Book Me, Dano.

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
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Patapsco
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Post by Patapsco »

Just finished 'Titanic: Minute by Minute' and it pains me greatly that Cameron wrote a ridiculous cross class relationship to be the narrative driving force of his movie while there were many more stories equally as tragic that he could have adapted for it. In fact if Cameron had just updated A Night To Remember, then it would have been the definitive movie.

As for the book, it starts at midnight on the night of the sinking and proceeds all the way until the ship hits the bottom of the Atlantic, piecing together inquiry transcripts, books, articles and almost every single quote given by the survivors and weaves it into an intelligble timeline. There's a point, I think when Lightoller finally launches his first lifeboat when the sheer enormity of what's actually happening sink in, and then it becomes a horror story.

If you've done any sort of studying on the subject, a lot of the material is going to be familiar but there are some things that even I didn't know about including the sole Japanese survivor who was sacked from his job, ridiculed in every single newspaper and had his name and picture associated with the dictionary definition of dishonourable all because he got in a lifeboat. Oh and the lookout who saw the iceberg when it was too late? Killed himself after being mocked about it for years

Thoroughly recommended
"When did you first realize that he uses bad grammar to distract you whenever you raise an objection to something he wants to do?"
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Heinrad
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Post by Heinrad »

Picked up 25 books from The Destroyer series at a place called The ReStore(thrift shop meets furniture meets used stuff store), and am thoroughly enjoying them.
As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Finally reading one of the Poirot books I picked up cheap last year. I've seen the TV version of Death in the Clouds but can't recall who did it, and for the most part it's an enjoyable light fourth wall leaning (one of the characters is a mystery writer who complains to Poirot how he's given his detectives all these quirks he's obliged to keep up by the readers despite being bored of them) book.

Now, I know with Christie there are elements of racial attitudes that have dated badly (though there's an odd dichotomy between that and a general mockery of the British distrust of foreigners, in this book the jury at an inquest decide Poirot must have done it for being One Of Them), but there was a really distracting line in this one where two characters who are presented as likeable go out on a date together and bond over their likes and dislikes. To paraphrase (but pretty close):

"The discovered they both like smoked salmon, hated red nail varnish, liked Katherine Hepburn and both disliked Negroes".

Which is a real take you out the book moment and is actually worse than anything in And Then There Were None under it's original title would have been (it uses a now offensive word repeatedly but doesn't make judgement calls on black people).
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Kind of have the opposite issue with things like Doctor Who that make out the past was happier than it actually was, or not putting texts on syllabuses due to blinkered historical world views. Like early LOEG for the same reasons. People forget about US internment camps, criminalising adult relationships, etc. far too easily.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

^Agreed. I remember all that fuss over Tintin in the Congo when that was re-presented to the public. The attitudes and realities of the past aren't something that should be glossed over or forgotten, and yes, somethings like Christie's lines on those funny coloured folk may make you balk (and rightly so), but you only have to dial the UK back 30 years ago to remember such attitudes were still pretty prevalent, to say nothing about our current mistrust of anyone from the EU coming over here and taking all our benefits.

Heh, reminds me of a line from Accident Man in Toxic!, where the title character is setting up an elaborate political sting and goes to see an old lady in a nursing home "like most people of her generation, this turkey-necked trollop is a complete racist".
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I wasn't suggesting the book should be edited (though doing a version of And Then There Were None that doesn't make you vomit repeatedly was a sensible move, especially as it had different titles/rhymes in the UK and US when it was first published anyway, there is no set text), just that it was a random appalling bit of writing in an otherwise charming little book.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Though in the end...

SPOILER! (select to read)
One of the "Negro" haters is the killer. And also really South African which explains a lot...
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

Picked up LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Character Encyclopedia, which also talks about the sets released since the theme started in 2006. Also, includes Pirate Batman, a mace and a sword.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Finished The Man With the Golden Typewriter: The Ian Fleming James Bond Letters.

