On Paths Unknown discussion
Books you have read/Want to read : suggestions and recommendations
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Lori
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Sep 25, 2015 08:08AM
I'm one of the few who didn't like it. Well I didn't dislike it but it didn't grab me, it was a 2, just OK. Mostly because of character superficiality but I think the movie will be fantastic.
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Traveller wrote: "I hated the books of The Hunger Games, but found the movies passable"I disliked the book and avoided the film, but I'm sure it worked better on screen. Bad books often do! (Or at least, books I don't like, I often prefer on screen.)
Cecily wrote: "Traveller wrote: "I hated the books of The Hunger Games, but found the movies passable"
I disliked the book and avoided the film, but I'm sure it worked better on screen. Bad books often do! (Or a..."
Books, movies! Movies, books! Isn't it a conundrum? I will always remember reading Tess of the D'Ubervilles in three days flat so the Polanski movie wouldn't spoil the book for me. The only experience I have that is really, truly confusing to me is Cloud Atlas; adored the book, had to leave the movie and sleep in the car until my date came out. Was it me self-editing as I read, or did the director have a completely different take on the book than I did? Such an interesting question. Having just re-read Cannery Row, I know that movies can be made with little, if any, reference to the underlying book. Big question: Has what is [popular] literature changed because of the potential spoils of a great movie deal?
I disliked the book and avoided the film, but I'm sure it worked better on screen. Bad books often do! (Or a..."
Books, movies! Movies, books! Isn't it a conundrum? I will always remember reading Tess of the D'Ubervilles in three days flat so the Polanski movie wouldn't spoil the book for me. The only experience I have that is really, truly confusing to me is Cloud Atlas; adored the book, had to leave the movie and sleep in the car until my date came out. Was it me self-editing as I read, or did the director have a completely different take on the book than I did? Such an interesting question. Having just re-read Cannery Row, I know that movies can be made with little, if any, reference to the underlying book. Big question: Has what is [popular] literature changed because of the potential spoils of a great movie deal?
I only saw a bit of Cloud Atlas and was absolutely horrified at what they did. Completely different.
Lori (Hellian) wrote: "I only saw a bit of Cloud Atlas and was absolutely horrified at what they did. Completely different."
Oh, Lori, I can't tell you what a comfort that is. Nobody I've talked to in my little town ever read the book. I've thought I'd had some sort of breakdown!
Oh, Lori, I can't tell you what a comfort that is. Nobody I've talked to in my little town ever read the book. I've thought I'd had some sort of breakdown!
just finished a book that might qualify as hilarious...that is, if the reader is up for it, for the theme is dark and horrifying. in the hands of chuck palaniak its theater of the absurd. ' beautiful you' is apocalypse by orgasm...I'd love to compare notes
Lori (Hellian) wrote: "I only saw a bit of Cloud Atlas and was absolutely horrified at what they did. Completely different."Interesting. I love the book, but I thought the film was not bad (terribly confusing if you haven't read the book, though). The structure of the storytelling was totally different, but film is a different medium, and I thought that worked well. What I didn't like was the way they were SO heavy-handed with the birthmarks (which weren't exactly subtle in the first place). Having the same actors in different stories was part of that, too, and resulted in the awkwardness of actors playing races other than their own.
Mod
I find Chuck Palanuik to be almost too dark for my tastes.
Cecily wrote: "Traveller wrote: "I hated the books of The Hunger Games, but found the movies passable"
I disliked the book and avoided the film, but I'm sure it worked better on screen. Bad books often do! (Or a..."
In this case the book was so atrocious that the film had to be an improvement ! :D They handled it much better and cut out all the... most icky bits. But the book was simply written badly, irrespective of how one felt about the plot and characters.
Cecily wrote: "Having the same actors in different stories was part of that, too, and resulted in the awkwardness of actors playing races other than their own. ."
Ugh yes...- I can see why they did it, but I also feel it didn't work out too well at all...
Sumant wrote: "Here is my review of Lord foul's bane , 1st book in Thomas covenant series. "Covenant is the ultimate anti-hero: most of the things you disliked are absolutely vital to the book—without them it's a pretty run-of-the-mill fantasy. But they do make the books hard to read...
The Martian has been on my list for a good while, now.
Mod
Covenant is the ultimate anti-hero: most of the things you disliked are absolutely vital to the book—wi..."
Hi Derek! Welcome back! ^_^
We have quite a gap now in October before we start on the Calvino - perhaps we should do a flash-reading of The Martian, or is there too much else too catch up on?
