Author Topic: Books - What are you reading?  (Read 79208 times)

Offline lborgia88

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #390 on: April 13, 2020, 01:25:31 PM »
I read "Qualityland" by Marc-Uwe Kling (translated from German) about a month ago, but just realized last night that if season 3 of Westworld were reimagined as a comedy, it would be this book.
And apparently HBO is going to make a series based on it.

Offline AzT

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #391 on: April 22, 2020, 10:36:22 PM »
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delreystarwars This month we're bringing conventions to you!

Have a #StarWars books question you've always wanted to ask? Here's your chance. Leave a comment below with your question then watch a Q&A with editors Elizabeth and Tom as part of #VirtualCon on Apr 24th.

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #392 on: Today at 04:59:40 AM »

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #392 on: May 22, 2020, 05:23:53 PM »
I just finished Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It was surprisingly good. There was a little too much ret-conning and 'name-dropping' (not actual names for the most part, just components that make their way to the later trilogy) but I liked the story and it didn't end the way I had imagined.

Offline Miss Kitty

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #393 on: May 22, 2020, 06:33:38 PM »
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I just finished Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It was surprisingly good. There was a little too much ret-conning and 'name-dropping' (not actual names for the most part, just components that make their way to the later trilogy) but I liked the story and it didn't end the way I had imagined.
I just saw this book at Costco today! So worth the read?

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Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #394 on: May 24, 2020, 02:34:14 PM »
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I just saw this book at Costco today! So worth the read?

It is worth the read if you enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy.

OTOH... it's not so compelling that you couldn't wait, if you were hoping for a sale...

Offline perc2100

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #395 on: May 25, 2020, 12:35:46 PM »
I Just finished reading "I Am Legend," the Richard Matheson novel from the mid-1950's.  If you only know the story from the (pretty terrible) Will Smith adaptation, you don't _really_ know the story of the novel.  Matheson does a great job of chillingly getting into the mind of the (probably) last human being alive, from a seeming pandemic that has either killed everyone else or turned them into seeming vampires.  There are essentially three 'stages' of the novel, with the first being the main character's isolation, going through the day-to-day that is waking up, doing 'chores' (sharpening dowel rods to be steaks to kill vampires; repairing any outside damage to his house caused by a crowd of vampires that congregate on his front lawn every night to taunt him; etc), and then settling in for the evening with music and whisky.  Needless to say, this is fairly relatable (minus the nightly boozing).

The 2nd stage the main character, Neville, becomes accustomed to his new 'normal,' and begins to study about germs, bacteria, etc. to try to find cause of the 'plague'-like disease + possibly a cure.  This phase we're also learning about his backstory, life before the vampire plague, etc.  I don't think Matheson gets into heavy detail about what explicitly causes the plague (something widely copied by the zombie genre, beginning about 15 years after the publication of this w/Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD), though there are hints about what might be the cause.

The 3rd stage has a bit of a time jump, with Neville essentially bulked up & normalized to his situation.  And of course, the book takes a 'Third Act' turn that solidifies a nice thematic and narrative twist while also 'explaining' what the title of the book signifies.

It's maybe not the best type of book to read right now, given current event, but the pseudo hokeyness of the vampires makes it feel far less grounded than it could have with a more broad disease effect.  Some aspects feel chilling: like a "what could happen" or a "what might have happened" given the coronapocalpyse we're all living through.  But for me the strength is in the character study of Neville: seeing him deal with his new normal makes me feel more at peace about our world.  I mean, he's pretty calm and collective dealing with freaking vampires, so I can be calm dealing with "just" a pandemic.  When Neville has his dark days & evenings of frustration or depression, it's a reminder that my own feelings are 100% legit and I'm not the only one dealing with the crazy emotional rollercoaster.

1) if you're put off due to the Smith film, give this a chance.  Conversely, if you loved the Smith film know this is very different in many ways (the Vincent Price adaptation, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, is probably the closest adaptation as it was at least partially written by the original author; however, rewrites strayed from the source material enough that Matheson refused to put his name on it and is credited w/a pseudonym)
2) there's a pretty great graphic novel adaptation of the novel that I highly recommend.  It's black & white and not too graphic for the most part, and does a great job 'condensing' Matheson's descriptive writing.

Writer Richard Matheson was a great sci-fi writer.  He wrote the famous "Terror at 20,000 Feet" Twilight Zone episode (along with maybe a few dozen others), as well as the short-story that was Steven Spielberg's feature-length directorial debut, the TV movie DUEL (Matheson also adapted his own short story for Spielberg's script).  He's a great writer, who IMO pretty expertly mixes sci-fi jargon/mumbo-jumbo with an every-man aesthetic: meaning, especially in "I Am Legend," he doesn't bog down in science too much while painting vivid portraits of characters).

Offline AzT

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #396 on: June 05, 2020, 07:21:25 AM »
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cbldf Today, CBLDF is launching a new Summer Reading Challenge! Head to cbldf.org to find out how you can join by reading a new graphic novel each week this summer! Art by @sasmilledge

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Offline Miss Kitty

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #397 on: June 08, 2020, 08:39:39 PM »
Have you guys tried hoopla yet? Our library doesn't have a ton of graphic novels, but hoopla does. See what library near you has it and get a library card and "check out" 5 free books or audiobooks a month!

