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[Batjag]

Does anyone have any good movie scripts they'd like to recommend? I'm re-reading the script for Aliens again because I really like it, but some recommendations wouldn't go awry.

Chinatown by Robert Towne is an awesome read. It's one of the best and most influential (to other screenwriters) scripts of all time.

 

[sparky2112]

Yet another book that I want to read but can't because the show is so good.

With a newly-minted Oscar winner as Cromwell, right?

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

I finished this baby, it was pretty good however the ending was abrupt. Honestly i just wanted to read Roadside Picnic to figure out from where the Stalker movie and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games got it's inspiration.

Next up is the movie!

 

[Number45]

Quite enjoying The Last Kingdom. Cool that it's based around real places that I recognise (including where I am right now) and feels a little like an underhand history lesson. If history focused more on the gory battles I might have hated it less.

 

[rachste]

And no, it's not like the movie.

 

[PaulBizkit]

Do graphic novels count?

 

[Servbot #42]

Next up is the movie!

I actually watched the movie before reading the book, the movie is a very loose adaptation of the book. The movie was good but i think i prefer the book, i'm always been a sucker for deep philosophical arguments about alien encounters and the book has more of that.

currently working my way through:


i've read Lovecraft off and on in the past, but I've not really read his longer works either in a very long time, or ever. it's amazing how effective these stories are nearly a century later.

i don't think i'd ever actually read "The Call of Cthulhu" until last night, i never would have guessed that Lovecraft would've described the creature so distinctly; most of his other works are extremely vague at the actual physical appearance of monsters/creatures.

I think i'm gonna read that collection soon, i always wanted to read Lovecraft specially after finishing a certain hit videogame from last year.


EDIT: I just learned that Roadside Picnic is gonna be adapted into a TV show by Alan Taylor and the “Transcendence” writer

 

[JaseMath]

And I love it.

Spoiler

JFK was already saved; Jake just left for Little Rock.

Cannot wait to see how it ends.

 

[Pachimari]

Where can I find other gaffers in the Goodreads app?

 

[Maklershed]

With a newly-minted Oscar winner as Cromwell, right?

I had to check IMDB - didn't realize Rylance has been in recent movies. I only know him from Wolf Hall and he's fantastic as Cromwell.

 

[Mau ®]

Finished Robertn Greene's "The 48 Laws of Power". It was a good read but some laws conflict with others, and there are a few that are basically a very similar concept to other laws in the book.

Now on:

 

[AngmarsKing701]

3/4 of the way through Cronin's The Passage.

 

[Pachimari]

I just added myself to Goodreads, so please add me people. I'm trying to get into reading but it would also help me seeing yours progress, and what you're currently reading.

My name is the same as my GAF name so it should be easy to identify me. I also joined the GAF group on there.

PS: Who are you on Goodreads? So I can have some friends on there.

 

[Number45]

I just added myself to Goodreads, so please add me people. I'm trying to get into reading but it would also help me seeing yours progress, and what you're currently reading.

My name is the same as my GAF name so it should be easy to identify me. I also joined the GAF group on there.

PS: Who are you on Goodreads? So I can have some friends on there.

Added you.

 

[Peru]

I'm reading Austen favorite and Austen predecessor Frances Burney's Evelina (or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World).

Shares many similarities with Austen -- in language, in drawing out characters -- although Burney seems to drag us even deeper into the madness of manners, the rules upon rules of good etiquette, of language and tone, interpreting grave meaning on the basis of slight nods, shifts, and the snobs and fops of the most vapid kind who use and abuse these rules.

It's certainly not always delicate. The intensity with which the men of the book harass our heroine is something else - observing her fighting off one suitor after another is great fun, but also, sometimes, surprisingly violent. She paints a picture of a society where male sexual aggression taking even threatening physical form is the norm - in 'quality' upper class company. Of course she falls in love with the only guy in the book who isn't up in her face.

