12 posts tagged “book”
I discovered this in a pile of books that were donated to the office by a patient.
1) What author do you own the most books by?
It wouldn't be a secret if I told.
Maybe Forrest Gump, totally different from the movie. Well not "totally", but pretty different, more fun for sure. Doesn't take itself so seriously. Or Fight Club. Or maybe White Noise.
My Side of the Mountain. I probably read that book two times a year for three or four years. I should pickup a copy and re-read it.
I just finished a terribly boring book, Founding Brothers. After I finished it I found out it won a Pulitzer. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
To Kill a Mockingbird. Changed my life.
I dunno. Actually, now that I think of it, Invisible Man.
Hmmm....Actually finished? I don't know. I listen to audioboooks, the difficultly level isn't as high as reading a book. I'm starting an unabridged, 63 hour reading of Atlas Shrugged pretty soon. I imagine that will be pretty difficult.
I've only seen the basics, nothing obscure.
Not sure. I haven't read any Russians so I can't compare.
Roth? Philip Roth? I haven't read it yet but I've got a copy of American Pastoral waiting for me. I haven't read any Updike. Can't say.
Haven't read either. Can't compare.
I dunno. I read all three in high school and enjoyed them. No preference at this point in time.
What kind of measuring stick are we using? I feel like my reading gap is big enough to drive a Kris Kristofferson's Convoy through but to other people I might be extremely well read.
Of all time? I can only pick one? I'm gonna have to go with To Kill A Mocking Bird.
Hmmm...straight play? No singing? I don't have one. It's on my list of things to do. See more plays. If we want to talk musicals just pick anything by Sondheim I'll be there.
Uhhhh....yeah. Do people have favorite poems? On Friday and portions of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" started coming back to me so lets go with that. Or the only other poem I remember from highschool "Sonnet #18". "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?"
"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace
Gun to my head, I pick "Lyndon".
For right now, Descartes Bones. Really set me on a path thinking about life, philosophy and science.
Like I said before, I'm in love with Jhumpa Lahiri right now so let's say it's her. (Jhumpa, are you out there? Will you marry me?) On the all time list would be: Jhumpa, David Foster Wallace, Hunter S. Thompson & Cormac McCarthy.
I'm not into Gladwell. I don't think his ideas are all that original.
I like the answer that Steve Betz & Joie gave: "Can't I just bring a Kindle?"
Unaccustomed Earth by my future wife, Ms. Lahiri.
What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?
We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet.
Simple.
"So what is this creepily entrancing novel actually about? You asked for it. O.N.A.N. (the Organization of North American Nations) has made northern New England into a Lucite-walled dump, where toxic waste fuels mutagenic fusion reactions. This worthless, hazardous territory has been given to Canada, and wheelchair-bound Quebecois terrorists plan to retaliate with widespread dissemination of the lethal amusement "Infinite Jest." Seeking the master copy, the Wheelchair Assassins close in on the film's veiled, disfigured star and on the filmmaker's son--none other than the teen tennis whiz Hal Incandenza."
I have promised myself, and do so here in front of the few of you who are actually reading this, that as soon as I move from the in-laws house I will start reading this book. And I mean read it, not listen to it.
I've read that in order to do so I will need three bookmarks.
One to keep place in the book, one to keep place in the nearly 400 end/footnotes and one to keep place at the time line (years don't have numbers but sponsors: Year of the Whopper, Year of the Trial-Sized Dove Bar, etc.)
There is a lengthy and very good article about DFW in a recent issue of The New Yorker in which they discuss Infinite Jest, the rest of his works and the incomplete novel he was working on at the time he committed suicide which will be published next year. The book is about the IRS and boredom. Here's a quote from the book from The New Yorker.
“Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain, because something that’s dull or opaque fails to provide enough stimulation to distract people from some other, deeper type of pain that is always there, if only in an ambient low-level way, and which most of us spend nearly all our time and energy trying to distract ourselves from.”
"What it is to be a fucking human being."
I was about to start a book today, a book that I have never finished but always wanted to.
I don't particularly care for what I read of the book but I feel that it is important that I actually read it so I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I don't care for the masturbatory writings and ramblings of Jack Kerouac; or maybe my opinion will be changed. That's why I want to listen to it.
I've had a copy on my hard drive for years and last week finally decided to load it on my iPod and give it a listen.
I don't remember the book being very long so it seemed reasonable that four audio files could cover the book.
But when I started it I noticed right away that the files were short, too short. I know the book was short but 160 minutes? Less than three hours? Animal Farm was that short but that book was under 100 pages and I know that On The Road was at least twice as long as Animal Farm.
I looked up the audiobook online and found that in actuality it is contained on 10 CDs, totaling more than 12 1/2 hours.
How can this be allowed? How can you cut 75% of a book, a novel no less, and still call it the same book?
