Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[fitshaced]

On spoilers regarding Go Set a Watchman, same here w/ respect to my reply...

... but really one would have to be off all grids not to have a clue about Go Set A Watchman by now.

Thanks for your post. I remain unsure whether I want to read the book. To Kill a Mockingbird was great but I don't have any fictional characters either set on pedestals (or for that matter jailed for existing); after all they are creations of a writer and perceived through my own filters when I discover them.

I have once or twice thought when finishing a book that I'd like to see the character again in another work. So far I've not thought very hard about what I'd do when that opportunity arrived and I ended up thinking something like "What?! No way!". Anyway I can absorb the revelations of the new-to-me GSAW without having a heart attack. My hesitation is more about setting time aside to read it. Someday I'm going to set a book in one of the stacks along the top of the back of my couch and the whole lot will come down and write FINIS to my own story!

I'm an ebook reader and I think there is less of a commitment to books when you don't buy the physical ones. I buy a book and I read it but there can be a deterrent to buy a physical book if it's not one you are excited about as it will likely take up space on a shelf and gather dust making it seem more wasteful. So, I don't bother with physical ones. My apartment is too small anyway, I'd end up giving them away.

 

[LizKat]

I'm an ebook reader and I think there is less of a commitment to books when you don't buy the physical ones. I buy a book and I read it but there can be a deterrent to buy a physical book if it's not one you are excited about as it will likely take up space on a shelf and gather dust making it seem more wasteful. So, I don't bother with physical ones. My apartment is too small anyway, I'd end up giving them away.

I love ebooks but you can't trade them away with abandon as you can with real ones, even in those deals where you can make a purchased ebook available for lending. It's just not the same as the real ones.

That said, I have been almost as bad about stacking up ebooks as with the physical ones. I'll see a review somewhere, download a sample, like it, buy the ebook and then... have to set aside an entire month of weekends once in awhile to get caught up. I am becoming far more selective now and sometimes put in a request to the local library instead of getting an ebook.

Ebooks are great for ability to jack up the fonts, change the lighting etc. When I was 20 I could admire or detest a book's typography but either way I could read the thing for hours on end. At my age that's not the case. But since one is supposed to get up and move around at least hourly, I supppose having to put a book down after 20 minutes of eyestrain isn't all bad.

With ebooks management, I find it annoying to have different formats for copy-protection. I don't attempt to break the protections, I'm not about that. It's about having an index of which ebooks I got from which seller. I will curse like a sailor sometimes when I have to open three apps to find someone's recipe for a dish I want to make again. I have a homebrewed solution to that now on my laptop but it's not automated. I should look into the matter and find out if there's a cross-platform indexer. I love that "there's an app for that" is so often the case nowadays!

Physical books get a lot of trading around in my family. I love it when a family member says "you don't have to return this" because then I'm free to send it out into the larger world. We are all readers but not pack-rats any more, so sometimes the instruction is more stern: "I never want to see this again!"

 

[Scepticalscribe]

An extraordinarily interesting book which I started reading in bed last night (and a carried on reading in the same cosy spot - for a few further hours this morning).

The book is called 'The Tears Of The Rajas - Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India 1805-1905' and is a gorgeous, fat, heavy, hard-back with beautiful production values, one besides, which has been written in a lovely engaging, exceptionally readable prose by Ferdinand Mount.

 

[ucfgrad93]

The Long Walk. Bought it on Kindle this morning at work and got through about 170 pages of it by 2 PM. It was being discussed at length in a blog post I came across last week and put it on my "to buy" list. I'm not a fan of King's writing, but this is one of his more interesting novels.

Great book! One of my favorites by King.

 

[pachyderm]

LOVE IT!!

 

[pachyderm]

I'm hooked. O no.

 

[nightcap965]

The Finest Hours. Not the best written book I've read, but damned gripping nonetheless. And it took place near where I live.

 

[pachyderm]

a movie now?

 

[nightcap965]

a movie now?

I believe it opens at the end of the week. The best place to see it will be the Chatham Orpheum on Cape Cod, and the best time would be this weekend, since we're expecting a nasty nor'easter. Talk about special effects!

 

[fitshaced]

Just finished The Martian and glad it's over. It was really badly written. It seemed like Andy Weir put a lot of work into the scientific research and then wrote the book the following weekend. I can see the massive potential in it and I expect it made a better movie than book.

 

[kazmac]

Film Studies: The Shaw Screen: A Preliminary Study. Glad to have, yet not 100% me thing. That said, 1000% awesome t Sun Chung and Tong Gai are on the same page in the Profiles section. Favorite director and choreographer YAY! What I want is a lavishly illustrated, comprehensive study of various Shaw directors and actors / actresses.

School: Slowly digesting U.S. History 1.

Self-help: Gay Hendricks' The Big Leap (another variation on "The Secret" - The Big Leap is helping me get over little stuff.)

Fun: I'm back to rereading Gu Long's The Eleventh Son because I love the title character and am so enjoying Gu Long's screenplays at Shaw Brothers.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

It seemed like Andy Weir put a lot of work into the scientific research and then wrote the book the following weekend.