The book can be hysterically funny. What she definitely shares with Austen is the ability to build up to the most vivid descriptions of idiocy, and subtly hit her characters on the head with a cunning paragraph.

Then there's the insight into fashionable London in the late 1700s - letting us visit the opera, theatre, and various other houses and gardens of entertainment.

Great stuff. Amazing stuff.

 

[Uga]

3/4 of the way through Cronin's The Passage.

Just bought that. How are you liking it?

About 3 hours in listening to The Devil All the Time, and just starting to read Mistborn after seeing it mentioned many times.

 

[TTG]

Yet another book that I want to read but can't because the show is so good.

You should check out Bring Up The Bodies then, assuming this season spans the events of the first book only. And, I think the third and final book is suppose to be coming out this year.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Just bought that. How are you liking it?

About 3 hours in listening to The Devil All the Time, and just starting to read Mistborn after seeing it mentioned many times.

It gets a lot of love here on GAF. Without spoiling anything, it goes in some crazy directions. I'm liking it but also feel as though it's a bit wordy. But then I have that problem with almost anything of this length.

tl;dr good but could use some tightening up

 

[Mumei]

That one's fairly high on my to-read list (holding off watching the tv adaptation).

So are the Journey to the West books Mumei's been reading. Been meaning to read more Asian literature for so long. Always look at the nice covers on the classics shelves in book stores but can't decide where to start.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. I loved Journey to the West, but if you're looking for Chinese literature to start with, The Story of the Stone is my favorite, and occupies a similar cultural space in Chinese letters as, say, Proust, Goethe, Milton, Virgil, Dante, Cervantes, Tolstoy, etc. represent in their national traditions.

One of the translators of the last volumes of the excellent Penguin editions wrote about it in The Telegraph a few years ago, and it's probably that best explanation of what I loved about it:

What is so special about this work? Why does it continue to cast its spell on today’s Chinese readers? One has to try to imagine a book that combines the qualities of Jane Austen – brilliantly observed accounts of Chinese psychology and personality, meticulous depiction of an aristocratic Chinese/Manchu household – with the grand sweep of a novel such as Vanity Fair or the works of Balzac. Its mood is allegorical, lyrical and philosophical. It leaves the reader with a visionary experience of the human condition, comparable to that of Proust. It’s a blend of Zen Buddhism and Taoism with the underlying theme of “seeing through the Red Dust” beyond the illusion of earthly “reality”.

The Stone narrates the journey of a sensitive soul towards enlightenment. That “soul” is Jia Baoyu, the incarnation of the “stone” of the title, a delicate teenager, a dreamer, a pampered aesthete “in love with love”. In the fifth chapter he retires from a family afternoon gathering to take a nap in the boudoir of his cousin Jia Rong’s beautiful young wife. His visit, in a dream, to the Land of Illusion is described, where a fairy named Disenchantment reveals the predestined futures of many of his girl-cousins and maids, at the same time gently berating him for being such a lustful creature (in his case it is Lust of the Mind). She initiates him into the art of love with a beautiful girl, Two-in-One, so called because she combines the charms of his two favourite girl-cousins. After the dream, his maid, Aroma, proceeds to practice with him some of the “lessons” taught him by the Fairy in his “initiatory dream”. This intertwining of desire and enlightenment, of passion and disenchantment, lies at the heart of the novel.

And yet, despite its philosophical and allegorical dimension, Stone is no Pilgrim’s Progress. It is full of fun and games, describing the illusion of daily “reality” in loving detail. Its pages make up a veritable encyclopedia of Chinese life, from the making of tea with last year’s melted snow, to the eating of crabs, the performing of lyrical opera and the writing of classical verse in every possible metre. To offset the large cast of upper-class characters, there is also a wonderful assortment of low-life personalities, old village dames, garrulous matrons, drunken retainers, martial artists, sing-song girls and theatrical performers. It convincingly describes the corruption and other social ills that beset China’s society in the late traditional period (and in many ways still do).

