Books Thread

[Penny Lane]

[beantownbubba]

What did u think of Gone Girl, Penny? My reactions are up the thread somewhere.

Thanks re Divide.

[StormandStatic]

Oh good god, can this man be stopped?
http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2014/08/f ... rogen.html

[Penny Lane]

What did u think of Gone Girl, Penny? My reactions are up the thread somewhere.

Thanks re Divide.

I scrolled back at least 10 pages and couldn't find it! Can you point me to it?

I LOVED the first half of the book, I was sure I knew what happened (because I've watched all the wife/husband killings on Dateline Murder Mysteries) and then WOW, didn't see the second half coming..I liked the back and forth perspectives because just when it was about to get a little old, it would pick up somewhere else. I couldn't stand both of the characters, so in a way, the ending was fitting (although I closed the book and was like....W..T..F). I thought it was really good and am curious as to how they're going to make this movie. (The only thing I didn't like was how they turned good/evil in the second half--the first half of the book was an intriguing psychological profile, the second half was more like a Michael Bay movie or something..) Being a midwesterner transplanted to NYC then tranplanted back---i understood both of them pretty well, too. Possibly some incestualy twin love going on there on his part?

Would you recommend her other books?

[beantownbubba]

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - this was kinda the "it book" in 2012 and I see what the fuss was about. I admire the book in many ways and believe it's a true tour de force of writing skill, but i hated reading this fucking book. Virtually every page was torture to get through but the book is so well written and I'd heard so much about it that i had to keep going. Very rarely do you come across a book in which not one single character is remotely likeable and the main characters in particular are irredeemable on any level. I mean I've read books where I've liked serial killers more than i like the main characters in this one. I can't say don't read it, it's got too many things going for it. But don't say i didn't warn ya.

Here ya go, penny.

I haven't yet read her other stuff. The times I've remembered to look for them they've all been out at the library. I need to remember to reserve them.

[Penny Lane]

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - this was kinda the "it book" in 2012 and I see what the fuss was about. I admire the book in many ways and believe it's a true tour de force of writing skill, but i hated reading this fucking book. Virtually every page was torture to get through but the book is so well written and I'd heard so much about it that i had to keep going. Very rarely do you come across a book in which not one single character is remotely likeable and the main characters in particular are irredeemable on any level. I mean I've read books where I've liked serial killers more than i like the main characters in this one. I can't say don't read it, it's got too many things going for it. But don't say i didn't warn ya.

Here ya go, penny.

I haven't yet read her other stuff. The times I've remembered to look for them they've all been out at the library. I need to remember to reserve them.

Yep, agreed with your review. They are both terrible people...yet I had to keep reading.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/08/14/ben-affleck-gone-girl-tabloid-scrutiny-improved-performance/

[StormandStatic]

Picked up a copy of this and Lonesome Dove in the airport when I was out in Colorado. I hope to start it really soon.

[Duke Silver]

Picked up a copy of this and Lonesome Dove in the airport when I was out in Colorado. I hope to start it really soon.

One of my professors gave me this as a graduation gift a few years ago. Loved it.

[beantownbubba]

Shotgun Lovesongs - Thanks to everyone who recommended this one. I enjoyed it very much and agree w/ Clams (i think) that it's especially impressive as a debut. But I have to say that I can't quite give it an unqualified 2 thumbs up. I'm not sure exactly why but I think it has something to do w/ Henry. Can't put my finger on it but there's some kind of hole there. But even so, I really liked the book.

And while it doesn't matter in the context of the book, I'm just curious and would like to know what people who know about such things think - doesn't beth seem to have an awful lot of time on her hands for a farm wife?

[beantownbubba]

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - John LeCarre: Seldom equalled, never surpassed except arguably by LeCarre himself. Always a compelling, totally satisfying read (about the 4th time for me). There is something special about a masterpiece in any genre of any art form, like being let in on a secret or something.

