Reading Minds: The CoastGab Book Club

[whoozit]

I have the feeling this may be the rare case where the movie's better than the book.

I understand your point but I liked the book better.  Just one of those cases where people prefer different things.  I read the book first so that could have influenced my preference.  I can't think of a movie adaptation that I have preferred over the book. 

[Skunk Ape]

Just got around to reading the first five chapters of The Martian.  Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get all the hype.  I'm sorry but to me it reads less like fiction and more like a giant run-on word problem.

e.g ... You have to do X but only if you do Y first, but that would create this side-effect Z, which in turn can be crudely managed by augmenting how you're doing X in the first place, and it's all based on some formula from high-school chemistry and some basic electronics knowledge, etc.

I mean clearly alot of thought went into the details, and there's some interesting technical ingenuity at work, but this feels more like a textbook than a story.  And the tone of the main character is pretty shallow for a guy in that situation.  I have the feeling this may be the rare case where the movie's better than the book.

The audiobook is great. That's how I got through most of it.

The movie had a different feel throughout.

In the book everything actually seems dire and life or death at every moment. The movie plays more like a happy adventure story.

[coaster]

I'm re-reading Seven Years In Tibet. Great story.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

Also, the novel that Blade Runner was based on is a total abortion that has (thankfully) very little to do with the original text.

The older I get, the more I realize Blade Runner is a stupid movie. It is an insipid, fog-filled turd.

[zeebo]

The audiobook is great. That's how I got through most of it.

That probably makes it more accessible, but personally I wouldn't risk listening while operating a vehicle - those ongoing chem equations and resource management problems had me nodding off.   :

In the book everything actually seems dire and life or death at every moment.

Yes but even though he goes into laborious detail describing how desperate his situation is, I never really felt it viscerally while reading it.  The main guy seems rather nonchalant about it all - being seemingly more concerned about the old tv shows he's watching than big existential questions about life, our place in the cosmos, his family/friends back home, etc. 

But like I said I only got 5 chapters in so maybe this picks up later, or maybe I was just expecting some deeper sci-fi/literary themes when really it's a different kind of book, more about technical problem-solving, etc.  Actually I think it would make a great companion book to a math/chemistry/engineering class.  I don't mean that to sound quite as backhanded-complimenty as it sounds.   

[zeebo]

The older I get, the more I realize Blade Runner is a stupid movie. It is an insipid, fog-filled turd.

If it were up to me, Blade Runner would be slightly downgraded, and Robocop slightly upgraded in terms of their respective status.  However my credibility here is iffy since two of my fave sci-fi movies are Flash Gordon and Starship Troopers.

[zeebo]

I think it happens more than we realise. It's just that the source material is some crummy old novel that nobody has heard of. The books that make poor films are usually great books that simply don't convert to another medium...

Interesting point Sredni and I tend to agree.  Something I notice is certain philosphical, psychological, and sensory elements of books get lost when converted to film, because the latter is a more action-driven, less abstract medium.  Usually what gets translated well from books is the core plot and visual elements, but much of the multi-faceted richness gets stripped away.

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

Ok at first I thought you were joking, but I checked it out, and yep looks like it's in the works.  Apparently after years of Mansquitos and Shartopuses, they've pledged a return to more serious sci-fi programming.  Ok, that's great and all, but maybe should have started with something a bit less ambitious?  Good luck guys.

http://screenrant.com/hyperion-tv-series-syfy/

Saw that advertised and just figured it was going to be another cheesy syfy knock-off. I guess they are serious about it though. This could turn out really good.

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

Be careful with that Neal Peart book. You don't want to be mind controlled.

Speaking of which, I actually read the Necronomicon by the Mad Arab before the movie Evil Dead came out. It was one of those books that I could 'feel' when I walked by it in B Dalton. Stopped me dead in my tracks until I homed in on it. Had to buy it. Maybe that's why I get such a kick out of the Evil Dead and Army of darkness spoofs. Haven't seen the new one yet, but I probably will.
Right now I'm in the middle of "The Grid Of The Gods" by Joseph Farrell. He, unlike Hoaxy, backs up his premises w/ hard facts and documentation. If he speculates, he tells you straight out.
Fred Saberhagen also had the book of swords and the book(s) of lost swords. Totally different writing style and feel than his Berserker series.