Its rich social tapestry, and its pervading philosophical theme, take this novel far beyond the scope of the sentimental Chinese novel so popular in the 18th century. Written just before the onset of China’s 19th-century decline, Stone captures brilliantly the “glory that was China”, and the knife edge on which that glory balanced. This is what makes it such essential reading today.

 

[Cade]

Finally picked The Last Wish back up now that I am quite deeply in love with The Witcher 3. While I'm still a salty, sour Sam over Sapkowski's comments on CDPR's work and the reception of it, I can't deny the book is good.

I'm also still reading Count of Monte Cristo and a handful of other things.

 

[thomaser]

That one's fairly high on my to-read list (holding off watching the tv adaptation).

Yet another book that I want to read but can't because the show is so good.

I can imagine this as a great tv-series! Snappy and smart dialogue.

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

I thought they were awful.
The Oceans 11 in fantasy Venice is gone. No Gentlemen Bastards or elaborate cons. Locke becomes progressively more annoying and the few newcomers are forgettable. There is a lot of buildup towards a certain appearance thats a huge letdown.

???

Spoiler

How is raiding the Sinspire not an elaborate con?

Pretty strongly disagree with your last two sentences, but eh, opinions. But I definitely agree that the setting took a massive hit. Camorr was like a character in itself, and the other locations so far are almost entirely forgettable.

For the "certain appearance," did you mean

Spoiler

Sabetha? Because I'm curious what you wanted out of her, then. I got a female Locke, which was exactly what I was hoping for.

 

[GK86]

Since it is Woman's History Month, what are some books from great female authors?

I'm looking to expand my reading tastes (I have only read SciFi/Thriller books so far this year), so I'm open to anything and everything.

 

[kswiston]

I started The Water Knife:

I am not far enough into it to have a concrete opinion but the concept seems interesting so far.

 

[Cade]

Since it is Woman's History Month, what are some books from great female authors?

I'm looking to expand my reading tastes (I have only read SciFi/Thriller books so far this year), so I'm open to anything and everything.

Have you read Station Eleven? I liked that quite a bit.





also I'm gonna take the time to plug one of my favorite YA novels (about time travel) by a female author:

 

[Ga1amoth]

Just finished "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Hemingway. Pilar is a literary force.



Just started "The Way of Kings by Sanderson. Haven't read any new fantasy in awhile so should be fun.
I have liked every bit of what I've read from Sanderson so far (Mistborn series, end of WoT) so I have high hopes.

 

[itwasTuesday]

packing for mars

almost done,
have 11/22/64 queued up.

 

[Mumei]

Since it is Woman's History Month, what are some books from great female authors?

I'm looking to expand my reading tastes (I have only read SciFi/Thriller books so far this year), so I'm open to anything and everything.

Here's a few suggestions of books (only listing the first book in series) by women authors:

• The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison
• Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
• Troubling Love, by Elena Ferrante
• The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Jack, by A.M. Homes
• The Safety of Objects: Stories, by A.M. Homes
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson
• Complete Stories, by Clarice Lispector
• Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
• Riddle-Master, by Patricia A. McKillip
• Beloved, by Toni Morrison
• The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
• Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
• A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki
• The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
• The Habitation of the Blessed, by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker
• Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
• The Waves, by Virginia Woolf
• The People in the Trees, by Hanya Yanagihara
• A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara

Also, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan and Chalion series are both excellent; if you haven't read those you should definitely check them out as well.

 

[BIG_V-G-V]

Just started this one up this morning.

 

[ThisGuy]

Started these two. Was a tough call between Hyperion and foundation.

 

[GK86]

Have you read Station Eleven? I liked that quite a bit.

