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The Library => Broun Hall => Topic started by: Token on July 29, 2012, 03:16:19 PM

Title: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Token on July 29, 2012, 03:16:19 PM
Just finished Stephen King's 11/22/63.  Anyone read it?  Much different that I expected.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Vandy Vol on July 29, 2012, 03:58:10 PM
Just finished Stephen King's 11/22/63.  Anyone read it?  Much different that I expected.

I was looking into getting a Kindle.  Saw that most new e-books were $10+, meanwhile I could still buy new paperbacks for $5.00.  I guess you pay a premium for being able to digitally store books, but anyhow, back on track:

I saw that book while looking through the Kindle selections.  It interested me, and I plan on picking it up.

A physical copy, of course, because I refuse to pay for an e-reader and pay more per book.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Kaos on July 29, 2012, 09:26:31 PM
Just finished Stephen King's 11/22/63.  Anyone read it?  Much different that I expected.

Read everything King writes.  This was better than some of his more recent lazy efforts. Much better in fact. 

Enjoyed the book for the most part.  Didn't like the shit reference to George Wallace.  Wish King had studied his history a little more before putting THAT garbage in there. 

There were some WTF plot contrivances that failed me, but that's a constant with King.  It's like he writes himself into a corner and makes up a magical tune you can fart to escape that corner. 

He also always has trouble ending his books.  They never really end in a satisfactory manner to me.  They sort of meander to the end like he just runs out of ideas and drifts to a stop. 

But I do enjoy the most of his work.  The Stand is a masterpiece -- not the expanded, bloated version but the original.  The Shining, Salem's Lot, Cujo -- some good horror churning stuff.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: RWS on July 30, 2012, 02:02:28 AM
I was looking into getting a Kindle.  Saw that most new e-books were $10+, meanwhile I could still buy new paperbacks for $5.00.  I guess you pay a premium for being able to digitally store books, but anyhow, back on track:

I saw that book while looking through the Kindle selections.  It interested me, and I plan on picking it up.

A physical copy, of course, because I refuse to pay for an e-reader and pay more per book.
My wife has a Kindle Fire and loves it. We subscribe to Amazon Prime, which is like $80/year. You get lots of books and videos for free that you would have to otherwise pay for. There are still some books and videos that you have to pay for regardless. She travels alot for work, so it is great in airports, etc. Plus if you are reading books and use the cloud, you can use the Kindle app on your phone and it knows exactly what page you left off on while using the Kindle, and vice versa.

 
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Saniflush on July 30, 2012, 07:35:14 AM
I was looking into getting a Kindle.  Saw that most new e-books were $10+, meanwhile I could still buy new paperbacks for $5.00.  I guess you pay a premium for being able to digitally store books, but anyhow, back on track:



Have a kindle and like it a lot.  You can get books a lot cheaper than that and if you want to go to prison with Chizad then you can get them outright free.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Kaos on July 30, 2012, 07:42:16 AM

Have a kindle and like it a lot.  You can get books a lot cheaper than that and if you want to go to prison with Chizad then you can get them outright free.

Thought this was a discussion of Stephen King.  My bad.

Have a Nook.  And a Nook color.  Didn't think I would like.  Do like.  Like much.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on July 30, 2012, 09:37:45 AM
If you're a "constant reader" (King reader's will understand that reference) you've seen this book coming for a while.  I know he mentioned the basic idea (going back in time to stop the Kennedy assasination) in at least two different books that I remember.  I think the first was in the Dead Zone and the second was in one of the latter Dark Tower books.  It was at the point when the guys are in the Quonset hut outside of the breaker's camp when they find all the defunct portals where you could go and see things like the Hindenberg, Lincoln assasination, Kennedy assasinaiton, 9/11, etc.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Kaos on July 30, 2012, 10:10:57 AM
I was at Stephen King's house earlier this week. 
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Saniflush on July 30, 2012, 10:27:30 AM
I was at Stephen King's house earlier this week.


Let's see the restraining order.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Kaos on July 30, 2012, 11:48:08 AM

Let's see the restraining order.

Ran when the cops showed.  Did get a good picture of his gate. 

Very unassuming home for a reclusive kabillionaire.
Title: Re: Any readers?
Post by: Token on July 30, 2012, 03:35:14 PM
He also always has trouble ending his books.  They never really end in a satisfactory manner to me.  They sort of meander to the end like he just runs out of ideas and drifts to a stop.

