We’ve got topic about movies, so I made twin topic about books. You know, the small paper objects full of letters. I know that nowadays people read only SMS, but still I hope this topic gonna be popular. Let’s show people we have brain and we know how to use it! 
I finished “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (by Oscar Wilde) and now I’m in the middle of “The Return of Little Big Man” (Thomas Berger). The first one is full of great sentences, the second is full of fun 
I’m going back through(chronologically) the Chee/Leaphorn novels of Tony Hillerman. The book I’m reading now is ‘The First Eagle.’ I always have at least one book going. Great topic.
I’m reading The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem. As a huge fan of Stanislaw Lem, a Polish writer of mostly science fiction, I own everything by or about him that has been translated into English.
On my days off from work (i.e. when I don’t feel like a zombie) I’m plodding through a textbook on mathematical analysis, which is the next step up from calculus for those of you that might have done that popular subject at university. I can only handle an hour or so per day before my mediocre brain shuts down.
Hey MunchhausenPL, I read Oscar Wilde’s plays and stories when I was younger, including The Picture of Dorian Gray. Great stuff, my favourite was The Importance of Being Earnest.
Yes, excellent topis MPL. Someone should have thought of this before. Apart from anything else it has already helped me remember the name of an author I have been trying to recall for a while. I’d read some Tony Hillerman a while back and wanted to get some more but could not for the life of me remember his bloody name. Thanks Ace High. The missus is on her way to the library today and will be coming back with a four corners novel for sure.
I’ve got a couple of books on the go at the moment but am particularly enjoying working my way through the collected western short stories of Elmore Leonard. I’m a western fan obviously but have always had trouble finding good western writers. So much of it is unreadable tosh. There are some very good writers who work in the genre though and Leonard is one of them although sadly he doesn’t write westerns anymore.
Phil, the best western writer imo is a … believe it or not, a german.
Or to be more precise a german and a swiss, as the pseudonym Robert Ullman was used by two writers.
Their (his) books are astonishingly good, they are complex and easy at the same time.
But I doubt that any of the Ullman novels were translated into english.
From Elmore Leonard I have only read Hombre. and of course he’s good.
The only other american western writer who is interesting for me is Will Henry, who also uses the pseudonym Clay Fisher.
Reading SEAGALOGY at the moment, great stuff.
[quote=“stanton, post:5, topic:1204”]Phil, the best western writer imo is a … believe it or not, a german.
Or to be more precise a german and a swiss, as the pseudonym Robert Ullman was used by two writers.
Their (his) books are astonishingly good, complex and easy at the same time.
But I doubt that any of the Ullman novels were translated into english.
From Elmore Leonard I have only read Hombre. and of course he’s good.
The only other american western writer who is interesting for me is Will Henry, who also use the pseudonym Clay Fisher.[/quote]
Can’t say I’ve ever seen any of Ullman’s books in english but I will check it out, thanks.
Another quality western writer is of course Larry McMurtry of Lonesome Dove fame but my favourite is still Thomas Eidson.
[quote=“Phil H, post:7, topic:1204”]Can’t say I’ve ever seen any of Ullman’s books in english but I will check it out, thanks.
Another quality western writer is of course Larry McMurtry of Lonesome Dove fame but my favourite is still Thomas Eidson.[/quote]
Haha. I had never heard of Thomas Eidson. I thought it said Thomas Edison at first.
I remember you mentioning reading The Missing once before. I will have to check this fellow out.
I’ve read a couple of ecxellent non-fiction books about the American West recently:
Blood And Thunder by Hampton Sides. A really good, balanced portrayal of Kit Carson and the American Southwest. Carson is often elevated to a mythic figure by many but reviled by the Navajos. This book takes a middle path and shows Carson to be simply human and a man of his time and place, ambiguities included. I couldn’t put this one down.
