fraught with political peril. I believe there are other books featuring Cao, but this is the first. So far, so good.
On the comic front, I anticipate today's mail will bring the Simon & Kirby horror volume from Titan Books and volume 2 of Simon & Kirby's Young Romance from Fantagraphics. So the next few days will be an opportunity to read (or in most cases, reread) Simon & Kirby stuff, and remind myself how good Jack was at drawing stuff that was not superheroes. (No one, of course, needs to be reminded at how good he was a drawing superheroes).
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Steven Myers
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5689
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| Posted: 15 March 2014 at 6:19am | IP Logged | 5
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I'm reading Just the Facts, Ma'am: The authorized biography of Jack Webb. Very interesting stories of radio and early television! Dragnet is credited as the first time anyone tried to do a cop show realistically.
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Don Zomberg
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 23 November 2005
Posts: 2355
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| Posted: 15 March 2014 at 8:27am | IP Logged | 6
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The Circle, by Dave Eggers. Decent story about a Google-like company with overtones of Big Brother. It's also a frightening commentary about millenials and how their slavish devotion to technology is turning them into social morons.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 36018
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| Posted: 15 March 2014 at 10:18am | IP Logged | 7
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Finished WORLD WAR Z on my Kindle. First off, loved the book. I thought it was an ingenious way to write a series of short stories with an overall theme that ties them all together. It was riveting first page to last. Second, since I read it after seeing the movie I'm able to come away appreciating both. Might not have felt that way had I read the book first, but at the end of the day the book itself is unfilmable as a feature length movie. Could have been a great miniseries or seasons long episodic television series, but there's no way not to feel cheated confined as they were by 2+ hours. Finally, I really enjoyed the experience of reading it on my Kindle. Being a Luddite where eReaders are concerned, I never thought I'd say that. Light, portable, easy to use and oh so much better than the Kindle app for the iPad which I find tires my eyes because of the backlighting. I had gotten several books before Z and have already purchased a number of books for it after. The only drawback was not being able to read the footnotes at the time they showed up within the story. As a huge fan of nonfiction, this presents somewhat of a problem. I found it a chore to skip ahead to find what was being referenced and ended up not doing it at all. A nice add would be the ability to easily highlight the number, click on it to read and then go back to your place in the book. Not a drawback that's going to make me stop using it, but one I'll consider when purchasing heavily footnoted books in the future.
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Robert White
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4560
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| Posted: 16 March 2014 at 1:46am | IP Logged | 8
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I'm on the very last story (Xenogenesis) of "The Essential Ellison-A 50 Year Retrospective." I've taken an extremely long time to finish this one. Not because most of it wasn't fantastic, but because I've been reading a lot of comic book trades in between. (I'm about to pick up my reading speed, though.)
Harlan Ellison was a very unique case for me as a reader. He's the only author in my experience that I was a fan of before I read a single word of his writing--thanks to his commentary on the old Sci-Fi channel mainly. (Though Stephen King also qualifies I think.) Anyway, I think Harlan is at his best when he's mixing righteous anger with his hilarious brand of impishness.
I'll probably move on to my new Ray Bradbury collection and Robert E. Howard historical adventures collection next.
Edited by Robert White on 16 March 2014 at 1:48am
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Mike Purdy
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1448
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| Posted: 16 March 2014 at 1:12pm | IP Logged | 9
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Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. The story of two young Cree men who fight for Canada during WW1. By far the best depiction of the Great War I've ever read. Impossible not to visualize the horror of the trenches. But more than that, it's also a story of friendship, betrayal, madness, addiction and redemption, and a study of the struggle to maintain cultural and traditional beliefs. As a Canadian a sobering reminder of how shitty this nation has treated our native peoples. I can't stress enough how great this book is. GO OUT AND READ IT NOW!!
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 02 April 2014 at 8:11pm | IP Logged | 10
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MONEY SHOT by Christa Faust. It won an Edgar award for best paperback original novel a few years back.
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 15973
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| Posted: 03 April 2014 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | 11
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A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. Polished off the preceding book in the series on flights down to Colorado and back recently and dove straight into the next one, which is unusual for me -- normally I like to mix up a different author in between books in a series.
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Don Zomberg
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 23 November 2005
Posts: 2355
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| Posted: 05 April 2014 at 6:50pm | IP Logged | 12
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Iron Man--War Games by Byrne, Romita jr, and Ryan.
Read about half the volume this afternoon. Some great IM stories here--doesn't hurt that I've never read them before either.
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