BookJumper
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I have just researched Alphabet of Thorn and man, DO WANT! Thank you Libri - that's exactly the kind of book I was hoping to discover via this thread.
@ Vanwa - the works of Zafon are already on my wishlist; I am waiting until I can afford the pretty edition of The Shadow of the Wind (the prequel to The Angel's Game, I believe, so you might want to put that on your own list if it's not there already).
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May I be polemical and say, it depends? I am the first to loathe jumpers-on-wagons; however, one must sort them from the people with something to say, who are indeed out there.
Think of it biographically. As a Beatles fan, I have read with interest books such as A Cellarful of Noise by Brian Epstein, while I have never felt the need to peruse The Man Who Gave the Beatles Away by Allan "guitar groups are on their way out" Williams. I am interested in the reflections of the man who stubbornly believed in the boys when they were still playing the sweaty interior of the Cavern Club; I coudn't care less about the musings of the Decca exec who's carved himself a cushy living out of failing to offer them a record deal.
As much of a living can be made by standing on the shoulders of classic authors; and here too, one can draw a distinction between persons of talent who may put pen to paper for all sorts of good reasons, and the band-wagon jumpers-on we mentioned earlier.
After all, Shakespeare's plots were more often than not a rehash of olden tales - you wouldn't call him a band-wagon jumper-on, would you?
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I wholeheartedly agree.I thought the last three books failed to live up to the promise set by the first fourRe: Horcruxes - I actually thought that they were a pretty good idea, however the fact that
so many had to be destroyed in so little time made the relative book slow, repetitive and downright confusing. J.K. had an inspired moment when she revealed that Tom Riddle's diary had contained a fragment of Voldemort's soul; in my opinion, she should have kept that trend up: an item vanquished per book, until towards the end of the series we understand we've been gradually killing Voldy all along. Such a structure would have allowed for the last two books to take up half the shelf space, which would in my opinion have kept them from becoming quite ludicrous at times.
A shame really, as there was much potential to the ending:
Snape... and his case is in point. I could not finish the last two books; I only know about Snape's sad story from spoiler websites.
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Awww you poor thing, are you okMore than I could ever imagine .... and they're painful. I was pulling a book out of the top shelf last night and one toppled out and hit me in the chest. It wasn't a short paperback - oh no! It was the complete works of Shakespeare
? *tells Billy off*.
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You can add me to the people who've enjoyed An Education, peacefield - I went to see it with a friend yesterday and we laughed, cringed and suffered quite contentedly; I'd give it a solid 9/10.
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If you like fantasy, fairy tales, and also a book within a book
Yes, yes and yes - definitely checking this out
!Anika - Mr. Basbanes's collected works are already on my wishlist
I'll have a look at the rest, thanks for pointing me in their direction. -
Mine had never seen it either - and, he that usually comments on films I rave and rant about with the words "it was ok", asked in puzzlement "why have I never heard of this film before"? Because it's a vastly underrated gem of a film, that's why. 6.6/10 (according to IMDB) my bum!this movie tore my insides apart. I know exactly how you feel. I will have to get my boyfriend to watch this with me sometime, as he has never seen it. -
I'm the owner of a copy of And Another Thing (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Part 6 of 3) by Eoin Colfer. Though I have not read it yet - I intend to do a full reread of Parts 1 through to 5 before I do - my expectations are pretty high for two reasons:I feel very wary of reading any books that attempt to carry on or finish the work on another author, especially an author that was rightly revered (AA Milne, Douglas Adams and Bram Stoker to name a few). Some things perhaps should left well alone.1. Adams's widow and daughter are huge Colfer fans, have read everything he's written and, though they'd said they'd never authorise a sequel, agreed instantly when Colfer's name was proposed
2. I attended a reading of Part 6 of 3 during HitchCon09, and can confirm that:
a. Colfer is as much of a genuine fan as any of the be-towelled hiker present
b. the chapter he recited was hilarious, and possessed of the right qualities of spirit
/two cents
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Agreed. I was dragged to see this at the cinema by a friend who used to drag me to see all Leo films when they came out; this is the one I actually enjoyed.The Man in the Iron Mask. I love this movie, in spite of Leonardo DiCaprio.We've just finished watching What Dreams May Come
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King prawn stir fry for us!
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Today I acquired:
- Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist, oversized paperback
- Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon, pretty hardcover
- Dragons of Fantasy: The Scaly Villains and Heroes of Tolkien, Rowling. McCaffrey, Pratchett and Other Fantasy Greats by A.C. Petty
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Agreed and approved. May I ask if you've succumbed to the charms of a certain Mr. Jasper Fforde (who has been compared to Adams and is praised by Pratchett himself) yet?Thanks. My favourite authors at the moment (they're always changing) are Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Two very funny writers.Oh and, welcome
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*sigh* I love that letter *sigh*!"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope." -
I believe Nowhere Boy is based on one of Julia Baird (John's sister)'s memoirs.
