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Post by stubedoo on Jul 30, 2007 16:37:38 GMT -5
Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Good parts and bad. All in all I think she wrapped it up alright. I could have done without the last chapter but... NO more post on Harry Potter!!! (At least until I'm done!) I'm rereading book 6 before starting book 7. Stu
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Post by Shutter Girl on Jul 30, 2007 18:14:11 GMT -5
Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Good parts and bad. All in all I think she wrapped it up alright. I could have done without the last chapter but... NO more post on Harry Potter!!! (At least until I'm done!) I'm rereading book 6 before starting book 7. Stu I just started book 6, Stu, aren't I pathetic?!!
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Post by MaxQuad on Aug 3, 2007 2:00:58 GMT -5
Just finished Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie - an excellent book that, though about Kashmir (in a sense), it is eerily applicable to so much in the world, including our present Iraq debacle. It was an interesting experience carrying the book to restaurants to read during dinner - always placing the book cover down in this decidely Islamic country. I doubt anyone would have commented, but still trying not to offend. I checked the Virgin Megastore in the Villagio Mall - no Rushdie books being sold. What a surprise.
Staring The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis De Bernieres. Have enjoyed Corelli's Mandolin and Birds without Wings, and have heard this book and the subsequent two in the trilogy are quite good.
MQ
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Post by RepairmanJack on Aug 3, 2007 9:50:30 GMT -5
Finished Aaron Elkins book Little Tiny Teeth yesterday. It is another in his Gideon Oliver series. Gideon, better known as the skeleton detective, is a forensic anthropologist. This book takes place in South America along the Amazon river. A good start, slow middle and then quick finish. Not his best effort, but if you are a fan of the series you will want to check it out.
As a side note has anyone else noticed how long running series seem to decline in quality? Too many series I have read seem to drop off the farther you get.
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ImageMaker
Minstrel in the Gallery
A glitter in my I...
Posts: 36
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Post by ImageMaker on Aug 4, 2007 21:16:38 GMT -5
As a side note has anyone else noticed how long running series seem to decline in quality? Too many series I have read seem to drop off the farther you get. Yep. I first noticed this with the Xanth series by Piers Anthony -- the first one where I actually read the books as they came out. His other series had the same problem, too, both the Tarot/Transfer series and the one that started with "On a Pale Horse" -- and then I read the answer in the foreword to one of those novels. He said that, by that point, he could sell anything before he put as much as a paragraph on paper -- and I realized that was the problem. Get a half dozen books into a series that's popular, with no end in sight, and your publisher will write you a big advance check for anything that's marginally publishable with the correct character names; they probably aren't even reading it closely, just sending it straight to a copy editor and then off for typesetting. This is bad. Take the edge off. A writer that loses the "hunger" loses his/her drive to write the best story they can tell, and become focused on punching out X pages a week, instead of making the store better. A writer that's a lesser light than, say, Robert Heinlein (whose worst work can, IMO, be blamed on the effects of a growing aneurysm in his brain -- and whose work returned to normal after the techno-surgery that corrected same) will then start to produce barely readable crap...
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Post by MaxQuad on Aug 5, 2007 4:58:41 GMT -5
I checked the Virgin Megastore in the Villagio Mall - no Rushdie books being sold. What a surprise. MQ I need to correct myself. Yesterady, while waiting for a colleague to buy some clothes to wear to the client site while she waits for her lost luggage to arrive, I took another wander through the Virgin Megastore in Doha's Villagio Mall - and, lo and behold, in an "Arabic Literature" section, sure enough...copies of Shalimar the Clown. "Arabic Literature"? Not in my mind. Anyway, no copies of Satanic Verses. MQ
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Post by stubedoo on Aug 6, 2007 20:52:56 GMT -5
OKAY!!! I finished Potter. I liked it.
Max, I sit in awe of the breadth of your reading. I pretty much read science fiction crap these days. Although I just found out that a colleague of mine has a father who is a theoretical string physicist so that might get me to dust off some of my physics books I've been meaning to read.
