2226 replies to this topic

[Trident]

Finished Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell

Boy, this truly is an extremely hard-boiled thriller, stuffing a ton of plot and action into a tiny package of just short of 300 pages. Working as an intern at a NYC hospital, Peter Brown hides in WITSEC from his past as killer for the NY mob. Until a mobster turns up on his operating table and he can't hide out any longer. In alternating chapters we learn how and why Brown became a mobster and what happened that cuts his life-expectancy now down to minutes if his patient should happen to die on his hands. Not an easy task, given his patient is a leathal case of stomach cancer.

Lots of good-old mobster-killer action and fresh intern-cynicisms, a glimpse into the hell called hospital and several nightmare executions, mafia-style. The pace is incredibly fast, the blood flows freely, the guts clench at times during this tour-de-force. The climax sees Brown faced with his worst enemy, who's intent on stabbing our naked, beaten-up, half-frozen hero. Those of you who already have read the book will know what makes this scene one of the most painful to read and to endure.

I think there is a safe bet this will become a series in the very near future. May also find its way onto the big screen.

[Loomis]

POLANSKI by Christopher Sandford. Beautifully written, absorbing stuff - the best biography of a director I have ever read.

Reading about Polanski's experiences in the Warsaw ghetto and communist Poland, it seems surreal that the man has a new film that's just opened in cinemas.

[Gabe Vieira]

Just finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods yesterday. Incredible novel. Gaiman is officially my favorite author ever.

[Trident]

Just finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods yesterday. Incredible novel. Gaiman is officially my favorite author ever.

Loved that one too. If you liked 'American Gods' check out his Sandman comic series. Chances are you'll find it amazing.

[Gabe Vieira]

Just finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods yesterday. Incredible novel. Gaiman is officially my favorite author ever.

Loved that one too. If you liked 'American Gods' check out his Sandman comic series. Chances are you'll find it amazing.

Oh, I've read it a good 5 times over. It's how I got into Gaiman's works. It's easily one of the best pieces of literature ever. Coraline and Neverwhere were both incredible as well. On to Anansi Boys.

But it's the only game in town.

[Sark2.0]

I recently read Great American Hypocrites, by one of my favorite political writers, Glenn Greenwald. I learned that John Wayne was a draft-dodging, white supremacist, McCarthyite, warmongering, drug-addicted serial adulterer. And that's just the first chapter.

[AgentBentley]

Lost by Michael Robotham.
Nothing to do with the TV series, just a police story set in London. In the first chapter, the main character gets fished out of the Thames with his leg shot and doesn't remember anything. Sounds a bit like the beginning of The Bourne Identity.

[Harmsway]

THE ODYSSEY: A MODERN SEQUEL by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Breathtakingly brilliant.

[Bryce (003)]

STIFF AS A BROAD - G.G. FICKLING

[dodge]

THE ODYSSEY: A MODERN SEQUEL by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Breathtakingly brilliant.

It's always refreshing when we, rarely, completely agree.

[Harmsway]

THE ODYSSEY: A MODERN SEQUEL by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Breathtakingly brilliant.

It's always refreshing when we, rarely, completely agree.

Yes. It's nice to know you can occasionally demonstrate good judgment.

(Seriously, though, Kazantzakis' ODYSSEY is jaw-droppingly impressive.)

[dodge]

THE ODYSSEY: A MODERN SEQUEL by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Breathtakingly brilliant.

It's always refreshing when we, rarely, completely agree.

Yes. It's nice to know you can occasionally demonstrate good judgment.

(Seriously, though, Kazantzakis' ODYSSEY is jaw-droppingly impressive.)

I'm ordering a replacement copy from Amazon so that I can re-read it. Glad you liked THE LAST TEMPTATION, despite a few reservations. I'm sorry to say that I'm reading his novel SAINT FRANCIS, which is a major disappointment--really more a middling assemblage of pious, overwrought anecdotes than a proper novel. I'm anxious to get back into his ODYSSEY to savor its grandeur again.