*me looks* Hmmm, it has 369 pages, quite long-ish...
Traveller wrote: "We have quite a gap now in October before we start on the Calvino - perhaps we should do a flash-reading of The Martian*me looks* Hmmm, it has 369 pages, quite long-ish... "
But it's quite big print, widely spaced. I found it quite a quick read (unless you want to agonise over the detail of every bit of science).
Cecily wrote: "I found it quite a quick read (unless you want to agonise over the detail of every bit of science). "Oh, I DO :-) I like my SF to be either very good science, or pure fantasy. The stuff in between tends to annoy me.
Mod
Oh, I DO :-) I like my SF to be either very good science, or pure fantasy. Th..."
Hoo boy! That just gave me a flashback to a certain Snow Crash thread, ROFL. It's good to have you posting again, Derek, tho I might not have the time to write page-long rebuttals if we do The Martian in October.... :D
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Oh, I DO :-) I like my SF to be either very good science, or pure fantasy. Th..."Even so, it's exciting enough that if you're enjoying it, I think you'll race through it more quickly than many books of similar length. The thing is, it's not great literature, there's no major character development, no great philosophical musings - just a rollicking story.
I'd be interested in reading The Martian as well. A friend of mine has been pestering me for some time to read it, and I've still yet to get around to it. The length doesn't faze me; I'd consider sub-400 to be a fairly short length, in fact. ;)I'm not sure when I'd have time for it, but I'm sure I can squeeze myself into whatever schedule is decided.
Mod
Yeah, yeah, you Stephenson fans... ;)
Okay, I am convinced we should make at least one thread for it - but now what worries me, is enough time to actually read it.... :S
Traveller wrote: "In that case, we need to set a date for Book of the New Sun! ^_^"I appear to be getting these posts in reverse order!
I'd like to do that. I didn't much enjoy the New Sun when I first read it. But I'd love to reread it with people who did!
Mod
I'd like to do that. I didn't much enjoy the New Sun when I first read it. But I'd love to reread it with people who did! .."
Oh, good!
Did you read only The Shadow of the Torturer, though? They really follow on quite closely...
Traveller wrote: "the curious cat inside me"That sounds painful...
Jennifer wrote: "Because I read The End of Alice, GR recommends Hogg"
That looks like a fairly reasonable recommendation to me. I'm definitely not planning to read either of them.
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Traveller wrote: "the curious cat inside me"That sounds painful...
Jennifer wrote: "Because I read The End of Alice, GR recommends Hogg"
That looks like a fairly reasonable recommendation to me..."
I can't recommend The End of Alice, it is one of those "read at your own risk" kind of books.
Traveller wrote: "Did you read only The Shadow of the Torturer, though? They really follow on quite closely... "No, I hung in for all four, and I shouldn't say I "disliked" them, but I wouldn't have read all of them if my wife hadn't said she loved them: and she generally doesn't do SF and almost never fantasy. I also wouldn't have gone on to read almost everything Wolfe has written if I hadn't got something out of them.
Jennifer wrote: "I can't recommend The End of Alice, it is one of those "read at your own risk" kind of books."I meant "reasonable recommendation" to refer to GR recommending it. Their recommendations typically seem to take no account of subject matter or even genre. At least on a reading of the blurbs, Alice and Hogg would seem to have similarities. I'm actually surprised that the recommendation came up at all. I suspected the algorithm is simply that they find all the people who highly-rated the book you have read, then find the best-rated book they have in common and offer it to you. It seems to me that few people who've read either of these will be on the lookout for a similar one!
@Derek I have started second book in Thomas covenant series and so far it seems good.
It's good that many people are interested in reading Books of new sun.
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I can't recommend The End of Alice, it is one of those "read at your own risk" kind of books."I meant "reasonable recommendation" to refer to GR recommending it. Their recommend..."
I see that. But it still skeeves me out.
Mod
Indeed! I think we should start thinking of how we're going to fit it in! Perhaps starting around April-ish next year...?
I stay away a bit and I'm already lost. Are we starting the Martian in October?Traveller, this is my 1st virtual group, where do I find the schedule?
Mod
Traveller, this is my 1st virtual group, where do I find the schedule?"
Well, The Martian is not officially scheduled yet, (we were going to take a bit of a break to catch up with all our other reading in October) but you see, the film is coming out in cinema theaters in most countries - well, I think it's out already - and hence the rush.
