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Post by CharlesX on Aug 30, 2024 17:03:36 GMT
I'm about 65 pages through Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I'm a slightly slow reader so I won't be bothering with the sequel volumes. I can tell Feist is a natural storyteller and has been commercially successful, he writes tightly and is good at world-building, and evocative. He has a distinctive voice which is both that of a good author and not one that is provocative, that is, he doesn't seem too opinionated or over-derivative. I've a copy of his Faerie Tale somewhere which I may read at some point if I like this book of his (I am, so far). Another subject is ol' Stephen King, quite a divisive author; my brother reckons he is cliche-ridden and I agree a bit, he has a knack for storytelling (obviously) but what he writes is long-winded, sometimes repeats similar themes (is Maine like Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Hellmouth?), derivative unoriginal etc. Perhaps I just dislike him because, as a slow reader, it might take me too long to read say his Dark Tower which as a SF-Fantasy fan might be my sort of thing? But I like some of his TV adaptations, they're variable. Raising him after a mate praised Stephen King, takes all kinds .
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Aug 30, 2024 19:26:16 GMT
I'm about 65 pages through Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I read Magician quite a while (18 years!) ago. While I was working in a call centre, I used to read in between calls. The supervisors didn't like it but since it didn't really affect my targets they let me away with it. I don't think I ever read as much in my life as during those 7 weeks I was there and Magician was one of the books I blitzed through. I won't spoil anything for you, but there's something that happens which really elevated my appreciation of it. I should probably get round to reading the sequel one of these days but would probably have to remind myself of what happened in the first one. I currently have a couple of books on the go. Gone with the Wind which I picked up out of curiosity and found surprisingly entertaining. Scarlett O'Hara is an absolutely awful person but oddly likeable and sympathetic at the same time, and the depiction of war is absolutely brilliant. I'm about halfway through. Also reading Philippa Gregory's The Red Queen. I read her The White Queen some time ago. Both books largely cover the same events but from different sides of the Wars of the Roses. It's very readable and does a good job in depicting the politics and bloodshed, but I'm finding the protagonist quite annoying and unlikeable which I didn't find with The White Queen.
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Post by CharlesX on Aug 30, 2024 20:17:57 GMT
I'm about 65 pages through Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I read Magician quite a while (18 years!) ago. While I was working in a call centre, I used to read in between calls. The supervisors didn't like it but since it didn't really affect my targets they let me away with it. I don't think I ever read as much in my life as during those 7 weeks I was there and Magician was one of the books I blitzed through. I won't spoil anything for you, but there's something that happens which really elevated my appreciation of it. I should probably get round to reading the sequel one of these days but would probably have to remind myself of what happened in the first one. I currently have a couple of books on the go. Gone with the Wind which I picked up out of curiosity and found surprisingly entertaining. Scarlett O'Hara is an absolutely awful person but oddly likeable and sympathetic at the same time, and the depiction of war is absolutely brilliant. I'm about halfway through. Also reading Philippa Gregory's The Red Queen. I read her The White Queen some time ago. Both books largely cover the same events but from different sides of the Wars of the Roses. It's very readable and does a good job in depicting the politics and bloodshed, but I'm finding the protagonist quite annoying and unlikeable which I didn't find with The White Queen. I'd hate to work in cold calling (with targets). My brother worked as one for just a few weeks and was mediocre, he mentioned his mate achieved much higher sales just because he used high-pressure bully tactics (talking over customers, scare tactics, pushing rather than accepting no when that's what the customer wants), which is similar to what my cousin does when she persuades people into high interest loans they don't want. Unfortunately those tactics work, same with scammers. Anyway, this is very off-topic and I'm sure your work was nothing like that (more like my brother's than the other examples I've cited). As I'm a slow reader I could always see the critically-acclaimed Gone With The Wind, that's partly why books are turned into films. Although I saw The Disaster Artist recently and I've heard it typically leaves quite a few things out of the book (both unpleasant things, that Tommy Wiseau was a misogynist, and lots of other small details, that he made The Room's cast and crew observe a minute's silence for 9\11, among other things).
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Aug 30, 2024 23:08:02 GMT
I'd hate to work in cold calling (with targets). Thankfully, it wasn't cold calling for me, it was people phoning in to sign up for catalogue shopping. Still, absolutely miserable job where your toilet breaks were timed. People were fired immediately for minimal reason and those that weren't left as soon as they could. Even at 7 weeks I outlasted most who started with me. Still, got a lot read at least. Definitely recommend the book. A lot of amusing stuff didn't make the film.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Aug 31, 2024 18:18:26 GMT
Recently finished 'Fugue for a Darkening Island' by Christopher Priest and enjoyed it (if that is the right word). Civil war in modern England. I found it interesting - thought-provoking (though harrowing and depressing).
