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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Finished:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...62dc46d7ba.jpg I quite enjoyed the first book by this author (well, by this pen name ... the author has a long career of publishing thrillers under the name Michael Marshall and sci-fi under the name Michael Marshall Smith). The Anomaly was described as a cross between Indiana Jones (if Indy was in modern times, washed out of academia, and is forced to make a living through a YouTube investigative show) and The X-Files. And the first book in the series delivered on that premise. This one ... I don't know what happened. Instead it seems like a really lame entry in The Conjuring series. There's a slow build where I'm not being sold that anything interesting will happen. Then when things do happen it's told in such a muddled way it was hard to care. Also finished: https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...eb1dc2a725.jpg This was a fun, quick mystery/thriller/horror. I hadn't read the author's previous two bestsellers, but I should probably check them out at some point. It's pretty upfront about being inspired by Rosemary's Baby, with a Manhattan gothic setting (a creepy old apartment building next to Central Park) and a similar build-up with a young woman gradually realizing something sinister is going on with the quirky, friendly neighbors. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Originally Posted by jpcamb
(Post 13874027)
Finished World War Z
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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Just started:
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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Originally Posted by brainee
(Post 13883753)
Finished:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...62dc46d7ba.jpg I quite enjoyed the first book by this author (well, by this pen name ... the author has a long career of publishing thrillers under the name Michael Marshall and sci-fi under the name Michael Marshall Smith). The Anomaly was described as a cross between Indiana Jones (if Indy was in modern times, washed out of academia, and is forced to make a living through a YouTube investigative show) and The X-Files. And the first book in the series delivered on that premise. This one ... I don't know what happened. Instead it seems like a really lame entry in The Conjuring series. There's a slow build where I'm not being sold that anything interesting will happen. Then when things do happen it's told in such a muddled way it was hard to care. Also finished: https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...eb1dc2a725.jpg This was a fun, quick mystery/thriller/horror. I hadn't read the author's previous two bestsellers, but I should probably check them out at some point. It's pretty upfront about being inspired by Rosemary's Baby, with a Manhattan gothic setting (a creepy old apartment building next to Central Park) and a similar build-up with a young woman gradually realizing something sinister is going on with the quirky, friendly neighbors. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Finished New Spring, the prequel to the Wheel of Time series. It was fine, clearly being used as a setup for other things. Remains to be seen how much it adds to the actual series.
Started: https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...2040f0fa5f.jpg The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan The first proper book in the series. Only one chapter in, but it starts out pretty impressive. |
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Finished:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...df8c5fa0e9.jpg There were a lot of similarities to this and The Starless Sea (which I also recently finished). Both were romantic urban fantasies about doors to other worlds, a young protagonist thrown into a big quest, the magic of reading, alternating between the main story and "book within a book", and both were written in a rolling lyrical style. This just worked a lot better for me. The story seemed more focused, the characters more interesting. I liked the early 20th/late 19th century setting of this more as well. Just started: https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...7a6fb217b0.jpg It's the first of a trilogy so I may be at it for a while. So far so good. The setting is something different, for me at least ... a fantasy set in Napoleonic Egypt. I'm less than 50 pages in and the writing style seems easy to read, although there's a bit of historical and cultural terminology that I'm still getting a grasp on. And it seems to be fast-paced, with already an exorcism, a djinn battling a demon, flesh eating ghouls, and a flying carpet. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
The Ophuchi Hotline by John Varley. I bought it as a teenager in 1977 when it was first published, and it's been in my bookcase ever since. Today's science fiction seems to use one or two ideas per novel, but this book is frothy, overflowing with ideas. The aliens kicked humanity off the Earth, surgery as a do-it-yourself project, cloning, memory recordings, casual sex, enslaved scientists, symbiotic human/alien hybrids, and a giant stream of engineering information that's beamed from the star Ophuchi. It's a wild ride.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...47e3a091cb.png |
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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Originally Posted by rbrown498
(Post 13883321)
I'll start Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix today or tomorrow: https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...747c536b8e.jpg |
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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Theater by W. Somerset Maugham. It's a portrait of the best actress of her generation, in her prime. She's brilliant on stage, and she's a shallow self-centered person off the stage. After having been celibate for almost twenty years, she is seduced by a young man. It turns her upside down, and since she's a celebrity, the affair affects her career. But she's worked so hard for so long to reach the top that she's not going to let anyone drag her down.
Maugham was a playwright as well as a novelist, so he spent a lot of time around the theater crowd. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Read:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...cff622364a.jpg I read several books gathered from a deceased friend's house so I am catching up from last summer. This book was a gift to my friend since he was a Star Trek fan. It was very helpful that I watched Star Trek: TOS before reading this autobiography because it draws on characters and events before and during the series. Apparently there was a second five year mission which took place after Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the events of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was treated as a movie taking place on the Bread and Circuses (Roman) world. It ends with Spock believing that Kirk is still alive because his mind meld connection was not severed when Kirk disappeared in Star Trek: Generations. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Read:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...2834f6c084.jpg 'Battlestar' is a misnomer in the title since what is featured is akin to a 'Death Star' but some interesting future tech and applications are discussed. I liked the chapter on 'force fields' which reviewed electric reactive armor and the hope to reduce concussive blast damage. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Read:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...00449256ee.jpg My friend was writing so I got him these books. He liked the first one and disliked the second one -- probably because spelling and grammar were never his strong suit. The novel book makes a good point that after reviewing and revising so much a writer, or artist in general, ultimately has to abandon his work. George Lucas take note. ;) The writing book was written before the internet but I found it a nice resource. I liked this part with regard to the rhythm of writing: This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It's like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with the energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals - sounds that say listen to this, it is important. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Read:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...408655fedb.jpg I am not as familiar with Star Trek: Enterprise as other series so it took awhile to figure out some of the crew and their characterizations. Quick read about T'Pol, non-violent conflict (Gandhi shout-out!), and an away mission gone very bad but familiar territory for Star Trek overall. |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Read:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...cbace71d5a.jpg Fun read with special relativity, twin paradox, and telepathy as story basis. The telepathic connections with descendants to communicate from the ship to Earth was an interesting twist and the last scouting mission helplessly viewed by Tom was truly horrifying. I will need to check the library for more Heinlein books. |
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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9...308-us-300.jpg
'Salem's Lot meets Rambo. This is definitely a guilty pleasure read. |
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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Originally Posted by rbrown498
(Post 13890735)
I'll start Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix today or tomorrow:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...747c536b8e.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...e899421a1c.jpg |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Finished:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...cf56471fc4.png Very entertaining, brisk read. Been a minute since I finished a book in one day. Started: https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...d94681490f.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...10372530ff.jpg |
Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Originally Posted by rbrown498
(Post 13898177)
Finished Horrorstör last night; starting The Shining by Stephen King today:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...e899421a1c.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...39e0fdc02e.jpg link |
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I'm sorry but I had to lay Foundation aside. It just seemed like it was going nowhere fast. Got to page 100 (eventually) and realized I'd lost the zest for reading. Put it aside and broke out The Great Book of Amber. Piqued my interest on page 1, hasn't let up...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...82820cdd60.jpg |
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Re: What Are You Reading? 2021
Originally Posted by FunkDaddy J
(Post 13900886)
Spoiler:
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