@AgentCooper
Nice. I do enjoy Stephen King and recently read The Cell.
As for The Body I have his Different Seasons book which I highly recommend, it has four stories including The Body, Apt Pupil, Shawshank Redemption and The Breathing Method (the only story of the four to have not been made into a film as far as I know).
@CaptD oh excellent appreciate the recommendation, I’ve somehow managed to avoid watching stand by me and only vaguely remember Shawshank so that’s quite refreshing. I struggle for consistency in reading for whatever reason but I’m making a concerted effort.
@AgentCooper Goodreads ruined my life! Before, whenever someone would recommend a book, I would promptly forget it. Now I track them on Goodreads, where there is a community that also recommends books, and add to that the lovely people on here that will unscrupulously talk about interesting books, I now have a reading list of over 800 books! My life is in tatters!
All joking aside, though, I find Goodreads to be indispensable when picking my next book to read and I enjoy rating and writing a few words on what I liked or disliked (which I echo on here as well).
The community is friendly and following readers with similar tastes as yourself may lead to discovering some gems that you might not have stumbled over on your own (as will following this thread right here) - for better or for worse
As you may or may not have seen here, I've recently finished the Witcher series of novels and I mostly enjoyed them. They are a little bit uneven, but never dip below "good", IMO. I actually preferred the books that collected short stories about Geralt's adventures over the large overarching narrative in the main books (I got easily confused by all the players in the geopolitical conflict). The novels remain my favourite source for Witchery goodness, with the Witcher 3 game coming a very close second (I'm playing it now and it feels like a sequel to the books in all the best ways).
Also, in a funny coincidence, I'm also returning to Stephen King for my next read
Finished my "Harry Bosch double-header" last night. Angle of Investigation (Goodreads page) was a collection of three (very) short stories, all of which were fine, but nothing special. Garnered three stars in my Goodreads review.
The full length novel The Drop (Goodreads page) was better, though. A meaty story with two parallel cases, both of which were interesting and one which may have some long-term ramifications for Harry and his relationships in the department. This one got four stars.
Next, I will return to the master himself, Stephen King, after having had a year-and-a-half hiatus since I finished my "Dark Tower" project of reading all his Dark Tower books as well as any "Dark Tower adjacent" novels (which ended up being around 20 novels in total).
Now I will dive into If It Bleeds (Goodreads page), a collection of four novellas, one of which features one of my favourite King-characters, Holly Gibney.
The plan is to return to liberally sprinkling King and Koontz novels onto my reading schedule going forward
I'm also going to return to reading a short-story between every novel as a palate cleanser; a practice that had fallen by the wayside as I've been struggling with Alone With the Horrors (Goodreads page) by Ramsey Campbell. I'm about half-way through and I haven't really loved any of the stories so far, but will give it a few more tries before cutting it loose.
@FuriousMachine Well that has me worried 😂 though I have found I enjoy the cataloging process side of things. I’m not particularly predisposed to being social or articulating my thoughts on things I like, I’ve always struggled with that, but I would really like to kick myself up the arse with the reading though. I might have a nosey at your profile if you don’t mind?
I’m looking forward to continuing the series, the short stories was the perfect format to reinvigorate my interest.
@AgentCooper Know what you mean; I'm not particularly active in the community over there myself, but I find that most of the people I've met over there are very nice and welcoming and love nothing more than discussing books (shocking, right? )
I don't mind at all if you want to look at my profile; you can find my list of read books here
It's not too long ago I switched from writing my notes in Norwegian to English, though, but the star ratings speak for themselves. I started writing them mostly so that I could remind myself why I gave a book the rating I did and switched to English after one of my friends on there sent me a message wanting to know what I wrote about a particular book he liked.
I finished The Hero of Ages. Great story over the trilogy and a perfect ending. I would be happy to leave it there, but I know there are more books set in that world. I also hear great things about The Stormlight Archive, so they are on the list.
I've started Prophet Song and have The Fourth Sacrifice lined up for after!
@MightyDemon82 Must say, the premise of Prophet Song sounds very compelling! I will probably get to it around 2049 or so, but it's on the list. Looking forward to hear what you think
(both the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series has been on my list for a while, so I might actually get to them during the 2030s )
Finished The Body by Stephen King last night. A really charming book and not at all what I expected from King. I loved the characters and the pace and detail of long friendships and long summers on the cusp of coming to an end, felt very familiar and comforting.
And just in time, Sword of Destiny arrived this morning (easily the worst book jacket i've seen in some time) so hopefully make a start on that tonight.
@FuriousMachine The fact you can switch in the first place is incredible, your english is impeccable. I really need to put more time and effort in to learning a second language. I make a start and always run out of steam.
