pontalba
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Posts posted by pontalba
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I finished Blackout by Connie Willis last night, and can't wait to get ahold of the sequel.
I bought it today!
All Clear by Connie Willis /yays!/
Also....
Reflex by Steven Gould
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I loved the original series! I have in on tape even, yes, tape.
Had it for many years now, and several watchings too. I'm so glad Jean Marsh is in a new one...I'd not heard of it over here. Will her character still be Rose, just promoted? What year will it pick up, or is it literally a remake of the original?
AIE: whoops, just realized Ophelia said it is a continuation....it'll pick up when then?
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Last night I finished Blackout by Connie Willis. This was a book I'd tried to start, oh, I guess a few months ago and couldn't get into then. I re-started it the other day and was again flummoxed, but persevered this time due to a poster on another forum mentioning something about it. I am super-glad I did. It takes a bit for the penny to drop, but once it does, the reader is hooked. Ostensibly this book is about time traveling historians, and I love a good time travel story.
Blackout is more about the triumph of human.....will, emotion, love and general stick-to-it-tivness than time travel. Willis portrays war-time England in one of the most realistic and human ways I've read. I won't be giving plot points away as this is mentioned in the synopsis, so just imagine you are a historian, young man or woman that is somehow "stuck" back in the air raid warnings, bombings of the London blitz and don't know if you'll ever see home again. Or, if you've somehow changed history by accident...something that was here-to-fore thought impossible. Willis puts all these conflicting emotions right out there on the platter and serves it up in style.
I can't wait to get a hold of the sequel All Clear.
Highly recommended.
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I finished Blackout by Connie Willis last night, and can't wait to get ahold of the sequel.
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Excellent review Pontalba. I think I'll make this an early read of 2011.
thanks Kylie.
You mean The Passage I take it?I noticed Pixie is starting another Cronin...I'll have to investigate more of his earlier books.
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Since I have been hearing so much about The Passage by Justin Cronin, I decided to follow the beat of my own drum and read Mary and O'Neil instead, by the same author.
Both that and The Summer Guest sound like excellent reads.
I've added Cleopatra, A Life by Stacy Schiff to my present reading. Blackout is ok, but the first two chapters are a bit much, so I switched over to the Schiff for the time being.
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I finished The Passage last night and I have started Blackout by Connie Willis .
Forgot to mention, we bought Under the Dome by Stephen King today on sale.
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In-between Ghost Road and The Passage I needed something light and sweet to clear my head.
Cat Coming Home by Shirley Rousseau Murphy filled the bill admirably. Murphy came through again with Joe Grey, Feline Private Eye. The bad guys will never catch our Joe or his pal Dulcie flat footed. They skewer the bad buys, with a little help from their humans. Murphy catches all the nuances of catly behavior beautifully. This woman knows cats.
The whole series is great, the first one Cat on the Edge tells how Joe Grey comes to be able not only talk, but understand and develop a very uncatly empathy with people of all things!
One of my favorite detectives in fiction. -
Last night I finished The Passage by Justin Cronin. Something about this story drew me from the time I read an article on Cronin before the book was released. I did however, see it as a "vampire" book, and ordinarily that is not my cuppa. I continued to hear good things about it, and it was Mac's glowing review that 80% convinced me to read it. I thought I'd wait till the paperback came out, but after looking it over in B&N one evening, and showing it to my OH, I again put it down, saying, well lets wait till the paperback comes out. I walked around the corner to look at something else, and when I returned my OH had it in his hand saying "lets buy it now".
Happy Days! I read it in a 3 days, could hardly put it down. I love post-apocalyptic fiction, and this qualifies as the mother of same.
The detail that the author goes to in each time frame, and characterization of a grieving scientist, to an FBI man, to a young woman that is going through her own hell. Then the details of "frontier living" in an odd mix with modern, or lack of modern conveniences was done perfectly.
Cronin's taking of all the vampire legends down the centuries and making them eerily believable and truly logical, with a mix of militarism is breathtaking.
I've read that the second one won't come out till 2012, but will begin almost at the beginning [for those of you that have read it,
read that to be Denver
]. I can hardly wait!
Highly Recommended.
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I'm about 2/3rds of the way through The Passage by Justin Cronin. Phew! What a ride this is.
And two more to follow!? Write man, write!!
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The Next Three Days
Hard to call, I liked it, good action, but was still somewhat disappointed in it.
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I've just started The Passage, so more than likely will read The Sea, The Sea directly afterwards.
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I've finally started Justn Cronin - The Passage .....
I am starting that this afternoon as well.
I just finished the Regeneration Trilogy. The Ghost Road was the last, and packed a real punch. Good Stuff.
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Alien
Now I know why I never wanted to watch this movie...
I've seen the first two at least, and thought the second was better, it had some absolutely great scenes.
Regarding Alien though, at least
she went back for the cat! And was safe too of course.
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When I saw it the first time on television I was watching with my first husband...he turned to me and said..."you'd do something like that!". The other night we watched The Girl Who Played with Fire, and also are working our way through the 4th season of Alias.
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I much prefer this to my expression of "accidentally on purpose".