Replay - Marc Levy: Levy is supposed to be the most popular thriller writer in France. I'm thinking there's a Jerry Lewis kind of thing going on. Not horrible I suppose but very disappointing, completely obvious and mediocre, especially the clunky handling of the very difficult to pull off central conceit. OTOH, highlighting the horrors of the Argentine junta and the overwhelming sadness of the disappeared is never a bad thing so I'll give him points for that.

[John A Arkansawyer]

OTOH, highlighting the horrors of the Argentine junta and the overwhelming sadness of the disappeared is never a bad thing so I'll give him points for that.

I can reach out and touch my spare copy of this book from where I sit:



It's a short magical realist novel set during the era of the desaparecidos, a beautiful and moving book in which terrible, horrible things happen to utterly innocent people by the actions of the powerful. I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Not sure if there's a book purchases thread but I picked these up after hearing the respective authors speak during the Southern Folklife Collection's 25th anniversary celebration at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC over the weekend. I've been hearing about Peter Guralnick for years but have never read any of his books.

[RolanK]

Not sure if there's a book purchases thread but I picked these up after hearing the respective authors speak during the Southern Folklife Collection's 25th anniversary celebration at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC over the weekend. I've been hearing about Peter Guralnick for years but have never read any of his books.

That Elvis Book is excellent. I recommend picking up Careless Love as well and reading both books back to back. Sweet Soul Music, by the same author is also a good one.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Not sure if there's a book purchases thread but I picked these up after hearing the respective authors speak during the Southern Folklife Collection's 25th anniversary celebration at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC over the weekend. I've been hearing about Peter Guralnick for years but have never read any of his books.

That Elvis Book is excellent. I recommend picking up Careless Love as well and reading both books back to back. Sweet Soul Music, by the same author is also a good one.

Since I'm presently on a Big Star kick, I'm starting in on the Alex one first. Guralnick's next book is on Sam Phillips, which was the focus of his talk on Saturday.

[RolanK]

^^^^ I will definitely get hold of a copy of that one.

[Clams]

Finished and thoroughly enjoyed No Country For Old Men. Fuckin' Chigurh, badass assassin.


About to start:

Finally getting to this:

Looking forward to Blood Meridian not just for the reading but also to finally give me some context for Ben Nichols' Last Pale Light in the West, which even without having read the book, has been one of my absolute favorite records from the past few years.

[Flea]

About to start



which I've owned since '96 but never read. Don't even have a good explanation for that.

[beantownbubba]

which I've owned since '96 but never read. Don't even have a good explanation for that.

LOL, if i needed an explanation for every book I've bought but not yet read, I'd need a separate lifetime. It just goes that way sometimes. In HS, I think I thought that simply buying a book would by some kind of osmosis count as having read it so I "almost read" a bunch of classics that way. I have no excuse for the years since I realized that that approach didn't really work. But I do feel guilty when I seen them on the shelves. Lucky for me and my budget (but bad for Barnes & Noble) I've rediscovered the library. The funny thing is that I read pretty much everything I take out.

[StormandStatic]

Finished and thoroughly enjoyed No Country For Old Men. Fuckin' Chigurh, badass assassin.


About to start:

Finally getting to this:

Looking forward to Blood Meridian not just for the reading but also to finally give me some context for Ben Nichols' Last Pale Light in the West, which even without having read the book, has been one of my absolute favorite records from the past few years.

Warning: it's about as far from No Country in terms of style as you can get in McCarthy's catalog. Supremely dense. If you want something similar to No Country go to The Road next.

[Barely_Oakely]

Finished and thoroughly enjoyed No Country For Old Men. Fuckin' Chigurh, badass assassin.


About to start:

Finally getting to this:

Looking forward to Blood Meridian not just for the reading but also to finally give me some context for Ben Nichols' Last Pale Light in the West, which even without having read the book, has been one of my absolute favorite records from the past few years.

