The Cellar  

Go Back   The Cellar > Main > Arts & Entertainment
FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Search

Arts & Entertainment Give meaning to your life or distract you from it for a while

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-10-2008, 06:48 PM   #1051
LJ
i am myself
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: via blackberry, maybe
Posts: 750
David Copperfield
__________________
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show ...
-C.Dickens
LJ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2008, 07:31 PM   #1052
monster
I hear them call the tide
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
Iron Hand of Mars. Lindsey Davis.

Ovenman. Jeff Parker.
__________________
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart
monster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2008, 07:34 PM   #1053
Aliantha
trying hard to be a better person
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 16,493
Quote:
Originally Posted by LJ View Post
David Copperfield
I didn't know your talents extended to reading jimbo. Impressive!
__________________
Kind words are the music of the world. F. W. Faber
Aliantha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 06:14 AM   #1054
Sundae
polaroid of perfection
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 24,185
Just read Smashed - Growing Up A Drunk Girl by Koren Zailckas.
I think Brianna recommended it to me, but I just happened to see it in a charity shop. Her story is nothing like mine, but some of her descriptions of coming off and going back on booze, and her descriptions of depression really resonated. I've sent it to my Mum because I think it's worth reading. With a note to say it doesn't mirror my experiences! Don't want Mum to suddenly start worrying I was drinking spirits at 14!

Currently reading The Mill on the Floss, George Elliot. Working my way through all the important books I seem to have missed out on. It's holding my attention better than Dickens or Austen because it's funnier. Even if I have to switch my brain into a slightly different gear in order to appreciate some of the sly humour.

Just read I Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Disappointed. I loved Fried Green Tomatoes...and Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, but recently they've been too winsome for me. Perhaps I was less cynical when I read the other two. Nah, they were definitely funnier and harder hitting.

What else... Oh - I read a great book the other week Darkmans by Nicola Barker. It appears very simple to start with, but the strands of story soon begin to diverge and the characters really draw you in. I found myself looking out for them in my daily life and realising with a start that they were fictional. It's set in the present day but the past resonates in the story. It's almost but not quite supernatural and you're never really sure whether you can trust the characters to report what is really happening as they all have their own problems and agendas. Well worth a read.

I'm also working through Patricia Highsmith's Ripley books - I've read them slightly out of sequence and just finished Ripley Underground. Am going to see what else they have for me when I finish on here (I'm at the library).

Oh and finally I also picked up If I'm So Wonderful Why Am I Still Single in the charity shop. It has almost but not quite persuaded me that I will go speed dating on Valentine's Day as it advises treating looking for a partner in the same way as you would looking for a job. Good point. And just as scary.
__________________
Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac
Sundae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 07:53 AM   #1055
Trilby
Slattern of the Swail
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 15,654
I'm reading for a class: Witchcraft in Colonial America---great stuff. If she looks like a witch, you build a bridge out of her...no, wait, you see if she weighs the same as a duck...or...
Trilby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 10:49 AM   #1056
ZenGum
Doctor Wtf
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Badelaide, Baustralia
Posts: 12,861
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brianna View Post
I'm reading for a class: Witchcraft in Colonial America---great stuff. If she looks like a witch, you build a bridge out of her...no, wait, you see if she weighs the same as a duck...or...
I'd like to see someone try that with Wolf!
__________________
Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008.
Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.
ZenGum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 11:11 AM   #1057
Trilby
Slattern of the Swail
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 15,654
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZenGum View Post
I'd like to see someone try that with Wolf!
agreed!
Trilby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 12:09 PM   #1058
BigV
Goon Squad Leader
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Seattle
Posts: 27,063
Thud! by Terry Pratchett

*then*, now that I'm hooked, I want to get them in order.

The Color of Magic, (done) and The Light Fantastic, (done) and now Equal Rites (underway, at last).

Recently completed DeathNote 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. I'm trying to keep up with SonofV.
__________________
Be Just and Fear Not.
BigV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 04:19 PM   #1059
DanaC
We have to go back, Kate!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 25,964
If you haven't already read the early ones, it's worth noting that they evolve quite a bit across the series. Early discworld novels have a different flavour to the later ones, but are entirely worthwhile in their own right. Where the later books concentrate primarily on mirroring our world, the main focus of the early books is to satirise the fantasy genre of the day (as well as comment on our world). The style changes quite a bit from there.

The main character in the first two books (and recurring at various points across the first few) is Rincewind. Excellent character. I loved him.
DanaC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 05:50 PM   #1060
busterb
NSABFD
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: MS. usa
Posts: 3,908
Playing for Pizza John Grisham
__________________
I've haven't left very deep footprints in the sands of time. But, boy I've left a bunch.
busterb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2008, 09:11 PM   #1061
Clodfobble
UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,012
Just finished Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk. It was definitely entertaining, but overall he's just not really my thing. A lot of the gimmicks get old (you know the running joke in Fight Club about "I am Jack's ruptured spleen," etc.? There's like four or five different gags like that, and they just keep repeating.) And then the "twist" I was promised on the back cover was not really a twist at all, just a bizarre way to wrap things up because there was nowhere else to go. But I did like it, despite my bitching... To be honest, I think his writing style just works better on film (like, say, Fight Club) rather than book format.

Now I'm halfway through Orson Scott Card's Songmaster.
Clodfobble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2008, 06:44 AM   #1062
Sundae
polaroid of perfection
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 24,185
Just finished The Companions by Sheri S Tepper. Worth reading, but not her best. Didn't help that I'm not a dog person I suppose.

Found some more Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake books. They improve when they're not read back to back (I read 5 in one weekend once) as she repeats many phrases and descriptions and for an attentive reader like me that really jars. So Cerulean Sins and Narcissus in Chains pleased me - now I just have to wait another 3 years before picking up the next one.

Along the same lines I'm reading Dimestore Magic by Kelley Armstrong. I enjoyed Industrial Magic but disliked Haunted (any book set in heaven gives me the shudders. With the possible exception of Dante's Paradiso!) It's okay so far - I'll see how I feel about Broken when I've finished both.

I have a pile of books (safely stowed in a big shopping bag since tidying my room yesterday) to get through. My problem is remembering them when I'm here!
__________________
Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac
Sundae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2008, 08:00 AM   #1063
Cloud
...
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 8,360
Have you read Hamilton's fairie series? A bit of the same problem, but at least they're a change of pace.

I was not impressed with Dimestore Magic.
__________________
"Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards!"
Cloud is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2008, 08:54 AM   #1064
aimeecc
Super Intendent
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 249
I read "The Tale of Tom Kitten" by Beatrix Potter last night. lol
Little one actually let me read the entire book. Ok, its not that long. But he has the attention span of about 4 pages when it comes to me reading. I also recommend "B is for Bear" by Roger Priddy and "What Floats" (Baby Einstein series).
aimeecc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2008, 11:27 AM   #1065
Happy Monkey
I think this line's mostly filler.
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DC
Posts: 13,575
I'm reading Wicked. I could have sworn I'd read it before, but it's like reading it for the first time. Great book.
__________________
_________________
|...............| We live in the nick of times.
| Len 17, Wid 3 |
|_______________| [pics]
Happy Monkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
books


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:00 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.