Topic: Literature Lately (Read 17006 times)

dcrog · « **Reply #50 on:** July 31, 2006, 11:07:46 AM »

When she's ten feet tall.

Dark Shade · « **Reply #51 on:** July 31, 2006, 11:32:46 AM »

Ah, Jefferson Airplane.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #52 on:** July 31, 2006, 12:11:45 PM »

One thing to remember when reading that book... Lewis Carroll was TERRIFIED of women. Like psychotically so.

Keep that in mind while you're reading it and some parts will make more sense.

12AX7 · « **Reply #53 on:** July 31, 2006, 01:04:51 PM »

Quote from: Demosthenes on July 31, 2006, 12:11:45 PM

One thing to remember when reading that book... Lewis Carroll was TERRIFIED of women. Like psychotically so.

Keep that in mind while you're reading it and some parts will make more sense.

I did not know that; and you're right.

Scheherazade · « **Reply #54 on:** July 31, 2006, 02:25:38 PM »

Quote from: Dark Shade on July 31, 2006, 11:32:46 AM

Ah, Jefferson Airplane.

They were better as Starship.

Marconi plays "La Bamba..."

Thanks for the Alice in Wonderland advice...I just started reading it and so far I'm beginning to see what you're talking about. So he wasn't a masogynist, he was just a gynophobic? That's interesting.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #55 on:** July 31, 2006, 03:18:16 PM »

Quote from: ihatecliches on July 31, 2006, 02:25:38 PM

They were better as Starship.

...

Sacriledge!

Scheherazade · « **Reply #56 on:** July 31, 2006, 03:35:09 PM »

Quote from: pbsaurus on July 31, 2006, 03:18:16 PM

Sacriledge!

Blasphemy!

xolik · « **Reply #57 on:** July 31, 2006, 03:43:21 PM »

Quote from: ihatecliches on July 31, 2006, 08:10:36 AM

Speaking of explosions, has anyone read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll?

I read it last year from http://www.gutenberg.org/, as well as the original Dracula. It was an interesting read that didn't make much sense to me at the time. Now that I know a bit more about the author, I really should re-read it and see if it makes more sense to me.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #58 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:01:53 PM »

Quote from: ihatecliches on July 31, 2006, 02:25:38 PM

Thanks for the Alice in Wonderland advice...I just started reading it and so far I'm beginning to see what you're talking about. So he wasn't a masogynist, he was just a gynophobic? That's interesting.

Exactly. From what I've read, it sounds like he was really a pretty nice guy... but terrified of anything female past the age of puberty.

Scheherazade · « **Reply #59 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:03:35 PM »

Quote from: xolik on July 31, 2006, 03:43:21 PM

as well as the original Dracula.

Dracula is an AWESOME book. One of my favorites. I'm like halfway through Alice in Wonderland and it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #60 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:27:15 PM »

Lunch time! I'm off to read more of System Of The World.

Scheherazade · « **Reply #61 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:28:44 PM »

In addition to Alice in Wonderland, I'm reading The Mask of Red Death. I don't really know what it's about yet but I'll keep you all posted.

xolik · « **Reply #62 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:42:52 PM »

The last book I actually read was "The Devil Wears Prada."

Scheherazade · « **Reply #63 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:44:18 PM »

Quote from: xolik on July 31, 2006, 04:42:52 PM

The last book I actually read was "The Devil Wears Prada."

I saw the movie and it sucked.

xolik · « **Reply #64 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:56:13 PM »

Quote from: ihatecliches on July 31, 2006, 04:44:18 PM

I saw the movie and it sucked.

Haven't seen the movie, and I don't think I really want to. Movie adaptations of books hardly ever do them justice.

Scheherazade · « **Reply #65 on:** July 31, 2006, 04:58:37 PM »

Quote from: xolik on July 31, 2006, 04:56:13 PM

Haven't seen the movie, and I don't think I really want to. Movie adaptations of books hardly ever do them justice.

Plus it sucked. I read the book and the book sucked too.

jeee · « **Reply #66 on:** August 14, 2006, 06:28:33 AM »

I just finished "Snowcrash". It was a good book allthough the whole explaining about where the virus came from could have been a little shorter. All in all it was a good read. Based on a 10-1 scale, 10 being best, I give it a 7.

Crystalmonkey · « **Reply #67 on:** August 14, 2006, 10:59:53 AM »

Quote from: xolik on July 31, 2006, 04:56:13 PM

Haven't seen the movie, and I don't think I really want to. Movie adaptations of books hardly ever do them justice.

