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Karsa Orlong

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Everything posted by Karsa Orlong

  1. Castle 5x24 - @ the ending. Only three weeks till season 6 starts
  2. New Harry Hole thriller being published on 12th September: Police
  3. That's a bit extreme Especially after none of the previous ones worked
  4. Stop with the clues already
  5. She'll like this one best of all, though
  6. Glad you enjoyed it, Brian
  7. The Man With Two Brains. Hadn't seen it for years. Still Steve Martin's funniest film, imo (when he was funny!).
  8. That's not a hint, it's a spoiler 580 pages into The Count of Monte Cristo. 700 to go . . .
  9. Castle 5x23 - worst episode for ages, although . . .
  10. Loving it, although the section in Rome with Franz and Albert seemed to go on a bit - but I finished that part this morning
  11. I'm about 450 pages into The Count of Monte Cristo. Only another 800 or so to go . . .
  12. Please let me know what they say, I'd really like to know! So a modern SF stand-alone thriller-ish type book that's full of action and preferably not too long (I'm guessing the last one)? Blimey Well a few spring to mind. The first two are most likely to appeal, I reckon - especially The Breach, if he likes Lee Child-type thrillers. Although most of them are in a 'series' they are stand-alone stories (it's only the characters that carry over from book to book), so I reckon I can get away with those A couple of these are the first books in trilogies, though, including The Breach. The Breach by Patrick Lee (first in his 'Breach Trilogy') - 384 pages Mindstar Rising by Peter F. Hamilton (stand-alone story, the first of his 'Greg Mandel' books) - 448 pages Prador Moon by Neal Asher (stand-alone story set in his 'Polity' universe) - 256 pages Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis (first in his 'Milkweed Tryptich') - 432 pages The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers - 464 pages Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds (stand-alone story set in his 'Revelation Space' universe) - 640 pages You could also have a look at Iain M. Banks (The Player of Games or Use of Weapons, perhaps - although my favourite is Feersum Endjinn). Hope that helps
  13. Blimey, that is good! Don't think Eddie could play it that well these days . . . Just for comparison's sake:
  14. Kylie, my mistake - I just had a closer look at the second of these links and it's the same translation (by Robin Buss) that I'm now reading, the different cover art threw me when I first looked at it I'm glad I chose this translation in the end - I'm up to chapter XVII and really enjoying it
  15. If I'm in a bookshop it's the cover that gets my attention first, then I'll read the blurb and see if it grabs me. I tend to browse the genres I like on Amazon and if a book is getting good reviews I'll take a closer look. I pick up recommendations from BCF, of course, and word of mouth on other forums, mainly SF/fantasy/history-specific ones
  16. It's like magic or sumfink
  17. Yep, I've read the first four novels plus the Kindle short story and found them all very enjoyable. I posted some thoughts on Martyr here.
  18. Book #50: The Odyssey - Homer, translation by Robert Fagles From Amazon: With the Trojan war finally over after many long years, Odysseus wants nothing more than a swift journey home where his throne and beloved wife, Penelope, await him. But Poseidon, the sea god, bears a grudge against him and plans to prevent his return across the wine-dark sea to Ithaca. Many tests of strength and character ensue as Odysseus's journey stretches out over the years, taking in a multitude of strange and wonderful places and creatures. That's the basic plot of the epic poem Homer told nearly 3,000 years ago, but, even now, a new English translation is a true literary event. The ancient story is told in easy-going, beautiful poetry, the characters speak naturally and the action moves along briskly. Even the gods come across as real people, despite the divine powers they constantly exercise. The Odyssey really is a gripping, fast-moving read. Thoughts: Everybody knows the story, right? Odysseus, departing Troy after a nine year siege and the sacking of the city in the tenth, comes unstuck when he and his crew are blown off course, land on a mysterious island and decide to try and steal food from a big one-eyed bloke called Polyphemus. Big one-eyed bloke is a Cyclops, who just happens to be the son of Poseidon. He's not very nice, and he traps Odysseus and pals in his cave and starts eating them. Odysseus is annoyed, in his self-righteous way (they were stealing, after all), and pokes out Polyphemus's eye with a big, sharp stick. As he and his crew escape, the Cyclops calls out to his father, and Poseidon decides that Odysseus is going to have one hell of a time getting back home to Ithaca. It'll take him another ten years, and there will be many trials along the way. The poem actually starts towards the end of Odysseus's journey. He's been held prisoner by the nymph Calypso, who promises him immortality if he becomes her husband. But all Odysseus wants is to get home. Meanwhile, on Ithaca, his wife Penelope - not knowing whether her husband is alive or dead - is surrounded by suitors who are proceeding to avail themselves of Odysseus's fortune. His son, Telemachus, is none too happy, and sets off to find word of his father. I chose the Fagles translation because I figured it would be good to have the continuity, as it was his translation of The Iliad that I read earlier this year. I'm glad I did, because it's an extremely readable combination of verse and prose. Purists might shudder at it, but half the battle in my enjoyment of both these works has been being able to understand it without having to stop and re-read bits every few seconds to garner the meaning. Fagles' translations have been spot on in the regard, for me. I found The Odyssey was a far simpler, more straightforward read than The Iliad, which I expected - it's more of an adventure story, after all. That's not to say it doesn't have its deeper moments but, for the most part, it's just a rollicking good story. It's pretty violent, and there were times where I didn't feel too much sympathy for Odysseus (which was interesting), and I did feel it dragged a bit in places (Odysseus feels the need to re-tell his story to each new person he meets) and the last third seems to go on for an eternity, but maybe that's because I already knew the main plot points pretty well and wanted to get on with it. I did like that it filled in some of what happened after the end of The Iliad, particularly with a view to the sacking of Troy, the wooden horse, and Odysseus's part in it. Overall, it's a difficult one to score on my normal scale. I would give the translation a 10, and the story itself an 8. So split the difference. 9/10
  19. Perhaps they should just stop you altogether
  20. Finished The Odyssey - will write some thoughts later. Made a start on The Count of Monte Cristo today. I might finish it by Christmas
  21. Yep, I read it many moons ago. It wasn't bad.
  22. I remember, many years ago, my dad reading Alaska by James A. Michener, but I haven't read it myself. Might be worth a look.
  23. I've bought two doorstoppers in the last couple of days (or at least they would be, if they weren't Kindle versions . . . ): The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1,316 pages) The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman (948 pages) and also Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey (608 pages) - cos the price has come down, finally.
  24. I hope The Count of Monte Cristo is a bit better than that load of old tosh I reckon it'd take me about two weeks to read, and that's if I lug it back and forth to work, hence the Kindle version
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