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What are you reading mid-July/02?
- Thread starter Ell
- Start date
Hey Ell.
Long time no yakkety.
I've just finished Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. (Review to appear in the relevant section sometime soon.) Definitely the best book I've read so far this year - despite a staggeringly ill-conceived epilogue that does its best to eclipse the overall quality.
Tobytook
Long time no yakkety.
I've just finished Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. (Review to appear in the relevant section sometime soon.) Definitely the best book I've read so far this year - despite a staggeringly ill-conceived epilogue that does its best to eclipse the overall quality.
Tobytook
Ell
Well-Known Member
Toby wrote:
Looked up Bel Canto on Amazon - sounds very interesting. I've never read anything by Ann Patchett, so she'll be going on my ever-growing TBR list.
I just got back from a 2 week holiday to Hawaii and it's taking me awhile to get through all my e-mail and the new threads and postings here. Things seem to have picked up while I was gone. Maybe I should go away more often?
Looked up Bel Canto on Amazon - sounds very interesting. I've never read anything by Ann Patchett, so she'll be going on my ever-growing TBR list.
still readng garp
...and some short stories by maupassant. actaully, i haven't been reading much; i've been having too much fun with spaz and the new Richard Simmonsism religion. click here -->you may be sorry you did -B
and everybody...give it a chance, spaz does have a point about how religion is not aplenty in our lives...
...and some short stories by maupassant. actaully, i haven't been reading much; i've been having too much fun with spaz and the new Richard Simmonsism religion. click here -->you may be sorry you did -B
and everybody...give it a chance, spaz does have a point about how religion is not aplenty in our lives...
haha let me tell you the truth, sister...
yes...it's been a long and patient wait to say that.
nah, nothing has really "picked up", its just this new user called spaz and me that's being doing all the "yakking" (which is really a bunch of threads and posts about...well, nothing) oh, and to toby: Capital, Mate! -B
yes...it's been a long and patient wait to say that.
Mike Jackson
New Member
Slightly off topic but, as you mentioned the authors, have you read The Postman by David Brin and Songmaster by Orson Scott Card?
Mike
Mike
Long time going nowhere
Is that the same Postman that's a strong candidate for Worst Film Ever? Is the novel similarly awful, or is it a textbook case of Good Book = Bad Film?
By the way, yes: Færie Tale it was - thanks for that. I tend not to read generic sci-fi or fantasy these days, although as a teenager I read little else. Terry Pratchett is a reliable source of brain candy, though, and new books in his Discworld series can usually be relied upon to raise a chuckle - books to read while between books, as I generally think of them.
Tobytook
Is that the same Postman that's a strong candidate for Worst Film Ever? Is the novel similarly awful, or is it a textbook case of Good Book = Bad Film?
By the way, yes: Færie Tale it was - thanks for that. I tend not to read generic sci-fi or fantasy these days, although as a teenager I read little else. Terry Pratchett is a reliable source of brain candy, though, and new books in his Discworld series can usually be relied upon to raise a chuckle - books to read while between books, as I generally think of them.
Tobytook
Mike Jackson
New Member
I've never seen the film so I don't know if it's based on the David Brin book. The book is a post apocolyptic (spelling?) novel where the main character finds an abondoned mail truck, puts on the uniform and ends up setting up a new postal service.
Mike
Mike
Yes, that's it all right. The overall idea was a good one, if a bit heavy on the schmaltz (Hollywood at work, probably, rather than the author). But it went on and on and on and never really decided if it wanted to be an outright shoot-'em-up or a deep meditation on the nature of humanity. So it became the worst of both: an unexciting "action" film peppered with lots of blank-faced staring into the distance (and at charred envelopes).
How does the original novel fare by comparison to that harsh (but, I think most would agree, accurate) summation of the film?
Tobytook
Mike Jackson
New Member
I found the book interesting and it does rather sound as though Hollywood have taken another good book and turned it into a bad film. I'm glad I never saw the film.
