of course, it's a "Classic" and on most HD must reading lists in my ecollection. At least when I was in HS back in the day ('70's).
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You're kidding right? Truman Capote? The Novel? man, the younger generation!! LOL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood
Spoiler: 07-19-2018 05:15 PMBrian861Quote:Spoiler: 07-21-2018 07:59 PMBigJoeHillfan 07-21-2018 11:29 PMbiomiegI read Dark Matter and liked it a lot as well. Have not yet read any of his other books. 07-22-2018 12:15 AMFather CodyWhat are you currently reading?Finally finished The Terror. Might have been the slowest book I’ve ever read. But, it all pays off doesn’t it? What a ride.
Spoiler: 07-22-2018 12:32 AMperipheralPhew, so glad you liked it man, after my ravings. I personally found the first third slow, and then it sucked me in and I chewed through it quickly. Maybe I was ready for something like this (and it was my first Simmons). And yes, absolutely supernatural - I saw the entity as a Lovecraftian nameless Old One. 07-22-2018 12:46 AMFather CodyInteresting comparison to an Old One. I took it as strictly Eskimo lore that turns out to be all true. I couldn’t believe how much the last few chapters changed and how much I appreciated what Simmons did there. That was a delicate thing he did. Could have easily ruined the whole book but it did the exact opposite.
I don’t know if any of that made sense. :lol: 07-22-2018 12:57 AMFather CodyOh and I relate to chewing through it once it hooked. Man the first 2/3 for me I was checking the page number all the time and taking forever to get through even 20 pages at some points. Then boom! I would check which page I was on when I put it down for the night and would be shocked by how much I had just read. As far as I’m concerned, the slow beginning, it was all worth it. 07-22-2018 01:53 AMperipheral 07-22-2018 02:14 AMFather CodySpoiler: 07-22-2018 02:46 AMperipheralYou’re testing my memory of the book a bit here here, but I guess my idea is akin to religions: Hindu, Muslim, Christians have different beamed for their God/Gods but it’s all the same - in the end. 07-22-2018 03:23 AMLookwhoitis 07-22-2018 03:28 AMFather Cody 07-23-2018 08:37 AMSt. TroyI just finished All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I finally saw why my wife and daughter were anxious for me to read this.
ATLWCS falls into a niche of historical fiction that has been done before (not that there isn’t room for more good writing in that corner): sympathetic characters in German occupied Europe during WWII. The usual trappings are here: humanity and innocence amidst brutality and apathy, the juxtaposition of violence with kindness, the senselessness of German aggression etc. But, as with all truly good writing, the backdrop, however essential, is not the story, and this story is remarkable both for how it unfolds as well as for the writing that conveys it.
A problem I have when reading historical fiction is the nagging sense that, since I’m aware of the war’s general outcome, I know where the story is going, but surprises (both good and bad) were to be found in ATLWCS. I will say that, if you read the description on Amazon, certain things are overstated, and you may well be expecting a different tale from what is here.
What is here:
- Smooth, at times dream-like, writing that doesn’t simply support the idea that good can live amidst the evil, but that it is the quality that is essentially us (effective writing can sometimes be like a hammer (functional and direct), but other times, like a violin (smooth, beautiful, evocative); that of ATLWCS is definitely the latter).
- Characters ordinary enough to allow us to identify with them, on journeys with a gradual enough accretion of emotional and psychological impact to allow a rich payoff without the necessity of an overkill-laden finale. It is all subtle, it is all ordinary, and in the end, it is anything but.
I would be lying if I said this was up there with It and Shadowland (read it! you fools!) as one of my personal favorite books – I don’t read books to feel sad, or really to feel anything too deeply, but I would be lying if I didn’t pass along the fact that this was a damn good book. If this book seems at all like something you might be willing to try, do so. 07-23-2018 08:44 AMSt. TroyI just started One Second After by William Forstchen.
It's still early (p 57), but I've read enough to know two things: I'm enjoying it, and Forstchen's style is more hammer than violin (fine by me, given my interest in the subject matter).
One Second After is about the aftermath of an EMP attack on the US (the book is said to be based on an actual Congressional study that looked into this threat) and is the first book of a trilogy; hopefully it will go well enough for me to read the other two. 07-23-2018 08:51 AMHeather19I've read most of his books. The only ones I haven't are the serial killer ones. I read the first one, but it's just not my cup of tea so never read the others. I'd definitely recommend checking out his other books.
My personal rankings would be:
Wayward Pines series
Run
Dark Matter
Fully Loaded (collection of short stories)
Abandon
Draculas (written with three other authors)
Snowbound
and these last few I wasn't overly thrilled with:
Desert Places (first of the serial killer books)
Eerie (written with his brother)
Famous
Quote:There's definitely a supernatural aspect to the book. Suprised that some people say there isn't. What I liked about it though, was that aspect of the story took a backseat to the main storyline. I didn't find it to be slow one bit. But I am fascinated by the arctic so I loved all that stuff. So glad you enjoyed the book :) 07-23-2018 09:02 AMHeather19So I finally finished The Stand :rock:
I'd give it a 4/5. I'm glad I read it, and can appreciate it, but I doubt I'll ever read it again. It started off really good with the flu being unleashed, but then it drastically slowed down and I struggled with it for hundreds of pages. It did finally start to pick back up again once things started coming together though. I kind of wish I had read the original version, I think I might have liked it a bit more because there did seem to be a lot of unnecessary stuff that slowed down the story for me.
Spoiler: 07-23-2018 09:11 AMSt. TroyThose who've studied it more and/or recall it more clearly can do better than I but here goes:
Quote:I believe the point there was thatSpoiler:
Quote:I guess you could saySpoiler: 07-23-2018 09:16 AMHeather19That makes sense.Spoiler: 07-23-2018 09:19 AMSt. TroyQuote:I think that is becauseSpoiler: 07-23-2018 10:58 AMBigJoeHillfan[QUOTE=Heather19;1116626] I've read most of his books. The only ones I haven't are the serial killer ones. I read the first one, but it's just not my cup of tea so never read the others. I'd definitely recommend checking out his other books.
My personal rankings would be:
Wayward Pines series
Run
Dark Matter
Fully Loaded (collection of short stories)
Abandon
Draculas (written with three other authors)
Snowbound
and these last few I wasn't overly thrilled with:
Desert Places (first of the serial killer books)
Eerie (written with his brother)
Famous
Thanks for the ratings. I plan on reading Dark Matter next as I picked it up cheap at HPB. 07-23-2018 04:49 PMBr!anAs I've said, I'm all in on Wayward Pines.
I bought Run but haven't read it. I also have Dark Matter and haven't read it.
I think I'll give Run a go.
(I still have some recent King to catch up on too.) 07-23-2018 05:12 PMFather CodyQuote:
That’s how I understood it.
Spoiler: