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post #81 of 146
3/6/07 at 8:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bageljoey View Post

I'm not sure I understand this criticism unless you two are teens. These books are marketed as teen books and marketed to teens. How can you criticize them for being too teen-y?

Sorry for not clarifying, what I meant by my comment was that they would have been better if they hadn't been teen books at all. Read as teen books they were fine, but they had potential to be much deeper books, and this potential was not tapped, since they were teen novels. My opinion is that they should have been written as adult novels, and expanded.
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post #82 of 146
3/6/07 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by maimezvous View Post

Yes I am a teenager, but I certainly don't read at the teen level. Or at least the level these books were written for. When you read them you will see. I'm sure I would have really enjoyed them when I was 12 or 13, but I know there is so much better literature out there.

Yeah. I see 12 and 13 year olds reading them and they seem delighted. Of course, some of the 13 year olds wouldn't touch these books with a 10 foot pole. I'm guessing the target age doesnt go much higher than that...

So, just curious now, what have you read lately that you liked?
(Just don't tell me its the Barroque Cycle--I'll get an inferiority complex...)
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post #83 of 146
3/6/07 at 8:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by turnwrite View Post

Sorry for not clarifying, what I meant by my comment was that they would have been better if they hadn't been teen books at all. Read as teen books they were fine, but they had potential to be much deeper books, and this potential was not tapped, since they were teen novels. My opinion is that they should have been written as adult novels, and expanded.

I understand. A good idea lost to teen/tween pulp.

As I said, I haven't read them yet, but I can imagine wondering what a serious adult author would be able to do with the premise...
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--e.e.c.
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post #84 of 146
3/6/07 at 8:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bageljoey View Post

Yeah. I see 12 and 13 year olds reading them and they seem delighted. Of course, some of the 13 year olds wouldn't touch these books with a 10 foot pole. I'm guessing the target age doesnt go much higher than that...

So, just curious now, what have you read lately that you liked?
(Just don't tell me its the Barroque Cycle--I'll get an inferiority complex...)

I recently finished The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It's non-fiction about the Chicago worlds fair. Fairly interesting. Others within the past two months include Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Prestige, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest. All great pieces of literature.
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post #85 of 146
3/6/07 at 8:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by maimezvous View Post

I recently finished The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It's non-fiction about the Chicago worlds fair. Fairly interesting. Others within the past two months include Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Prestige, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest. All great pieces of literature.

Was thinking of reading The Prestige in the summer. Will watching the movie take away from the book, do you think? It is on my Netflicks Q.
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--e.e.c.
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post #86 of 146
3/7/07 at 12:13am
All this talk about teen reading calls to mind my 8 year-old daughter.

She's just finished reading both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlotte's Web. And English is the weaker of her two languages. Needless to say, I'm a pretty proud dad.

As for me, I just read a fantastic book called Headlong by Michael Frayn. It's historical fiction about a philosopher turned novice art historian who discovers a lost masterpiece. I haven't read a book with this much non-stop suspense since Number9Dream by David Mitchell.
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post #87 of 146
3/7/07 at 7:06am
Last one I read was Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" - pretty nice book, read it all at once (okay, but then, I also had enough time to do so as I was on an 11-hour flight from Asia to Europe...)
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post #88 of 146
3/7/07 at 8:34am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bageljoey View Post

Was thinking of reading The Prestige in the summer. Will watching the movie take away from the book, do you think? It is on my Netflicks Q.

I just read the book and then watched the movie immediately after finishing the book. That is the best way to go, in my opinion. I think you understand parts of the movie better if you've already read the book, and also the book relies heavily on plot twists to keep your attention, so already knowing what happens will not serve you well.
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post #89 of 146
3/7/07 at 8:36am
Thread Starter 
Just this morning I started a book called "Spin." It is a pretty good sci-fi novel so far. It begins with some kids looking up at the night sky, only to watch as the stars all go out. The rest of the book is apparently how Earth tries to figure out what has happened, and how it will affect them.
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post #90 of 146
3/7/07 at 11:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by turnwrite View Post

I just read the book and then watched the movie immediately after finishing the book. That is the best way to go, in my opinion. I think you understand parts of the movie better if you've already read the book, and also the book relies heavily on plot twists to keep your attention, so already knowing what happens will not serve you well.

