I'm about halfway through The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Quite entertaining so far and I have a feeling things are going to start getting much more interesting. I like his writing. I also read A Gentleman in Moscow.
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I'm about halfway through The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Quite entertaining so far and I have a feeling things are going to start getting much more interesting. I like his writing. I also read A Gentleman in Moscow.
I'm halfway through Dawson's book and it's honestly been a bit of a page turner. Would recommend.
Agree. He's honest enough to portray himself as a bit of a self-centered asshole, and I appreciated that because it's pretty much true of every obsessive climber I've ever known. The stuff about him and Ray Jardine and the advent of Friends was fascinating to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by goldenboy
Recently finished The Wild Truth, by Carine McCandless, sister of Chris McCandless of Into the Wild fame. Highly recommended for anybody who liked that book and movie. What a fucked up family.
Just finished both of these this week.
Attachment 497084
COLD STORAGE
The debut novel from Hollywood screenwriter David Koepp is what you would call a “beach read.” It’s an easily digestible sci-fi actioneer filled with stock characters and a saccharine tinged “Hollywood Ending.” While I have never read Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain, I did see the 1971 film and this book feels like the lighter, goofier version of that.
While Koepp relies too much on cliched archetypes, he also has a deft hand for well detailed action sequences and creating tension that makes you want to keep turning pages. But the ending; it kinda ruins the whole book.
The film is already in production, btw.
EDIT
Picked up a copy of The Andromeda Strain the other week and ripped through it. Koepp’s novel is most definitely a riff/homage to Crichton’s novel; the similarities are pretty obvious. Koepp just turns the basic plot of Crichton’s novel into a slick Hollywood styled sci-fi action comedy on paper.
VENGEANCE IS MINE, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH
I stumbled upon this book by inadvertently watching the film adaptation on Netflix. I enjoyed the movie enough that it made me curious about the book, so I tracked it down. Honestly, I saw the movie so long ago that I forgot most of what happened in it.
The book, however, is a gloriously irreverent coming-of-age tale about a young boy with a detumescent member, a complicated love life, a mad streak of violent behavior, and a truck. There’s also a ghost, an unflinching examination of toxic masculinity, and plenty of wry and dry dark humor. Oh, and plenty of good old ultra-violence.
I read this joint in 2 days; it’s fantastic.
I may need to re-visit the movie…
RIYL:
Catcher in the Rye
The Fuck Up
Fight Club
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. Authentic, quirky, emotional take on random observations. He's a fantastic writer. Super fast read and easily digestable. Did the audiobook on a long road trip and could listen to him for hours.
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN - Michael Crichton, 1971
This is only the fourth MC novel I have read, but I have enjoyed every one of them immensely.
Crichton’s writing style is deft and even though he often leans into the dry scientifical side of things, he does so without making it stuffy or overly trying.
In contrast to the breezy and often cheezy action and characters in David Koepp’s obvious homage Cold Storage, this short novel manages to make even the seemingly tedious machinations of scientific research bristle with nail biting tension; I was gripped until about the last 1/3, which loses a tad bit of steam, not to mention a debatable ending (I feel the book coulda been fleshed out a little more, yet the ending has been growing on me due to its coy allusions).
This is what I would call a thinking person’s thriller.
Crichton is not much of a wordsmith and his writing style is pretty basic but the guy always has a world class sense of what’s in the zeitgeist and how to turn that into a compelling and cinematic story
92 in the shade by tom mcguane.
The Andromeda Strain was the first Crichton book I ever read because my parents had it. I couldn't put it down. He was up there with King for coming up with interesting plots and getting the pacing right, but certainly not the writer King is/was.
If you look at the craft of writing he's about as good as it gets. He is a very, very skilled wordsmith.Quote:
Originally Posted by The AD
He's good. I enjoyed the book, although I felt like it was a bit cliched at times.Quote:
Originally Posted by EWG
I just read the short story, "The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster. A very small book but packs a wallop! It may have been published in 1909, but this is some top shelf sci-fi!!!! Evidently it was one of the Wachowskis' inspirations for the Matrix. Forster seemed to have predicted an eerie amount of things and what I can't help but feel will be the ultimate culmination of things like social media. The Machine Stops illustrates the perfect mashup of utopia/dystopia if you will. Can't believe it took me so long to get around to this one! Well worth your (brief) time.
There’s (a good) one I wasn’t expecting to see in this thread. Also Panama by McGuane…hell, any of his many books are well worth the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by stealurface831
Nothing but Blue Skies is my favorite McGuane novel.
Dammit!
As if I need more books…Youse guys always expose me to interesting authors I have thus far been oblivious to.
Just read up on McGuane. What an interesting sounding dude.
I am privy to his Hollywood screenplay work, having enjoyed both Ranch Deluxe and Missouri Breaks.
May have to delve into one of his novels now…
Haha. Seriously! This is a great thread for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by dookeyXXX
For real though, DO spend the 45 minutes or so to read The Machine Stops. Like $8 on Amazon. It's free all over the internet in digital form but I like having the hard copy which has some great modern illustrations by Drew Hill which I thought were a nice addition. This one will definitely get some repeat reads. I can't believe they haven't made a modern film adaptation of this one! Or at least a Black Mirror, Love Death + Robots, or Metal Hurlant episode, as an anthology series like those would probably be a better format than a feature length film.
https://c.media-amazon.com/images/I/...L._SL1500_.jpg
I just started The Motel Life and it looks like a good one. Picked it up at library just before seeing your post. Coincidence. I will also check out the new one.Quote:
Originally Posted by dookeyXXX
its the first of his that i've read. i'm onto Jim Harrison's catalog now but will revisit mcguane.Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper
on that note, can't recommend Revenge enough. kinda indifferent on the other Legends of the Fall novellas but Revenge is a tour de force.
also, winter of our discontent is now my favorite steinbeck.
