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What books are you reading right now?

Discussion in 'Tilted Art, Photography, Music & Literature' started by sapiens, Aug 12, 2011.

  1. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    • Like Like x 1
  2. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    I'm bout half way through The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. It's an interesting read so far. At first I was a little concerned because Diamant mentions many characters, but her focus stays mostly on the ones key to Dinah's story.

    ---------------------------

    I recently finished Primal Fear by Richard Diehl. This novel contains some flaws, but nothing serious for a crime novel, and Diehl keeps the story moving.

    Spoiler alert,

    which might be unnecessary since most people have seen the movie.

    Most readers probably figured out fairly early that Aaron (actually Roy) was faking having a split personality. Even before Roy appeared something struck me as odd. Many people had commented on how intelligent Aaron was, and he was voracious reader....yet Aaron spoke with a heavy backwoods Kentucky accent (I wonder if people in backwoods Kentucky got a laugh out of the accent?). Even though he lived his first 18 years in Crikside, KY, I had a hard time seeing him still having that much of an accent if he was bright and read that much.
     
  3. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Reading a bunch of papers on plants growing in space. So I can write that lovely monolithic thing that's been weighing heavily on my mind since... well... a long time.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. Lindy

    Lindy Moderator Staff Member

    Location:
    Nebraska
    I can't think about plants in space without Silent Running coming to mind. It was made in the seventies, and I saw it as part of a Si-Fi films class in college in about 1996. I'm not much of a movie person, but Silent Running is still with me twenty years later.

    Silent Running Movie Review & Film Summary (1971) | Roger Ebert
    [​IMG]
    And why can't I upload a f*cking image????????????
     
  5. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX

    If you ever have spare time to read some bad "pulp" sci-fi, try The Pollinators of Eden. I've posted some comments in this thread, 1753 is the first one.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  6. CinnamonGirl

    CinnamonGirl The Cheat is GROUNDED!

    Decided to try Forrest Gump. It's...not what I expected. Kinda lost me on the believability scale after he went into space :confused:

    I'm also reading a fantasty/sci-fi anthology revolving around cats, Tails of Wonder and Imagination. Like any anthology, some stories are fantastic, some are awful, the rest are somewhere in between. Authors/contributors include Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, GRRM, Tanith Lee, and Peter S. Beagle.
     
  7. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    I need to see this. Images look familiar, like I saw it as a child.
     
  8. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    The book has never tempted me because the movie, while entertaining, contained too much NFW!.
    --- merged: Feb 13, 2016 at 11:47 AM ---
    The Wiki info makes Silent Running sound like an interesting movie. I like Bruce Dern's acting.....even though he was the first man to kill John Wayne. I'm thinking, but my quick search on IMDb didn't find it, early in his career he was in a weird movie about intelligent and virtually indestructible roaches.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 20, 2016
  9. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Finished Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold last night. So good.
    Loved this bit:


    "Well, I don't hate him. Can't say as I worship him, either." She paused a long time, and looked up to meet her mother's eyes squarely. "But when he's cut, I bleed."

    "Oh," said her mother, whitely.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  10. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    Death of Innocence by Mamie Till-Mobley with Christopher Benson.

    Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till, a black teenager, was kidnapped and murdered* by two white men in Money, MS on August 28, 1955. His murder, and some of the decisions made by and actions taken by his mother Mamie Till provided a considerable amount of fuel to the civil rights movement.

    Emmett Till - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    The first 100 pages or so provide the background on Mamie Till and her family. It's a bit tedious for anyone wanting to get to the circumstances surrounding Emmett's murder and what followed. I had to remind myself several times that the author was his mother and therefore a certain amount of rosiness was to be expected. On a positive note it provides a good look at the lives of middle class blacks. It might help some people to understand that most blacks want the same things as do most people--good jobs where hard work leads to advancement , safe neighborhoods, good schools for their children, etc.