@AgentCooper Thanks, my second language skill is one that I am proud of and mindful of trying to maintain and improve, but it is worth mentioning that I, like most Norwegians (and, probably, other Scandinavians) my age, were lucky to be exposed to so much British and American culture growing up that we learned a lot at an early age almost through osmosis So, sure, takes a little work maintaining, but reading books, playing games, watching movies and interacting on forums like this isn't really work
I have been trying to learn Spanish for maybe the last 20 years or so and I can absolutely identify with "starting and running out of steam" (though I did reach the point last year where I managed to fully complete an ice-cream purchasing transaction in Spain using nothing but Spanish. I was so proud! )
Haven't read The Body, but it wasn't too long ago that I saw Stand By Me again. Great movie and it manages to capture two of King's absolutely greatest strengths in my opinion: Characters and the magic of youth. I have only read one book that rivals King in this area and that was Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon, but King is absolutely the undisputed master there.
Hope you'll enjoy Sword of Destiny! I enjoyed it a lot
Finished If It Bleeds (Goodreads page), a collection of four short stories by Stephen King, where I found three to be great ("Mr. Harrigan's Phone", "If it Bleeds", "Rat") and one "merely" good ("The Life of Chuck"). I had been looking forward to meeting Holly Gibney again and her adventures in the title story did not disappoint. I gave the collection four stars in my Goodreads review.
Unsurprisingly, my next King novel will be "Holly", but that is still quite a few books further down the line.
Next up I'll be finishing out Peter May's "China Thrillers" series with the double header of the novel Chinese Whispers (Goodreads page) and the short story The Ghost Marriage (Goodreads page)
@FuriousMachine That just isn’t something the majority of the English and possibly throughout the United Kingdom have growing up. When I started to absorb and recommend foreign films, my parents and many friends looked at me as if I had a second head. You have the option of second languages at secondary school but even then it is relatively small scale. I might be wrong but it feels like there is a slight arrogance that others should speak English rather than go through the effort of learning a few words of another language as a courtesy.
@AgentCooper Yeah, I guess you could see it as a kind of arrogance, but I would say that learning a second language is typically driven by any combination of necessity, convenience and genuine interest. When only genuine interest is the driver, as I expect would be the case in the UK and the US, then it is only reasonable that only a handful pursue it.
In Norway, convenience was a huge driver when I grew up (all the cool morning cartoons were on Sky Channel) and at one point someone saw the value of having English as a second language taught in schools from an early age, so there was a degree of necessity as well.
For now, English is the dominant language in the western world and on the internet sites serving the west, so there is no real need for English speakers to learn a second language other than genuine interest; though I do believe the smart money is on learning simplified Chinese (and possibly Mandarin) which may give a leg up on business dealings in the future (and we may actually be there already).
@FuriousMachine In the U.S., a certain amount of foreign language coursework is usually a requirement for high school graduation, but it depends on the state and the school district as to whether it’s a requirement and how many years are required. Some universities want you to have foreign language credits on your transcript. Traditionally what’s offered is Spanish, French, and sometimes German or Latin, but more schools now are beginning to offer Mandarin, and Japanese. I’ve seen some also have Arabic and Russian. But still, the main language most people take in school is Spanish. It’s the easiest for us to pick up and the language we are most exposed to and able to use day-to-day, depending what area of the country one lives in.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Ah, didn't know that; that's cool. And I have noticed (mainly through reality shows like The Amazing Race) that more and more Americans seem to have some solid Spanish skills
@FuriousMachine It’s regional, but I’ve traveled across a lot of the country, and you’ll see supplemental Spanish signage and labeling in public very commonly. Especially any kind of legal or governmental documents or communications will have a Spanish version and when you’re at Wal-Mart and shopping, products will have Spanish labeling (usually on the back or side of the package) and signs will have both languages sometimes. There are now easily accessible Spanish only TV stations (Telemundo, Univision, etc) and radio stations. When I’ve visited certain cities (Miami for example), walking through the city you hear Spanish actually more than English, and when you go to a restaurant, for example, you might be greeted in Spanish unless you appear clearly like a tourist.
I think in Europe that sort of thing is fairly typical, where a store or restaurant isn’t always sure what language to greet you with, since there are so many languages represented in a relatively small geographical area with lots of crossover travel. But for us it’s a new phenomenon where you may not be greeted in English sometimes. But the vast majority of US residents are only able to communicate in English (and many can barely even do that 😂) but Spanish is growing in popularity.
Of course similar situations exist for nearly every immigrant group who has established a community here in the cities’ various Chinatowns, Little Italys, etc. but the Spanish communities are much more widespread in large cities like Miami, Los Angeles, El Paso, Phoenix, a lot of New Mexico, etc., etc.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Forums
Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?
Posts 941 to 960 of 960
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic