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Bobholly138 09-25-2015 01:37 PM

The Plutonium Blonde by John Zakour & Lawrence Gannem

Set in the future and based around only one private detective left on earth. So kind of a film noir/science fiction blend. Worth the 50 cents I paid for it.

OssMan 10-09-2015 06:50 PM

j.m. coetzee "disgrace", didn't understand the situation in south africa regarding apartheid and stuff, interesting though about the downfall of this middle-aged "womanizer" whose life gets fucked up from an affair with a college student and he ends up having sex with this ugly woman multiple times...

OssMan 10-30-2015 09:30 PM

"The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios" by Yann Martel... couple "powerful" short stories or whatever... bought this in Canada, 1 of the stories took place in some shitty neighborhood of washington, DC

mitch_h 12-26-2015 06:02 PM

http://bestanimations.com/Holidays/F...ation-19-2.gif mitch_h 2015 reading list http://bestanimations.com/Holidays/F...ation-19-2.gif




Independant People - Haldor Laxness

This was my favourite book of 2015. It was about this Icelandic farmer who wants to just live off his small bit of land and not have to depend on anyone for anything and all this terrible shit happens to him and his family. Very well written, and despite being incredibly bleak there is a lot of humour and the book does a great job traversing late 19th and early 20th century Iceland. I find a lot of smarty pants literature has to reference a whole bunch of other books and greek mythology and stuff, but this book sticks with its own history and way of life, a lot of references to dogs and sheep and dogs and sheep with intestinal worms. I give this book 10/10!!!

The Emigrants - W.G Sebald

Great book, Sebald is probably the best writer of the past 20 years. Very simple yet unique style of writing. 10/10

Blow Up and Other Stories - Julio Cortazar

A good collection of stories, every story was very good and memorable. 9/10

The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil

I try to read one big, “important” book each year. This was worth the time and effort, Musil died before he could finish it and despite the book being over one thousand pages it still feels unfinished :(. 9/10

The Invention of Morel - Casares Biouy

Cool little book. Sort of Science fiction, but more rooted in the Latin American style of writing, so not a lot of time on exposition and world building. This felt like very good/unconventional Twilight Zone episode and I think this book was referenced on the hit TV show LOST. I would recommend it to people who are looking for a good and smart little novel but aren’t big readers. 8/10

Last Evenings on Earth - Roberto Bolano

Mostly great, maybe one or two dud stories. Mauricio 'The Eye' Silva" was a really cool story. 8/10

Tomorrow in the Battle Think of Me - Javier Marias

Didn’t like it as much as other book I read by Javier Marias but still good. Cool plot, guy goes to have sex with married woman and she dies while he is there. 8/10

Sirens of the Titan - Kurt Vonnegut

Sweet book, much better than expected.


Zeroville - Steve Erickson

Good novel for movie fans. Sometimes it felt like Delilo-lite, but it made me want to check out more of this guy’s work. Thankfully James Franco is bringing this to the big screen in 2016!!. 8/10

House of Leaves - Mark Z Danielewski

I had bought this book 10 years ago but lost it, finally decided to re-purchase it and I’m glad I did. Cool story about a house that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Very “postmodern”, a lot of different gimmicks and literary tricks, I thought it worked. Another book I would recommend for the more casual reader looking for something cool.

All Fires the Fire - Julio Cortazar

8/10

The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene

8/10

Slade House - David Mitchell

I liked this more than Bone Clocks. I have found that as Mitchell has embraced “genre fiction” he has lost some nuance as a storyteller, he seems to rely more on his characters espousing expository monologues, still better than most stuff out there, and this is the only book I read that was actually published in 2015. 8/10


The Opposing Shore - Julien Gracq

8/10.

Pedro Palomar - Juan Rulfo

I need to re-read this. Despite being less than 200 pages long It was much more difficult than I thought it would be, a lot of shifts in time and character perspective.

Empire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean - Carrie Gibson
Nonfiction 8/10

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would, something you appreciate more than like. 7/10

The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin

Straight up science fiction. Reminded me of Phillip K Dick.


We Love Glenda So Much - Julio Cortazar

Started getting Cortazar burnout, I don’t even think I finished this collection. There was this really good story where this guy goes to Guatemala or Nicaragua or something and he takes pictures at all these nice touristy things, and then when he develops the pictures they are pictures of firing squads and other acts of violence and oppression. This story pops into my head every couple of weeks. 7/10

23 Things they Don’t Tell you About Capitalism - Ha-Joon Chang
Nonfiction, preaching to the converted, still liked it though. 7/10

The Mysterious Stranger - Mark Twain

7/10

Cosmos - Witold Gombrowicz

First half was sweet, second half was batshit crazy and I couldn’t really get into it. 6/10


On Heroes and Tombs - Ernesto Sabato

I was very disappointed with this book/feel like I didn’t get it. I didn’t think it came together to tell a compelling story and I probably don’t know enough about the history of Argentina to have this work as a political allegory. There is a section called “Report on the Blind” where a character thinks there is a secret society of blind people trying to get him, that section was pretty great.