Here's a few suggestions of books (only listing the first book in series) by women authors:

• The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison
• Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
• Troubling Love, by Elena Ferrante
• The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Jack, by A.M. Homes
• The Safety of Objects: Stories, by A.M. Homes
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson
• Complete Stories, by Clarice Lispector
• Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
• Riddle-Master, by Patricia A. McKillip
• Beloved, by Toni Morrison
• The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
• Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
• A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki
• The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
• The Habitation of the Blessed, by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker
• Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
• The Waves, by Virginia Woolf
• The People in the Trees, by Hanya Yanagihara
• A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara

Also, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan and Chalion series are both excellent; if you haven't read those you should definitely check them out as well.

Thank you both!

I really appreciate the list Mumei. Added a bunch of them to my wishlist and I picked up the first book in the Chalion series. I think I will start with that one.

 

[Peru]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. I loved Journey to the West, but if you're looking for Chinese literature to start with, The Story of the Stone is my favorite, and occupies a similar cultural space in Chinese letters as, say, Proust, Goethe, Milton, Virgil, Dante, Cervantes, Tolstoy, etc. represent in their national traditions.

One of the translators of the last volumes of the excellent Penguin editions wrote about it in The Telegraph a few years ago, and it's probably that best explanation of what I loved about it:

Hah, an Austen nod too, to boot. Noted! I'll look at the 1st volume.

 

[Peru]

[Sorry, unintentionally double posted]

Since it is Woman's History Month, what are some books from great female authors?

I'm looking to expand my reading tastes (I have only read SciFi/Thriller books so far this year), so I'm open to anything and everything.

Jane Eyre is a good start.

 

[big ander]

Since it is Woman's History Month, what are some books from great female authors?

I'm looking to expand my reading tastes (I have only read SciFi/Thriller books so far this year), so I'm open to anything and everything.

Margaret Atwood is a wonderful writer who crosses over into sci-fi often but is never firmly in the genre. I highly recommend The Blind Assassin

 

[Peru]

Reminder of the Brontë siblings sci-fi/fantasy beginnings:

The sisters named the imaginary countries The Glass Town Federation. Branwell and Charlotte invented the kingdom of Angria, while Emily and Anne created Gondal. The exhibition shows maps and text in ‘micro-script’, and features themselves as the ‘gods’ (‘genii&#8217 of their world. The stories were written in little books, the size of a matchbox and bound with thread.

Emily, Charlotte, Anne and Branwell, all successful in their own right [not Branwell, no], are widely associated with bold romantic realism. The intricacy of their work precedes the minutae detail of JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series and provides further, invaluable insight into their imaginations.

 

[Ratrat]

???

Spoiler

How is raiding the Sinspire not an elaborate con?

Pretty strongly disagree with your last two sentences, but eh, opinions. But I definitely agree that the setting took a massive hit. Camorr was like a character in itself, and the other locations so far are almost entirely forgettable.

For the "certain appearance," did you mean

Spoiler

Sabetha? Because I'm curious what you wanted out of her, then. I got a female Locke, which was exactly what I was hoping for.

Actually yeah, the early parts of Red Seas had a little of what I liked about the first book.

Spoiler

The pirate stuff not so much.

As for her, I expected lot more than one of the most annoying archetypes in fantasy.

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

Spoiler

As for her, I expected lot more than one of the most annoying archetypes in fantasy.

Spoiler

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you mean?

 

[Atraveller]

Finally picked The Last Wish back up now that I am quite deeply in love with The Witcher 3. While I'm still a salty, sour Sam over Sapkowski's comments on CDPR's work and the reception of it, I can't deny the book is good.

He should feel glad and be content, not many novel series are lucky enough to get such high quality adaption.

 

[Ratrat]

Spoiler

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you mean?

Spoiler

Denna, from Name of the Wind is a much more annoying iteration. I think there was a similar character in that Abercrombie series.
The whole 'Great Expectations' style charade is not interesting. She's just an idealized figure for him to faun over.

Sapkowski doesnt like the games? That must suck for cdprojekt.

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

Spoiler

Denna, from Name of the Wind is a much more annoying iteration. I think there was a similar character in that Abercrombie series.
The whole 'Great Expectations' style charade is not interesting. She's just an idealized figure for him to faun over.