Not giving anything up, but personally that's exactly how I felt about the book.  1/2 through 3/4 of the way through the book I had a lot of great endings in my mind.  Or at least more than a few that would be great.  I was more than a little pissed by his ending. 

Still a good book, and very much worth reading, but I was pissed at the ending.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Token on July 30, 2012, 04:08:40 PM
Ha.  Just noticed where this got moved to.  I'm not a heavy reader, so not going to be many book reviews.  But I am about to start John Grisham's "Litigators". 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on July 30, 2012, 04:17:55 PM
Ha.  Just noticed where this got moved to.  I'm not a heavy reader, so not going to be many book reviews.  But I am about to start John Grisham's "Litigators".

I read Grisham's stuff.  Usually finish any book of his I start the same day.  In my mind he's the literary equivalent of McDonalds.  It fills you up and you may even like it while you're scarfing it down but in the end it leaves you with nothing of substance. 

I feel like he writes for the lowest common denominator -- and that he has a basic template that he follows every single time.  Cayman Islands anyone?
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Token on August 08, 2012, 09:49:57 AM
I couldn't get through 7 chapters of the "Litigators".  It was that bad.  Maybe it gets better, but I don't want to spend the time to find out.  Grisham is all over the place.  7 chapters into the book, I know he's trying to go somewhere with all the back and forth, but I really just don't care where.  So, I quit reading it. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AUJarhead on August 08, 2012, 10:09:17 AM
Just finished "Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever" by Jack McCallum.

An outstanding read about the 1992 Olympic Team.

Barkley's quote opens the book:

Quote
I don't know anything about Angola, but I know they're in trouble.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on August 08, 2012, 11:30:55 AM

I feel like he writes for the lowest common denominator

Well he is a well know Democratic supporter. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on August 08, 2012, 02:15:49 PM
I'm trying to read Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies.

Good lord it's a painful read.  The author is awful.  The story could be compelling but I'm not sure I'll ever know based on how numbingly bad the author is at conveying it. 

I've quit it three or four times and I'm not even a third done with it. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AUTiger1 on October 15, 2012, 04:48:24 PM
I'm trying to read Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies.

Good lord it's a painful read.  The author is awful.  The story could be compelling but I'm not sure I'll ever know based on how numbingly bad the author is at conveying it. 

I've quit it three or four times and I'm not even a third done with it. 

I almost bought this book last night and then remembered what you said about it.

I have the Samsung Galaxy Tablet thingy with the Droid OS and the Kindle App on it.  I love that thing.  I read the Hunger Games trilogy, even though it's an easy read (think Harry Potter) it was a pretty good series.  In the middle of "Ambush Valley" by Eric Hammel, really good read.  I know one of the Marines that was interviewed in the book. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on October 23, 2012, 04:53:37 PM
I bought Micro from the paperback rack before a flight.  It was a Michael Crichton novel that was unfinished upon his death and finished by somebody who I can't remember.

A company figures out how to shrink people and machinery down to 1/2" tall so that they can better research plants, insects, and bacteria in the rainforest to develop new drugs and chemical weapons.  Some researchers get released into a rain forest while shrunken in an attempt to eliminate them because they "know too much" where they have to fight a bunch of insects, mice, spiders, etc before they can escape.  So basically it was Jurassic Park with giant insects.

Had some kinda gross out/chilling/body horror deaths (one guy get torn apart by ants, another gets mistaken for a caterpillar by a wasp who then lays her eggs in him which then burst forth "Alien" style, one of the bad guys gets liquified by a spider) which are made more interesting in the fact that they are really the way insects feed on other insects, but unless you are looking for something mindless you could read in a three hour flight I would skip it and reread Jurassic Park or Andromeda Strain.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: wesfau2 on October 23, 2012, 08:16:51 PM
So basically it was Jurassic Park with giant insects.


Shit.  That's Honey I Shrunk the Kids spliced with Innerspace.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on February 21, 2013, 05:27:08 PM
The Pirate Coast.  This was OK, it is about an interesting time in American history (Barbary pirate wars) and the first real test for the US Navy (one of the largest and most impressive US battleships surrendered without firing a shot after running aground in Tripoli harbor) and when the Marines came into their own (you know, "from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli").  But this book seriously drags on and on and on.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.  Tom Franklin is my new favorite author.  I've talked about his previous books Hell at the Breech (Eastwood was attached to a movie project on this one at one time but it got dropped), Smonk, and Poachers before and they are all great and this one is no exception.  Franklin is from a small town in south Alabama about 5 miles from where I grew up and he absolutely nails the people of that area, I actually recognize some of the surnames that he used, too many of them to be coincidental.