Chasing the Scream - Johann Hari

Nonfiction. I keep looking for a good book about the science behind addiction but always end up with more of a social look at the overall war on drugs. I found out halfway through reading this that Hari had killed his career by making up sources and other bullshit. Some of it was interesting. 5/10

Lock Jaw 01-01-2016 11:01 AM

Star Wars: Children of the Jedi 4/10. Was really kind of bad... Kept waiting for it to pick up, and then it finally does when there is like 5 chapters left in the book, and even then was not too great. Probably also didn't help that I saw the new Star Wars movie in the midst of reading this book.... Officially invalidating it forever...

Already started on the next book in the old expanded universe, though.... Already infinitely better....

OssMan 01-04-2016 10:14 PM

re-read ender's game and ender's shadow and just finished shadow of the hegemon... all of these stories are genius and insanely well written

seems like a huge shame that orson scott card is not "world renowned" even tho he is a huge racist i think

El Vaquero de Infierno 02-13-2016 10:35 AM

Vijay Prakash Singha - An Introduction to Hindustani Classical Music: A Guidebook for Beginners 6.8/10

Perhaps it is because I have been listening to Indian classical music for a couple of years, now, but it seemed a bit too basic. I wanted more information about how the raga sangeet is formed, and more information about the differences between khyal and dhrupad styles, and how semi-classical forms like thumri and daadra differ from full classical music.

Shisen Kopf 02-13-2016 12:53 PM

Lol books

Lock Jaw 03-02-2016 01:33 PM

Star Wars: Darksaber - 9/10

Good book, loses some points due to one of the plots kind of being anti-climactic. Next book is written by the person who wrote the last book, which was terrible, so dreading it....

El Vaquero de Infierno 06-03-2016 11:37 AM

John Keay - India: A History 8/10

Good for a general survey.

El Vaquero de Infierno 07-04-2016 08:31 AM

Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road 8/10

Sadly, I had seen the film first and all the time reading the book I was picturing Leonardo Di Caprio as Frank.

Swiss Ultimate 07-04-2016 04:18 PM

Son of the Black Sword
10/10
Fast moving. Brutal action. Neat world.

Bobholly138 07-28-2016 07:43 AM

Card Sharks-8 outta 10

Starts off as the history of baseball cards. Then changes into a fairly revealing behind the scenes look at the early years of Upper Deck trading cards.

XL 08-07-2016 05:24 PM

Read "The Girl On The Train" as my wife had recently bought it, and I caught the trailer for the upcoming movie starring Emily Blunt (:drool:) and was intrigued.

Read it in 2 days so it must have kept me interested (a proverbial "page turner"). The plot was interesting for the most part, it's written from the perspective of 3 different women, however, they all "sound" the same. It's a little difficult to follow at first as the timeline jumps around.

There's a twist at the end which is pretty well executed, as in you might not see it coming, yet it descends into Bond Villain territory with the level of tacked on exposition from the bad guy of the book.

Another issue is that none of the characters are all that likeable, and the message seems to be that all women are fucked up, and all men are monsters.

McLegend 09-19-2016 04:34 PM

Gone Girl 10/10- crazy shit

Harry Potter and The sorcerer's stone 8/10
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secerts 9.5/10
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban 7.5/10
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fie 9/10 shit got real here
Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix 8.5/10 There is a chapter where it is just Harry and Dumbledore and that's probably the best chapter in the series so far.

Destor 11-14-2016 09:13 PM

Old Man Logan: 10/10

Lock Jaw 12-02-2016 01:07 AM

Star Wars: Planet of Twilight 4.5/10

Took me a long time to get through this one..... Was also "not very good"..... finally got "exciting" around the final two chapters of the book..... Seemed slightly better than Children of the Jedi, I guess..... I don't know if this author wrote any more Star Wars books, but I may have to skip them.....

Lock Jaw 12-22-2016 06:15 PM

Took a break from Star Wars books and read:

The Letter Writer 9/10...... I liked it a bunch and finished it pretty quick.... detective story in 1940s New York..... wasn't until the Afterward that I appreciated that a lot of the stuff was historically accurate.......

Seanny One Ball 02-02-2017 10:24 PM

Been reading Nightmares and Dreamscapes and The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King this week and there are some excellent shorts in there.

Dolan's Cadillac is a particular favourite because it's awesomely sinister and heroically vengeful.

Other favourites include Blockade Billy (a creepy yet nostalgic baseball short), Bad Little Kid and Ur.

I have a few to read but it's good to have a short story before bed because you can finish it.

Ruien 02-05-2017 06:08 PM

Finished the second book in the 5th wave series. Hate both booms so far but want to finish the story. 2/5.

Seanny One Ball 02-06-2017 12:00 PM

That happened to me with those terrible Divergent films.