Hard Road West- History & Geology Along the Gold Rush Trail by Kieth Heyer Meldahl. If you like Geology (my fav science) and the books by John McPhee you will like this book. A very well written , accessible guide to the geology of the California Trail blended with a general history of the Trail with excerts from actual Trail pioneers. One of the reasons I love the American West is because of its grandeur. As a result of its aridity, most of the west is not “haired over” with vegetation and such. The Geology is exposed. Fellers, if you ever need to put your life in perspective, spend some days deep in the abyss of time that we call the Grand Canyon.
[quote=“Phil H, post:7, topic:1204”]Can’t say I’ve ever seen any of Ullman’s books in english but I will check it out, thanks.
Another quality western writer is of course Larry McMurtry of Lonesome Dove fame but my favourite is still Thomas Eidson.[/quote]
Agreed on Eidson, McMurtry, and Leonard. If you haven’t read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, I recommend it.
Haven’t read Will Henry, will put him on the list.
Cormac McCarthy’s BLOOD MERIDIAN is quite the book. Certainly not for the squeamish, but considering this forum, that shouldn’t apply to anyone here! Unrepentently brutal violence throughout. Not sure if a film adaptation could ever capture the nightmarish stream of consiousness feel that the words convey, but I’d love to see someone truly skilled give it a try.
Oh, fellas, you just mentioned my favorite book. It is awesome. I read once where someone said that the Australian film The Proposition is somewhat like what Blood Meridain would be like if adapted to the screen (I don’t really agree with that but I am putting it out there).
Myself, I have a hard time imagining the book adapted into a movie. The transcendent writing is what lifts this amazing book and its bleak, bleak world above the horror of its content. As bad as the violence is (and it is awful), the writing is just as powerful a force in the opposite direction.
It is hard for me to see how a filmaker could contextualize the violence the way that McCarthy does with his sublime writing. But I’d like to see someone try.
I read somewhere that a movie is already in the works.
Well, a quick IMDB search reveals that apparently Ridley Scott is attached to the film adaptation working from a screen adaptation by Wliiam Monahan (The Departed).
I’ve Been reading Woody Allen’s short stories lately.
[quote=“AceHigh, post:9, topic:1204”]If you haven’t read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, I recommend it.
[/quote]
Consider this on my list. Sounds good.
Ghost of Hoppers
A so called graphic novel by Jaime Hernandez, his newest installment of his long ongoing Locas series.
The 22th book of the Love & Rockets comics all done by Los Bros Hernandez.
While his brother Gilbert lost focus in his last 3 L & R books, Jaime is good as ever, often brillant.
“Stardust” by Neil Gaiman after watching the movie. It’s hard to believe, but in the book Captain Shakespeare is just normal, hetero, unfunny captain. Luckly, scriptwriters changed it.
Gaiman’s Sandman comics are absolutely recommended.
A brillant narrative (and it’s narratively brillant) with complex characters and philosophical ideas about reality and dreams in a fantasy/horror context.
Matches the work of his mentor Alan Moore.
My only complaint: the pencilers had changed too often, sometimes in the middle of a story line.
[quote=“stanton, post:18, topic:1204”]Gaiman’s Sandman comics are absolutely recommended.
A brillant narrative (and it’s narratively brillant) with complex characters and philosophical ideas about reality and dreams in a fantasy/horror context.
Matches the work of his mentor Alan Moore.
My only complaint: the pencilers had changed too often, sometimes in the middle of a story line.[/quote]
I would also complain that they used Dave McKean only for the cover artwork. The guy’s a genius they should use him for the entire stories.
I don’t like McKean that much, and all his colaborations with Gaiman (Violent Cases, Black Orchid etc) lack the sensitivity of the Sandman comics.
For me most of the different Sandman pencilers are more intensive and therefore preferable for me to McKean.
His style is good to look at, at the first glimpse, but than it’s only cold and somehow emty.
But I have now also his own work Cages, in which he works with more reduced drawings, not in this hyperrealistic style, and it looks very promising. Question is, is he also a good writer?
Out of my experience I would say that generally the more easy penciled comics are emotionally much more involving, they reveal their qualities in the proces of reading.
Alk0, which are the best comics in your opinion?