I followed that with a reread of a Clockwork Orange, maybe the third or fourth time I've read it.
Don't read either of these books if you want cheering up.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Aug 31, 2024 18:29:17 GMT
Currently got Burning Chrome on the go. Short stories by William Gibson (author of Neuromancer and 'godfather' of cyberpunk). Since it's a series of short stories I am trying to take my time rather than glut myself on them one after the other.
They are good reads, as i expected them to be.
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 1, 2024 11:33:54 GMT
Recently finished 'Fugue for a Darkening Island' by Christopher Priest and enjoyed it (if that is the right word). Civil war in modern England. I found it interesting - thought-provoking (though harrowing and depressing). I followed that with a reread of a Clockwork Orange, maybe the third or fourth time I've read it. Don't read either of these books if you want cheering up. I've read A Clockwork Orange. I've a high opinion of Anthony Burgess as a writer, I recall reading his Wanting Seed as a schoolboy, it was at least as amazing as A Clockwork Orange. Any view on how it compares with the film, if you've seen it? The film is definitely well-written, brilliant even. More dark than the book somehow, which is literary\intellectual and has different English where the film has the music and costumes. My recollection is the film leaves out the last chapter which is very significant to the book (so, a Burgess fan like me wouldn't be satisfied with the film).
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Sept 1, 2024 15:50:09 GMT
Recently finished 'Fugue for a Darkening Island' by Christopher Priest and enjoyed it (if that is the right word). Civil war in modern England. I found it interesting - thought-provoking (though harrowing and depressing). I followed that with a reread of a Clockwork Orange, maybe the third or fourth time I've read it. Don't read either of these books if you want cheering up. I've read A Clockwork Orange. I've a high opinion of Anthony Burgess as a writer, I recall reading his Wanting Seed as a schoolboy, it was at least as amazing as A Clockwork Orange. Any view on how it compares with the film, if you've seen it? The film is definitely well-written, brilliant even. More dark than the book somehow, which is literary\intellectual and has different English where the film has the music and costumes. My recollection is the film leaves out the last chapter which is very significant to the book (so, a Burgess fan like me wouldn't be satisfied with the film).
The film is superb, as is the book. In my opinion, though, the Alex in the book is even WORSE than the one in the film. Let me know if you want examples of why I think this and I'll Private Message you because I don't think they are the sort of things to discuss in an open forum. You're right to say that the film misses out that last chapter. I've got mixed feelings about that last chapter of the book. It's thought-provoking, but I don't think Alex gets anywhere near the fate he deserves. He just gets bored and turns his back on his old ways. Edit: not quite, he wants to settle down and start a new life, a family, for reasons he himself cannot quite explain, beyond a feeling of emptiness. He's still a convicted murderer (among many other crimes) and probably a psychopath. Do we at any time see any real regret for anything he's done? He hardly redeems himself, in my opinion.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Sept 1, 2024 23:33:16 GMT
In my opinion, though, the Alex in the book is even WORSE than the one in the film. Agreed. I think I know exactly the bit you're thinking of and definitely not for this forum! The film was based on the US edition of the book which omits the last chapter. Kubrick was apparently unaware of it until after completing the film. I think the book ending serves to really hammer home Burgess' key message - you cannot force people to be good and no-one is irredeemable. You could though come away from the film thinking they were right to try to reprogram Alex which I think Burgess would have been horrified by. Burgess stated he considers the book as representing his Catholic views on goodness and free will. The prison chaplain gives voice to that view and it's interesting that in the movie he's a bit creepy while in the book he isn't. Of course the Catholic vibe might also explain why Alex gets let off a bit too easily - 'Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord' and all that. By the way, if any Burgess fans have never read his novel on early Christianity, Kingdom of the Wicked I sincerely recommend it.
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Post by pip on Sept 5, 2024 18:51:26 GMT
I've both read the A Clockwork Orange book and watched the movie, and have enjoyed both a lot. That was years ago for both, so forgive me if my memory is hazy.
I remember reading that Kubrick was indeed unaware of the last chapter when he made the film, but that after hearing about it and reading it, he did not like it and did not have any regrets about not including it.
I certainly didn't feel that the movie was at any point implying that they were right to reprogram Alex. "I was cured all right!" always struck me as completely ironic.
One thing I remember loving about the book (which I've read after seeing and enjoying the movie) was how Burgess made it fully understandable despite using so much imaginary slang. The slang also feels like it could be real slang, too. Quite a feat. That aspect was toned down in the movie, but I can understand why: if you're reading, you can take your time to figure out what's being said, but if you're watching a movie you have to be able to get it on the spot or be lost, so reducing the amount of slang was surely a necessary sacrifice. Still, the movie is a brilliant adaptation.
