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09-16-2010, 12:37 PM | #1411 |
MVP
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Liberty, MO
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I'm in the middle of Jeff Shaara's A Rise to Rebellion. What a great book. If you haven't read him, he basically writes historically acurate fiction that is seen through the eyes of 4 characters in each book. This one follows George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, and General Thomas Gage. Very interesting stuff. Highly recommend it.
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Posts: 16,048
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09-17-2010, 09:40 AM | #1412 | ||||||
[b]Supporter[/b]
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: A Hypnagogic Landscape
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So, ahem, has anyone read any of these books on the 2010 Man Booker Prize "shortlist?"
The six books, selected from the Man Booker Prize longlist of 13, are: Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America Quote:
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09-17-2010, 12:09 PM | #1413 | |
oxymoron
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: OP/KC/Whatever
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As for me, I'm still slogging through Glen Cook's Black Company. Up to the seventh now, She Is The Darkness. Really great dark fantasy series about a group of mercenaries. |
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Posts: 58,682
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09-17-2010, 01:29 PM | #1414 |
Banned!
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: NOT Columbia, MO 65201
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Currently reading: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff
Really entertaining book with a good story mixed into the Biblical history. |
Posts: 46,729
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09-17-2010, 01:50 PM | #1415 | |
In BB I trust
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Boston, Mass.
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God I love that stupid movie. "Us Yellowbeards are never more dangerous than when we're dead." "Been out rapin' lad? Good work." "No I haven't raped her!" "No, you wouldn't you stupid little git. You're not the fruit of my loins. Your mother's a liar. I couldn't be your father anyway, no woman ever slept with me and lived!" |
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Posts: 43,125
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09-17-2010, 01:51 PM | #1416 |
Supporter
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Spink, SD
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No Less Than Victory - Jeff Shaara. Pretty good fictional WWII book.
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Posts: 39,109
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09-20-2010, 07:52 PM | #1417 |
fides quaerens intellectum
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: United States
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Interesting statement on Franzen's new book Freedom, and a bit on current literature as a whole:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...han-life/8212/ |
Posts: 15,986
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09-20-2010, 08:39 PM | #1418 | |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Fayetteville, AR
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Posts: 21,776
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09-20-2010, 10:42 PM | #1419 | |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Plano, TX
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I had been considering reading his book because I'd been hearing that he's a great novelist, but this write up makes me feel like reading him would be sort of like reading Updike's Rabbit novels, which I don't really care for. They're well written, but I just don't care about or like the characters. And I really don't care much about suburban malaise, which Franzen seems to write about from what I understand. The impression I get from that article is that Franzen is sort of 50% Updike and 50% Unbearable Lightness of Being-Kundera, but that it doesn't work because he's not as talented a writer as Updike and he's not as imaginative or deep as Kundera. And actually, some of those passages he included were almost a little Stephen King-like. Maybe it's unreasonable to come to that conclusion without reading Franzen's novel, but that's the impression I get and I doubt I'll read his stuff anytime soon. I know a lot of people like his stuff, it just sounds dull to me. The worst thing this critic says about the novel, in my opinion, isn't that he think's the writing is juvenile, but that he just didn't give a crap about the characters. That's the greater sin, to me. Boring is worse than bad. |
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Posts: 22,188
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09-21-2010, 05:07 AM | #1420 | |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Fayetteville, AR
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10-21-2010, 06:52 PM | #1421 |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Parts Unknown
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reading now
Children Of The Night by Dan Simmons |
Posts: 21,087
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10-21-2010, 07:01 PM | #1422 |
[b]Supporter[/b]
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: A Hypnagogic Landscape
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I've read 200 pages of Skippy Dies by Paul Murray and loved every one of them.
This is a very fun read. Posted via Mobile Device |
Posts: 12,514
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10-21-2010, 07:45 PM | #1423 |
Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: OPKS
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So have you had a chance to dig into Freedom yet? I have been meaning to pick it up but you know life and wasting time on the net kinda slows a fella down. At any rate I am getting mixed reviews from a few friends that have read it. What is your take (if you have one)?
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Posts: 430
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10-21-2010, 07:51 PM | #1424 |
(Sir/Yes Sir/Aye Aye Sir)
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Diving
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War and Peace..
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Posts: 118,395
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10-21-2010, 07:54 PM | #1425 | |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Fayetteville, AR
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