NOW READING

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
Onhell said:
I'm surprised you didn't know it was based on Crichton's novel as it says in the credits "based on the novel by..." and the reprints since the movie are published as "The 13th Warrior, previously published as Eaters of the Dead."
Anyway... This is the one Crichton novel I started reading and just gave up on. What a drab. There's a reason it doesn't say "#1 Bestseller" on the cover like most of his works. I was able to read The Terminal Man, but this... what a bore. I agree the movie was great and IMO of the few times the movie surpassed the book if only because it was actually entertaining. I MAY actually power through it one of these days as my one and only attempt was about 15 years ago and now-a-days Pop lit, even Crichton, bores me for the most part.
Click to expand...

I watched it when I was around 13 years old, and even if I noted that then, it is not likely I would remember it. (Even so, I would never have read it in English at that time, and the Swedish translation (Människoätarna) could as far as I know have been out of print since the late 70's.) Haven't seen the film since and I am currently waiting for the DVD, which is ordered. Amazon say they have it in stock but they won't send it out for some reason. The novel itself is once again published as Eaters of the Dead and has so been for quite some time. There was notes on the title and copyright pages on my 2009 Harper paperback edition that mentioned it being published under the film's title however.
 
Fair enough. When I saw Jurassic Park and Congo my brother had to tell me they were based on novels by the same author and thus a new Crichton fan was born! MUAHAHAHAHA! Anywho, Yeah, after the film it was printed with said title for a while, haven't really kept up with Crichton reprints so next time I go to the book store I'll take a look. Last Crichton book I read was Pirate Latitudes (My thoughts here: http://forum.maidenfans.com/search/3844690/?q=Pirate+Latitudes&o=date&c[node]=3) But Micro, or whatever it is called I completely skipped. Latitudes was supposedly a finished manuscript, but it still reads like a first draft, Micro was finished for him and I am not a fan of assuming you know what the original author wanted for those characters and story, so never picked it up. Not to mention it feels like the publisher is just trying to milk a dead person's name and reputation.
 
Reading

Grandfather's Tale: The Tale of a German Sniper -- Timothy Erenberger. Pretty interesting book, I am learning quite a bit about sniping

Should finish that tonight.

Next up, in a total change of pace --- Inside Seka -- I appreciated her "acting" when I was younger ... wonder if she can actually write :)
 
I'd love to actually go to the local bookstores and buy books, but unless it is February and Sweden's nation-wide book sale is ongoing, I am not going to pay 2-3 times more for a book I could buy online and get shipped to the door in a matter of one or two days.

Currently reading Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds. Bought it some time ago but never came around to reading it. The reviews I read after I bought it put me off, but I wanted to read science-fiction so I figured I should read what I already have first. My pile of unread books is up to the roof.
 
Definitley not. I have read e-books I got through my library's e-book service when I needed to aquire and read books quickly for my studies (Read: The day before.), but I would not read an e-book for my own enjoyment of reading. I spend too much time staring at a screen already.

And pay for an e-book? When I could get a lovely paperback for the same or even less amount of money? The way e-books are now, the only thing I see them doing is bringing piracy into literature.
 
At least here for new releases e-books are less expensive. Compared to paperbacks that out can buy used for a pennies .. no. You can also get e-books for free from your library including new releases, which is nice.

I travel a fair amount, so being able to haul my entire book collection around with me is nice ... and I wish I had this option when I went to college (or even High School) instead of lugging all those books around
 
Just out of interest, how many of you are aware of that most hardcovers are basically of the same quality as mass market paperbacks? Swedish and UK publishers, at least, tend to use acidic paper and glued spines in both cases. There's always the note of the "environmentally friendly paper" on the copyright-page. Acidic paper turns yellow in a few years (or hours if left in sunlight) then brown and then to dust within decades. Just like the paper for newspapers, which was never intended to last. Not exactly something you should buy if you want the keep the books for you children and grandchildren...

There was a great debate in the US over the 20 years ago, which made many publishers use acid-free paper for their first editions. I am not sure if it is still like this, but the 2011 Bantam hardcover of A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin was the only book on my shelf that was printed on acid-free paper when I looked through it. I found a Swedish article from 2010 that discussed this, and apparently the debate made one publisher move to acid-free paper for the first editions. However, since they still use glued spines and I will not pay 3 or 4 times as much for the books I could as well have in paperback.

Thus, most books I have are paperbacks.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/08/nyregion/publishers-swear-off-acidic-paper.html
http://www.svd.se/kultur/bocker-haller-inte-mattet_4427511.svd (In Swedish)

Still reading Terminal World. Three quarters through and it really is an exciting read. Will definitley read more of Alastair Reynold's work, I can't remember being this excited about the world-building since reading The Dark Tower-series by Stephen King.
 
I was once told that the best way of preserving books for as long as possible is to deep-freeze them for a day or two to draw all the water out of them.
 
I was not aware of all these technicalities in the printing. I am just not willing to pay 25-35 dollars for a book I can buy for 6-7 a year later. Has nothing to do with preserving, just being cheap.
 
