Invisible Man was a lot of fun.

H G Wells is consistently good entertainment.



Just started rereading Adventures of Sherlock Homes. These are fantastically great short stories.

If you haven't read it, The Road is a pretty good post apoc. book. If you're into games, Fallout 3 (post apoc) comes out next week and Left 4 Dead (ZOMbiES!!!!) comes out in november I loved the premise of WWZ and he delivered some things I'd never thought about
[tiny spoilers]
but didn't like the book as much since each story is just so short. Like I'd really get into one of the narratives and then it ends. Also, even though each story was supposed to be from a different person, he (author, forgot name) didn't really color the people and they all sound written in the same voice.

The World Without Us was pretty interesting. I particularly liked the part dealing with plastic particulates in every ocean and on every beach in the world. It was a bit preachy (I have a signed copy and he wrote "To Bostaevski - with hope!") but really opened my eyes to how much we are ****ing this planet up.

Also it's strange that within the last 6 books I've read has been every book you just listed.

On the dark tower series.

I think the second and third are the best. The fourth one was really interesting and different, but I think it diverged too much from the main series. I can't remember it that well but it was almost a stand alone book, incidentially related to the other books. But I can see it being the best.

I think they really went downhill after the fourth. I think Stephen King just writes as he goes along without plotting or outlining and it really shows up here. You expect it to be heading towards some grand epic conclusion, and they just end up meeting strange people and helping them out with some problem and the next thing the book is over.

On Terry Goodkind. Sorry, his books suck. I think I only made it through the first one though.

Edit: The first book has a great opening line. I think it goes something like:
"The man in black fled into the desert and Roland followed."

Kinda sums up the whole book in his first line.

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

I listened to the first 4 books of the Dark Tower on tape, read by Frank Muller. I loved it - Muller really became the voice of Roland and even though I read the final 3 books (Muller was in an accident and not able to record them - died in June of this year), Roland always spoke in Muller's voice.


After the final 3 were released I bought the entire set of 7 illustrated books. The artwork in the books is quite good imo.

Bosta, yes, the Road is excellent and I'm pumped to see it in theaters soon.

Agreed. The movie I'm most looking forward to right now.

Why do I know that name?


I've seen the movie and enjoyed it.

I second your H G Wells comment; I enjoyed many of his stories as a youngster. For Sherlock Holmes get: The Complete Sherlock Holmes --

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sherl...4820465&sr=1-2 --

which contains everything every written in one volume. I'm proud to have it on my bookself.

-Zeno

There's no theif like a bad book. Italian Proverb.

I found this niffy proverb in H.L. Mencken's A New Dictionary of Quoations so you must be correct John; one can have too many books.

-Zeno

It's very easy. Just have one more than you intend to read.

I intend to read all the books I own. I hope I have enough years ahead of me.

It just seems as though my spending abilities are slightly more fervent than my reading abilities

Ditto. I'm getting an embarassing backlog.

I have had his dictionary of quotations for almost thirty years now and bought it at a used bookstore, brand new, for five bucks. At the same bookstore, I picked up a copy of Dante Rosetti's poems one day, and inside I found the only four leaf clover I've ever discovered.

I finished two books recently:
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love - Raymond Carver
and
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick

What We Talk is a collection of short stories which I found excellent. There were two stories in it that I thought were kind of mediocre, but that may be because I didn't understand them, but the rest were great. The stories start innocent and simple but then explore relationships and interactions between people in such an interesting way. They are love stories, but not in the traditional sense (although, I have no experience reading love stories). Most are tragic, and memorable.

It's a quick read but I took my time and enjoyed it. I found that I read some stories more than once to ensure that I understood them and got the most from them. Two of my favorite stories in the collection: "The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off" and "Popular Mechanics".

Do Androids - I couldn't put this down. The world that Dick creates is marvelous and the story was fun. It's the book that inspired Blade Runner, and it has made me want to watch that movie again. Some of the reviews on amazon criticize the prose but I liked it. There was a paragraph early in the book about the palpable sound of silence that blew me away. It was my first Dick novel, but will not be my last. When I finish my current back log of books I will be purchasing a few more of his.

Carver also wrote another version of "popular Mechanics" called "Little Things." It makes for an interesting comparison. Note, in particular, the last sentence of both stories: Carver switches to the passive voice in the second version, which I think is an improvement although both stories work fine.

http://www.jamelah.net/littlethings.html

I think you are right. Except I thought the first book was the best and didn't like the 2nd much at all. There are certain things he added throughout the series I didn't like, including some of what he did with Roland. The whole twirling the hand thing comes to mind as something I really hate. The hip thing and just Roland being Emo in general was dumb too.

I am on the 7th now. There is a LOT of flaky stuff between them, however the 7th is EASILY the best since the 1st book, and maybe better. Every chapter entertains and builds on the story. I was feeling a bit of a let down as I progressed in the series after the first book until this.

I pretty much ordered the entire series after reading the first few paragraphs of the Dark Tower. He really hooked well. And I don't think King is a particularly good writer on the whole, especially when it comes to imagery, but he definitely grabbed my attention early in the first book.

I might give that a try. I'm a big fan of the genre

anyone who hasn't read an Asimov short story collection is missing out in a major way.

What We Talk About was a very slim volume and a quick read if blazed through, but I constantly found myself rereading the stories even the first time through, because their effect was so powerful, their style so dense, their technique so accomplished yet understated, and their subjects so refreshingly, unusually down to earth, especially for the wan, smug self-absorption of the fiction contemporary with the time these stories came out. I actually wound up spending a considerable amount of time with those stories. It was exceedingly well spent.

The story in my book called "Popular Mechanics" is identical to the one you linked to entitled "Little Things", including the last line, which is what blew me away the first time I read it. I couldn't imagine a better last line.

Just finished Bob Dylan's - Chronicles Vol. 1
Absolutely amazing insight into the man, his passion for music, and dislike of fame and media.
Essential reading for serious Dylan fans.

Sorry. The earliest version of the story, which Carver did revise, is called "Mine." I can't find the entire story, but here's the last couple paragraphs:



She felt her fingers being forced open and the baby going from her. No, she said, just as her hands came loose. She would have it, this baby whose chubby face gazed up at them from the picture on the table. She grabbed for the baby's other arm. She caught the baby around the wrist and leaned back.
He would not give. He felt the baby going out of his hands and he pulled back hard. He pulled back very hard.
In this manner they decided the issue.

I think his revised story is much better than what he did here.

my ex was reading the Twilight series kinda got me into for the movie

Well, I finished the short story, "Lost in the Funhouse" by Barth. My mind is not yet molded to accept postmodern literature, apparently. I think it it because I am not well-rounded enough in the genres that came before. I seriously felt lost in a funhouse trying to read this work, which may have been the point.

It's certainly interesting to see him paralleling this regular short story with the metafiction intertwined. It was weird because I actually didn't respond to the short story itself and I feel like it was a bad story....which I feel it wasn't supposed to be. I have no idea what's going on anymore.

John Cole, I love the recommendation, but I definitely need to get some more understanding about....something....before I can begin to grasp this postmodern type literature. I mean, that philosophical story blew my mind.