Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading? - Page 317

Dr. Drib · 04-28-2010, 07:46 AM

Just finished "Under the Dome," by Stephen King.

I felt this was a very unfocused book, with a parade of stereotyped characters wandering around with no direction.

There was no one to root for, except for the perpetrator(s) of the crime.

Big Jim was a Big Joke.

Stephen King is an important writer, but this is not an important book - in my opinion - and is easily forgettable, except for one incredible paragraph: The last paragraph, which sums up what the beginning of Love may be all about, is an important statement.

Don

neilmarr · 04-28-2010, 08:12 AM

Couldn't agree more, Don. I begrudged the precious reading time wasted in getting through *Under the Dome*. Cheers. Neil

lilac_jive · 04-28-2010, 09:10 AM

I finally just started "The Egg and I" for our book club (I'm so behind!) and I'm enjoying it so far.

pshrynk · 04-28-2010, 10:27 AM

Finishing up The Princess Bride. Every bit as fun as the movie, plus the inside of the author's head is great. At least the inside of the author's head that he made up to look like the inside of his head. Or something...

FlorenceArt · 04-28-2010, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Finishing up The Princess Bride. Every bit as fun as the movie, plus the inside of the author's head is great. At least the inside of the author's head that he made up to look like the inside of his head. Or something...

Oooh, that sounds nice! I've been thinking about reading that book for a while, and it just moved up a notch in my priority list

Katti's Cat · 04-28-2010, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilmarr

Hi Kati's Cat: Follett's *Pillars of the Earth* and *World Without End* really are excellent. If you liked them, maybe you should give Rutherfurd and Michener a whirl. They tend to cover longer time-spans in their novels but use the same fascinating device, interlinked stories of family fortunes. Excellent research goes without saying.

Cheers. Neil

Thanks Neil. Rutherford has been a longtime fav author of mine - currently reading 'New York'. I have read some of Micheners books as well, but somehow got away from him.

MelC · 04-28-2010, 01:29 PM

Shamefacedly admitting that I just finished my first Danielle Steel since I was a teenager - "Big Girl". Was intrigued by the promise of dysfunctional family relations, one of my favourite book themes. The moral of the story is that you can't go home again (this is actually the moral it seems) but from my perspective it should be taken to read that some authors, once outgrown, should never be revisited. Was her writing always this bad I wonder? It is not just the trite story lines and predictible plots, that I was expecting. It is the fact that she strings her sentences together like someone writing a textbook for english as a second language students. Precise boring stilted language with no imagery or flare. Lesson learned.

Moving on to Summer Knights - Dresden Book 4 - at least I know what to expect from this author.

Mel

Dr. Drib · 04-28-2010, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Finishing up The Princess Bride. Every bit as fun as the movie, plus the inside of the author's head is great. At least the inside of the author's head that he made up to look like the inside of his head. Or something...

That's one good argument for a color Reader - the "good parts" can be in red- just like the original book.

Don

kainne · 04-28-2010, 05:23 PM

Just finished People of Sparks (City of Ember 2) which was really quite interesting, then Death Masks (Dresden 5) which was also quite good then The Prophet of Yonwood (COE 3) which is a prequel to the series and I didn't really enjoy this book as it didn't add anything to the series.
Started Blood Rites (Dresden 6)

MickeyC · 04-28-2010, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilmarr

Couldn't agree more, Don. I begrudged the precious reading time wasted in getting through *Under the Dome*. Cheers. Neil

Me too! I felt like King jammed a 600 page novel into 1000 pages.

Anybody read Blockade Billy yet?

pdurrant · 04-29-2010, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

My Son, the Wizard by Christopher Stasheff. The fifth in a fantasy series. I've read the others and enoyed them (although some time ago). From the first few pages, I think I'll be able to pick up without any difficulty.

And it was indeed possible to follow the book easily without having to know the earlier books well (unlike Torch of Freedom). A light, fun read.

Now for a book I bought exactly a year ago. The Dragon Man by Brian Stableford. A book that's actually still for sale at fictionwise, although luckily I got it during their 50% Multiformat sale.

DixieGal · 04-29-2010, 09:22 AM

I just finished Wesley Allison's (HistoryWes) book, The Voyage of the Minotaur. You guys should get it at Smashwords. It is book 1 of an unfinished series, but I'll be anxiously awaiting book 2. Here's the review I gave it:

"This first book in a new series delivers a rich new world, magic and technology, and exciting well written battles. That would have been enough to pique my interest in this amazing book. However, the complex and fully formed characters brimming with passion, duty, loyalty, and human failings make one care about them and their lives. Toss in a few modern day dinosaurs, and there is something here for everyone. I am now anxiously awaiting the second book in the sseries. I highly recommend this book for fans of all genres."

I enjoyed it very much.

DixieGal · 04-29-2010, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cassidym

Me too! I felt like King jammed a 600 page novel into 1000 pages.

Anybody read Blockade Billy yet?

Perfect timing! I was thinking of getting it next. Thanks for the warning!

Author Eyes · 04-29-2010, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreams

Finished Radium Halos and totally enjoyed the way the story was told. I think I'll use a section of the forward by Leonard Grosman which describes it better than I can..

I found the story built around this part of history hard to put down.

Hey, Dreams. Thanks for recommending me!

