Alex Heat Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 I'm pretty late to the party on it, but I picked up The Dresden Files a couple months ago since I'd run out of Noble Dead Saga books to read. Already up to book eight of...twelve, I think? I kinda wish I'd heard about it sooner because it's been a long time since I went through books so quickly. Not since middle school and I was still reading Animorphs, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 On 2/7/2012 at 11:17 PM, TheFlyingGerbil said: I just finished Appaloosa. I really enjoyed it and it was my first ever western. I may give some others a try. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm currently finishing a uni course on Western Fiction (I.e. westerns.) so I have a few suggestions. Old stuff that's great: - Shane, - Riders of the Purple Sage, - My Antonia, - Roughing It (watch out for the arguably boring chapters on silver mining. This ones basically non-fiction), - The Virginian (I didn't enjoy it too much but it's a classic). Newer stuff that's great: - Blood Meridian (best Western ever written, masterpiece, but a deconstruction of the whole genre so vicious as shit and very dense around the middle part), - All the Pretty Horses (these two are by Cormac McCarthy; basically anything of his is amazing and a Western in some way or another), - there's more but I can't remember. On 3/29/2012 at 11:48 PM, Hot Heart said: Started reading Red Harvest. I actually found The Maltese Falcon a little disappointing and clunky. Hopefully this is better, although I think some of the issues may be about getting over the age of the book/writing style. I've only read the Big Sleep but it was awesome. What'd you recommend after that? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 On 4/30/2012 at 2:51 PM, kenshi_ryden said: I've only read the Big Sleep but it was awesome. What'd you recommend after that? Truth be told, I've not read any Chandler (I have my eye on a Kindle collection I may snap up after giving A Game of Thrones a try). Only read Hammett. Love the film version of The Big Sleep and I hear the book gets into the more gritty details (although with a bit more homophobia). I'd recommend Red Harvest as it was also a precursor to films like Yojimbo, which inspired A Fistful Of Dollars and Miller's Crossing...and Last Man Standing. I felt The Maltese Falcon kinda dragged and the 'kicker' was a bit disappointing even if the Sam Spade character is cool. As for the stuff you just mentioned. Can't believe I forgot Cormac McCarthy. Definitely want to give him a read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Blood Meridian really was amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 It's certainly something. Currently writing a 3000 word essay on it, and considering doing my dissertation on it. Topic of essay: To what extent are heroes in Western Fiction elemental, beyond history's grasp. A lot of it will be about the Judge I always meant to read the Maltese Falcon. Who wrote Red Harvest and what is it? Cormac is my fave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Whoa whoa whoa. Please tell me what you think of the ending both what happens and what you think the point of it was. I'd love to hear it from someone who is looking into the book that deeply. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 On 4/30/2012 at 11:34 PM, kenshi_ryden said: I always meant to read the Maltese Falcon. Who wrote Red Harvest and what is it? Cormac is my fave. Red Harvest is by Dashiel Hammett as well. It's about a character known only as The Continental Operative (based on Hammett's time as a Pinkerton Detective) who arrives in town to meet a man who gets murdered before that can take place. The Op discovers the underlying corruption in the town and decides to stir it up by turning all the gangs against one another, while trying to stay alive (and clean) himself. Raymond Chandler, the author of The Big Sleep, was heavily influenced by Hammett. The similarities between Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade are also supported by the fact that Bogart fit both characters in film adaptations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDex Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 I've never read any of those. I should probably make more of an effort to move past fantasy and non-fiction. But not right now. I've finished the first book of The Black Company series and I'm now well into the second book - Shadows Linger. I have to recommend this to anyone who likes dark fantasy. It's a fantastic read with some great characters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) On 4/30/2012 at 11:47 PM, Faiblesse Des Sens said: Whoa whoa whoa. Please tell me what you think of the ending both what happens and what you think the point of it was. I'd love to hear it from someone who is looking into the book that deeply. Haha, it's pretty daunting to even start. Minor spoilers for Blood Meridian: Reveal hidden contents Okaaaay. The whole arc of the book can be subject to loads of different theories; it's a historical document of a real gang and the real events surrounding them in the mid 19th century, but it can be read as an allegory to dantes inferno, a journey through purgatory and hell, or you can do the reading Imndoing for this essay: judgement day. The judge is basically the centre of the point; the clue is in his name: Judge. The whole thing is a judgement of the kid, and the other souls in the party. In a religious and literal sense. The focal conflict of the Western frontier is the lack of history, or creation of history; The Kid is a character 'divested of history' by the third page of the book, and near the end, the judge tells him that he put his allowances up for judgement in the face of history. According to the judge, war and death is the ultimate judgement of a man; the accumulation of all that his life is worth, the ultimate judgement. That's why he is taking them on such a journey, and testing the kid repeatedly. Major spoilers: Reveal hidden contents Re: the ending, this is really up for debate as McCarthy doesn't tell us what Judge does to the kid. In Harold Blooms intro to the edition I have, he thinks Judge murders the kid. I think we can all agree it's not as simple as that. My flamate thinks he rapes the kid. This fits a bit better, but I don't think two cowboys would look in the room and be okay with that. I'm really not sure. I don't think it matters: the judge absorbs him and his history as judgemental symbiosis. Whatever that means. What a fucking book. There's loads of cool stuff about the judge and the narrative, too, like the focus on science and control of the environment... But I'll stop here. On 4/30/2012 at 11:49 PM, Hot Heart said: Reveal hidden contents On 4/30/2012 at 11:34 PM, kenshi_ryden said: I always meant to read the Maltese Falcon. Who wrote Red Harvest and what is it? Cormac is my fave. Red Harvest is by Dashiel Hammett as well. It's about a character known only as The Continental Operative (based on Hammett's time as a Pinkerton Detective) who arrives in town to meet a man who gets murdered before that can take place. The Op discovers the underlying corruption