Well, if you’re reading Harrison that’s a fkn good thing. You’re on a roll. Don’t miss out on Dalva, though that one might maybe be better when you’re a little older.Quote:
Originally Posted by stealurface831
is brautigan worth reading?Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper
It’s been so long since I read Brautigan…. I remember really liking Trout Fishing In America, but I don’t really know if it has aged well. But it’s pretty short - give it a shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by stealurface831
THE THICKET - Joe R. Lansdale (2013)
I’ve yammered enthusiastically about Mojo storyteller Joe Lansdale before and will most likely do so again.
For those unfamiliar with him, he’s a veritable and versatile genre chameleon, flitting effortlessly between horror, thriller, mystery, and western with nimble aplomb.
This novel is a bristling western that feels like a cross between Twain (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), Portis (True Grit), and L’amour (take your pick).
The story is a coming of age yarn filled with bounty hunters, bad men, whores with hearts of gold, and a wild hog. It’s also teeming with some genuinely hilarious dialogue and whip snap action.
If you like westerns that deviate from the genre while still being incredibly true to it, then I highly recommend this joint.
It’s also been made into a film starring Peter Dinklage, which hits theaters on 9/6.
one day in the life of ivan denisovich by solzhenitsyn.
details, you guessed it, one day in the life of ivan denisovich, a political prisoner in a gulag. quick, easy read but incredibly powerful.
"The Villian" by Jim Perrin, The Mountaineers Books
when he's not on-sighting 5.10 X first ascents in the rain,
the Godfather of Grit is beating the shit out of any and everybody
the rise and fall of Don Whillans
.
Older book, but “The Wolverine Way” by Douglas Chadwick is great. Centers around the Glacier National Park wolverine study in the early aughts.
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
Has anyone here read James? It's a rewrite of Huck Finn from Jim's perspective. It's gotten great reviews.
Not yet, but also was oblivious to it being a re-imagining of Huck.Quote:
Originally Posted by The AD
Percival Everett has been on my “to read” radar ever since I saw American Fiction. Really dug the film and am curious about the novel it was based because of that.
I have seen James at my local used bookstore for a bit. May have to pick it up.
Ironically, I have been thinking about revisiting Twain’s novel (and finally reading the three others in the Tom and Huck series), so this might be a cool tie-in…
Huck is such a superior piece of writing , not sure I want the cross contamination but I’ll chk it out
I'd be curious to check out James, but I feel like I'd have to re-read Huck Finn first to really appreciate the new perspective.
I read that book years ago and liked it. Sure would love to see a wolverine in Glacier some day, but the odds are long.Quote:
Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn
Bit the bullet(s)…
Attachment 499491
Just finished Demon Copperhead. Pretty much blew my socks off. Almost 600 pages and it really doesn't let up for a single fucking sentence, it's just relentless in its brilliance. Creating the character of Demon is an amazing achievement, and Barbara Kingsolver is well deserving of the Pulitzer Prize IMO. I have not enjoyed a book that much in a long time. Bravo.
Did you read the book or watch the movie of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road? Did it move you? Do graphic novels appeal to you? Then consider the graphic version by Manu Larcenet. It’s fkn stunning. A perfect (imo) graphic format of that story.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL
Amazon has it too.
https://www.amazon.com/Road-Graphic-...680980-4382551
Attachment 501283
I just started it and it's beginning to draw me in.Quote:
Originally Posted by yeahman
Of course The Prophet is Gibran's most famous work, however, A Tear and a Smile is no less potent, no less wise, no less profound.
Attachment 507247
I've been reading this lately; the author sent me a copy after we were talking about life a few weeks ago. He's the real-deal-been-there-done-that of the counterculture, from the beginning of it, and pulled off a fairly entertaining collection of memoirs about it with the intention of passing on understandings to help humans, thrive, survive, and move toward higher levels.
Attachment 507459
Just finished up Fire Weather by John Vaillant. It's fairly terrifying, and also timely with California burning down (again). Roughly half of the book recounts the Fort McMurray fire in northern Alberta. Big fire that ripped through a town of about 100k people. The book has all kinds of crazy stories from that fire, and I'd guess that there's a number of people on this forum that have some connections there. The other half of the book talks more broadly about fires and the science behind them, and the impacts climate change have on fire weather. It doesn't paint a particularly rosy picture of the future.
After enjoying both "The Dog Stars" and "The River" by Peter Heller, I read his "The Guide" last month. I've got to say it doesn't measure up to those other two. It feels like he phoned it in a bit.
I mostly enjoyed Silo but thought it dragged unnecessarily. That and what I thought was clunky dialogue had me wanting…something. So, I read Wool by Hugh Howey and really enjoyed it. It has the same trajectory as the show but is different enough to be worth the read IMO.
Gonna read the rest of the series, though I’m a little bummed I missed boarddad’s suggestion to read Shift first.
Seconding Fire Weather, great book.
So far I'm liking Playground.
I read James last November and enjoyed it. I haven’t read Huck Finn since high school and didn’t feel like I needed to to enjoy the book. Though I did download huck Finn to listen to after I finished James but have yet to start it. My wife read James after me and felt the same way. She has not read Huck Finn. It’s really good and also pretty sad seeing that the story centers around slavery and life for black people in the south at the start of the civil war.Quote:
Originally Posted by yeahman
I just finished the Darkest White which is about Craig Kelly and the avalanche that took his life. Another great read that had me in tears at the end. A must read for skiers and snowboarders a like IMO, especially backcountry riders.