View unanswered posts | View active topics
Author |
Message |
Tenebrae
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 5:47 pm |
|
 |
The tightrope between suicide and aggressive joy.
|
Joined: | 22 Nov 2012 |
Posts: | 11500 |
Location: | One mouse-click away. |
|
Old Babes in the Wood by Atwood, Margaret
Aftershock The Human Toll of War : Haunting World War II Images by America's Soldier Photographers by Cahan, Richard Anyone with even a passing interest in WWII history should see this: the photos are startling in their intimacy and clarity (4"x5" negatives make a world of difference).
_________________ I find that librarians are more helpful when you ask nicely, rather than order them about.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Simon
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 12:10 pm |
|
 |
...
|
Joined: | 26 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 59398 |
|
Evans wrote: There strikes me as being a whole unwritten novel sandwiched between those two Simon posts... There is, but I'm taking the 'fat lazy bastard' approach that's so fashionable these days and l'm refusing to write it.
_________________ "They'll bite your finger off given a chance" - Junkie Luv (regarding Zebras)
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Simon
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 12:16 pm |
|
 |
...
|
Joined: | 26 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 59398 |
|
That meddlin kid wrote: Spacecraft 2000-2100 and Great Space Battles, by Stewart Cowley and Charles Herridge.
In the late 1970s Chartwell Books, a British publisher specializing in lavishly-illustrated works of popular nonfiction, decided to take advantage of the post-"Star Wars" boom in science fiction by bringing out a pair of books that applied their usual nonfiction format to science fiction. Both were illustrated with full-color, large-format reproductions of the sort of detailed paintings of spacecraft and alien worlds that one normally saw on sci-fi paperback covers. Both purported to be official publications of a future government agency called the Terran Trade Authority.
Spacecraft 2000-2100 mimics those illustrated guides to different makes of automobiles, aircraft, ships, etc. that have long been so common. It consists of dozens of illustrated articles on various types of military and civil spacecraft. Each article contains technical specifications on the type, with a couple of paragraphs on the type's operational history and significance. Through these, the reader gets glimpses of the future history of which these spacecraft are a part. There are sometimes notes about surviving examples, such as are often seen in articles about World War II "warbird" aircraft and the like. All in all, it's a very well-done, completely straight-faced imitation of a nonfiction book of this sort. There's even a biographical note on author Stewart Cowley's future self (Turns out he was a space fighter pilot back in the War, and now has a hobby of building spacecraft models out of macaroni). This may well have been one of the inspirations for the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe," which came out only a couple of years later.
Great Space Battles carries the future history a couple of centuries beyond the 21st century. The first half or so deals with the epic war between the Terran Empire and the mysterious inhabitants of the Laguna system. The rest is filled out with shorter stories about space colonists encountering weird phenomena, a rebellion against the Terran Trade Authority back on Earth, and tales of piracy and organized crime in space. None of the stories has more than a few thousand words of text--Chartwell Books were always mostly pictures. But they are generally well-written in imitation of those concise, lavishly-illustrated popular histories put out by the likes of National Geographic, Readers' Digest, and, later, DK. The stories are pretty good when you consider that they used pre-existing, completely unrelated illustrations for story prompts. Both books have scores of wonderful paintings by science fiction illustrators and concept artists like Angus McKie and Peter Elson. And the work was all done in the pre-digital art age, too.
Our family acquired a copy of Great Space Battles from K-Mart (remember them?) back in the day. My brother and I read it over and over again. We were frustrated at the book's blurb for Spacecraft 2000-2100, since we wanted to read it so badly, yet never so much as saw a copy of it in the store. I finally had the chance to read that one in the college library. Later, I found a used copy of it available in good condition. As for Great Space Battles, I last saw the family copy of that one years ago in my brother's house. Hope he's been taking good care of it! I had given up hope of getting my own copy, since it now seems to be a pricey collector's item. Then, only a couple of weeks ago, I ran across a reasonably-priced copy. It's been great to have a chance to catch up on a piece of my childhood like that. I love books like that. Rigby-Usborne used to publish similar things but with specially commissioned art. I remember having hhd mysteries of space one and another one about cities of the future, etc. I'm so pleased you found them.
