Kolinahr

I did read some of her wiki article a while ago, which is precisely what prompted me to read the first Ripley book. I had a notion that there might be some psychological compatibility between creator and creation. It's often the case, but not often so obviously! An interesting study.

In no particular order: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Paradise Lost by John Milton Faust by Goethe I think...I've never made a top three reads list of any kind and have a hard time making a definitive statement here, but for now this is it. Re: Paradise Lost, though---I actually don't like it nearly as much as Lord Byron's Cain: A Mystery, which has a very romanticised sort of Lucifer, even more of a misunderstood, tragic figure than Milton's Satan, but I'm not sure how many people have really read Byron's chamber plays and if they're well known enough to count as classics. I do recommend it heartily, though, especially considering Byron's amusing, page long opening exposition in which he swears he was completely unaware of how similar his premise is to Milton's, because really he only read Milton once, a long, long time ago, and he barely remembers it at all, etc. This is particularly interesting because the Romantic era is really the first time in literary history when originality started to become extremely important. Before that, everyone took inspiration from everyone else and re-wrote each other's work with impunity. Byron was probably one of the first to have to suffer through the "fan fiction" accusations and backlash, at least within the literary community.

I was impressed by the solid research put into this book, but like many hard sci-fi novels, character development sometimes suffers for the sake of science. The ending was particularly emotionally unsatisfying as it was extremely abrupt and explored none of the characters' reactions to the final rescue.

I just read Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World for the first time a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed them both. JP in particular I thought was a fantastic Frankenstein story. That said, these are the only Crichton novels I've read, and I can't comment on anything else. I did love that these stories had messages to deliver vis a vis scientific morality (really, a story with no message at all can be disappointing), but I definitely agree that when a message dominates the story completely, it can dissipate interest and frustrate the reader (obviously, since I started this thread...), and even a solid novelist is not immune to this failing. Honestly, an established, popular writer is often able to get away with a good deal more self-indulgence than an emerging artist.

If you're into character studies, then Highsmith is definitely for you. Her work is very psychological, and as I mentioned, the writing is atypical, at least from the perspective of a modern reader. The style is quite simple, yet enigmatic, and so her subject matter often seems deceptively simple, when in fact the topics are often quite complex. Anyway, as you mentioned, the first book is very short compared to most novels, so there's little risk in giving it a try!

There's such a glut in the market now, and only about half are any good. I enjoy graphic novels, though I'm not as avid as some people, so I like to watch some of these films, but some are just terrible.

That's really my main issue with an electronic device. Anything that hooks up to the net is very distracting, and devices that contain multiple files encourage flipping between stories, which is again a hindrance to actually finishing anything or concentrating very well.

Not exactly sure what happened to my various childhood collections, because I just moved around so much that they were inevitably lost in the shuffle. For that reason all of my Lucy Maud Montgomery books, my Baby-sitter clubs, Narnias, children's classics like Bridge to Terebithia, Little Women, Black Beauty, etc, my Dragonlance books, RL Stine books, Christopher Pike novels, etc, are all gone from me now, but I do still look up copies of some of the more memorable ones and re-read. Just like re-visiting one's oldest friends!

I adored Anne as a a child, and devoured almost everything LMM ever wrote, with the exception of the volumes of her journals (which simply weren't readily available to me at the time). The Megan Follows tv movies, though not exactly book-accurate past the first episode or so, wonderfully translated the atmosphere of the books onto the screen. I can see why they wouldn't make a new show with Follows now, as she's probably past the age Anne is in even the last of the books, which focus on the lives of her teenaged and adult children, but she will always be Anne to me. That said, I remain open minded and would love to see how a new cast would do in the roles, as well as how a new series would be scripted.

Just watched the new animated movie of The Killing Joke, the classic Alan Moore Batman comic. I heard a a lot of negative things about this adaptation before watching, but didn't think they could possibly be accurate--and I was right, because it was much, much worse. The whole first forty minutes (all new material, focusing in the worst possible way on Barbara Gordon) were even more terrible than the reviewers said, so bad that I was in a constant state of cringing and had to fast forward through much of it, basically taking peeks as I went. And the second half, though true to the comic, added absolutely nothing to it and was much less satisfying in the wake up the...thing...before it.

Hello there and welcome, Glad to see you keeping your head up high and your eyes in the books during this profound trial in your country. I hope that you are able to find friends here and discuss the books that you enjoy.

packed

I'm not sure if this should go here or in crime, but they were written long enough ago and have an iconic enough standing that I'm going to chance it and put them here. Feel free to move me if I am in the wrong! I started reading the first Tom Ripley novel the other day and due to various commitments am only half-way through, but I am enjoying it much more than I expected. Despite, or perhaps because of, the remote tone of the novel, which offers only a very thin internal narrative from the main character, I find it very engaging, a unique and unexpected portrait of a sociopath. Ripley is far from the confident con-man I was expecting from what I knew of the story, but is instead a refreshing mixture of a man both daring and riddled with self-doubt. The books were written long enough ago that the style is no longer in line with those common to modern crime or thriller novels, but the enigmatic psychological portrait is definitely keeping me engaged despite any stylistic reservations I have! Has anyone else read the books? What do you think in general of Highsmith's writing, or her main character?

Hi, Not exactly what you're looking for but Orlando Figes is considered a modern authority in the field of Russian history, and wrote an extensive analysis of the Revolution that you might be interested in: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924.

artist

I think most people wouldn't necessarily choose to live in a tiny home if they had other options, but there are so many people now grappling with the housing issue as rent prices rise out of control in much of the developed world . I love that these homes could essentially nullify the working and lower middle class struggle to find shelter, and even potentially do away with homelessness, but am equally certain that if the 'tiny house' ever became a mass movement, rapacious capitalism would find a way to outlaw it or make it otherwise inaccessible. *grumble*

First net was AOL for me, too, and I remember how insular the system was. Miss it in a strange way, and am even vaguely nostalgic for such unwieldy engines as Yahoo and Lycos, and website builders like Geocities and even Angelfire, the horrible simpleton it was, ha ha. Rather like being nostalgic for childhood, though, wanting these things back would require forgetting how clunky and basic they really were.

Back to humid. I'd sigh, but I'll save my breath for when I need to hold it outside.

Good old anthropomorphism! I feel the same way about clothes I don't wear often enough. They look too lonely just hanging there in the wardrobe.

Blood on the Dance Floor--Michael Jackson

Hello and welcome. Hope to see you around.

Welcome!

I never even thought about free trials. I shall have to watch out for some mags that have this option now!

It's a problem. I don't feel quite so cavalier about disposing of a magazine in the same way I do a newspaper, but I also don't feel it's a "real" book, so more often than not a stack of magazines builds up beside the bookcase or something.

Hmm, yes, I suppose you're right about that, though I was thinking more about intrusive themes, something you weren't expecting from the genre. The Shack, previously mentioned, would be pretty well guaranteed by reputation to contain such a message, and is more easily avoided than something that sneaks up on you. For example, a number of years ago I was enjoying reading The Sword of Truth fantasy series. The first few books were great, but little by little they transformed into philosophical platforms, until eventually this became the primary function of the series. I love exploring new ideas in writing, but in this case I feel I was lured somewhere I didn't necessarily want to go. Not to mention that if I recall correctly, the philosophy in question was Ayn Rand's hateful Objectivism, come back to haunt me again.