I read this one over the winter. Fantastic, brutal and gripping. It gave me a whole new appreciation for LPLitW. There's talk of trying to make it into a movie, but I don't know how they could cram so much story into one movie while preserving the integrity of the work. Not to mention it would be hard to portray the graphic violence of the book in a convincing manner while making a movie that could actually be released.

[acoxofrd]

Read this last week
and followed it with this:



Just finished this morning. Quite an interesting read. Short, quick and brutal. In the best of ways. Not sure which of these to start next:



Larry Brown's Joe or Harry Crews Karate is a Thing of the Spirit.

[beantownbubba]

You just never know. There I was, killing time in St Louis before heading to the airport when I stumbled across The Big Sleep, a mystery and thriller bookstore which is just phenomenal. A little slice of heaven on a quiet side street at the edge of a yuppiefied neighborhood. You couldn't draw it up any better. The proprietress was fantastic - incredibly knowledgeable, great memory, opinionated in the best way, great taste and a serious baseball fan to boot. She was far more familiar than I with movie and tv mysteries and thrillers than I but at that point it was almost too much: i was already feeling overwhelmed by the number of books I felt I just HAD to read (all of them immediately of course ) that the though of adding serious TV time on top of that was more than I could handle.

I could have spent all day there if it weren't for that damn plane. I could tell that the store was first rate immediately because I could see that they had not only all of the usual suspects but pretty much all of the more obscure titles and authors that I would consider great but are probably only known to afficionados. But what really made it special (besides talking to the proprietress) was how many new discoveries I made. As she learned a little about my taste she had all kinds of recommendations, many for authors, titles &/or series I had never even heard of much less read. I could have spent the monthly grocery budget there quite easily but limited myself to 6.

Talking to someone about something you care about and who shares your enthusiasm is great of course. But the experience reminded me that the world didn't always consist of anonymous big box stores. To watch somebody doing her job that well was an experience in itself. I can only hope she manages to keep the store going in the face of serious odds against.

Needless to say, I highly recommend stopping by the big sleep if you're ever in St Louie and have even the slightest interest in the genres. Their website, which i haven't visited yet, is bigsleepbooks.com.

[Penny Lane]

I think someone posted about this a little while ago--So good for 2 important scenes in music..Northern England circa 1965 and CA/London 1968-1969.

[Barely_Oakely]

Just started this on my way into work this morning:

[beantownbubba]

Just started this on my way into work this morning:

Stealth LJ?

[Barely_Oakely]

Stealth LJ?

Not sure if I follow....

[beantownbubba]

Stealth LJ?

Not sure if I follow....

Sorry. This is exactly the sort of inside joke that the mods should ban. In my defense, I thought you were around for that particular excitement. There was a former board member known as LJ who was a loud, proud and crazed Randian. If one tried to debate w/ him he immediately alleged that you just hadn't read the book(s) and it went downhill from there. Rand and LJ have become completely intertwined in my mind.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Are you asking me to ban you bubsie?

[phungi]

phungal and one of the little phungis were reading this, so I grabbed a copy for beach-reading over Labor Day.

Somewhat as expected, sophomoric romance between predictably shallow characters in a future dystopic society, but decent enough imagery and pace to make the story worth reading. Not a bad read to share with a 12-year-old, so I thought I would mention it, especially since there is a movie and 2 more books in the series.

[Barely_Oakely]

Stealth LJ?

Not sure if I follow....

Sorry. This is exactly the sort of inside joke that the mods should ban. In my defense, I thought you were around for that particular excitement. There was a former board member known as LJ who was a loud, proud and crazed Randian. If one tried to debate w/ him he immediately alleged that you just hadn't read the book(s) and it went downhill from there. Rand and LJ have become completely intertwined in my mind.

Haha, nobody panic, I'm not JL in disguise. I'll keep my rants and BS to a minimum. I've never read Rand before, figured I should see what all the fuss is about.