What's The Last Book You Read?

[Romão 2,274]

Thank you for this, I'm going to check it out

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

Mary Reilly ( by Valerie Martin )

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali.

Brutal narration about the end of the Andalusians at the hands of the Castilian conquerers, right before they turned to America to continue the same thing.

???

good riddance! Andalusians were the conquerors here...

It's not the same as in america.

BTW, why are we always the badguys?

[Brónach 1,301]

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali.

Brutal narration about the end of the Andalusians at the hands of the Castilian conquerers, right before they turned to America to continue the same thing.

???

good riddance! Andalusians were the conquerors here...

When the Imazighen / Arabic army entered the Peninsula they weren't Andalusis. They became so later through cultural synchretism. First, the southern romance didn't stop being spoken, and it was written in the Arabic alphabet. The population largely adopted a form of Maghrebi Arabic that differenciated itself from the African forms in several ways, including influence by romance languages, thus the appearance of Andalusi Arabic (presumably the word Andalus comes from a Gothic word for the Baetica). Most of the population were the previously existing Latins being included within the Islamic/Arabic world. In my opinion the invader armies were too small to destroy and repopulate the land, and it was too fast through a very large territory.

Of course we can indeed say the Andalusi armies caused destruction in the North, once we have the Andalusis themselves. And there came a lot more of Imazighen/Bereber from Northern Africa, I think.

BTW, why are we always the badguys?

We aren't. The bad guys are religion, ignorance, ideas of cultural superiority or inferiority, conviction of revelation and absolute knowledge, destruction of languages and literature...

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

yeah i suppose i generalised...

neither the castillians or aragonese 'reconquered' any territories... since they didnt exist when those were lost...

i suppose it all ends viewed from the point of view of islam vs catholicism

[Wojo 2,453]

The bad guys are religion, ignorance, ideas of cultural superiority or inferiority, conviction of revelation and absolute knowledge, destruction of languages and literature...

Don't forget smallpox blankets.

[Brónach 1,301]

Heh, I just googled that. Ugh.

[Brónach 1,301]

I picked up again Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1993), which I had left aside. The novel wants to be a serius chronicle of the colonization of Mars, from a classic perpective. I don't like everything in it: some sections lack rythm and there's a boring and somewhat irrelevant mystic aspect to a few moments. However, there's some fascinating material on this book. The characters are well developed although archetypal. It's easy to find someone to appreciate, or someone to hate (and I suspect that it would be different for everyone.) As I keep reading, I find that there's some incredibly powerful ideas. And I think a film adaptation of this material could be mindblowing.

I want to get the new 2312 by the same guy.

[Brónach 1,301]

Starting Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian.

[Wojo 2,453]

I'm in the middle of at least two books. Game of Thrones is at my apartment, and the second book of The Engineer Trilogy (Evil for Evil) is at my parents' house when I visit. I rarely take the books back and forth. I also began a nonfiction book about Hoover Dam last year, but loaned the book to my father when reading for my classes required my concentration; I'll complete it when he's done with it. Depending on how I feel after GoT will determine whether I buy the rest of the series up to this point, or move on to what I really want to read next, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

[Jilal 569]

The Hobbit

It was great. An excellent story, told in a way only Tolkien can.

After that I began reading "Dangerous Skies" by Suzanne Fisher Staples, but I can't read any further. I don't like her style of writing. It's too childish for me.

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

well since I left my copy of Mary Reilly on the plane headed to New Mexico lol ( I kid you not ). I had to find a book while on vacation to read on the way back, and stumbled across a copy of THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

Anyone who liked the movie and hasn't read it, I recommend it. Usually its either a case of, " oh, the book was better" or " eh, it was a better film than it was book". In this case its " The movie was great and this is even more so"

[KK 3,307]

I never read the book, but I thought this was one of those cases where the movie was a lot better.

[Wojo 2,453]

I never read the book, but I thought this was one of those cases where the movie was a lot better.

It certainly is one of those cases. Normally you have to read the book before you can say the movie is better, and forgive me for going all Joey-meets-Alexcremers on you, but allow me to just say it for you.

