Kevin's Watch

Read most of Robert Ludlum's The Ambler Warning. Never read Ludlum before but i loved all 3 Bourne movies (yeah, I know) so I got interested.

Plot-wise, it's everything you want it to be. Characters are skillfully sketched with a nuance here, an inflection there; he does not belabor descriptions, another plus for me. All except for the girlfriend, who has no personality at all, is merely a breast-heaving accessory that Ambler can cuddle and sweat with after a long day of dodging bullets. In fact, I suspected she would betray him; then that she'll get killed; I'm still not sure what she's doing there.

Anyway, like i said, my first Ludlum; I wanted a fast reading no-brainer and this is just the ticket. Although i must say there have been 3 words that sent me to the dictionary (a plus in my mind) and there is some good talk about statistical probability and foreign policy and almost prophetic stuff about this being the "Chinese Century". So it's not all bullet-dodging.

EDIT: Now that I've finished, I was right about the girl, but I won't spoil it by saying how. It was still a good yarn. I plan to read more Ludlum.

I found the first couple of Bourne books very interesting. I think I struggled after that, but it's been a while.

Who has read the "Count of Monty Cristo"? This is a massive "blow me away" book! I highly recommend it!

StevieG wrote:
Who has read the "Count of Monty Cristo"? This is a massive "blow me away" book! I highly recommend it!

I'm reading it right now. Unabridged, of course! *glares accusingly towards the east*

Read Gone With The Wind for the first time. Been a huge fan of the movie but never read the book. Holy cow, it was a good book!!

Just got finished with the Hunger Games trilogy. They were really good books.

I've now started the Harry Potter series. Yes, yes, I know. Saw the movies but never read the books. Kind of like GWTW. I'm into reading the books after the movies, heh.

I started to read Sandman Slim but it was a little too dark for me so I put it down. Maybe I will pick it up again in the future.

Read Count of Monte Cristo in grade school. It was wonderful!!

Yeah, been 20 years since I read it probably. Should find it again. Don't think I have it. Still on Rushdie...much time playing my new game instead of reading.

--A

Just finished the Twilight Saga. Now I am back to re-reading the "Game of Thrones" series.

Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake. Magickmaker read it for a class, then bought it for her Nook and loaned it to me. I'll let you know how I feel about it after I've finished it. It's good so far, but there's a lot of exposition.

I started Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It's supposed to be his best work, I'll let you know as I go.

Haven't read any of Rushdie's stuff. I probably should, one of these days...

I bought How to Raise Your Adult Children for the Nook. I think that's next in the queue, after I finish the first in the Iron Elves series.

Damelon wrote:I started Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It's supposed to be his best work, I'll let you know as I go.

Dunno...I thought The Moor's Last Sigh was maybe better...

--A

Avatar wrote:

Damelon wrote:I started Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It's supposed to be his best work, I'll let you know as I go.

Dunno...I thought The Moor's Last Sigh was maybe better...

--A

I loved "Midnight's Children", "The Moor's Last Sigh" has been standing on a shelf unread for a long time. Hmmm...

Avatar wrote:

Damelon wrote:I started Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It's supposed to be his best work, I'll let you know as I go.

Dunno...I thought The Moor's Last Sigh was maybe better...

--A

Only going by reputation on that, since Midnight's Children was named the Booker Prize winner of the Booker Prize winners in anniversary polls.

Fairly similar styles actually. Been a few years...maybe I should reread it too.

--A

thinking I should read
The Black Cauldron series
by Lloyd Alexander...
again.

I have always tended towards strictly Sci-Fi/Fantasy books, which may be unhealthy. It is not that I don't enjoy other books, it is simply that I know I will like sf/f almost everytime, where as there is always a big question mark over other types of reading material. Well, I inherited quite a few books from my ex-wife after the divorce (I think I did anyway, she never mentions them or has asked for them back). There are some interesting ones that stand out, and I figured I would read those.

The ones that stood out are:
Pride and Prejudice
The Catcher in the Rye
Anna Karenina
Wide Sargasso Sea

So, I read most of those. I didnt read Anna Karenina as I couldn't get through the first page.

Well, anyway, I came up with this neat idea, to sort of branch out my literary experiences. My books are all inter-mingled with hers. So I decided that I would start at the beginning of the book shelf and read every book that I hadn't already read.

So far I have read :
Life Mask by Emma Donoghue
The Devil On Horseback by Virginia Holt
started: The Great Complication by Allen Kurzwell

Interesting note: the first two books took place in Europe in the late 18th Century, so that was kind of cool. I got to experience that era from two different angles. I can't read The Great Complication, as it sucks.

Unfortunately, my reading of my bookshelf is on hiatus for now, as I am reading the Earth's Children saga by Jean Auel. I have read books 2 thru 5 already. I went to the book store to pick up The Land of Painted Caves and they had The Clan of the Cave Bear sitting there right next to it. So now I own the entire series, and get to read The Clan of the Cave Bear for the first time. I will read the whole story in its entirety from book 1 to book 6.

Which is also unfortunate, because I was on the verge of buying the Gap Cycle and re-reading it for the first time. I really liked the Gap Cycle and thought it was my favorite SRD story for a while. So it is surprising that I haven't re-read them yet. I have re-read Covenant prob a dozen times and Mordant several times, too.

I went through a Virginia Holt phase...

Is "Wide Sargasso Sea" a retelling of "Jane Eyre" from the crazy wife's point of view? I seem to recall that. Or maybe it's from her milquetoast brother's point of view.

I haven't read Jane Eyre but it is about a woman who goes crazy, sort of. I don't think she went crazy until after her husband decided she was crazy. But I didn't really get it.

Shuram Gudatetris wrote:I haven't read Jane Eyre but it is about a woman who goes crazy, sort of. I don't think she went crazy until after her husband decided she was crazy. But I didn't really get it.

I was right -- it's sort of a prequel to "Jane Eyre".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Sargasso_Sea

I've never read it, although I've read "Jane Eyre" about a billion times....

The main thing, Shuram, about those... other books is that they get better as you read more of them. So if you can't get into one that everyone praises (*cough*Tolstoy*cough*), set it aside and read some other books before coming back to it.

Also, sometimes you can't get into those ones everybody praises because they're not actually very good.

Shuram Gudatetris wrote:Unfortunately...I am reading the Earth's Children saga by Jean Auel.

*sigh* I have a love/hate relationship with these books. (The first is probably the best btw, although the 2nd is probably my favourite.)

I first read Book 1 when I was 14. But by book 3 she was slipping already, and book 4 made me want to kill myself.

However, having dedicated so many years to waiting for them and reading them, I will shortly be reading book 6. I already have it, just finishing my Malazan reread.

(Which, if you haven't tried them, are a huge epic fantasy series. Don't remember if I've seen you in the Erikson forum here.)

--A