Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
ABOUT BOOKS AND READING
>
What are U reading these days? (PART EIGHT (2012) (ONGOING THREAD for 2012)
I agree, Jackie. Martin's ASOF&I is a good example. I don't mind stand alone novels by authors & a good one will make me seek out other books of their's. Poor series will make me avoid them. I guess we're the odd ducks though.
If you two are odd ducks, I'm quacking right along with you, because I agree completely! :-)
Right now, I'm reading a 19th-century French novella, The Red Bridge Murder (L'Assassinat du Pont-Rouge): A Dual Language Story, which was translated by my Goodreads friend Krisi Keley. It's thought to have been a significant influence for Dostoevsky when he wrote Crime and Punishment.
I just started listening to Fahrenheit 451. I've read it a couple of times, but it's probably been several decades since I last did. It impressed me immediately.A neighbor put out a wheelbarrow of books on Sunday, so I had to go look. I picked up half a dozen. One was Education of a Wandering Man, Louis L'Amour's autobiography. I'm going to see how I like it. Not sure it's really my cup of tea.
I also got a couple of Foxfire books & one on carving wild animals. I've been trying to figure out how to carve a wolf's head into the top of a stick. The eyes just wouldn't appear for me. I'm hoping this will help. Generally, if I can see it in my head, I can make it happen, but I'm not really a carver, so the few things I've done sort of just popped out. This hasn't, so far, anyway. We'll see.
Jim, I've always been in awe of people who could do sculpture. Good luck with your wolf's head.I remember a third grade boy who sculpted a perfect likeness of a horse. He had real talent. Wonder what he grew up to be.
BTW, I'm still reading The Furies. It's a good book but I've had a lot of distractions lately. When the cooler weather sets in, I'm sure I'll read more.
This is kismet, Jim. Just today I was looking for a cane with a wolf's head. If you get it right, send me a pic and I'll buy it. It'd mean so much more to me to get one from you, a friend, rather than a store bought one. If that's of interest to you.
We are eighty days with no rain. Foundations are cracking; trees and bushes are dying all over the city. The grass is white brush. It is sad and nineties predicted for the next week with no rain in sight. I have a beautiful red maple in my yard that is looking sad with wilting leaves. Hope it makes it.. No joy in mudville and there isn't even any mud.
That is terrible, Nina! I hope you get rain, soon.
How awful, Nina. Sorry to hear about that. I feel bad for the red maple tree. Sounds like the drought in Grapes of Wrath.
Jackie wrote: "This is kismet, Jim. Just today I was looking for a cane with a wolf's head. If you get it right, send me a pic and I'll buy it. It'd mean so much more to me to get one from you, a friend, rathe..."This is a staff, not a cane, Jackie. I'll keep you in mind, though. Thanks. Might be a few years to never. Sometimes I see carvings lurking in the wood, but not too often. Not really my normal thing, but occasionally I surprise myself. I carved a really good Indian head out of 1' cube of pine for the YMCA Indian Guide tribe Brandon & I were in. It got lost somehow, though. I think they might have borrowed it after we quit & never given it back.
That's terrible, Nina. The first year we moved in to this farm, we had a similar drought. The biggest Sugar Maple on the place has a 4' diameter trunk & the top of it died off in that drought. The tree is still OK, but the top never recovered so I'm sure it is rotting inside.
Jim, Staff or cane is fine by me. That's too bad the Indian head was lost.
I finished Ender's Game last night. I really enjoyed it, gave it 4 stars. The end was satisfying.I'll be starting The Crystal Shard later tonight. It's the original book that introduces Drizzt. I feel I was at a disadvantage starting the prequel of Drizzt's life. From what I hear, this secondary character was so memorable that fans clamored for his story. I thought reading that story first would be a good place to start, but I was wrong. I don't have that same feeling for Drizzt. So I'll remedy that and read The Crystal Shard, then continue with the dark prequel.
