Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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What are you reading these days? (Part ELEVEN (2015) ongoing thread for 2015
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Nina
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Aug 15, 2015 08:06AM
Joy, I can't remember if you recommended the netflix movie, "Woman in Gold," but I thought it was excellent.
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Joy, "Paths of Glory," by Jeffery Archer is the fictionalzed version of the mountain climber, Mallory of Mr. Everett fame. It was a very good book. I gave it to my grandson and he too really liked it. I think it is a book for all ages/literally. The "Not a Penny More.." book I only remember liking it and it was so long ago that I read it I can't remember the gist of it.
Nina wrote: "Joy, I can't remember if you recommended the netflix movie, "Woman in Gold," but I thought it was excellent."Yes, Nina, I had mentioned it. You can't go wrong with Helen Mirren!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404425/?...
Nina wrote: "Joy, "Paths of Glory," by Jeffery Archer is the fictionalzed version of the mountain climber, Mallory of Mr. Everett fame. It was a very good book. I gave it to my grandson and he too really liked ..."Although I didn't like Archer's short stories very much, I suppose one of his novels is worth a try.
Paths of Glory
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
... both by Jeffrey Archer
Today in our paper is a review of the movie "Straight out of Compton," and it received three stars. I will quote part of the review..."Straight Outta Compton," is a thought-provoking assault on the senses that ultimately falls short of the brutal honesty of the music that inspired it. Filmed on the Compton, Calif streets that spawned what would become known as the world'smost dangerous group, dirctor Gary Gray's bioic is a fierce surprisingly funny celebration of defiance set against a backdrop of racial unrest that feels depressingly familiar about thirty years later."This movie portrays the police violence of the 80's in that community and the Rap musician's that brought it to the attention of the general public. Another comment on this movie opening the week is that the theaters where it is being shown will have extra security guards standing by. That columnist thought this was unecessary and commented that it wouldn't be done if the movie was about white violence. The reason thia is interesting to me personally is that twenty years prior to the 80's I attened college in a peaceful little town with a lovely college campus and darling little restaurants etc and that was Compton in 1946. Sad for me to know what has happened to it.
Nina, it seems as if times have changed in Compton!"Straight Outta Compton" (2015)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1398426/?...
"The group NWA emerges from the streets of Compton, California in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood."
I'm not a fan of Hip Hop. I doubt if I would enjoy that movie.
I doubt if I would either Joy and it would probably make me sad. And isn't it sad to think we have to have security guards in movie theaters. I used to go often to the movies as a child with a cousin my age and no adults.
Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: "Joy, I can't remember if you recommended the netflix movie, "Woman in Gold," but I thought it was excellent."Yes, Nina, I had mentioned it. You can't go wrong with Helen Mirren!I couldn't believe how the real person who was portrayed in the movie looked so similiar to the actress.
http..."
Nina wrote: "I doubt if I would either Joy and it would probably make me sad. And isn't it sad to think we have to have security guards in movie theaters. I used to go often to the movies as a child with a cous..."Yes, Nina, it IS sad to think about.
Nina wrote: "... I couldn't believe how the real person who was portrayed in the movie looked so similiar to the actress."They do wonders with hair and makeup.
Jim, wondering if you'd like the book I am presently reading, "Circling the Sun," By Paula McLain. It is a novel depicting Beryl Markam's life as a horse trainer and avatriz. She was a character portrayed in the book and movie, "Out of Aftica."
Circling the Sun has its wording described as 'lush' by a couple of people, Nina. I'm generally not fond of lush prose, but parts of it do sound interesting. Although the book is fictional, it is based on a real person. One reader suggests starting with West with the Night, the real Beryl's autobiography, to get more of her back story first. She sounds like an interesting person & 4 of my friends have read her autobiography. 2 gave it 5 stars, 2 three stars. I think I'll keep that in mind to read first. Thanks for turning me on to her. I'd never heard of her before.