Anyway for plot, it centers around two people, a black sheriff's deputy and a poor white man who is the town boogey man after a girl disappears that is on a date with him in high school.  These two are childhood friends until circumstances and racism by the white guy's father tears them apart.  As adults another girl disappears and everyone suspects white guy, when the deputy goes to pick him for questioning they find him alive but shot in his house.  The book starts at this point and works forward through the investigation and backwards through flashbacks from both men showing how their stories have been intertwined in ways that neither of them could see at the time.  Highly recommend it.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Token on May 18, 2013, 08:33:56 AM
Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams

It's a classic, so I've heard, so this will probably piss someone off.  Some potentially great characters never really panned out in my opinion.  I felt terrible for Arthur Dent, and really, the ending left me unsatisfied.  Marvin the paranoid android was really the only character that I was pleased with.  But hey, the damn book may not be finished yet, so i probably should have held off on the criticism.

6 years - Harlan Cobin

Really, I kinda had an idea where this book would go.  Then, from the first chapter, I was guessing.  Couldn't really figure where it was heading until well through the book.  Had a lot of plot twist, but ultimately, ended up where I thought it would.  It's a short book, it could occupy you for a full day or two, but again, the ending has the potential to anger you.  Im not giving any detail on this book in case any of you read it.  Trying to guess is most of the fun with this book.

And now I'm starting "Atlas Shrugged".  Looks to be a long read.  I've seen a lot of quotes from Ayn Rand, but never read this book.  Someone told me it would probably piss me off from a religious standpoint, but I'm through a chapter and haven't seen a hint on religious views yet.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: GH2001 on May 18, 2013, 08:41:23 AM
Someone told me it would probably piss me off from a religious standpoint


but I'm through a chapter and haven't seen a hint on religious views yet.

I think you just answered your own question. Seeing as how she is regarded as the ultimate objectivist, religion didn't have a lot of play into her logic. She was agnostic and while I don't agree with her in that area, I respect her entire body of work and agree with pretty much everything else she says. I think she just felt the need to remove emotion and religion from any objective argument because they can tend to skew ones conclusion. Both the book and movie are great.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Saniflush on May 20, 2013, 06:45:51 AM
Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams

It's a classic, so I've heard, so this will probably piss someone off.  Some potentially great characters never really panned out in my opinion.  I felt terrible for Arthur Dent, and really, the ending left me unsatisfied.  Marvin the paranoid android was really the only character that I was pleased with.  But hey, the damn book may not be finished yet, so i probably should have held off on the criticism.

Not sure if serious....

If serious then you should be told about the other five books in the series... "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", "Life, the Universe and Everything", "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish", "Mostly Harmless", "And Another Thing..."
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Token on May 20, 2013, 09:44:43 AM
Not sure if serious....

If serious then you should be told about the other five books in the series... "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", "Life, the Universe and Everything", "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish", "Mostly Harmless", "And Another Thing..."

I was under the impression that I bought the most recent book that had all of the stories.  I'll investigate further.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on June 18, 2013, 09:18:20 AM
The Camel Club by David Baldacci

Anybody else read any of this series?  Neat little conspiracy/mystery type book, one where you know who the bad guys are from the beginning, but the mystery lies in the why.  Lots of strawman/exposition characters that start getting annoying, but a good quick read.  Only $5 on Kindle, might have to read a few more of the series to see if Baldacci starts fleshing out the characters more.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Tiger Wench on June 18, 2013, 12:15:29 PM
The Camel Club by David Baldacci

Anybody else read any of this series?  Neat little conspiracy/mystery type book, one where you know who the bad guys are from the beginning, but the mystery lies in the why.  Lots of strawman/exposition characters that start getting annoying, but a good quick read.  Only $5 on Kindle, might have to read a few more of the series to see if Baldacci starts fleshing out the characters more.

I gave up on Baldacci.  This series was why.  Ok for a brainless read on the beach, but the others aren't much better.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Token on July 06, 2013, 10:41:45 AM
Geez Atlas Shrugged is a long book.  And honestly, I get pissed reading it because of all of the socialist leeches that are scattered throughout the book. 

