Still working on Les Miserables. Haven't read it much because school started up (I'm a teacher).

Listened to The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett and then rewatched the 1940 Humphrey Bogart film adaptation of it. Both are great. The movie follows the book very closely, while skipping some obviously too-risque-for-screen scenes. There's nothing like a sex scene in the book, but Spade makes a woman strip naked to search her after she denies having stolen anything in the book. He believed her denial, but he made her strip to appease the other characters who questioned her. In the movie, he accepts her word after she denies stealing. That's the sort of stuff that was changed. I recommend both is you're interested in a 1930's crime drama or a classic of film noir.

Started listening to Dracula by Bram Stoker. Never read it before, and it's amazing. Written as if all the plot is real, as the narrative comes from excerpts of journals, diaries, letters, and newspapers, each with a source and date. It's also interesting to remember that no one knew who Count Dracula was before the novel, so when the first character gets invited to his castle, he's excited to go meet a foreign count, while in my head I was wondering if he was insanse, since who would willingly go into Count Dracula's castle unprepared? Great story. I'm loving it.

My wife and I are also listening to The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason. It's a turn-of-the-century British novel about an army man who is engaged to be married. He's only in the army because his father and his father's father and his father's father's father, etc. have been in the army, and he'd rather not be in it at all. Well, he receives intelligence that his unit is going to be sent to the front, but no one is supposed to know, so he quickly retires to ostensibly go get married and live in peace with his wife. However, three of his army friends find out, and they each send him a white feather, calling him a coward and bringing disgrace upon him. His fiance finds out and gives him a feather as well, breaking off their engagement. He therefore secretly plans to go find his three former colleagues and do something brave so they will rescind their feathers. It's very well-written, and the characters are likeable. We're enjoying it a lot.

Finally finished The Fellowship (Setsuna really got in the way of reading the past month!). Started Dracula since it is October and all. I'm not a fan of horror, but I've read and enjoyed Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll, Mr Hyde, so I figured I'd give it a go. Maybe I'll get some game ideas out of it too   .

I finished off Books of Blood 1-3 by Clive Barker. Amongst the best horror short stories I've ever read. Some true winners in there, especially Rawhead Rex and the story about the massive, uh, people giants



Still plugging along with Dark Tower IV

Started The Well of Ascension (Mistborn 2)

What did you think of Frankenstein? I think it's a historically significant but not well-written novel. Vathek and Melmoth the Wanderer both kick ass.

I thought it was well written and engaging, definitely something that I put on the list of things to read again. I haven't heard of those other two you mention.

This is some of my favorites right now.

Loved Dracula. Just read it for the first time a couple weeks ago. It's fantastic! I liked it better than Frankenstein, though I enjoy both books.

Finished going through Dune again a couple of days ago and started into Dune Messiah for the first time last night. Hoping to be able to stick with it to actually make it through all the original Frank Herbert novels.

One of my favorite books of all time (well, Dune + Dune Messiah).

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, by Sean Penn
Very poetic, very dense. Penn likes to use alliteration. A sample:

With desert duty done, a return to house, home, and freshly cut green grass. Bob’s overseas endeavors generally allowed his Woodview lawn the overgrowth of non-violational neglect...

The younger Bob had treasured his chores and none more than the mechanized mission provided by the mower. He was always meticulous to the wheel line. No better groundskeeper anywhere in the San Joaquin valley. With mowing, Bob could be king of his own domain, and no domain ever had such a fine moment as that when the fragrance of fresh cut grass filled its air. On these occasions, he enjoyed the splendor of its focus facilitated by following the streetlight-shadowed edges as they caught lines luminescing levels between what he'd mowed and would mow. 

Oof, that Sean Penn excerpt is just painful. Just a terribly pretentious vanity project.

OK, well, I'm enjoying it.

Perhaps I should have picked a less mundane passage, but I felt like that would been more difficult to grasp out of context. 

Sorry, that sounded a little dickish and I didn't mean it that way. If you're enjoying it then I shouldn't judge based on a random sentence.

I'm slowly working through War and Peace. I'm studying for an exam at work so haven't had as much reading time as I would like.

No offense taken. 

 

I really liked Brandon Sandersons mistborn series. Kinda surprised sci fi channel hasnt adapted it or something by now. It's would be a very visually stylized film or series. The books themselves had a way of evoking strong action scenes in a way that I felt like I was watching the matrix or something while reading it. Excellent action storytelling.

Halfway through Well of Ascension, and yeah, I'm reading these thinking "someone is working on making these into a film or series, right now."  It just makes too much sense.