Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
Hissy_Fit said:
Thanks for posting Hissy, however, while the thread is "now reading" it really is intended for when you finish reading a book/play/short story/etc and you can tell us what you think about it, liked it, hated it, recommend it etc. Master Owl clarified this in the early days of the thread, so just a heads up!
Kynisk Sokol
Ancient Mariner
I read Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury a while back, the classic dystopic novel often mentioned in the same breath as 1984 and Brave New World, for its depiction of a society entrenched in censorship, fear and conformity. The story follows Guy Montag, a fireman whose occupation is to burn books as they are forbidden and considered to be the source of all unhappiness, confusion and unnecessary thought. Not one to ponder over his effects of his job, and deeply unsatisfied with his private life, his wife being too occupied with their wall-sized TV to pay much attention to him (in addition to her attempting suicide via an overdose of sleeping pills early on in the novel), this all changes when he encounters a young, inquisitive woman by the name of Clarisse McClellan. This event forces him to re-evaluate his life, occupation and values. For those who haven't read the novel, I won't divulge any more plot details. Being only approximately 160 pages, the world Bradbury creates doesn't feel as fleshed out as 1984, nor as truly believable (although that may be due to the presence of the infamous reality TV show...). Although you won't get lynched or sent to a mental hospital for reading this novel, one particular quote strikes a pretty sensitive cord: "The whole culture's shot through. The skeleton needs melting and reshaping. Good God, it isn't just as simple as picking up a book you laid down half a century ago. Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord." With the rise of political correctness, hedonism, lowest common denominator entertainment and excess censorship, to the point where people are more interested in it that they ignore their family and friends, this novel provides a fitting epitaph to the modern age. I also heard that there was a censored edition released, oh the irony. It hurts. Badly.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
I just finished reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, who also wrote Stir of Echos and When Dreams May Come to name a few. As you have probably seen by the movie trailers of the soon to be released (this friday) Will Smith Movie, Robert Neville is the last human in a post plague world. He is not sure if the vampires who now roam the night brought on the plague or the plague brought the vampires, but he stays home at night and hunts them down during the day.
For 98% of the book I was rather disappointed and bored because it is more of how Neville deals with his loneliness than a horror story of vampires, however the last chapter is brilliant and makes it very well worth the read. I highly recommend it, it is VERY short (160 pages or so). Also, the Will Smith movie is the THIRD version, the first incarnation was The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price and the Second The Omega Man with Charleston Heston. In both Neville is made out to be a scientist... he was nothing of the sort, simply the last man on earth that somehow survived the plague that wiped out everyone else, I am curious as to how Smith portrays him, I read a review on IMDB and looks very promising!
For 98% of the book I was rather disappointed and bored because it is more of how Neville deals with his loneliness than a horror story of vampires, however the last chapter is brilliant and makes it very well worth the read. I highly recommend it, it is VERY short (160 pages or so). Also, the Will Smith movie is the THIRD version, the first incarnation was The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price and the Second The Omega Man with Charleston Heston. In both Neville is made out to be a scientist... he was nothing of the sort, simply the last man on earth that somehow survived the plague that wiped out everyone else, I am curious as to how Smith portrays him, I read a review on IMDB and looks very promising!
national acrobat
Ancient Mariner
I recently read Gazza's autobiography, a really good read. It was mainly about his career; although he broke transfer records at Tottenham, Lazio and Rangers, he never quite fulfilled his talent. I've also read another book of his, Being Gazza, all about his addictions and various illnesses, a really quite sad story. I have a lot of sympathy for Paul Gascoigne, especially with all the bad press he suffered, some warranted, a lot totally unfounded. Whatever he did off the pitch, it's a real shame he didn't achieve more on it.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
I figured 
Still I have a small collection of like 5 or 6 Sherlock stories I want to get around to reading sometime this year, always been rather curious. Funny though, as logical and reasonable as Sherlock was Doyle himself was a very superstitious individual. He was good friends with Houdini until his wife's death when he resorted to mediums to contact her, Houdini laughed at him and they were never in good terms again.