...a copy of THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

Anyone who liked the movie and hasn't read it, I recommend it. Usually its either a case of, " oh, the book was better" or " eh, it was a better film than it was book". In this case its " The movie was great and this is even more so"

Really? The book's primary gimmick is that it functions as an abridgment of a complete book that doesn't exist anymore, but which everybody famous knows and quotes from. That joke got old the first few times that it was told, but nobody seems to have told Goldman/Morgernstern/whatever his name was that information. The book was too pretentious to be funny or even enjoyable. The only really noteworthy to say about the book is how such an excellent movie could be made from such a godawful book. I hate this book so much with every fiber in my body that I pretend the Berlin scene in The Last Crusade was filmed using copies of Goldman's book.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The last book I read was The Portrait Of Dorian Gray a few months back. It was awful. There was one chapter that was something like a quarter of the books length that jumps decades into the future describing all this irrelevant nonsense. I wanted to stop there but decided to at least finish it after putting the previous effort in. It put me off reading for awhile, but I'm looking forward to getting back into my pattern once I get the Kindle Paperwhite.

I need to finish my Hemingway.

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

I never read the book, but I thought this was one of those cases where the movie was a lot better.

It certainly is one of those cases. Normally you have to read the book before you can say the movie is better, and forgive me for going all Joey-meets-Alexcremers on you, but allow me to just say it for you.

...a copy of THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

Anyone who liked the movie and hasn't read it, I recommend it. Usually its either a case of, " oh, the book was better" or " eh, it was a better film than it was book". In this case its " The movie was great and this is even more so"

Really? The book's primary gimmick is that it functions as an abridgment of a complete book that doesn't exist anymore, but which everybody famous knows and quotes from. That joke got old the first few times that it was told, but nobody seems to have told Goldman/Morgernstern/whatever his name was that information. The book was too pretentious to be funny or even enjoyable. The only really noteworthy to say about the book is how such an excellent movie could be made from such a godawful book. I hate this book so much with every fiber in my body that I pretend the Berlin scene in The Last Crusade was filmed using copies of Goldman's book.

Regarding Goldman's book. First time I read it, I agreed with what you are saying. I still do. I think the first time I didn't get any further than the first few chapters. This time, however, I largely ignored Goldman's " editor's notes" throughout and was able to tolerate it more. I do agree its shocking the movie is as good as it is when compared to the source material. At least the memorable lines from the film are in the book as well. One of the best being

" you keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it does"

[Wojo 2,453]

Fair enough. I rather enjoyed Moby Dick when I skipped all the chapters that explain how to kill whales.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Live From New York

A history of Saturday Night Live told by those involved. The book is ten years old, they should do an update.

[KK 3,307]

I never read the book, but I thought this was one of those cases where the movie was a lot better.

It certainly is one of those cases. Normally you have to read the book before you can say the movie is better, and forgive me for going all Joey-meets-Alexcremers on you, but allow me to just say it for you.

Maybe I will someday. And what I said was never my personal opinion of the book, I just read in some other thread that it was supposedly better and pointed it out. Guess I should have phrased it differently.

Ahh...the woes of internet communication.

[Wojo 2,453]

I know all that. You were simply mentioning someone else's opinion, but not making an effort to claim it for your own. It's going to be all right.

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

Fair enough. I rather enjoyed Moby Dick when I skipped all the chapters that explain how to kill whales.

Including the one that explains, in details, why a whale is a fish and not a mammal?

[Wojo 2,453]

I do not remember every chapter I skipped in a book I have not touched since 1994 or 1995.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Got my Kindle Paperwhite today, was looking forward to diving into a new book, but the bottom of the screen was discolored and looked like it suffered some bleeding. Replacement should be here on Tuesday.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore

Typical political book but he is funny enough to make it readable.

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

Stephen King's: The Shining.

Why? I don't know. Just suddenly had the urge to read this one again.

[Jay 37,287]

Read the first chapter of The Hobbit on my phone last night, free sample from Google Play store

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Best first chapter ever!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Will finish Casino Royale whenever I pick it up again. All the Bond books free for Prime members? I shall partake.

