While Cider House Rules isn't my fav film of all time, I hear you on the Toby Maguire desire. One of the great disappointments of my life is that This is not a real movie=)
I knew what it was before I clicked the link. :) You can get a little close in a real movie. Downey and Maguire have a thing as a subplot in Wonder Boys, though it is pretty brief and relatively incidental to the movie.
Samnell: Dude, you want The Hotel New Hampshire; That's the Irving book (or movie for that matter; it's no wonder Rob Lowe's life was ruined by a sex tape!) you want to read.
But...so many books! I just finished Elminster Must Die, which was fun. But I've also got Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast (about blockade duties off the coast of France in the Seven Years' War, naturally) to finish. And a Lovecraft collection that I bought on the strength of the endnotes. And the new Laundry Files book is out...
I need more hours in the day.
I knew what it was before I clicked the link. :) You can get a little close in a real movie. Downey and Maguire have a thing as a subplot in Wonder Boys, though it is pretty brief and relatively incidental to the movie.
While Cider House Rules isn't my fav film of all time, I hear you on the Toby Maguire desire. One of the great disappointments of my life is that This is not a real movie=)
Yeah, still not very satisfying though. It's unfortunate but I live in a world where all the best gay stories with my fav actors are the ones in my head =p
Samnell: Dude, you want The Hotel New Hampshire; That's the Irving book (or movie for that matter; it's no wonder Rob Lowe's life was ruined by a sex tape!) you want to read.But...so many books! I just finished Elminster Must Die, which was fun. But I've also got Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast (about blockade duties off the coast of France in the Seven Years' War, naturally) to finish. And a Lovecraft collection that I bought on the strength of the endnotes. And the new Laundry Files book is out...
I need more hours in the day.
Yes, but does Elminster Must Die hit the
Yes, but does Elminster Must Die hit the ** spoiler omitted **
Samnell: Dude, you want The Hotel New Hampshire; That's the Irving book (or movie for that matter; it's no wonder Rob Lowe's life was ruined by a sex tape!) you want to read.But...so many books! I just finished Elminster Must Die, which was fun. But I've also got Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast (about blockade duties off the coast of France in the Seven Years' War, naturally) to finish. And a Lovecraft collection that I bought on the strength of the endnotes. And the new Laundry Files book is out...
I need more hours in the day.
If possession via magic counts, it does indeed.
I'm reading Dumas' complete works...
Whoa!
You know, Andre Maurois wrote in The Titans: A Three-Generation Biography of the Dumas "No one has read all of Dumas - that would be as impossible as for him to have written it" (implying that Dumas was running a fiction factory by collaborating with others).
(implying that Dumas was running a fiction factory by collaborating with others).
Like all the books coming out by Robert LudlumTM, as opposed to the (deceased) Robert Ludlum.
Decided to try some Pathfinder fiction, started Prince of Wolves today. Not bad but honestly the way some parts of it are written is throwing me off a bit.
Ah, it's much better once you get in a a ways=)
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(implying that Dumas was running a fiction factory by collaborating with others).Like all the books coming out by Robert LudlumTM, as opposed to the (deceased) Robert Ludlum.
I always wandered about that - what's up with writing in Ludlum's name? can't they be honest and write their own name? why specifically Ludlum was chosen to be the one to get this treatment - is it because his Bourne novels were so popular or something?
I read the first couple of Bourne novels but the second one was a serious step down in quality compared to the first one, and I couldn't force myself through more than a couple dozen pages of the third one...
why specifically Ludlum was chosen to be the one to get this treatment - is it because his Bourne novels were so popular or something?
Normally they'd do something like "Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Ad Nauseum, by Robert Lumlud," in exactly the way the posthumous Alastair MacLean ripoffs worked (Cf. "Alastair MacLean's Hostage Tower, by Alastair MacNeal"). In this case, however, the estate apparently collected a bunch of hacks to churn out "Robert LudlumTM" novels from a basement somewhere, flagrantly claiming Ludlum's name itself as a trademark. The ripoffs all have titles that sound like they'd be Ludlum titles (e.g., The Altman Code or The Lazarus Vendetta), and don't list the ghostwriter hacks on the cover.
The estate also licensed out the "Bourne" stuff for more franchises, leading to stuff like "The Bourne Legacy, et al., by Erik Van Lustbader" (I think there are something like 8 or 10 of those). Not to mention more "Bourne" movies that don't star Matt Damon.
I read the first couple of Bourne novels but the second one was a serious step down in quality compared to the first one, and I couldn't force myself through more than a couple dozen pages of the third one...
Ludlum was, in my mind, sort of a one-hit wonder. Bourne Identity was phenomenal. Everything else I read from him (the other two Bourne ones, The Scarlatti Inheritance , others) I thought sucked, although I'm told two of his earlier ones (The Osterman Weekend, The Holcroft Covenant) were quite good.
