What Comic or Book did you finish reading today?

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Dracula. 9/10

Would have been a perfect 10 had it not dragged towards the end.

[Sh8dy Milkman]

A few of the stories are a little on the short side, but this is definitely a must have for all fans of the ongoing comic series Fables. 9/10

[RandalGraves]

[Lazy Boy]

Last Exit to Brooklyn - 6/10

Meh. Too many short, interconnected stories, none of the power of Hubert Selby's Requiem for a Dream.

[RandalGraves]

Originally posted by Mr. Fred Krueger
Dracula. 9/10

Would have been a perfect 10 had it not dragged towards the end.

Yea I couldn't agree any more...still very solid though!

[Tyler_Durden_208]

AL PACINO: In Conversation With Lawrence Grobel
9/10
Fascinating read. I found myself very surprised that I share a lot of views and opinions with Pacino and was surprised to find out about all the little things that brought him into where he is now. I also liked hearing his thoughts about what made or didn't make certain films that he was in work and his thoughts on theater and Shakespeare in particular were interesting. Check it out if you're even remotely interested in Pacino or acting.

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Ring 10/10

You know a book is affecting you if an investigation heavy book, such as this, is scaring you more than the ghost element. Sadako and her evil spirit aren't even prominent in the novel until the climax, yet I was disturbed and checking my surroundings during the most investigatory of subject matter. Good work, Mr. Suzuki. I'll have to order Spirals and Loop later on.

But first, I'm off to get started on The Hellbound Heart!

[Lazy Boy]

Invisible Monsters, by Chuck Palahniuk - 7/10

Probably the least interesting and involving of his stories.

[Sh8dy Milkman]

Originally posted by Lazy Boy
Invisible Monsters, by Chuck Palahniuk - 7/10

Probably the least interesting and involving of his stories.

No...that "honor" goes to Haunted.

[Lazy Boy]

Madame Bovary - 10/10

Explores the inherent psychology of provincial, bourgeoisie feminine life better than any oversimplification in Little Children could ever explain. What a great piece of literature!

[dman476]

Originally posted by Lazy Boy
Madame Bovary - 10/10

Explores the inherent psychology of provincial, bourgeoisie feminine life better than any oversimplification in Little Children could ever explain. What a great piece of literature!

Hmm, I resent that

But...you make me want to read it though.

[Lazy Boy]

Originally posted by dman476
Hmm, I resent that

But...you make me want to read it though.

Not a knock on you...I just thought LC simplified the book so much that it isn't simply about a woman who yearns for more passion...even though Emma Bovary, through the omniscient narrator, is desirous of that life.

You would definitely like the book, methinks.

[dman476]

Originally posted by Lazy Boy


Not a knock on you...I just thought LC simplified the book so much that it isn't simply about a woman who yearns for more passion...even though Emma Bovary, through the omniscient narrator, is desirous of that life.

You would definitely like the book, methinks.

Hehe, I know.
I was familiar with the novel's themes before LC, but wasn't totally sure how it used them.

I hope I do like the book, and I may just check it out during winter break (due to your reccomendation). I won't be reading the Last Exit to Brooklyn any time soon.

I want to check out The Alphabet of Manliness

[Danger^Cart]

The Killing Joke 9/10

While definetely not Moore's best work, still one of the essential Batman comics to date. I'd really like to see what Moore could do if he weren't such a gigantic asshole, and invested as much time in a Batman story as he did Watchmen. I would splooge.

As it stands, Loeb is still king of the Batman universe.

[Lazy Boy]

The Painted Veil - 8/10

Good novel, can't wait to see the film version (Kitty Fane is a plum Oscar-bait role for Watts) even if the last act has some meandering structure that won't suit theater audiences, even though it works to the advantage of Kitty's progression from spoiled nouveau riche type into independent, love-torn survivor.

[dman476]

Damn it Lazy Boy...you're going about making the rest of us look ignorant, that is with you reading one beak (as in book) per week (or two).

How do you do it?

I haven't sat down and read a book in its entirety (non-school) since summer.

[Lazy Boy]

Originally posted by dman476
Damn it Lazy Boy...you're going about making the rest of us look ignorant, that is with you reading one beak (as in book) per week (or two).

How do you do it?

I haven't sat down and read a book in its entirety (non-school) since summer.

Jeez, now I feel bad that I'm one of the select few to see certain limited release films when they open AND finish a book a week.

My schedule permits me to do so...I have long breaks between classes, plus some days I don't go until later in the afternoon, so I have time to get a few chapters in. Maybe I'm just stepping up now that I have books within the classes to read on a deadline, and thus the PPM (page per minute) rule kicks in.

I sort of feel guilty that maybe I'm not fully absorbing the text -- I always feel like I have to scan each paragraph several times to get the feel of the story, to remember key lines, key character moments, but I feel that if I underlined every sentence that stood out to me it would take longer.

Now, after saying all that, it's time for me to tell you that I'm halfway through my current book, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, by Sarah Vowell. You could make the excuse that it's not a novel but a series of essays tinged with acerbic humor and wit (hint: that's a recommendation for all).

If were to pick up Dickens' Our Mutual Friend or Hugo's Les Miserables or Pynchon's Gravity Rainbow and you would think I'd finish either one of those in a week, I'd tell you to take a hike.

[chinton]

Reading Children Of Men since I've already seen the movie. Vastly different from the film but just as great.

[dman476]

Hehe...I see how it goes. It works for you, but it doesn't for me.
I'll be sure to read that Vowell book.

