Author Topic: What have you read lately, and was it any good?  (Read 22296 times)

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #15 on: January 31, 2016, 10:01:48 AM »
Four Past Midnight: The Langoliers: I first saw the TV movie years ago and it had a TV budget, even for back then, but it was OK. I'm listening to an audio book, read by actor Willem Dafoe. It's one of Stephen King's short stories, it has the usual type of characters that are in King's stories but the plot, mainly a time travel story, was interesting enough to keep me listening. The idea is that you can't do anything or interact with anyone in the past because it doesn't exist anymore, you can't really do anything in the future because it hasn't happen yet but you don't have to worry about Pac-Man's evil counterpart coming after you.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2016, 11:39:20 AM by RomeoSvengali »
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline cc008

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #16 on: January 31, 2016, 07:26:42 PM »
As soon as I saw the first trailer for The Martian last spring, I immediately ordered the book from Amazon.. I was that intrigued by it. I wanted to read the book before the movie came out. I ended up reading it 3 times before the movie. I have no trouble at all saying it's my favorite book of all time.

I also just finished reading Alpha by Greg Rucka a few months ago. One of the guys at my LCS had mentioned his novels were even better than his comics so I bought Alpha and loved it. Eventually I'll get around to reading Bravo (the sequel, obviously) and then anxiously awaiting Charlie (confirmed by Rucka).
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Offline thjan

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #17 on: February 21, 2016, 08:40:33 PM »
I recently finished reading all the Robert E. Howard Conan stories.  I had read a couple Howard Conan short stories before, but this was the first time that I set out to read them all, and I'm really glad I did.  They are some really good reads.  Howard is an absolute master of mood and atmosphere, and I've really enjoyed reading about the world Conan inhabits.  In fact, while I've really come to appreciate the character of Conan and think he's pretty awesome, I often found that it was the characters and settings surrounding him that I enjoyed the most when reading these stories. My favorite of the stories were-

Beyond the Black River- Really enjoyed the frontier aspects of this story and I really liked the character Balthus and the dog Slasher.
The Hour of the Dragon- Longest of the Howard Conan stories and the last story I read. It has a bit of everything and is a great read.
The Tower of the Elephant- Such a weird and interesting read.  Very different from all the other Conan stories.
The Scarlet Citadel- I really enjoyed the scenes in the underground dungeon.
Shadows in Zamboula- Shows how cunning and intelligent Conan can be.  I also really enjoyed the ending.
The God in the Bowl- Fun little story.  I liked the lawman, Demetrio, and the ending was really creepy.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2016, 08:46:27 PM by thjan »

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #18 on: March 12, 2016, 08:47:26 AM »
War of the Worlds: I first saw the 1953 film version at school when I was in the 5th grade. Years later, I found a short illustrated version around the house from Now Ages Books. The black and white artwork is pretty good, it sets the mood of the story pretty well. I wouldn't call it the best version, but I thought it was ok. It wasn't until recently that I read or listen (audio book) to the actual book version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2_M1Tp-QR8

There were a few places where I thought it was dragging on a bit and getting boring, but it didn't last too long.
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #19 on: May 02, 2016, 07:15:50 AM »
"Skinwalker" Creepypasta | Let's Read!: I've only read or listen to a few Creepypasta stories on Youtube and there's only two that I like. The narrator really brings this story alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hpmxW9qUSc
« Last Edit: May 02, 2017, 07:06:33 AM by RomeoSvengali »
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #20 on: June 15, 2016, 11:13:46 AM »
The Old Man and the Sea: The story is mainly just an old man fishing, trying to get a large marlin, but the main character is interesting, although some of the dialog is a little cheesy at times. An audio version, read by Charlton Heston, is pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB2l3DENCMQ