While I am slightly inclined to be collector-ish in my areas of interest, I always buy paperbacks for reading if they are available. But there are those few books that change you life. Those books you want to keep for the rest of your life and it is just a shame that they will not last.

There just this general idea of books being viewed as disposable that I do not like. "The Orion Publishing Group's policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products [...]" etc. They made paper hundreds of years ago that was far better than that which the literary classic's of our time are printed on. It makes you think.
 
I'm a fanatical book collector, & what you say is partly true; however you're basically talking about the big multinational mass-producing publishers e.g. a HarperCollins. These guys have never made quality books; at least not for their standard hardbacks. Small niche publishers & private publishers still use quality materials like acid-free heavy stock paper; the binding is actually binding (as opposed to "casing", which is what modern hardbacks are); & these books don't cost the earth. These books will last for hundreds of years. Books are most likely to be damaged by poor handling & poor storage (e.g. being piled up on the floor, or poorly stood on shelves --damaging the binding, the integrity of the book); far more so than damp (which books can recover from) & cold/warm, etc. Even your paperbacks are likely to outlive you.
 
As you are pointing out, I am probably a bit too pessimistic.

Finished Terminal World a couple of minute ago. Really exciting read. Apparently, the general consensus is that this is one of Alastair Reynold's less good books, but I thought it was brilliant. Really great worldbuilding and a story that kept me interested from page one. Maybe not perfectly written, but I tend to like when less than perfect writing is overshadowed by brilliant storytelling. Will place this among the absolute favourites, for now - only time will tell how I will rate it later down the road. Can't wait to read more of his novels.
 
Maturin said:
... but I tend to like when less than perfect writing is overshadowed by brilliant storytelling.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I liked Michael Crichton and more recently the HALO books, specifically those dealing with games 1-3. I have not read the Forerunner series, but I am very excited to get to it at some point due to it being written by Greg Bear, an actual Sci-Fi writer and a good one. But the first books are some of the worst spelling/grammar you'll ever see, but the storytelling was as epic as the games themselves.
 
I have read The Fall of Reach, The Flood and First Strike and I agree with you on those. Real page turners but less than perfect writing, to say the least. With that said, I really liked how William C. Dietz expanded the story to follow other humans and also the aliens that are not showed at all in the game. There were some memorable scenes there.

The problem I have now is that after reading Terminal World I really want to continue with the same writer, and not one of the other 15 unread novels I have bought... The problems I have.
 
Use the Force. Search your feelings. I try to have a list of books to read and how after "A" I'll read "B," but then a book on the lower end of the list calls to me and I'll read that one first or I'll go to the book store and read my new purchase rather than go back to the already established order. Recently I've been so busy I haven't read squat. I think the last books I actually read from cover to cover was the Hunger Games Trilogy.

Edit: Nope, it was the Hobbit. Man I need to get back to reading something.
 
Last edited:
I can't think too much about which book to read next, either it picks itself, or I have to make an effort and stick with one. Otherwise I tend to read 50 pages here, and 50 pages there. It is so much harder to pick up a book again after putting it down in favour of something else. ("Should I start from the beginning or should I continue where I left off a year ago?") I do have a list of books that I own and have not yet read, just to keep track.

Read After Dark by Haruki Murakami yesterday. A really short novel, and not one I would necessarily place beside 1Q84 or Kafka on the Shore but I still do not regret reading it. Not much of a plot, but really all about the mood.

Oh, and I just ordered 7 more books of Alastair Reynold's too.
 
Reading One Second After by William R. Forstchen. It's about electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States. Read quite a few books with similar scenario, it makes for a great read.

I also recently read Cyberstorm by Matthew Mather. Amazon describes it better than I would :p
Mike Mitchell, an average New Yorker already struggling to keep his family together, suddenly finds himself fighting just to keep them alive when an increasingly bizarre string of disasters start appearing on the world's news networks. As the world and cyberworld come crashing down, bending perception and reality, a monster snowstorm cuts New York off from the world, turning it into a wintry tomb where nothing is what it seems...and no one can be trusted...
Click to expand...
20th Century Fox bought the rights for the movie, so read the book before it's cool :p
 
Currently reading Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds.

Since my last post in this thread I have read:

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Människohamn by John Avjide Lindqvist
Lilla stjärna by John Avjide Lindqvist
Hanteringen av odöda by John Avjide Lindqvist
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
 
After thirty-one years and thirty novels Raymond E Feist's Riftwar Cycle has come to an end with the final book Magician's End which I finished reading last night. If you haven't already read any of this series then I highly recommend that you do. In particular, works such as Magician, A Darkness at Sethanon, The Empire Trilogy, The King's Buccaneer, The Serpentwar Saga and the final three books in the series, The Chaoswar Saga, stand up against some of the classics in the Fantasy genre in my opinion.

I'm quite sad that the series has ended now but I feel that Feist brought things together at the end and wrapped up the series nicely. Fortunately he is now working on a new series which is unrelated to the Riftwar Cycle so I will still have more of his books to look forward to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top