Reading!

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Two short ones, both with connections to acting, and the other book I'm reading became a film (two versions over the years, in fact).

Shopgirl by Steve Martin. I wanted a funny book (maybe in an LA Story way, not really The Jerk), but instead it was serious. Well-written, and with a nice ended to wrap up some plotlines, but it wasn't what I was seeking.

Mystic Knoll by Diana Gallagher. It was a YA original novel using the characters from the Charmed TV show. It was what it is.

[JimJamBonds]

The Perfection Point. No its not a bio of Jim Jam Bonds, instead it examines what are the perfection points in certain sports namely: 100 meter dash, 50 meter freestyle, longest drive, the mile, the marathon etc. Pretty interesting, I don't exactly agree with all of it but interesting none the less.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

True Grit by Charles Portis. I have not yet seen either film version, but I'm glad I read the novel first. I imagine the protagonist as an older Scout Finch. I loved how direct and simple the dialogue was, but the descriptions were detailed enough to create excellent imagery and suspense. An odd, but not unexpected, ending.

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton. Known more for sci-fi type thrillers and action stories, this was based on the actual historical event, slightly changed. The protagonist is a criminal, but you root for him to succeed despite his illegal actions. I really liked this one; I forgot how much I like Crichton's style.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Two total opposites... you know how sometimes things just seem to match up, or find similarities where none appear possible?

Nothing But Trouble by Rachel Gibson. I typed in "hockey" in fiction at the library, and the first to come up was a romance novel; remember that I do try to read multiple genres, including those I don't like (sometimes I find something good that I'd never have considered). This? Garbage; cliched; boring (even for "bodice rippers," as I once heard as a nickname for this type); and wrong (no way a hockey team would replace its captain [out for the season with an off-ice injury] with a FREE AGENT without moving up one of its alternate captains, the team was 54-28 WITHOUT any ties/overtime wins). Oh well.

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. You want to talk about "nothing but trouble?" It's disheartening to read of urban social issues from the 1970s that still could be problems today. This was gritty and realistic, but if you don't get too down with all the terrible circumstances and look at how things go well, it actually has a positive theme. Glad I read this one right after the one above; it puts life into proper perspective.

Current summer stats:
- 26 books read
- about 6200 pages read (238 pages per; more short ones this summer I guess)

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Greg Bear, Beyond Heaven's River. For my sci-fi book club, the summer theme is travel, and each meeting is a different continent; this week, it was Asia, and I didn't want to read manga as most did. I remembered Bear from his Star Wars novel, Rogue Planet, and this one fit the book club location. But I should've recalled that I didn't really like his SW book. The premise was interesting (WWII Japanese pilot taken by an alien race, doesn't age over 400+ years as human technology advances, how he fits into this "new" world), but was confusing (even multiple dialogue grammatical errors that made following conversations rough) and didn't live up to its potential.

Jack Kerouac, On the Road. I am following the library's travel theme more this summer, so the "ultimate" road novel should be great, right daddy-o? Nope. To quote the horse from Ren & Stimpy: "No, sir. I don't like it." Clearly, I was not the target audience, and time has passed since it was different; but now I read it as a selfish, freeloading, self-destructive, hedonistic way to avoid life and its responsibilities.

Paul Maher Jr., Jack Kerouac's American Journey. This was a study of HOW the above book was written, over the dozen years of producing it, and I found it much more interesting than the original. While OTR is listed as "fiction," all Kerouac seems to have done is change the names of what he and others did over a few years. The fact that it's been 17 years ( ) since my own solo road trip journey, and my manuscript is nowhere near where it should be on paper/in a typed file, gives me some hope.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

I hit the 30 book level! I don't see as many opportunities to read so easily as I did during June, so I don't expect to have many more reads from now. Stats so far: 30 books, about 7300 pages (roughly 243 per).

Ian Fleming, Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories. Nine different stories, from about 10-40 pages each, which became scenes during the films of those titles (A View to a Kill, Living Daylights, Octomom, For Your Only, etc.). I liked how the details turned into brief (or extended) parts of a 2-hour movie. Good inner dialogue and character descriptions.

[OC47150]

Ian Fleming, Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories. Nine different stories, from about 10-40 pages each, which became scenes during the films of those titles (A View to a Kill, Living Daylights, Octomom, For Your Only, etc.). I liked how the details turned into brief (or extended) parts of a 2-hour movie. Good inner dialogue and character descriptions.

I'll have to check that one out. Fleming is one of my favorites.

[DarthQuack]

Sidetracked yet again from a Star Wars novel....

I started re-reading all the Harry Potter books with the new film coming out, so I'm up to The Order of the Phoenix so far. Love them all!

[JediTricks]

Haven't had much free time since the move, but while I was sick for a few weeks, I took a little time to read. Among those, I read Playback, Raymond Chandler, the final completed Philip Marlowe novel. The book was weird, it had a lot of personality and felt fairly authentic, but there wasn't really a mystery to solve, there was a lot of going from one hotel to another and back, and not a lot happened. I dare say it's the weakest of the Marlowes, but as a fan, I appreciated it none the less.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Two more...

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall by William L. Riordon. This is a biography of a late 19th-century city boss member from New York (during the Boss Tweed era). People talk about transparancy in government? This shows how bad that could be, if the figure tells you what actually happens and justifies such actions. He was a "just let us do what we do because it works, and don't reform what doesn't need changing" believer, even if what was being done was [airquotes] illegal [/airquotes] or [airquotes] self-serving [/airquotes].

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. While it says it was the basis for the 4th PotC movie, it really is a different tale. It borrowed the coconut tree (using a flag pole instead) and lord's palace escape scenes (this one was from a party at a local bigwig [pun intended :18thcenturyfashions: ] in Jamaica) and the fact that Blackbeard could control dead sailors and he was seeking eternal life by using a female. I am glad I saw the film first, but this was very well written and descriptive.