Werner's comments (member since Jan 15, 2009)

Werner's comments from the Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group group.

You're welcome, Jackie! Hope you feel 100% well very soon.

To my knowledge (and I follow our group's updates in my e-mail pretty closely) nobody's mentioned New Moon yet on this thread. Barb and I don't go to the movies in theaters very often; but we decided to see this one, and went this afternoon. So it's still fresh in my mind, and my reaction in one word is WOW! I'd give it 10 on a scale of 10, or even 100 on a scale of 100.

Of course, there are mixed feelings about the Twilight series in general here on Goodreads, and in our group. I happen to be a fan; but if you're not, this movie won't change your opinion: it follows the book very closely (with just the necessary telescoping of time and scenes in places, to fit the essential content of a long book into a two-hour movie, and the concessions to the more visual art form), with just three or four slight changes to heighten the amount of physical action. None of the aspects of the book that Twilight critics note are changed here; Bella is still decidedly an imperfect, very human teen whose coping mechanisms aren't a role model to emulate, and even she admits that her attitude toward Jacob is selfish, though (both here and in the book) she's at least honest with him.

If you liked the book, though, you'll have very good reason to like the movie; the filmmakers have done a great job of bringing Meyer's vision to vivid life. All of the qualities of character and storyline that Twilight fans tend to praise are present in the film version. I was particularly impressed with the CGI versions of the werewolves, which I thought were a good demonstration of what that technology can accomplish when it's well-used. (Although I disagree in one respect with the author of a recent laudatory article in USA Today about this very subject: I've never thought the slower, fur- sprouting werewolf transformations in pre-CGI movies like The Wolfman and Teen Wolf were "cheesy" as such. That said, the instant, explosive transformations here are impressively exciting!) If you're a Twilight fan, I highly recommend this movie.

Joy, I've never seen the 1937 version of Kipling's Captains Courageous, though I liked the book. But I have seen a later adaptation, made I think in the 1990s, starring the late great Robert Urich as Captain Troop. That one has a plot twist that greatly heightens the emotional effect of the story, and you might enjoy it too. (Robert Urich was pretty much worth watching in any role he ever played, and his death was quite a loss to Hollywood.)

Welcome to the group, Katherine! My oldest daughter is a big fan of Rutherfurd's work (though I haven't read any of it myself). I'll have to recommend New York to her.

It's nice to be able to see the person you're talking to --more like an in-person visit. And multiple people can take part in the same conversation at the same time, on both ends. So the web cam technology definitely does have its advantages!

New Moon has already been mentioned on this thread, and is in theaters now. However, when Barb and I talked to Rebekah this afternoon from Australia (via webcam), she reported that the third Twilight series movie, Eclipse, is scheduled to be released next summer --I believe she said in July. That's earlier than expected; she'd assumed it wouldn't be in theaters until around this time next year! (So, Twilight fans, mark your calendars. :-))

Yes, Jackie, we're all rooting for you to feel better! And I agree 100% about not wanting detailed scientific explanations in my SF. What counts in any form of fiction is character and story --historically, some SF authors (especially in the purist, "hard" SF tradition) haven't always understood that, with unhappy results!

Tim Byrd's book proved to be a very quick (and fun) read, so I've started another one: Water Witch, by my Goodreads friend Deborah LeBlanc. It's supernatural fiction, set primarily in the bayou country of her home state, Louisiana.

You're welcome, Joy! I hope you like them, and I think you will.

Jackie, since you're a Drew Barrymore fan, have you seen her in Ever After? That's Barb's #1 fave movie of all time; she considers it the greatest film ever made. My reaction isn't quite that intense --but I definitely think it's one of the best that I've seen, and certainly one of the best ones made in the last couple of decades. Barrymore's very effective in Never Been Kissed as well --another movie that I like, though Barb likes it even better than I do.

I'd heard of Doc Savage before (he comes up at times in discussions in the Pulp Fiction group), but I've never read any of his adventures. (What I've read so far in Tim's book is sparking my curiosity to explore those stories, though!)

Glad it's corrected itself! I don't try to explain anything that computers do. :-)

Jackie, Goodreads may have accidentally lost track of your e-mail address (that's happened to me a couple of times). If you click on "edit my profile," there's a link that allows you to check and see if your e-mail address says it needs to be "verified." If it does, you can click on an option that corrects the problem, and you start getting e-mails of Goodreads updates once again!