[elizabeth]

Finally finished Great Expectations and, what can I say? Another amazing book from Charles Dickens. It's kind of sad that Pip forgets his background when he becomes rich, but I think that just adds to the moral that Dickens is trying to show us: never forget your humbleness. IMHO, that was Pip's most attractive quality, which explains why Estella (heartless bitch) rejected his advances.

And I was RIGHT! Pip and Estella DO end up together! Yay!!!! *claps*

[Kilroy6644]

White Fang by Jack London.

[Trident]

I have just finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

A great read, touching, thoughtful, shocking, heartbreaking even. Not necessarily one you will want to go back to, but surely one you won't forget. Not easy on the mind and conscience. I'm not sure, how much one should know about it in the beginning, so I'll go on in spoiler tags. But I really think you should pick up and read this.

Spoiler

Never Let Me Go tells the story of Kathy H. and her two friends Ruth and Tommy, growing up at Hailsham, a mixture between children's home and public school. Kathy H. tells it as a 30-something adult living in 90's UK in retrospect.

Hailsham at first looks innocuous enough, but there are a number of strange things too. The teachers are 'guardians', there is never talk about families, not even second names are mentioned, there is an 'outside' that is never explored by the students, there is no tv, but apparently there are videoplayers and tapes, there's no teenager stuff like gossip about actors, music and so on. There are no weekends or holidays spent at home, no siblings and generally, no other background than Hailsham.

The kids at Hailsham are told that they are 'special', that they have a specific purpose, and an enormous effort is made to educate them, spur their creativity in every direction, painting, poetry, needlework, even stage plays are hinted at, giving at first glance the impression of an exclusive boarding school. Yet, there are also a number of curious gaps in that childhood. Keeping healthy and in good overall condition is imperative at Hailsham, and diseases are not an item there. The only connection to 'outside' is a lorry full of an obscure assortment of goods the children can buy with Hailsham's own currency. The students own works of art, paintings and so on encouraged so much, are shown at regular exhibitions and the kids buy each others works, whereas the best examples are going into the 'gallery' of Madame, a woman irregularly visiting the premises.

Gradually it is hinted at that the studens, all of them, are to become 'donors' in the future, and by then the reader already suspects what this means. But when it's finally vocalised by one of the guardians that all the kids are just clones, merely bred to become a living resource for vital organs, what's really shocking is not the monstrosity of this simple truth, but the complete ignorance of the implications and absence of any opposition the students show. What they are disturbed about is not their nature as a different form of kettle, but the fact that 'they' (meaning in this context ordinary people, embodied in the character of Madame) seem to be utterly afraid and revolted by them.

The Hailsham students also seem to have gotten little to no education in the field one could in a wider context call 'religion and moral philosophy'. They are merely taught to accept their fate and even to assist in it, becoming after a certain time 'carers', which means driving across the country, visiting 'donors', talking to them, encouraging them, help them keep on pushing. Until it's their own time to become a 'donor', a perspective met by most with hardly a blink. Apart from that, there is no real purpose for them in life.

But it's shown that the students develop their own form of myths, their own search for a sense in life. One of these myths is the rumour that a couple, if they really love each other, can get a deferral, for a time. And Kathy and Tommy set out to find out about this. Unintentionally, they meet by accident their... what? parent? no... God? no... But then again, in a way, they do. And what they learn is even more of a shock than the story up to then.

Never Let Me Go is in many ways a fascinating read, but it also has an awful message, and the moment the story gets even worse is, as far as I remember, the only scene when Ishiguro actually mentions a current brand name. For the simple purpose to prevent readers from dismissing the world of the story as not being ours. It is different, but it's also much closer to ours than we would like to admit. The theme, therapeutic cloning, is a red-hot one, and while it's not mentioned as such often, it is exactly the questions this book asks we would have to answer in our present day, if there was to be a major break-through with cloning in the near future.

[dodge]

For research, I'm plowing through a number of Robert Parker's Spenser novels. They're well done but, man, I'm sick of wiseacre P.I.'s.

[Kilroy6644]

I just finished White Fang, which was an excellent book I'd never read before. I'm now starting Last of the Breed, by Louis L'Amour.

