Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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ABOUT BOOKS AND READING
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What are U reading these days? (PART SEVEN) (2011) (ONGOING THREAD for 2011)
Jim, re the instructions above for copying and pasting an Internet URL into a Goodreads posting: one bug in the method (which is more a problem with Goodreads' software than with the method, I think) is that when you use the "back" function to return to Goodreads after "copying" the URL, Goodreads tends to have erased the unposted comment you wanted to paste it into. (Of course, that's where Notepad can come in handy! :-) )
Oh, I didn't think to mention that since I use tabbed browsing. I always catch the URL in another tab, so it doesn't mess with the GR page at all. Actually, since I generally keep 3 different browsers (IE, Chrome & Firefox, sometimes Opera) open here at work logged in with different accounts, I copy & paste between them too. (At home, I only use 2 browsers since I have Firefox all setup for Margaret.)
That should work for me, too. I could use both Firefox and IE, or open Firefox twice, now that I know that the copied link can carry over from one to the other. Thanks, Jim.
If you have Firefox, why don't you right click on a link & tell it to open in a new tab or just start a new tab & go from there? No need for multiple browsers unless you're logged into the same web apps under different credentials, which is what I do. For instance, I have several gmail accounts & I can't be logged into them all in the same browser.
Yes, I think multiple tabs in Firefox would normally be the best route for me to go when doing this. (I'm eager to try it!)
Jim, Thanks for the Notepad info, I use Wordpad and I get so annoyed at all the extra junk that shows up. You just made me a happy girl.Never After was good for the type of book it is.
I started The Brass Dragon by Marion Zimmer Bradley late last night and I couldn't put it down, I've been up all night reading it. MZB is one of my favorite authors and last night reminded me why that is.
Thanks for the links, Jackie. I checked out the GR author description on Marion Zimmer Bradley. At the end it said:==========================================================
"Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.
"Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books; like the Darkover series, the later novels are written with or by other authors and have continued to appear after Bradley's death.
"In 2000, she was posthumously awarded the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement."
"--from Wikipedia"
FROM: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
===========================================================
Today I finished reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. I didn't really enjoy it. I found much of it boring. I also found it repetitive, especially in its descriptions of the Chinese customs. The plot was thin even though it covered many years in the characters' lives. There was no real depth to the characters. Basically, it was the story of a friendship gone wrong and the sorrows suffered by the protagonists. The writing seemed stilted or perhaps that was just the style of writing. It didn't appeal to me. I kept reading just to see where the story was going. The ending wasn't satisfying; it seemed flat. I liked Lisa See's Shanghai Girls better. However, the ending to that book wasn't satisfying either.PS-See my review at:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Many readers enjoyed the book although there were others who didn't. That's horse-racing. :) Actually it points out how different we all are in our reading tastes.
That's awful when you invest time into a book and do not enjoy it.The Brass Dragon went well, I enjoy it and breezed through it. Now I'm onto Vampire of the Mists, the first of an open-ended long running series called Ravenloft.
Jackie, I wish I enjoyed my books as much as you do. BTW, I was able to borrow Beauty (by Sheri S. Tepper) from the library. So I'll begin reading it today. I dipped into the first few pages and it looks promising. Thanks for recommending it.
The first book I read by Tepper was Necromancer Nine. It was very different & interesting, an SF fantasy. I lost interest in the second trilogy, one of the Dervish books, though.
The only Tepper novel I ever read was Grass, about 20 years ago. I finished it, but if I'd been rating it for Goodreads at the time, I'd have given it no more than two stars, and I never felt motivated to check out any of her other work. (She was imaginative in her alien ecology, and one of her plotlines was a page-turner; but there were several elements I didn't like, especially what I saw as heavy-handed "political correctness" and religion-bashing.)Checking just now to see if the link worked, I saw that I gave the book one star. I'll let that stand!
I thought the following was interesting about J.K. Rowling:"J.K Rowling's real name is actually Joanne Rowling. The 'Kathleen' part was taken from her grandma because publishers didn't think boys would read a book by someone with a female name, and J. Rowling sounded too boring."
(From a quiz at http://www.funtrivia.com/)
"Although she writes under the pen name "J. K. Rowling", pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply "Joanne Rowling". Fearing that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowling,....
Publishers are idiots and don't give kids the credit they deserve.I never anything else by Tepper.
Interesting tidbit about J.K. I thought that kind of predudice was long gone. i am sorry I was wrong. nina
I just received If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, an autobiography by Bruce L. Campbell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Ca...
I love the piece on the back cover. The second sentence is:
"...Life is full of choices. Right now, yours is whether or not to buy the autobiography of a mid-grade, kind of hammy actor..."