Still I have a small collection of like 5 or 6 Sherlock stories I want to get around to reading sometime this year, always been rather curious. Funny though, as logical and reasonable as Sherlock was Doyle himself was a very superstitious individual. He was good friends with Houdini until his wife's death when he resorted to mediums to contact her, Houdini laughed at him and they were never in good terms again.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Onhell said:I figured
This superstitious stuff, happened later on in his life when spiritualism started to cloud his judgement. It started because of some terrible experiences that he had.
From wiki:
After the death of his wife Louisa in 1906, and the deaths of his son Kingsley, his brother Innes, his two brothers-in-law, and his two nephews shortly after World War I, Conan Doyle sank into depression. He found solace supporting Spiritualism and its alleged scientific proof of existence beyond the grave.
According to the History Channel program Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery (which briefly explored the friendship between the two), Conan Doyle became involved with Spiritualism after the deaths of his son and his brother. Kingsley Doyle died from pneumonia on 28 October 1918, which he contracted during his convalescence after being seriously wounded during the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Brigadier-General Innes Doyle died in February 1919, also from pneumonia. Sir Arthur became involved with Spiritualism to the extent that he wrote a Professor Challenger novel on the subject, The Land of Mist.
His book, The Coming of the Fairies (1921) shows he was apparently convinced of the veracity of the Cottingley Fairies photographs, which he reproduced in the book, together with theories about the nature and existence of fairies and spirits.
In his The History of Spiritualism (1926) Conan Doyle praised the psychic phenomena and spirit materialisations produced by Eusapia Palladino and Mina "Margery" Crandon.
His work on this topic was one of the reasons that one of his short story collections, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, was banned in the Soviet Union in 1929 for supposed occultism. This ban was later lifted. Russian actor Vasily Livanov later received an Order of the British Empire for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.
Conan Doyle was friends for a time with the American magician Harry Houdini, who himself became a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement in the 1920s following the death of his beloved mother. Although Houdini insisted that Spiritualist mediums employed trickery (and consistently attempted to expose them as frauds), Conan Doyle became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers, a view expressed in Conan Doyle's The Edge of the Unknown. Houdini was apparently unable to convince Conan Doyle that his feats were simply magic tricks, leading to a bitter public falling out between the two. More
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I think I first prefer to read the stuff he did before all this happened.
I just finished a few good reads:
'our man in Havana' by Graham Greene; was a good story. The blurb states that a vacuum salesman reluctantly turns secret agent. He basically creates a crisis out of whole cloth, and has to deal with the consequences. I'd recommend it.
'good omens' by Terry Prachet. I like anything that puts comedy into the mix. Satan's child comes up missing, and armageddon has a problem following through due to the mis-placed child.
More recently I've read many books by David Weber, and Eric Flint, both of which I would recommend if you are into Sci-Fi works.
'our man in Havana' by Graham Greene; was a good story. The blurb states that a vacuum salesman reluctantly turns secret agent. He basically creates a crisis out of whole cloth, and has to deal with the consequences. I'd recommend it.
'good omens' by Terry Prachet. I like anything that puts comedy into the mix. Satan's child comes up missing, and armageddon has a problem following through due to the mis-placed child.
More recently I've read many books by David Weber, and Eric Flint, both of which I would recommend if you are into Sci-Fi works.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
whitewolf said:
We should really change the name of this thread... This is to all new people, this is about books you've FINISHED reading so, like in the now watching thread, you can give us a comprehensive review or a proper opinion on whether the book is worth picking up or not.
I'm really interested on what you'll have to say on this one as I'm buying The Finnish Epic with my next pay check... interesting mythologies in northern Europe.
Forostar said:
I highly recommend this book, I wrote about it somewhere on this thread.
So over the holidays I read Dune by Frank Herbert. I had very high expectations of it because of you guys and, well, because Iron Maiden wrote a song based on it. Naturally, it fell a bit short of my expectations but I'm still glad I read it because now I finally understand the lyrics of To Tame a Land.
Genghis Khan
Ancient Mariner
Natalie said:
That's exactly what I wrote here over a year ago. The beginning part with the intrigue is good because it has us guessing what the turncloak will do. But running around the desert and all this talk about their religious aspect of life held no interest for me.
Dear god!!! I just read a text on 'retirement planning' for work, and it was the driest and most eyelid drooping book I have read since finishing college. Don't do it unless it is a real advantage for you!!