You might check out The Warriors. The novel is very different from the movie—for one it's an all black gang. For another, it doesn't turn the fighting into something like stylized dance to make it more acceptable, it's harsh and brutal to the core. Also no silly costumes and Kiss style face paint. (All that said, I really like the movie too.)
His Dark Materials is a great series. If it's derivative of something, I'm unaware of it and would like to read it. I found the themes, concept and characters all very unique. I haven't started The Book of Dust prequel trilogy, but I'm looking forward to it sometime this year probably.
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics ~ Carlo Rovelli 79 Pages (and big writing), I was going to read it over a coffee, you know, to back up what I’ve learnt on the Discovery Channel. Instead, a few sips in, a change of tack, I chose to have it over several coffees, a chapter at a time, and with a biscuit at the end. What can I say: cleverly condensed, clear, formula free, and tackled some of a skyward looking ruminator’s biggest questions—in such an elegant/eloquent manner too. Gonna have it on my side, it’s only a skinny thing, like a hip flask. It will wind up well swug and more dog-eared than err Cerberus < Took a while to think that up.
I finished the Inferno today and I'm starting the Purgatorio next. I think this is the kind of literature that can be read many times to great avail. If it was a textbook, you'd be crying. The shorter a physics textbook is, the harder it is.
I stayed up until 3 last night, having picked up a book i started before the pandemic. OMG am i pissed. Its like 300 something pages long. I stopped on page like 198. ITS ALL FRIGGIN EXPOSITION! They talk in the car, they talk in the conference room, they talk in a library. There a brief pause where the MC has a nightmare, but then she wakes up and there is a "dream interpreter" to provide more exposition. There's a break in the exposition for a sex scene. But guess what happens right after: Exposition in the shower. And its not like, naturally occuring. It all happens because some one is like "oh, tell me more," and "do you know WHY this happened? Well ill tell you why!" And "i know you guys already know this stuff, but let me tell you anyway" They are supposed to be saving the world from this massive threat, and the book keeps remind you that this threat no bueno.... The duration of all of this happened within 2 days.... AND THEY HAVENT EVEN LEFT HEADQUARTERS TO SEE THE ACTION OF THE SO CALLED THREAT!! And her parents are friggin weird and plot conveniences. Why is this big bad alien who has taken over the body of a middle eastern terrorist targeting you? Oh, because your mom is a secret agent, surprise! Now we have an international crisis on our hands. Oh, why isnt your dad surprised about the existence of aliens? Oh, because hes a secret scientist and is now able to do science stuff -jazz hands- Also, the mom has been with them for 1 day, and shes trying to set her daughter up with one of the aliens. Why? I dont friggin know, sexual/dramatic tension? And dad over here feels the need to ask said alien if he goes to synagogue because, god forbid you darn alien date my daughter during an intergalactic and international crisis after 2 days of meeting her and not be jewish. (i rant all of this as i still continue to read. I am nothing if not loyal )
by the end of this, I'd imagine I could tell you what the inside of my skull looks like with the amount of eye-rolling I've been doing to get to this point. cant stop now!
Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch (sounds kinky, but its not, obviously per my rant. Girl gets roped into this MIB type organization run by aliens to hunt bad aliens and protect humanity) I was discarding books that have not been touched in over 2 years. I wondered why this book and the whole series was on the discard list....
Nothing right now. Too busy to read for the past few weeks. I'm supposed to be retired, fer Pete's sake! Where did all my time go? The governor of Washington finally let some construction projects proceed, which means my renovations are moving full speed ahead! Great, but suddenly there's a heap of details to look after. Windows! Doors! Where do they go? How many do we need? What kind of floor do I want in my bathroom? When is the spa being delivered? Dunno - it's being made at a factory in California and the factory is shut down because of the Covid 19. Who knows when it'll open? Gavin Newsom? And my sister is undergoing chemotherapy in Toronto and I can't visit her because f**khin'garbage border laws and stuff. Virus again. And I have to reconnect with my guitar and get some practice in. I've got no strength any more in my left hand - it cramps up if I try to play three songs in a row. And my fingerpicking has gone down the toilet. My guitars are mocking me. Argh. No reading just now.
That's about all I've done for the last 8 weeks. About the only silver lining I can think of. The strength will come back with practice. Do some scale excercises.
Finished the book (finally). Imma give Mercedes Lackey a try. I hear her Elemental Masters series is pretty good. Im not in the mood to pick up anything too heavy, so Danticat's Claire of the Sea of Light may have to wait a bit longer
Reading Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf as research for my WIP. It probably makes me a barbarian to admit it (or hopelessly bourgeois), but I'm finding it a hell of a slog. The author must have thought quotation marks were being taxed at 200%, there's so little dialogue. About halfway through. Regardless, it may be useful to some extent. And it sure says a lot about attitudes in Germany in the 1920s.
It's not just you. I found it a chore too. Something about it is lost on me. Actually, I think I'm still about half, maybe only a third of the way through it. I'll get back to it eventually. Maybe it picks up?
Yeah, sort of. Just finished it. It comes out into hope, but a very curious hope, indeed. If I'm going to make any use of it for my WIP, I'll have to digest it better.
The book club book, but also Robert Jordan's third book in the Wheel of Time series: the Dragon Reborn.
You're making me want to pick up that series again. It's been years, and I never completed it in its entirety I don't believe, but it had waves of brilliance, and I absolutely adore his creature set he used. Jordan makes up a whole shelf on my book selves. I am on the last quarter of Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, our book club novel this month. I have many thoughts and opinions on it, and am excited to discuss it when I post the opening comments and questions for it tomorrow.
I'm enjoying it. It's a bit like the Lord of the Rings for me, reading wise, because I'm taking my time with it. I want to savor the world and adventure with the characters. I imagine I'll eventually have all of the books, haha.
