OSJ Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I've just finished Cold Harbour by Francis Brett Young. I had expected much more of it, given that it was recommended by H.P. Lovecraft himself. It's descriptive, sure, and it's all about atmosphere, but... it was also dull. At no moment did the atmosphere actually grab me and make me tense. Pity. Now onto either Lucius Shepard's Viator, Yasmina Reza's Happy Are The Happy or Richard Marsh's The Beetle. We'll see. Include me in the group that understands why Lovecraft enjoyed Cold Harbour but found it peculiarly colorless... Be interested to see what you think of The Beetle. Very much a product of its time and Marsh ranged from awful to awesome, and hits both extremes in this novel. Important to note that for years The Beetle out-sold Dracula and were it not for the hit play*, we might very well be living in a world where Richard Marsh is a household name and Bela Lugosi never left Europe to pursue an acting career in the US. *Yeah, we all think of the film as being what put Dracula on the map, but the stage play had a very, very successful run as can be seen from the Grosset & Dunlap photoplay edition featuring shots from the play. The film photoplay edition is the one that everybody wants, (with Lugosi in his most famous role), but the stage play is what made Dracula a classic. I used to have both editions, but figured I should only hang on to one of them, so I opted for the earlier version. I forget which edition of The Beetle I settled on, as there are so many versions I just went with the one with the coolest monster bug on the cover. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 *Yeah, we all think of the film as being what put Dracula on the map, but the stage play had a very, very successful run as can be seen from the Grosset & Dunlap photoplay edition featuring shots from the play. The film photoplay edition is the one that everybody wants, (with Lugosi in his most famous role), but the stage play is what made Dracula a classic. I wrote a research paper last year about the long, slow process of adapting Dracula from novel to play to film. It's fascinating to see where certain legendary details came about for the most mundane of reasons. Like, the cape; the only reason Dracula (who was not originally Bela Lugosi, he was actually the third or fourth guy to play the part in Hamilton Deane's original production) first got his iconic floor-length tall-collared cape was to make a special effect look more convincing. The stage play leaned hard on a lot of production-value gimmicks (kinda like Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera still does today), and one particularly showy trick had Dracula able to literally vanish into thin air in the blink of an eye. This was done by simply having the actor drop through a trap door in the stage while his back was turned to the audience; the big flowing cape with its big goofy collar would block the spectators' view of what happened. The actor would just let go of it and let it slowly flutter to the floor around him while he dropped like a brick through the trap, and disappeared from the crowd's line of sight in a split-second. (Basically, it looked like what happened when Vader struck down Obi-Wan, with nothing but an empty robe left behind.) Of course, the movies didn't use this trick; but by then the image of Dracula in his bat-like walking-shroud was already so iconic from the play's massively popular tours all over the country that Lugosi still wore the cape anyway in his original film version, and so did all the other actors who played Drac in the Universal films of the 30s and 40s, and the rest is history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 having finished the first Dr. Fu-Manchu novel, i was debating about jumping into the next novel. Instead, i downloaded a complete Sherlock Holmes book, so i guess i'll be reading that over the next few months. have never read any Holmes and interested to do so. While formulaic, i think the second or third books are when Rohmer hits his stride. But i have not read them in 10 or so years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I'm reading David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Collection of Things I'll Never Do Again...basically a bunch of essays from the '90s. Nothing you didn't already know but this man is smart. Absurdly smart. I totally get Zadie Smith's point about how even to intelligent people (like herself) he was still frighteningly smart. He was operating on a totally different level from everyone else. It almost makes his work too intimidating to read. Maybe that's why he did what he did. He couldn't bear living in a world with all us stupid people. I'll also give him a ton of credit for actually making tennis sound like an interesting subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I've read that one, mostly good stuff (I had to skip his essays on tennis, NO interest whatsoever). Him trying to figure out the methodology of the mysterious never-seen maids who invisibly cleaned his room on the cruise ship was absolutely fucking hilarious. And as a bigger-than-huge fan of David Lynch's haunting masterpiece Lost Highway, I found Wallace's essay about being on the set of that movie to be absolutely spellbinding. DFW does have one annoying trait though: an