Jackie, I went to Wiki and looked up "Drizzt". I found the following interesting info:======================================
"Salvatore created Drizzt on the spur of the moment.[7] He was under pressure to create a sidekick for Wulfgar in the Icewind Dale series.[1] Salvatore had sent an early version of The Crystal Shard (what would become his first published novel) to TSR, and one day Kirchoff called him. She was on her way to a marketing meeting concerning the book, and informed him that they could not use one of the characters. He asked for time to think, but she was already late for the meeting. Off the top of his head, Salvatore said he had a Dark Elf. Kirchoff was skeptical, but Salvatore convinced her it would be fine because he was just a sidekick. She asked his name, and he replied Drizzt Do'Urden. She asked if he could spell it, and he said "not a chance".[1][8] Recalling Drizzt's creation in an interview, Salvatore said, "I don't know where it came from. I guess that Gary Gygax just did such an amazing job in creating the drow elves that something about them got stuck in the back of my head. Thank God!"[9] Although many readers have assumed that Drizzt is based on one of the many Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns that the author has played, this is not the case. Salvatore's main influences were classical literature and works of J. R. R. Tolkien. "I like to think of Drizzt as a cross between Daryth from Darkwalker on Moonshae and Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings."[1] Salvatore calls Drizzt "the classic romantic hero—misunderstood, holding to a code of ideals even when the going gets tough, and getting no appreciation for it most of the time."[7]
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drizzt
==============================================
Interesting that Drizzt was created on the "spur of the moment".
A spark of genius has to begin somewhere.
Jackie wrote: "A spark of genius has to begin somewhere."...as in: "he was just a sparkle in his father's eye". :)
I'm over halfway through Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour. It's very good & interesting. He did a lot of reading & yondering. Things sure have changed since 1930, too. He was 53, my age, when his son was born. I can't imagine doing that. Where did he find the energy?;-)
Have any of you read, "The Paris Wife?" It is fiction but reads like non-fiction.
Nina wrote: "Have any of you read, The Paris Wife? It is fiction but reads like non-fiction."Haven't read it yet.
It's a fictionalized biography, "based on letters and biographies, and on Hemingway’s own ample recollections of Paris".
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/boo...
Jim wrote: "I'm over halfway through Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour. It's very good & interesting. He did a lot of reading & yondering. Things sure have changed since 1930, too. He was 53, m..."Jim, the only experience I've had with Louis L'Amour's writing is when I listened to an audio version of one of his stories. It was a Western. Seemed rather simple.
You made me curious about his life. I went to Wiki and found the following:
==========================================
"After a series of bank failures devastated the economy of the upper Midwest, Dr. LaMoore and Emily took to the road. Removing Louis and his adopted brother John from school, they headed south in the winter of 1923. Over the next seven or eight years, they skinned cattle in west Texas, baled hay in the Pecos Valley of New Mexico, worked in the mines of Arizona, California and Nevada, and in the saw mills and lumber camps of the Pacific Northwest. It was in colorful places like these that Louis met a wide variety of people, upon whom he later modeled the characters in his novels, many of them actual Old West personalities who had survived into the nineteen-twenties and -thirties.
Making his way as a mine assessment worker, professional boxer and merchant seaman, Louis traveled the country and the world, sometimes with his family, sometimes not. He visited all of the western states plus England, Japan, China, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, Arabia, Egypt, and Panama, finally moving with his parents to Oklahoma in the early 1930s. There, he changed his name to Louis L’Amour and settled down to try to make something of himself as a writer.[3]"
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_L%...
===============================================
Sounds like he had a LOT of energy! :)
Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: "Have any of you read, The Paris Wife? It is fiction but reads like non-fiction."Haven't read it yet.
It's a fictionalized biography, "based on letters and biographies, and on Hemingw..."I sort of enjoyed reading it out of curiousity but they were a decadent bunch.
Nina wrote: "I sort of enjoyed reading it out of curiousity but they were a decadent bunch."Sounds that way. A lot of drinking.