But that is because there is so much MORE in a book than in a movie. Your imagination fills in the gaps, so to speak, and you essentially make a movie that appeals to you.

An individual movie based on the author's cues.... no movie studio can compete with that.

Scheherazade · « **Reply #68 on:** August 14, 2006, 11:07:04 AM »

I just finished two books.

The first was a quick read, Vampire High by Douglas Rees. It was witty and more or less good, although it was like a seventh grade reading level. The second one was VERY good, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman...I could not put it down. The plot was amazing and his descriptions...my goodness. Now I'm reading the sequel, The Subtle Knife.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #69 on:** August 14, 2006, 04:35:18 PM »

Quote from: jeee on August 14, 2006, 06:28:33 AM

I just finished "Snowcrash". It was a good book allthough the whole explaining about where the virus came from could have been a little shorter. All in all it was a good read. Based on a 10-1 scale, 10 being best, I give it a 7.

That's pretty close to my assessment of it as well, though I really liked Stephenson's characters and flow, so I give it closer to an 8.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #70 on:** August 14, 2006, 05:31:14 PM »

I give it a 9.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #71 on:** August 14, 2006, 05:36:33 PM »

Currently I'm about halfway through Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist.

It's excellently written... I found myself reading all this mundane character development for the first 100 pages or so where nothing really happens. Then when something does happen I realize that he's been subtly building the plot and the tension since page 1 and I'm totally engrossed in it without even being conscious of it.

It's a good writer that can pull that off.

Anyway, even though I'm not finished with it yet, "Faerie Tale" is one I can feel safe in recommending to others so far. It's very dark and while it's pretty tame compared to some horror out there, it isn't a warm, cuddly story like you might think, given the title and subject matter. It's probably a lot more like these things would actually be like if they really existed, which isn't a pleasant thought.

Scheherazade · « **Reply #72 on:** August 15, 2006, 11:06:15 AM »

Great. Now I'll have to read it.

I'm halfway through The Subtle Knife now, and it's nowhere near as good as The Golden Compass. Pah.

Dark Shade · « **Reply #73 on:** August 16, 2006, 12:48:35 AM »

Quote from: ihatecliches on August 15, 2006, 11:06:15 AM

I'm halfway through The Subtle Knife now, and it's nowhere near as good as The Golden Compass. Pah.

I hear ya. I did enjoy the series as a whole, but 'The Subtle Knife' wasn't the hottest book, by far.

rootlinuxusr · « **Reply #74 on:** August 16, 2006, 04:49:33 AM »

Reading some of the early pages of this thread, we had D.E.A.R too. That was in Alabama though, I moved after that grade....

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.
A well told version of truths entailing a collection of "flyboys" that is military airmen during World War II. A well researched, and documented story, of mainly 9 airmen who were shot over Chichi-Jima, a sister island of Iwo Jima, just north of it. While Iwo Jima was hell, Chichi would have been even worse. It was even more highly guarded. The main reason the flyboys was to secure and destroy key communication towers that were feeding progress back to Tokyo. It tells the story not only from the Japanese stand-point, but also from the airmen who survived raids on the island, family members of the deceased, and the only one who crash landed to make it out alive. George Herbert Walker Bush. Name sound familiar? <_< .

Synapsis

Quote

This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. The fate of the others-an explosive 60-year-old secret-is revealed for the first time in Flyboys.

From the author:

Quote

I was interviewing him once, and he asked me if I knew anything more about his two crewmen. I said, Mr. President, I'm sorry I don't have any more information. And then with a pained look on his face he said, "it plagues me still today if I gave those guys enough time to get out." And then he was quiet for a second. He stood up. I went back to putting my notes away, and then when he didn't walk away, I looked up and he was standing by the window and he was looking at the sky and he said, "I think about those guys all the time."

This is also in the book.

Other book I've read recently, for that matter watched on DVD, and have changed my username for on several sites... V for Vendetta.
Very good movie, but I recommend the book more. Why? Because, as with most cases It's sooo much better. It gives the same basic description, but in a few key points, it has much more depth, and you get a better sense of the characters through literary works rather than visual. You feel what they feel. You see what they see. Not what a director wants you to feel/see.

Synapsis

Quote

The futuristic tale unfolds in a Great Britain that's a fascist state. A freedom fighter known as V uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressive society. He rescues a young woman from the secret police, and she becomes his unlikely ally.

From the book.
"Remember, remember the fifth of November.
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."

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Author Topic: Literature Lately (Read 17006 times)

12AX7