Mike
Mike
Back on topic
Took advantage of a nice 3-for-2 offer at Waterstone's yesterday, having been bookless since the middle of last week. Luckily, I even found two that were actually on my To Read list.
Year Of Wonders is Geraldine Brooks' first novel, set in a small Derbyshire village in AD 1666 (The Black Death's Greatest Hits year, so to speak). Apparently based on a true story, though I don't know the origin, the villagers elect to isolate themselves in a "fateful quarantine". Filtered through teenage Anna's first person narrative, its central theme is the battle between science and religion to make sense of a newly-emerging modern age. Brooks is a former journalist and war correspondent, and author of two non-fiction works, Nine Parts Of Desire (about the role of women in traditional Islamic countries) and Foreign Correspondence (a travelogue beginning in Australia and ending up somewhere on the moon, I think!).
On Green Dolphin Street is Sebastian Faulks' fifth novel, and a departure from his France-based war trilogy. Still using conflict as a backdrop for his character-driven storytelling, Faulks shifts the focus to America on the cusp of the sixties. When smart news hound Frank enters their circle, fanciful British Embassy couple Mary and Charlie find that their idyllic lifestyle of champagne parties and jazz dances is founded on the grim reality of The Cold War.
And the third book, the one that wasn't on my To Read list, is The Ash Garden by Dennis Bock. Fifty years after the Americans bombed Hiroshima, survivor Emiko Amai meets German anti-Nazi Anton Böll (who was on Oppenheimer's team). The New York Times called it "a haunting meditation on the uses of memory and its power both to condemn and redeem." Sounds good, but I basically picked it up because it's got a fab cover. I'm so superficial.
Tobytook
Took advantage of a nice 3-for-2 offer at Waterstone's yesterday, having been bookless since the middle of last week. Luckily, I even found two that were actually on my To Read list.
Year Of Wonders is Geraldine Brooks' first novel, set in a small Derbyshire village in AD 1666 (The Black Death's Greatest Hits year, so to speak). Apparently based on a true story, though I don't know the origin, the villagers elect to isolate themselves in a "fateful quarantine". Filtered through teenage Anna's first person narrative, its central theme is the battle between science and religion to make sense of a newly-emerging modern age. Brooks is a former journalist and war correspondent, and author of two non-fiction works, Nine Parts Of Desire (about the role of women in traditional Islamic countries) and Foreign Correspondence (a travelogue beginning in Australia and ending up somewhere on the moon, I think!).
On Green Dolphin Street is Sebastian Faulks' fifth novel, and a departure from his France-based war trilogy. Still using conflict as a backdrop for his character-driven storytelling, Faulks shifts the focus to America on the cusp of the sixties. When smart news hound Frank enters their circle, fanciful British Embassy couple Mary and Charlie find that their idyllic lifestyle of champagne parties and jazz dances is founded on the grim reality of The Cold War.
And the third book, the one that wasn't on my To Read list, is The Ash Garden by Dennis Bock. Fifty years after the Americans bombed Hiroshima, survivor Emiko Amai meets German anti-Nazi Anton Böll (who was on Oppenheimer's team). The New York Times called it "a haunting meditation on the uses of memory and its power both to condemn and redeem." Sounds good, but I basically picked it up because it's got a fab cover. I'm so superficial.
Tobytook
Gracewings
kickbox
I'm still reading 1916 (historical novel of the Irish Rebellion), and The Wind Done Gone (a satirical parody of Gone With the Wind) and O Pioneers.
Wolfgang1970
kickbox
Vacation Reading
I have been reading "The Red Branch" by Morgan Llewellyn. The story of Cuchulain is one of my favorite myths, and I have read several novels based on it, including those by Kenneth Flint ("A Storm Upon Ulster", et al.) and Gregory Frost ("Tain").
I have been reading "The Red Branch" by Morgan Llewellyn. The story of Cuchulain is one of my favorite myths, and I have read several novels based on it, including those by Kenneth Flint ("A Storm Upon Ulster", et al.) and Gregory Frost ("Tain").
