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Charles Nelson
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Joined: 25 June 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 246
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| Posted: 13 February 2018 at 11:00pm | IP Logged | 1
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Thanks for the info.At the risk of sounding obsessive, James, I have read the Underworld Trilogy (American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood's A Rover) about 5 times. I also read White Jazz 3 or 4 times. Ellroy is not the only author I re-read like that. I have read LeCarre's Smiley works many times, as well as Charles McCarry's Paul Christopher (and family) novels. While very different, all 3 authors describe the interior and exterior so well that it doesn't seem to matter that I know how they end. They also have such intricate plotting that it's simply impossible to remember it all! I have to be careful walking by my my bookshelf. I know that looking up one detail in any of those books could lead to several months of re-reading the entire set. I never regret doing so, but it does keep me from reading (or doing) something else.
Edited by Charles Nelson on 13 February 2018 at 11:02pm
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Valmor J. Pedretti
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Joined: 14 October 2011
Location: Brazil
Posts: 786
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| Posted: 14 February 2018 at 3:22pm | IP Logged | 2
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Just finished Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'.
Starting 'The Art of Asking' by Amanda Palmer.
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Rebecca Jansen
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Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4635
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| Posted: 14 February 2018 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | 3
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Interesting about James Ellroy. I might check with the library on him at the very least!
I was getting into Babylon Berlin recently (a Sky TV series based on some books by Volker Kutscher), it doesn't seem the series is available in English yet. So... I dragged out a non-fiction book titled Before The Deluge by Otto Friedrich which I've had for a long time to re-read. It's about Weimar Republic era Berlin in the 1920s. Like Mark Twain is supposed to have said, history rhymes, and you can see some rhyming going on these days (in my opinion, 'ymmv'). "Twas ever thus." sez Mr. Narural?
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James Best
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Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 14 February 2018 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | 4
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While very different, all 3 authors describe the interior and exterior so well that it doesn't seem to matter that I know how they end. They also have such intricate plotting that it's simply impossible to remember it all!
********************
Charles:
I remember when I read L.A. CONFIDENTIAL in the late 90's. After I finished it I had to take some time for my brain to fully digest it because of all the layers that Ellroy had stacked on top of one another.
The book had been published in 1990 but the plot and subplots were so dense and complex that it took Hollywood seven years before they could streamline the novel into a workable screenplay. I can't help but wonder if some of Ellroy's other books have failed to be adapted for the silver screen for the same reason.
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Charles Nelson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 June 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 246
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| Posted: 14 February 2018 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | 5
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James, His Black Dahlia was translated to film, but in a streamlined version of the book. On several occasions over the last few years (decade?) American Tabloid has been pitched (and maybe a little further along) as a cable mini-series. Obviously, that hasn't happened, although in this long-form TV series age, I cannot understand why.
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Robbie Parry
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Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 15 February 2018 at 11:34am | IP Logged | 6
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About to start THE JUNGLE BOOK. I hope it's as good as the original Disney film. ;-)
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James Best
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Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 15 February 2018 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | 7
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Charles:
I have heard the same rumors about AMERICAN TABLOID and agree that it would work well as a long-form TV series. But I think the real problem is that Ellroy's novels (as Hollywood properties) have "cooled off" a lot from his peak of popularity in the late 90's and early 00's.
While L.A. CONFIDENTIAL did very well at the box office, garnered positive reviews, and earned an Oscar for Kim Basinger, the same can't be said for THE BLACK DAHLIA... I think Hollywood moved on once it perceived that Ellroy was no longer bankable and has little interest in revisiting his stuff.
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Robbie Parry
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Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 18 February 2018 at 12:10pm | IP Logged | 8
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Reading TARZAN ON THE PLANET OF THE APES (Dark Horse).
Not sure the worlds mesh that well, to be honest. I commend it for the effort, but it's not quite working for me. May as well finish it, though, as I bought the trade.
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Rebecca Jansen
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Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4635
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| Posted: 18 February 2018 at 1:16pm | IP Logged | 9
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I wish I could read all the Mike Ploog Planet Of The Apes comics. I could even disguise the purchase as a gift for the BF as he is a fan of it (even the new ones I'm not into). I was looking at the British ones hoping they might be affordable (and because that's what I had one of), but I'm too skint. If I spent on a book right now it'd be that Kurt Schaffenbeger's life book I didn't know about at the time.
I read some Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider Haggard as a kid, but Edgar Rice Burroughs was easier to find thanks to Ace paperbacks. I still have a lot of those Ballantine Adult Fantasy books with Victorian era Haggard, William Morris, Lord Dunsany etc. somehow Kipling like Mary Shelley fits in with that for me.
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Robbie Parry
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Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 19 February 2018 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | 10
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It's hard to define what Special Branch are within UK policing. They seem to overlap with other units and do tasks such as protection of royals and VIPs, but I suppose they are best known for counter-terrorism duties.
This book is well worth a read:
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Wallace Sellars
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Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17700
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| Posted: 22 February 2018 at 9:20pm | IP Logged | 11
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SPACE TEAM: RETURN OF THE DEAD GUY
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Robbie Parry
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Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: 24 February 2018 at 10:17am | IP Logged | 12
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Can't wait to get stuck into this, let's hope my non-scientific brain can get a grip on it:
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