_________________ "They'll bite your finger off given a chance" - Junkie Luv (regarding Zebras)
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Nagoo
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Mon May 22, 2023 4:17 pm |
|
 |
Zielfisch gefunden, Zielfisch gefangen
|
Joined: | 12 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 16223 |
Bannings: | 27 1/2 |
|
Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts. Quote: Andrew Roberts's Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine. Like Churchill, he understood the strategic importance of telling his own story, and his memoirs, dictated from exile on St. Helena, became the single best-selling book of the 19th century. I am enjoying learning about Napoleon. That said, I am not the biggest fan of Roberts' style.
_________________ Nagoo
|
|
Top |
|
 |
TS Garp
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:04 am |
|
 |
Manchester City Fan
|
Joined: | 29 Dec 2006 |
Posts: | 32245 |
Location: | MN |
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Tenebrae
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:33 pm |
|
 |
The tightrope between suicide and aggressive joy.
|
Joined: | 22 Nov 2012 |
Posts: | 11500 |
Location: | One mouse-click away. |
|
Finishing the Inheritance trilogy.
_________________ I find that librarians are more helpful when you ask nicely, rather than order them about.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
TS Garp
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 1:37 pm |
|
 |
Manchester City Fan
|
Joined: | 29 Dec 2006 |
Posts: | 32245 |
Location: | MN |
|
I finished Opposable Thumbs, and I am now nearly finished with Renegade by Adam Kinzinger.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Tenebrae
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 12:15 am |
|
 |
The tightrope between suicide and aggressive joy.
|
Joined: | 22 Nov 2012 |
Posts: | 11500 |
Location: | One mouse-click away. |
|
The Shipping News
Educated, by Tara Westover
The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives' War on Fun
The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale, by Jon Klassen
_________________ I find that librarians are more helpful when you ask nicely, rather than order them about.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
TS Garp
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 11:19 pm |
|
 |
Manchester City Fan
|
Joined: | 29 Dec 2006 |
Posts: | 32245 |
Location: | MN |
|
Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Professor Plum
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 11:27 pm |
|
 |
Paroled evil genius
|
Joined: | 10 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 12544 |
Location: | Boddy Mansion |
|
TS Garp wrote: Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. I read that one. More genuinely unnerving than most horror novels.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
That meddlin kid
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2023 12:42 pm |
|
 |
Biker Librarian
|
Joined: | 26 Mar 2007 |
Posts: | 25141 |
Location: | On the highway, looking for adventure |
|
King Kong, by Delos W. Lovelace
Though I've known for years that there was a 1930s novelization of the 1933 movie, I had never seen it. I also didn't know that it came out shortly before the movie did. I found a beat-up 1970s reprint in my travels a few weeks ago.
The story is brief and very fast-moving, as befits an adaptation of the original Kong script. The whole thing reads very much like a contemporary pulp magazine story. Which is hardly surprising.
Like most novelizations, it differs a bit from the movie. They're often based on earlier drafts of the scripts, and of course there's always going to be at least some adaptation needed to transfer a story from a visual to a text-based medium. A couple of members of the ship's crew get names in the book version. The dialog is largely different. The outline of the story is quite close to what we see in the movie, but many of the incidents differ in detail. There's some four-letter language that a 1930s Hollywood movie wouldn't have gotten away with. And there's lots and lots of "male gaze" descriptions of the lovely Ann Darrow.
