| Author |
|
Martin lill-axel Jansson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 April 2014
Location: Sweden
Posts: 83
|
| Posted: 14 November 2014 at 9:28am | IP Logged | 1
|
post reply
|
|
Lee Childs "Jack Reacher", good to listen too when drivning too work.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Andrew Hess
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9846
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | 2
|
post reply
|
|
There's a book called "Jack Reacher"..? I thought they all had titles about the story but featured him, like the "James Bond" books/movies...
Read the first one, "Killing Floor," and had such problems with it: lots of plot points were either too obvious or didn't work, such as in the very beginning he accidentally winds up in the town where his brother died, and it really is an accident that in all of the places in the US he finds himself there.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
| |
Andrew Hess
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9846
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | 3
|
post reply
|
|
Myself, I just finished "On the Beach" by Nevil Shute.
World War III has just happened: all of the major powers and some of the lessers have bombed each other to oblivion; and the nuclear fallout is slowly covering the rest of the globe. The story focuses on people living in Australia, the last people in the world, waiting for the clouds of radiation to reach them.
Wow, what a downer, and no hope for anyone. Very sobering. At the time Shute got a lot of flack from people/governments, because it *was* so bleak.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133442
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | 4
|
post reply
|
|
One of my favorite books. Much, much better than the movie, which lost so much of the poignancy of Shute's tale by choosing to cast actors middle aged and older to play characters who were supposed to be in their twenties. Meanwhile, I am rereading CLEOPATRA - A LIFE, by Stacy Schiff. History rendered with wit and verve, it reads like a novel.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Josh Goldberg
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 October 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2081
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | 5
|
post reply
|
|
re-reading JB's NEXT MEN: AFTERMATH.
I, too, have read and enjoyed ON THE BEACH (not too long ago, for the first time). Though I had previously seen and enjoyed both film versions. Basically, if it's a post-apocalyptic dystopia, I'm there. (which is why I'm still holding out hope for DOOMSDAY.2 [and more] from JB).
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133442
|
| Posted: 21 November 2014 at 6:05am | IP Logged | 6
|
post reply
|
|
I wonder if "dystopia" is the right word? Clearly, everybody is in a bad place, but there is none of the societal collapse one tends to associate with a dystopia. The characters in Shute's story are clinging to their normal daily lives right up to the end. ON THE BEACH, in a broad sense, is about civilization trying to survive against impossible (literally) odds.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 36013
|
| Posted: 21 November 2014 at 10:52am | IP Logged | 7
|
post reply
|
|
I've read a ton since I last posted, just haven't written about them! Currently I've got two books on my nightstand which is a rarity for me as I like to read one at a time. The book I'm on right now is GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY, HOLLYWOOD AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF by Pulitzer Prize-wining author Lawrence Wright. Fascinating and disturbing all in the same breath. I'm about a hundred pages in and I've probably shook my head at least that many times. Astounding what people do to themselves and others all in the name of "enlightenment". L. Ron Hubbard was a complete loon. A dangerous loon.
I'm also nearing the end of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: AN AMERICAN LIFE by Walter Isaacson. Broad, compelling look at Franklin's life and times. I've never been too interested in this period of American history as I've tended to read about America in the mid-1800's, the Old West, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution and pretty much any history of the Mob in the US, but this book has really opened my eyes to a chapter (or 12!) that I'm finding quite intriguing. My brother turned me on to this book and my next foray into the Revolutionary era will probably be another book he recommended, HIS EXCELLENCY: GEORGE WASHINGTON by Joseph J. Ellis. I've got that on my bookshelf waiting for me.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133442
|
| Posted: 21 November 2014 at 12:28pm | IP Logged | 8
|
post reply
|
|
I've read a ton since I last posted, just haven't written about them! Currently I've got two books on my nightstand which is a rarity for me as I like to read one at a time. The book I'm on right now is GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY, HOLLYWOOD AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF by Pulitzer Prize-wining author Lawrence Wright. Fascinating and disturbing all in the same breath. I'm about a hundred pages in and I've probably shook my head at least that many times. Astounding what people do to themselves and others all in the name of "enlightenment". L. Ron Hubbard was a complete loon. A dangerous loon.••• Ah, but, as Paul Kupperberg's then 15 year old son asked, in terms of what we know of the Universe, which makes more sense -- an invisible man in the sky, or... aliens?
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 36013
|
| Posted: 21 November 2014 at 12:36pm | IP Logged | 9
|
post reply
|
|
Agreed, but when Hubbard positions himself as someone who has visited Venus and brought back secrets, remembers a "past life" in order to recommend a concoction for babies who weren't breast fed and sells the idea that he could move clouds with but a thought, I've gotta side on both being dangerously loony.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Robert Cosgrove
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1710
|
| Posted: 22 November 2014 at 11:42pm | IP Logged | 10
|
post reply
|
|
Matt, I think you'll enjoy the George Washington book. I've read a lot of Ellis's stuff, including that one, and enjoyed all of it.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17700
|
| Posted: 28 November 2014 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | 11
|
post reply
|
|
Just finished…
THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Next up…
THE RUNAWAY KING by Jennifer A. Nielsen
THE SHADOW THRONE by Jennifer A. Nielsen
WILL TO LEAD, SKILL TO TEACH by Anthony Muhammad & Sharroky
Hollie
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133442
|
| Posted: 30 November 2014 at 10:11pm | IP Logged | 12
|
post reply
|
|
Just finished a second reading of PEYTON PLACE, once again inspired by having watched the movie again a few weeks back. The two have little in common aside from character names -- and not even all of those. The book is soap opera, but very well written soap opera. Reading antique reviews online, I found that many critics who proclaimed themselves "scandalized" by the story still felt compelled to praise the writing. I've been told the sequel is a bit of a dull thud, which is unfortunate. I would like to revisit Peyton Place, but not at the risk of tainting the original. (Side note: the edition I just finished features a long and somewhat pretentious introduction. At one point the author of this piece praises Grace Metalious for "perfectly capturing" small town New England in the Fifties. The book starts in 1937 and ends in 1944.)
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