I don't know. The movie relies on those plot twists too. I think that in this case it doesn't really matter which you do first. They will both be just as good.
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post #91 of 146
3/8/07 at 1:03pm
I just finished reading Creepers by David Morrell. An excellent suspense filled page turner. It was hard to put down once I started reading it.
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The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. Thomas Jefferson
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post #92 of 146
3/8/07 at 2:06pm
Just picked up Prozac Nation A Memoir by Elizabeht Wurtzel this morning. I'm only about 30 pages into it, but I've really liked it so far. It really appeals to the teenage angst inside of me.
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"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" ~ Vroomfondel
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post #93 of 146
3/10/07 at 1:56pm
Wurtzel writes like a hysterical wombat [semi-colon]; it's the egocentricity menstruating from her pores which makes me think every time she raises her armpit to pen another sentence, she has actually succoured an exceedingly banal example of fart.

Teenage angst is fine, although there are better examples. Even 'Young Man Luther' by Erik Erikson with it's psychoanalytical slant is more stimulating.

Back to Page 9 of Apple Indesign.....the slog goes on. I'm losing interest already. Been to a few exhibitions today and have recently taken up reading maps of French place names...
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post #94 of 146
3/10/07 at 8:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin View Post

Wurtzel writes like a hysterical wombat [semi-colon]; it's the egocentricity menstruating from her pores which makes me think every time she raises her armpit to pen another sentence, she has actually succoured an exceedingly banal example of fart.

Teenage angst is fine, although there are better examples. Even 'Young Man Luther' by Erik Erikson with it's psychoanalytical slant is more stimulating.

Back to Page 9 of Apple Indesign.....the slog goes on. I'm losing interest already. Been to a few exhibitions today and have recently taken up reading maps of French place names...

You don't have to make fun of my punctuational ineptness.

Contrary to your opinion, I'm rather enjoying the book. My angst relates to it well.
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" ~ Vroomfondel
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"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" ~ Vroomfondel
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post #95 of 146
3/13/07 at 6:01am
I've just finished "Headlong" by Michael Frayn.

Now after a trip to the bookstore and library, I've got a shitload of things to read.

Starting on "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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post #96 of 146
3/14/07 at 5:53pm
Currently reading Somebody's Gotta Say It by my favorite talk radio host, Neal Boortz.
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post #97 of 146
3/20/07 at 11:04am
Finished Micky Spillane's "Something's Down There". Wasn't bad, very light reading for on the beach with a Miller Lite (which must have been a product endorsement in the novel).

Starting some really heavy stuff. "Perdido Street Station" by China Miéville. Now this is something to immerse myself from reality. Incredible writing, setting and characters...



Here's an artist's view of the New Crobuzon world...
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post #98 of 146
3/20/07 at 4:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by @_@ Artman View Post

"Perdido Street Station" by China Miéville. Now this is something to immerse myself from reality. Incredible writing, setting and characters...

I looked that book up on Amazon, it looks AMAZING. I am definitely adding that to my "To Buy" list.

Just finished "Flowers For Algernon." It was okay, now I'm reading "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz. Reminds me of the Sixth Sense so far, but I'm only on Chapter 3..

Has anyone here read "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner? I saw it in a store the other day, and it looked intriguing, but I didn't have much time to peruse it..
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post #99 of 146
3/20/07 at 6:58pm
Just finished: Freakonomics (GREAT)
Just finished: Emma (BORING AT TIMES BUT THE OVERALL NOVEL IS A CLASSIC FOR SURE)
Reading: Good to Great (TOO SOON TO TO TELL)
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post #100 of 146
3/20/07 at 7:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by turnwrite View Post

I looked that book up on Amazon, it looks AMAZING. I am definitely adding that to my "To Buy" list.

Just finished "Flowers For Algernon." It was okay, now I'm reading "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz. Reminds me of the Sixth Sense so far, but I'm only on Chapter 3..

Has anyone here read "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner? I saw it in a store the other day, and it looked intriguing, but I didn't have much time to peruse it..

I love Flowers for Algernon. It's one of two books that have made me cry. The other was Where the Red Fern Grows. I still cry when I read either of them.
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" ~ Vroomfondel
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"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" ~ Vroomfondel
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post #101 of 146
3/20/07 at 8:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by turnwrite View Post

I looked that book up on Amazon, it looks AMAZING. I am definitely adding that to my "To Buy" list.

Just finished "Flowers For Algernon." It was okay, now I'm reading "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz. Reminds me of the Sixth Sense so far, but I'm only on Chapter 3..

Has anyone here read "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner? I saw it in a store the other day, and it looked intriguing, but I didn't have much time to peruse it..

Freakonomics is excellent. Buy for sure.
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post #102 of 146
3/21/07 at 4:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by @_@ Artman View Post

Starting some really heavy stuff. "Perdido Street Station" by China Miéville. Now this is something to immerse myself from reality. Incredible writing, setting and characters...


