What's The Last Book You Read?

[crocodile 8,000]

In any case it is a much better s-f than Prometheus. It takes the intellectual concept of the book and expresses it through human drama. Nothing in the film negates anything from the book, it just uses different approach to it. There's nothing wrong with taking something and turning it into something else, like this film does. That's much more worthwhile than literal adaptations.

Karol

[Brónach 1,302]

In any case it is a much better s-f than Prometheus.

Well that's not hard.

That's much more worthwhile than literal adaptations.

It's not that I'm asking for a literal adaptation. I had lots of notes and an outline of my own script version of it, and what I did with it was actually quite free (and, I imagine, too expensive to be made, lol)

[crocodile 8,000]

And a domestic drama in outer space. How rare is that?

And no, SW doesn't count.

Karol

[Brónach 1,302]

It's funny how something can change while still looking superficially like the same thing. To me, the book never felt like a domestic drama. However, someone else can see a domestic drama in it and represent that.

[crocodile 8,000]

Yes, and that person would be right as well. That's a beauty of good fiction.

Karol

[Brónach 1,302]

Yeah... but... the alien ocean and the philosophical/scientific part...

[crocodile 8,000]

Well.. it is there... still

Karol

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

started the hobbit yesterday

man i can play the score along and i manage to read chapters faster than tracks...even with dol guldur addenda

Gandaf's horse should be white in the movie...

[Trent Hoyt 13]

The Road to Woodstock by Michael Lang

The story of Woodstock by the man who organized it. Now I just need to find 4 1/2 hours to watch the directors cut on blu ray.

[Wojo 2,453]

Gandalf does not ride Shadowfax in The Hobbit. The horse probably hasn't been born in Rohan yet. A white horse might confuse the audience, who would think it's the same horse.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Gandalf does not ride Shadowfax in The Hobbit. The horse probably hasn't been born in Rohan yet. A white horse might confuse the audience, who would think it's the same horse.

yeah... but its curious how they bypass these clearly written details and maybe Gandalf horse before being 'the white' is not described in LOTR, yet they used a chesnut too.

By the way put some reins, a saddle and stirrups and you must be real dumb to think it is shadowfax.

And since in the films it is not mentioned that shadowfax was 'borrowed' by gandalf from Theoden's stables, they could well have used some Shadowfax invented backstory... with all those LOTR tie-ins they managed to put in there.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Simply no need for it!

[Quintus 5,399]

Gandalf does not ride Shadowfax in The Hobbit. The horse probably hasn't been born in Rohan yet. A white horse might confuse the audience, who would think it's the same horse.

yeah... but its curious how they bypass these clearly written details and maybe Gandalf horse before being 'the white' is not described in LOTR, yet they used a chesnut too.

By the way put some reins, a saddle and stirrups and you must be real dumb to think it is shadowfax.

And since in the films it is not mentioned that shadowfax was 'borrowed' by gandalf from Theoden's stables, they could well have used some Shadowfax invented backstory... with all those LOTR tie-ins they managed to put in there.

Oh god.

You just suck the fun out of anything you turn your mind to, don't you

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

In real life he is fun to hang around with though....

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Ever since consistently remembering to bring my Kindle to work, I've knocked out 3 books in about a couple weeks.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I wasn't a huge fan of this one for awhile; only when Ender gets to command his own army is where things take off for me. Pretty thrilling stuff with its claustrophobia. I thought the "twist" was semi-predictable and anticlimactic, but it made sense I suppose. I particularly loved Ender's internal struggle and was pleased to see the iPad game show some real significance in the end. Speaking of which, how awesome is it that he more or less predicted tablets?

Live And Let Die by Ian Fleming

Thought this one was superb throughout. Much better than Casino Royale, but the racism really bogs it down for me. If he wrote the "negroes" dialogue without all the ebonics and accents embedded in the writing it'd actually flow much better. Otherwise the tension here is maddening.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Only one of the three I had read before. Wanted to experience it again before the film comes out, and in a matter of sweet timing I have to read it for my just starting English class. So I already knocked out a good chunk of homework for the semester. Fitzgerald's writing and subtext is always a pleasure to breakdown. I wasn't a fan of Luhrman's trailer at first, but upon rereading it, the aspects I thought he nailed look even better, and I can sorta see where he's going with it all. More or less the Gatsby-Daisy love story on crack. I had always envisioned it to be more subdued and boorish, not the burlesque extravaganza that seems to be going on in the movie.

I bought For Whom The Bells Toll and rented Moonraker, not sure which to start next. Probably neither since I have to read The Merchant Of Venice for my Shakespeare class.

[Jay 37,346]

Predictable and anticlimactic? No way!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'm specifically talking about the climax of the bugger war. I had suspected it before, but thought they were never actually going to do anything with him and just keep testing and testing...

I wonder how they'll film these simulations for the movie.

[Jay 37,346]

I think the movie will not be too much like the book

From what I read, they are revealing the twist at the beginning of the movie

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Probably for the best actually. It'd be boring if they filmed it from the characters' POV.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

I just finished the movie and the book was better. Still, the movie did a good job capturing the feel of the book.

[Romão 2,274]

Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad

How I wish David Lean was able to make this film

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

I just finished the movie and the book was better. Still, the movie did a good job capturing the feel of the book.

I saw the film first, which I loved, then read the book. Scorsese and team pretty much knocked it out of the park in terms of adaptation. I absolutely loved it, and would be willing to call it better, but the film's ending seals the deal for me. Amazing how one line of dialogue changes so much.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

The film was a great adaptation of the book. I had that same discussion with a friend about that last line.