Yesterday, I started reading Doc Wilde and the Frogs of Doom (which finally arrived on interlibrary loan!) by Goodreads author Tim Byrd. An adventure novel inspired by Lester Dent's Doc Savage series from the early modern pulp period, it's written for kids (and kids-at-heart in the 18-99 bracket :-)); and is this month's common read in the Pulp Fiction group here on Goodreads. (The official group name is longer, but I usually don't bother to look it up. :-))

Thanks for that clarification, Pontalba. Interestingly, according to the tabloids at that time, Jane Seymour and Joe Lando didn't get along well in real life at all. If that's true, maybe she was picking up some of the same vibes you were. :-)

Well, Joy, Michaela had the quality of kindness in abundance, so she was well-equipped to win love on that account, too! You (and Shakespeare) are right that it's a lady's good qualities of character, not her looks, that will turn a man's attraction into love, if it's going to be turned. (And vice versa.) But people being what they are, sometimes it's a person's good looks that whet the initial interest. :-) Good looks don't have to be of the flashy sort, though; and actually, if we feel good about ourselves and make the best of what we have, all of us have what it takes to catch someone's eye.

Pontalba, I see your point about Joe Lando's character, Sully, and Michaela. In a lot of ways --educational and social background, external lifestyle, experiences, etc.-- they were from different worlds, and the idea of them being romantically attracted to each other, on first consideration, seems unusual to say the least. But then, a lot of fiction and drama, when you think about it, derives its drama from unusual situations; and unusual isn't quite the same thing as impossible.

Besides, on further consideration, the old saying that "opposites attract" actually is psychologically true for some people. My wife and I, for instance, are as different in externals as Sully and Michaela. (Of course, that sort of attraction only endures if the couple are actually profoundly similar inside, in the things that they value, their principles and the essential ways that they treat others; Barb and I have that kind of similarity --and so did Sully and Michaela.) Then too, he saved her life more than once; gratitude can open a door to other feelings. And even though she was a strait-laced, cultured medical doctor, she probably wasn't wholly immune to his good looks (and he may not have been entirely indifferent to hers, either). :-)

Somewhere in Time sounds good, Joy! I'll have to watch for that one.

Jane Seymour was really good in the title role of the TV series (cancelled some years ago, alas!) Medicine Woman. Her character was a young medical doctor, Michaela Quinn, who comes to the frontier town of Colorado Springs shortly after the Civil War to take over the town clinic. Of course, there was a good deal of prejudice against women in the medical profession then, which made for some of the drama in the series. (Having only dealt with her by telegraph, the townsfolk originally thought her name was Michael A. Quinn. :-))

Thanks, Joy! Those links will interest a lot of folks, I think. (I know they interest me!)

Joy, could you post the two links to other Goodreads discussions relating to this book that you sent me by personal message earlier? (That's the one that includes your dialogue with Janny herself, and the other one dealing with her style?) Those are serious, meaty discussions, and I'm sure Wurts fans (and others who are interested) in this group would be glad to be able to access them. Thanks a bunch, and thanks for pointing me to this author's work; it looks intriguing!

Yes, Siddons is a Southerner herself, and I'd gathered from reviews of her work that it's characteristically set there. I really ought to read more of that type of book --ordinary descriptive fiction set in contemporary (or at least modern) times. It's not that I don't like fiction of that type; I do, and it has real rewards of its own, as any genre does. But I tend to get wrapped up in the speculative genres; and then historical fiction, older classics, and even mysteries clamor for attention, too. So looking back at what I've read so far in my lifetime, regular contemporary novels and stories have tended to get the short end of the stick. One of these days, I need to remedy that (at least a bit)!

My cousin in Iowa (who's a retired high school English teacher) really likes Nora Roberts! I've never read any of her work myself; but back in the late 60s-early 70s, I did read a short story by Siddons, "The Last Quiet Summer." (It was in a back issue of a magazine somebody gave to my mother; it's not the type of reading I usually seek out now, but back then I read most anything that came to hand. :-)) It's a college co-ed's coming-of-age story, set in Mississippi against the backdrop of the early 1960s civil rights struggles --and it was memorable enough to have stayed with me all these years, which says something!