Read that last summer. I liked it, though it didnt quite hold up for me through the end--I loved the first half to three quarters. I dont know if I started losing focus because of external factors (my life, my stresses, my distractions) or internal ones (writing, pacing, plot).
Anybody else have the same problem?
Anybody else read any other Miévelle? I'd certainly be willing try another on recomendation as I felt that Perdido showed me alot (even if I lost it in the end).
Progress is a comfortable disease
--e.e.c.
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post #103 of 146
3/21/07 at 9:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonton View Post

I've just finished "Headlong" by Michael Frayn.

Now after a trip to the bookstore and library, I've got a shitload of things to read.

Starting on "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

An all time classic. GGM is one of the great writers of the last century. His style and command of language are nearly incomparable.

I'm reading "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I'm a Lincoln addict. The period 1850-1865 overflows with seminal events in US history. Kearns weaves together the fascinating story of how Abe populated his cabinet with a diverse ensemble of his chief political rivals and how together, they coped with the civil war and the ultimate issue of the day, slavery.
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post #104 of 146
3/22/07 at 6:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bageljoey View Post

Read that last summer. I liked it, though it didnt quite hold up for me through the end--I loved the first half to three quarters. I dont know if I started losing focus because of external factors (my life, my stresses, my distractions) or internal ones (writing, pacing, plot).
Anybody else have the same problem?
Anybody else read any other Miévelle? I'd certainly be willing try another on recomendation as I felt that Perdido showed me alot (even if I lost it in the end).

I read on my way to work on the bus. I tend to get distracted by the occasional junkies, old smelly people or noisy cell phone users. But I need to read. If I didn't I'd have to deal with them face to face.

This is the first book I've read of Miévelle. I've heard his books can be a little dower, but I like that sometimes. His descriptions of people, places and things is very rich. Not as overwhelming as Neal Stephenson. Speaking of, you might want to check his Cryptonomicon or Baroque Cycle series. Great books.
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post #105 of 146
3/22/07 at 10:35pm
Well, I wasn't too impressed by "Love in the Time of Cholera". The guy just seemed so stupid not to move on, then waste his life on meaningless sexual relationships while running away from anything possibly more serious, using his so-called "love" for Fermina as an excuse. I know far too many people in the real world like this, and I'm not impressed.

I can't believe people who think this story is "romantic"!!!!

Yeah, they finally get together... well into their seventies. Whooppee... now they can share their love by giving themselves sponge baths and enemas. Meanwhile, he's wasted his life, and the chance to find an alternate love that he could have shared his whole life, not just in its twilight.

I agree with one of his lovers that commented that Fermina is the worst kind of whore... marrying someone she didn't love for money and social expectations. She showed zero capacity for real love. Not a very attractive heroine.

Meanwhile, Florentino is a remoresless rapist who directly caused the deaths of at least two women, while he fucked his way through life all the while claiming "true love" for Fermina. What a hero! Oh, and he's a poet, so that makes him alluring...

No... not a story about "good" love for anyone who knows what that really is. It's much more compelling as a story about aging and death, which while recognized as a major theme of the book, is overlooked as the exceedingly superior theme.

This book is not a love story! I'm 100% certain Garcia Marquez didn't intend it to be.

Yet ignorant people still say "what a love!"

What a waste of love. What a dearth of love. What a hypocrisy of love. What a foolish love. But not real, true, respectable love.

.....

Now I'm reading "Imajica" by Clive Barker. I LOVED Weaveworld, and he really has a descriptive way with words.

Next up is "Vurt" by Jeff Noon, a book I loved and have read several times, as well as all of his other works.
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post #106 of 146
3/23/07 at 2:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by @_@ Artman View Post

This is the first book I've read of Miévelle. I've heard his books can be a little dower, but I like that sometimes. His descriptions of people, places and things is very rich. Not as overwhelming as Neal Stephenson. Speaking of, you might want to check his Cryptonomicon or Baroque Cycle series. Great books.

Actually I was reading the first of the Baroque Cycle at about the same time as Perdido. It was interesting. I also was reading El Capitán Alatriste which was taking place in the Golden Age of Spain. Interesting to compare the image of past England and past Spain...
Progress is a comfortable disease
--e.e.c.
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Progress is a comfortable disease
--e.e.c.
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post #107 of 146
3/23/07 at 12:54pm
I like British navy adventure stories set in the late 18th, early 19th centuries.

Loved all the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin books, and the Hornblower books.