Really a must read for anyone with the mechanics of writing whether they like Bond or not. The constant fighting with agents and publishers (he basically has to try and twist their arms into big print runs even after Bond is a success) are a great curtain lifting insight into the process, with Fleming being a natural wit stopping it being dull and dry.

The interaction with fan mail and the extent to which it is just a slower twitter is good fun as well. Having to tell people that no, he didn't steal the title of Live and Let Die from their husband; politely dealing with lengthy lists of factual errors (my favourite is him sending a free copy of the Spy Who Loved Me to one such person as a thanks for their insight, only to get a reply pointing out all the factual errors in that); suggestions that Diamonds Are Forever should have more bondage (ho ho) and even a death threat. I especially like the Scottish minister who considers reading to be sinful and books evil, but who is still upset that his local library has banned From Russia With Love.

And at its heart is a man who never quite believes he's good enough and covers it up with a lot of bluster but probably died thinking all he'd done was make a modest amount of money and nothing else of worth.

And the fact his spelling (he gets the name of his own son wrong. Repeatedly) and grammar are awful gives me great hope as a writer. There's a lot of "Maybe you shouldn't start every sentence with "And" Ian" letters from frustrated editors in there.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

The Star Wars books Aftermath: Life Debt & Bloodline.
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Post by Hound »

Just bought vol.1 of the Ultraman manga
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

Recently bought the Star Wars book Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel, which acts as a way to give additional character development that the movie doesn't.
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Post by Warcry »

I just finished reading Revenger by Alastair Reynolds. It's about treasure hunters, space pirates and (as one would expect) vengeance and how far one woman is willing to go to get it. If you've read anything by Reynolds before you've got a pretty good idea what to expect from him: hard sci-fi with a ton of thoughtful world-building, often coming at the expense of character, story or resolution. But I have to give the man credit, he's really improved his craft over the years. Revenger creates a universe full of mystery and wonder without the dense exposition and frankly hilarious "everything in this book is scientifically plausible and here's a two-page essay to prove it!" digressions that has plagued some of his earlier books, just by having us view the world through the eyes of the protagonist. The characters are believable and sympathetic, the story is gripping, and honestly this might be the best thing he's ever written.
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Blitzwing
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Post by Blitzwing »

After the awesome trailer for the new "It" movie, I decided to start re-reading the novel for the first time in over ten years. I'm about 300 pages (of 1100) in and I am loving it. It feels like I'm being reunited with old friends that I haven't seen in a long time. Stephen King does an amazing job of making the characters feel like real people with hopes, dreams and fears.
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

Found a copy of Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company at a Best Books 4 Less this week.
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Heinrad
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Post by Heinrad »

Around 1990, Warner Bros., wanting to capitalize on the success of Batman, started putting out novels, I'm guessing based on how well the Further Adventures of Batman and Further Adventures of the Joker anthology books did. And for some unknown reason, they only did three books. (As a side note, they seemed to do it again when Batman Begins came out, but this time without the anthologies. Just three. Geez, guys, do more, would you?). Thanks to time, illness, and moving, the only one I'd been able to hang on to of those halcyon days of '90 is The Batman Murders, by Craig Shaw Gardener. And thanks to Amazon, I've finally been able to replace the other two.

Batman: Captured by the Engines by Joe R. Lansdale was, oddly enough, not my introduction to Lansdale(that was Subway Jack from the first Batman anthology), and it's an interesting horror story.

Batman: To Stalk a Specter by Simon Hawke. Unlike Lansdale, I don't think I'd heard of this guy before or since. And if I'm remembering it correctly, this is also the book that taught me that it only takes 3 pounds of pressure to shatter a knee joint.
As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

Star Wars Battlefront: Inferno Squad.
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Elita-2
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Post by Elita-2 »

Anyone here read "The Name of the Wind"? i just finshed that one. it was a good book, made me laugh a few times.
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

Star Wars: Phasma.
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Post by HeavyArms »

Stephen King's It.

I was hoping to buy the steel book edition of the movie as well but that fell through.
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