May's (Mostly) Marvelous Literary Musings

[Lioness]

I'm reading the Ill made mute by Cecelia Dart Thornton, saw books two and three together so many times always wondered what they would be like. Saw book one recently on my library shelf sitting next to book two and three so I nabbed em all three!

So far so good an tale filled with Faries (the old celtic kind) and flying ships only half way throughbut its playing out quite well, looking forward to finishing it and finding out more about the title charicter the ill made mute.

I loved that series. A friend lent me the books and it was the first of its type that I'd read. All the other fantasy books I'd read weren't quite the same. That series was excellent.

 

[gully_foyle]

Im reading The Jackal by Fredrick Forsyth.

A classic spy thriller from 1971. Its both reaserched well,realistic and fun spy stuff. Not too much Clancy stuff too ei populistic and not too much mundane ala John Le Carrè.

Hi Conn. See if you can get a hold of the movie. The Day of the Jackal (1973). Avoid the Bruce Willis/Richard Gere remake.

 

[Switchback]

currently reading Cryptonomicon by Stephenson, Shadowmarch by Williams, and The Civil War Narrative - Part 1 by Foote. Enjoying the hell out of all three...

 

[Connavar]

Hi Conn. See if you can get a hold of the movie. The Day of the Jackal (1973). Avoid the Bruce Willis/Richard Gere remake.

Any famous actors in ? Not that it must but it would be nice.

Lucky the horrible hollywood movie was so different that it doesnt spoil the book for me. I thought it was very bad a decade before i read the book.

Reading the original Jackal character and the interesting story makes it suck even more.

 

[AE35Unit]

Any famous actors in ? Not that it must but it would be nice.

Lucky the horrible hollywood movie was so different that it doesnt spoil the book for me. I thought it was very bad a decade before i read the book.

Reading the original Jackal character and the interesting story makes it suck even more.

Yea,Edward Fox as the assassin. Good film,not seen the remake-it didn't need to be re made

 

[Connavar]

Yea,Edward Fox as the assassin. Good film,not seen the remake-it didn't need to be re made

I have to check out who Edword Fox is

It sounds like brit movie, which is good i would like more older brit movies.

Have you read Forsyth ? Or you dont like the genre ?

 

[AE35Unit]

Yea he's very british. One of a line of Fox's in the acting business. I've not read Forsyth,tho I did try to read The Fourth Protocol ages ago-just wasn't my thing at the time. I'll watch the films but can't be bothered with the books. I've got the Ipcress File as an old ex library book but its on bookmooch now. Tried to read it but I got bored(Michael Caine played the part in the film)

 

[Connavar]

Try the Jackal book if you liked the movie. It was really good. You can get the book from me

I saw Odessa File movie not along ago. Michael Caine was real young and real good in it.

It isnt similar to the book who is about german war criminals in south america. Its not set in Berlin like in the movie.

 

[Parson]

You didn't like it?

[reference Ballantyne's latest trilogy]

The short answer is no.

The longer answer is he has some innovative ideas which kept me going but the books were miserable to read. I found myself continually lost trying to discern which character (there were multiple characters of the same name some in "real" computer generation and others in the "real" world.) or which time line we were working on. I'll bet there were half a dozen times in each of the three books that I read 10-12 pages before understanding that my bookmark had been moved and this was something I had read before. If I would ever (shudder) read them again I would start with a paper and take notes as I went along so that I could figure out who's who and what's what. Also I can't say there were any characters in it that I identified with at all.

I have a few other complaints but they would be classified as spoilers. So I won't speak of them here but if you are interested we could do a pm.

 

[Razorback]

Hi Conn. See if you can get a hold of the movie. The Day of the Jackal (1973). Avoid the Bruce Willis/Richard Gere remake.

I haven’t read the book, but I’ve seen both movie versions. They are quite different. I expect the first is much closer to the book, while the second bears little resemblance to the book. The differences are so great that the second probably should have been given a different title. Nonetheless, I thought the second version was a very good action/suspense movie. I was pleasantly surprised at Willis’ portrayal of the villain.

 

[j d worthington]

Connavar: Fox's portrayal of the assassin was very well done: complex, nuanced, understated, and yet utterly ruthless. The entire film is much more carefully crafted and subtle than one usually has seen for the past couple of decades with this genre.

 

[Connavar]

I haven’t read the book, but I’ve seen both movie versions. They are quite different. I expect the first is much closer to the book, while the second bears little resemblance to the book. The differences are so great that the second probably should have been given a different title. Nonetheless, I thought the second version was a very good action/suspense movie. I was pleasantly surprised at Willis’ portrayal of the villain.

I also liked Willis in that movie. I thought he played the role well. The rest was bleh.

Having read the original character Willis did know what he was doing unlike the others.

You dislike spy thrillers ? Cause i would say you will like it no matter which movie version you like.

 

[Razorback]

No, I generally enjoy spy thrillers and I liked both versions of The Day of the Jackal. I was just trying to put in a different take than what gully-foyle expressed.

 

[Alia]

Movie-what movie?

Lioness is most correct. It will be released next week here in the states.

And Gollum, I would expect no less from the literature god to have such a fine book collection in his library.

 

[Clansman]

The Name of the Wind, by Rothfuss.

 

[GOLLUM]

And Gollum, I would expect no less from the literature god to have such a fine book collection in his library.

Thanks mate...

 

[murphy]

Thanks mate...

Here's more info on it.

 

[Connavar]

No, I generally enjoy spy thrillers and I liked both versions of The Day of the Jackal. I was just trying to put in a different take than what gully-foyle expressed.

I know i was just trying to make you read the book

 

[Thadlerian]

Working my way through Stephen Donaldson's Gap cycle. Just finished The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge.

Sheesh, this stuff is Gritty! Some of the darkest I've read, especially after Donaldson introduced Davies.

Also, found an unabridged audio version of Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, which I haven't read.

 

[Nesacat]

Finished a few books over the last several days:

The Nightwatchman's Occurrence Book & Other Comic Inventions by V.S. Naipaul... The book contains two novels and a collection of short stories. The Suffrage of Elvira is Naipaul's take on an electoral campaign in the backcountry of Trinidad, where the candidates' tactics include blatant vote-buying and supernatural sabotage.

The eponymous protagonist of Mr Stone and the Knights Companion is an aging Englishman of ponderously regular habits whose life is thrown into upheaval by a sudden marriage and unanticipated professional advancement.

And the stories in Flag on the Island take us from a Chinese bakery in Trinidad - whose black proprietor faces bankruptcy until he takes a Chinese name - to a rooming house in London, where the genteel landlady plays a nasty Darwinian game with her budgerigars.

Menagerie Manor by Gerald Durrell
... this book is an account of how Durrell fulfilled his ambition by founding his own private sanctuary for endangered species in Jersey.

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke by Roald Dahl
...The Reverend Lee is suffering from a rare and acutely embarrassing condition. Back-to-Front Dyslexia. It affects only hi speech, and he doesn't realise he's doing it, but the parishioners of Nibbleswicke are shocked and confused by his seemingly outrageous comments.

Am currently reading The Waterworks by E.L. Doctorow.