[Harmsway]

A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - FROM STANLEY KUBRICK TO STEVEN SPIELBERG: THE VISION BEHIND THE FILM edited by Jan Harlan and Jane M. Struthers

It's certainly strange to see a comprehensive "Making Of" book come out for a film that wasn't immensely popular nearly a decade after its release, but that's what has happened here. And thankfully, it's not lightweight, glossy fare, either (most "Making Of" books seem to be just packaged advertisements), but a fairly in-depth look at a fascinating film from two of cinema's heavyweight directors. I'm astonished as to how much ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE belongs to neither Kubrick or Spielberg, but designer Chris Baker.

[dodge]

Am rereading THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Steig Larsson. It's even better the second time around and once again I'm heartbroken that the author died just after turning in his three completed novels in this astonishing series. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, published last year, was every bit as good. And I'm anxiously awaiting the third and final volume with the glorious return of Lisbeth Salander, petite punk rebel investigator, whom bigger men should truly like hell to not abuse.

[elizabeth]

Started on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Very good, very futuristic, but also very odd so far. Very satirical as well.

[Eric Stromberg]

Started on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Very good, very futuristic, but also very odd so far. Very satirical as well.

One of my favorite books as a teen. It's been awhile, so now that you've put a bug in my ear I think I'll revisit it soon.

[Ambler]

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It's a piece of trash, but - as with The Da Vinci Code - I got tired of being the only guy in the room who hadn't read it.

Edited by Ambler, 21 April 2010 - 10:43 AM.

[dodge]

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It's a piece of trash, but - as with The Da Vinci Code - I got tired of being the only guy in the room who hadn't read it.

A piece of trash, eh? On what do you base that opinion? I thought the characterization was brilliant, the mystery engaging, the plotting ingenious and the writing itself nicely married to the journalist-hero's profession. Before throwing dismissive words around like trash, why not give us a little more to go on so we know where you're coming from? E.G., what sort of mysteries do you like and what in what ways, specifically, does this fall short of their high standards? Really, there's no way on earth that this can be linked to TDVC, except in its being a pop phenomenon.

[Jeff007]

The Battle for Bond.

[jwheels]

Vince Flynn's Transfer of Power.

[Ambler]

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It's a piece of trash, but - as with The Da Vinci Code - I got tired of being the only guy in the room who hadn't read it.

A piece of trash, eh? On what do you base that opinion?

My own tastes and experience, degrees in print journalism and historiography, and 20 years of writing and editing books.

Before throwing dismissive words around like trash, why not give us a little more to go on so we know where you're coming from?

When you begin paying for content you can make such demands. Until then I write to suit myself.

Really, there's no way on earth that this can be linked to TDVC, except in its being a pop phenomenon.

Well, I just linked it and have yet to be struck by lightning.

[dodge]

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It's a piece of trash, but - as with The Da Vinci Code - I got tired of being the only guy in the room who hadn't read it.

A piece of trash, eh? On what do you base that opinion?

My own tastes and experience, degrees in print journalism and historiography, and 20 years of writing and editing books.

Before throwing dismissive words around like trash, why not give us a little more to go on so we know where you're coming from?

When you begin paying for content you can make such demands. Until then I write to suit myself.

Really, there's no way on earth that this can be linked to TDVC, except in its being a pop phenomenon.

Well, I just linked it and have yet to be struck by lightning.

Well, if anyone here can dismiss anything they dislike as Rubbish or Trash without backing up the claim, because they're not being paid, I'm not sure that's a healthy direction to fly in. Similarly, your credentials sound impressive and I respect your experience/tastes. But they're certainly no more impressive than N.Y. Times critic Michiko Kakutani's...and she happened to love the book. That doesn't mean that you're wrong or she's right--it just means that your opinion can't be weighed without substantiating detail. And if you're unwilling to provide that, because you're not on salary, why bother to post such a dismissive trashing?

[Qwerty]

The Runaway Jury by John Grisham. Picked it up since I love the movie. So far it hasn't disappointed.

[Kilroy6644]

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

[Ambler]

your opinion can't be weighed without substantiating detail. And if you're unwilling to provide that, because you're not on salary, why bother to post such a dismissive trashing?

That's fair comment. I'm so used to this thread (and most of the others) being nothing but a long list of consumables I rarely expect any comeback.