[crocodile 8,000]

I've rediscovered my passion for comics recently.

Read the first half of Batman: The Court of the Owls storyline penned by Scott Snyder with drawings from Greg Capullo. It's really good and interesting. I like the stories from Batman that deal with city's mythology and such stuff (the prime example would be the excellent Dark Knight, Dark City). Not as great as reviews would lead you to believe - there are certain elements that seem derivative of other tales (or even Nolan movies in some details). Nevertheless very gripping and well drawn.

Now onto Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2.

Karol

[Brónach 1,302]

Aha! I need to catch the second one.

Recently I looked for the first one at a store and I was shocked that they had put the whole script in there (longer than the comic book itself), more than likely making an already pricey edition even more expensive. And only some of us will have a look at that. Why not skip that and sell the book at its damn proper cost dammit.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

For Whom The Bells Toll by Ernest Hemingway

Across The River And Into The Trees by Ernest Hemingway

Starting Diamonds Are Forever and then I'll go on to The Old Man And The Sea.

[Jay 37,346]

Give up on Ender's Game?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I finished a long time ago, we discussed the ending!

[Jay 37,346]

O right, sorry!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,514]

For Whom The Bells Toll by Ernest Hemingway

Across The River And Into The Trees by Ernest Hemingway

Starting Diamonds Are Forever and then I'll go on to The Old Man And The Sea.

Koray, check out "Islands In The Stream". No-one writes dialogue quite like Hemingway.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'll get to it eventually, I'm reading through all his books chronologically. For Whom The Bells Toll was quite something. It's bloated as hell but those long anecdotal character stories are really great despite dragging down the main narrative. I contemplated actually finishing it when I hit the last chapter, as in to save it for some other time. I thought it was superb. Hemingway always tends to seem misogynist in his writing, but each book also contradicts that to a degree, I think. In this one, you had the typical "I'll do whatever you want me to because I'm a woman" Maria and then the strongest female character he's ever written with Pablo's woman. It's still buried in there, though, because she's ugly and mean and not feminine in any way. Anyway it's an argument I have a lot with my girlfriend; she hates him.

The opening scene of the last chapter is just phenomenal. So much detail and mood setting up the climax that right then and there it made me want to adapt the book into a screenplay, would be a tough task.

[Brónach 1,302]

I've only read The Old Man and the Sea a few years ago.

[crocodile 8,000]

Aha! I need to catch the second one.

Recently I looked for the first one at a store and I was shocked that they had put the whole script in there (longer than the comic book itself), more than likely making an already pricey edition even more expensive. And only some of us will have a look at that. Why not skip that and sell the book at its damn proper cost dammit.

I'd say the second volume is better than the first one. I can't wait to read Black Dossier and Century (all three parts) stories. And there's a new Nemo: Heart of Ice spin-off as well. I think it just came out now.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I've only read The Old Man and the Sea a few years ago.

It won him the Nobel Prize but I think The Sun Also Rises will always be my favorite.

For Whom The Bells Toll is interesting in that the dialogue is written in Shakespearean English but the characters are actually speaking Spanish.

[Brónach 1,302]

I just read on Wikipedia that the dialogue is written translating literally Spanish expressions.

That's going to be an hilarious read.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

It's written in a sort of Spanglish with lots of thous and arts.

[Brónach 1,302]

I'm thinking of the same trick in the opposite direction.You could write always the pronouns and substitute the second person singular with the plural form and get rid of the formal forms. lol

[crocodile 8,000]

Reading League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier. I'm loving it.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

From Russia With Love

The Old Man And The Sea

Currently on Dr. No.

The Bond novels are phenomenal. Can't believe I never read them until now.

[Jay 37,346]

I picked up the first 5 when they were $2 on kindle, can't wait to dig into them

[Incanus 5,714]

I am having another read of Kalevala, our national epic.

[Brónach 1,302]

I really want to read that.

There's a translation direct from Finnish... that I couldn't find at the library.

I'd like to read all the original material before that guy changed it around, but I heard it's loooooooooong and likely untranslated and I don't understand Finnish.

I'm reading Fiasko by Stanisław Lem. It... feels weird and alienating, but then again that's Lem's thing sometimes. He can also be hilarious.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I've only read The Old Man and the Sea a few years ago.

it was such an unpleasant reading experience. I don't know a single person that enjoyed it.

of course there are worse reading experiences out there, Rime of the Ancient Mariner comes to mind....

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Dan Brown's Inferno comes out tomorrow, it should be a terrifically fun and awful read at the same. I love the complexity of his core mystery and the ease of discovery of his villain. The over under on how quickly you figure out who is the main villain should be about 60 pages give or take 5 pages.

[Brónach 1,302]

I once found an automatic Dan Brown plot generator on the Internet. It was hilarious,

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I've only read The Old Man and the Sea a few years ago.

it was such an unpleasant reading experience. I don't know a single person that enjoyed it.

of course there are worse reading experiences out there, Rime of the Ancient Mariner comes to mind....

I loved it.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

it was obvious from your earlier comments,

it was so strange that several friends at work discussed the book as did David and I at the end of last week.

I find Hemingway's works generally boring. I prefer Benchley's Hemingway inspired book the Girl in the Sea of Cortez much better.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Hemingway is definitely not for everybody.

[crocodile 8,000]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Century: 1910.

Karol

[Jay 37,346]

Thoughts?