Jim, the writing is excellent in the "Circle.." book but I wouldn't call it lush. I think that is reserved for bodise rippers etc. However, I did think of you as I was reading the book as so much of it is horse training and wondered if you would think it portrayed it in an authentic manner. If you saw the movie, "Out of Africa," you would know Beryl Markam.Did you know she was the first one to fly solo from Europe to America?
We didn't watch "Out of Africa". Not our type of movie. I did read that about Markam, although it said the westward flight only, so I took it that Lucky did it eastward first.
I am still reading and enjoying Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.It is very detailed, with lots of names to keep track of, but I am finding it very interesting and will finish soon.
Thanks for posting, Mary JL.
Fungi (the title comes from a poem by H. P. Lovecraft, "Fungi From Yuggoth") is an irregularly published print magazine focusing on the supernatural, weird, fantastic and macabre. It aims to present short fiction, poetry, art, and some nonfiction commentary. Most selections are new, though a few are reprinted, and it's fairly thick for a magazine. Individual issues have ISBNs as a book would, and Goodreads and Amazon treat them the same way they do books.My friend Andrew Seddon has a story in Fungi, Summer 2015, and recently sent me a review copy. So I'm currently reading it, and treating it like a book.
I am reading the good girl by Mary Kubica. i am half way through and it's very good! i love the style of her writing.
Werner wrote: "Fungi (the title comes from a poem by H. P. Lovecraft, "Fungi From Yuggoth") is an irregularly published print magazine focusing on the supernatural, weird, fantastic and macabre. It aims to prese..."Werner, thanks for the info and link.
At my trivia website, there's a member who calls himself "fungi". He says it stands for "fun guy". :)
Cori wrote: "I am reading the good girl by Mary Kubica. i am half way through and it's very good! i love the style of her writing."Thanks for posting, Cori. Here's the Goodreads page: The Good Girl
Joy after reading the synopsis of "The Good Girl," I think you might like the book, "Everything I Never Told You," by Celeste Ng.
Next months book club assignment, "The Unlikely Pigrimage of Harold Fry," by Rachel Joyce. I am try ing remember if I hav already read it. Have any of goodreaders read it?
Nina, I've never heard of it (nor of the author) myself.
Today I finished reading Hissing Cousins: The Untold Story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth. (first published in March 2015) Enjoyed it thoroughly!
I don't know if any of you is a Neil Gaiman fan, but here's an interesting interview with him mostly about age appropriate reading. I never restricted our kids' reading, either. If it was on our shelves, they could read it, although I usually had read the book myself & would discuss it with them, especially if it had iffy ideas in it.http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-...
Fantastic article, especially about graphic novels and why it's so easy to judge the pictures without actually reading the content. It cracks me up when people who have not read a book have the nerve to attack them as inappropriate. My reading was never restricted, nor did I ever restrict Eric from reading anything. Getting kids to read is more important than what they're actually reading. If I restricted Eric's reading, he may not have read much. I read adult books when I was young, some of it I may not have understood, and that's OK too. I don't think what books we choose, what movies we watch and what games we play make people do crazy things, they already have it in them to do such things. I hate the blame game, it focuses on the wrong thing.
I'm in a buddy read with Werner, except I'm reading too slowly, circumstances beyond my control. I hope to finish reading The Fatal Tree on my days off, it's the 5th and final book of the series we've read together.
Jim wrote: "I don't know if any of you is a Neil Gaiman fan, but here's an interesting interview with him mostly about age appropriate reading. I never restricted our kids' reading, either. ..."Thanks, Jim.
Jackie wrote: "Fantastic article, especially about graphic novels and why it's so easy to judge the pictures without actually reading the content. It cracks me up when people who have not read a book have the ner..."Good to hear from you, Jackie.
Jim wrote: "I don't know if any of you is a Neil Gaiman fan, but here's an interesting interview with him mostly about age appropriate reading. I never restricted our kids' reading, either. ..."At our local libraries there often are books displayed under the sign, "Banned Books." It is often the most popular selection in the library. It arouses curiousity and isn't that a good thing? Who on earth decided to ban "To Kill a Mocking Bird?" I rest my case.