Gracewings
kickbox
I'm looking forward to reading more of Morgan Llywelyn's books, esp the ones about Brian Boru -- have you read these ones yet, Wolfgang?
Ell
Well-Known Member
Mike,
I somehow missed this question to me. So, better late than never:
The Uplift War is the first David Brin book I've read, but I plan to try others. I saw The Postman and remembering thinking there's a good concept here - but something went terribly wrong in the execution. I might try the book sometime in the future when the movie images are not so clear in my memory.
Orson Scott Card: Just finished the four books in the Ender series. I haven't read anything else by Card. What's Songmaster about?
Ell
Wolfgang1970
kickbox
Morgan Llewellyn - Brian Boru
Interesting story that. I was reading "Lion of Ireland" (the first of the Boru books) in July 1998. I was interrupted from my reading with a call from my parents that my brother had passed away the previous night in his sleep (at age 37). I put it down for a long time, and it then became a sort of catharsis to finish the book. I finished it and enjoyed it, but for these reasons, did not really get into "Pride of Lions" (the sequel), and put it down (have not picked it up since) after a bit.
"The Red Branch" is the first M.L. book I have attempted since, and I love it. It is more concise than the Frost telling, and well written. When I read Lewellyn's prose, I hear the lilting Irish accent in my head (wierd). I think it is just the rhythm of her sentences (I am a musician too). I hope to read more from this author in the future.
BTW, have you read any Kenneth Flint? It is difficult to find, but well written. He covers most of the same Celtic mythology that M.L. covers, but it has a slightly different feel.
Interesting story that. I was reading "Lion of Ireland" (the first of the Boru books) in July 1998. I was interrupted from my reading with a call from my parents that my brother had passed away the previous night in his sleep (at age 37). I put it down for a long time, and it then became a sort of catharsis to finish the book. I finished it and enjoyed it, but for these reasons, did not really get into "Pride of Lions" (the sequel), and put it down (have not picked it up since) after a bit.
"The Red Branch" is the first M.L. book I have attempted since, and I love it. It is more concise than the Frost telling, and well written. When I read Lewellyn's prose, I hear the lilting Irish accent in my head (wierd). I think it is just the rhythm of her sentences (I am a musician too). I hope to read more from this author in the future.
BTW, have you read any Kenneth Flint? It is difficult to find, but well written. He covers most of the same Celtic mythology that M.L. covers, but it has a slightly different feel.
Gracewings
kickbox
Although I have eyed the Brian Boru books several times, 1916 is the first of Llwyelyn's I have read. I am not quite sure about the story itself but her style of writing I definitely appreciate. I was sorry to hear about your brother's shortened life, and your subsequently trying to get through that book. It reminded me of a movie I couldn't watch because of my father's death -- I have yet to get back to that myself... I haven't heard of Kenneth Flint, so thanks for mentioning him -- I'll be sure to take a look at his books... I'm very eager to read more of ML's books, too.
Dawn
kickbox
I just love Orson Scott Card. I got my 12 year old to read Ender's Game. I forgot how gory it is in spots. He stuck with it, though. I thought if he could read a 700+ page Harry Potter book, he was ready.
I'm just finished reading Elizabeth Haydon's Prophecy. I'm waiting to see what the August BOM is before I start reading anything else. Looks like COMA is in the lead!!!
I'm just finished reading Elizabeth Haydon's Prophecy. I'm waiting to see what the August BOM is before I start reading anything else. Looks like COMA is in the lead!!!
The first time I read something by Card was when I was reading Legends ("eleven new works by the masters of modern fantasy"), and I really did like it, so I thought I'd look into it. I picked up a copy of Seventh Son at the library, but I've been having a great deal of trouble trying to find the other volumes (in a library, cause I can't afford it right now to buy them) I did find other books by him though, but I didn't take them home, cause they weren't what I had my heart set on, and they looked a bit dull to me. Am I wrong about that? Are there some Card-suggestion you can make?
More on-topic: I've been reading Harry Potter recently. I read the lot of it in only three days. (Knowing I had more important things to do
) Does that make me a Potteroholic?