What are you reading in general?

For those who want to talk about other authors, but can't be bothered to go join other boards...

Moderator: Orlion

User avatar
Menolly
A Lowly Harper
Posts: 24184
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 12:29 am
Location: Harper Hall, Fort Hold, Northern Continent, Pern...
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 15 times
Contact:

Post by Menolly »

Shaun das Schaf wrote:Sybil, Flora Rheta Schreiber.

Not sure why, was a buck so I picked it up. Heart-warming story of childhood torture and DID.
Is this the book the Sally Field movie was based on?
Image
User avatar
Shaun das Schaf
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1193
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:33 am
Location: Wollongong, Australia

Post by Shaun das Schaf »

Yep, that's the one. I haven't seen it, have you?
User avatar
Menolly
A Lowly Harper
Posts: 24184
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 12:29 am
Location: Harper Hall, Fort Hold, Northern Continent, Pern...
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 15 times
Contact:

Post by Menolly »

Seen the movie, never read the book.

It was the role that changed the way I viewed Sally Field. Several years before Norma Rae.
Image
User avatar
sgt.null
Jack of Odd Trades, Master of Fun
Posts: 48344
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 7:53 am
Location: Brazoria, Texas
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by sgt.null »

"Sybil hold your water..."

rereading World War Z
Lenin, Marx
Marx, Lennon
Good Dog...
User avatar
deer of the dawn
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 6758
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:48 pm
Location: Jos, Nigeria
Contact:

Post by deer of the dawn »

I read Sybil when I was a teenager. Freaky. I remember not liking how the movie compressed her healing process into like 5 minutes.

Reading A Feast For Crows.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle. -Philo of Alexandria

ahhhh... if only all our creativity in wickedness could be fixed by "Corrupt a Wish." - Linna Heartlistener
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 62038
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 32 times
Contact:

Post by Avatar »

That's fantasy, not gen lit. ;)

--A
User avatar
ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 5346
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

Reread Exit Music a Rebus novel by Ian Rankin. Quite good.

u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess)
User avatar
sgt.null
Jack of Odd Trades, Master of Fun
Posts: 48344
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 7:53 am
Location: Brazoria, Texas
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by sgt.null »

just reread And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. I last read it back in summer camp some 33 years ago.

still very enjoyable.
Lenin, Marx
Marx, Lennon
Good Dog...
User avatar
Menolly
A Lowly Harper
Posts: 24184
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 12:29 am
Location: Harper Hall, Fort Hold, Northern Continent, Pern...
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 15 times
Contact:

Post by Menolly »

sgt.null wrote:just reread And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie.
:thumbsup:
Image
User avatar
peter
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 12207
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am
Location: Another time. Another place.
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by peter »

What I am not currently reading - at least anymore - is a small book called The Examined Life by practicing psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz.

I started the book, in which Grosz distills the experiences of thirty years in the couch business, with the best of intentions and was immediately taken with his portrayal of the strange and cofusing things that we do when things begin to fall apart for us. His treatment of the case histories he presents, and what sense he was able to make of them is non-judgemental and concise. It is in our nature to be interested in the odd and bizarre, the more so when we see little bits of ourselves creeping into the narrative, but as I progressed I became increasingly uneasy. I began to feel like a voyeur taking a prurient interst in the tragedies of other human beings lives.

Grosz assures us that all names have been changed etc to preserve peoples annonymity - but thats not the point is it. These stories do not belong to him. These are the intimate details of peoples lives, people who came to him for help and paid hard cash for it. They were not revealed so that Grosz could prepare a 'smorgusboard' of the weird and wonderful and enrich himself in the process. They were not handed over with all rights to their future use waived. They were private disclosures made by people often at the extremity of their ability to cope with their own internal being and as such should have remained firmly within the walls of the room where the disclosures were made. Since the books release it has been featured as book of the month on Radio 4 - a major UK station - with weekly readings there from, has sold itself into the best-seller lists and has achieved loud acclaim from the reviewers. OK - Grosz's subjects have been protected from recognition, but thats not the point is it. The point is that they know who they are. They will recognise them selves, and in my view they will rightly feel they have been betrayed.
President of Peace? You fucking idiots!