academic-style addiction to abusing ten-dollar words. In his chapter about TV and pop culture, he makes fun of someone else for using overly highfalutin' language, only to immediately follow it with a multisyllabic word salad which is utterly incomprehensible if you don't happen to be reading with his book in one hand and a dictionary in the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I've read that one, mostly good stuff (I had to skip his essays on tennis, NO interest whatsoever). Him trying to figure out the methodology of the mysterious never-seen maids who invisibly cleaned his room on the cruise ship was absolutely fucking hilarious. And as a bigger-than-huge fan of David Lynch's haunting masterpiece Lost Highway, I found Wallace's essay about being on the set of that movie to be absolutely spellbinding. DFW does have one annoying trait though: an academic-style addiction to abusing ten-dollar words. In his chapter about TV and pop culture, he makes fun of someone else for using overly highfalutin' language, only to immediately follow it with a multisyllabic word salad which is utterly incomprehensible if you don't happen to be reading with his book in one hand and a dictionary in the other. I think one of the best parts about David Foster Wallace is that there is a very good chance he did that on purpose. My favorite thing he wrote was when he went to the Adult Entertainment Expo. Putting someone who thinks like him into a place where thinking is strongly discouraged makes for a very entertaining read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I thought he absolutely nailed the odd appeal of Twin Peaks season 2. Everyone says it's not as good as the first. And it's not. But it's so compelling and weird because most of it's Lynch realizing "Holy shit, I have no true follow up to this storyline and my weaknesses as an artist are being exposed to a national audience" and so he's just throwing random shit out there every week to distract people from his creator meltdown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Which is the best of DFW's essay collections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdA Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Which is the best of DFW's essay collections? Oh, it's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again hands down. Consider the Lobster had it's moments, but it really is not even close the A Supposedly Fun Thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Oh my God. The cruise ship stuff. Serious Boyfriend Patrick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assfax Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Read Kitchen Confidential. Greatest part was "Me and Carlos gonna punch two holes in your neck and bump dicks in the middle!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mco543 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I read "My Lunches with Orson" today. It's a book of conversations Henry Jaglom had with Orson Welles from 1983-85 at Ma Maison. If you're a Welles fan, or a fan of film, it's worth reading. Lots of hilarious stories, lots of bitchiness, lots of inside stuff, basically everything you'd expect and somehow Jack Lemmon manages to steal the damn book. The end gets depressing as Orson comes to the end of his life but it's a great, quick read. If you can get it cheaper, used, or from a library do that, I wouldn't pay the cover price for it as it's too quick of a read Up next Orson Welles The Road to Xanadu by Simon Callow and The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez Reverte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 The Girl on the Train: The first half is really, really good and totally reels you in. So I can understand why the publishing world is going as crazy for it as it is. I think the main problem is it seems to be building up for some Gone Girl-type twist that never comes. By the end it's just a run-of-the-mill suburban whodunnit. I did like that the lead is basically the worst and most unstable wannabe detective ever and its constantly acknowledged how hopeless she is. It's a nice change from all these murder mysteries and their super-competent protagonists. It'll probably make a great movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Martin Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Bill Carter's "The War for Late Night." Read it a few years back, but with Fallon breaking the Internet with the SBTB reunion and Conan languishing on basic cable, I want to remember what went wrong for Mr O' Brien. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Her by Harriet Lane: Just awful. Hardly anything happens for 200 pages and then just as the action kicks off...it ends. Presumably the author didn't want to do a traditional thriller like Single White Female or Notes on a Scandal, but she's way too smart for her own good in that respect. The evil stalker woman is terrible too. In every other respect, she is a normal, healthy and successful woman but on this (laughably minor as it turns out) issue, she's a crazed psychopath prepared to kill and wreck another girl's life. Yeah, mental illness doesn't work that way. No Time to Say Goodbye: Perfectly good thriller with a great premise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobholly138 Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Been getting one book a day since Feb 1st. Started re-reading Books of Blood II last night for the first time since the mid 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Bill Carter's "The War for Late Night." Read it a few years back, but with Fallon breaking the Internet with the SBTB reunion and Conan languishing on basic cable, I want to remember what went wrong for Mr O' Brien. He made more than his share of mistakes, but Jay Leno didn't help. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I read "My Lunches with Orson" today. It's a book of conversations Henry Jaglom had with Orson Welles from 1983-85 at Ma Maison. If you're a Welles fan, or a fan of film, it's worth reading. Lots of hilarious stories, lots of bitchiness, lots of inside stuff, basically everything you'd expect and somehow Jack Lemmon manages to steal the damn book. The end gets depressing as Orson comes to the end of his life but it's a great, quick read. If you can get it cheaper, used, or from a library do that, I wouldn't pay the cover price for it as it's too quick of a read Up next Orson Welles The Road to Xanadu by Simon Callow and The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez Reverte Didn't want to pick that up as there's something inherently sleazy about recording your conversations with someone and printing the transcripts off years later. Read Road To Xanadu a few years ago, it's entertaining in parts. Still not read the follow up though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwoy2j Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I'm reading NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. About a quarter of the way through it. Pretty good so far. Definitely getting a Stephen King like vibe from it for obvious reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Yes, I liked NOS4A2 quite a bit. I remember the prologue, the scene at the prison hospital, being one of the creepiest things I've read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 The Dinner by Herman Koch. Basically, we get one evening in the life of four Amsterdam suburbanites as they go out to eat. Oh, and they have big, ugly secret. Very, very creepy. It has a twisty, ingenious narrative and constantly plays with your expectations. It's interesting because it doesn't exactly deliver the swerves out of nowhere: You'll read something, think "well, that's a bit odd" and then all the things keep building up before it comes to the horrifying conclusions. One of the best uses of the unreliable narrator I've ever read. This book did do well enough, but I'm convinced if Koch was American he'd pretty much be a mega-star like Gillian Flynn right now. That's how good the novel is. It makes Gone Girl look like a nice family picnic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Wasn't sure where to post this and I didn't think it was something to make a separate thread for. I'm mainly posting it because Bertrice Small was a dear friend of mine and I will miss her terribly. New York Times bestselling author Bertrice Small passed away today, at the age of 77.She began her career following in the footsteps of her parents, working for different radio and television companies. Married in October 1963 to her late husband George, she went to work handling the billing and booking for his photography business. It was in 1978 when she sold her first book however, that she began a journey that would see her become one of the best selling romance authors of all time. Dubbed “Lust’s Leading Lady” by a trade publication, she published over 60 books in her career, was published in hundreds of countries and languages, consistently made the New York Times best seller list, and appeared on talk and television shows around the country, as well as in publications like Life magazine. She was the winner of numerous awards in her field, finally receiving the lifetime achievement award from the Romance Writers Of America this past fall. A final book (publication date TBD) was completed before she died, and will give her fans one last tale to enjoy. She is survived by her son Thomas, and her grandchildren Chandler, Cora, Sophia, and Evan. She is also survived by many good friends, and by her readers meant so very much to her. Services are TBD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Just finished two comedian memoirs, Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt, which is a narrative about his life and film obsession in the late 90s, and Girl Walks Into a Bar by Rachel Dratch, detailing her post-SNL life, particularly her pregnancy at 44. Both were decent and read quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Reading Dune for the first time in 20 years. I always remember the book's chief problem as being that Herbert wrote fiction like he was delivering a history lecture, but it doesn't seem nearly as bad as I remember. The plot is still engrossing as hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Reading Neil Peart's Ghost Rider, about his motorcycle journey across North America in the wake of his daughter and wife dying within months of each other. Part travelogue and part Neil's musings on the foibles of life as he works through his grief. A very neat read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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