The NYT had an intersrest essay titled, "Can a Novelist Be Too Prolific?" The author,is Stephen King, I am certain you are familiar with him and his opinion was that there is nothing wrong with being porlific. Let me include a bit of his argument here: Frederick Schiller FAuse better known as Max Brand who created The Dr. Kildare series wrote 450 novels; Alexander Dumas, "Count of Monte Cristo, wrote 250 other novels/And there's Isaac Asimov who sold her first short story at 19, hannered out more han 500 books and revoluntionized science fiction. Agatha Christe wrote 82 novels and gave us Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. I am now quoting the last of the essay: My thesis here is a modest one: that prolificacy is sometimes inevitable and that it has it's place. The accepted definition of the word-producing much fruit or foilage or many offspring-has an optimisitc righ, at least to my ear. not everyone feels that way. I remember a party where some self appointed arbiter of literary taste joked the JOyce Carol oates was like the old lady who lived in a shoe and had t omany children she did't know waht to do. in truthk Ms. Oates knows wxactly what sh eis doing and why she is doing it. 'I have more stories to tell," she writes in her journals and more novels. I am glad of that because I want to read them."
My Goodreads author friend Andrew M. Seddon is always very faithful about sending me review copies of his publications as they come out (and I'm very appreciative of his generosity!). The two latest I've received are his science fiction story cycle The Deathcats of Asa'ican and Other Tales of a Space Vet, which I hope to start intermittently reading later this month, and the scary-story anthology Legends of Sleepy Hollow, which I started reading last night. (I've beta read most of Andrew's later stories, but not the one that's included here.)
Thanks for posting here, Werner.
Nina wrote: "Joy, is Sleepy Hollow near you?"No, Nina. Sleepy Hollow is in downstate NY. We're upstate. Here's a Wiki link to Sleepy Hollow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_...
See the maps.
I'm almost done listening to The African Queen by C.S. Forester, the guy that wrote the Horatio Hornblower novels. I've never read it before, but parts of the movie with Bogart & Hepburn are still etched in my memory although it's been several decades since I last watched any of it. The book is excellent.Last night, my wife posted a word quiz on FB. Of the dozen words, I had to guess at "uxorious" (having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one's wife). I don't recall ever having heard the word before. Today I heard it twice while listening to this book. It's used to describe Bogart's character as Hepburn led him through hell & made it seem like heaven.
I finished The African Queen by C.S. Forester. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially if you liked the movie. My 5 star review is here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "I finished The African Queen by C.S. Forester. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially if you liked the movie. My 5 star review is here:[book:The African Quee..."
Jim, thanks for the recommendation. Loved the ending you quoted in your review!
Sometime I should read this book as I loved the movie. After you read the book, Jim did you think the actors were well chosen for representing their characters?
I did, Nina. It's been a long time since I watched the movie, though. Bogart seemed a good choice. Hepburn certainly represents the strong-willed, determined woman. I don't recall if they managed to show how she bloomed once her brother died, though. Forester painted a very vivid picture of how her religious family had stifled her talents & wasted her.
It's been too long since I've seen tha movie to compare it to the book but I don't remember her religion as being a stifling situation. I should watch it again.
Given the time it was made, I'd be surprised if they would have left the stifling religion in. The book was written in 1935, but the movie was made in 1951 - just before "In God We Trust" was put on money & 'under God' was added to the Pledge of Allegiance.
I am somewhat religious/a Catholic but never thought we neeed, "under God," add to the pledge.
I've never thought that we needed a "Pledge of Allegiance."Barb and I started a new car book this weekend. For our recent 35th anniversary, I gave her the two-volume set of Les Savage Jr.'s collected 1945-49 stories about a lady outlaw (but not villainess) in the lawless border country of western Texas in, I'd guess, the 1870s: The Complete Adventures Of Senorita Scorpion Volume 1 and Complete Adventures of Senorita Scorpion, Volume 2. We've started on Vol. 1.
Werner, enjoy the new car book! Sounds like a fun thing to do with one's car-mate. :)
Thanks, Joy! Yes, it does brighten up the time spent in car travel. :-)
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Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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