Drop the 'kind of' - he is a ham. You may know him as Sam on "Burn Notice". Well, he started out doing the Evil Dead trilogy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evil...
directed by Sam Raimi, the guy that did the Spiderman films. Almost everything Campbell has done is very campy & fun. He was in a couple of TV series, "Briscoe County Jr." & "Jack of All Trades". (I'm getting all seasons of both on DVD soon - end of year sale on Amazon. Yippeee!)
If you like grade B movies, he's your man. Marg & Erin usually won't watch anything he's in, unfortunately. They have no taste in TV.
Haven't ever heard of Bruce Campbell.Today I watched "The Holiday" (2006), a romantic comedy. Cast includes: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Eli Wallach, Jack Black and others.
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The-Holi...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457939/
I gave it 4 stars out of 5. It kept me interested all the way through with an interesting plot and good acting. Light, feel-good entertainment. Jude Law was very appealing. The outdoor scenes in the UK were very pretty.
Joy, is that the one where they trade homes for a vacation? If so, then I enjoyed it as well.
Yes, Jackie, that's the one.
I really liked that movie, The Holiday, and thanks for reminding me as I think I'll watch it again. nina
I didn't expect it to be good but it was much better than I thought.
Jackie wrote: "I didn't expect it to be good but it was much better than I thought."I felt the same way, Jackie. The plot went in directions I hadn't expected, even though the ending was fairly predictable.
Enjoy re-watching, Nina.
As I'd predicted, The Bandit of Hell's Bend did prove to be a fast read (and a good one --four stars!), so much so that I finished it in about a week, pretty much record time for me. So again, I found myself needing a short-ish book I could be confident of finishing by the beginning of February, when the Stephen Lawhead group I belong to is planning a common read. I decided on Gulliver of Mars (1905) by Edwin L. Arnold, a science-fiction book I'd started once several years ago and put aside; I thought maybe it deserved another chance.So far, I'm close to 50 pages in, and I'd say it's flubbed its second chance; Arnold is thought to have influenced the SF of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but as a writer, he's not in ERB's league. However, I'm here and my TBR piles are in my office at work (where I have more bookshelf space), it's cold outside, and I don't work again until Tuesday. :-) Sooo, this time I may as well finish the thing, and give it a review!
I'm reading Anansi Boys with my friend Christine. I've enjoyed other works by Neil Gaiman and I have no doubt I will enjoy this one too.
I didn't have a copy of "The Bandit of Hell's Bend", so I went over to Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org) & skimmed it. I have read it before. I'm sure it was one of my father's paperbacks, but those are slowly succumbing to time. Most of his paperbacks were from the 50's & 60's, although a few were from the 40's. That any survive is pretty amazing. I still read some occasionally, but I think I've replaced most of my favorites, some were tough though.ERB = Edgar Rice Burroughs
REH = Robert E. Howard
I wound up downloading all of ERB & REH's works that were available. That's about 100 books & stories for ERB & almost 150 for REH. (I collect ebooks so I can put them on my Sony eReader when I want. ) They're just text - OK for most people but one of the things I loved about these books & authors is the cover art. Frank Frazetta did most of the ones my father had. Some were also done by Boris Vallejo. Both of them have gory, barbarian warriors, scantily clad, voluptuous women & horrific monsters in their paintings - perfect!
REH's stories have been extensively edited. He was prolific, but had a very short career. The Lancer editions of his books were what I cut my teeth on & came to love. Lin Carter & L. Sprague de Camp did most of the 'editing' on these editions. They took great liberties, often finishing partial stories that were bare fragments or changing stories around to fit in a specific hero & pad out a book. (There is one story that is nearly identical for both Kull & Conan.)
Still, I loved these stories. About 20 years ago, when my copy of King Kull died, I got a new, later edition. That publisher had faithfully published just what Howard wrote on Kull, I believe. I hated it. It took a while, but I finally tracked down the Lancer edition a couple of years ago. Yeah, I'm devoted to some authors...
;-)
Jim, about the digital readers like Kindle and Sony eReader, David Letterman (on his show) once wondered about the lack of page numbers. He wondered how one knew how many more pages there were to read, i.e., how far along one is in a book.One of the nice things about print books is that your bookmark shows you just how far along you are, e.g., you know when your nearing the end because you can actually see that there are just a few pages left to read.
PS-I love your devotion to books and authors.
Garrison Keillor wrote a review (in the NY Times) of Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1.He called it "this dreary meander of a memoir". I got a kick out of those words. :) Keillor has a wonderful way with words!
The review is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/boo...