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 16, 2024 15:14:18 GMT
I've been reading The Disaster Artist, which I'm 80% through. Part of it is about Greg Sistero (the co-lead in The Room), his relationship with Tommy Wiseau and his long struggle to become an L.A. Hollywood actor. I get the impression Greg Sistero, though not flawless, is well-educated, there are constant sparks of intellect as well as more expected naivete. There are a lot of (often large) details Disaster Artist film doesn't mention. While I've great respect for James Franco (don't get me started on The Interview though) neither is his performance as Tommy Wiseau so brilliant nor does it incorporate darker, unpleasant aspects about him in The Disaster Artist, he's like *100 more bumbling and unlikable than the film suggests (he's also richer, too, which adds to the mystery of where his money came from). I've heard Greg Sistero and others are making a follow-up film to The Room, The Room Returns or The Room Returns! or something, no idea whether it would be as entertaining as The Room or The Disaster Artist but sounds great. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room_Returns!
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Sept 16, 2024 21:58:27 GMT
he's like *100 more bumbling and unlikable than the film suggests I think the book has stuff about Tommy being very unpleasant to the girl who played Lisa which didn't make the film.
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 17, 2024 12:09:10 GMT
he's like *100 more bumbling and unlikable than the film suggests I think the book has stuff about Tommy being very unpleasant to the girl who played Lisa which didn't make the film. My understanding was Tommy wasn't so much unpleasant to the girl who played Lisa (that is, anymore than he was casting and giving acting directions to anyone else) as he wanted Lisa to be at once an ideal beautiful woman and a sleazy cheat, which was why most scenes in The Room have people unexpectedly say "you look sexy Lisa" or something like that. To its credit Disaster Artist film included Tommy Wiseau throwing a tantrum when he found out Lisa had pimples on her back.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Sept 17, 2024 13:34:55 GMT
I think the book has stuff about Tommy being very unpleasant to the girl who played Lisa which didn't make the film. To its credit Disaster Artist film included Tommy Wiseau throwing a tantrum when he found out Lisa had pimples on her back.
Ah yes, that was what I was thinking of - I'd forgotten that was depicted in the film.
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 24, 2024 15:58:41 GMT
Finished Disaster Artist and there were indeed revelations in the last 20%. There is a continuation of many details the film omits, often ones which are worse than you might expect or think, both in relation to The Room and Tommy Wiseau, while the cast and crew (such as they are, because many change) come across as very pitiable and largely above this nonsense. I've seen and heard very poor films with budgets bigger and smaller than The Room but 'nonsense' isn't a harsh or unfair description, it isn't boring or preachy or even pretentious, at least for those of us who don't hate Tommy Wiseau, but it is the height of incompetence and absurdity, and as Disaster Artist points out (book more so) would have been worse if not for a very hard-working, burned-out cast and crew. Much of Disaster Artist tells of Tommy Wiseau's background, who grew up in Eastern Europe, escaped to France, then escaped to America. Apparently, because this is all told to Greg Sistero by Tommy, and may not be 100% the truth. Coming from a penniless, desperate background Tommy Wiseau became a multi-millionaire in America, something that fed into his deep Amerophilia, seemingly this failed entertainer has some talent for business. Again this is a bit of a mystery, one paragraph mentions his products being poor-quality, there may have been mob involvement, or simply I imagine Tommy making money from the MAGA crowd both in the past and present.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Oct 6, 2024 10:25:38 GMT
Finished Gone With the Wind. With the massive caveat that it is horribly racist in parts (implying that black people were better off as slaves and that the KKK were well-intentioned if misguided), I thought it was excellent. Really vivid characters and provides plenty of food for thought on social 'niceties', cynicism, nostalgia, blind patriotism and the pursuit of wealth and security. Must get round to watching the film.
Also been reading a few Star Wars novels from the now non-canon Expanded Universe. Good fun and a more interesting direction for the universe to take after the original trilogy than the big reset button that Disney pushed.
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Post by CharlesX on Oct 6, 2024 12:43:44 GMT
Finished Gone With the Wind. With the massive caveat that it is horribly racist in parts (implying that black people were better off as slaves and that the KKK were well-intentioned if misguided), I thought it was excellent. Really vivid characters and provides plenty of food for thought on social 'niceties', cynicism, nostalgia, blind patriotism and the pursuit of wealth and security. Must get round to watching the film. Also been reading a few Star Wars novels from the now non-canon Expanded Universe. Good fun and a more interesting direction for the universe to take after the original trilogy than the big reset button that Disney pushed. Biggles, Blighton, Bond, Hubbard and many, many more have been accused of racism but you have to look past that as banning them altogether is just as fascist and horrible. I remember enjoying Little Black Sambo growing up, which is seen as a classic in Japan and racist in America (I believe because of some dodgy reprint edition).
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