That is all. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on August 03, 2013, 10:32:40 AM
The Killing Floor

So I decided to see if I was missing anything by not following the Jack Reacher series.  Started with the first book. 

Yeah, I know it won awards and the whole Jack Reacher thing has been hailed here, there and everywhere but I just gotta say pffffffftttttttttt.  What a load of crapola. 

Terrible book.  Poorly formed characters. Impossible, improbable, ridiculous contrivances.  Idiotic set ups. 

Let's list a few. 

1) Guy comes into town by picking a Georgia intersection at random off a bus.  On the way in he walks 14 miles in the rain and just happens to stroll past the dead body of his brother who he hasn't spoken to in seven years.  PFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.
2) In the middle of establishing his alibi, the only single woman in the entire town, a cop, becomes so smitten with him that she creams her jeans in the parking lot and then lets him stay with her, despite knowing absolutely nothing about him. PFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.
3) This small town is run by a counterfeiter who got his start at Mississippi State.  PFFFFFTTTFFFTTTFFTT.
4) People get nailed to walls in this sleepy little town and CNN (which is in Atlanta, apparently about an hour away) doesn't send Nancy Grace to find out what's going on.  PFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTT.
5) This Reacher character figures out what alias a dude on the run based on some random comment and an album cover.  PFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTT.
6) The lead detective is the only person in the town not in on the scam going down AND without knowing much of anything about this Reacher character, turns a blind eye to about nine murders and lets him stroll.  PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. 

I could go on, but won't.  Was horribly, terribly disappointed in this potboiler crap.  Maybe Tom Cruise wasn't the right guy to play this cardboard character in the movies. Would have been better with Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on August 14, 2013, 04:18:02 PM
Ender's Game - saw this was going to be a movie soon so I picked it up for the Kindle.  I really enjoyed this one.  It seems to work for everyone, lefty's love it for showing how cruel and heartless military minds can be, the Marines make it suggested reading for officers as it shows how fresh perspectives and new ideas are needed on the battlefield.

In the future humans have twice fought off invasion by insect resembling aliens, in preparation for round three the best and brightest of the world's children are monitored and those who exhibit the qualities needed are taken at age 6 to Battle School.  Child prodigy Ender is soon shown to be man's last hope and is isolated and pushed to the breaking point in order to defeat the bugs.  All the while his equally intelligent but sociopathic brother is plotting to position himself to take over the earth government with the help of his sister.

Reminded me of Ray Bradbury in that while science fiction it does not constantly rely on or get bogged down in unbelievable technology, the bugs are barely described allowing your imagination to take over and make them what you want (kind of like a good horror flick), and while Ender and his brother are both shown to be ruthless Machiavellian geniuses the author will suddenly remind you of their young age and vulnerability.

Really looking forward to the movie now, just hope that it doesn't get drug down in politics (the author plays it pretty much right down the middle, it would be very easy for a director to push this in any direction he wants), or in the calls for boycotting that are starting (the author, Orson Scott Card, is a devout member of the LDS Church and has been open about calling for a ban on gay marriage).
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on January 10, 2014, 11:16:21 AM
Just found this, this guy is funny and really good with his summary and analysis on classic books.  Just give a few a watch.

http://youtu.be/O-IcPx9uD0U (http://youtu.be/O-IcPx9uD0U)

http://youtu.be/K-qgVmsV3hM (http://youtu.be/K-qgVmsV3hM)
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Townhallsavoy on February 01, 2014, 09:06:06 AM
James Patterson -

What a steaming pile of horseshit.  I bet it takes him an hour to write his books.  His chapters take about 5 minutes to get through, and they're as thin and vapid as a grandma telling about lunch options at her assisted living. 

And he's worth what?  250 million dollars or some shit? 

Fuck me. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on February 02, 2014, 11:27:22 PM
James Patterson -

What a steaming pile of horseshoot.  I bet it takes him an hour to write his books.  His chapters take about 5 minutes to get through, and they're as thin and vapid as a grandma telling about lunch options at her assisted living. 

And he's worth what?  250 million dollars or some shoot? 

fudge me.

Funny thing about pandering to the lowest common denominator, there's a lot of them and they will throw their money at you.