[Jay 37,287]

Wait, really? Holy shit. Do you need a kindle to view them or are they like PDFs? Cause I was just telling my GF how I would love to read the Bond books. I'm a prime member but have only ever taken advantage of the free shipping, not any of the other random stuff they give to prime members. hmmm

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Random stuff? Like free movie and TV streaming? That's how I've been watching Fringe.

Certain books are free to rent. Prime has had a library aspect to it for a little while now. You can check out one book per month and take as long as you want to read it. You do need a Kindle though.

Otherwise they're $7 a pop.

[Jay 37,287]

Hmmm. Seems there's an Amazon Kindle app I can download on my android. I'll see if I can get free Bond books in it.

I couldn't find anything on amazon's site about free bond books, and google came up with nothing either

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I linked you to the page.

[Jay 37,287]

Dang, it looks like books available for Prime free lending are only available on actual Kindle devices, not Kindle apps for like Android or whatever

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=TxNBEKEI0C914C

Lame.

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

Hmmm. Seems there's an Amazon Kindle app I can download on my android. I'll see if I can get free Bond books in it.

I couldn't find anything on amazon's site about free bond books, and google came up with nothing either

They still have free offers every once in a while that do work with the Android app. That's why I installed it.

[Jay 37,287]

Yea, I get hte free song of the day from the Google Play store all the time. I'll have to start checking the Kindle app every day too

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Dang, it looks like books available for Prime free lending are only available on actual Kindle devices, not Kindle apps for like Android or whatever

http://www.amazon.co...=TxNBEKEI0C914C

Lame.

I mentioned that too

The standard model is only $70. Christmas is coming up.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek

It's funny and a very quick read.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

"War And Peace". Not bad, but it's a simple adventure story.

[stewdog1 50]

Darth Plageious by James Luceno. One of the best Star Wars books I've read in a long while.

So setting that theme, I decided to catch up on the X-Wing series that I never got around to finishing. So I'm on book 7, Solo Command.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

The Chris Farley Show

It's written in the same style as Live From New York, which makes it very readable. I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in Chris Farley.

[crocodile 7,984]

I'm reading Solaris now. It's a very good book, actually.

Karol

[Brónach 1,301]

It's one of my favourite books. Plus it finally got a proper direct translation into Spanish from Polish.

The first time I read it I didn't get it, the second time I loved it.

My favourite Lem is The Star Diaries, though.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

I'm reading Solaris now. It's a very good book, actually.

Karol

Solaris. Yes, but which, if any, film version do you prefer? Personally, they both bring out different aspects of the book.

[Brónach 1,301]

I read that Lem hated both so I'm a bit aprehensive to see any of them.

[crocodile 7,984]

He didn't hate Soderbergh's version. He reportedly said it is tastefully done and ambitious, but focuses on less important aspects of the book. So in the end none of them really captured what Lem has personally intended. But for me that's fair enough, if you ask me. I myself liked the film when it came out. But that was about 10 years ago, so it might have changed.

I've never watched Tarkovsky's vision (surprisingly, because I'm familiar with some of his other less known films), but I think I'll give it a try soon.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I have yet to see Soderbergh's film, which is odd since it looks just like my type of thing.

[Brónach 1,301]

He didn't hate Soderbergh's version. He reportedly said it is tastefully done and ambitious, but focuses on less important aspects of the book. So in the end none of them really captured what Lem has personally intended. But for me that's fair enough, if you ask me. I myself liked the film when it came out. But that was about 10 years ago, so it might have changed.

I've never watched Tarkovsky's vision (surprisingly, because I'm familiar with some of his other less known films), but I think I'll give it a try soon.

I'm probably prejudiced against both. Someday I'll see them.

Meanwhile. I'll dream of asymetriads and mimoids.

[crocodile 7,984]

It might be exactly your thing. It's slow and athmospheric. And the music is a big, big part of that.

Karol

[Brónach 1,301]

Oh the score is really cool.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah I love it.