What are you currently reading?

[Mattrick]

I had Skeleton Crew on audio book, it was pretty awesome. It contained The Monkey and The Mist and both were pretty creepily done, with music and sound effects. Coolest part was these ones were actually read by Stephen King himself!


I'm thinking I may just read Notes From Underground because it's a short read, which I'm enjoying at the moment. Then I'll flip a coin and read one of the two Austen books. I kind of want to wait to read any Dumas until I get my hands on The Count of Monte Cristo.

[Jean]

why???

[Mattrick]

I'm assuming the why is about Dumas...my friend has been wanting to read Count of Monte Cristo for years and for the past month he's been looking in every book store for a copy so we can read it at the same time. I know it's quite the hefty book so I guess I'm trying to read as much books as possible before then and Dumas was like and olden times french stephen king when i comes to length haha.

[DoctorDodge]

bears have no car... and on overcrowded bus/subway it doesn't seem the best idea...

have never tried any audiodrama, either

Hmmm. If you ever have the time and the inclination, let me know, and I'll send you one or two audio dramas that I think you may enjoy. Most likely, ones with Paul McGann from Withnail & I in them.

[fernandito]

audio ... drama ? ...

[Jean]

but, again, what are the situations in which bears could be quietly sitting and listening?

Mattrick: I still can't see why you don't read Mousquetaires now, and Monte Christo later?

[Heather19]

audio ... drama ? ...

Like the shows they used to play on the radio before tv's were invented

[DoctorDodge]

audio ... drama ? ...

Yeah, it's like something you'd have for tv or film, but for audio. (Note I didn't say "radio": these days, with the internet and everything, the audio format is pretty wide ranging.) Particularly useful for stories where it could be done on tv, it would just look shit, or stories where even seeing what the characters looked like would ruin the twist.

[Heather19]

Very true, there are many advantages to audio, but at the same time some disadvantages. Personally I love both. And I adore the old radio plays. I've gone back and listened to many. I know a bunch of the Mercury Theater and Campbell Playhouse ones that Orson Welles did are readily available online. Also I found an app for my phone that has many others I also went to go see a play a few years back of It's a Wonderful Life. And it was set up in the format of them shooting it for the radio. Very interesting. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong time

And Jean, do you own Persuasion? If not, there's a written format counterpart to librivox. Can someone help me? I'm blacking on the name. Since it's in the public domain you can find it online to read.

[jhanic]

I use to do a lot of driving back when I was working--30,000-50,000 miles a year--and audio books really helped pass the time. Since I've retired, I seldom take a trip more than an hour, so I don't listen any more.

John

[divemaster]

bears love The Idiot! I hope the translation was adequate

Jean, since you are a fan of The Idiot, I thought you might be interested in this portion of an interview with Kurusawa, arguably the greatest director in the history of film. His film adaptation of The Idiot was apparently not one of his better results. Here's what he had to say...

When you read Dostoevsky’s novels, for example, it’s mind-boggling how thoroughly he depicts human relationships. I read quite a few of his novels when I was young, and it must be filtering out into my films though I haven’t come close to Dostoevsky’s heights. Only through literature can you tackle something on that scale.

I made The Idiot and it was not at all a successful adaptation. Still, having taken on the challenge of a work like that, I think I learned a lot from the experience. Once I began working on it, the immensity of the project dawned on me. I thought to myself “What was I thinking?” I felt the weight of Dostoevsky on my shoulders.

There’s one scene where the idiot, played by Masayuki Mori, comes to Setsuko Hara’s party and says, “You are a nice person by nature. You are really a nice person.” Hara asked me, “What expression should I use?” I was sort of taken aback. I asked my assistant director to get a copy of the novel. I looked up the scene and it said that Nastasia smiled “crookedly.” … I hadn’t really read the passage that closely. It was only because Hara asked that I noticed the description of Nastasia’s smile.

So I said to Hara, “smile crookedly.” When we did a test shot of her smiling crookedly, Mori reacted with amazement and exclaimed, “That was great direction!” I said, “It wasn’t me. It’s what Dostoevsky wrote.”

So when you tackle a great work of literature, you make some amazing discoveries….A simple line in a piece of literature can be brilliant…what it expresses is just superb. In Dostoevsky’s novels, it’s as though he is experimenting in a laboratory, having one “human atom” clashing with another. I’ve been reading novels like that since childhood.

[Xile]

Should I buy Duma Key or Under the Dome first? Does it matter? You know what I mean.

[divemaster]

Both are very good, but Duma Key is a richer experience. Start with that.

[Mattrick]

I've wante to se his adaptation despite it not being a great adaptation. Truthfully it would take a number of films to accuractely adapt The Idiot and I'm sure other novels of his as well.

[Heather19]

Should I buy Duma Key or Under the Dome first? Does it matter? You know what I mean.

Definitely Duma Key!

[John Blaze]

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

THIS. Huge fan of Dumas.

Paused reading Game of Thrones to start reading Shada, based on a "lost" Douglas Adams story. Will let you know what I think of it as a novel later.

:facepalm:

That's it, I'm never watching Dr. Who.

[Xile]

Sweet. Going to pickup the hard-back this weekend. I refuse to buy King's work in softies.

[Mattrick]

I've got tons of King hardcovers. Only soft cover I have is my paperback bag of bones

[John Blaze]

I only buy hardcovers because I can't wait to read them when released. >_>

[fernandito]

'softies'

[Metaldrummer86]

I'm reading Bag of Bones as I'm playing catch up with other King's books. I also wait in anticipation the arival of the new DT book, but in audio.

[Ricky]

audio ... drama ? ...

Like the shows they used to play on the radio before tv's were invented

Little Orphan Annie!

[DoctorDodge]

Paused reading Game of Thrones to start reading Shada, based on a "lost" Douglas Adams story. Will let you know what I think of it as a novel later.

:facepalm:

That's it, I'm never watching Dr. Who.

...seriously, dude, a new Dr. Who book comes out that everyone's saying is fucking brill. What did you expect me to do?

I said I'd have Game of Thrones done by the end of the month. Considering I read a couple of hundred pages last week, plus a hundred pages of the previous Who book last night, it looks like that's still gonna happen.

[John Blaze]

Paused reading Game of Thrones to start reading Shada, based on a "lost" Douglas Adams story. Will let you know what I think of it as a novel later.

:facepalm:

That's it, I'm never watching Dr. Who.

...seriously, dude, a new Dr. Who book comes out that everyone's saying is fucking brill. What did you expect me to do?

I said I'd have Game of Thrones done by the end of the month. Considering I read a couple of hundred pages last week, plus a hundred pages of the previous Who book last night, it looks like that's still gonna happen.

PROVE IT.

[beam*seeker]

Egads I am about 2/3 through Storm Of Swords, this series is so great I will be terribly sad when its over. Luckily I have part 5 and I am wondering if there will be a part 6? I could have this go on forever, I think I like it more than LOTR. The problem is, reading this series is so addictive I don't wash my hair, cook food, or go to the grocery store because that is getting into Fire & Ice time. Sad, hunh?