Mac
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Posts posted by Mac
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Hello, my name is Mac, and I'm a recovering mojo loser. The last time I lost my mojo was in January this year *waits for applause*.
Some of you guys have been suggesting the short story thing. Great idea. It's a very frustrating thing, losing one's mojo, is it not? When you love being drawn into another soul's thoughts and images, their mind and their emotions and then suddenly bang it all stops and nothing seems to work.
I'm quite lucky in that I don't have an ariel to my television (through choice), so I don't watch the boob tube. I watch DVD's as and when I want. I used to find that I'd turn anything on and sit there watching a load of c**p until I became so brain dead I'd have to sleep. No time for reading! D'oh!
I got back into reading this time by picking up a Lee Child novel, so I, too, am looking forward to his new one coming out. Whoopee!
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Me too. Daft as a brush when it comes to technical what-sits. I'll find those two books and have a go. Was The Remains of the Day one of his?
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Hello and
to this site. It's terribly good and everyone is very, very lovely on here. I'm sure you'll be addicted within days (whether this is a good thing or not, I have yet to decide! 
)Hope you're well, and all that jazz.
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I have Beloved on my TBR shelf. I be keen on this one, if I'm aloud to join in.
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1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible -
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D
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I loved The Shadow If The Wind and I, too, cannot wait for the next one to come out.
It'll be a happy dat, that one will!
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I've waxed rhapsodic about this guy along with the rest of them, but I'll reiterate that his words are soporific to me. I find his imagery beautiful, his prose lyrical, his whole style melodic and harmonious.
Do give him another go. It seems a general consensus that Norwegian Wood is very different to his other books, but I still adored it. Check out my thoughts on it, if it helps, on the thread Mac Reads 2009.
Eee...Murakami - he's my hero!
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I think almost all films from books are bad.
The only recent one i liked was Watchmen.
I think with making the films they should stay as true to the book ad possible.
I thought Watchmen was a cracking good adaptation as well. Very loyal to the source material. Excellent graphic novel, excellent film.
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I was nicknamed 'Allsports' at school, because I was completely dreadful at all sports. However, nowadays I enjoy my karate, which I'm reasonably proficient at and I like knocking some balls about on the snooker table, if that counts.
I can't stand football. I just don't get it.
Ah, hey...look at these little guys...
They're great, aren't they?
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I enjoyed Angels & Demons most. I read this, fortuitously, just before The Da Vinci Code came out. I was absolutely hooked on Dan Brown by this point, so went and bought Digital Fortress and Deception Point on the strength of these. I shouldn't have read them one after another though (breaking my rule of 'page-turning thriller' followed by a more 'worthy' novel) and consequently found the other two a bit too formulaic for me - you know, clever hero sets out to unravel a mystery and meets a beautiful, intelligent woman along the way with whom he get's it on. Ho hum. I probably would have liked them more if I'd given myself a break from him, eh?
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I was recommended this very author only last night, about an hour after you wrote this post! I shall have to find it. I'll nip to Waterstones today...
Hope you're excellent and well, my friend.
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I'm doing a gammon joint boiled in Coca Cola with mashed spuds, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and a lovely cheese sauce. It already smells good....
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I heard the guy interviewed on The Today Programme on Radio 4 this morning. He sounded pretty cool, intelligent and deferential towards Austen. I'm actually tempted to read the thing. I couldn't stand Austen at school. Consequently haven't touched any since. I find it all most disagreeable.
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I read Life Of Pi at around the same time as The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime. I swore blind on some occasions that I was reading The Curious Incident Of The Life Of Pi In The Dog's Time.
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Thought I'd officially say Hi. Hi!
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Really? One of my favorite movies of all time! And probably the best book to film adaptation ever. I heard they're going to make a Life of Pi movie as well...should be interesting if it's ever made.
Are they? I'd be interested to find out about that. I read Life Of Pi at quite an interesting point in my life. I believe it affects people in different ways depending on where one is in ones life, don't you think?
The Princess Bride has something for everyone though, eh?
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Classic.
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It did start off a bit slow, and his understanding of religion was rather illogical, but as a whole I enjoyed it! It made me want to go to the zoo
The ending reminded me a bit of Princess Bride, and I just took it as a kind of joke, 'believe what you want' idea. He had to somehow handle the inevitable mistrust of his story and being a creative and somewhat jaded kid it fit IMO.
