What You're Reading

[nacho]

Back to my Rome series...

Caesar's Women

I hope to finish this series by the end of the year.

Whew... So, basically, I lose May and early June to publishing madness. But I caught up during the plane to the UK...

Read:

It Can't Happen Here

And am nearly done with:

Therapy

And then back to my Caesar series. The penultimate book is:

Caesar (Masters of Rome 4)

After that, I'll plow into the finale. So on target for that goal...

[monkey!]

I'm still working my way through the 'classics' whether it's a fresh or re-read. Having finished Frankenstein, I'm now on to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Next, it'll be Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog."

[RottingCorpse]

'Frankenstein' is literary Ambien. I'm always shocked when I read it that it's become a cinematic mainstay. I guess all the elements are there, but "whew!"

Turgid, man. Turgid.

[nacho]

It's written by an 18 year old female shut-in in 1816. She, herself, even called it crap in an interview 20 years later. A lark that they sort of team-wrote one drunken night.

From a literary viewpoint, you could argue that Frankenstein is the first "fad book." It was brutally panned by critics. It got translated into a play in the 1820's that basically revamped the story (closer to what we would later embrace it in the films) and made it more approachable. A classic case where everybody who loved the play ran out and got the book and probably went, "Huh?!" But, then, sales are sales. Who cares?

Then Hollywood saved it from the dusty, forgotten corners and it's been a classic ever since...

[monkey!]

I liked Frankenstein despite it's "turgid," pondering style. All of the elements are there, and for it's day was quite visionary in creative scope, regardless of patchy execution.

[Reginald McGraw]

I'm reading The Elves of Centra. The second book in Terry Brooks' "bridge" trilogy between The Word and the Void trilogy and the Shannara books. These 3 are PA + elves + small amounts of magic.

[nacho]

Oh, man... I keep threatening to go back to the Terry Brooks hole. I read those first couple Shannara books in high school, but lost the thread.

[monkey!]

I'm now onto Bulgakov's _Heart of a Dog_.

[nacho]

Haha! They re-released the book that inspired Die Hard on Kindle only. I've been waiting for a used paperback to come down in price, but the Kindle version is only six bucks, so... Whatever. Downloaded to the Droid!

Nothing Lasts Forever

[nacho]

Haha! They re-released the book that inspired Die Hard on Kindle only. I've been waiting for a used paperback to come down in price, but the Kindle version is only six bucks, so... Whatever. Downloaded to the Droid!

Nothing Lasts Forever

Jesus Christ... Amazon has my number. So I got a $3 download special offer for First Blood. The 1972 novel that would inspire Rambo. And, according to Wikipedia, it went through something of a torturous process from book to film...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Blood_(novel)

The Die Hard novel, so far, is bizarre. The Bruce Willis character is an older man, a WWII vet (the novel's set in 1978), and Holly is his wastrel daughter who works for a Texas oil baron. She's doing coke and fucking Ellis (who's basically exactly the same).

Otherwise, it's creepy how weirdly loyal the movie is. All the one liners are there, though our main guy isn't as sardonic or quippy. He's much more of a thinking man (this is one of many of a standard detective series). The language isn't there, of course. But all those great one-liners are in there -- Go on! Show him the watch!

The relationships are spot-on, too. There's actually something of an interesting take on the Texan (who would become Takagi in the movie). He's not really a good guy. There's a reason the terrorists target the company.

This is very, very, very subtly hinted at in the movie. You may pick it up on the 50th viewing. But it's much more obvious here, chiefly because the whole thing is from our main guy's point of view, so he sums up his feelings about the company in the first few pages.

What I enjoy is that our main guy, having long since retired from the NYPD, is a consultant and terrorist expert responsible for setting up the air marshal program (which is why he's on a plane with a loaded gun) and SWAT teams. So not only does he know exactly what he's doing -- as opposed to being a maverick cop -- but he also recognizes Gruber.

Also we spend, like, five pages on the origin of making fists with your toes, all by way of explaining why he then spends the rest of the book barefoot.

[nacho]

Wow... First Blood was amazing. Unlike the Die Hard novel, it manages to stand on its own... You leave thoughts of the movie behind fairly early on. This is largely because the characters are so different. You come out rooting for the sheriff by the time all is said and done.

I can "loan" it to anyone with a Kindle if you want... Let me know.

[Sirharles]

I remember reading that in high school.  And being shocked at how different it was from the movie.  Then I read the second book and I loved how Morse (sp?) basically says because the movie was a hit and my publisher gave me a sack of money Rambo isn't actually dead and tra la la....

[nacho]

I remember reading that in high school.  And being shocked at how different it was from the movie.  Then I read the second book and I loved how Morse (sp?) basically says because the movie was a hit and my publisher gave me a sack of money Rambo isn't actually dead and tra la la....

Yeah, there's a whole section of his webpage about parts two and three. I appreciate his honesty about taking on the job. Like, hey, I created this character, so OF COURSE I'll take millions of dollars to continue the franchise. In fact, I'll do whatever you tell me to do...as soon as the check clears.

[nacho]

Jesus... Downloaded and watched Rambo and, wow, they totally fucked up the book! The movie now seems cheap, dated, and pedestrian.

The book had so many great, tense scenes in it... And, of course, all the difference in the world -- Rambo is crazy. Not weepy Charlie killed my buddy and why, why, why, hug me! crazy... He's a homicidal maniac. He must be stopped. Even his internal monologue acknowledges that.

[nacho]

The Caesar book is moving slow... Bogged down in the minutiae of the Gallic Wars, then segueing slowly into the minutiae of the Civil War.  Halfway through and I've distracted myself throughout with candy -- Liek Die Hard, and First Blood...and now the hilarious and wonderful Know-It-All.

Largely, I'm distracted by these things because the Caesar book is a big honking doorstopper, but all of the above I've downloaded on Kindle, which I can read on my phone/computer and still look like I'm doing work...

(McCullough hasn't allowed her work to go to ebooks...)