I'm much of the same opinion about David Baldacci, whose first novel (Absolute Power) too him 3 years to write and was phenomenal, and whose million or so subsequent novels read like they were written by a 13-year-old.
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Might as well add Micheal Crichton to that list... Jurassic Park I remember reading and loving when I was 15 or so, and loving it. Lately I tried reading "Next" also be him, and it was not only terrible but actively offensive in how poorly it was written. I gave up on the idea of checking out any of his other books.
I also began to wonder if I merely liked Jurassic Park because I was younger back then, and my infatuation with dinosaurs.
Back in 1990 or thereabouts, my two favorite Crichton novels were "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain". I felt that if we ever came into contact with extraterrestrial life, and it happened according to one science fiction story with which I was familiar, "The Andromeda Strain" would be that story.
I enjoyed Rising Sun, Disclosure, and Timeline. Congo was bit goofy. By the time he wrote State of Fear he'd gone right-wing bat-shit crazy.
The Atomic Age definitely fell into "The Sequel's Never Quite As Good." Syndrome.
Moving on to Seven Wonders, by the same author but not set in the same universe.
Might as well add Micheal Crichton to that list... Jurassic Park I remember reading and loving when I was 15 or so, and loving it. Lately I tried reading "Next" also be him, and it was not only terrible but actively offensive in how poorly it was written. I gave up on the idea of checking out any of his other books.
I also began to wonder if I merely liked Jurassic Park because I was younger back then, and my infatuation with dinosaurs.
Or Tom Clancy's Badger Sanctuary, or whatever it's called. Or the slew of Conan books produced from bits & bobs left over by REH (or constructed out of whole cloth). So far as I'm concerned, the more Conan there is the better, so hooray for that.
Nomads of Gor has now thrown a Mongol-type barbarian called Harold into the mix. I wonder why?
I'm still reading Neal Stephenson's REAMDE, but I keep pronouncing it "ReMade" instead of "ReadMe." Too much China Mieville, perhaps?
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Judy Blume in the (Britishiznoid) news
She looks kind of terrifying in that picture.
Her books do have a special place in my heart though. My parents taught me English by (very) patiently sitting with me evening after evening as I read the first couple Fudge books. At the beginning it took me about an hour to read a page - almost every word was new - but as months went by it became easy. I am still embarrassingly proud of that time when I managed to read the word "transportation" correctly on my first try, without knowing what it means. A huge part of the reason I managed to actually enjoy these slow, slow lessons was the way her books were so accessible to an elementary school aged boy. Ever since reading those books, I read exclusively in English and have been enjoying the hack out of it. It's a real shame to see people who would react violently to someone so open and kind.
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Well, you certainly made it further than I did in Hebrew, which never progressed beyond the kiddie level with the vowels added in. But let's stick with this for the moment:
She looks kind of terrifying in that picture.
[Hand moves to pommel]
What sayest thou, varlet?
My parents taught me English by (very) patiently sitting with me evening after evening as I read the first couple Fudge books... I am still embarrassingly proud of that time when I managed to read the word "transportation" correctly on my first try, without knowing what it means.
Heh. How appropriate. In "Superfudge", Fudge impressed people by using big words in his conversation, though sometimes not getting the meaning quite right.
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Well, you certainly made it further than I did in Hebrew, which never progressed beyond the kiddie level with the vowels added in
The secret is
Heh. How appropriate. In "Superfudge", Fudge impressed people by using big words in his conversation, though sometimes not getting the meaning quite right.
I remember than book. Might as well be that the word transportation actually was one of those that Fudge said to impress people :P
Since Doodlebug seemed to want to start a discussion about Judy Blume, I'll mention that I read (or listened to) more than a dozen Blume books. My favorite was "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." My eyes would fill with tears when I read the ending. Yet it seems like so many readers miss the point of the ending... or at least, the point as *I* see it. Maybe I misinterpreted the ending, but I don't think so.
I would say: Are you kidding?!? She came to a conclusion in the most dramatic way!
Getting fed up with religion, she resolved never to talk to God again. And then, at the very end of the book, after she got something for which she had prayed (back when she had been on speaking terms with God), what did she do?
She THANKED GOD.
I don't have the book with me, so I might not be getting the exact wording right, but she says something like "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. I know you're there, God! I know you wouldn't miss this for anything! Thank you, God! Thank you so much!"
And THAT was her conclusion! Maybe she wasn't of the Jewish religion. Maybe she wasn't a Christian. Maybe she would never feel any connection to any religion. But irrespective of religion, she felt a relationship with God the likes of which many people - including her purportedly religious friends - could never even dream. THAT was the point.
Anyway, going back to the title question, I'm still making my way through my fourth reading of the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. I'm most of the way through volume 3, "Dragons of Spring Dawning".
