Tuesday Book Club
I’m in the middle of a book, but haven’t finished it yet, so nothing to report this week. I did read this month’s entire O magazine, which is about the length of a novel, but I’ll stick to counting books.
How about you, you powerhouse readers? Whatchu got this week?
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Well, I didn’t finish God Emperor of Dune. Phantom Menace was on last night. Had to watch it.
That comment was a test to see if we’re paying attention, right, Patrick? Because I don’t believe either the first or the last sentence. I do think it’s likely that PM was on TV, though.
I forgot to check in the other week, but last week I read the Haunting of Alaizabel Cray, which is a sort of alternate-world gothic horror YA — quite good — and this week I read Calculating God, by Robert Sawyer, which is, um, about intelligent design and aliens coming to earth in search of God. The main character was a paleontologist, which I really enjoyed because it means that I got to revel in all my old geology learnin’.
Have you ever anticipated a new book, pre-ordered it from Amazon and then be disappointed? I had that happen twice this last week. Two books in 2 different series came out last week and I was really disappointed, mainly because both of them turned so dark. One author even killed off a continuing character. One of the books was in hardcover too. Several years ago Charlaine Harris did that to the husband of the main character and that was the end of that series.
So on my 6 hour plane ride yesterday I did finish an old Catherine Anderson and a book called The Chick and the Dead.
Oh well I have several other books I am anxious to read over Spring Break. Good reading.
I finished Kabul Beauty School last week and over the weekend,completed Bloodthirsty by Marshall Karp. KBS is due in stores on April 10 and Bloodthirsty is not out until May,but it’s better that you read The Rabbit Factory first. For a non-commerical plug,I’m trying to read A Tragic Honesty,which is biography of Richard Yates,an author whose work was better appreciated after his death.
They’re making a film version of one of Yates’ biggest novels,Revolutionary Road,with Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio as the stars so I thought that I’d give the book another shot. I have read RR as well as Easter Parade;Yates writes about middle class malaise with an expert hand.
Hey,anyone want to guess what the new Oprah book will be?
This was a great reading weekend for me. I finished:
The Prestige by Christopher Priest (good – haven’t seen the movie yet so I don’t know how it compares)
Agnes Quill by a bunch of authors (a YA graphic novel compilation thingy – okay)
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson (pretty freakin’ awesome)
Patrick, I read most of the Dune books in high school, and if I remember right, they get progressively suckier after the second one. You probably didn’t miss much. Although, Phantom Menace is hardly the proudest moment of the Star Wars franchise, either.
I stayed up late last night and finished Sense & Sensibility.
Didn’t finish anything, once again.
Deeply engrossed in Jesus Land, a memoir by Julia Scheeres. It’s great so far. I love memoir.
I also just started a very short (published by Orca, weird, I know) YA selection called Safe House, by James Heneghan, which is about a young boy who is directly affected by the Troubles when his parents are murdered by Protestant terrorists (set in Belfast, 1999)
Diana, so you’re saying the truth is
A. I DID finish God Emperor
B. Phantom Menace WAS on.
C. I DID NOT have to watch PM.
This would be the point in CLUE, where I show you a card disproving your guess.
I kinda thought Calculating God was ok. I liked Starplex better though I could have done without the dolphins.
Eisha, it’s been a while since I read the first three. I did like them all. God Emperor seems slower and less meaningful to what I read the first three for. A friend recommended reading all the way to Chapterhouse when they jump another 10K years in the future, or something like that, so, I figured, why not.
Phantom Menace, I have dreams of it being better than it is. Seeing it again reminds me of that. There are a few premises in Episodes 1-3 that I love and will adapt to my own, knowing that Star Wars was the inspiration, but will be largely unrecognizable(hopefully).
99.23 percent of people with the first name Patrick are male.
You guys are doing SO great. It makes me feel good that even if I’m not quite performing the way I want to in this 50-book challenge for the year, at least you’re all getting out there and reading the ink right off the page.
Lady T, good question about the next Oprah selection. I haven’t a clue anymore, if I ever did. But I’m so glad she came back to her book club concept, because it really does get people reading who might not otherwise.
Patrick, booooo to any Star Wars that aren’t the old three. The new three hurt my feelings so badly, in part because I love Natalie Portman, and they made her such a dolt in those films. Well, maybe not the first of the three, but certainly after that. Blech.
I’ve always been a huge Star Wars fan. I get it from my father, who is such a huge fan, he named his first son Luke. Nevertheless, I will not be telling my children that there are more than three star wars films. I may or may not be showing them the Clone Wars cartoon series, which I think is better than the three recent films. I may also be showing them that random standalone scene that someone once filmed for some unidentified reason of Yoda fighting Count Dooku, because that scene rocks my world.
Patrick, I thought you were both lying about reading that crap at all and also about watching PM. Dune REALLY REALLY goes downhill after the first one. I made it through two and then gave up.
However, the series, with Mr. Tumnus as Paul’s son? I’m vaguely intrigued.
Diana, good point about the Yoda fight scene. That was the best thing by far of the whole new series.