I've seen a few scenes from the film versions, a short animated version from 1999 has beautiful artwork and I love the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5ih1IRIRxI
« Last Edit: October 31, 2016, 12:14:31 PM by RomeoSvengali »
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #21 on: August 20, 2016, 06:07:40 AM »
Star Wars: Dark Empire I: An audio adaption of the Dark Horse comic book series. The audio reads more like a comic book than an audio book or novel, only dialogue and no narration, except the beginning. But I think it does a good job at not needing any, which couldn't have been easy for John Whitman to adapt and Arthur G. Insana to direct. It follows the comic very well but it adds more from the EU/Legends, with mentions of Thrawn, Exar Kun, Ulic Qel Droma, and so on. They actually got Billy Dee Williams to voice Lando Calrissian.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2017, 07:06:37 AM by RomeoSvengali »
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #22 on: October 31, 2016, 12:10:39 PM »
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: I've seen and read many different versions of this story, the most famous is the one from Disney, but the only thing I like about that one is the chase scene with the Headless Horseman. I haven't seen the Tim Burton version and I never plan to. There's one from 1999 called The Night of the Headless Horseman, the CGI is horrible, but I like the idea that Brom actually made a deal with the Headless Horseman to take his place to get Ichabod out of the way. My favorite is the one told by Glenn Close, the music, the artwork and the way the story is told is very well done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U2EnW02xKI
« Last Edit: May 02, 2017, 07:12:06 AM by RomeoSvengali »
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #23 on: May 07, 2017, 10:00:03 AM »
The Thing Read-Along Record Book: A fan made read-along, it's not bad, and this takes me back to other real read-along books on tape like Star Wars: ESB, ROTJ, Dick Tracy and TMNT, although that was a TPB comic book on tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifxq7ItckXM
« Last Edit: May 09, 2017, 01:03:37 PM by RomeoSvengali »
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline Dantay

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #24 on: May 07, 2017, 11:59:04 AM »
Began Reading The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, im nearly finished the 7th Book now its awesome, about Wizards, Fairies, Vampires, Wearwolves, Mob bosses and so on

Offline cc008

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #25 on: May 07, 2017, 12:29:05 PM »
New comic series I just picked up: Kill or Be Killed (Image) by Ed Brubaker. Basically his spin on a Punisher comic.

Novels.. I'm about to start reading Ready Player One. I also have Tom DeLonge's Secret Machines books on my shelf ready to be read.
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Offline Meliorist

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #26 on: May 09, 2017, 12:48:52 AM »
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
It is a fun couple of books with a third coming out in November. The view point characters are different enough that nearly everyone seems to be able to relate to atleast one of them. Unlike many fantasy epics that focus on a literal journey to symbolize the metaphorical on for the characters, these books have each character stay in their own area. It helps make the war and politics constant background presence.

Offline RomeoSvengali

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #27 on: May 10, 2017, 01:26:49 PM »
Somnium (The Dream): Said to be the first science-fiction novel, or one of them, by Johannes Kepler (written in 1608 but not published until 1634).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFCQCsS75BQ

Kepler describes his dream world of traveling and landing on the moon, four hundred years before the actual moon landing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1QdHfAn-lY
« Last Edit: May 25, 2017, 08:42:48 PM by RomeoSvengali »
https://vimeo.com/49613968
-Romeo Svengali (Monican swordsman)

Offline cc008

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #28 on: May 30, 2017, 07:17:11 PM »
If anyone here can't get enough of pop culture references from the 70s and 80s from all things music, movies, video games, etc... do yourselves a favor and read Ready Player One as soon as you can. Its chapters are all grouped together in levels 1,2 and 3. Got up the level 3 before work this morning. Came home and read all of Level 3... which is about 15 chapters. Very enjoyable read and a worthy follow up book to The Martian, which is my favorite book ever.
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Offline Meliorist

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Re: What have you read lately, and was it any good?
« Reply #29 on: July 24, 2017, 12:12:01 PM »
An Audiobook, The Creative Thinkers Toolkit
It is a fascinating book that talks about how creative/critical thinking can be taught and gives exercises top help. The author talks about how, if it takes 10,000 hours to master something, 'genius' takes far longer. It took Mozart 16 years before his first masterpiece, though he did start composing at age 5.


Dynamic Story Creation by Maxwell Alexander Drake
It goes in depth about how important it is to have a theme in a story because that is what people connect with. It is the human element that draws people in, it is the hard choices the hero makes. It also explains the Hero's Journey, which helped me understand why so many tv shows become less appealing in season 2 for me.


Better Writing Through Stronger Narrative by Maxwell Alexander Drake
I am only 40 pages into it but it seems like in will be as good and helpful as the prior book. One of the interesting things about it, so many books are written in the same narrative style because it is the way a favorite author wrote.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2017, 12:13:53 PM by Meliorist »