You know, people often want to first read the book of anything adapted to film, before watching it, to avoid the film spoiling the book for them... - and that is why we're considering trying to squish it in, you see.
The "official" schedule is here :
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
(We often have polls, but not for all our discussions, if enough people vote for a book in the forum itself.)
I should have sent out a newsletter already, I apologize... will do so in the next day or so.
Mod
I quickly had a look at it now, and it doesn't really seem the kind of thing we'd want to do a "close reading" of: so maybe 3 threads - one for initial impressions, one for ending spoilers, and one for book-film comparison. I think that might be our best compromise. Let's make it a flash-read; I'll make the threads and send out a group message/newsletter after I had done so.
Are the rest of you agreed on that? Or any suggestions to the contrary?
That sounds good to me. As I said earlier, it's not great literature or deep philosophy (unless I really missed the point!), but it is great fun.
Traveller wrote: "But how about we, at the very least, make a thread for "The Martian: Film vs Book" ?I quickly had a look at it now, and it doesn't really seem the kind of thing we'd want to do a ..."
I am so excited about the movie, but it would feel like a betrayal if I didn't read the book first. This sounds like fun! I'll be happy to join in.
Traveller wrote: "Are the rest of you agreed on that? Or any suggestions to the contrary? "Sounds good to me.
Mod
Cecily wrote: "Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Oh, I DO :-) I like my SF to be either very good science, or pure fantasy. Th..."Even so, it's exciting enough that if you're enjoying it, I think you'll ..."
I'm in favor of a rollicking good story!
Annie wrote: "Traveller wrote: "But how about we, at the very least, make a thread for "The Martian: Film vs Book" ?I quickly had a look at it now, and it doesn't really seem the kind of thing ..."
I doubt the movie will be coming here any time soon (although northern Sweden has surprised me before), but I am very interested in reading the book. Definitely want to do it before the movie!
Mod
How about October 4 or 5?
I read it a few weeks ago and will be seeing the film on Saturday evening.
Traveller wrote: "I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't move the start of our The Martian discussion up to a bit sooner? Has everyone got it yet? Surely, with Martian fever running high?How abou..."
sounds fine to me to move to the martian, read one very funny review here on GR from a woman who reads romances... i have no idea why she wanted to read this! and on the other, this review: http://www.strangehorizons.com/review... which suggests science science fiction losing out to movie structure? well tell us how the movie does please Cecily...
btw has anybody heard of a new version of 20 000 leagues under the sea being made?
Traveller wrote: "Has everyone got it yet? Surely, with Martian fever running high?How about October 4 or 5? "
I don't have it, but I will...
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Has everyone got it yet? Surely, with Martian fever running high?How about October 4 or 5? "
I don't have it, but I will..."
Got it! I'm in.
the gift wrote: "read one very funny review here on GR from a woman who reads romances... i have no idea why she wanted to read this!"I found this 1* review quite fun (just don't let it put you off the book):
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
the gift wrote: "and on the other, this review: http://www.strangehorizons.com/review... which suggests science science fiction losing out to movie structure?"
That's a good article. The possibility of Wier deliberately going against Hollywood tropes is... a slightly hard case to make, given how many of them the DOES include, but it's good to have a fresh angle. Overall, I think the reviewer gets it right: a very entertaining first novel.
Traveller wrote: "I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't move the start of our The Martian discussion up to a bit sooner? Has everyone got it yet? Surely, with Martian fever running high?How abou..."
I've started it and wouldn't mind an earlier start date as I think I am going to need a push to the finish. Sigh! I want to like it....
Mod
- and just to make sure we don't run away too far from the rest of the people, let's stick to no further than general first impressions and chapter one there for now, and then we can maybe move on from there on around Saturday or Sunday. (I know Derek reads fast, so he'll catch up, won't you, Derek?)
I think I'll try and go see the film around Sunday afternoon maybe, hoping there would be less crowds than the evening show or earlier in the weekend. I just hope not everybody else are going to have the same thoughts ... but I feel pretty sure that there's going to be camping in front of the cinema doors for the premiere. They're already saying :"Booking essential".
I am more than 50% done with ship of magic and I am simply loving this book and finding it hard to stop reading it.
I was reading through a list of Science Fiction books that are regarded as required reading and this one got my attention:The Female Man This looks like a really good book. It is labeled as feminist, post-modern, science fiction/speculative.
Mod
The Female Man This looks like a really good book. It is l..."
Added to my personal TBR! Thanks Yolande!
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