in the town and decides to stir it up by turning all the gangs against one another, while trying to stay alive (and clean) himself. Raymond Chandler, the author of The Big Sleep, was heavily influenced by Hammett. The similarities between Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade are also supported by the fact that Bogart fit both characters in film adaptations. Sounds awesome, thanks for the tips. On 5/1/2012 at 10:47 PM, MasterDex said: I've never read any of those. I should probably make more of an effort to move past fantasy and non-fiction. But not right now. I've finished the first book of The Black Company series and I'm now well into the second book - Shadows Linger. I have to recommend this to anyone who likes dark fantasy. It's a fantastic read with some great characters. It's not an effort bro, you just need to know good fictiony things to read! I'd recommend the Road if you like dark fiction. Probably the darkest modern fiction can go. Really compelling, too; almost moves into scifi or fantasy territory itself as its so savagely, realistically post apocalyptic. But it's definitely a realistic, grounded 'what if' of our fairly near future. That series you mentioned sounds pretty good. Read the Ghormenghast books? Edited May 2, 2012 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Been reading A Game of Thrones and it has been a pleasant experience so far. I rather like the prose, and it doesn't overcomplicate things (though it seems a smidgen clunky in parts), but I think watching S1 of the show helped get into it somewhat. Though I have been reading it on and off because I'm liking my Kindle, and its ability to display PDFs, so much that I find myself drawn to screenplays/scripts as well. Finished Munich, which I hadn't watched in ages and remember liking more than I did the script, and have been working through Chinatown...because it's fucking Chinatown, man. I did read The Big Sleep screenplay but it was an older inferior draft which also left me a little confused while reading (because I was expecting a scene that never appeared and then the finale was so sudden). I'll probably buy the Chandler collection available because the individual Kindle editions are a rip-off and I kinda want to see how the original novel ended... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted May 19, 2012 Report Share Posted May 19, 2012 Where do you find your screenplays at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted May 19, 2012 Report Share Posted May 19, 2012 Lately, I got a few from here: http://www.rjwattenhofer.com/free-hollywood-screenplay-library.htm Other times I just search for ones I feel like reading...and hope they're out there. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDex Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Last night, I got through the final book of The Black Company series. A shiver of emotion welled up as I read the final lines, and again as I read them here now. Here it is, for anyone who wishes to read it, but I strongly advise not doing so if you plan on reading the series. It's not terribly revealing but it has the potential to be so. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Reveal hidden contents Incessant wind sweeps the plain. It murmurs on across grey stone, carrying dust from far climes, to nibble eternally at the memorial pillars. There are a few shadows out there, but they are the weak and the timid, and the hopelessly lost. It is immortality, of a sort. Memory is immortality of a sort. In the night, when the wind dies and silence rules the place of glittering stone. I remember, and they all live again. Soldiers live and wonder why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 The Hobbit (for obvious reasons) and currently "City of Thieves" though reading isn't exactly the right word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 I should read the Hobbit again. It's been forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 (edited) This is tearing me apart: I spoke to someone on x-chat (Spork maybe, or Shoshk, or Ark) who recommended a novella series. 5 books, in an omnibus. Apparently great. Seemed it. But I have forgotten the name. Have the money and time to buy and read but can't find them. Anyone help? Sounded like sci-fi or fantasy, sci-fantasy, but nothing is helping me find it. They were about some society underground or something; at least the first one was. Pos-apocalyptic kind of thing for a starting point. Also, yeah the Hobbit is great. LotR can gtfo. Edited July 30, 2012 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 On 7/30/2012 at 7:22 PM, kenshi_ryden said: This is tearing me apart: I spoke to someone on x-chat (Spork maybe, or Shoshk, or Ark) who recommended a novella series. 5 books, in an omnibus. Apparently great. Seemed it. But I have forgotten the name. Have the money and time to buy and read but can't find them. Anyone help? Sounded like sci-fi or fantasy, sci-fantasy, but nothing is helping me find it. They were about some society underground or something; at least the first one was. Pos-apocalyptic kind of thing for a starting point. Not the Black Company stuff that Dex has been reading? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 Nah... It had a one-word name. Four letters I think. Like 'hoop' or 'loop' or ring' or something. Was 5 novellas collected into one omnibus volume. The cover was all golden and honey-coloured. Maaaan. On-topic: for my dissertation I just got like 5 Cormac McCarthy novels. And I got some William Gibbons, who seems great and seminal, and I got some Huxley, which also seems seminal. GOOD READING TIMES AHOY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 It was me mate. It was Wool. Wool Omnibus. Which on that topic, I've already finished the 5 in the omnibus and I'm reading the sixth. Pretty good and each is a quick read for avid readers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) WOOL IT WAS WOOL YOU'RE THE BEST EDIT: Ordered. And EDIT: I've got a bad habit on X-Chat where I just enjoy the chat people have and neglect to really put statements to names. I should probably see to that. Better remember who I'm talking to or who says what. Edited July 31, 2012 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Let me know what your thoughts on the first story are. While the Wool stories are by no mean ground breaking, they have really peaked the interest of people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 On 8/3/2012 at 10:40 PM, Waldorf And Statler said: Let me know what your thoughts on the first story are. While the Wool stories are by no mean ground breaking, they have really peaked the interest of people. *piqued. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 That's what happens when I attempt to use a word that I don't use on a daily basis haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 At least it's not as bad as my 'cookie'/ 'kooky' palava. That was embarassing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 On 8/3/2012 at 11:16 PM, kenshi_ryden said: That was embarassing. *embarrassing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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