I read "Along Came a Spider" a long time ago.  I cracked up when I found out that Patterson was an old white dude waxing poetic about inner city problems in DC.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Townhallsavoy on February 15, 2014, 12:25:07 AM
Just finished Catch-22.  Can't believe it took me this long to read it.  I definitely recommend it. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: AU_Tiger_2000 on February 15, 2014, 10:02:48 AM
Just finished Catch-22.  Can't believe it took me this long to read it.  I definitely recommend it.

I've read it a couple of times.  Great book and changed the English language by entering the phrase Catch-22, but I found Yossarian to be the most unlikable protagonist in about any book I've read.

Nerdy side note:  When I was working on one program for NASA all the computer servers were named things like Orr, Clevinger, Nately, McWatt, etc.  All the names of the dead pilots from Catch-22
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Snaggletiger on August 26, 2014, 12:36:27 PM
My Conference Can Beat Your Conference

Paul Finebaum

I know most of you are dying to pick this one up so I won't spoil it for you.  Actually an easy and pretty entertaining read if you can duck the constant barrage of Saban slooge.  He does love him some Saban and makes no apologies for it.  However, the last quarter of the book is the best part.  Really focuses on the Auburn/Bama rivalry and pimps it as the most intense and passionate in all of sports.  Then, he does a lot on our miracle season.  Yeah, he thought Bama would win it all again last year but jumped firmly in our corner, admitting he'd witnessed some of the best moments in sports history. 

I know no one will run out and buy it so you're welcome to borrow mine.

Let me say this about Finebaum.  I'm well aware most of you wouldn't piss on him if he were on fire.  Not saying I would either.  But the book really shed some light on why he is the way he is and why we perceive him as a Bama/Saban homer.  Well, because in a way, he is.  Why?  Because he had a mildly successful local show in the Ham until Lord Saybinz arrived at the Crapstoned.  He readily admits that Bama fan is the most fanatical, over the top lunatic whose whole outlook on life ebbs and flows with the success and failures of the football team.  When LS came in and started giving them what they firmly believe is their birth right, his show started picking up momentum and took off.  In other words, he knows what butters his bread.  He needs them to be on top and he needs Auburn to chop them down occasionally because it's all about ratings.  He's fiercely loyal to his callers because he knows full well the majority are Bammers and when the Tahd...and Auburn are having success, so does he.     
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: bgreene on September 09, 2014, 02:53:19 PM
I just finished "The Lone Survivor".  I had seen the movie already, but wanted to read the book.  It gives more  detail about the battle and how he survived for a week before being found.  Very tragic story put to paper made a good book. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: chinook on September 16, 2015, 12:51:10 AM
Undaunted Courage   

Stephen Ambrose

Preface: Honestly, history classes in Georgia completely glossed over the Lewis and Clark expedition or I wasn't paying attention.  Nevertheless, European Vacation introduced me to the famous American Explorers.  Twenty years removed from my southern roots and living in Oregon Country...I still didn't  know much about these fellas or about the expedition other than seeing silhouettes of the duo plastered on markers along the Columbia River Gorge highway. 

Ultimately it took a 4th grader to percolate my interest. It started with a small narative of L & C's passage over the divide heading to the giant waters of the Pacific...ultimately establishing Ft. Clatsop, just a 2 hour drive from my house.  I enjoyed the narrative from the Ginger but needed more 411. Much to my surprise he placed his book on the Corps of Discovery under my pillow for reading. It was less than 100 pages and made for the likes of  WiregrassTiger.  I needed more...

Undaunted Courage fulfilled my passage to understand the expedition and the men that journeyed from The United States to the Pacific.   The book is an adventure in itself.  It tells the story of Jefferson's desires [role] to open the American West, the fortitude of a military company who become accomplished wilderness survivalists, the beginnings of US policy on Indian affairs, the bond of 2 Captains and the struggles of Lewis after the expedition.   Ambrose balances the book with passages from the expedition journals along with other scholarly documents along with his independent thoughts. 

Anyway, I would 4:20 recommend this book to all souls and a must for US History peeps.

A few take always...I'm amazed by the fact there are living trees in Philadelphia grown from the seed collected by Lewis.  The fact I live so close to the rad parts of the expedition which I explored partially  last fall in Idaho and more recently this summer in Montana. Next up is Ft. Clatsop.   

Adventure on! 



Title: Funniest compilation.
Post by: Katyablop on December 01, 2015, 09:24:12 AM
How's it going?
 