Since Doodlebug seemed to want to start a discussion about Judy Blume
I don't really have anything to say about her, it was just an article I saw while flipping about the internet. 25ish years later, I still occasionally shout out "Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!" for no apparent reason.
Lord Snow, I was idly curious, what language(s) is(are) your mother tongue(s)?
Sitting down to read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I've long been told many of my opinions are close to those found in this book so it's time to see what I think myself.
Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora last night. Moving on to the two sequels now.
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Dragonlords of Mystara by Thorarinn Gunnarsson; pretty unbeatable name for a fantasy author, but a bit so-so as a novel. Still, I know very little about Mystara, so interesting from that point of view.
EDIT: And, of course, Are you there, Lenin? It's me, Doodlebug, by Vanessa Pablovovich Shachtman
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I finished my Hugo Awards reading today (and by "finished," I mean I gave up on two of the novel samples, and I'm not even touching The Wheel of Time).
Parasite by Mira Grant was the most readable of the three samples, and I was surprised with how quickly I got through the 100 pages I had. That being said, it's a zombie novel, but 100 pages in and there hasn't been so much as a nibble! It gets my number 2 spot, since it didn't bore me like Ancillary Justice or Neptune's Brood, but I'm not going to bother buying the full novel.
Now I can finally start on the new Monster Hunter book. So much glorious violence...
Parasite by Mira Grant was the most readable of the three samples, and I was surprised with how quickly I got through the 100 pages I had. That being said, it's a zombie novel, but 100 pages in and there hasn't been so much as a nibble! It gets my number 2 spot, since it didn't bore me like Ancillary Justice or Neptune's Brood, but I'm not going to bother buying the full novel.
I like The Hollows, her urban fantasy witches-demons-and-vampires-oh-my series she published under her real name, Seanan McGuire.
Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora last night. Moving on to the two sequels now.
There are sequels!? Oh, my poor bank account.
I'm reading Dumas' complete works...Whoa!
You know, Andre Maurois wrote in The Titans: A Three-Generation Biography of the Dumas "No one has read all of Dumas - that would be as impossible as for him to have written it" (implying that Dumas was running a fiction factory by collaborating with others).
I checked, and all I have is the complete romances of d'Artagnan. I thought with 3000 plus pages and the title 'Dumas' French Literature' that it would be his complete works. But no...
I read a bit about Dumas pere and he was described as being unquenchable once he began talking about a favorite subject. I guess he was that way in his writing, too. Some works published under his name are known not to be his, and others were written with another author. Still and all, he's one prolific guy.
EDIT: And, of course, Are you there, Lenin? It's me, Doodlebug, by Vanessa Pablovovich Shachtman
"Are you there Lenin? It's Me, Doodlebug. I know you're there, V.I.! I know you wouldn't miss this for anything! Thank you, comrade! Thank you so much!"
(I, alas, can't think of anything even remotely comparable to menarche in male goblins.)
There are sequels!? Oh, my poor bank account.Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora last night. Moving on to the two sequels now.
Yup! Two out now, projected a series totaling seven.
There's also an unrelated short story by Scott Lynch in the book I'm currently reading: Rogues, edited by GRR Martin and Gardner Dozois.
I haven't gotten there yet, but there's plenty of entertaining skullduggery, larceny, and bad behaviour in general in what I have read.
Dammit! Those Lynch books are $8 and $14 on B&N for my Nook, but only $5 on Amazon.
Guess I'll go watch movies on my Betamax instead.
Raven: Swordmistress of Chaos, a woman who solves the vexatious boob-plate controversy by dispensing with the plate bit. Actually, she mostly manages to stay clothed during the book, when not indulging in a bit of hot barbarian-on-princess action. Good sabre work, too. I liked it a lot.
Also trying Teach Yourself Old English, without much success, so far.
Dammit! Those Lynch books are $8 and $14 on B&N for my Nook, but only $5 on Amazon.
Guess I'll go watch movies on my Betamax instead.
Yeah I have a Kindle so Amazon's usually where I go first =)
Just got W is for Wanted by Sue Grafton from the library. Also The Last Policeman by Ben Winters and Leviathan...rising (?) by Something-Something Corea (?).
Leviathan...rising (?) by Something-Something Corea (?).If these were the actual names of the book and the author, I would have totally read it to find out what is going on here :D
Book...
is...
too far...
away....
from...
computer....
North Corea?
It's actually W is for Wasted and Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.
:-P
My next suggestion would have been Chick Corea.
I love it when dudes are nicknamed "Chick." Seems like those guys are always cool as hell.
I was tingling with excitement at the thought that maybe someone had novelised 'Romantic Warrior'. Sadly not.
Kirth's right, though.
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Started Perdido Street Station and enjoying it so far. I really like how descriptive Mièville is when he talks about New Crobuzon.
I'm really excited that the protagonist is a
Got a couple of chapters into PSS once and then put it down. Something about the writing style just didn't groove with me.