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I hadn't either but I've just checked and it's coming out at Vue cinemas in London the day after Christmas - Vue is as mainstream as cinemas get so the film should reach your neck of the woods no problem. Looking forward to it but I'm also apprehensive, given me and my friend's passion for and knowledge of the subject matter we'll either laugh and cry and love it, or rant and rage our way through the film if they start getting things wrong.Ooh! I haven't heard anything about this! Is it a widely-released film, or just a small independent film? (Trying to work out if it will come out over here.)I also would have been interested to see Me and Orson Welles, about Welles's historical production of Shakespeare Julius Caesar. But it's got (wait for it) Zac Efron in it. That... that shouldn't dare touch the Bard with a bargepole
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Nowhere Boy, about John Lennon's early days. Not sure about the actor playing him but the little boy from Love Actually has grown up, is playing Paul McCartney and man, does he look like young Paulie!!!
Oh and, the Beatlemaniac friend who told me about this also agreed to come see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus with me so I won't have to wait until the DVD... whooo!!!
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Awww thank you, that's so sweetAwwwhh bless. If I come into a lotto win or inheritance anytime soon I'll buy you a set
it makes sense in a way, as your enthusiasm is the reason I want to read them in the first place...!
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The set I want is the set you haveIs that the set I have, or a different set? you've got great taste!
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I don't mind paying a couple of dollars extra for a better cover.
Ditto that. For example, I am waiting to read C.S. Friedman's The Coldfire Trilogy until I can afford to get the original trade paperback from the States, as the current UK edition simply repels me. Even so, I'll have to buy them used but so long as they don't look it, I'm fine with that.
If, for whatever reason, the better artwork is an impossibility, I'll be unaccountably irked. I recently completed my set of Jasper Fforde books and I had to choose between an edition of First Among Sequels which matched the others or the updated one - a whole chunk of footnotes was missing from the first edition and, when they came to print the second, they changed cover art and texture all together. I did the rational thing and bought the complete and uncut version, but I cannot pretend that the sight of that book interrupting my nice sequence doesn't annoy me.
As for notes, introductions, commentaries etc., it all depends. For older works I always strive to get the most comprehensive and well explicated texts our there; in my experience these are usually the Longman Annotated Poets for verse (their edition of Paradise Lost is, for example, magnificent) and the Arden Shakespeare for the Bard's works (they're the only ones to present readers with all three variant texts of Hamlet in two snazzy companion volumes, for instance).
If, however, I need to make a choice between completeness and commentary, I'll choose the former. Some time ago I necessitated to acquire Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Lectures and Notes on Shakespeare, and a choice had to be made between thoroughly commented selections from Coleridge's Lectures, or a facsimile of the Lectures with no commentary whatsoever - I chose the latter, because I'd rather go to the library for criticism than for missing bits of text.
Having put an emphasis on niceness of cover and completeness of edition... mmm. I do like old books when they're whole and reasonably sturdy (I do not see the point of collectibles you can't read because they're so fragile), however they're often out of my reach economically, and when they're not I'm put off my second-hand shops' heinous habit of pencilling in the price on the first page.
In short, I usually look specifically for the prettiest and most up-to-date edition available, although if I stumble across an old book that meets my specifications and I can afford, I'll lay claim to that as well.
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Can't wait to get stuck into Jane Eyre once Amazon re-delivers a new, unmarred copy to my door; I already know and love the story and look forward to savouring it in its original formatJust a few thoughts on Jane Eyre. The writing is simply gorgeous. I thought I would find it intimidating, but I fell into the book and the beautiful language almost instantly. It did drag a bit for me towards the middle, but once it got interesting again I had difficulty putting it down. A wonderful romance and tragedy, with a few unexpected twists.
.May you fall in love with Jasper Fforde as much as I did! Even though he can't spell my name
(he is so putting that right during his promotional tour of Shades of Grey...), he remains a shining beacon of erudite awesomeness - in a nutshell, he is to the classics what Douglas Adams is to science fiction and Terry Pratchett is to fantasy. Can't go wrong from there, now can you? -
Halfway through Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction; though my feelings are by this point extremely mixed, I can't seem to put the thing down, which (for a so-called reader who's only read three full books this year) is pretty good going - never mind that the thing is only 163 pages long.
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I've solved it with a little help from Google. It's Wyrd Sisters; the reason you couldn't find it it's because it's "spooky", not "scary"
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From Tom Raabe's Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction:
"Obscure academician enounters a text in a dark alley and the text deconstructs him with steel-studded Cliff Notes. A call from ivory tower insiders to deconstruct all known texts becomes watchword of serious literature."
Tee hee. Is it sad that this amuses me so?
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You have just turned my pretty sureness to certainty. 'Il Casello Magico' they called it, and it was fantabulousI actually thought of you as I was reading it, Giulia. It's a lovely fantasy world and Milo is currently in Dictionopolis, where you can buy words and letters at the markets. Great! glad you're enjoying it, it really is a lovely book.
Terry Pratchett
in Horror / Fantasy / SF
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