What do you say?
 
Let me introduce myself. My name is Yan.
 
I produced a funny channel on YouTube with different videos.
 
youtube.com (https://youtu.be/3d4mILv0zJE)
 
Some video I shared on my timeline. Hope you'll like it.
 
I am very grateful to you.
Title: Funny epic fails.
Post by: Katyablop on December 01, 2015, 09:24:53 AM
Well hello!
 
How are you doing?
 
I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Yan.
 
I made a funny channel on YouTube with videos compilation.
 
https://youtu.be/vcwO5rVjGsw (https://youtu.be/vcwO5rVjGsw)
 
A lot of video you can find on my timeline. Please subscribe and enjoy.
 
Thanks a lot.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Snaggletiger on December 01, 2015, 10:49:34 AM
Yan...Bubie....I know you prorry no speak good Engrish...but this Book review.  Not video. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on August 01, 2017, 09:48:33 AM
Camino Island
-- John Grisham

John Grisham is a hack.  Plain and simple.  The guy peaked with A Time to Kill and has churned out pretty much nothing but plodding, repetitive garbage since.

His latest, Camino Island, is his attempt at departure from his typical lawyer, peril, Caribbean island themes.

It's terrible.  It's a slow paddle to nowhere with no real reason to care, no compelling characters, ridiculous contrivances and stilted, awful dialogue.  I've read GED essays that were put together better. 

Plodding, dreary, idiotic.  Just awful.  It starts slowly, never gains steam and then fizzles to a moronic end. 

The only redeeming quality is that one of the main characters attended Auburn.   
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: GH2001 on August 01, 2017, 10:27:42 AM
Camino Island
-- John Grisham

John Grisham is a hack.  Plain and simple.  The guy peaked with A Time to Kill and has churned out pretty much nothing but plodding, repetitive garbage since.

His latest, Camino Island, is his attempt at departure from his typical lawyer, peril, Caribbean island themes.

It's terrible.  It's a slow paddle to nowhere with no real reason to care, no compelling characters, ridiculous contrivances and stilted, awful dialogue.  I've read GED essays that were put together better. 

Plodding, dreary, idiotic.  Just awful.  It starts slowly, never gains steam and then fizzles to a moronic end. 

The only redeeming quality is that one of the main characters attended Auburn.

Damn.

Dude called Grisham a hack. Harsh.

Replace Grisham with Spielberg, and Time to Kill with Saving Pvt Ryan. Does that hold true as well?

Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on August 01, 2017, 06:56:55 PM
Damn.

Dude called Grisham a hack. Harsh.

Replace Grisham with Spielberg, and Time to Kill with Saving Pvt Ryan. Does that hold true as well?

Not to the same extent.  Spielberg has a much better catalog. 

Grisham's prose is insulting.  Written for third grade level reading.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: GH2001 on August 01, 2017, 09:30:09 PM
Not to the same extent.  Spielberg has a much better catalog. 

Grisham's prose is insulting.  Written for third grade level reading.

Good to hear I can read it then.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on February 12, 2019, 02:53:00 PM
The Reckoning
-- John Grisham

After I deservedly trashed Grisham's amateurish and insulting Camino Island I felt like I should come back and give him the credit due for leaving the lazy behind in his most recent book The Reckoning. 

I almost didn't read it.  I'd grown incredibly tired of his half-assed efforts and recycled storylines.  If I read one more book where lawyer money was hidden in some Caribbean Island...

I'm glad I didn't shelve it. 

The Reckoning is a departure.  It's not A Time To Kill, but the story is compelling enough to keep you wanting to plow through it and get to the reasoning.  It's much closer to the book I wanted Grisham to write and a significant step above his lackadaisical efforts of the past decade or so. 

Pete Banning, a veteran of World War II, is wounded but survives the Japanese in the Pacific. In the early 1940s Banning returns to his Mississippi cotton farm. About a year after he returns, Banning walks into the parsonage at the Methodist church and shoots his pastor dead. 

The remainder of the book is a slow exposition of the rationale behind the killing -- which Pete never provides -- and follows the lives of the wrecked family he left in the wake of his act of violence.  It follows his trial and verdicts, but unlike most Grisham books it doesn't wallow in the courtroom theatrics.  Instead it moves fairly quickly through the mundane legal work and devotes the majority of its time to the people affected -- his mentally ill widow, his son, his daughter, his old maid sisters, the farmhands/house help who are a half step above slaves, his lawyers and the gossiping community. 

