I was shocked when I looked at the date just before posting to the April thread to realize it is May already. Where did the time go? Anyway, really enjoyed The Likeness by Tana French, but next up is a James Patterson & Friends book that is the latest part of the Women's Murder Club series (I almost feel duty bound to continue with the series):
Just finished the two most recent Hamish Macbeth books this weekend:
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Now reading The Great Movies II and Don't Know Much About Anything.
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Let me know what you think of this. I read Half Broke Horses, which is about the grandmother of the author, and I believe this book is about the mother.
There are some bona fide classics in there, including "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" and Batman: The Killing Joke. I've been meaning to read the latter for 21 years and finally did it. It was funny, because I've heard so much about it--and even seen so many pages from it over the years in Wizard articles and such--that it felt like a re-read. In some regards, it was just as depraved as I was told, but it still felt...tame, somehow. I could definitely trace the influence it's had on the Batman mythology, especially the cinematic depictions of the Joker.
Up next...unsure. I read this to take a break while I figured out what I wanted to read next, and I'm still unsure. The last three of the four other books I've read this year were all memoirs, so I don't know. It might be time to finish off the Ian Fleming Bonds with Octopussy and The Living Daylights short story collection, which I'm reluctant to do because then there'll be none left for me to read. On the other hand, I've been saving Sebastian Faulks's Devil May Care until I finish Fleming's run.
HerdfanWV
05-04-10, 10:08 PM
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I just purchased this, so let us know how it is.
Just finishing:
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darkside
05-05-10, 08:25 AM
Finished the The Great Movies II which as excellent and Don't Know Much About Anything which wasn't really that interesting. Will be reading some classic Rex Stout that just got released to ebooks next.
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Geofferson
05-05-10, 09:36 AM
As for me, I just started.
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This is a good series - enjoy!
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I think you and I have the same book collection. Most everything you list I have either already read or bought and plan to read. :) I have not yet read this one (have only read a couple of his short stories thus far).
Geofferson
05-07-10, 12:29 PM
Just started:
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Jose Dromedary
05-07-10, 04:31 PM
Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. Really enjoying the book!
I think you and I have the same book collection. Most everything you list I have either already read or bought and plan to read. :) I have not yet read this one (have only read a couple of his short stories thus far).
Great minds think alike. :)
Big City, Bad Blood was good. I will be reading his second book (Trigger City).
Finished reading The Bluest Eye late last night. Not sure what's next right now. Might go with another graphic novel to buy some time in which to decide my next book.
Finished up last weeks Rex Stout ebook releases and have started on the 3 for this week.
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I just love how efficient writers were in the 30s, 40s and 50s. They can tell an amazingly detailed and enjoyable detective story in 200 pages. Todays writers use 3 times the pages to tell half the story.
rkndkn
05-11-10, 04:48 PM
Next up (after waiting 4 months on the library wait list):
I finally finished this up last night. It is a pretty compelling experience and I highly recommend this book. I would point out, however, that it is the beginning of a trilogy, so one could probably wait until all the books are out to read it. Once I finished, I couldn't wait to see what happens next.
(It looks like the author is taking his sweet time putting the books out. Amazon has a pre-order for the next book and the release date is January).
How's The Girl Who Played With Fire (particularly in relation to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I really liked)? I'm thinking of picking it up next.
12thmonkey
05-12-10, 08:37 AM
How's The Girl Who Played With Fire (particularly in relation to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I really liked)? I'm thinking of picking it up next.
So far I'm about 200 pages in, and I'm liking it. It took me some time to fall in with the flow of the first book, but Fire doesn't suffer from that same fate here. It all seems to move quicker. I really grew to love the Lisbeth Salander character in Dragon Tattoo, so getting more of her (and the Swedish locale) is all good, imo. The central plot seems dark, and so far many of the characters return from the first book.
wmermine
05-12-10, 08:57 AM
So far I'm about 200 pages in, and I'm liking it. It took me some time to fall in with the flow of the first book, but Fire doesn't suffer from that same fate here. It all seems to move quicker. I really grew to love the Lisbeth Salander character in Dragon Tattoo, so getting more of her (and the Swedish locale) is all good, imo. The central plot seems dark, and so far many of the characters return from the first book.
You had the same problem with the first book that I did, it sounds like. Glad to hear that's resolved in the second one. I'll be reading that next, then! Thanks for responding!
I've killed the last two nights with pretty light reading. I pulled out some Sin City (Family Values, The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories, Sex & Violence and Just Another Saturday Night) two nights ago, and read Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - The Screenplay last night. I was really excited when I found that at Half Price Books recently, since that's still my favorite of the Trek movies.
Headed out to Barnes & Noble later to pick up Doctor Zhivago on Blu-ray, so I might find something more substantive to read; I just haven't been able to talk myself into reading any of the unread books in my library lately for some reason.
This is a pretty beefy book, I'll see everybody in November... :)
Just a tip -- any time you see "Chalcedon" or "Chalcedonian," start skimming. The guy spends more time on the debates about the nature of the Trinity at Chalcedon than he does on the Crusades.
movieking
05-14-10, 09:31 AM
Not the cover of the book that I have, but regardless:
I'm little more than halfway through it, and so far I've found it amusing. Being a textbook parody was definitely the way to go; I think any other structure would have exposed the material as being weak.
darkside
05-15-10, 06:01 PM
Loved America the book. Need to read through it again.
MinLShaw
05-15-10, 06:23 PM
Loved America the book. Need to read through it again.
I doubt I'll ever read it a second time, but that's not quite fair since I just about never re-read a book. Not sure why that is. I learned earlier today while looking for an image to link to in this thread that they've got a follow-up, Earth, scheduled to be published in September.
cgray
05-15-10, 07:59 PM
I'm nearly done with Dan Simmons' Hyperion (recommended for fans of the genre) and found out today he lives about 20 minutes from my house.