    The Complete Book of Swords, (SFBC/Nelson Doubleday Jan. 1985)

    Woundhealer's Story: The First Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Oct. 1986)
    Sightblinder's Story: The Second Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Nov. 1987)
    Stonecutter's Story: The Third Book of Lost Swords, (Tor May 1988)
    Farslayer's Story: The Fourth Book of Lost Swords, (Tor July 1989)
    Coinspinner's Story: The Fifth Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Dec. 1989)
    Mindsword's Story: The Sixth Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Dec. 1990)
    Wayfinder's Story: The Seventh Book of Lost Swords, (Tor June 1992)
    Shieldbreaker's Story: The Last Book of Swords, (Tor Feb. 1994)
All excellent reading if you like ancient lost technology now considered magic, A moonbase that secretly controls things on EArth, Atomic blasts converted into demons that roam the countryside at the behest of their controllers, awesome swordplay, underground mazes that shift pattern at predetermined times, buried treasure, and well - but not overly - developed characters. The forging of the swords kicks ass too. Yah, Vulcan is involved. Good reads and a bit different. More on the fiction fantasy side but do contain some hard science that builds the story well.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

    The Complete Book of Swords, (SFBC/Nelson Doubleday Jan. 1985)

    Woundhealer's Story: The First Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Oct. 1986)
    Sightblinder's Story: The Second Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Nov. 1987)
    Stonecutter's Story: The Third Book of Lost Swords, (Tor May 1988)
    Farslayer's Story: The Fourth Book of Lost Swords, (Tor July 1989)
    Coinspinner's Story: The Fifth Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Dec. 1989)
    Mindsword's Story: The Sixth Book of Lost Swords, (Tor Dec. 1990)
    Wayfinder's Story: The Seventh Book of Lost Swords, (Tor June 1992)
    Shieldbreaker's Story: The Last Book of Swords, (Tor Feb. 1994)

I read those about 20 years ago-I remember something about getting 2 swords together made the people the most powerful and the swords had some ability to kill gods. Someone threw Farslayer and killed a god (no spoilers here).

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

I read those about 20 years ago-I remember something about getting 2 swords together made the people the most powerful and the swords had some ability to kill gods. Someone threw Farslayer and killed a god (no spoilers here).

Those are the ones.    

[BobGrau]

Evil Dead 2 was the first horror movie I ever watched, thank god.

[Camazotz Automat]

Glory by Vladimir Nabokov

[Mind Flayer Monk]

From the Velvets to the Voidoids: The Birth of American Punk Rock by Clinton Heylin (also called From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World)

I counted some entries in the index to give a snapshot of the contents of the book.

Top Bands by Number of Index Entries
Television
Velvet Underground
Ramones
Blondie
The Stooges/Iggy and the Stooges/Iggy Pop

Top Songs by Number of Index Entries (in parenthesis)
(I Belong to the) Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids (13)
Love Comes in Spurts    by Richard Hell and the Voidoids(11)
You Gotta Lose  by Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers (10)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo  by Pere Ubu ( 8 )
Heroin by Lou Reed ( 8 )
Black Angel's Death Song by the Velvet Undergound (7)
Final Solution by Pere Ubu (7)
Venus in Furs by the Velvet Undergound (7)
I Don't Care by Television (6)
Marquee Moon by Television  (6)
Gloria  (6)
Radio Ethiopia by the Patti Smith Group  (6)

[Étouffée]

Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee

[Rix Gins]

Just finished "World War I Through My Sights" by Horatio Rogers.  One of my WWI books that I've been re-reading due to the fact that the war was being fought 100 years ago to the day.  It's a good read and has the usual mud, blood and cooties mixed in with humor, introspection and drama.  I think the best part came when Rogers was on a return troopship at war's end.  He was looking down from a rail at his friends and family who had gathered ship side to welcome him home.