A big chunk of the book skips back in time and follows Pete's participation on the Pacific front in WWII.  .  It's difficult to imagine what the men of that era endured and Grisham does a good job of giving life to the horrific events.  Man's capacity for cruelty is astonishing.  Even though Grisham's work is fiction, he clearly relied on real life stories of the terrors inflicted on American soldiers as he marches through Banning's grim but inspiring war history. 

Banning's backstory took up at least a third of the book, maybe more.  And while it was definitely interesting, in retrospect it didn't really inform any of the other events of the story.  In that way it was almost like two completely disconnected books either of which might have been fine as a stand alone effort.  Had Banning's adventures motivated his actions in the Methodist parsonage in any way whatsoever, it might have been a better fit. 

I also figured out what had actually happened long before the exposition that came in the final few pages. The twist was sort of telegraphed  by some obvious story injections (and since you may read it, I won't tell you how)

The end of the book felt a little unfulfilling, like there were some more stories to tell.  Thing don't always wrap up neatly and sometimes the wrong people win.  But that's life, right?

Still, those are minor complaints for what was (in my opinion) the best Grisham book in quite a long while.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on November 24, 2020, 12:28:58 AM
A Time for Mercy
Back to Grisham.  That bitch sure has a lot of my money. But not this time.
Got gifted his latest, A Time for Mercy. 

Grisham is back to trolling the same waters that made him famous.  With this book he's resurrecting Jack Brigance, Harry Rex, Lucien and the town of Clanton from A Time to Kill. 

It's clearly what he does best.  Most of his books after ATTK were the literary equivalent of CoolWhip. Very little substance.  Not necessarily bad, but of little substantive value.  I could typically read an entire Grisham book in a few hours at worst. 

Not this one.  I'm nowhere near done with it and it may fall completely apart in the second half, but this is where Grisham is really at his best.  In this town, with these people who were fully realized in the first book and then brought to cinematic life.  This is what he knows. This is who he is. And it shows.

I'm probably a little over 1/3 done and even if it sputters to a ridiculously stupid conclusion it's still better than anything he's written in decades. 

I kind of hope he just stays there from now on.  If he doesn't want to write about Brigance, fill in Lucien's backstory.  Take a deeper look into Harry Rex's history.  Just stay there for a while and tell the stories he knows, not the asinine "run to the Caribbean" ones he hacked out year after year.

I do read a lot of other stuff besides Grisham, I just never think to write about them here.  I try to read a book a week at least. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on April 08, 2022, 07:15:59 PM
A Safe House
Stuart Woods

Looking for something to read.  Books and Noble chick asks what I normally read and I go over some of the stuff that I tolerate.  She says "oh, you've got to pick up Stuart Woods. He's an amazing writer, very gifted..."

Holy fuck. What a hack. I've read better GED essays. The guy is terrible.  I will not finish this book and it's one of the few in my collection I'm going to toss in one of the giveaway birdhouses around here. What a fucking diaper full of shit. 

The book is A Safe House and it's awful.  I'm not going to finish it. I'm less than a third of the way in and his immature, childish, stilted, hackneyed effort has makes me want to vomit.

Rich guy is asked by a government official to ferry a witness out of the US to protect her from her evil Senator husband.  He doesn't know her, has never met her, and only finds out her identity once they are out of US airspace.  Of course they fuck almost immediately. And then another 14 times in the first few pages I read -- including a three-way with some lady they meet the second day of their trip.

Of course the husband made his money in texas oil.  Of course he wears a big white cowboy hat where ever he goes -- even to tea in England. Of course he talks all funny 'n stuff. Of course he has assassins who work for him and wear black cowboy hats -- even in England. Of course they all talk funny too. Of course he's an evil, greedy Republican whose lying to the world about everything. 

Fuck Stuart Woods. I'd rather read mouse droppings from Stuart Little.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on July 17, 2022, 06:58:18 PM
Sparring Partners
- Grisham

I read a lot of books.  Like one a week.  I review few of them. Not sure why I keep referencing the Grisham ones but you get what you get.

I keep getting Grisham stuff because he’s familiar and I keep hoping he has another Time to Kill in him.  Maybe one day.

Sparring Partners is a selection of Grisham “short stories.”  I have my doubts. 

