You'll have to let us know how they are; I've only read the first. I did, however, also watch the miniseries adaptation of it, which was a pretty good.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Goddamn, can that woman write. Makes me want to toss my laptop out the window. The story is kind of whatever--actually, 60 pages in, I'm not sure there even is a story--but who cares? The journey, descriptions, and observations more than make up for it.
I got sucked into reading Soulless by Gail Carrigier. (I pulled it off the shelf for a guest but it had an interesting synopisis so i downloaded the ebook) If you like the Mercy Thompson series ..... Its almost EXACTLY like that (almost mirrored opening scenes too to the first book in the Mercy Thompsn series but instead of a dead werewolf, its a dead vampire that puts the plot in motion), but in Victorian London. The author is an archaeologist and a specialist in the Victorian era, so i had to get used to the language and the roundabout way people talked. Anyway.... I stayed up longer than i should have last night reading, so today is going to be a looooooong day.....
Just bought a kindle version of Street Without Joy because I feel like getting a handle on the events of the last few days. Read it a long time ago but it's time for another spin.
I am now on Book 2, Changeless I like the humor. Its not laugh out loud funny, but its "eyeroll" and "snort" funny (Best character has to be "Major Channing Channing of the Chesterfield Channings"..... Even the MC was like "wtf? Is that really your name??")
Is that the Canning Channings, who package food products, or perhaps the Caning Channings, who make chairs? I doubt it's the ones who manufacture chains, I won't even ask.
I'm frustrated this month because I keep starting stories and not finishing them. Not because they are bad but because I'm a maniac. However, I did finish my first Colleen Hoover book (Verity) a couple days ago. I actually started it several months ago but put it down. Glad I picked it back up. Just bought Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly. Sounded intriguing and I had some credits on Kindle to spend. Her father slaughters the whole family (except her) when she was one. Now as an adult she's bought the family house it happened in and is moving in. Lastly, I have two books I'm about 35-40% in that I AM going to finish ASAP because I'm getting very annoyed at my lack of focus. The Troop by Nick Cutter I'm going to put a big dent in today. I really liked the beginning but then it started to feel tedious so I've been avoiding it. I know if I push through I'll like it though.
That's a play on Major Major Major from Catch-22... somebody was channeling their inner Jospeh Heller.
What was the scene when someone senior popped in and the room was called to attention but no one was sure for who? When I was a private I worked in an office where the next lowest-ranking person was a captain and the boss was a lieutenant colonel. And it was an Army office, with me as the lone jarhead there to maintain the traditions and honor of my branch. I spent a lot of time popping up to attention like a damn meerkat and screaming at people who came in before the LTC took me aside and told me that unless it was the base commandant (a full colonel) I didn't have to come to attention every time an officer walked in, and to please use my indoor voice when greeting people. He told me I was scaring the officers.
Who can remember? That book had like 3 gags per sentence. I can remember the book blowing my mind with I was 18, thinking it was a little silly at 25, and finding it unreadable a few years ago when I tried to read it at 40. Haha. Great line! I'm stealing it. If it were a Joseph Heller novel, you would continue to pop up like a meerkat and scream, "Meow!" every time an officer entered. I doubt meerkats meow--probably not even considered a "kat"--but it would have been funny as hell. Give the officers something real to worry about.
You'll never be able to imagine the terror I felt when I first started working in that office. I was 18 years old, something like six weeks out of boot camp, and convinced that if I dropped one "sir" I'd have the LTC calling my detachment CO, who was "only" a major. Did the job for about three months and eventually got into an appropriate comfort zone with the officers who worked there. In the end I was told to type up my own letter of appreciation and the boss smiled when he saw phrases like (I had help from a retired Marine who also worked there) "essential to the smooth functioning of the office" and "performed mission-critical tasks." Like answering the phone, which I did badly at first. I think I was kind of a pet Marine to those guys. Oh well, long ago and far away.
I've had this book sitting on my 'to read' pile for ages, but wasn't in the mood. I'm in the mood now. And what a fantastic and totally appropriate book it is for our times, right now. The Beekeeper of Aleppo, by Christy Lefteri. It's not about refugees from Afghanistan, but close enough. Very close enough....
