MrCat

The special effects have not aged well though. That's not really an issue if you enjoy the show but it might put people off. It's a shame really since the movies aren't that bad actually. I like the idea behind the show and I saw some episode of it too (even saw the old animated one back when I was a kid) but never got really into it. Then again, I rarely get into SF shows (kind of strange since SF is my fav genre when it comes to movies) or any kind of show in general. I remember many people complaining when the new movie out in 2009, from CGI to script and characters and the "spirit of the show" that you mention but It was still good for non trekies.

Oh I see. Almost the exact thing we have here but being able to study Austen in school would have made my literature hours much better. These days I have to look on Sparknotes after reading anything, especially since I went to an IT college and that was as far away as possible from anything that had to do with literature. I understand why many here did not like it at first since I wasn't fond of my curriculum back in the days as well but seeing things from the outside gives me different ideas about your schools. In order to not deviate from the topic too much, I'll mention that I am re-reading Emma and trying to follow your book club challenge. It's really interesting to talk about books with other people and I wish I could have had them explained by a teacher and maybe seeing more in them. I mean, you can read Crime and Punishment as a simple crime novel but where is the fun in that?

AXN did a Star Trek marathon on Friday, starting with the old ones in the morning and finishing with Nemesis I think (that was the last movie with Picard right?). I sat through all of them since I was sick and had nothing to do at home (well except reading) and I was quite surprised to see how cheesy the special effects were. Not that I mind but there is a huge difference between these movie and the new ones. Still, they were enjoyable. I am not sure if I want to see the new movie in cinemas but I might go at least for the visuals. In other news, happy 30th to one of my fav SF movies ever: Aliens. How I wish cinemas here would run the movie at least a few days or a week so I can see it again in all its glory. Sadly, I barely see movies from my own country here. Not much is played unless it's a new Hollywood production.

What is an "A Level text"?

I read some books by Anne Rice in highschool, shortly after seeing Intervew With a Vampire but I did not like it very much. It was a pre-Twilight era however so comparing it now, maybe I would have claimed that it's good. But being good compared to Twilight isn't really saying much. I don't really have may authors to compare her to though. The Bronte Sister also wrote very well and Jane Eyre is one of my fav. book ever. I have not read all of their works, only the one I mentioned before and Wuthering Heights which I did not enjoy very much. I occasionally come back and re-read Jane Eyre, fully or just some passages, but I never do that with Wuthering Heights. Once was enough. Frank Herbert is great and he wrote some amazing SF books but I have no idea if he inspired Stephen King., They write very different genres and I feel that Herbert's writing is superior.

Does she have ANY books that are not "dramatic"? i read My Sister's Keeper while waiting for my plane a few years ago and it bored me to death. I just don't get the big fuss about her. Also, imo, I think she writes her books effortlessly because the quality of the writing is very bad. I guess one could build a good story around a drama and I guess she raised some (weak) moral questions but she dropped the ball on everything else.

Hello and welcome!

Noted. I am rather burned out with him at the moment but I will come back and read all of his works eventually. A friend of mine also mentioned this book so now I have two reasons to read it sooner than later.

Hitchens is great. If you like his talk then you will like his books. His books are mostly on the same matter as his speeches with exceptions like Mortality and Hitch 22. I sometimes find his takes on religion too edgy and it feels like he's trying too hard but even so, he saves the situation with excellent writing. While reading his books, I always though of reading in his voice. There is something calculated and assertive in his voice that makes whatever he is saying seem that more important. If you are interested in the man behind the ideas on screen, I highly suggest Hitch 22. His life was so damn full of everything that at some point I thought he was making things up. I have not read the essays that you mentioned but I hope I will get to them at some point. Maybe read Orwell's essays after.

I don't read non-fiction unless I am very interested in the author. Non-fiction books are a nice change from time to time and I have read some great books by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins or George Orwell but still they are a small part of my reading. I used to read mostly engineering and math books in college so I maybe I could count those years as reading non fiction.

There are not many options where I live so the library is where I get most of my books (and since I usually read classics they always have what I need). I only buy books or authors that I enjoy reading and mostly from book fairs.

Tolkien was an academic so it's only natural that he should be a better writer. H.P. universe is not that original but then again neither is Tolkien's if you think of it. It's just that when it comes to a wide audience, that is not relevant. Quality and popularity don't always go hand in hand (Tolkien's work wasn't exactly deemed as being good back in the days) but simplicity goes hand in hand with popularity and sales. I am not blaming Rowling for writing like this since many popular books and authors are junk(Dan Brown being an example)but most readers want something accessible and easy to pick up. My point is that maybe so many bad/average works come out because the audience demands it.

I am re-reading The Lord of the Rings and it's just as good as it was many years ago when I first read them, before the movies came out. I remember my disappointment when Tom Bombadil did not make it in the movies but I still found them enjoyable. It's sad that new fantasy movie like The Hobbit or Warcraft can't hold a candle to LOTR. The books are still great to read, though at times it feels like the action drags on too much for no reason. I love the characters and locations and I wish he wrote more in this universe and expand on character and lore.

