Books

[The Duke]

I also agree about the so-called "professional" writers...not too many quality novelists left out there. I would recommend a guy by the name of Tom Perrotta. I have mentioned him on here before, and plan on posting an in-depth review of some of his work as soon as I have time (which may not be until school is over).

[LotB]

I looked into Tom Perrotta the last time you mentioned him here. His college novel and high school novel looked pretty promising, so I've got them queued-up in my Amazon wish list for such a time when I've made more headway into my reading backlist. I have a huge pile of Eastern Shore/Chesapeake country history books, various novels, and a box of 16 Richard Laymon novels that I ordered from Australia. When I've made through most of those, I'll likely start reading Perrotta and others you've mentioned here.

[The Duke]

I've never heard of Richard Laymon, although I probably should have. I will look into his stuff as well.

You are more than welcome to borrow my Tom Perrotta novels if you like; I promise you that they are worthwhile.

[The Duke]

O.k....time yet again to revive the books thread.

Has anyone out there read anything new lately they'd like to recommend? I have been far too busy with those gosh darn 7th graders as of late to pick up anything new.

[The Duke]

Now that I was thinking about new books, this summer I would like to post weekly (or more frequently, if possible) reviews of books that I read, or have read and recommend (or even don't recommend). If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

[LotB]

Sounds like a good plan to me,Earl. If I think of a specific suggestion, I'll pass it along.

At the moment, I'm reading Richard Laymon's "Body Rides." I got off to a good start reading it last week during all of my non-fun air traveling time, but now I need to find time to finish it. Though I'm not done reading it yet, I'll go ahead and recommend the novel. Like 99.5% of all of Laymon's others, this one is pretty damn good. On the bright side, it was just published in America for the first time last month, so anyone interested can pick up a copy pretty easily. The one I've got is one of my aforementioned 16 that I bought off of eBay and had shipped from Australia. That's an expense I'd recommend avoiding if possible.

[The Duke]

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read much as of late, or even get onto the discussion boards, as I prepare for my final exam in my Grad class this weekend.

I think it would be great if we could get more people involved in this thread, if even just to throw out a few names of good books. I still plan on reviewing a book per week or so this ummer when I have more time on my hands.

[LotB]

I'm with you about getting more people in on this. People's lack of interest in reading, and extremely abundant interest in movies and TV has been a lifelong pet peeve of mine. Especially because it is near impossible to find a movie or television show that has a coherent storyline or has any intelligence behind it. It's nice to encounter a tale that makes you think while still being entertaining from time to time.

[The Duke]

Anyone read anything new lately? I have just got more free time on may hands, as my master's class is over, and am looking for something interesting.

[LotB]

I'm still working on my collection of Richard Laymon novels. Currently I'm reading "After Midnight" It's proving to be an awesome read. It sucks having to put it down for days at a time in order to work.

[The Duke]

I was just thinking that I would make an attempt to revive the once great books thread. Now that my school year is drawing to an end, I am looking forward to reading and reviewing books for this thread/column. Any suggestions, please let me know!

[The Duke]

I'd also love to see a variety of people involved in this thread again....that would be awesome! Good times!!!!

[LotB]

I'll contribute if/when I can. Lately, I've read Richard Laymon's "Body Rides", "After Midnight", "Funland", and "Night Show." The first three all kick ass. "Night Show" was pretty good, but being one of Laymon's earlier novels he hadn't quite gotten as awesome as he later would.

[The Duke]

I am thinking of reading some of Phillip Roth's work. A couple of years ago I read American Pastoral and absoluely loved the book, and have been looking forward to rading some more of Roth's writing.

I also plan on reading some more James Michner. I am a big fan of his work, and recently read Caravans.

[LotB]

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1401300464/qid=1088666302/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-9330810-0802344?v=glance&s=books

Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities, by Alexandra Robbins

A friend set me onto this book. I'm now 30 pages in, and finding myself experiencing feelings of contempt, yet with a mesmerizing fascination. It's like a much amplified feeling of watching the "Simple Life." So far I've seen nothing to disprove my personal belief that a great bulk of people in this world need to be exterminated to provide for further evolution of our species. The girls portrayed in this work are weak, worthless, and insecure, seeking to have an identity through conformity within a group of other pathetic, yet seemingly attractive (physically, at least) girls. I feel like I'm 130 years older than they are. The petty crap people base their existence on saddens me. At the same time, it is entirely engrossing. I'm definitely going to finish this with my mind in a state of analytical overdrive.

Want to witness something more pathetic? Read the reviews posted on Amazon bashing the author. Most are posted by "Greek" alumni who vehemently attempt to defend their traditions and assorted bullshit, even though some of them are 50 years out of college. I'd be willing to bet most of these people now work at large corporations where they hold positions of power, or hold political office :-P It's almost laughable how they refer to the author as a "Goddamn Independent", who in their minds is an "outside loser" who wasn't "cool" enough to have ever been in a sorority, so of course she's just jealous, right? I think it's time we started building some gas chambers, folks.

