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Robert Cosgrove
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1710
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| Posted: 20 January 2016 at 6:18pm | IP Logged | 1
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Yes, I'm a fan of the Smiley books. He first appears, as I recall, in a short mystery, I think it's Call for the Dead if I remember right, but he comes into his own in the much longer spy novels, The Honourable Schoolboy, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and Smiley's People. I believe all of them were adapted into tv limited series by the BBC, starring Alec Guiness as Smiley, all well worth seeing, but better if you've read the books first. There's a tendency to moral equivalence in LeCarre's novels which I dislike, but that doesn't stop me from very much enjoying his books.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 23 January 2016 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | 2
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Now starting:
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133416
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| Posted: 23 January 2016 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | 3
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Continuing with HP Lovecraft. Yesterday started "The Dunwich Horror." So far finding the works not boring, but strangely uninvolving. I think Lovecraft's manner of presenting his tales in a kind of essay form may have much to do with this. When I was first experimenting with the novel form an editor told me that it was best to find ways to present scenes from the points of view of one or more of the characters, rather than just describing what was happening. Thus, "The body was sprawled in front of the fireplace when Susan entered" is better rendered as "Susan stopped in the doorway when she saw the body sprawled in front of the fireplace." So far, Lovecraft's work takes the former shape, purple in prose, but with everything held at arm's length.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 29 January 2016 at 6:07pm | IP Logged | 4
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133416
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| Posted: 30 January 2016 at 6:05am | IP Logged | 5
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Started FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones. One of those "should have read this by now!" books.
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Joe Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 August 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6669
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| Posted: 30 January 2016 at 10:11am | IP Logged | 6
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THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE by Neil Gaiman
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 03 February 2016 at 12:45am | IP Logged | 7
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Robert Cosgrove
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1710
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| Posted: 05 February 2016 at 7:34pm | IP Logged | 8
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Finished When the Thrill Is Gone by Walter Mosley, the 3rd Leonid McGill book. A beautiful woman, married to a wealthy man, comes into McGill's office and says her husband may be going to kill her. The woman turns out to be someone different from whom she claims, but she's soon dead, and McGill begins to investigate.
Constitutional Personae by noted law professor and former Obama official Cass Sunstein. A new way at looking at the "roles" assumed by the justices in their opinions. If you read any books on constitutional law for pleasure over the past year, this short book is worth a look. If you didn't, I doubt this would be your cup of tea.
The Crossing by Michael Connelly. Retired on bad terms with the LAPD, the last thing Harry Bosch wants to do is cross the aisle and work as a defense investigator. But as he gradually becomes convinced that the man charged with murder is actually innocent, he soon finds himself doing just that. I love Michael Connelly's books, and particularly like the Bosch series. A passing comment in the book brought to my attention Arnold Schwarzenneger's 11th hour commutation of the sentence of the son of a political ally, which I had been unaware of.
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Josh Goldberg
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 October 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2081
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| Posted: 05 February 2016 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | 9
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This. I love the language.
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Shane Matlock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 1760
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| Posted: 05 February 2016 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | 10
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Just read the Magicians by Lev Grossman. It was a great read. They're currently doing a SyFy series of it and they made quite a few changes in the first episode. Getting ready the start the Magican King by Grossman. I hope it holds up the quality of the first book.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133416
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| Posted: 07 February 2016 at 8:04am | IP Logged | 11
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Finding FROM HERE TO ETERNITY hard slogging. Partly because I'm several chapters in and have yet to find any of the characters engaging. Partly because the writer, who strung all the words together and invented all these characters in order to tell this story about life in the army in pre-War Hawaii and likes to affect the speech patterns of GIs by eschewing commas in contractions so can't becomes cant but oddly you're is still you're, likes to break sentences in odd places.Like I just did.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 11 February 2016 at 7:54pm | IP Logged | 12
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Just finished:
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