What are you reading?

[Crumb]

[SharonDee]

I don't know how I got conned into reading this: Kushiel's Dart ... never mind who wrote it. But this ain't a loan, I paid good money for it--gods know why--so I'm going to get through it.

Okay, it's not that bad. But the sex slavery and stuff is just silly. Bleh.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Crumb

Wanna know how it ends?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by SharonDee

I don't know how I got conned into reading this: Kushiel's Dart ... never mind who wrote it. But this ain't a loan, I paid good money for it--gods know why--so I'm going to get through it.

Okay, it's not that bad. But the sex slavery and stuff is just silly. Bleh.

A friend talked me into reading that once. Meh. It wasn't a bad fantasy story overall, but when the central premise of a book is that the protagonist has a special blessing from a god that makes her really good at S&M...

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

On a related note, I finally got around to reading The Princess Bride a couple of days ago. It's a great read, and in some ways, better than the movie, though I found the author's frequent asides and explanations of how "his version" supposedly differs from "Morgenstern's version" unnecessary and distracting -- and after awhile, a bit annoying, even. I also thought the ending was less satisfying than was the ending of the movie.

Still, a great read.

I love that book. I love the movie too, but it's really a whole different animal. Goldman's playing with notions of authorship, memory, alteration, translation, abridgment of abridgments, is one of things I enjoy about the story.

I'm a sucker for book-within-a-book stuff, hence my abject adoration of The Neverending Story and If On A Winter's Night a Traveler.

[The Lone Ranger]

Hmm. I've never read The Neverending Story (or seen the movie for that matter, either). I may have to check that out.


As much as I enjoyed The Princess Bride, I think I'd have found it even more enjoyable if he'd dropped the "book within a book" notion, or at least been less heavy-handed about it. Other authors (e.g. Tolkien) have done that well, but Goldman was far too heavy-handed about it, in my opinion.

In fairness, that's really only an issue at the beginning and the end. The middle portion (where he's actually telling the story, with only an occasional interruption to explain how "his version" differs from the "original version") is just fine.


In retrospect, it probably would have been just fine if I had stuck with the story and ignored the setup. That is, I probably should have skipped the Introduction, where he goes on and on and on about his supposedly-loveless marriage, his fictitious son, the supposed legal problems with the Morgenstern estate, and so on. I found all that tedious in the extreme, and only forced myself to read all of it because I thought there might eventually be something redeeming in all of it. There wasn't, so far as I could tell.

Once he finally got started with the actual story, it was all gravy, until the end of the story.


Then came the follow-up. More about his supposed troubles with the Morgenstern estate, how Stephen King was supposedly contracted to write the sequel, and so forth. Sorry to say, that didn't do anything at all for me, and served mainly as unwelcome distraction from what was otherwise an excellent and well-told story.

Cheers,

Michael

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

Hmm. I've never read The Neverending Story (or seen the movie for that matter, either). I may have to check that out.

The movie is a silly thing. I loved it when I was a kid, mind you, but it has aged badly and even when it was new it wasn't a tiny patch on the novel. The book is something special, unique, beautiful. I can't recommend it enough.

As much as I enjoyed The Princess Bride, I think I'd have found it even more enjoyable if he'd dropped the "book within a book" notion, or at least been less heavy-handed about it. Other authors (e.g. Tolkien) have done that well, but Goldman was far too heavy-handed about it, in my opinion.

I think that's because the theme of authors interacting with the text is central to the book. It's not just a trope to introduce the story; it is the story itself. Tolkien wasn't so much interested in questions of authority, I don't think, as he was presenting a story in an appealing way.

In retrospect, it probably would have been just fine if I had stuck with the story and ignored the setup. That is, I probably should have skipped the Introduction, where he goes on and on and on about his supposedly-loveless marriage, his fictitious son, the supposed legal problems with the Morgenstern estate, and so on. I found all that tedious in the extreme, and only forced myself to read all of it because I thought there might eventually be something redeeming in all of it. There wasn't, so far as I could tell.

I find it an interesting area to explore myself, so I lapped it all up and asked for seconds. Questions about how stories exist independent of their authors, how authors translate/alter/confuse as much as they create, how "what really happened" can be as fictional as a fairy tale, are fascinating to me.

[ChuckF]

K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist. I snagged an advance reading copy of this and I'm just now getting to it. It is ok for a light read but a little fast and loose with some facts. I understand it is now out in hardback, maybe they have fixed some of the problems.