"I know what America is. America is a thing that you can move very easily. Move it in the right direction. They won't get in the way." (Benjamin Netenyahu 2001.)

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
User avatar
Linna Heartbooger
Are you not a sine qua non for a redemption?
Posts: 3896
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:17 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by Linna Heartbooger »

Currently reading "Up the Down Staircase"
(aka "Up the Staircase Leading Down" and a whole host of other titles in different languages.)
Why didn't I know this book existed?!?!
This author is hilarious; the book is kind of amazing.

Appreciated your impassioned concern about the ethics of that dude writing a book such as you describe, peter.
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor

"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
User avatar
peter
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 12207
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am
Location: Another time. Another place.
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by peter »

Never heard of this book Linna - will check it out.
President of Peace? You fucking idiots!

"I know what America is. America is a thing that you can move very easily. Move it in the right direction. They won't get in the way." (Benjamin Netenyahu 2001.)

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

Yesterday I read And Now We Are Going To Have A Party, a memoir by science fiction author Nicola Griffith.
User avatar
Linna Heartbooger
Are you not a sine qua non for a redemption?
Posts: 3896
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:17 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by Linna Heartbooger »

peter wrote:Never heard of this book Linna - will check it out.
Neat! I wasn't aiming that specifically at you, but, thinking about it... I do think you specifically would enjoy it. :)

Want me to post more of a 'blurb'?
Or some quotes from the book like a "trailer"?

(I ask this because I find that I often need more motivation once I consider reading a book.

The best motivation is if someone checks it out of the library for me.
And like, leaves it on my couch.
Open.
To an interesting page.)
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor

"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
User avatar
peter
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 12207
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am
Location: Another time. Another place.
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by peter »

The authors name would be helpful Linna - the rest I can do. Yes, it's easy to get your interest piqued by things people post on here and think "yes - that sounds good", but then your day happens, and then the week, and then..... :).
President of Peace? You fucking idiots!

"I know what America is. America is a thing that you can move very easily. Move it in the right direction. They won't get in the way." (Benjamin Netenyahu 2001.)

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
User avatar
Linna Heartbooger
Are you not a sine qua non for a redemption?
Posts: 3896
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:17 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by Linna Heartbooger »

Right, that! :)

The author is Bel Kaufman!
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor

"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
User avatar
peter
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 12207
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am
Location: Another time. Another place.
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by peter »

Just checked it out on Wikipedia - sounds good Linna. Have a strange feeling I just may have seen the film adaption many moons ago. Wikihunt done I'll nip over to ebay and see what gives.
President of Peace? You fucking idiots!

"I know what America is. America is a thing that you can move very easily. Move it in the right direction. They won't get in the way." (Benjamin Netenyahu 2001.)

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
User avatar
Wildling
Giantfriend
Posts: 317
Joined: Sat May 18, 2013 6:37 pm
Location: The Great White North, eh.

Post by Wildling »

Right now I'm listening to Foreverland Is Dead by Tony Bertauski

It's kinda ... slow. But dreamlike. I dunno if any of the rest of you have read (or even heard of) it, but the basic idea is that a bunch of mid- to late teen girls wake up with no memories in a shack on an otherwise deserted farm. They don't know who they are, where they are, or what they're doing there. The only reason they know their names is because it was written on a tag in their underwear.

So, yeah, kinda slow and dreamish. Not a lot of action. But, having said that, I'm enjoying it in an odd way. I don't think I could read it in book form, but as an audiobook, it's not too bad.

We'll just see how it ends.
User avatar
sgt.null
Jack of Odd Trades, Master of Fun
Posts: 48344
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 7:53 am
Location: Brazoria, Texas
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by sgt.null »

You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me - Nathan Rabin
Lenin, Marx
Marx, Lennon
Good Dog...
Post Reply

Return to “General Literature Discussion”