Jackie, she was a lot younger. She was 22 when they married in 1956 while he was 48. Their first son, Beau, was born in 1961.---------------------
Joy, most of his books were pretty simple & while he went to some pains to be historically accurate in some ways, he certainly bent the rules a lot with all the gun fights & show downs. Still, they're fun books & there are some that are fairly profound. Two that come to mind are Bendigo Shafter: A Novel & The Lonesome Gods, favorites of mine. Both these protagonists grow up learning much the way L'Amour did.
The Wikipedia article you quoted is technically accurate, but lends a different slant than what I'm getting from his book. It says, "...eight years, they skinned cattle..." making it sound like Louis was with all or part of his family. According to him, he wasn't. He left home at 15 & did come back to help his parents move from OR to OK, but was otherwise out on his own. Apparently he grew big early & easily passed for several years older than he was.
An interesting tidbit from the move with his parents. They stopped at a ranch where Louis had worked to spend the night & he mentioned something about Butch Cassidy. The ranch owner replied that Butch had dropped by a couple of days ago to swap a couple of tires for a saddle. L'Amour explains that while the world thought that Cassidy had died down in Bolivia, many folks in WY, CO, & UT knew better & that, except for the Pinkertons, everyone liked him since his holdups never killed anyone. I read the bit through several times, but could never decide if either L'Amour or the rancher were joking or serious. There is very little evidence either way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_ca...
Again, I'll question the historical accuracy of L'Amour's assertion that Cassidy was well liked by all. Cassidy was suspected of running a protection racket among the ranchers in SE Utah when he was imprisoned for stealing horses. I can't imagine anyone could have liked him in either capacity & his gang members were responsible for quite a few deaths even though neither he nor the Sundance Kid were ever known to kill anyone. (The Sundance Kid is typically mixed up with Kid Curry in the popular stories.)
-----------
Even more interesting, on the way home I was listening to the second section of Fahrenheit 451 & one of the characters says that one of the best things about books is that you can shut them when you need to think, unlike the TV & advertising of the book's world.
I got home & read some of Education of a Wandering Man. The epigraph to one of the chapters I read was "A book is a friend that will do what no friend does - be silent when we wish to think." - Will Durant, the author of Story of Civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Durant
Kind of neat getting the same sentiment from two such different sources within an hour of each other.
Jim, that would explain having a child at his age. The wife was young enough to chase a toddler and probably wanted a child.F451 is one of my favorite books.
Interesting tidbits, Jim.About the coincidence of coming across similar items almost simultaneously, I had that experience today. The word, "mountebank" (charlatan/quack), is one I hardly ever a come across. Today the word was used in both of the DVDs I watched: "The Forsyte Saga" and "Sweeney Todd".
The etymology is interesting:
"a doctor that mounts a bench in the market, and boasts his infallible remedies and cures" [Johnson], 1570s, from It. montambanco, contraction of monta in banco "quack, juggler," lit. "mount on bench" (to be seen by crowd), from monta, imperative of montare "to mount" (see mount (v.)) + banco, variant of banca "bench"
FROM: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?t...
I recently watched "The Forsyte Saga", it was very good.
Jackie wrote: "I recently watched "The Forsyte Saga", it was very good."Jackie, from your past post, I see you watched the 2002 version of The Forsyte Saga.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260615/
So far, I've watched the first 2 Netflix discs of the 1967 version which Werner recommended. There are 7 discs altogether.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061253/
The story so far is a good one. Some of the actors were cast well. Some others I didn't care for. It would be interesting to compare different versions.
Hey! I just noticed that Netflix has the 2002 version available for streaming. I might take a look at it. It will be interesting to see different actors in the different roles. There are 6 episodes.
There's 14 episodes to the 2002/2003 version, 10 here:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260615/
and it continues here with the final 4 episodes:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377125/
But I think they overlap, if I remember correctly.
Jackie wrote: "There's 14 episodes to the 2002/2003 version, 10 here:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260615/
and it continues here with the final 4 episodes:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377125/
But I think they overlap, if I remember correctly."