I can understand an argument for abridging non-fiction. With non-fiction you can leave out portions of the book that don't concern the thesis; but in a novel, where every portion adds to the depth of the character or situation?
And this book in particular where the rhythm and the manner in which Kerouac writes is so elemental, how could any one think to cut that?
Why?
/rant
I should have added this book to my list of incomplete ones the other day but it clearly slipped my mind.
Today I sat down with my iPod and discovered that I had loaded this tome at some point in the past and forgotten about it. Seeing as it was shorter than either of the next two books I was planning on listening to ("The Invisible Man" & "To Kill A Mocking Bird") I decided to give it a listen.
I had read the opening chapter many times in the past; sometimes just because I had the words stuck in my head.
Below I've quoted the first two paragraphs.
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"
Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process. "What the hell are you yelling about?" he muttered, staring up at the sun with his eyes closed and covered with wraparound Spanish sunglasses. "Never mind," I said. "It's your turn to drive." I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark toward the shoulder of the highway. No point mentioning those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough.
Every time I read them or hear them in the movie version it makes me smile. Simple. To the point. Lets you know that this isn't going to be a normal trip. No sir, this is bat country.
Something about the depraved manner in which Raoul Duke (Thompson)
and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, behave speaks to me. I don't know how to
quantify it so I'm just going to leave it at that.
There is a scene where he describes taking acid in San Francisco and spilling some on his shirt sleeve. He goes into the bathroom and a musician follows him in...
“What’s the trouble?” he said.
"Well," I said. "All this white
stuff on my sleeve is LSD."
He said nothing: Merely grabbed my arm and began sucking on it. A very gross tableau. I wondered what would happen if some Kingston Trio/young stockbroker type might wander in and catch us in the act. Fuck him, I thought. With a bit of luck, it'll ruin his life--forever thinking that just behind some narrow door in all his favorite bars, men in red Pendleton shirts are getting incredible kicks from things he'll never know. Would he dare to suck a sleeve? Probably not. Play it safe. Pretend you never saw it...
Twisted; but I laughed heartily. I love the idea of these hidden depravities ruining a mans life. Nagging at him.
I also noted Thompson's minor obsession with Horatio Alger throughout this book. I suppose it only makes sense as the subtitle to the book is "A Savage Journey Into The Heart Of The American Dream" and that was what Alger was all about. I note this because I too have been thinking about Alger quite a bit recently. I have to wonder to myself, are my own thoughts on Alger a result of putting this book on my iPod and knowing that (through the movie) there is at least one reference to him in this book or is it just a crazy coincidence. I dunno.
I could wax poetic about this all night long but I'm tired. So I'll leave you with the last lines, which is one of the many HST quotes that are forever tattooed onto my brain.
"I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger: A man on the move, and just sick enough to be totally confident."
Show us a book you started reading, but never finished.
Just one? I've got a good dozens of them, these are the ones that come to mind right now; all of them are on my reading list, one of them is already on my iPod for listening in the next month or so.
I really should find out what happens in between those two sentences one of these days.
This week I listened to a book that enthralled me.
It wrapped me around its little finger and kept me short of breath.
I had trouble doing other things, like my job, while I was listening to it.
According to Wikipedia the British Prime Minster stayed up until 2AM reading it when it came out.
The last time this happened was the first time I listened to the Harry Potter series.
Action, adventure, pirates, treasure maps, peg legs, pieces of eight, talking parrots. It was enough to shiver me timbers.
What I liked most about it was the style in which it was written. Stevenson used his pen like Rembrandt used his brush, careful, brilliant strokes that conveyed the realness of the situation without all the fancy language that modern writers love to show off. It's also a very fast paced novel; things happen and they happen pretty fast.
Mysterious old man shows up at the inn.
Pirates show up.
Treasure maps is found.
Treasure hunt begins.
Various adventures happen.
This is the book that gave us Long John Silver and the sea shanty "15 men on a dead man's chest. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum."
Arguably what we consider "pirate culture" today was created by Stevenson in this book. Peg legs, talking parrots, black spots, treasure maps, buried treasure. (For the record, pirates don't bury treasure! How are they going to buy rum and wenches when all of their plunder is buried in the sand on some remote island?).
I went into this book with no idea of what to expect. I knew it was a classic and when I came across it I decided to give it a go as part of my "actually 'read' the classics" deal I have going. I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. This is the kind of book that, when I have seeds of my own, I can read to them and pass on a timeless classic.
It took almost too me as long to come up with the stupid title for this post than it did for me to write the whole post....
In writing this I learned that I don't know how to write about books. I can write about movies with little to no problem...but books...eh.
Anyway...
Before this week I've only viewed the world of James Bond through the
cinema. I've seen all the movies, and I'm going to be honest here,
don't really care for any of them.* They are a fun confection but once
they are gone they are gone. I don't remember most of the villains or
the girls or the ridiculous plots or gadgets or any of that junk.