Sounds a lot like a Michael Crichton novel.

 

[fitshaced]

Sounds a lot like a Michael Crichton novel.

Never read any of his stuff but if he is also a bad writer, he would be good company for Andy Weir.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I have once or twice thought when finishing a book that I'd like to see the character again in another work. So far I've not thought very hard about what I'd do when that opportunity arrived and I ended up thinking something like "What?! No way!". Anyway I can absorb the revelations of the new-to-me GSAW without having a heart attack. My hesitation is more about setting time aside to read it. Someday I'm going to set a book in one of the stacks along the top of the back of my couch and the whole lot will come down and write FINIS to my own story!

===

Meanwhile I'm picking up where I'd left off quite awhile back with @Scepticalscribe's recommendation to read Neal Ascherson's Black Sea. Hopelessly behind with my library books and putting Black Sea in front of them now won't seem brilliant when time to return those rolls around. But I had only just got to chapter two with its striking epigram from Cavafy's Waiting for the Barbarians, and those opening lines sprang to mind again while I was reading some recent PRSI forum threads:

​

So I must get on with Ascherson's account of how the collision of the Scythians and the Greeks at the edge of the Black Sea came to warrant his pick of those lines from Cavafy. But it's true the idea of barbarians coming in handy has occurred in many cultures over time. Some citations from Black Sea might prove useful in PRSI now and then

Oh, yes, a profound and heartfelt amen to that.

I am convinced that my books breed when I am not looking - but yes, my sofa is home to ominously wobbling stacks too…..

 

[LizKat]

I am convinced that my books breed when I am not looking - but yes, my sofa is home to ominously wobbling stacks too…..

I just pulled a few tomes off the stacks here to prevent their falling. Two I put away where they belong for a change, a couple are sci fi offerings I may return to a relative without reading, not sure yet so they're on the kitchen table, a sign of impending doom since the next stop is the car. Another is a collection of short stories by Jeffrey Archer, And Thereby Hangs a Tale, but I'm perhaps a bit put off by his rather scandalous history and so keep thinking "perhaps another time." He is still a life peer, apparently but otherwise his career in politics seems past done. I guess it takes special legislation to remove peer status. What do people on your side of the pond think of his course through life? And do you know his writings? Meanwhile his book of stories sits atop a bookcase, assigned to a limbo that's at least out of my way.

The Black Sea retains its place on my library table at the moment. Still in chapter two! I lack background enough in the Persian War era under discussion so it's catch-up time, which is also fun. I love Ascherson's digressions into linguistics, e.g., etymology of "barbarian".

 

[pachyderm]

Just finished The Martian and glad it's over. It was really badly written. It seemed like Andy Weir put a lot of work into the scientific research and then wrote the book the following weekend. I can see the massive potential in it and I expect it made a better movie than book.

Completely disagreed. Most folks I've encountered seemed to have really the book and the movie. I really loved both.

 

[AVBeatMan]

I just pulled a few tomes off the stacks here to prevent their falling. Two I put away where they belong for a change, a couple are sci fi offerings I may return to a relative without reading, not sure yet so they're on the kitchen table, a sign of impending doom since the next stop is the car. Another is a collection of short stories by Jeffrey Archer, And Thereby Hangs a Tale, but I'm perhaps a bit put off by his rather scandalous history and so keep thinking "perhaps another time." He is still a life peer, apparently but otherwise his career in politics seems past done. I guess it takes special legislation to remove peer status. What do people on your side of the pond think of his course through life? And do you know his writings? Meanwhile his book of stories sits atop a bookcase, assigned to a limbo that's at least out of my way.

The Black Sea retains its place on my library table at the moment. Still in chapter two! I lack background enough in the Persian War era under discussion so it's catch-up time, which is also fun. I love Ascherson's digressions into linguistics, e.g., etymology of "barbarian".

I wouldn't take any consideration into his "scandalous history". As far as I'm concerned he's an excellent writer. I absolutely loved his earlier books, "As the Crow Flies", "Cain and Abel", and my personal favourite "Not a Penny More, not a Penny Less". Not read him for a while mind but personal details shouldn't really matter, other authors books maybe, "Mein Kampf" perhaps?

 

[fitshaced]

Completely disagreed. Most folks I've encountered seemed to have really the book and the movie. I really loved both.

Yep, most people seemed to have loved the book. I couldn't really see past the poor humour, lack of emotional response to being stranded on a planet and no character depth whatsoever. Fantastic concept, very poorly executed. I see you've read some Lee Child. We're not going to agree on much I don't think. Killing Floor was the worst book I ever read.

 

[LizKat]

I wouldn't take any consideration into his "scandalous history". As far as I'm concerned he's an excellent writer. I absolutely loved his earlier books, "As the Crow Flies", "Cain and Abel", and my personal favourite "Not a Penny More, not a Penny Less". Not read him for a while mind but personal details shouldn't really matter, other authors books maybe, "Mein Kampf" perhaps?