Favourite author? Oh boy this is hard. I don't think have a definitive list of favourite authors since I read all the time and tastes change over time but there are those who, because of their works, left a deep impression over me. Some of these are Jane Austen, Frank Herbert, Christopher Hitchens, J.R.R.Tolkien, Leo Tolstoy.

The visual aspect is just as important in reading as it is in other medias when you consider long or complicated books. When you read something difficult you can come back, re-read and can understand things better due to context. Audiobooks are quite linear in comparison. You can get away with easy books like P&P I guess (though not having interest is a poor excuse for not actually reading the book, especially if it was needed for school) but good luck doing that with other works.

Why not? You don't see the play but you can hear the words. Why does it work for one medium and not for another? Also, let's take some practical examples. Let's say that one of your children is preparing for some big test or he/she is in college and an exam is coming. Would you be ok if he/she listened to the audiobook instead of reading? Alternatively, let's say you are a teacher and pupils show up in class saying that they have not read Paradise Lost but instead listened to it on their phones.

Hello and thank you for the thread. I got interested in Irish literature a few years ago though so far I have not made much progress with it (you know, the usual stuff on the TBR list always interferes) except reading Dubliners and some of Oscar WIlde's works. Now, everyone and their mother knows about Joyce, Wilde, Becket since they are giants of literature on their own but I was wondering if any recent authors are worth checking out. Or maybe if you would consider anything from your list worthy of reading, for someone that is not Irish.

I don't count audiobooks just as I don't count listening to a play on the radio as going to the theater. They are different experiences and like someone else said before, it feels like you are not actually reading the book, instead someone else is reading it for you. I guess it's a matter of semantics but what's most important is the difference between reading yourself and listening to others. Imo every person that reads something, is reading it with his or her intonation, rhythm and everyone understands and likes different parts. Another thing that I don't like about audiobooks is that they make me feel lazy. I usually keep notes when I am reading and write mini-reviews and impressions after finishing the book based on those notes but audiobooks seem to go too fast for my liking. They are an excellent alternative for people with eye problems however so they have that going for them.

Wow the movie was made after a book? Thx for mentioning it, I will add it to my TBR list. The movie was excellent so I now have high hopes for the book.

I love the HP book precisely because they are not complex. I would not say the fantasy genre is hard to get into, unless you somehow read Ursula LeGuin as your first but most people go for The Lord of the Rings as a first "serious" fantasy read. LOTR isn't very complex at all and at the first reading, unless you have a little background on Tolkien, you miss on a lot of his points. As far as the genre itself goes, does it really matter how serious it is? Why would you even expect it to be anything but childish in the first place? Fairy-tales are childish and for kids but you don't expect them to be serious (not these days at least, I don't wanna get into the Grimm brothers now). Also, your categorization on people that love H.P. is plain silly.

Bud Spencer also died on the 27th last month.

I don't really have a favourite list since it always changes if I see a good movie but I will try and write down, probably in a random order, some of my top 10 fav movies. 1. Harakiri - 1962 . 2. 2001 A Space Odyssey - 1968 3. The Seventh Seal - 1957 4. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - 2005 5. Love Exposure - 2008 6. City of God - 2002 7. Lawrence of Arabia - 1962 8. Metropolis - 1927 9. Melancholia - 2011 10. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 1975 Would also add : Monty Python - Life of Brian Trainspotting Oldboy Pan's Labyrinth Breathless Au Revoir Les Enfants Funny Games And many many more.

Wow you people have high numbers! When do you have time to read all those books? I stopped caring about the number of books I read when I realized my TBR list is out of control so I just try to focus on a certain author or genre at a time. That being said, I think I read around 10 books this year.

Hey there Fuji! I am not really interested in the subject but I read a Danish author religiously back when I was in highschool and his name was Sven Hassel. He participated in WW2 on the German side and after the war wrote the books about his experiences. He fought all over Europe, from Italy to Russia and he showed a very different side of the war. A human and cruel one, the war of the random soldier. There is a certain degree of controversy surrounding his works mind you, some even saying that he never even served in the war but I find it hard to believe and even so it does not make his books any less good. Hope this helps you a little.

I avoided these books like the plague thinking that they are a waste of time and childish but last year I succumbed to one of my friend's constant OMG YOU HAVE TO READ THESE BOOKS and read them. I like the first books better, they are simple and easy to read. As the story moves on, it turns into an YA novel where everything is left behind and the focus is just on catching the bad guy. Somewhere after the third book Rowling lost be and I kept reading just to see how it ends. I wouldn't call them bad or good, they are somewhere in between but they are a joy to read, so much so that I am planning to read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them before the movie hits the cinema this year.