It goes right out the window.
This week I listened to the most recent in a long line of novels about James Bond, Devil May Care.
It
seems that while there have been a couple dozen other Bond books since
his death, this is the first new Bond novel to carry the Ian Flemming
name and was announed on what would have been Flemmings 100th birthday.
When Devil May Care came out in May I heard a brief review and interview with the author on NPR and it caught my interest so I added it to my reading list.
I had no idea what to expect and was delighted with what I got.
The book begins with an older, beaten down Bond. He is on a forced
sabbatical after (I'm guessing) having been married in the last book
and having his wife killed and somehow being brainwashed by an
enemy(?). It was unclear, to me at least. Either way, he was in no good
place. There is a passage that describes him looking in a mirror,
detailing all the scars from all the battles past. That passage let me
know that this was a Bond based at least in some form of reality, an
alternate one certainly but maybe one just down the street and to the
left. Unlike the movies which to me feel like they take place in a
galaxy far, far away where nobody ever really gets hurt and Bond's hair
is never mussed and his shirt is always pressed.
Going in I was surprised to learn a couple of things.
Literarily, Bond is is still in the 1960's. I like that quite a bit.
One
of the things that makes me dislike the movies so much is that they,
until recently were still using ridiclous Cold-War style plots and
villains in the modern day. (Wasn't the plot in one of the recent
movies that the villian was going to shoot a big laser from space and
hold the world hostage? I'm sorry, but that just doesn't work for me.
If it were 1966 and we were all still afraid of the Russians and the
arms race and all that, maybe, but not in the 1990's.)
Bond does not like gadgets. At least in this incarnation. They get in the way. His gun, his hands and his commando knife will do him fine, thank you.
Villains of old, from the movies, exist in the books. There is talk of Bofeld and Gold Finger. I don't know why but I it made me giggle when every they were brought up.
The villain in this book was totally ridiculous; he plans to destroy England because when he studying was at Oxford a student made fun of his deformity, which is having a money's paw instead of a left hand. That being said, he's totally fun! I love the idea of a supervillian when done right. There was even an evil sidekick, complete with funny hat; just like Odd Job!
Of course there's a girl, two actually, the somewhat tellingly named Scarlett Papava and her twin sister Poppy.
We get to visit all kinds of international locales circa the late 1960's; Paris, London, Rome, Tehran, St. Petersburg...
Overall it was a fun book. If I had to compare it to the movies I would rank it up there with the early Sean Connery ones and far, far away from Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.
*There is
always an exception and I have to say that for me the remake of Casino
Royale is it. I think it's because I like Daniel Craig as an actor; and
he looks a bit like my father which might have some sort of subliminal
influence on me.
I finished book seven of Harry potter at shortly before 3PM PST on Friday August 17th.
I listened to the audio books and let me tell you they are AWESOME!
No. Awesome isn't a strong enough word to describe them. I don't think words have been invited to describe the magnitudes of awesomeness contained within those CDs.
I laughed, cried, shouted, worried and sat on the edge of my seat for a total of 29 days while I drove to and fro and sat at my desk listening while I worked.
Jim Dale. Damn, man. I love that guy. JK wrote the characters but Jim brought them to life. Sure they're alive and live on the page but that is nothing compared to the treatment that Jim Dale give them. He's given every character, even ones with smaller roles, so much life, so much realness you feel the triumphs and defeats of each of them as if you are there, experiencing it right along side of them.
I often found myself driving along the freeway spontaneously shouting spells, charms and counter curses right along with our heroes. Or shouting "It's Snape! Damnit, why don't they know it's Snape!" To my empty car. I can't tell you the number of times my eyes welled up with tears of excitement and joy while listening to these books. I cried real tears of joy and sadness several times.
Never have I been this enthralled by a story. Lord of The Rings? Pssssh. Good but not Harry Potter. Chronicles of Narnia? Well I haven't read any of them but I can't imagine they are anywhere near as good Potter. I can't remember feeling this connected to a book or group of characters ever.
In short, if you have the means to buy them or the wherewith all to obtain them otherwise I cannot recommend the Harry Potter audio books enough. If you love the books, you are going to adore the audio books.
No spoilers. Not if you've seen the movies at least.
I'm in the last chapters of The Prisoner of Azkaban; I commented on Janie's blog that I'm absolutely rapt by it. I know what happens in the end and despite of it I'm often breathless. Of the three it's my favorite so far.
This morning I'm listening to scene in the Shrieking Shack; the kids, Lupin, Black, Snape when something was revealed that I don't quite remember from the movie. (I'd only seen the movies until l started the books last week.)
What do I do? I go to Wikipedia and look up some information on the character in question and....you know what....I'll turn on that spoiler protector that Team Vox told us about...
Invis-O-Text on!
I saw a family tree and know who lives and dies and has what babies etc...
*Sigh*
At least I don't know most of the details, the plot etc...