Stubedoo
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Post by MaxQuad on Aug 8, 2007 6:28:44 GMT -5
Max, I sit in awe of the breadth of your reading. Stubedoo Stubedoo - the breadth of my reading is pretty much limited to fiction, so unlike others, I partake only in small amounts of other genres. Yes, I occasioanlly read non-fiction. Yes, occasionally I read a classic as opposed to contemporary, but in many ways the breadth of my reading is no greater than others on this list. For some reason I have always been a fan of fiction over non-fiction. For some reason, it has a much greater emotional impact on me. Anyway... MQ
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Post by MaxQuad on Aug 8, 2007 7:33:16 GMT -5
As a side note has anyone else noticed how long running series seem to decline in quality? Too many series I have read seem to drop off the farther you get. RJ, Interesting question. I have to think back on a series or two I have read. I would say Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series has consistently high quality - as does Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series. A good friend in Florida would find me remiss in not saying that Clair Bee's Chip Hilton series is also excellent from start to finish. I must admit, however, that those are likely exceptions to the rule and that, in general, the longer the series, the higher the probability of worsening quality over time. MQ
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Post by Shutter Girl on Aug 12, 2007 10:01:29 GMT -5
Just finished: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Margaret Lea is a part-time biographer who runs an antiquarian bookstore with her father. One day she gets a summons to meet with famous author Vida Winter for a possible collaboration for Winter's biography.
Miss Winter is the most famous author of the day: Think Stephen King, Charlotte Bronte and J.K. Rowling all rolled up into one. She's famous for writing a collection of stories that are supposed to contain thriteen tales but only contain twelve -- the last one is missing and a whole culture of speculation has developed about the last tale... whether or not it exists or what it might contain. Miss Winter has been interviewed by biographers before but is also famous for lying about her background and embellishing her life story.
So what is Margaret to do? "I'm a biographer. I work with facts," is her response. Is the infamous Vida Winter ready to finally tell her true tale?
Get ready to visit the dark, dusty halls of Angelfield on the Moors, where the sinister topiary gardens are only an introduction to what lies inside. Insanity, an evil governess, feral beings, minds unraveling and murderous plots haunt these pages with delicious suspense. Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.
This was a wonderful read, the language in it alone is worth the trip, for it's lush and perfect. There are so many memorable passages in here, I can't even count them. And if you know Jane Eyre and other literature of the ilk you'll be all the better for reading this. Max, this one is for you -- get it!
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Post by stubedoo on Aug 12, 2007 22:55:03 GMT -5
Just started Thirteen by Richard Morgan, one of my favorite writers. His books are very gritty and violent but extremely well written.
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Post by MaxQuad on Aug 14, 2007 1:54:26 GMT -5
Just started Thirteen by Richard Morgan, one of my favorite writers. His books are very gritty and violent but extremely well written. Hmmm...you started reading Thirteen. SG just finished The Thirteenth Tale. Coincidence? I think not. Kind of eery, actually. MQ
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Post by Shutter Girl on Aug 14, 2007 6:44:05 GMT -5
Just started Thirteen by Richard Morgan, one of my favorite writers. His books are very gritty and violent but extremely well written. Hmmm...you started reading Thirteen. SG just finished The Thirteenth Tale. Coincidence? I think not. Kind of eery, actually. MQ That is kind of crazy! So what are you going to read next, Max? Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, perhaps?
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Post by MaxQuad on Aug 31, 2007 3:39:52 GMT -5
RJ,
See below from A Word A Day - MQ.
This week's theme: miscellaneous words.
rasorial (ruh-SOR-ee-uhl) adjective
Given to scratching the ground to look for food.
[From Latin radere (to scrape), ultimately from the Indo-European root red- (to scrape or scratch) that's also the source of raze, razor, erase, corrode, rascal, rat, and rodent.]
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
"By the time the estate's settled -- it'll be a while -- I hope to be long gone. Otherwise I'll be a rich jailbird. But even if I hung around I wouldn't see much of it. With two rasorial ex-wives -- the Skanks from Hell are both well practiced at deficit financing -- and a third who spends like the Hilton sisters, and three kids with college funds, what do you think?" F. Paul Wilson; Infernal: A Repairman Jack novel; Forge Books; 2005
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Post by RepairmanJack on Aug 31, 2007 18:17:39 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing MQ
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