Author Topic: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)  (Read 22629 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2014, 10:54:33 PM »
Have you read Red Harvest? I really liked that book.
That's the next Hammett I plan on reading.

verbALs

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2014, 03:06:38 AM »
If you want more Hammett after that, "The Thin Man" is a fun read. Caught up with that one last year.

Might have to check that out. I like how his books, at least the two I've seen so far, are only a couple hundred pages. Thanks for the recommendation.

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WillMunny

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2014, 05:15:13 AM »
Have you read Red Harvest? I really liked that book.
That's the next Hammett I plan on reading.

though it is not considered one of his best works, I like it a lot.

verbALs

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2014, 05:56:54 AM »
It's the original, the template. The source code for an entire genre. That's enough.

I'm going to observe that there are very few Europeans on this forum. I'm less surprised that another non-American would rate, or even say they have read Hammett, than if an American said it, despite there being hardly any "foreigners" regularly on here. Dickens is the ultimate trash writer of English Literature; selling his stuff by the episode. He wrote in disgusted terms about the state of England at the height of its powers; about work houses, the treatment of the poor and the hypocrisy of the rich. He wrote adventure stories. So why would there be reverence for him, over a native author who wrote in a similar way about what lies under the rock of American society? Fitzgerald is a better simile writer and Hemingway is more epic, but elevating them over Hammett is pure snobbery. "The Great Gatsby" degenerates into a cheap crime story...Great American Novel, though.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2014, 06:11:24 AM by verbALs »
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

verbALs

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2014, 03:07:03 PM »
HUAC seems to have been enough to ruin Hammett's reputation.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

ses

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #15 on: January 14, 2014, 12:45:38 PM »
Still reading

Right now I am currently reading

1776 by David McCollough

and

Insomnia by Stephen King

I've finished Divergent and started Insurgent.  They are quick, easy reads, but I don't know if they have a lot of substance.  Has anyone else read them?  What do you think?
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #16 on: January 14, 2014, 02:59:05 PM »
Neverwhere

Within the first few pages, it makes me want to go back to London. The bit about the tube in the first chapter is pretty true. Once you figure it out, you feel like you own that city.

And yea, it's my first Gaiman. :-[

pixote

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #17 on: January 14, 2014, 08:37:46 PM »
I could count on two hands all the books I've read so I haven't read that one. :D

The normal assumption here is that you haven't read too many books, but I prefer to believe that you just have a freaky number of fingers.

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Corndog

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #18 on: January 14, 2014, 08:50:31 PM »
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

The Deer Hunter

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Re: Currently Reading (2014 Edition)
« Reply #19 on: January 15, 2014, 12:02:01 AM »
I could count on two hands all the books I've read so I haven't read that one. :D

The normal assumption here is that you haven't read too many books, but I prefer to believe that you just have a freaky number of fingers.

pixote

Fortunately (or unfortunately?) i only have 10 fingers. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm not much of a reader. I wish i was but i don't get the enjoyment out of it like a lot of people do. I'd rather spend that time doing other things. I'm trying to read more though. I think i might try finish off one book a month this year.