    *The men were charged, tried, and acquitted. Their acquittal is widely considered to be bullshit.
     
  11. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    Your Cheatin' Heart by Chet Flippo, a biography of Hank Williams (Sr).

    I've probably read some articles by Flippo over the years, but never noted his name. So far the first 60 pages of this bio haven't blown me away, but in all fairness to Flippo information on the the early part of Hank's life can be sketchy.
     
  12. CinnamonGirl

    CinnamonGirl The Cheat is GROUNDED!

    Finally picked up Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman. It is delightful.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  13. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    The Monk by William H. Hallahan. I try not to judge writers by just one of their works, but this book is not very good. Hallahan has written several books that were very popular and critically acclaimed; perhaps in this case he decided to take a break and write a Why-the-hell-not? book.

    If I got the spoiler marks wrong, it's no big deal, you really shouldn't waste your time on this book.

    After fallen angel Timothy is forgiven by Brandon (a mortal who has the rare purple aura) and is restored to heaven, Satan decides to take heaven by force rather than wait for Gawd's final punishment. He and the evil horde arrive only to find heaven abandoned.....and that is supposed to be Satan's final punishment (??????).[\spoiler]
    --- merged: Mar 6, 2016 at 11:51 AM ---

    While I wasn't impressed with Flippo's writing overall, it did improve once he started getting into parts of Hank's life that were easier to document. I doubt that many people here actually care to read about a C&W singer/songwriter who died over 63 years ago, but this book is worth reading. Hank was not an easy person know or get along with, and he earned much of the scorn heaped on him, but the few people close to him who should've helped him instead failed him miserably.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 13, 2016
  14. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    I'm about half way through Stephen King's Under The Dome. I've only read about five? six? of King's books, and I usually avoid the horror novels. Why I chose to read a 1,200+ page book by him I don't know. I just hope that UTD doesn't out to be like It--a great first half with a lousy second half.

    FTR the book is different enough from the TV series so that I don't consider seeing the series a major spoiler. Teaser--In the book Junior Rennie is seriously and truly disturbed; his "girlfriends" would agree.

    ---------------------------------------------
    EDIT: I now see that I accidently included my comments on another book in the spoiler notice for The Monk.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2016
  15. Finished Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny last night. I would love to see this as a mini-series. It would be epic, if faithfully translated.
    Now, I've started The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth by the same author. Not what I expected, by I'm really enjoying it.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  16. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    Starting to reread the Deryni series...by Katherine Kurtz
    with Deryni Rising

    Great angle on the use of psychic powers applied in the context of western mysticism (Templar) in a renaissance/medieval fictional European kingdom.
    Where a sub-race of humans are ostracized by racist normals...but they help the kingdom anyway in underground plotting.
    Meanwhile a opposition kingdom ruled by arrogant "talented" humans add to the conflict.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2016
  17. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    I'm about 30 pages into My Present Age by Guy Vanderhaeghe.

    Edit: Under The Dome was meh. It might've been OK if it had been edited down to 600-700 pages. I guess that Stephen King no longer has editors asking him to remove unnecessary characters and subplots :p.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2016
  18. OMG GUYS! GUUUUYS! I have my final tomorrow. After that it's spring break!!!! I should probably pack, but I think I'll read a book. Oh holy christ. Imma gonna read a book that isn't a textbook!

    I don't even know where to start...ooooooh. Jesus Mary and Joseph. A fucking book....for entertainment purposes.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  19. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    And on the side...as my mood suits it,
    The Organized Mind.

    Kind of a nice combination of a defense from "Future Shock" (Alvin Toffler)
    and a crutch for my own personal disorganization.

    I'm pretty undisciplined outside of work (where I'm quite the opposite)
    Perhaps I can settle my shit, clean up my act.
     
  20. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX

    I was so burned out by the time I graduated from college, I didn't read anything longer than a magazine article for several years.
     
    • Like Like x 1