Seanny One Ball 02-08-2017 11:45 PM

Currently I am reading "The Thurber Carnival" by James Thurber.
I had read some of the short stories but I forgot how funny Thurber can be inside ten pages. It's a style I greatly envy. I wrote the beginnings of a short story the other day, read some Thurber and immediately resigned myself to mediocrity.
Mitty is always a favourite but The Catbird Seat and The Man Who Hated Moonbaum were new to me. The Cane In The Corridor was particularly memorable, I'm still trying to figure it out.

Bad News Gertner 02-09-2017 01:37 PM

Just watch the movie fools.

Seanny One Ball 02-09-2017 10:49 PM

Only with Shawshank

WinterDecay 02-13-2017 04:28 AM

Finished The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story ... 4.25/5 - very interesting stories

Bobholly138 02-17-2017 01:05 AM

Full Dark,No Stars-9 outta 10

Outside of the Dark Tower stuff,since the early 90s King's novels have been good until the end,where they fall to pieces. But his novellas and short stories are still great. This collection of 4 novellas is as good if not better than Different Seasons.

King has mentioned in interviews this collection was inspired by the modern splatterpunk authors like Jack Ketchum,Edward Lee and Wrath James White.

This is actually a re-read. I grabbed this and read it when it hit paperback. But recently got the hardcover for a buck. Plus wanted to at least re-read Big Driver and A good Marriage again after seeing the film adaptations of them.

Cinema Sewer volume 3-10/10

This is a collection of the Out of print early issues of Cinema Sewer magazine.Which covers horror/cult/sci fi/classic porn movies/tv shows and books. The author of Cinema Sewer is best known for being the person that broke the news that Thora Birch's parents were famous pornstars.

Seanny One Ball 02-18-2017 02:52 PM

I need to read Diary by Chuck Pahlaniuk and Broken Monsters by someone who's name I forget. They sound creepy as hell.

Lock Jaw 02-22-2017 04:18 PM

Returning to Star Wars books....

Star Wars: The Crystal Star - 8/10

Was interesting...... the first book to really give Jacen and Jaina Solo some characterization/spotlight......

Impeccable 10-29-2017 05:37 AM

I finished JRs book recently and also Justin Roberts.

JRs book was okay. I was enjoying it but them it abruptly ended at WM15. Obviously a ploy to write a second book much like Jericho does. I was really looking forward to reading about JR signing all of the mid 2000s talent. He's a talented storyteller though and at least this way I didn't have to listen to his god awful impressions of Stu Hart and Terry Funk. 7/10

Justin Roberts I really enjoyed. Probably because I picked it up for £0.74 on Amazon kindle. He basically lived his dream but then got very very bitter to WWE. It was really interesting to read the full account of his side of the Connor Michalek story. It does make you see the corporate side of WWE in a different light. 8/10 (higher mark because I had little expectations for such a cheap read)

Locke 11-03-2017 09:05 PM

A man called OVE - C+

To much Hype for me persnaly, inherently unlikeable character was post to become likeable, but didn't become so for me, innit.

Fignuts 02-07-2018 07:21 PM

The Call- Peadar O'Guilin

7/10

None of the characters are particulsrly interesting, and the book moves at such a breackneck pace that you don't really have enough time with them to really care about what happens to them, with the exception of the prrotagonist and her best friend. But even they are just bland archtypes that you've seen in countless stories.

That said, the Sidhe, their horrific world, and the plot surrounding them kept me glued to this book til the end.

Would compare this to well made horror film thats a lot of fun, but doesnt change the genre in any way.

Seanny One Ball 02-11-2018 12:40 AM

Anyone here agree that horror stories are far better told through literature than screen?
I tend to watch horror now more than ever but I always find books far scarier a medium than film. Something about it being hard to "turn off".

Fignuts 02-13-2018 07:12 PM

I agree. I also think its easier to put yourself in the characters shoes in literature. Because you have to picture everything in your head, I think people naturally see everything in their minds as terrifying as it could be to them.

Fignuts 02-13-2018 07:19 PM

Actually just bought a handful of horror novels. The Call was one of them pretty fucking dark and gruesome. If there was an arguement for the demographic of Young Adult novels being subjective, The Call would be a great example.

Reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons which is a sci fi horror novel, and its pretty good so far.

I've read some creepypastas that were a lot of fun but wouldn't translate well or be nearly as scary on film.

Ubloo is one that comes to mind. Definitely check that one out.

OssMan 02-15-2018 11:27 PM

Been wanting to read a few stephen kings

OssMan 04-04-2018 06:58 AM

Just finished "gone girl"

It was goodish, insane and stressful

Fignuts 04-04-2018 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OssMan (Post 5085932)
Been wanting to read a few stephen kings

Kind of want to recommend Dark Tower for the first 4 books, but I kind of don't for the last 3.

Ruien 04-04-2018 10:31 AM

Read the series The Summoner. Was really good. 8 of 10. The final 100 pages or so were so rushed but whatever. That's the only negative.

Destor 04-04-2018 12:28 PM

"The Road to Serfdom" - Fredrich von Hayek


10/10

Jean Paul 04-09-2018 08:19 PM

The Mist by Stephen Kings 8/10


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