[livius drusus]

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School. My mom sent it to me a few weeks ago and I'm just cracking it now.

[Sock Puppet]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

The movie is a silly thing. I loved it when I was a kid, mind you, but it has aged badly and even when it was new it wasn't a tiny patch on the novel. The book is something special, unique, beautiful. I can't recommend it enough.

The movie is indeed a silly thing, but I still like it. Mainly for the old-school animatronic/costume style, wherein every creature is unique. If they hadn't screwed up the framing device (adding the crap about the school bullies, etc.) it'd have aged much better. Still definitely a kiddie flick, however, whereas the book has plenty of appeal for adults. It also would have helped if the sequel (the first film is the first THIRD of the book) didn't suck fetid donkey balls, starting with an even lamer fuxx0ring with the framing device and then getting worse from there.

The book is a masterpiece, though, so if you have any interest in the film whatsoever, see it first or you'll have a much lower opinion of the film. (And don't bother with the sequel[s] -- read the book to find out what happens next.) It's not just the meta-book conceit that makes it great (although it's the best treatment of it I've ever read); it's also chock-full of mythic grandeur that could make a Jungian's head explode. Imagine the stately seriousness of Tolkien without the stilted rigidity.

[livius drusus]

I've managed to avoid the sequels, thankfully. There is a third one, you know. I think it went straight to DVD. The only reason I know it exists is because Jack Black was in it before he was Jack Black.

[Sock Puppet]

[Nullifidian]

This illness has given me a lot of time to read, plus I had a deadline hanging over my head for finishing Here's to You, Jesusa!, The Old Gringo, and Steinbeck and Ricketts' Sea of Cortez. Now I've read the lot, so I'm starting on Don DeLillo's Libra, his fictional take on the JFK assassination.

This is the first DeLillo novel I've ever read.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Picked up Angela's Ashes from the library today. I've been wanting it for a couple months, and then McCourt died and I finally decided to put a hold on it.

[Lauri D]

"The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work" - Alain De Botton

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Adam

This one came to me highly recommended. I think I like it so far, but I'm one chapter in and it reminds me of the setup for a Final Fantasy game more than anything else. I guess it's about...er...truckers on a mission to repair the Jorgmund Pipe, which circles the world and carries the magical chemical that reasserts reality in the aftermath of the Go Away War, which was fought with weapons that erased portions of the world from existence.

So, yah, I finished this one this morning, and I insist that everyone go out and read it now. I don't really know how to describe it. On the one hand, it's an interesting reflection on identity, memory, friendship, the senselessness of war, and the danger of collective action. On the other hand, it's a crazy action story about truckers, commandos, ninjas, kung fu, pirates, and mimes.

[mulebear]

I've never enjoyed fantasy novels and it's been years since I've read any science fiction, but I recently acquired a free copy of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters and I will have to admit that it is very intriguing. I'm only a few pages into this mammoth tome, so I'll have to wait and see if it can keep up the break-neck storytelling throughout.

[nvexio]

I just finished The Stand for the first time, and it got me very interested in some of Stephen King's other works, namely The Dark Tower series.




Of the series, I've so far read the first two, and I'm now about halfway through the third, The Waste Lands.

[Garnet]

I'm making my way through Terry Prachett's Discworld series. I'm currently reading Soul Music.

[Doctor X]

I have only read Small Gods, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

--J. "The Turtle Moves" D.

[Sock Puppet]

I made a mad rush through the library on Saturday and this was the only book of interest I was able to grab. It's ridiculously short; I almost finished it on the van ride in to work this morning. It's ... cute. That's about it. Not a bad way to spend 45 minutes, I suppose.

[Sock Puppet]

Edit window is closed on the above post. I've changed my mind about this book: it's not really worth the 45 minutes. Seriously, a piece of fluff so disappointing it's actually irritating. I'd say it's only for hardcore Vonnegut fans, but I think they would be more annoyed with it, not less.

[LadyShea]

I am reading the complete Sherlock Holmes series-I'm embarrassed to say- for the first time.

[LadyShea]

nvexio...I hope you enjoy the Dark Tower series. You may also enjoy some of King's short stories collections. He seems better at endings in them.

[Qingdai]

Nothing embarrassing about reading something for the first time.

I'm reading "The Zombie Survival Guide" which I think is better read after "World War Z" or more interesting to read in that order.