Reading Is Sexy: Books Part III

[beegee]

I'm glad you liked it so much.

It wasn't easy rowing my canoe all the way to Australia to deliver it, either.

 

[powerhour24]

I just gobbled up Things Fall Apart pretty much in one sitting.

I had it out from the library last year and read the first chapter, but was focused on a lot of other things and returned it unfinished before going back to school, for some reason it took me until a year later to take it out again.

 

[U2isthebest]

I finished Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs last night and I really liked it. I agreed with some of it and disagreed with some of Chuck Klosterman's analysis, but he really made his points in a convincing manner that makes you think. I laughed out loud more reading that book than I have any other in recent memory. I also started reading Fight Club last night, and I'm already done. The movie is one of my favorites, but I'd never read the book which is odd for me. After I've finished I really can't decide if either one is better. The movie did an awesome job of staying true to the book, and the book was written very well. It's one of the best metaphors of the emptiness of modern consumer culture that I've ever read/seen.

 

[powerhour24]

Gah, I don't think its a good adaptation at all, its a great movie but the satire really just seems tacked onto the style in the movie, the actors and Fincher do a hell of a job, but the novel is a masterpiece the screenplay didn't grasp, but I really don't think any of his satire could ever fully translate on screen. The plots are just absolutely ridiculous and easily visualized, which would make them all ripe for adaptation (except when he goes over the top disgusting), but I think the spirit of them isn't meant for film. However I did agree with them changing the ending, the ambivalent and dreamy ending works great for the book, especially after the heady twist but ending they wrote works better for a film... and their terrorist plot makes more sense in a real world setting.

Also, every time I see it, Pitt fits the character less and less.


Anyway glad you liked the book, its probably my favorite novel of the 90's, if you're into more Palahniuk I'd suggest Survivor and Lullaby, I think almost all of his books are ridiculously entertaining, but those are the other two where creative ambition and craft shines through his over-the-top-ness, the material and the style are matched perfectly, where he goes crazy trying too hard to be different and gross with some of his more recent stuff. Though Rant, Diary and Invisible Monsters come close to being awesome.

 

[Zoobaby14]

Picked up White Gardenia by Belinda Alexandra the other day.

Was way to violent for my likening, after a few chapters I put it down and donated it to the library.

Seems like such a wonderful story, but I think I might just wait for the movie.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I am going old school and reading Machiavelli's The Prince

 

[adamswildhoney]

Currently reading "Three Cups of Tea" by Mortenson & Relin

 

[U2isthebest]

Gah, I don't think its a good adaptation at all, its a great movie but the satire really just seems tacked onto the style in the movie, the actors and Fincher do a hell of a job, but the novel is a masterpiece the screenplay didn't grasp, but I really don't think any of his satire could ever fully translate on screen. The plots are just absolutely ridiculous and easily visualized, which would make them all ripe for adaptation (except when he goes over the top disgusting), but I think the spirit of them isn't meant for film. However I did agree with them changing the ending, the ambivalent and dreamy ending works great for the book, especially after the heady twist but ending they wrote works better for a film... and their terrorist plot makes more sense in a real world setting.

Also, every time I see it, Pitt fits the character less and less.


Anyway glad you liked the book, its probably my favorite novel of the 90's, if you're into more Palahniuk I'd suggest Survivor and Lullaby, I think almost all of his books are ridiculously entertaining, but those are the other two where creative ambition and craft shines through his over-the-top-ness, the material and the style are matched perfectly, where he goes crazy trying too hard to be different and gross with some of his more recent stuff. Though Rant, Diary and Invisible Monsters come close to being awesome.

Interesting. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I saw the movie before I read the book. The movie is probably in my top 5 of all time. I think it was cast perfectly, but I can see where you're coming from somewhat. Thanks for the other suggestions. I'll check them out! I'm about to start A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham who also wrote The Hours. They made into a movie as well, but I haven't seen it yet, even though it does star my future husband, Colin Farrell.

 

[powerhour24]

I've been meaning to check out some Cunningham, tell me what you think! I was aiming to pick up the ones that hadn't been adapted yet, just get some fresh perspective on his writing, even if The Hours is his most famous book.

 

[U2isthebest]

I've been meaning to check out some Cunningham, tell me what you think! I was aiming to pick up the ones that hadn't been adapted yet, just get some fresh perspective on his writing, even if The Hours is his most famous book.

I just finished it. It is truly one of the best fictional books I've ever read. The story is very complex and very descriptively written. He uses metaphor better than any author I've seen in a long time. Many people have said the theme of A Home at the End of the World is about challenging the norms of what truly makes a family. That is definitely one of the biggest ones. However, the bigger one to me is simply about the struggle to accept oneself for who he/she is and to live in the present no matter how hard it is. The main characters are all deeply flawed, but they're real. The ending is left pretty ambiguous, but the final paragraph of the book made me cry my eyes out. It was perfection.

 

[U2isthebest]

Btw, I actually am just about to start reading The Hours. I love the movie, so it'll be interesting to see how close it stayed to the book version. I'm one of those people that usually doesn't care about whether I've read the books before I've seen the movie. The only time I've ever been absolutely adamant about reading the books first was with the Harry Potter series. Other than that, sometimes I'll read a book and then see the movie or vice versa.