OK since we 'muricans are supposed to be big on second and third chances for people anyway, I'll give a few of Archer's stories a try on Sunday, thanks, and thank you for mentioning others you liked as well. Can round those up from the library later on.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I just pulled a few tomes off the stacks here to prevent their falling. Two I put away where they belong for a change, a couple are sci fi offerings I may return to a relative without reading, not sure yet so they're on the kitchen table, a sign of impending doom since the next stop is the car. Another is a collection of short stories by Jeffrey Archer, And Thereby Hangs a Tale, but I'm perhaps a bit put off by his rather scandalous history and so keep thinking "perhaps another time." He is still a life peer, apparently but otherwise his career in politics seems past done. I guess it takes special legislation to remove peer status. What do people on your side of the pond think of his course through life? And do you know his writings? Meanwhile his book of stories sits atop a bookcase, assigned to a limbo that's at least out of my way.

The Black Sea retains its place on my library table at the moment. Still in chapter two! I lack background enough in the Persian War era under discussion so it's catch-up time, which is also fun. I love Ascherson's digressions into linguistics, e.g., etymology of "barbarian".

Glad you're still enjoying Black Sea - this is a book I have given as a present to friends, - I rate it that highly - and is one that - it is clear to me - that Neal Ascherson thoroughly enjoyed putting together.

In fact, I recently gave a colleague my battered copy from the 1990s to read; if I don't get it back, I may yet have to order another copy.

I wouldn't take any consideration into his "scandalous history". As far as I'm concerned he's an excellent writer. I absolutely loved his earlier books, "As the Crow Flies", "Cain and Abel", and my personal favourite "Not a Penny More, not a Penny Less". Not read him for a while mind but personal details shouldn't really matter, other authors books maybe, "Mein Kampf" perhaps?

Oh, dear. Jeffrey Archer.

Okay, I suppose that I don't really like the guy, and am not bowled over by what @LizKat correctly terms his 'scandalous history' - the perjury - and he was convicted of perjury - and elaborately constructed 'life' stories irk me a lot more than the affairs.

However, the uncomfortable truth is that his real life is every bit as improbable as both his fiction, and the elaborate fantasy scaffolding he has constructed around his real life, which amplified and masked it in almost equal measure. Actually, I suspect that at times, he may have come to believe some of his own fantasies.

Now, we know, that this is a man who has consistently lied about an awful lot of his life - fantasy and fact and fiction irreducibly intertwined. In fiction, should that matter? In his salad days, he was an impressively determined and ferociously energetic self-publicist, and was extraordinarily good at hounding shops to stock - and sell - and promote - his work.

As for his work, well, here I have to disagree with @Medz1 - I don't think it is 'excellent'. However, while it varies in quality and can be a bit uneven, at its best, it is very readable, - and some of it - especially when he is writing about something which he knows about and has personal experience of (House of Commons, prison, bankruptcy) - is surprisingly interesting and enjoyable.

 

[JamesMike]

That sounds as though it is an interesting and unusual work.

Please let us know either it is worth looking at.

A very good read into the Southwest of America. He has a book on Mormons that has sparked an interest in me also.

 

[LizKat]

Oh, dear. Jeffrey Archer.

Gotta love that for an opening!

As for his work, well, I disagree with @Medz1 - I don't think it is 'excellent'. However, it is readable, and some of it - especially when he is writing about something which he knows about and has personal experience of (House of Commons, prison, bankruptcy) - is surprisingly interesting and enjoyable

Well they do say "write what you know." Interesting remarks on the breadth and depth of his adventures, thank you. Now I'm looking forward to having a go at a few of his later books. But some of the stories I have on hand, first. They're in a 2010 collection. He marks the ones "based on true incidents" with an asterisk in the titles of the table of contents, the rest he says are based on his imagination. Given his ways, almost seems like I could roll the dice and get fiction. /snark

 

[LizKat]

Started reading 'In Search of the Old Ones' by David Roberts. It is about the Anasazi, ancestors of the Pueblo people, inhabited the Southwest of the USA for a least 5,000 years.

I meant to say thanks for mentioning this, scarfed up a copy for a family member who has worked as a medical caregiver to a Pueblo people, the Hopi in Arizona. A perfect birhday present!

 

[The Clark]

Catcher in The Rye, for the hundredth time. It's a great book, if you want to know the truth

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Reverting to - Jeffrey Archer, - and he would love the idea that he and his works are under discussion here, as he was (and is) such a bombastic, driven, charismatic character, one for whom fact, fiction and fantasy fused in life and in his writing - his book A Prison Diary is worth looking at, as is the book of short stories 'Cat O'Nine Tails' which is based - loosely - on some stories told to him during his time behind bars.

Personally, while I think the premise of Kane and Abel extremely good, I'm not sure that he succeeded in bringing it off (but the public clearly felt differently as the book sold in vast numbers and was translated to the small screen). However, for an interesting fictional account of politics and power, First Among Equals is worth looking at, and I enjoyed it, though I think it may have dated quite a bit since I read it (which was when it was first published in the 1980s.)