Wow! Thanks, Jackie. I don't think I want to invest that much time in so many episodes via Netflix. There are so many other movies I'd like to watch.
Netflix shows that there are 2 series, 2002 and 2003. Netflix says: 5 discs / 10 episodes
The Forsyte Saga - 2002-2003NR 2 Series
Looks like they don't have the final 4 episodes.
PS-Last night I started streaming the 2002 version of the Forsyte Saga. It's interesting to compare the two different versions (1967 & 2002), especially the different actors in the different roles.I like the actress who plays Irene in the 2002 version better. I didn't like Irene in the 1967 version at all. She got on my nerves. I couldn't sympathize with her.
I like the actors who play the two sons, Soames and Jo, in the 1967 version better. They have more gravity (oops, I should have said "gravitas".) :)
Joy, the 1967 series also adapted some of Galsworthy's later writing about the Forsytes, which continues their story (especially Fleur's generation) beyond the period covered in the omnibus volume originally published as The Forsyte Saga. I'm guessing that the 2002 series doesn't, which would account for the fewer episodes.In the original series, I thought Irene became more sympathetic as she got older and matured (don't we all? :-) ). I agree about the greater gravitas of the actors playing Soames and Jo in the original; that quality gets more marked with Eric Porter's character (Soames) as he ages, too. And I liked the original Old Jolyon much more than the imposter in the 2002 version. :-)
Joy, those last 4 episodes must be the ones that overlap. I don't know why they listed it this way. I do remember being frustrated about it. I think the 10 eps are the full story. When I watch miniseries like this, it's usually two or three episodes at a time, when I have the time for it.
Werner wrote: "... I agree about the greater gravitas of the actors playing Soames and Jo in the original; that quality gets more marked with Eric Porter's character (Soames) as he ages, too. And I liked the original Old Jolyon much more than the imposter in the 2002 version. :-) "Yes indeed, Werner! Old Jolyon was played by Joseph O'Conor (in the 1967 version of The Forsyte Saga). I liked him so much that I made note of his name. He looked like a kind old gent and was very good-looking too. He softened toward Young Jolyon in the end.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0640561/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061253/f...
PS-I think the 2002 version (of The Forsyte Saga) clarifies the plot and relationships much better than the 1967 version. It's sort of a "simplified" version and gives more attention to the key scenes rather than mixing them with less important scenes. It serves as "review" and a confirmation of what I saw in the 1967 version.
Yes, Jackie, I rest between episodes. :)
PPS-Yes, Werner, the word is gravitas (see my message #784). Thanks for reminding me. :)http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dicti...
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/grav...
http://www.onelook.com/?w=gravitas&am... :-)
Actually, Joy, I think "gravity" is perfectly correct in that context. I just couldn't resist using the Latin loanword there; it sort of comes naturally to my speaking/writing style. You can see why Barb often has to remind me, "English, honey, English!" (even if I'm not actually using a foreign word). :-(
Thanks, Werner. Actually, I like the word "gravitas" much more. It says it better.
Another think about the casting of the different movie versions of The Forsyte Saga (1967 & 2002). The actor who played the part of Philip Bosinney in the 1967 version wasn't appealing at all.http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F_GgpYlflKw...
http://media.photobucket.com/image/jo...
How could anyone imagine a romance with between Irene and him!
On the other hand the Bosinney role in the 2002 version was played by a much more appealing actor.
Ioan Gruffudd:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0344435/
What a contrast!
1967: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061253/f...
2002: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260615/
I didn't remember Gruffudd from the 2002 version, but I didn't watch that much of it. Yes, he's an excellent actor; I particularly enjoyed his performances in Amazing Grace, and the several A & E adaptations of the Hornblower novels. (And as we've mentioned on another thread before, he also starred as Pip in a good modern production of Great Expectations.)While I wait to start reading Mark Finn's biography of Robert E. Howard,
at the beginning of September (the Howard fan group I belong to here on Goodreads is doing it then as a common read), I'm passing the time with
. That's an anthology of original stories of swords-and-sorcery fantasy with female protagonists, part of the long-running series edited by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley. I probably won't finish by Sept. 1; but a beauty of short story collections is that you can read some stories, put the book aside for another read, and come back to it without having left any storyline in the middle. (So I often use story collections as filler between other books.)