Reading Troy - Our Greatest Story Retold - by Stephen Fry. An easy paced and clearly presented guide to Greek mythology and retold stories. Ideal for a lazy reader like me who doesn’t want to delve to deep but definitely a box ticked in terms of my reading research and education. Who knows where this may lead…
Still reading book 2 but now that im back to binging books, i find myself talking outloud. "Oh, a device that disrupts all electronics causing them to fail momentarily given in the last chapter? Oh, all transportation is down except for the big metal flying machine? wow, shes gettin on said flying machine with said deadly weapon? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG????" my dogs are looking at me probably wondering if i've finally lost it
Finished English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline by Bruce McComiskey. It is a quite terrible collection of essays trying to define English studies as a discipline. There's truly nothing worse than English departments spending ninety thousand words to define itself and then conclude that it should stop talking about itself and instead talk to others. But here we are. Essentially, it's a textbook in the form of essays from various English departments around the United States, all from different fields within. Rhetoric, creative writing, critical theory, and English education are all included. They all try to define English studies in their own ways, but don't really get much of anywhere. The rhetorical section is the worst simply because its like a thirty thousand mile per hour review of the history of rhetoric as lists and then does nothing more than expeditiously show the reader where it came from. There is quite a bit of ironic comedy here. Aside from the rhetorical listing to nowhere, the critical theory section spends more time self-aggrandizing than applying (which is contrary to the section author's goals), the introduction by the collection editor is much longer than any one of the six chapters, and it concludes with English education stating that the departments waste way too much effort and money on trying to define or justify themselves (which is exactly what the section author was doing). So the entire collection basically comes to the conclusion that talking about itself is self-aggrandizing and and a waste of time, but that's exactly what the book does. Well, that was ass. Glad I've been enjoying Robert Jordan between in my off time.
Mentioned this upthread but damn Bernard Fall was amazing. Combining combat experience with the French Resistance and a doctorate in poli sci gives an amazing perspective to his books. He can tell you in one chapter how the wreckage of a downed aircraft became an important tactical position and in the next explain what was going on at the UN security council and how NATO commitments affected resupply of French units in Vietnam.
I finished The Troop by Nick Cutter and am so happy I did! I'm going to get one of his other books, The Deep in the future. I had The Troop on my kindle for months, it collected dust but I knew I was going to get to it so I never traded it in. The beginning was very impressive. At around 40-55% I felt like the descriptions were a bit excessive and it dragged a little for me. I kept on though and overall really enjoyed it. Some really good descriptions, even if it sometimes felt excessive--heh. This book had a scene that made me feel queasy. Never experienced that from a book before so I was shocked. Amazing body horror.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery. My fourth grade teacher, Carolyn Draper O'Gorman, was reading it to the class when I transferred into her class from another school. She introduce us to so many classics that year. She also encouraged us to write stories. I wrote my first novel in her class. Alas, Mrs. O'Gorman died in a train wreck in Mississippi in the late 1960s. The world lost a truly fine teacher.
Half "that moment" and half this thread.... Ive made it to the end of Book 2 and TMW the bonus material at the end of the book was written by none other than your former Pop Fiction professor!!!!
Finished Anne of Green Gables. I remember now why I got impatient with the later books. She went from being filled with idiosyncrasies and faults to being saintly and adored. Now I need to read a nice soothing murder mystery to reorder my attitude.
Rereading Don Quixote for the 3rd or 4th time. I like these gags slightly better than the ones in Catch-22(and much better than Closing Time). There are also some beautiful nuggets that would make great quotes in an undergraduate paper. I also just finished Townie, which I thought was a great read for an aspiring writer. Though the fact he still made more money from laboring on construction sites was a rough reality check.
I also read Don Quixote this year. Before that, I probably made 3 or 4 attempts and could not finish this book in any way. I started reading Catch-22, but I didn't really like the beginning. Is it worth the effort and read to the end?