Anybody who’s ever tried to write knows that at some point in almost every story you hit a wall.  Maybe you lose yourself or you lose the characters but you find yourself not knowing where to go.  Maybe the first two acts worked but now the third is falling apart.  I know.  I’ve got literally a dozen books I’ve started and hit that wall. You thought you know what you wanted it to say but once you shrugged on the character’s skin it doesn’t make sense any longer. 

In all of those 12 or so books I’ve started I have a big separation drawn. Basically an “it’s fine to here” line of demarcation with the idea that I’ll go back at some point and maybe have the inspiration to finish it.    That’s what the stories in sparring partners feel like. He just decided not to do anything else with them. Each of them feels to me like he just ran out of words so he stopped.  Not sure how to finish it so let’s just call it good right here.   

Finishing a book is hard.  It’s hard to find the right conclusion to anything.  Relationships. Movies. Tv series.  Books are no different.  That’s why each of the conclusions to the stories in this book feel exactly like slamming into that wall and wondering if there’s something more on the other side.
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Kaos on July 18, 2022, 09:58:30 AM
Some others since I've reviewed too many Grishams.

I've noticed a disturbing trend from most authors that I read more than once. Grisham. Patterson(and accomplices). King.
Coben. Sanford. Every single one of them slips in some anti-Trump rhetoric at some point.  I'm getting fucking tired of it.

Hidden Pictures
Pretty decent read about a troubled recovering drug addict who encounters some creepy shit when she takes a job as a house-sitter fresh out of rehab.

Enjoyed it because I didn't anticipate it playing out as it did.  And it was pretty anti-woke, actually. That was refreshing.  Correctly identified who the real monsters are. 

Could have used a little polish and a tad more exposition regarding the main character, but it was a better book than I anticipated.

Dear Child
German book about a kidnapped child.

Nothing in this book went the way I thought it would.  It was a little hard to work through because it was written in three voices.  It also had some German references that don't really resonate which added to the difficulty. 

This was another book that zigged when I thought it would zag, which I appreciated.  I didn't really buy the final reveal, but other than that it was a pretty decent read. 

The Investigator
John Sanford has probably run out the string with his Lucas Davenport 'Prey' series. So he branches out with the daughter Lettie and some of the other peripheral characters.

This is a Lettie Sanford story. 

Like all Sanford books it's uneven in places, unrealistic in others.

It's basically a pulp read.  Chew through it and immediately forget. 

Escape
Patterson-named book that he didn't write.  One of millions. 

There are some good parts.  I'm not a big fan of the main character (a recurring one from other books) Billy Harney. 

It's not a terrible read, but of all the recurring character books I typically read (Jack Ryan, Mitch Rapp, Michael Bennett, Lucas Davenport, Virgin Flowers, Alex Cross, Jake Brigance, etc.) Harney is probably the least likeable.

All I really remember from this one is that Harney simultaneously solves a kidnapping and a gang-related case in one fortunate (and implausible) manner. 

The Devil's Hand
Probably the least woke book I've read in a while.  I'm nowhere near done, just barely started. 

The basis of this book is that our enemy plays the long game.  It watches us destroy ourselves after 9-11's patriotic fervor dissipates and bides its time.  Watching, learning, adapting and planning the next attack. 

It lays out what some of us have been saying for decades (and others here deny).  The end game is domination on multiple fronts.  Infiltrate the schools, compromise the politicians.  Pick specific areas of the country and overwhelm them with sheer numbers -- knowing that we are not united (or intelligent) enough to stop it. 

It all rings true to me.  I see it every day. 

Hooked me when there was a section where the islamic fundamentalists discussed 'a former vice president and his family who had been corrupted and compromised by eastern European oil interests.'   Could have been Bush, could have been Biden.  Either way, I get it. 
Title: Re: "Book Reviews" by Token
Post by: Snakebite on January 02, 2023, 02:57:05 PM
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

A book filled with good, conventional financial wisdom that casts a message that is common sense… live within your means, make saving a priority with obtainable goals, and invest your money wisely & without major risk to your principal balances. ‘Ol George was pretty much the Dave Ramsey of the 1920’s. The perspective of teaching the aforementioned lessons as a prominent Babylonian historical figure is pretty cool, and makes for a more interesting read.

Definitely a book that I will make my kid read once she is old enough to comprehend, among others.