I recently acquired a Sword and Sorceress anthology, #19. I usually don't read short stories but with MZB's name attached I had to buy it.
I actually read quite a bit of short fiction, having gotten a liking for that format as a kid. (And of course, being a fan of speculative fiction helped to cement that liking; a lot of the best older work in the speculative genres is in short story form, because for a long time it wasn't easy to get long fiction of that sort published.)Bradley's first Sword and Sorceress anthology, which I stumbled on in a public library back in Indiana when we lived there, is one of my favorite books. So far, though, this is the first time I've gotten around to starting any of the others. (Because of the short-fiction format, of course, the different volumes of the series can be read in any order.) I'll be interested in your review of #19, Jackie!
I love short stories. They have a spareness & immediacy that is great. They're often quirky, too. I read a lot of pulps as a kid & miss them.
Werner wrote: "I didn't remember Gruffudd from the 2002 version, but I didn't watch that much of it. Yes, he's an excellent actor; I particularly enjoyed his performances in Amazing Grace, and the several A & E ..."My Netflix records show that I watched "Amazing Grace" (with Ioan Gruffudd) in 2011 and gave it 3 stars. However, I don't remember anything about it. :)
Netflix description: "Based on actual events, this historical drama tells the story of William Wilberforce, an 18th-century English politician who launched an aggressive campaign to abolish British slavery, despite staunch opposition."
http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Amazing-...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454776/
The endings of some short stories sometimes leave me disappointed. That's why they're not my favorite genre. All that work to get into the plot and then, poof!, it's over!
But I shall put Sword and Sorceress VIII on my "keep-in-mind" shelf.
Hmmm! Joy, to be honest, since you're neither a fan of fantasy nor of action-oriented stories, I'm not sure any of the Sword and Sorceress collections would be the best reading fare to win you over to a liking for the short format (or for the fantasy genre). Since you have a good sense of humor, it's possible that you'd like Chicks in Chainmail better; that's a collection which is similarly-themed, but (mostly) more playful and lighthearted in tone.How are you liking Feckless so far?
Werner, so far I've enjoyed each story I've read from Feckless". I still have the book out from the library and have been pecking away at it. I only wish I could remember the plots of what I read. "In one ear and out the other." :) The stories are excellent entertainment.I've added Chicks in Chainmail to my keep-in-mind shelf with a hidden copy (in the private notes section) of what you said in your post above. I can't depend on my memory anymore. :)
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
Books mentioned in this topic
My Favorite Comedies in Music (other topics)My Favorite Intermissions: Lives of the Musical Greats and Other Facts You Never Knew You Were Missing (other topics)
Timebends: A Life (other topics)
My Name Is Mary Sutter (other topics)
Pomp and Circumstance (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Arthur Miller (other topics)Victor Borge (other topics)
Robin Oliveira (other topics)
Michael J. Sullivan (other topics)
M.H. Clark (other topics)
More...
I find this happens a lot with many authors. They have a great idea but cannot maintain it over the course of many books. I know publishers want trilogies (or even more) from their authors, but I often feel that stretching a story out so they can sell more books is the worst thing they can do. Many books are only good for one or two books, this incessant need to string out more books only does the overall series harm.
For example, I was thoroughly please when reading The Cartamandua Legacy which comprised two books, and that it stayed at two. To make a third book of the series would have just strung it out, in effect making the first two books less powerful, less interesting. The first book was published in 2007, the second a year later, I have no idea how the author was able to get around the must-have-trilogy requirement of most publishers in the SF/F genre, but I'm glad she did, it made for a much better series.