Anna Begins Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 Thanks! I can't wait for number four, once the read a thon ends I'm in that enjoyment period in a series, just before you get that "I don't want it to end" feeling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I hope you enjoy it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 I hope you enjoy it ! Thanks! I wanted to begin it Monday, so I think I will have to read it along with Nagasaki. I don't think I can finish it today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 Title: The Plagiarist Author: Hugh Howey Pages: 64 Read 8/12 In the year 2022, Adam spends his life playing with reality and role playing simulation programs that allow him access to the world’s created. Adam goes into these worlds that have been created by his real life society and plagiarizes books, poetry and other literature, all the while having relationships with his “wife” and living on her planet. Going days without sleep, he realizes his beloved world is at it’s end and his wife will "die". Hugh Howey gives us a great example of his work, being just a tad creepier than in his other works. Totally original, and writing in Howey’s voice, his short stories are a joy to read. The twist in the story could have almost been an homage to Phillip K Dick. I loved it. The world that isn’t, Becomes simply that once more. And all is grey ash Recommended Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Wow, that sounds pretty interesting. it's very short though, is it part of a collection? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Wow, that sounds pretty interesting. it's very short though, is it part of a collection? Nope, a stand alone. It was only a dollar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 totally counts as a book then I might give it a read. It would be my first Howey if I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 That sounds like a great short story ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 totally counts as a book then I might give it a read. It would be my first Howey if I did. Come to the Dark Side That sounds like a great short story ! Ya I think you'd enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Come to the Dark Side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 If I don't get to Wool soon I am going to burst with anticipation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 (edited) Title: Will you Please Be Quite, Please? Author: Raymond Carver Genre: Short story non fiction and fiction Pages: 251 Some of the little gems in this collection include some of my favorites: What’s in Alaska?,and Threy Aren’t Your Husband, one focuses on two of four best friends, that might move to Alaska, they talk about the move and about love while taking in a water pipe, which brings laughing out loud levity to their heavy talk of love. In They Aren’t Your Husband, a man who overhears some men talk about his wife’s appearance in the diner where she works and proceeds to get manic about a diet he created for her. Fat, about a server in a restaurant serving a very large man, whom she feels sorry for and her co- workers jest. She tells her friend the story and what he all ate, but her friend make fun of him also. Raymond Carver, focusing on his life in the Pacific North of the US in his mid to late 30’s, sets his stories by making them focus on the battles we go through just living- whether it’s getting drunk with his soon to be ex-wife and fighting or having her in to his apartment to trustfully remove a clogged piece of wax in his ear… as he sneaks into the bathroom for Champaign hidden behind the toilet Part laugh out loud and part sad, Carvers stories leave you to wonder what happens next or just feeling stunned. He dives into the heart of destructive relationships, of all types of relationships, with raw rough language and actions that capture how we can hurt the ones we love. Carver was an alcoholic that was married three times. These stories reflect the falling apart of relationships that ran the gamut between father and son or a parental argument witnessed by a child, or such topics as an Indian fighting for his property from duck hunters, or a young boy who plays hooky from school to go fishing and ends up cutting a large fish in half with another boy who helped him catch it. Who gets the head piece and who gets the tail? Ewww gross Most stories leave you stunned and knowing there was a point to that short story… or is it just a story? These stories have been great to read again, bringing back memories that are like old friemds. Always recommended. (But I think What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is a better collection. Where I’m Calling From is great too.) Edited August 13, 2015 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 (edited) Title: Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War Author: Susan Southard Genre: Non Fiction Pages: 416 Dates: 8/7- 8/13 As the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings approach, I read an article about this book late on Thursday evening and started it for the read a thon on Friday in remembrance. Susan Southard writes a stark and grey depiction of one of the world’s greatest tragedies, the second atomic bombing of Japan in Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War. This thoroughly depressing and horrific account made me close my eyes and bite my lips several times, bringing me to tears or shaking my head in disbelief. Taking on the format of John Hersey’s Hiroshima by following several survivors, Southard surrounds their stories with the history of the beautiful coastal town of Nagasaki and background of the war. A setting as frightening as 1984, Southard paints a portrait of Imperial Japan, with generations indoctrinated from elementary school to battle to the death for the motherland, small bands of armed community groups- for attack and disaster, censorship and a military government in power. A country that had a “no surrender” mentality. “At its burst point, the center of explosion reached temperatures higher than at the center of the sun, and the velocity of its shock wave exceeded the speed of sound.” For more on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the book, an op ed article from author Susan Southard: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/opinion/nagasaki-the-forgotten-city.html http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0809-southard-atomic-bomb-survivors-20150806-story.html Unfortunately, after reading 58% of this book, it got mired down in the specificity of the politics post bomb between the US and Japan and the beginning of the Cold War. In this way, I thought it deviated from the emotional impact of the book. Hiroshima was