Hey there. I loved The Princess Bride. The film was made around where I live! How about that!
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The Hard Way by Lee Child
I'm not going to quote the synopsis, because the blurb always put me off these books, and I wish they hadn't.
I'm not a macho kind of guy. I don't like 'Laddishness'. I don't like fighting. I don't have any sporting competitiveness in my being at all. So the blurb on the back of these books were always going to put me off.
I read Killing Floor, the first of Lee Child's novels, purely because someone had left it on a seat in the departure area at Manchester Airport and I picked it up. I was immediately hooked. I like to alternate my reading through 'thrash-through-them' thrillers to the more...worthy, if you like. You know, Man Booker Prize winners, historical fiction, that sort of thing. There is definitely an art to creating a thumping good page-turner of a thriller where you can't put them down.
The Hard Way is one of these. Yes, there are clich
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As I wrote on that thread, the introductory section was dry and rubbish. The postscripty section was rubbish. The "twist" was rubbish. The oh-so-clever religious allegory stuff was rubbish.
The only good stuff was the story of the boy on a boat with a tiger, which was a nice and fun bit of Gripping Adventure Yarn which, stand-alone, I might have liked. But even that was kind of ruined by the ending.
Not a fan, then.
Your review has made me chuckle (in a good way), and I like the tag about Reading. I played in a place called The Purple Turtle there some years ago (actually, maybe...oh my God, maybe 16 years ago!).
I would concur with your observation, my friend.
Have a good day.
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Dark chocolate and chilli you say?? Hmmmmm.....what percentage of cocoa might that be? haa!!
I've never heard of chilli with chocolate before!76%. And, by the beard of Zeus, it is good!
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I have only read two of Dan Brown's books - this one and the Da Vinci Code. Of the two I definately preferred Angels and Demons though. I can definately see why the Da Vinci Code held such wide and popular appeal, but I just felt that Angels and Demons was the better read.
I agree with you. I actually read this one first, before Tom Hanks' Hair...sorry, I mean The Da Vinci Code came out. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm not a snob on this matter. I really, really couldn't put The Da Vinci Code down. Voracious, I was.
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How dare the Premier ignore my invitations? He'll have to go! So, too, the bunch he luncheons with - it's second on my list of things to do.
At the top is stopping by your place of work and acting like I haven't dreamed of you and I, and marriage in an orange grove.
You are the only thing in any room you're ever in. I'm stubborn, selfish and too old.
I sat you down and told you how the truest love that's ever found is for oneself. You pulled apart my theory with a weary and disinterested sigh.
So, yes, I guess I'm asking you to back a horse that's good for glue and nothing else, but find a man that's truer than, find a man that needs you more than I.
Sit with me a while and let me listen to you talk about your dreams and your obsessions. I'll be quiet and confessional.
The violets explode inside me when I meet your eyes and I'm spinning and I'm diving like a cloud of starlings...
Darling, is this love?
Starlings by Elbow
Guy Garvey is, in my opinion (obviously - dur, Mac!), one of the greatest lyrical poets of contemporary music.
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I loved this book. Even now, I still talk about it with my friends 4 years after I read it! Well worth persevering with if you've struggled in the past.
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Mamfa. Good welcome, and enjoy. It's good here.
Favourite books from childhood?
in Children's / Young Adult
Posted
I used to love the series by Susan Cooper called The Dark Is Rising. They made a film out of the second novel, but I couldn't make myself see it for fear of it spoiling my memories of it (also, they changed the age of Will from 11 to him being in his teens and made him American instead of English - bizarre, as far as I can tell, because the book is set in and based upon myth and legend of English folk-lore).
I began my reading life with The Hobbit when I was about 7 or 8 years old - I was quite precocious in this respect - and adored it, going on to read The Lord Of The Rings when I reached about 10. I could never, and still can't, get through The SilmarillionI, however. It's one of those books where I think 'Life is too short, matey!' and sling it over my shoulder.
Don't be silly, Mac! When have you ever done anything but treat your books with reverential (if not obsessive) care? You just placed it lovingly back on the shelf, didn't you?
Aaaaand we're talking in the third person again....in through the nose, out through the mouth....