Shelley Stout
author of Radium Halos

ould · 04-30-2010, 09:44 AM

Recently finished The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death
by Charlie Huston. I enjoyed this book as I have with all the Charlie Huston books I have read so far(Hank Thomson Trilogy). I enjoy his quick paced dialogue heavy writing style, almost reads like a screenplay. I will check out some more of his work in the future.

Next up I read The Blue Man Dreams the End of Time by Michael McIrvin which was graciously forwarded to me by our own Neil Marr. I was sent the epub version to read on my Nook. The layout and formatting were great and I didn't catch any errors, so kudos on that front. Now the book was a decent read which I mostly enjoyed. It was the author's writing style that I couldn't really get totally into. I am not sure how to describe it but "long winded" comes to mind. I felt some of the sentences and paragraphs were way too long. I also felt at times the book seemed to really be way too drawn out, especially the first part of the book, part 2 and 3 were much better. Whereas I almost stopped reading it in Part 1 as I felt the story was moving along. All in all a decent read and worth checking out if you can get a copy from Neil.

Kevin

04-28-2010, 07:46 AM	#4741
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 45,466 Karma: 59592133 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: KINDLE: Oasis 3, Scribe (1st), Matcha; KOBO: Libra 2, Libra Colour	Just finished "Under the Dome," by Stephen King. I felt this was a very unfocused book, with a parade of stereotyped characters wandering around with no direction. There was no one to root for, except for the perpetrator(s) of the crime. Big Jim was a Big Joke. Stephen King is an important writer, but this is not an important book - in my opinion - and is easily forgettable, except for one incredible paragraph: The last paragraph, which sums up what the beginning of Love may be all about, is an important statement. Don Last edited by Dr. Drib; 04-29-2010 at 06:56 AM. Reason: added "a"; changed "in" to "an"

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04-28-2010, 08:12 AM	#4742
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Couldn't agree more, Don. I begrudged the precious reading time wasted in getting through Under the Dome. Cheers. Neil

04-28-2010, 09:10 AM	#4743
lilac_jive Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,870 Karma: 27376 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Device: PRS-505	I finally just started "The Egg and I" for our book club (I'm so behind!) and I'm enjoying it so far.

04-28-2010, 10:27 AM	#4744
pshrynk Beepbeep n beebeep, yeah! Posts: 11,726 Karma: 8255450 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, aka America's IceBox Device: iThingie, KmkII, I miss Zelda!	Finishing up The Princess Bride. Every bit as fun as the movie, plus the inside of the author's head is great. At least the inside of the author's head that he made up to look like the inside of his head. Or something...

04-28-2010, 01:29 PM	#4747
MelC Evangelist Posts: 410 Karma: 2081 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: Cybook Gen3, PRS600	Shamefacedly admitting that I just finished my first Danielle Steel since I was a teenager - "Big Girl". Was intrigued by the promise of dysfunctional family relations, one of my favourite book themes. The moral of the story is that you can't go home again (this is actually the moral it seems) but from my perspective it should be taken to read that some authors, once outgrown, should never be revisited. Was her writing always this bad I wonder? It is not just the trite story lines and predictible plots, that I was expecting. It is the fact that she strings her sentences together like someone writing a textbook for english as a second language students. Precise boring stilted language with no imagery or flare. Lesson learned. Moving on to Summer Knights - Dresden Book 4 - at least I know what to expect from this author. Mel

04-28-2010, 05:23 PM	#4749
kainne Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 51520 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: PRS-700	Just finished People of Sparks (City of Ember 2) which was really quite interesting, then Death Masks (Dresden 5) which was also quite good then The Prophet of Yonwood (COE 3) which is a prequel to the series and I didn't really enjoy this book as it didn't add anything to the series. Started Blood Rites (Dresden 6)

04-29-2010, 09:22 AM	#4752
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	I just finished Wesley Allison's (HistoryWes) book, The Voyage of the Minotaur. You guys should get it at Smashwords. It is book 1 of an unfinished series, but I'll be anxiously awaiting book 2. Here's the review I gave it: "This first book in a new series delivers a rich new world, magic and technology, and exciting well written battles. That would have been enough to pique my interest in this amazing book. However, the complex and fully formed characters brimming with passion, duty, loyalty, and human failings make one care about them and their lives. Toss in a few modern day dinosaurs, and there is something here for everyone. I am now anxiously awaiting the second book in the sseries. I highly recommend this book for fans of all genres." I enjoyed it very much.

04-30-2010, 09:44 AM	#4755
ould Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 1000399 Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Toronto, Ontario Device: Sony PRS-500	Recently finished The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston. I enjoyed this book as I have with all the Charlie Huston books I have read so far(Hank Thomson Trilogy). I enjoy his quick paced dialogue heavy writing style, almost reads like a screenplay. I will check out some more of his work in the future. Next up I read The Blue Man Dreams the End of Time by Michael McIrvin which was graciously forwarded to me by our own Neil Marr. I was sent the epub version to read on my Nook. The layout and formatting were great and I didn't catch any errors, so kudos on that front. Now the book was a decent read which I mostly enjoyed. It was the author's writing style that I couldn't really get totally into. I am not sure how to describe it but "long winded" comes to mind. I felt some of the sentences and paragraphs were way too long. I also felt at times the book seemed to really be way too drawn out, especially the first part of the book, part 2 and 3 were much better. Whereas I almost stopped reading it in Part 1 as I felt the story was moving along. All in all a decent read and worth checking out if you can get a copy from Neil. Kevin