barely 70 pages (when first published) which left the survivors to explain their experiences, it left reasoning and value of dropping the bomb to the research it hoped it inspire in its readers. Both books accomplish a goal that makes readers think and pray to god we never see such a tragedy again. This month, the youngest victims of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, exposed in utero, turns 70. Edited August 13, 2015 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 I loved your review of the Raymond Carver short stories. He isn't a writer I've heard of before, so I'll have to go and find some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 I loved your review of the Raymond Carver short stories. He isn't a writer I've heard of before, so I'll have to go and find some. Thanks! I hope you enjoy him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Title: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Author: Raymond Carver Genre: Short story, autobiography Pages: 176 That morning she pours Teacher’s over my belly and licks it off. That afternoon she tries to jump out the window. I go, “Holly, this can’t continue. This has got to stop.” I first discovered, or rather, was introduced, to Raymond Carver in an alternative English class in High School. Becoming Writers introduced me to several authors that have become the spine of my literary favorites. I gave up classics like The Great Gatsby and Grapes of Wrath to study more modern works of Flannery O’Conner, Sylvia Plath and Shirley Jackson. I was fortunate to be exposed to these authors, while being able to read more classic literature on my own time. Raymond Carver (d. 1988) changed my life. His frank talk about emotionally charged, volatile relationships take shape in a short amount of time and leave a stunning conclusion. This collection, one of my favorites, includes 17 short stories, including the wonderful Why Don’t You Dance? and Gazebo, a very good example of Carver’s story telling. As he is my favorite author of all time, I would recommend any of his work to anyone. West coast author Raymond Carver writes it like he lived it- living rocky, destructive, emotional relationships while drinking hard alcohol. He writes of his life simply and masculine, a master at the short story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Sure! Melba toasts and cottage cheese were a popular diet food in the US (and still are to me!). They are a flat piece of hard bread, sort of like a cracker but shaped more like a small rice cake. They taste sort of like a bland crouton. Wiki tells me it was the Mayo brothers in the 1920's that started the Melba toast "diet". I like them, I think they are good. Have you read any more of Capote's work? I'd like to try some one day, I don't think we have them over here In the idiom book I was talking about it said that the name comes from an Australian opera singer who ate 'Melba toast' when she was sick. It was created for her by a French chef. Very multinational, this Melba toast I haven't read any other books by Capote yet, no. I don't own any of his other books, either. I do own a copy of a biography of him, and I think I will probably read that before any of his other titles I hope you enjoy the Tiffany Brekkie movie when you get to see it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Great reviews, Anna! I'm glad you enjoyed re-reading these short stories by one of your favourite authors ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 (edited) Title: The Old Equations Author: Jack Kerr Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 45 I’ve had this in my sample pile for so long and it’s been at the bottom of my read a thon lists so I haven’t gotten too it, somehow it always slips through. Tonight I wanted something short that would make me feel like I’ve accomplished something today. So I went for The Old Equations. Coming in at 45 pages, Kerr’s book is a series of messages to his home base and his wife, as he hurls through space toward Mars on a ten year mission….the only contact from mission control. It didn’t bring tears to my eyes, and wasn’t as great as a Howey, but I was fine with the dollar I spent on the story. I like independent authors, and I love short stories. The only thing better, is serialization I wish I knew how to post pictures, I’d post the cover of this one, I like it, it was what drew me to it. Ground Control to Major TomYour circuit's dead,there's something wrongCan you hear me, Major Tom?Can you hear me, Major Tom?Can you hear me, Major Tom?Can you.... Edited August 15, 2015 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I'm glad you liked this one! I downloaded it from Amazon when it was free for a day or so in January, great to hear that you liked it, that sounds promising . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 I'm glad you liked this one! I downloaded it from Amazon when it was free for a day or so in January, great to hear that you liked it, that sounds promising . Oh you are missing out! It will take you about a 1/2 hour (45 minutes for me ) ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 All great reviews, Anna. I'm particularly interested in the Carver you mention. I have a bio of him around here, so must get to it and his writing asap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 17, 2015 Author Share Posted August 17, 2015 (edited) All great reviews, Anna. I'm particularly interested in the Carver you mention. I have a bio of him around here, so must get to it and his writing asap! Thanks- as you can see, I have a bias so yes! Read him! Try What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Kylie, I can't find your post about Birdman. Being that Edward Norton is my favorite actor and Raymond Carver is my favorite writer, you'd think I'd have seen it but nope! I was waiting because I thought it would be on the plane when I went to Amsterdam, but it wasn't, so I haven't gotten to it yet. Edited August 17, 2015 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 18, 2015 Author Share Posted August 18, 2015 totally counts as a book then I might give it a read. It would be my first Howey if I did. Just found out I can loan my Howey's, so if you want to read one, let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Awesome, I'll hang on a little as I just started one book and might do the Phantom Toolbooth group read, and I don't want the loan to expire, but if I don't get back to you by the weekend (and if you think of it again) nag me because I definitely want to read one. I'm not usually a short story fan, but I've heard good things about that Carver collection. Might put it on the wishlist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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