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Author Topic: Rate the last book you read.  (Read 194381 times)

oldkid

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #790 on: August 18, 2011, 01:27:53 PM »
When my computer was down I caught up on a little bit of reading (when I could stay awake):

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix:  Harry's rage seems TOO irrational, (even though Dumbledore tries to explain it away at the end).  But I'm glad Rowlings made the effort to make Harry less than perfect.  Plotwise, it is almost perfect. 

To Kill A Mockingbird: This story IS perfect. If you have never read it, please do.  One of the simplest, yet literary books in existence.  And it is liberal in the best sense of the word. 

"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

smirnoff

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #791 on: August 18, 2011, 01:45:13 PM »
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix:  Harry's rage seems TOO irrational

I felt the same way at times.

oldkid

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #792 on: August 18, 2011, 02:06:29 PM »
The Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
Is this a satire on college sports? A spoof of Romeo and Juliet?  Or another polemic on racism?  Or just a comedy with nothing much to say?  Well, it's a little of each, with it being more character driven than many Discworld novels.  If you like Discworld, it's a good book.  If you've not read any Discworld books, this isn't the one to begin with.  Good, but not great (like Thief of Time or Going Postal).

"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

FifthCityMuse

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #793 on: August 23, 2011, 07:34:58 PM »
Magician - Raymond E. Feist

Kulgan stopped for a moment "This explains how he knew so much." He resumed his reading.

Gee, thanks Mr Feist, I really needed that clarification. And the many others. It's such a shame they're there, because this was pretty great to revisit. The story is still a great ride, and some of the narrative ideas are top notch. I had no intention to re-read the two books that follow, but I may have to go there. A nice surprise.

oldkid

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #794 on: August 28, 2011, 03:38:16 AM »
Sabriel--Solid fantasy, but the characters don't seem really well developed.  Just hints and glimpses of a clearly fully developed fantasy world.  I can't wait to see how it unfolds.

Lirael-- Much better volume.  I am caught by it immediately, even though it doesn't seem to have much to do with the first volume, at first blush.  The two main characters develop naturally and expertly, especially the title character.  But the way the world is opened up slowly, so we understand more of the magic and the history in fits and starts throughout the volume is brilliant.  Marvelous second volume.  It bugs me that it doesn't end, but at least I have the third volume to pick up right away.  And so I have.


"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Junior

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #795 on: August 30, 2011, 04:37:34 PM »
With all of this Lord of the Rings talk I figure I should chime in with a recommendation of my own.

Benefits of a Classical Education: Book Review: The Magician King by Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman’s breakout book, The Magicians, was part Harry Potter, part Narnia, and part “literary”. Someday soon I’ll write about how silly the distinction of “literary-ness” is but until then we’ll just assume it means that it gets down to real feelings and is well written. And The Magicians was all that, a disaffected youth finds out that magic is real and goes to school to learn how to do it. Then he goes to a fantasy land and defeats an evil magician. Sounds like one of a billion fantasy romps but the anger and sadness emanating from Quentin, the hero, twists it just enough to make it a worthwhile effort. I didn’t love that book, well written though it was, because the near-constant whining was kind of annoying. This sequel, The Magician King, fixes that for the most part and is better for it.

Read the rest at Benefits of a Classical Education.
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Bondo

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #796 on: September 06, 2011, 02:06:39 AM »
The Fall by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Second book in the series and it continues to be quite enjoyable if not exactly fine literature. I appreciate that it takes a certain nerdy epidemiological/public health angle in explaining the situation in this fairly fresh take on the vampire story that removes the elegance that has more recently been associated with vampires and gives it a bit more of the grunge expected of zombies. One can often see del Toro's hand at work in certain descriptions that seem to be creating the movie image on the page. I would like to see him adapt this, though considering the first two books unfold in a couple weeks, I'm wondering if an extended mini-series might cover the whole trilogy effectively.

Jared

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #797 on: September 13, 2011, 10:59:01 AM »
The Postmortal

I rather like Drew Magary's immature ranting and mockings at Deadspin and Kissing Suzy Kolber, and following him on Twitter I get his Maxim and NBC articles and what not when they look interesting. Anyways, Im a fan so I bought his new book. Quite a departure from his normal writing.

Basically it starts in 2019, when the cure for aging is discovered. The characters deal with the morality and practicality of having an unlimited lifespan. The first half of the story is terrific, the second half wasnt my favorite (according to the acknowledgements, this half was rewritten several times)


Jared

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #798 on: September 14, 2011, 10:52:03 AM »
Bossypants by Tina Fey

Well this is about the last comedian audiobook that my library has that I can listen to (tear). I really thought this one was a lot better organized than some of the various other comedy people books Ive gone through. It really does a good job weaving together the life stories and the fun bits. I liked Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silvermans books ok, but they really struggled with that blend.

MP

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #799 on: September 15, 2011, 07:34:03 PM »
"Postmortal" sounds like interwebz speak for "hungover".