"Through all the tumult of cheering, and bands I saw Peabo's face as I last remembered it, and the wind-rows of American dead in the wheat fields around the Croix Rouge Farm, and I thought of their families sitting at home." he wrote.  Peabo was a nickname for Ellery Peabody Jr, a fellow soldier of Rogers, who popped up throughout the book only to be killed near the end of the war.  There wasn't a picture of Peabo in the book but I did locate one on-line. 

[Chine]

Rifling through and cleaning bookshelves, I revisit my old friends. Filled primarily on theatre: Directors on Directing, Brecht, Ibsen, Foreman, Stanislavsky... tons of scripts. Two shelves dedicated to Sam Shepard. I've visited with him a few times while I was working in NYC theater and he attended a production I was in. A great man and sweet memories of drinking beer with him at The White Horse Tavern in the West Village.

[NightsAtSea]

I just finished Bird Box by Josh Malerman...superb horror, actually managed to frighten me which is pretty rare. I read so much horror that I'm somewhat desensitized  Just about to dig into Slade House by David Mitchell.

[zeebo]

...Just about to dig into Slade House by David Mitchell.

That's on my list too. 

Just finished Zone One by Colson Whitehead which was pretty bleak but good writing imho.  The guy has a gift for metaphors.

[Shaz]

Antifragile.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile

[coaster]

Erik Larson's Dead Wake - The Last Crossing Of The Lusitania. Not a bad read. I really like Larson's style of writing.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Erik Larson's Dead Wake - The Last Crossing Of The Lusitania. Not a bad read. I really like Larson's style of writing.

I'll have to check that out. I really enjoyed The Devil in the White City.

[coaster]

I really enjoyed The Devil in the White City.

Me too. I have a few of his books. Isaac's Storm was good as well.

[Camazotz Automat]

Devils & Demons (1987)

A collection of over fifty horror short stories.  Authors range from Lovecraft to Asimov to Tanith Lee to Stoker to Robert Bloch to H. G. Wells to name a few.

I bought it at a thrift store today for one solid dollar.

The aesthetic of Edward Gorey's dust jacket art alone far exceeded the price of admission.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Devils & Demons (1987)

A collection of over fifty horror short stories.  Authors range from Lovecraft to Asimov to Tanith Lee to Stoker to Robert Bloch to H. G. Wells to name a few.

I bought it at a thrift store today for one solid dollar.

The aesthetic of Edward Gorey's dust jacket art alone far exceeded the price of admission.

That's beastly, baby! Nice find!

[Étouffée]

Devils & Demons (1987)

"Excellent, Mr. Renfield.  Excellent."

[Camazotz Automat]

That's beastly, baby! Nice find!

"Excellent, Mr. Renfield.  Excellent."

The B-side of Edward Gorey's cheery cover.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

The B-side of Edward Gorey's cheery cover.

They've got an Ed Gorey special collection/special library down at San Diego State. It's very impressive. I learned about Gorey reading John Bellairs books as a kid.

http://library.sdsu.edu/egpl

[coaster]

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett. Captain Musgrave and his crew are shipwrecked off Auckland Island. While fighting for their own survival, another ship, the Invercauld, shipwrecks on the other end of the island.
I've been reading a lot of non-fiction survival/adventure books lately, and this one is on the top of the list. The sad thing is I have read so many books on the subject, I think I have exhausted this genre.

[Ciardelo]

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett. Captain Musgrave and his crew are shipwrecked off Auckland Island. While fighting for their own survival, another ship, the Invercauld, shipwrecks on the other end of the island.
I've been reading a lot of non-fiction survival/adventure books lately, and this one is on the top of the list. The sad thing is I have read so many books on the subject, I think I have exhausted this genre.

Thanks for your recommendation of Eric Larson. I haven't started any of his yet but they do look good.