Whatcha reading redux.

Everything cultural, pop or otherwise. Books, movies, music, comics, poetry, random cultural geekery.
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Jericho941
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Jericho941 »

Weetabix wrote:Off-topic, but also execrably bad: War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise. I buy DVD's at pawn shops because they're usually about $2, and if I don't like them, then, it was only $2.

But, this?! I want those 116 minutes back. Here's a synopsis of the plot, complete with spoilers:
Soooo it was fairly true to the source material, is what you're saying. :P
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Jered
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Jered »

Weetabix wrote:Off-topic, but also execrably bad: War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise. I buy DVD's at pawn shops because they're usually about $2, and if I don't like them, then, it was only $2.

But, this?! I want those 116 minutes back. Here's a synopsis of the plot, complete with spoilers:

[strike]Oh, noes! Unbeatable aliens!
Run; run; run!
Scary special effects!
Confused/scared/uncertain-faced Tom Cruise!
Scary special effects! (Run; run!)
Confused/scared/uncertain-faced Tom Cruise!
Scary special effects![/strike]
Tom Cruise making a series of bad decisions.
The common cold has killed the unstoppable aliens - Yay for Deus Ex Machina!
Roll credits.

I was angry for days at the stupidity of:
a) whoever is responsible for this,
b) whoever gave it a 6.5 on IMDb so I thought it would be worth my time, and
c) myself for watching to the end, thinking that something must be going to happen.

Burn all copies of this movie.

Back on topic:

Still reading Yellow Eyes, interspersed with The Most Important Thing Illuminated: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks and Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor by Seth Klarman

The Tuloriad is up next after Yellow Eyes.

Interestingly enough, in the H.G. Wells book, germs are what kill the invading Martians. Of course, the book thankfully omits any mention of Tom Cruise.

I've been reading a book called War Plan Orange. Orange is Japan. As far back as the early 20th century, the US navy had a remarkably prescient idea of how World War 2 would unfold in the Pacific theater.
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MiddleAgedKen
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by MiddleAgedKen »

Bridget O'Shaughnessy? Really? ^- (Spock raises an eyebrow)

Character names are right up there with A State of Disobedience (in defense of Tom Kratman, Caliphate is orders of magnitude better in every way).

On the topic of W.E.B. Griffin, I've got a copy of Dreamland (picked up dead cheap at the local Salvation Army store) lying around somewhere. Megafortresses and drones...so far it don't grab me.

On a somewhat different topic, I just finished Tom Wilson's Tango Uniform, about (mostly, anyway) the Air Force, and particularly Thud squadrons, in Vietnam. I haven't read the earlier books (Termite Hill and Lucky's Bridge) in the series, but Tango Uniform had its moments. Unfortunately, they were only moments of brilliance in a sea of competent but not inspired wordcraft. In the hands of a Herman Wouk, it would have been a work of art for the ages, but Tom Wilson is no Herman Wouk. He knows his subject material, and he's a competent writer, but the book is not all it could have been. Still, it's good enough that I want to learn more about the air war in particular and the war in general.
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Jered
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Jered »

Kratman is posting snippets of the next book in the Carrera series, called, 'A Pillar of Fire By Night.'
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evan price
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by evan price »

evan price wrote:Just finished David Weber's Out of the Dark. It starts out to be a fairly straightforward "Highly advanced and slow to act alien race scouts Earth during the past and decides humans are barbaric bloodthirsty savages. