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Current reading - Page 2

post #51 of 4517
5/6/02 at 8:56pm
I never read anything by James Lee Burke, I just remember a great quote by James Ellroy. He was asked to comment on some fellow writers and James Lee Burke was mentioned, to which the Demon Dog replied:
"Jesus, 'The wind blew off the bayou, it ruffled the trees...' oh please, fuck you!"
Sorry, just had to share that.
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post #52 of 4517
5/6/02 at 9:18pm
Ellroy is a strange cat.
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post #53 of 4517
5/6/02 at 11:03pm
If that quote's legit, my respect for Ellroy just dropped a few notches. I enjoy his work - although he takes himself pretty seriously these days, and The Cold Six Thousand was not a step up - but Burke has been doing this for a lot longer, and better. The Dave Robicheaux series is wonderful, and his characters (especially Cletus Purcel) are some of the best out there.
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post #54 of 4517
5/7/02 at 12:45am
Ellroy needs to be spending more time working on his own piss-poor writing than taking cheap shots at other writers. Perhaps he's a bit jealous at Burke's skill with both prose and character.
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post #55 of 4517
5/7/02 at 12:51am
Ellroy is a fine writer, he's just a psyhco.

Just read his <a href="http://www.centralbooking.com/author_about.shtml?author=37" target="_blank">bio</a>
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post #56 of 4517
5/7/02 at 12:52am
Adam, that was pretty riveting. The airplane stuff really came alive.

I do believe that there are forces we can't possibly comprehend because we have no information about their existence or order, and I do believe circumstances coalesce into crises in a baffling split second, but being such a paranoid obsessive compulsive manic depressive person, I always try to see light at the end. I've turned into the kind of person that needs a happy ending, as pathetic as that sounds. This book seems like an incredibly fascinating read, but maddening at the same time. What was your experience reading it?
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post #57 of 4517
5/7/02 at 9:30am
I'm reading Christopher Moore's 'Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal', which I recommend to absolutely EVERYONE.
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post #58 of 4517
5/8/02 at 12:57am
yt,

As I'm only 5/8 through the book(270 of 470), commentary on the entire reading experience is impossible. The book is completely thought provoking, and many paragraphs provoke a contemplative pause; not an effort to understand(so far the clarity is impeccable), rather, to play with the idea presented.

The author is certainly not a doom and gloom type. The airplane "careening into the future" seems a suitable metaphor for his outlook. The question of our ability to cope is raised, validated(great 100 page reference/endnotes section), and assessed. I believe the suggestion would be that human ingenuity can handle such a global 'unknown' situation much like the pilots handled their local one. Cautionary, none the less.

Above all, it is an accessable learning experience for a powerful set of ideas(presented both metaphorically and practically), which is what makes it such a great read.
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post #59 of 4517
5/8/02 at 1:01am
And normally I don't recommend things until I finish them. I was recommending this book after the first chapter(hopefully I'm justified—it just won a Governor General's Award for Non-fiction).
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post #60 of 4517
5/8/02 at 1:04am
And I'd happilly send you my copy if you're interested.
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post #61 of 4517
5/8/02 at 6:52am
Finished Hyperion yesterday. Parts of it were a chore to get through, but all in all it was a great book and has a great story to tell in the next few books. I love those pilgrims.

Now that it's over I can't decide which story I thought was the best-- Father Hoyt's or Sol Weintraub's.
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post #62 of 4517
5/8/02 at 3:37pm
All day and not a response?

Jesus Christ.
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post #63 of 4517
5/8/02 at 5:14pm
Yikes.
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post #64 of 4517
5/8/02 at 6:13pm
Ok, to bump this thread up AGAIN, who is this Severn guy in The Fall of Hyperion? Is he the one having the dream of the pilgrims?

And what significance does he have that you can explain to me without spoiling anything?
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post #65 of 4517
5/8/02 at 6:15pm
*cough you should make a new thread for that stuff cough*
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post #66 of 4517
5/8/02 at 6:16pm
First of all, to what were we supposed to form a response? Your debate over which story was best?

Severn is ... um ... nope, can't do it without spoiling it. Just continue reading.
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post #67 of 4517
5/9/02 at 5:06am
Adam, I'm definitely up for reading it. My caution comes from picking up books that unremittingly lay on the alarmist button. But I don't advise lending your copy to me (I'm a notorious non-returner). I'll take a look at bookfinder.com. Thanks for the recommendation!
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post #68 of 4517
5/10/02 at 3:48pm
Dog Eat Dog by Edward Bunker.

Finished Book Of Laughter And Forgetting by Kundera few days ago.

I'll read the first Modesty Blaise book next. Then it's on to Berlin Alexanderplatz by Doblin, which looks big as Texas and probably just as dry.
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post #69 of 4517
5/11/02 at 10:31pm
In the Name of the Father by Daniel Poliquin. I never tire of books about Quebec politics.
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post #70 of 4517
5/12/02 at 2:36pm
Am now reading Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara. I've always been a sucker for the American Revolution, and this is good stuff so far.
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post #71 of 4517
5/13/02 at 11:40pm
Quote:
Poxy Von Sinister of Ulm:
Am now reading Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara. I've always been a sucker for the American Revolution, and this is good stuff so far.
Funny I am on The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara.

Then will proceed to Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and then who knows.

I have yet to finish Going To The Movies by Syd Field ( I know there is a bit of animosity torwards him around here.)

Then I have to finish Tides Of War by Steven Pressfield. Then read The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. Then Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory. Then Screenwriting 101 by Neill D Hicks. And finally Big Trouble by Dave Barry (Greatest columnist alive people)
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post #72 of 4517
5/13/02 at 11:51pm
Just finished The Rip off by Jim Thompson moving on to The Killer Inside Me
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post #73 of 4517
5/20/02 at 2:13am
I'm reading MINE by R.R. McCammon and am liking it. I found and finished SONG OF KALI a few days ago and while I loved it, I have to admit that I thought SUMMER OF NIGHT was much scarier.
Also, that Ellroy quote is legit. Go to <a href="http://www.ellroy.com," target="_blank">www.ellroy.com,</a> go to the links and click on Demon Dog central. From there, read the Sub-Definitive Ellroy on Ellroy and you will get an eye-opening look into the one and only Demon Dog.
Another of my favs: "Have I read Freud? Fuck no!" which ties into "I want to be the Tolstoy of my generation... another one of those fuckers I haven't read."
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post #74 of 4517
5/22/02 at 1:19pm
Not currently reading, but would love copies of

The Darkest Part of the Woods, Ramsey Campbell's new supernatural novel;

Smoke Ghost, the second Midnight House collection of Fritz Leiber's short fiction, including numerous horror classics;

The Attempted Rescue, Tartarus Press's reprinting of Robert Aickman's ultra-rare autobiographical work--<a href="http://homepages.pavilion.co.uk/users/tartarus/rescue.htm" target="_blank">Aickman autobiography</a> (Readers of supernatural and horror fiction: the Tartarus site makes for good browsing.)
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post #75 of 4517
5/22/02 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 
Just finished Sin Killer by Larry McMurtry. It's a western and the first in a proposed 4 book series about a large English family making their way through the west in the 1830's. Very good, but very short.
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post #76 of 4517
5/23/02 at 11:23pm
Adam, I just ordered The Ingenuity Gap because of your recomendation.

Here's hoping you're right...
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post #77 of 4517
5/24/02 at 12:12am
Just starting Mitchell Smith's Snowfall. About society several hundred years in the future after Jupiter's orbit collapses (or something like that) and North America undergoes another ice age. Smith has mostly done high-quality character-based thrillers, this sci-fi is a bit of a switch for him.
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post #78 of 4517
5/24/02 at 11:33am
Hey now!
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post #79 of 4517
5/24/02 at 12:01pm
I've moved on to 'The Emerald Burrito of Oz' by Marc Levinthal and John Skipp (of Skipp & Spector fame). Hillarious stuff, and it's a damn cool follow up (of sorts..) to Baum's originals.
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post #80 of 4517
5/24/02 at 1:15pm
Right now I'm in the middle of Everything's Eventual, and reading some comic books that have been pulled from underneath the stairs during the move-out. Mike Grell's The Green Arrow run is what I'm in the middle of right now.

Next up? Um ..., probably a re-read of Boy's Life by McCammon.
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post #81 of 4517
5/24/02 at 1:16pm
Oh, and Xy ... when you're done, can you send me Running Linux? Sounds enthralling...
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post #82 of 4517
5/24/02 at 2:12pm
Tony, the Ingenuity Gap is very worth it. While it's not an entirely acedemic piece of non-fiction, and Homer-Dickson's prose is Very accessible, it is 400 large pages, which often grind through such un-fascinating subjects as economics and evolutionary theory. The subjects aren't exactly fluffy.

That said, as near the end, I was shocked to find: the prediction of a sept. 11(suggesting OSB as the likely culprit), and a description of the present-day war on terror. Not only that, we get a discourse on India which brought a chilled smile to this reader of Song of Kali.