I haven't read any of those, so maybe that's why I didn't notice as strongly, lol.

Spoiler

I'm curious to see if that's pretty much going to be her ongoing role. Because yes, that would be completely awful, and I can agree that it's already really weak.

Thanks for sharing your view!

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Since it is Woman's History Month, what are some books from great female authors?

I'm looking to expand my reading tastes (I have only read SciFi/Thriller books so far this year), so I'm open to anything and everything.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

 

[Ratrat]

I haven't read any of those, so maybe that's why I didn't notice as strongly, lol.

Spoiler

I'm curious to see if that's pretty much going to be her ongoing role. Because yes, that would be completely awful, and I can agree that it's already really weak.

Thanks for sharing your view!

Feel a bit bad as a lot of people enjoy them regardless. I'm still going to read book 4 and will hope its more like the first!

Since it is Woman's History Month, what are some books from great female authors?

I'm looking to expand my reading tastes (I have only read SciFi/Thriller books so far this year), so I'm open to anything and everything.

How about Mary Shelley? Recently read her first 4 novels, varying quality but facinating considering when they were written.

Second Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as well.

edit: The Cypher by Kathe Koja is really underrated horror novel, so that too.

 

[Pachimari]

Just ordered The Last Wish from Amazon. That's the one book I really want to read at the moment. Read 3 chapters of the sample from Kindle already, and really liked it.

 

[Hanzou]

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

I'll second this, The book is fantastic.

 

[Cade]

He should feel glad and be content, not many novel series are lucky enough to get such high quality adaption.

I know! As someone who trudged through The Witcher, enjoyed The Witcher 2 and am absolutely in love with 3, I can't imagine being salty about why people in America etc. like the franchise.

Sapkowski doesnt like the games? That must suck for cdprojekt.

From what I remember it's more like he considers the novels themselves the reason the series is popular outside of Poland but I doubt very many people played the games after reading the books here. I could be wrong but I'd certainly never heard anyone talk about the books prior to TW1 and there's a decade plus time difference there right? I mean we still don't have all the books translated and the last one came out in ninety seven aside from the midquel.

 

[Pachimari]

From what I remember it's more like he considers the novels themselves the reason the series is popular outside of Poland but I doubt very many people played the games after reading the books here. I could be wrong but I'd certainly never heard anyone talk about the books prior to TW1 and there's a decade plus time difference there right? I mean we still don't have all the books translated and the last one came out in ninety seven aside from the midquel.

So that's why the series ends abruptly? Because the end haven't been translated into English?

 

[Orgen]

Now that the Dark Tower movie has been finally announced I wanted to give the saga another chance.

Any good guide about the books I should read and in what order? I've already read the Gunslinger, the Stand and the Drawing of the Three. Many thanks!

 

[Cade]

So that's why the series ends abruptly? Because the end haven't been translated into English?

I think there's two books of short stories (Last Wish and Sword of Destiny) and then five novels in a series, the last of which or last two of which haven't been released in English. I'm not sure about other languages.

 

[Nasser]

Almost done with (2 chapters left) Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

hmmm defiantly not Murakami's best book. It's enjoyable to read but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a big fan of Murakami and have read his other popular books.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Now that the Dark Tower movie has been finally announced I wanted to give the saga another chance.

Any good guide about the books I should read and in what order? I've already read the Gunslinger, the Stand and the Drawing of the Three. Many thanks!

(never mind the 8 on there, it's more of a 4.5)

Series[edit]
1.The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) – 224 pages
2.The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) – 400 pages
3.The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) – 512 pages
4.The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) – 787 pages; 1998 Locus Award nominee[9]
5.The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) – 714 pages; 2004 Locus Award nominee[10]
6.The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) – 432 pages; 2005 Locus Award nominee[11]
7.The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) – 845 pages; 2005 British Fantasy Award winner[11]
8.The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012) – 336 pages

Unless you're thinking of the novels that tie-in to the story in an ancillary capacity like Hearts in Atlantis?