Reading the story, it's easy to notice problems that one doesn't have much time to notice when watching the fast-moving screen version. There are various problems in the story's construction, characterizations, treatment of its sole significant female character, and treatment of Skull Island's natives that should be obvious enough not to need to go into. Reading the book also gave me a greater realization of just how brutal the off-screen treatment of the captive Kong must have been. Ripping him out of his island habitat and dragging him overseas to turn him into a freak-show exhibition really was a heedlessly destructive and irresponsible act--and would have been even if it hadn't gone so horribly wrong. But then, in a way, the movie itself represents Kong's destructive escape as a comeuppance for those heedless acts. Character Carl Denham may have had his admirable qualities, but he is also a reckless, flawed man who ends up with a lot to answer for.
Anyway, this is not the sort of story it makes sense to think too much about. Which is part of why the movie still holds up so well (That and fantastic pioneering special effects). The movie is a justly-recognized classic. The novelization...well, it's about par for the course, as far as both 1930s pulp stories and movie novelizations of any era go.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
That meddlin kid
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 10:39 am |
|
 |
Biker Librarian
|
Joined: | 26 Mar 2007 |
Posts: | 25141 |
Location: | On the highway, looking for adventure |
|
I just read the other day that Adolph Hitler liked to unwind by watching movies, including Hollywood productions. One of his favorites was apparently "King Kong." That factoid is kind of mind-blowing for some reason.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Li'l Jay
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 11:39 am |
|
 |
It scorched
|
Joined: | 28 May 2006 |
Posts: | 68685 |
Bannings: | One too few . . . |
|
King Kong was amazing film achievemtent -- the Japanese also loved it. It captivated audiences for 20 years after its release.
_________________ Rom's kiss turned Rogue a hero.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
TS Garp
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2023 2:36 pm |
|
 |
Manchester City Fan
|
Joined: | 29 Dec 2006 |
Posts: | 32245 |
Location: | MN |
|
Just finished Jaws. Movie is better, since it doesn’t take a hard right turn into soft porn for two chapters right in the middle.
Next up The Exorcist, Logan’s Run, and Planet of the Apes.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Simon
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2023 5:11 pm |
|
 |
...
|
Joined: | 26 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 59398 |
|
That meddlin kid wrote: King Kong, by Delos W. Lovelace
Though I've known for years that there was a 1930s novelization of the 1933 movie, I had never seen it. I also didn't know that it came out shortly before the movie did. I found a beat-up 1970s reprint in my travels a few weeks ago.
The story is brief and very fast-moving, as befits an adaptation of the original Kong script. The whole thing reads very much like a contemporary pulp magazine story. Which is hardly surprising.
Like most novelizations, it differs a bit from the movie. They're often based on earlier drafts of the scripts, and of course there's always going to be at least some adaptation needed to transfer a story from a visual to a text-based medium. A couple of members of the ship's crew get names in the book version. The dialog is largely different. The outline of the story is quite close to what we see in the movie, but many of the incidents differ in detail. There's some four-letter language that a 1930s Hollywood movie wouldn't have gotten away with. And there's lots and lots of "male gaze" descriptions of the lovely Ann Darrow.
Reading the story, it's easy to notice problems that one doesn't have much time to notice when watching the fast-moving screen version. There are various problems in the story's construction, characterizations, treatment of its sole significant female character, and treatment of Skull Island's natives that should be obvious enough not to need to go into. Reading the book also gave me a greater realization of just how brutal the off-screen treatment of the captive Kong must have been. Ripping him out of his island habitat and dragging him overseas to turn him into a freak-show exhibition really was a heedlessly destructive and irresponsible act--and would have been even if it hadn't gone so horribly wrong. But then, in a way, the movie itself represents Kong's destructive escape as a comeuppance for those heedless acts. Character Carl Denham may have had his admirable qualities, but he is also a reckless, flawed man who ends up with a lot to answer for.
