Reading? Still Sexy: Books Part IV

[Tania]

Tad Williams Shadowrise, which is brilliant and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I would highly recommend reading both, though you need to read the first two books in the Shadow series before embarking on this one.

 

[kramwest1]

I didn't know about "Let The Right One In" book either. I loved the original movie--haven't seen the American remake. It's graphic, but great.

 

[powerhour24]

The book is far more disturbing than the movie.

 

[kramwest1]

The book is far more disturbing than the movie.

Yikes!

(Like in a kid way? If so, I'll pass.)

 

[Saracene]

DDisturbing as it can be, I think that's the best sort of horror, the kind that makes you imagine the terrifying scene instead of have it shown to you. Your imagination can be so much scarier.

I've heard many people say it, but for me it's the opposite - I'm mostly terrified by the things I can see. I just don't have much in the way of mental imagery, which is kinda odd since I'm a graphic designer by trade and you'd think that the ability to visualise in your mind would be a must.

Just a general question to the fellow readers: do you actually picture the scenes/characters in your mind when you're reading a book?

 

[Pearl]

Just a general question to the fellow readers: do you actually picture the scenes/characters in your mind when you're reading a book?

Yep, always have. If I don't, then its just words on paper, and reading would be boring that way.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I've heard many people say it, but for me it's the opposite - I'm mostly terrified by the things I can see. I just don't have much in the way of mental imagery, which is kinda odd since I'm a graphic designer by trade and you'd think that the ability to visualise in your mind would be a must.

Eh, some people's minds just work differently . Sometimes it is hard to properly imagine a scene-depending on how well someone describes something, that certainly makes a difference, too.

Things you can see definitely can also be frightening, yes. If I looked and saw a giant spider, or a massive tornado bearing down on my town, or a creepy guy following me, or something like that, uh, yeah, I'd be screaming my head off and getting away, too. Whatever scares you will scare you regardless of whether you can see it or not.

Just a general question to the fellow readers: do you actually picture the scenes/characters in your mind when you're reading a book?

Definitely (I do that with music, too, if the images and lyrics are vivid enough). I always love to do that, it helps me get into the story more and puts me right in that world, as though I were actually observing it with my own eyes.

Angela

 

[Fernando-]

Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

More vampires.

This was a very disturbing and macabre horror story Some of the scenes made me glad that I rarely visualise things in my head when I'm reading; if the film versions are anywhere as graphic I'm not sure I want to watch them, I can't bear to look at horrible injuries and disfigurement. All in all a pretty remarkable book, my only real criticism was that sometimes it spent too much time on the peripheral characters when I wanted it to get back to the main characters who were the real emotional heart of the story.

I can't wait to get my hands on this one. The original Swedish film is freaking awesome.

I didn't know about "Let The Right One In" book either. I loved the original movie--haven't seen the American remake. It's graphic, but great.

I haven't seen it, but I saw the trailer for the American remake, and it looked pretty awful...

Just a general question to the fellow readers: do you actually picture the scenes/characters in your mind when you're reading a book?

Yes, and it's kinda weird for me to imagine if I didn't.

I'm currently reading a book by Henning Mankell. I think he's rather great at setting an atmosphere. But I'm guessing that "Let The Right One In" didn't lack that, did it?

 

[corianderstem]

Jaywalking With the Irish by David Monagan

Author moves his family from Connecticut to Cork. Writes about it.

Eh. Entertaining enough, but I've read better "wow, Ireland sure is different!" books. Although this one had a bit more of some of the negatives than others, so points for honesty.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Just a general question to the fellow readers: do you actually picture the scenes/characters in your mind when you're reading a book?

Yes.

 

[u2popmofo]

Well, I luckily didn't buy a digital reading device when I was asking about them earlier, as we apparently all received a Kindle as a holiday gift at the company holiday party Friday. I didn't go as I had other plans, so I guess I'll have one tomorrow.

Free is nice.

 

[corianderstem]

Wow, that's cool. Nice gift.

 

[martha]

I would take a free e-reader.