I've used both.....done both.. -
Inadvertently bought:
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
The End of the World compiled by Michael Kelahan
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We have both at present. Living more than 10 miles from the small town as we do. As luck would have it, we are in-between cell towers. Now, I'd have thought that would make for twice the coverage...NO! We have spotty coverage for cell phones from both towers. So we keep the land line for present and AT&T rakes in extra. I'd never had a cell phone till we moved up here from New Orleans, but it was a safety thing. If you're on a fairly deserted highway at night, believe me, that cell phone is a lifeline. Also, I need to be reached for business purposes, if a tenant needs me for an emergency, they are able to reach me anytime, anywhere.
It seems the coverage is improving, so when we feel fairly safe with it, I'll cancel the land line in a flash! I know some people use a cell phone inappropriately - while driving, or loudly in public discussing their private matters. Boy, it irritates me no end, I really don't want to know about their operations, or aches and pains, or indiscretions for that matter.
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I got three books in waterstines 3 for 2 offer today Moab is my washpot- Stephen Fry and Jo Nesbo - The Redeemer and The Snowman as well as a couple of books from the library which will keep me occupied fot the weekend,
Yays on Nesbo.....
I am reading Goblet of fire .... I know its most shameful to have not yet read this series but I'm doing it.
I am reading really slowly at the moment but I'm reading more than usual because of my snow week which will be over after tomorrow
Oh fiddlesticks! Nothing to be ashamed of a'tall! In fact I've only read the last one...didn't see much to it, BUT, I know that's mostly because I didn't read the first 6. Heh
I have them in the stack. Someday. -
Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd
A good fun read, but not in the same league as his previous book, Restless. Just challenged credibility on too many occasions, in particular the scene which set up the rest of the story. I never really related to any of the characters either - no real depth there; they were all just a bit too, well, almost comic strip in style. Certainly, I never felt as if I engaged at all with them. That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable - it was - but having read Restless, it was all a bit ordinary in comparison; I expected more. 3 stars out of 6.
I've only read Restless and Blue Afternoon by Boyd, and enjoyed both. I have to say, even though your rating is only a 3, you've peaked my curiosity.
The Ghost by Robert Harris
A nice, easy, switch-off read, which is what I wanted. Took a while (as in most of the book!) to get off the ground, with all the thriller-stuff packed into the last quarter of the book, and a reasonably decent twist at the end. A bit too many cliches, a ghastly piece of product placement (I assume) that almost stopped me in my tracks, and one or two plot devices that simply didn't ring true, so about par for the airport thriller course (which is what this is). I've never rated Robert Harris as highly as some, but have enjoyed his books sufficiently to continue reading when I can pick them up cheaply - most have promised much but tended to fall flat near the end, so to that extent this was a bit different. Given the reviews, this has proved to be a better film than book, which doesn't come as much of a surprise.
All in all, does what it says on the tin. 3/6.
Saw the film, bought the book on strength of the film....still in the TBR stack. hmmmmm
Another catch up on books read over the summer:
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre ******
Have enjoyed previous Smiley books, although not The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, but whilst these were all pleasantly diverting, this is in a league apart. The intricacies and twists of the plot gripped throughout, characters shone through, and there's a whole sense of coloured atmosphere that completely passed me by with TSWCIFTC, which was just unpleasant and redolent of a whole tranche of 1950s-70s fiction which I find just dully grey and grim. Brilliant.
A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R King *****
King just 'gets' Sherlock Holmes in a way that so many others don't quite manage, whilst at the same time developing her own totally entrancing character. The mysteries themselves may not be strongly plot driven, but I like the way it's her characters and the setting which are at the centre of these books.
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland ****
Picked this up almost as a follow on to the Black Death theme of the previous book. Another great piece of story telling, unputdownable (almost literally!), even if very dark and grim, but I found the ending somewhat unsatisfying - too abrupt, and too many loose ends. A few are realistic, but there were too many questions unanswered for me about the characters. With a bit of reworking at the end, this could have been a five/six star review. It's the first of her books I've read, and will definitely follow up on others - being her first I'm hoping that she continues to develop.
Love LeCarré, am working my way through in order slowly but surely.
Agree re Laurie King's Mary Russell series, although I have to admit the last several have suffered, at least for me, from a lack of Holmes himself. I like Russell, but prefer her in combination with SH himself.
Also agree, the ending of Company of Liars was a disappointment for me. To.......easy. Shudda been more to it.
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Totally unplanned....bought:
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Tales of the City
Further Tales of the City
More Tales of the City
Babycakes all by Armistead Maupin
Oh, and a few days ago we bought...iPhone, The missing Manuel by David Pogue. He writes the Tech column in the NYT, smart as a whip always with good ideas.
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I'm not sure exactly when I'll read it, but read it I shall. More than likely it'll be next month, unless the mood moves me earlier.
I don't seem to be able to schedule too well. I see a book, and naturally gravitate. Hardly any planning involved. -
Kylie and Mac, You're welcome!
Only thing is, for me at least, to read them all together. They flow into one another so smoothly and easily...they easily could have been one book.
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I read these books when I was in college, they are great
They are, I just finished The Eye in the Door, and started on The Ghost Road...I'm glad I bought all three at the same time as I find it very necessary to read them all together. I'll have to investigate her other titles.
Your Book Activity Today ~ Thread 13
in General Book Discussions
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Terrific choices! Both excellent reads.
Second hand book store alert.
Aloft by Chang-Rae Lee [i'd been looking for this one!]
Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery [such a lovely hardback just sitting there...lonely and neglected...]
Bullfinch's Mythology edited and with a Commentary by Richard Martin