In the end, though I've still got 350 pages to go, I'm inclined to recommend this one. This is the first time I've ever commented publicly on a book without finishing it. I post this early commentary only because I hope someone else will go buy it now and read it, then we discuss it when it's fresh on our minds. Either way, I'll post my final thoughts at some point.

[The Duke]

Anyone ever read anything by Robert Newcomb?

[Üncle Snake]

R.A. Salvatore will doing a discussion/signing Tuesday, Oct. 19 at a Barnes & Noble in the Baltimore area.

8123 Honeygo Blvd.
Baltimore, MD 21236
[phone]
7:30pm

His new book, "The Two Swords," the last in the "Hunters Blades" trilogy, will be released the same day.

Unless something comes up and I have to work late I'm going to this. I've been wanting to meet him for a long time.#nosmileys

[Kid Rick]

Does anyone else plan on making this trek....I may round up a few people to see if they wanna go...

[PMX]

Holy crap. A thread that actually interests me!

I read about a book a week depending on the size. I am an author hound which means when I find an author that I like, I read all of their books.

My Current author that I am reading is Tom Clancy. It took me along time to get to him. Actually took a vacation in florida and a weeks worth of time for me to start him. His books are typically in the 1500 range. I just finished "Debt of Honor" this weekend which is a Jack Ryan novel. IE (Harison ford in any tom clancy movie or Baldwin in hunt for red october) What lured me in is Rainbow Six. I started him out of order which surprisingly wasn't difficult. Each book is well contained and, in my opinion, extremely fucking badass.

Author's that I have read:

Michael Crichton - Even his earlier works to put himself through college are interesting. The great train robbery, eaters of the dead etc. You see him develop.

John Grisham - Excellent writer.

Dean Koontz - Science Fiction super thrillers. Damned good author.

I am also a sci-fi guy myself. Dragonlance series. Have them all. The newer authors in the line of books have begun to suck ass, but once I started collecting, I cannot help myself. The dark prophecies, The Runes etc. are all good series.

Oh Ya, Dan Brown is a great author. My grandmother of all people gave me the "Da Vinci Code" to read and after that I bought Angels and demons.

Hell its 5pm on a Friday. I have too many favorite books to narrow it down to one, so, read em all. Shit, I have so many more clancy's to read, I'm gonna be 28 by the time im done.

[Üncle Snake]

I've read quite a few Dragonlance novels, though I've found that when I stray from Weis and Hickman it usually isn't very good. Have you read Weis's newest one? I forget what it's called, but it continues Mina's story after the War of Souls.

[PMX]

Weis & Hickman are by far the best authors out of the bunch. After the War of the Lance and the Companion Series they pretty much stayed on the DL minus a few short story compliations and of course the continuation of the War of Souls. Dragons of a Vanished Moon is the last of the three books concerning the new "heart" magic and Goldmoon's confrontation with Mina. The twist was disappointing because from book one, you knew what was happening in my oppinion. If you dont, I wont ruin it for you but there are several chapters throughout all the series that shadow the ending. I personally enjoyed it even though you knew what was going to happen.

If you like Weis and Hickman you should read "The Death Gate Cycle." (I'm willing to bet you have) It spent something like 94 weeks on the best selling list. Its interesting because the cross references between the series, the characters and Gods hold true to one universe even though they've written around 15 individual series involving all unique worlds, characters and different time references.

Weis and Hickman are more well known for their D & D scripts. I have personally never played D & D. Not my thing really, but they like to create "Worlds" and then have other author's take it from there. Some of the Dragonlance author's are good and you can deffinitely tell when W&H were editor's on a certain series. I think its pretty interesting personally.

[The Duke]

Glad to see that the "Books" thread is being used again!

Just wanted to pose a question: How often do any of you re-read any books that you have read previously. I am always looking for new stuff to read, but have found myself as of late re-reading some old favorites. For example, I am currently reading "The Hobbit".

[LotB]

I tend to read "First Blood" by David Morrell at least once every year or two. Beyond that, I will typically wait many years before re-reading something. Sadly my mind is going blank trying to think of examples now.

[PMXFucking logins]

I have probably read the war of the lance trilogy about 8 times or so. When I re-read some old favorites, I don't read them word for word like I did the very first time, I find myself glancing through some of the descriptive paragraphs when normally I would read everything. I've re-read Jurassic Park several times now and even Sphere both by Michael Critchon. A good book is sometimes better to re-read than watching a good movie again. I like books more because they stretch the imagination. Sometimes when I watch a movie, I don't necessarily like it because I would have pictured it differently if I were to read the same story.

[The Duke]

It is hard to believe that after all these years, I still have never read Jurassic Park, or any other Crichton novel.