 

[AnCatKatie]

I'm attempting to read White Fang by Jack London...the beginning was sad, but the whole story has beautiful description and the man's a sight more intelligent than you'd think for someone who for most of his life had little formal education. He knows a lot of principles of psychology that I was surprised about.

 

[ShipOfFools]

I'm reading Duma Key by Stephen King. Really enjoying it so far.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

It took me almost 100 pages to decide to keep reading it; I just couldn't get into it, and then it finally started clicking a bit, so onward I read.

I alternated between finding it clever and rather brilliant, and finding it to be a total slog. The bit near the end with Yossarian wandering around Rome and observing the horrors was devastating.

Glad to finally have read it.

I never got past the first 100 pages.

In a pinch I have downloaded books to my iphone. I love real books too much to buy a kindle though.

The thing I like about e-books is the dictionary feature. As it turns out, there are words I still don't know.

 

[IWasBored]

catch-22 pretty much decided it was going to be awesome with the t.s. eliot joke in the beginning, because that was hilarious. between the humor and scenes like the one corianderstream mentioned, by far, one of my all-time favorite books.


still geeking it up with dungeons n dragons shizz...dark elf trilogy after i take a break to read:

 

[u2popmofo]

Nerd.

Speaking of nerds, I did a jig of joy when I found and purchased all of HP Lovecraft's works for a whopping $2 on the Kindle store last night.

 

[IWasBored]

nice

 

[kramwest1]

still geeking it up with dungeons n dragons shizz...dark elf trilogy after i take a break to read:

Any Star Wars stuff by Timothy Zahn is my candy. I have a hard time reading SW stuff by anyone else.

 

[AnCatKatie]

My brother reads those...heh. I feel like he has that, or wants it.

 

[Saracene]

Marie Antoinette - Antonia Fraser

A non-sentimental yet sympathetic biography of the unlucky French queen. This is the third book of hers I've read and she's quickly becoming one of my favourite writers in the historical field

 

[corianderstem]

I have that book, waiting for it to come up randomly on my "what to read next" spreadsheet with a random number generator.



I got it after the Marie Antoinette movie came out, and wondered if I'd ever get around to reading it. Nice to hear it's worth reading.

 

[kramwest1]

I have that book, waiting for it to come up randomly on my "what to read next" spreadsheet with a random number generator.

Wow.

and

 

[corianderstem]

I have a spreadsheet with tabs for "to read" (which is books I don't have), "books read," "books read in 2010" and "shelves," which is the one with all my unread books and the random number field.

 

[Pearl]

Marie Antoinette - Antonia Fraser

A non-sentimental yet sympathetic biography of the unlucky French queen. This is the third book of hers I've read and she's quickly becoming one of my favourite writers in the historical field

I started reading that book years ago, then got side-tracked. I should make it my next non-fiction book to read.

 

[Pearl]

I have a spreadsheet with tabs for "to read" (which is books I don't have), "books read," "books read in 2010" and "shelves," which is the one with all my unread books and the random number field.

I should do that, to keep track of my books and what books to buy. This way I wouldn't keep buying books and have them sit on my shelf while I keep getting more.

 

[beegee]

I have that book, waiting for it to come up randomly on my "what to read next" spreadsheet with a random number generator.

If I could marry a sentence it would be this one.

 

[corianderstem]

It was the best thing I've ever done in a spreadsheet, because I would spend aaaages trying to figure out what to read next out of my collection prior to that.

For now, I'm enjoying letting the spreadsheet decide for me. There've been a couple of books I've had for years that have been disappointing and was sorry I'd bought, but I've been getting a lot of use out of paperbackswap.com. So it's a good way to finally weed through my books as well.

 

[martha]

Middlemarch by George Eliot

I have no idea what possessed me to decide to read an 800+ page Victorian novel during the school year, but boy what a payoff. It's a masterpiece; the characterizations are complete, the plot(s) are fascinating, and the writing is damn near flawless. I loved it. Now I'm starting to work my way through the BBC miniseries from 1994 on Netflix. So far it's just a pale, artificially-flavored imitation, but I'll still watch it.