Anyway, this is not the sort of story it makes sense to think too much about. Which is part of why the movie still holds up so well (That and fantastic pioneering special effects). The movie is a justly-recognized classic. The novelization...well, it's about par for the course, as far as both 1930s pulp stories and movie novelizations of any era go. Thank you for this post - I've never read this book and I feel like I should remedy that. I'm reading The Guitar Circle by Robert Fripp, and Surrender by Bono (as in the singer from U2). They're both interesting. The Robert Fripp one is actually in the process of changing my life and my attitudes about why I feel compelled to play the guitar (despite being monumentally average at it).
_________________ "They'll bite your finger off given a chance" - Junkie Luv (regarding Zebras)
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Jason Michael
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2023 5:29 pm |
|
 |
Nominated IMWAN's "Wet Blanket" for 2021
|
Joined: | 30 May 2012 |
Posts: | 12232 |
Location: | Pembroke, Ontario, Canada |
|
I've been reading the Guitar Circle off and on for the last year. I find it best just reading a chapter then cogitating on it for a while.
I got an autographed copy at one of his talks with manager/friend David Singleton
_________________ “Don’t take life too serious. It ain’t nohow permanent.”
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Ocean Doot
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2023 5:38 pm |
|
 |
Dendritic Oscillating Ontological Tesseract
|
Joined: | 25 Oct 2007 |
Posts: | 50995 |
Location: | Milwaukee |
|
That meddlin kid wrote: I just read the other day that Adolph Hitler liked to unwind by watching movies, including Hollywood productions. TS Garp wrote: Just finished Jews. Dude. Too soon.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Nagoo
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 5:46 pm |
|
 |
Zielfisch gefunden, Zielfisch gefangen
|
Joined: | 12 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 16223 |
Bannings: | 27 1/2 |
|
TS Garp wrote: Just finished Jaws. Movie is better, since it doesn’t take a hard right turn into soft porn for two chapters right in the middle.
Next up The Exorcist, Logan’s Run, and Planet of the Apes. I have a paperback copy of Blatty's script, followed by a long essay on why he wrote the Exorcist, followed by the revised script. The essay is quite good. I read Planet of the Apes as a kid and don't remember anything specific, but rather it was "too different" and not enough like the movie. I've never read Logan's Run.
_________________ Nagoo
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Nagoo
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 5:47 pm |
|
 |
Zielfisch gefunden, Zielfisch gefangen
|
Joined: | 12 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 16223 |
Bannings: | 27 1/2 |
|
Nagoo wrote: Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts. Quote: Andrew Roberts's Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine. Like Churchill, he understood the strategic importance of telling his own story, and his memoirs, dictated from exile on St. Helena, became the single best-selling book of the 19th century. I am enjoying learning about Napoleon. That said, I am not the biggest fan of Roberts' style. I read this in anticipation of Ridley Scott's movie. The movie was a huge disappointment.
_________________ Nagoo
Last edited by Nagoo on Thu Jan 25, 2024 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Nagoo
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 5:50 pm |
|
 |
Zielfisch gefunden, Zielfisch gefangen
|
Joined: | 12 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 16223 |
Bannings: | 27 1/2 |
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Tenebrae
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2024 12:19 am |
|
 |
The tightrope between suicide and aggressive joy.
|
Joined: | 22 Nov 2012 |
Posts: | 11500 |
Location: | One mouse-click away. |
|
Kindly Inquisitors, by Jonathan Rauch.
_________________ I find that librarians are more helpful when you ask nicely, rather than order them about.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
Tenebrae
|
Post subject: The "What Are You Reading?" Thread Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2024 2:31 am |
|
 |
The tightrope between suicide and aggressive joy.
|
Joined: | 22 Nov 2012 |
Posts: | 11500 |
Location: | One mouse-click away. |
|
The Red House Mystery, by AA Milne. The gentlest and most charming murder mystery ever! 
_________________ I find that librarians are more helpful when you ask nicely, rather than order them about.
|
|
Top |
|
 |
|
Page 100 of 102
|
[ 2238 posts ] |
|
View unanswered posts | View active topics
Who is WANline |
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum
|
|