Also reading This Immortal. I liked Joy and Jim's reviews on it. It's good so far even though I'm not very far into it. I like Zelazny's subtle humor.
Speaking of having a way with words, I found a thought-provoking sentence on page 90 of Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper. The protagonist, a young girl, was commenting on a certain genre of horror books. Her words are: "If lots of people read things like this, there's something terribly, terribly wrong..."On page 94, she says: "... he asked me what I've got against horror writers. I said there was real horror in the world. ... I said we needed to feel revulsion for these things, needed to be galvanized into action against them... but that his books merely made us accustomed to horror, as a recreation. ... [people] would become habituated to horror. It would deaden the sense of terror they needed to stay alive. They would catch a kind of leprosy of the spirit, an inability to feel."
Food for thought.
PS-Somewhere on page 94 the young girl says: "I stopped talking. After a moment he said, well, his books were popular; they made a lot of money ... people liked being scared to death, so why not?"
It's a prevalent theory that the extreme violence children see in movies and video games at a young age desensitizes them. I believe it.
I believe it too, Jackie.
Having just finished Stephen King's Under the DomeI am mow starting a new Sf book by Timothy Zahn, Night Train to RigelSo far, it is quite good.
Mary JL wrote: "...I am mow starting a new Sf book by Timothy Zahn, Night Train to RigelSo far, it is quite good"
About Night Train to Rigel, a GR reviewer said: "This is a very good science fiction/private detective mystery novel, a rare combination. The aliens are convincing, the plot is tight, the detective and his his side kick are engaging, and it's an altogether fun ride."
FROM: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Many of the reviewers called this book fun. Have fun, Mary JL. :)
Jackie wrote: "It's a prevalent theory that the extreme violence children see in movies and video games at a young age desensitizes them. I believe it."It certainly does if they're not exposed to real violence. Unfortunately, too many parents won't smack a kid any more or let them see where their food comes from. No, they just protect & coddle them from the real world until they suddenly wind up out in it. A dose of reality would work wonders.
After finishing Gulliver of Mars this morning, I had more time to read and didn't want to waste it. Since my own unread books are at my office, I started on one of Barb's books, Rivers West by Louis L'Amour. Despite the fact that he's Barb's favorite author, I've only ever read one of his short stories, "The Gift of Cochise" (which I liked). But I've always intended to someday explore his novels, so I figure this is my opportunity to start!
Jim, I agree with the parenting problems of my generation and younger. I only had to smack Eric's butt once, after that the threat was enough because he knew I'd do it. I tell all my neices, A good smack on the butt goes a long way. But they don't listen and their children run their houses. Better them than me, LOLI've got about 40 pages left on This Immortal. I'm enjoying it.
Eric listens better than my kids ever did. We needed a 2x4 just to get Brandon's attention. Then we had to punish him.;-)
I have just started Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit. It's a biography of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic track start at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a shot-down World War II hero and prisoner of war. A movie of his life, starring Nicholas Cage, is in the works.
Here's the GR link to Hillenbrand's book re Louis Zamperini:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010).
Excerpt from GR description:
"Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion."
It should make a good movie, Katherine.
PS-Here's an excerpt from a good GR review of "Unbroken":
"After his plane plunges into the Pacific Ocean, he survives 47 days on a disintegrating raft, only to spend the rest of the war being starved and tortured in a series of Japanese POW camps."
FROM: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I found a good book when I randomly plucked the following book off the shelf at our library: The Beach House (2008) by Jane Green. I'd say it would come under the heading of "chick lit". I felt compelled to keep reading it because the plot swept me along. This doesn't happen to me too often. So I was pleasantly surprised.The writing style isn't fancy; it's straight forward. However, what makes the story interesting is the presentation. The author starts out by introducing several different groups of characters separately in different chapters. After you've read the particular problems of those different groups of characters, the author brings them together to intermingle in each other's lives and to change the direction of those lives. This was a plot device of Irving Wallace years ago. I always enjoyed it.
The story should have ended with Chapter 29. I was satisfied by then. However, the author added a short epilogue-type ending which seemed anti-climactic. By that time, I had lost interest. I would rather have had things left to my imagination instead of having the unexciting and predictable future developments spelled out for me.
Funny how we lose interest at certain points.
I have created a separate topic about the bestselling book, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time (2006) by Greg Mortenson.It can be seen at:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...
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Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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It's nice to know Howard's work is on Project Gutenberg, and for folks who like to read online, that's wonderful! (I'm not in that number, though; and while I could run print copies of individual stories and put them in a binder, I'm lazy and cheap --I prefer to have a publisher do all that work, and a library buy a copy. :-) I know, I'm spoiled!)