mark-2007 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Has anyone noticed that Mario Puzo's writing style draws heavily on giving even the most least-important characters a name, a background and a story? I've always found this far more interesting and it gets me more drawn into the story. Yeah, I noticed that when I read The Godfather. I think it was Al Neri or Rocco Lampone, or maybe both, but neither were really major characters but both had excellent backing stories. Stefan: Try watch The Killing Fields, if you haven't already. It's about an American journalist and his Cambodian friend during the time there when sh*t kicked off. Good film, you should check it out as it might help with our course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToyMachine Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Thus Spoke Zarathusa. I love him almost as much as I love heavy reads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abel. Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 1984, just started it. Same here. I've just reached Part II of the story (8 chapters and 105 pages in). The story is really intriguing and inspiring. I defiantly recommend you read on. It's a very fascinating story, I shall. I've also read two similar books to it, Brave New World and Blind Faith, I'd highly recommend those as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark-2007 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 1984, just started it. Same here. I've just reached Part II of the story (8 chapters and 105 pages in). The story is really intriguing and inspiring. I defiantly recommend you read on. It's a very fascinating story, I shall. I've also read two similar books to it, Brave New World and Blind Faith, I'd highly recommend those as well. I've read Brave New World. A little weird, but it's a good read. I keep meaning to buy 1984/get it out from the library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Pain. Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Passage Of Dawn, one of the Dark Elf Series by Salvatore And a book about the Carthaginian Hannibal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhoda Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 I've been wanting to read really out there Sci-Fi, books that will really make my brain melt. Books similar to those by Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Can anyone make any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abel. Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 1984, just started it. Same here. I've just reached Part II of the story (8 chapters and 105 pages in). The story is really intriguing and inspiring. I defiantly recommend you read on. It's a very fascinating story, I shall. I've also read two similar books to it, Brave New World and Blind Faith, I'd highly recommend those as well. I've read Brave New World. A little weird, but it's a good read. I keep meaning to buy 1984/get it out from the library. Brave New World isn't weird, it's ahead of it's time. Both fantastic books, 1984 and Brave New world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam33 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I've been wanting to read really out there Sci-Fi, books that will really make my brain melt. Books similar to those by Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Can anyone make any recommendations? Anything by Ray Bradbury or Kurt Vonnegut is pretty damn awesome. It's mainly the ideas that are what drive the stroy. Like a tree made of money where instead of drinking water to survive it drinks human blood. Little ideas like that which he compiles into books of short stories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark-2007 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 1984, just started it. Same here. I've just reached Part II of the story (8 chapters and 105 pages in). The story is really intriguing and inspiring. I defiantly recommend you read on. It's a very fascinating story, I shall. I've also read two similar books to it, Brave New World and Blind Faith, I'd highly recommend those as well. I've read Brave New World. A little weird, but it's a good read. I keep meaning to buy 1984/get it out from the library. Brave New World isn't weird, it's ahead of it's time. Both fantastic books, 1984 and Brave New world. I meant more about the Savage reservations and the religions practiced in them. A few weird, made-up words here and there throughout the story too. It was a good book; a bit strange, but good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Pain. Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I just took some Lovecraft compilations out of the library...Dagon and one other I can't remember the name of. The story The Shadow Out of Time was one of the most amazingly atmospheric pieces of fiction I'd ever read. Sit down late at night when it's cold and read it all the way through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunk Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I just bought Blessed, the George Best autobiography from WHSmith. I'll start reading it later, could be a great book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raye Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I just bought two classic books in the hopes of furthering my limited education in classical literature. One was "Where Angels Fear To Tread" by E. M. Forster, and the other, was "Candide" by Voltaire. I haven't started them yet because I'm in the middle of reading Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" for the seventieth time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damo. Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Just started 1984. I'm two chapters in and it's pretty good thus far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QwertyAAA Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I've been wanting to read really out there Sci-Fi, books that will really make my brain melt. Books similar to those by Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Can anyone make any recommendations? Anything by Ray Bradbury or Kurt Vonnegut is pretty damn awesome. It's mainly the ideas that are what drive the stroy. Like a tree made of money where instead of drinking water to survive it drinks human blood. Little ideas like that which he compiles into books of short stories Vonnegut isn't sci-fi. His stories are deeply philosophical. Most of them have no sci-fi elements whatsoever. Anyway, I just finished rereading Snow Crash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Pain. Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 I don't know what I'm currently supposed to be reading. I know I'm reading Locke and Rousseau and some random astrophysics. I think I'm supposed to read some essay by Yeats. No, wait, I'm supposed to read Henry James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abel. Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Just started 1984. I'm two chapters in and it's pretty good thus far. Read on, it gets even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhus Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Good day everyone! I know that this is a pretty big bump and many frown upon this sort of forum necrophilia. But not to worry, I am not merely writing this to say one or two lines, instead, I’d like to talk to you about a book I read recently. A book that offered so much, but upon completion, led me feeling nothing but disappointment and a little contempt. The book I’m referring to is perhaps not very famous, probably didn’t sell in the millions and I doubt it’s ever going to hit the silver screen. But The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde is something that instantly captured my attention the moment I heard about it. I recall I was looking around the murky wasteland known as DeviantArt, when I saw a damn goo picture of the Gingerbread Man. He was in a straight jacket and being restrained by a bunch of orderlies. It intrigued me and I found out that the picture was based on a book in which characters from nursery rhymes lived in the modern world alongside normal folks. It was such an appealing concept that I resolved to get the book as soon as I could. Just to clarify, The Big Over Easy is a light-hearted tale about the Nursery Crime division in Reading. They are commissioned to solve cases revolving around the various characters, such as Little Bo Peep and the three bears. This story revolves around Humpty Dumpty, his love of walls has eventually came back to bit him on the arse. And the egg is found cracked outside a squalid flop house. The guy investigating is Jack Spratt, a man rather unpopular with his superiors, and he must unravel the typical conspiracy to discover who scrambled Humpty. I’ll be fair, there is nothing wrong with Fforde’s narrative abilities at all. The various locations are all described in vivid terms. From mouldy, weathered flats to tacky and bizarre family homes. He creates an image that is at once familiar and surreal. I think it works beautifully for the subject matter. He is also not unskilled at creating very likeable and memorable characters. Perhaps the best creation of the book is celebrity detective, Freidland Chymes. A masterful satire of the duplicitous nature of celebrity. Chymes is a very recognisable man, a ruthless careerist who is painted as a selfless hero by a lazy and complacent press. Jack Spratt is also very endearing but intentionally bland. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story where being boring is a sign of rebelliousness, but that’s what we’re dealing with here. Strangely though, this originality is exactly what causes the book to fall down at the final hurdle. A bad movie, I can deal with. You pay your money and expect to be entertained for two hours or so. Except in cases like The Dark Knight or The Godfather, cinema is mostly throwaway entertainment. Composed primarily of romantic comedies and vapid genre parodies. Books are different though. Books consume you, enthral you, inspire you. That’s why I read them and it’s why I try to write them. They suck you in and immerse you in the world and characters the author creates. And at the end, when there’s nothing more to be said, you feel faintly empty and sad. As though a chapter of your life has ended by completing the story. Perhaps you feel differently, but I know that every time I finish a great novel it feels as though a part of my life has been stripped away. But with this book I felt nothing of the sort, all that went through my mind was how much time I had wasted and how my hopes had been dashed. You see, there is such a thing as being too original. A stage at which the quirkiness of the story becomes distracting and deflating. That is exactly what happened with this story. Throughout the tale you find out about Humpty, about his life and character. There are many suspects and yet at the end Fforde allows a good crime story to degenerate into sci-fi gibberish. Genetic manipulation, giant lizards, a toxic veruca. Some may argue that one can look past this, that the abstract nature of the story allows for this kind of fantastical conclusion. But the problem is that even the best fantasy allows for a certain suspension of disbelief. A point at which the reader can say ‘It may seem crazy, but, yeah, I can see this happening’. But by the end of The Big Over Easy there was no suspension of disbelief, just a creeping sense of indignation as it lurched from one improbable set piece to another. In conclusion I must say that I don’t recommend this book. It’s defective. It’s like a car with a great paint job and fine leather seats but with an engine made of cardboard. The characters are brilliant, the imagery is memorable and yet the plot – obviously the most vital part of any story – is a massive dud. And in the end, a story with a terrible plot isn’t much of a story at all. uq7451 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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