Now, idk which to read. The Batman Who Laughs or Damned?

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Offline Jim Watari

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #398 on: June 18, 2020, 07:34:49 PM »
Just started listening to

"Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre" by Max Brooks   (World War Z)
The more things change, the more they stay the same

Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: It's okay, I'm a leaf on the wind!
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: What does that mean?

Offline perc2100

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #399 on: July 13, 2020, 10:27:32 AM »
While I was sick I at least caught up on some reading.  As a musician/music teacher I always like reading music books, and I read a couple of Beatles books in the last two weeks:

* "Love Me Do!" by Michael Braun - an incredibly quick read.  Braun accompanied The Beatles on the England national tour 1963-1964 as well as their Ed Sullivan debut, Carnegie Hall Performance, and Washington DC American gigs, as well as a performance in Paris.  It happens right when the Beatles are on the cusp of breaking huge, sort of the beginning of Beatlemania, and reads mostly like Braun is a 'fly-on-the-wall' observing the group's interactions with each other, performances, and other important people.  I think I read this one in about 24 hours, being maybe 200 pages long.  It's a good look into how The Beatles initially dealt with their mammoth fame, and to be honest: they were incredibly ornery lads who seemed to have a balance of either 'getting into shenanigans of some sort' or 'exhausted from performing multiple times a night + doing press/fan stuff.'  I was a touring musician for awhile in college one summer (in a band that opened for Alice in Chains for a stretch, among others), so seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff was fascinating & I could relate.  John Lennon said, "A true book. He wrote how we were, which was bastards."  I think that's a bit of an overstatement, but they definitely come across as rowdy youngins more often than not.

* "Here, There, and Everywhere" by Geoffrey Emerich - Geoff started working at EMI Studios (later renamed Abbey Road Studios) when he was 15, and during his first 2 weeks on the job he assisted The Beatles recording their first album.  Thus began a career where he was engineering some of the greatest pop rock albums in the history of the medium before he was old enough to drink in the US ("Revolver" & "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" are explicitly what I'm talking about, though he worked on nearly all of The Beatles' records in some capacity as well as produced The Wings' "Bands on the Run" and other great recordings).  With The Beatles Geoff literally invented studio recording techniques that are still considered standard today (for example, how we commonly mic drum sets & muffle bass drums on recordings was all an 'experiment' during the "Revolver" sessions, particularly the track "Tomorrow Never Comes").  The books gets in depth with the production of tracks Geoff worked on, though it's much more than just a laundry list of technical accomplishments.  There's quite a lot about how the band interacted w/each other in the studio, and gives a good glimpse into how the band 'clicked' at their peak, and how the band devolved and broke up eventually.  If you're into the technical aspects of recording this is a must-read account of the shaping of some of The Beatles' most important studio work in the mid-late 1960's (as well as the album "Band on the Run," recorded in Lagos, Africa w/just McCartney, his wife, and guitarist/pianist Denny Laine).  But I think there are also plenty of stories and other details for 'laypeople' who aren't into the mechanics of exactly how Paul achieved the staccato, articulate string accompaniment for "Eleanor Rigby."
"Here, There, and Everywhere" took a bit longer to read as it goes a lot more in depth about its subject matter.  I imagine it's considered a "must-read" for Beatles fans, but I think there is a lot of information for casual Beatles fans who are also into music in general (the story of how Geoff spliced two radically different takes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" for the final mix, two takes that were different tempos AND in different keys, is phenomenal)

Anyway, that's what I was reading while drifting in & out of sickness/consciousness: your bit of reading recs from a Beatles fan

Offline Emerald_Mom

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #400 on: October 05, 2020, 05:45:46 AM »
For anyone that enjoyed Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One" .... I just pre-ordered his "Ready Player Two" on Amazon.... available Nov. 24th
“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss

Offline Miss Kitty

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #401 on: October 05, 2020, 06:13:15 AM »
The book was fantastic, the movie was blah. As are most book to movie adaptions. Though probably the best I can recall would be The Body, by Stephen King which turned into Stand By Me.

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Offline Emerald_Mom

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #402 on: October 05, 2020, 07:40:20 AM »
I agree the book was awesome!!  (and the movie was....underwhelming)
I loved a lot of Steven Kings early works.... got to the point some of his things later were ok, but not fantastic... tho, some of his stories this past decade or so are good.
I took a leap of faith that Ready Player Two is going to be good.  I have really been in to dystopian fiction lately and am always looking for recommendations!
“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss

Offline TardisMom

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Re: Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #403 on: October 05, 2020, 08:32:52 AM »
I've been reading lots of the books from former Trump people -- Melania & Me, Rage, Disloyal -- but just loaded The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson onto my Kindle for some non-political reading.  I really enjoyed Devil in the White City and some of his other works, so excited to check it out.

Offline MickeyJack

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Books - What are you reading?
« Reply #404 on: October 19, 2020, 09:44:55 PM »
I’m reading “The Foot Book” by Ted Geisel


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