I'll never forget when that came out. I was talking with a friend of mine who had been reading that series the next day and I jokingly told him that I had thumbed through a copy and jumped to the end. I tried to tell him it ends with Harry Potter eating onion rings, but he uncharacteristically took me at face value and thought I was actually going to spoil the end of the last book for him and kept talking over me.
I enjoyed it, but not as much as Gold's other book, Carter Beats the Devil. As you might surmise from that cover and (if you're a true afficianado) from the title, it's largely about Charlie Chaplin circa 1918-1919, although it's about a lot of other people and things too.
I think I'm probably going to reread Stephen King's It next. I haven't read that in 15-20 years.
Just a tip -- any time you see "Chalcedon" or "Chalcedonian," start skimming. The guy spends more time on the debates about the nature of the Trinity at Chalcedon than he does on the Crusades.
Yeah he seems to be spending more time on the less interesting stuff, I mean he blew right past Jesus. :lol:
Even though this is a 1000+ page book, every sub chapter could have anohter 1000 page book written about it; he is skimming over a lot of important information.
Drav3n
05-19-10, 10:24 PM
Just finished
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Got Personal History by Katharine Graham today. Also, The Sacred Art of Shakespeare by Martin Lings. I'll be reading both books in the next few weeks.
lattethunder
05-23-10, 07:19 AM
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MinLShaw
05-23-10, 07:29 AM
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Let us know what you think; at least three others of us have read this that I can think of offhand. I think regular viewers of The Late Late Show will find a lot of material familiar to them, but it's still an engaging story. I would not hesitate to recommend Ferguson's novel, Between the Bridge and the River.
As for myself, I couldn't sleep all night, so I finished America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction. Its premise (being a parody of a social studies textbook) I found to be the strongest point. The content varied, from obligatory to clever. It'll be interesting to see how readers contextualize this work in the coming years, in light of what's going on down in Texas. Art and life...they keep imitating and parodying one another, don't they? God willing, the next thing I'll be reading will be the back of my eyelids. I'm exhausted!
wertent
05-23-10, 08:03 AM
Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd
Generation Kill - Evan Wright
Now
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Then
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MinLShaw
05-24-10, 11:27 AM
After watching their farewell tribute special on TV last night, I decided it was high time I read:
I turned it up in hardback at Half Price Books a few weeks ago. The original buyer kept the exclusive CD single, but the book was in great shape and the price was right.
I stayed up literally all night fueled by steroids and gave up on falling asleep around 9 or so this morning. Then I took the book outside and flaked in the hammock. I read 35 pages before it got too damn hot to stay out there. A shame, too, because the heat and the honeysuckle in the air really lent some ambiance to the story.
Saw a really good special about this on the Military Network. Really awesome story. People can send donations so they can reunite more dogs with their owners:
Just finished The Adventures of Slim & Howdy by Kix Brooks & Ronnie Dunn with Bill Fitzhugh. I review it here (http://zi.pe/sbf) for the interested. It's a fun bit of light reading, clearly intended for fans of Brooks & Dunn more than readers at large. I've got some other things to say, but I think I'm gonna start a new thread for the broader subject of fiction penned by celebrities not known for being authors. Which, now that I think about it, is probably a good title for that thread... ;)
Next up: I bought a whole stack of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight and Batman: Shadow of the Bat issues to replace ones I used to own (and fill in a few gaps I always had) from Half Price Books. Tomorrow, I think I'm gonna sit down on the floor and spend a Saturday the way I did when I was a kid. (If you've got a Half Price Books store nearby, you should check it out this weekend; they're having an across-the-board 20% off sale; nearly every issue I bought was only $0.50 in the first place!)
Saturday night, I stayed up late reading Batman comics. I read "The Last Arkham," the first four issues of Batman: Shadow of the Bat and then "Shaman," the first five issues of Legends of the Dark Knight. Both have been offered in now-out-of-print collected editions, but I read the original issues. It felt right.
Tonight, I returned to prose and selected
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Giving by Bill Clinton.
I've already read the first two chapters. It feels like a literary infomercial, to be honest; so far, it's been one paragraph after another just namedropping people who have taken the initiative to start some kind of program somewhere in the world. I'm hopeful that there will be more interesting material, because I heard it was an inspiring book. So far, it seems like little more than a way of offering print recognition to philanthropic donors. I'm not knocking the people or their deeds, mind you; just the former president's way of promoting their work.
movieking
05-31-10, 11:54 AM
I hated this book (but I don't even recall why)! I'll be curious to see what you think about it.
I really enjoyed it. While there were no likable characters per se, and the mysteries were wrapped up very hastily at the end (with very predictable outcomes), something about the story intrigued me and kept me interested the whole time. Maybe it was because Flynn's flawed hero was much more damaged than others tend to be, but I enjoyed it so much I started Flynn's second book, "Dark Places" (which also seems to have a flawed hero as well).
I really enjoyed it. While there were no likable characters per se, and the mysteries were wrapped up very hastily at the end (with very predictable outcomes), something about the story intrigued me and kept me interested the whole time. Maybe it was because Flynn's flawed hero was much more damaged than others tend to be, but I enjoyed it so much I started Flynn's second book, "Dark Places" (which also seems to have a flawed hero as well).
Cool! I think I couldn't get over how "flawed" the hero was. I really hated how she differed to her sister.
movieking
06-01-10, 06:06 AM
Cool! I think I couldn't get over how "flawed" the hero was. I really hated how she differed to her sister.
It was a very odd relationship, one that almost seemed to have incestuous overtones, but never fully crossed the line. But that was one screwed up family.
Buy: