Kindly report back on that. I completely agree with your parenthetical! I have not read any Ernest Cline other that Ready Player One, which was excellent!
What Are You Reading?
- Thread starter TimmyBoston
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Armada is an excellent book as well. His only other novel. I highly recommend it. It is arguably better than Ready Player One. Reminds me of Enders Game if you have read that or seen the Harrison Ford movie.
Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
That's what I got- all 5 Leatherstocking Tales on my Kindle for a little over a dollar. I also love reading western Canadian history, particularly about the explorers and fur traders. Larger than life figures, some of them. I recently snagged George Bryce's 'Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Co" for free on Amazon for my Kindle.
Oh, I have definitely done both. I think of Ender's Game and, I suppose, Ready Player One, as "youth fiction," and primary reasons why I think of youth fiction as having some of the most enjoyable books out there these days. I thought Ender's Game, the book, was wonderful. Not so much the follow-up books in that series though. As I recall, I had mixed feelings about the movie. I guess I thought it was a good faith effort.
Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller By Burke Davis. Done! What an incredible read about an incredible Marine!
On to the next book, The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger.
On to the next book, The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger.
The irony is that for 'youth fiction' (which I agree it is), the subject matter is much more relatable for 50+ year old me.
I have some theories on this I may expand on some time, if I have not already!
I think David Foster Wallace has something to say that fit with this, when he talked about the need for sincerity and the downsides of irony.
Film critic Roger Ebert in a review of the 1992 movie adaptation, stated that the film was "quite an improvement on Cooper's all but unreadable book..."
As a critic who is frequently challenged on anything he dares put into print, I have to assume that he had actually read the book before so characterising it.
I wonder if you, or anyone here concurs with him.
Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
Most C19 literature seems over the top to our sensitivities- far too wordy, with long, long descriptions and what we might consider overly polite dialogue. Because of the wordiness even exciting action seems plodding. Think of Jane Austen, Dickens, Hardy, RL Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, Thackeray, Hawthorne, etc. They all wrote that way. Cooper fits this style of writing- he was a creature of his era. Ebert's is a common attitude among critics in this degraded age. We're slothful readers.
<I wonder if you, or anyone here concurs with him.>
It has been a long time since I have attempted to read any of Cooper's works, so not really appropriate for me to criticize him either. But I think Cooper, in particular, has been singled out for wordiness, including by folks pretty far back in time such as, rather famously, Mark Twain.
I do not think I am a slothful reader, but I am impatient when there seems to be a pointless excess of words. I do think fiction writing improved over the decades through folks like Hemingway, and, I suppose, before that by folks like Twain himself, Crane, maybe. Cooper published Last of the Mohicans in 1826. I do not think the English language novel had actually been in existence all that long. I agree that the style was very different back then. I would not expect Cooper to write like Hemingway. I personally think the writing of literature has evolved for the better. I am not fond of overly long writing--which I suppose is different from wordy writing--from the 21st century either. The Overstory, for instance, cries out for an editor to me.
I suppose someone could criticize me for liking Infinite Jest, with its truly massive length, long, long sentences, and constant asides. But to me the content/the "information" it is conveying per word is high. And many of Wallace's sentence may be very long indeed, but to me they are carefully, even tautly crafted. I think one could criticize Infinite Jest for trying to cover just way too much ground in one novel!
Just my 2 cents.
It has been a long time since I have attempted to read any of Cooper's works, so not really appropriate for me to criticize him either. But I think Cooper, in particular, has been singled out for wordiness, including by folks pretty far back in time such as, rather famously, Mark Twain.
I do not think I am a slothful reader, but I am impatient when there seems to be a pointless excess of words. I do think fiction writing improved over the decades through folks like Hemingway, and, I suppose, before that by folks like Twain himself, Crane, maybe. Cooper published Last of the Mohicans in 1826. I do not think the English language novel had actually been in existence all that long. I agree that the style was very different back then. I would not expect Cooper to write like Hemingway. I personally think the writing of literature has evolved for the better. I am not fond of overly long writing--which I suppose is different from wordy writing--from the 21st century either. The Overstory, for instance, cries out for an editor to me.
I suppose someone could criticize me for liking Infinite Jest, with its truly massive length, long, long sentences, and constant asides. But to me the content/the "information" it is conveying per word is high. And many of Wallace's sentence may be very long indeed, but to me they are carefully, even tautly crafted. I think one could criticize Infinite Jest for trying to cover just way too much ground in one novel!
Just my 2 cents.
I am 52 and just love the 80’s nostalgia. That is the best part of these books for me.
My reading is all over the place though. I have also recently read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a couple of William Faulkner books, some David Wong, a book about the 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident, another about Shackelton’s 1914-1917 Expedition, the latest Hunger Games book, some Jules Verne, some Franz Kafka, a bit of Lovecraft and a few Brandon Sanderson fantasy books.
I may not fully understand it (Faulkner and Kafka
) but I will literally read and enjoy just about anything.I haven’t tried any of McCarthy’s dark stuff, but I devoured his Border Trilogy, including All the Pretty Horses.
I will also throw out a recommendation for those who are interested in something very atmospheric with a heavy dose of noir. Try Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country trilogy. It’s the same story told from 3 different perspectives in 3 separate books. Set in the early 1900s, it’s about a notorious guy living in the Florida Everglades who ends up dead. I’m not giving anything away, since the first book is titled “Killing Mister Watson.”
I will also throw out a recommendation for those who are interested in something very atmospheric with a heavy dose of noir. Try Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country trilogy. It’s the same story told from 3 different perspectives in 3 separate books. Set in the early 1900s, it’s about a notorious guy living in the Florida Everglades who ends up dead. I’m not giving anything away, since the first book is titled “Killing Mister Watson.”
I am about 1/3 of the way through The Kingdom by Jo Nesbo. It was slow to get going, but I now get why the reviews said "can't put it down." Disturbing stuff, but back to Nesbo's remarkable thriller chops. Definitely one of my favorite authors.
I usually hate to hear about a book that it is slow to get going but worth it to hang in there. But that seems to be the truth with this one!
I usually hate to hear about a book that it is slow to get going but worth it to hang in there. But that seems to be the truth with this one!
A lot of fun so far...
Is anyone else reading this book? I am feeling confused at this point. I am a bit further along, but really losing interest again. It is a long book and slow going. None of the characters seem all that sympathetic. I am not sure I care what happens to any of them. To say it is bleak and dark seems an understatement. The action scenes are good, but far between. I suppose the plot twists are well-crafted. I do generally really like Nesbo, but this is trying my patience. The reviews seem overall very good for this book. But I am beginning to doubt them.
My older son recommends the second and third books of the Liu Cixin Three Body Problem trilogy as transcendent sc-fi. I may put Nesbo aside and turn to Cixin. Not sure whether to start with the first book, though.
Spirit Run by Noe Alvarez - the story of one person's experience in the Peace & Dignity Journeys run.
Moon Over Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice - a post-apocalyptic story set in northern Canada. Highly recommended!
Moon Over Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice - a post-apocalyptic story set in northern Canada. Highly recommended!
Finishing a second run through Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis. He starts in 1960 and skips through 1966-67 and 1983 to 1999, following a group of related characters through the big moments of their lives, in four novelettes. The first, "Low Men in Yellow Coats," I think became the basis of the Hearts in Atlantis movie in 2002 or -03 with Anthony Hopkins.
Anyone have an recommendations on good books about Native Americans? I’m interested in the tribes and culture and history.
Nonfiction please
Nonfiction please
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