And yeah, duh, I know you couldn't possibly finish a Pynchon book in a week (for me, a month even).

[Dead Halloween]

The fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons 8/10

[KcMsterpce]

ANANSI BOYS by Neil Gaiman - 8/10

WAMPHYRI by Brian Lumley - 7/10
Sometimes this guy's use of worthless adverbs and/or unusual grammar organization is a real pain in the ass to read. Otherwise, a cool story and I'll read the next in the series.

[Dead Halloween]

I am legend by Richard Matheson - 9/10

[Lazy Boy]

The Sun Also Rises - 5/10

My first actual Hemingway isn't a complete home run...although it does make a good tour guide for Pamplona and the native countryside.

[Dead Halloween]

Discworld: Men at Arms by Terry Prattchet 8.5/10

[bluesbrother965]

Originally posted by dman476
And yeah, duh, I know you couldn't possibly finish a Pynchon book in a week (for me, a month even).

I'd venture to say that anyone who can read Pynchon in the first place could do the Crying of Lot 49 in a week, if they really committed to it. I'm not sure what the last book I posted I was reading on here was, but right now I'm in the middle of V. I'm enjoying it, although I haven't had a lot of time to read it, so have really slowed down in the last couple weeks.

[Lazy Boy]

Winkie - 7/10

A gender-confused stuffed teddy bear is charged with terrorism, underscoring the habit of scapegoating others for deviant acts throughout history. The lesson is a little obvious, and you're supposed to accept the ridiculous courtroom sequences as satire (I mean, they drag John the Baptist out to testify against Winkie), but the content involving a living being and its place in this world is touching.

[RandalGraves]

Superman Returns: The Official Movie Guide

[Rated R]

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

[cocksmokinclerk]

just finished:

300 by Frank MIller and Lynn Varley - 9/10

just mind-bogaling

[Tayzlor]

Originally posted by dman476
And yeah, duh, I know you couldn't possibly finish a Pynchon book in a week (for me, a month even).

Absolutely hilarious is the library's insistence that you can only check out the book for a single week.

[dman476]

Originally posted by Tayzlor
Absolutely hilarious is the library's insistence that you can only check out the book for a single week.

Yes, I hate it when that happens (and it does).
They don't take context into issue.

I needed a movie to rent that I could show in one of my presentations at school, and the people said it's only 2 days at a time, so I had to keep going back and forth, re-renting it.

They suck.

[Dead Halloween]

Watchmen by Alan Moore 9/10

[RandalGraves]

Gangs of New York

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Lisey's Story. 9/10

Truly one of King's best works. It's a touching story about a woman grieving her husband's death two years after the fact and trying to cope with her looney sister at the same time.

While it sounds like chick book fare, it really isn't. I found the novel very easy to relate to and felt for the characters. King is still able to frighten us with this novel as well. I know I'll never look at reflective surfaces the same again. I wouldn't want to catch a glimpse of "the long boy."

[Lazy Boy]

Memories of My Melancholy Whores - 4/10

Blah. The title is wittily rendered and offers something sad and poignant -- instead, the text feels more like reading a case study of depressing crotch rot. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is far from Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude, but that's to be understood when the guy is at the twilight of his career and life. It's just that I don't want to read about how much a struggle it is to maintain life in his member.

[dman476]

The Emperor's Children - 4/10

A generous score, if I may say so.
Bland characterizations, a non-existant plot, horrendous use of 9/11 (in one of the most un-intriguing situations to grace the written word), and, of course, a pretentious fanciness to it all. To top that off, the book is very boring at times. So, the beggining is bad and slow (not necessarily a symbiotic relationship, if you catch my drift), but then, miraculously, the middle picks up heat. The relationships actually amount to something, and it's pleasant to read. The book moves faster than ever, and funnier too. It becomes more intense, more story-based, and relatively charming, yet then, after a little bit of that, it loses whatever glimmer of hope it had. Once we get to 9/11, this book loses all credibility and literally goes haywire. Characters react in ways that seem totally artificial, using the tragedy (9/11) in the worst of possible ways: a deus ex machina.

This book is bad...and even the sensible parts don't really go anywhere. Simply put, it's a waste of...I'm not sure what. It tries to be a more personal Crash (with the characters all knowing each other), but it ends up just as trite. I cannot believe the accolades this book is receiving.

In a weird twist of fate, I picked up another book about New York today: the Brooklyn Follies; although I've read only the first two chapters so far, I can say it is so much smarter, insightful, and and down to earth than The Emperor's Children can ever have hoped to be. In the mix, "Children" forgets to give its characters one thing: humanity.

[KcMsterpce]

Mystery Walk by Robert McCammond - 8/10

Excellent book. Amazing dialogue, and I can see this as beeing a SUPER kickass - and FREAKY - movie. I am half thinking about asking for permission to write a screenplay on this novel.

[pablo_super1!]

Great book

[dman476]

The Brooklyn Follies - 7/10

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Hannibal Rising 4/10

*some mild spoilers*



Had a lot of promise, sadly it just flopped. Harris obviously rushed this one out in order to beat the theatrical release. The prose is very choppy and the description was lacking. There's also a subplot involving Lecter's family's stolen paintings during World War II that just goes no where. Had Harris just focused on the relationship between Lecter and Lady Murasaki and Lecter's revenge against those who killed and ate his sister Mischa it could've been a very good book. Alas, the subplot and the needless character of Inspector Popil bog the novel down as well as poor writing and description on Harris' part.

Hopefully the film will be a lot better.