This is by far the most pertinent book I've ever read. Utterly grounded in reality. It also ranks up with Gould, Gleik and other writers of terms of accessible non-fiction.
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post #83 of 4517
5/24/02 at 2:27pm
Blofeld, I'd recommend Java for Beginners as a follow-up. Pages of captivating prose by the greatest writers ever to lay hands on a keyboard: computer scientists. Who knew that system.out.printline could be such a touching tribute to the creative mind!

I'm reading Barney's Version by Mordechai Richler, which is so funny I started a thread for the first chapter. Obviously I live on planet X, and everone else planet Y.

Still picking at the Silmarillion and Chaos by James Gleick(got side-tracked with the Ingenuity Gap). Plus, its not exactly edge-of-your-seat.

In the works:

Re-read the Endymions.

River Horse by William Least Heat-Moon.

Words and Rules by Steven Pinker.

The Lying Stones of Marrakech and the Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould.

Anything by Richler I can lay my hands on.
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post #84 of 4517
5/24/02 at 2:31pm
Quote:
raoul duke:
In the Name of the Father by Daniel Poliquin. I never tire of books about Quebec politics.
Have you read Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! I'm sure it's good. Richler is my new God.
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post #85 of 4517
5/24/02 at 6:53pm
Half-way through the Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton, after reading the first book in the trilogy: Reality Dysfunction.

Enjoyed it so far, however all this pause/fight/pause/fight is getting a touch tedious.
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post #86 of 4517
5/26/02 at 3:44am
Just finished reading
Empryrio by Jack Vance
Babel17 by Samual Delany
Mindstar Rising and Fallen Dragon by Peter Hamilton
recently finished
Deepsix by Jack McDevit
Revelation Space and Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
Heavens Reach by David Brin
Currently reading
The Nano Flower by Peter Hamilton
Gravity Dreams by L.E Modessit jr
im sure im reading to many books
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post #87 of 4517
5/26/02 at 3:51am
As of Monday, Introduction to Electromagnetic Fields. Think The Ingenuity Gap sounds dry? Ha!

Oh. And Donaldson's White Gold Wielder. You can never get enough angst, misery, and Giants.
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post #88 of 4517
5/29/02 at 5:52pm
Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the shadow of Watergate and Vietnam 1970-1979

With The Ingenuity Gap as my secondary book.

I also have Darwins Blade to finish, but truthfully I am finding it a bore. It was good until 350 but then I lost total interest.
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post #89 of 4517
5/29/02 at 5:56pm
Darwin's Blade is a little rough ... if you take it seriously. Look at it as a parody of "male" adventure books.
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post #90 of 4517
5/29/02 at 6:00pm
I saw it that way, it is really funny. And I will finish it. It's not really the books fault, it's just that I have a ton of other books I got in the mail and I have lost interest in that.
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post #91 of 4517
5/29/02 at 7:18pm
I haven't picked up The Fall of Hyperion in like, a week. It's failed to keep my interest.
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post #92 of 4517
5/29/02 at 9:09pm
Being Dead Jim Crace - awesome.
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post #93 of 4517
5/29/02 at 10:27pm
I loved that book.
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post #94 of 4517
5/29/02 at 10:58pm
Mila 18 by Leon Uris.
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post #95 of 4517
5/30/02 at 12:01am
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. Huge thanks to Blofeld for directing me toward this book. I find it amazing and I'm barely at the beginning.
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post #96 of 4517
5/30/02 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Bluntmatt (Jedi Outcast):
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. Huge thanks to Blofeld for directing me toward this book. I find it amazing and I'm barely at the beginning.
I'm om page 156 of the same book matt. I also am much of the loving it.
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post #97 of 4517
5/30/02 at 12:17am
Good to hear!
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post #98 of 4517
5/30/02 at 1:02am
After careful study of this thread, I've changed my mind. The Ingenuity Gap doesn't sound dry at all.

Introduction to Electromagnetic Fields still is, though.
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post #99 of 4517
5/30/02 at 1:20am
Currently slogging through these titles [if anyone cares]:

-Catch Me if You Can
-In the Blink of an eye: second edition
-Strasberg's Method
-The Virgin Suicides
-This is Orson Welles
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post #100 of 4517
5/30/02 at 9:24am
I found my very old copy of Senor Asimov's The Gods Themselves and just finished it. I'm about to start Gaiman's American Gods. A total impulse buy. Saw it haphazardly placed next to the candy while waiting for a check-out at K-Mart, and grabbed it. The only other Gaiman I've read is Good Omens, although this looks to be a bit different.

-Mr. Sodium
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