You need to put together a highlights DVD and sell it on your site. I’ll be sending you my credit card number right away.
God Emperor of Narnia?
Here’s the thing about kids. Just because you don’t tell them, doesn’t mean they don’t know.
Oliver has never seen any of the Star Wars films, yet he wants to be Anakin Skywalker.(He also often says he is a pony, so I don’t know what that is about)
He also always wants to be the bad guy. I keep having to explain that the bad guys always lose.
“Daddy, I’m the bad guy, you be the good guy and I’ll cut you in half.”
“Ok, but if I’m the good guy, that means I get to win and you can’t cut me in half.”
“Why”
“‘Cause the good guys always win”
“Why”
“Because they are good and don’t cheat”
“But Bad Guys have cool powers”
“Yes, but they are Bad and so they lose.”
“Why”
See, the last thing said is always “why” because he can say why more than I can stand to explain the universe.
So it goes.
If it helps, I am not fully engrossed in God Emperor and I did frequently change channels during Phantom Menace.
No comments on Patrick’s profound observation? I am sure that conclusion was reached after years of research and
scientific study.
I am still laughing and what is even funnier is how everyone just glossed over it and kept on going with these deep literary reviews and didn’t even acknowledge Patrick’s genius!!!!! I guess we all just never know what to expect from him so we take him in stride and move along!
Sue, Patrick is profound about fourteen times a day. Hard to keep track of them all.
Are you talking about the name thing?
Read two books this past week — Eleven (by Lauren Myracle) and The Time Machine (because I’ve been asked to blurb a graphic novel adaptation of it).
I have a huge stack of books next to the bed right now and hope to make a dent in them when I return from some tour-y stuff after this coming weekend.
Thank you, Sue!
Let’s all take moment of silence to recognize my genius.
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Thanks!
Yes, I was referring to the name research.
Anytime Patrick, I appreciate true genius when I see it!
Good luck with that, Patrick. I think Chapterhouse Dune is where I gave up. But someday I should go back and read the first ones again, now that I might actually get all the political stuff.
Robin: WORD on what George Lucas did to Natalie Portman in the Star Wars movies. After watching the “love scenes” in Attack of the Clones, I couldn’t figure out how that man ever got laid.
I am officially more than halfway to GOAL!!! Woohoo!! (And now I’m singing Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer… I’m so Jersey!)
#25 Judy McCoy’s Wanted: One Special Kiss
#26 Lisa Jackson’s Hot Blooded
P.S. Patrick, when my younger brother was 5 he insisted that when he grew up he was going to be a Backhoe! Not the guy who drives and works the backhoe… an actual backhoe! My parents were so proud!
Christen, congratulations! That’s a huge reading list you have to get through. You’ve really kept with it!
Eisha, we need to have a whole separate discussion about this some day. Solidarity, sistah.
No books…. 4 websites, and some chapters of some of my own works, and a lay-out of a book my daughter and I are writing (using – what else? wp for collaboration….)
Ooh, Robin, can we? And do you read What Adrienne Thinks About That? She does this great running series of exerpts from Queen Amidala’s diary, a la Bridget Jones:
http://www.watat.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=amidala
Eisha, thanks for telling me about Queen Amidala’s diary! I’m gobbling it up!
And I am watching Attack of the Clones!
BTW – Her ABs are inhuman in AotC.
I finished “Pushing Ice” by Alastair Reynolds. I’ve start “Hell’s Gate” by David Weber and Linda Evens. More fantasy then I like but, what the heck broaden my horizon. I love David Weber’s Honor Harrington series.
Patrick,
Did you get detention a lot when you were in school?
As for readig this week, I’m almost finished with Barry’s book. (Super fantastic, losing much sleep and word count.)
Patrick, huh?
Herb, good job, as always. Another reading machine.
Heather, what a flattering thing for a writer to hear about his work. I’m sure Barry will be thrilled!
Robin – Natalie Portman’s belly in attack of the clones. It’s not natural. I think they were CGI enhanced.
Herb, I had to put down HH when the upper corner featured a flip-it animation in book 7 or 8.
Heather – Not much. One math teacher asked me to stop sleeping in her class when the dept head yelled at her. She admitted it was easier to teach when I was sleeping, though.
Well,I found out the next Oprah selection entirely by accident-I was roaming about the RH site(in connection with a book review)and found a big old banner proclaiming that Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is the newly appointed OBC selection!
Oprah’s bringing fiction back! Woo hoo! Maybe she’ll be inclined to pick a certain evolutionary novel for the summer…fingers crossed:)!
Oh and so with you on the Star Wars films-the original three are the best. I love Natalie Portman but I swear that in the last film,Hayden Christiansen was draining the life out of her. Whenever she did a scene with Ewan Mc Gregor(just the two of them),you could see her coming up for air,really!
Lady T, good diagnosis on Natalie coming up for air. That whole romance with Anakin made no sense at all–big whiny baby that he was–and in those scenes with Obi it’s like we’re dealing with real people who make sense again.
And thanks for the well wishes on Oprah! She’s never picked a YA before, but maybe now that she has that girls’ school . . .