I haven't read any of the D. Lambdin naval stories yet, so don't know if they are any good; but I just received the first two volumes via interlibrary loan from a university library in another part of the state.

No way was I going to start yet 'another' series by inadvertently reading the *last* volume first. Grrrrr.

I did exactly that with the O'Brian books. I didn't even realize it was a series, and bought and read volume no. 17 first. Tsk.

(Thank god the first two Lambdin titles were obtainable via interlibrary loan. Yay! )

A few questions:

1) Have any of you used interlibrary loan services much? If so, for what kinds of books - technical/academic/pleasure reading? What's the farthest away that a book has been shipped to fill your interlibrary request?

2) Do any of you avoid reading chapter titles? I find that I'm WAY too good at guessing what's going to happen in the chapter with just those few words in the title. I'd rather *not* guess, and be able to enjoy the suspense as it comes.

3) Sometimes, when I'm reading something *really* suspenseful, I'll actually cover up lower parts of the page with my hand, so my eyes can't read ahead and spoil the suspense. Any of you ever do that? haha
Much have I seen and known...yet all experience is an arch, wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades forever and forever when I move. - Tennyson
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Much have I seen and known...yet all experience is an arch, wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades forever and forever when I move. - Tennyson
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post #108 of 146
3/30/07 at 2:50am
Carol, as I said above, if you love suspense, the most suspenseful book I've read in a LONG time was Headlong by Michael Frayn. He's also a British writer, so if you like British style prose as I do, you might want to give it a try.
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post #109 of 146
3/30/07 at 7:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonton View Post

Well, I wasn't too impressed by "Love in the Time of Cholera". The guy just seemed so stupid not to move on, then waste his life on meaningless sexual relationships while running away from anything possibly more serious, using his so-called "love" for Fermina as an excuse. I know far too many people in the real world like this, and I'm not impressed.

I can't believe people who think this story is "romantic"!!!!

Yeah, they finally get together... well into their seventies. Whooppee... now they can share their love by giving themselves sponge baths and enemas. Meanwhile, he's wasted his life, and the chance to find an alternate love that he could have shared his whole life, not just in its twilight.

I agree with one of his lovers that commented that Fermina is the worst kind of whore... marrying someone she didn't love for money and social expectations. She showed zero I capacity for real love. Not a very attractive heroine.

Meanwhile, Florentino is a remoresless rapist who directly caused the deaths of at least two women, while he fucked his way through life all the while claiming "true love" for Fermina. What a hero! Oh, and he's a poet, so that makes him alluring...

No... not a story about "good" love for anyone who knows what that really is. It's much more compelling as a story about aging and death, which while recognized as a major theme of the book, is overlooked as the exceedingly superior theme.

This book is not a love story! I'm 100% certain Garcia Marquez didn't intend it to be.

Yet ignorant people still say "what a love!"

What a waste of love. What a dearth of love. What a hypocrisy of love. What a foolish love. But not real, true, respectable love.

.....

Now I'm reading "Imajica" by Clive Barker. I LOVED Weaveworld, and he really has a descriptive way with words.

Next up is "Vurt" by Jeff Noon, a book I loved and have read several times, as well as all of his other works.

I think "Cholera" is not about love at all--it's about disease--diseased love affairs, physical disease like cholera and a diseased society. IMO, GGM's greatness is in the magic and lyrical nature of his prose. Try out "One Hundred Years of Solitude". Also, I have found that his short story collections contain some of his best work.
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post #110 of 146
3/30/07 at 8:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carol A View Post

I like British navy adventure stories set in the late 18th, early 19th centuries.

Loved all the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin books, and the Hornblower books.

I haven't read any of the D. Lambdin naval stories yet, so don't know if they are any good; but I just received the first two volumes via interlibrary loan from a university library in another part of the state.

No way was I going to start yet 'another' series by inadvertently reading the *last* volume first. Grrrrr.

I did exactly that with the O'Brian books. I didn't even realize it was a series, and bought and read volume no. 17 first. Tsk.

(Thank god the first two Lambdin titles were obtainable via interlibrary loan. Yay! )

A few questions:

1) Have any of you used interlibrary loan services much? If so, for what kinds of books - technical/academic/pleasure reading? What's the farthest away that a book has been shipped to fill your interlibrary request?

2) Do any of you avoid reading chapter titles? I find that I'm WAY too good at guessing what's going to happen in the chapter with just those few words in the title. I'd rather *not* guess, and be able to enjoy the suspense as it comes.