 

[powerhour24]

Usually I just can't stand to read a book after I've seen the adaptation, one because you imagine it the way the director/production designer did and with the actors in your head, and two there's a constant comparison going on with me. Usually I don't like it. The one exception was 25th Hour, I read the book afterwards but there's just something indescribable about the author's style that I loved, and the book has become one of my all time favorites, as has the movie.

The reverse is also annoying for me because there's so much you can do with novels you can't with books, the only time I'm usually perfectly fine with adaptations is when I never read the source, or never see the movie. But I'm a huge movie fan so I usually see them anyway, and I can enjoy the merits of films separate, but I'm usually nagged. One exception here is Mystic River, its probably my favorite book, and the movie isn't an identical adaptation but its still mind-blowing, so its also a favorite.

I guess it just makes the case more and more for having original screenplays for films!

 

[No spoken words]

I can tolerate reading the book then seeing the film, but the reverse is really difficult for me, and it almost always kills the enjoyment. Silence of the Lambs was an exception to this, so was The Godfather. That's about it.

 

[u2popmofo]

I can tolerate reading the book then seeing the film, but the reverse is really difficult for me, and it almost always kills the enjoyment. Silence of the Lambs was an exception to this, so was The Godfather. That's about it.

Maybe that's why it's taking me months to get through No Country For Old Men, I'm just never in the mood to pick it up.

I read Black Hawk Down after seeing the movie, and enjoyed it a great deal, but I can't think of many other good "book after the movie" experiences. (Starship Troopers doesn't count, as I couldn't remember the movie, and the book isn't much like it in the first place)

 

[No spoken words]

Oh man, I loved reading No Country for Old Men, so glad I did not see the film first. And, that's a book that's laden with conversation, you should be able to breeze through it.

 

[powerhour24]

Really, No Country's a fast read? I've always had trouble staying focused on McCarthy's writing because of how rambly he is, beautiful prose but the lack of structure can be annoying in the context of what his stories are about. The exception being the Road since that's written in verse almost, and sparse as hell. But I never looked at No Country before seeing the movie... so the dilemma comes into play again.

 

[No spoken words]

Really, No Country's a fast read? I've always had trouble staying focused on McCarthy's writing because of how rambly he is, beautiful prose but the lack of structure can be annoying in the context of what his stories are about. The exception being the Road since that's written in verse almost, and sparse as hell. But I never looked at No Country before seeing the movie... so the dilemma comes into play again.

Yup, it's a very fast read. When I bought it, I was totally caught off-guard because it's not at all like his previous works.

I never found his reading annoying, thankfully, am a huge fan.

 

[u2popmofo]

I agree that it is a short and fast read, I'm just never in the mood.

 

[No spoken words]

Maybe you should move on to something you can better relate to:

 

[u2popmofo]

That looks like it's right up my alley!

Realistically, most Mormon pioneers were too poor for covered wagons, and used handcarts instead. Maybe I should read read 7 or 8 books on both covered wagons and handcarts to see which I'd prefer.

 

[powerhour24]

That looks like it's right up my alley!

Realistically, most Mormon pioneers were too poor for covered wagons, and used handcarts instead. Maybe I should read read 7 or 8 books on both covered wagons and handcarts to see which I'd prefer.

Its always good to inform yourself as much as possible on contentious current issues.

 

[beegee]

Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen.

Cori, I think you would like this book.

Not because I think you would relate to the subject matter but because it is an excellent memoir.

 

[powerhour24]

That's a pretty disturbing title.

 

[beegee]

Disturbing? Why?

 

[lazarus]

Well, we know what just shot to the top of GAF's reading list.

Or what is now the inaugural item on it.

As for Cormac McCarthy, I just started reading Blood Meridian, which my friend told me The Road wouldn't even come close to preparing me for.

I'm scared, frankly.

 

[beegee]

What is this, an eighth grade classroom?

It's about a woman whose parents did enough damage to her that she spends the next twenty-five years of her life trying to overcome an addiction.

 

[corianderstem]

I actually saw that book on the new releases shelf at Borders last month while I was killing time before meeting a friend for dinner. I can't remember if I added it to my "to read" list or had forgotten about it, so thanks for the reminder!

 

[No spoken words]

Well, we know what just shot to the top of GAF's reading list.

Or what is now the inaugural item on it.

As for Cormac McCarthy, I just started reading Blood Meridian, which my friend told me The Road wouldn't even come close to preparing me for.

I'm scared, frankly.

You should be. Awesome, brutal stuff.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Maybe that's why it's taking me months to get through No Country For Old Men, I'm just never in the mood to pick it up.

I read Black Hawk Down after seeing the movie, and enjoyed it a great deal, but I can't think of many other good "book after the movie" experiences. (Starship Troopers doesn't count, as I couldn't remember the movie, and the book isn't much like it in the first place)

You'd perhaps like Guests of the Ayatollah, as it's by the same author as Black Hawk Down. Actually, it probably more depends on whether you're interested in the Iranian hostage crisis than their being by the same author.

 

[u2popmofo]

You'd perhaps like Guests of the Ayatollah, as it's by the same author as Black Hawk Down. Actually, it probably more depends on whether you're interested in the Iranian hostage crisis than their being by the same author.

I have, but still haven't read, Killing Pablo (also by Bowden). There are apparently a couple movies supposedly in stages of development for it, so I should probably read it before I get in the "book after the movie" stage again!