3) Sometimes, when I'm reading something *really* suspenseful, I'll actually cover up lower parts of the page with my hand, so my eyes can't read ahead and spoil the suspense. Any of you ever do that? haha

Spend one too many Friday nights with a hot bath and a good book?

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post #111 of 146
3/30/07 at 1:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonton View Post

Carol, as I said above, if you love suspense, the most suspenseful book I've read in a LONG time was Headlong by Michael Frayn. He's also a British writer, so if you like British style prose as I do, you might want to give it a try.

Thanks for the recommendation, tonton. I intend to give your book a try. Yes, I do very much like both suspense 'and' British prose.

(Btw, it's refreshing to get a courteous reply and 'not' an insult. So thanks for that as well. )
Much have I seen and known...yet all experience is an arch, wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades forever and forever when I move. - Tennyson
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Much have I seen and known...yet all experience is an arch, wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades forever and forever when I move. - Tennyson
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post #112 of 146
3/30/07 at 1:29pm
Oh I'm just kidding. My Friday nights are usually in the library.

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post #113 of 146
3/30/07 at 9:27pm
Night

Elie Wiesel


Excellent Book
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post #114 of 146
4/3/07 at 4:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cato988 View Post

Night

Elie Wiesel


Excellent Book

Yeah, it's pretty good. Loads better then the Diary of Anne Frank.
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post #115 of 146
4/3/07 at 8:51pm
psychology: themes & variations by Wayne Weiten


alex
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post #116 of 146
4/3/07 at 9:05pm
Fualkner in the next day or so, not sure what.

Right now:
The Wall Street Journal Complete Real-Estate Investing Guidebook David Crook
Seeing Through Cynicism: A Reconsideration of the Power of Suspicion Dick Keyes
Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian: a Reader Paul Weston

In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

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In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

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post #117 of 146
4/4/07 at 6:54pm
Thread Starter 
Just started "The Ayn Rand Cult" to get a criticism of the Objectivist ideas. I'm pretty unsatisfied with it so far though, it seems to more a critique of Ayn Rand's personality than her ideas. Oh well, maybe it will get better.
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post #118 of 146
4/17/07 at 1:15pm
Well, I thought I'd revive this thread, since reading for me has been a great diversion from the everyday humdrum madness of the world.

"Perdido Street Station" was a deep, dark journey but well worth it. The characters were engaging and the story was epic. It is filled with detailed descriptions and depictions of the characters, settings and culture of the life and times of the city of New Crobuzon. The author has created a steam-punk world filled with science, scandal and even horror. But be warned that the ending may surprise you.

Currently I'm reading the sequel "The Scar". It takes place a few months after the Perdido story. It involves a young women who boards a ship to escape New Crobuzon which is then taken by what seems at first to be pirates. The crew and passengers are taken to a massive city called Armada, a flotilla of thousands of boats and ships tied together to form a floating city. Each chapter gets better and better. It is not as deeply detailed as Perdido but I like that for now. China Mieville is a great new science fiction writer and I recommend him.
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post #119 of 146
4/17/07 at 4:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by @_@ Artman View Post

Well, I thought I'd revive this thread, since reading for me has been a great diversion from the everyday humdrum madness of the world.

"Perdido Street Station" was a deep, dark journey but well worth it. The characters were engaging and the story was epic. It is filled with detailed descriptions and depictions of the characters, settings and culture of the life and times of the city of New Crobuzon. The author has created a steam-punk world filled with science, scandal and even horror. But be warned that the ending may surprise you.

Currently I'm reading the sequel "The Scar". It takes place a few months after the Perdido story. It involves a young women who boards a ship to escape New Crobuzon which is then taken by what seems at first to be pirates. The crew and passengers are taken to a massive city called Armada, a flotilla of thousands of boats and ships tied together to form a floating city. Each chapter gets better and better. It is not as deeply detailed as Perdido but I like that for now. China Mieville is a great new science fiction writer and I recommend him.

Erg... I really want these books, they sound amazing. But I just don't have the money to spare right now..

I did get Freakonomics as a gift, I am about a third of the way through it and find it fascinating. He totally flip-flops cause and effect on a lot of topics.
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post #120 of 146
4/17/07 at 4:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by turnwrite View Post

Erg... I really want these books, they sound amazing. But I just don't have the money to spare right now.

Get the trade paperbacks. $7.99? Maybe it's the small print, but I need the portability.

Also, you don't have to read these two in order actually. Both are their own stories. "Iron Council" though is the third of the series and that story occurs years after the first two. I'm saving that for last.

Oh, and the artist Edward Miller has done the covers and artwork for the hardcover books. His work is amazing...

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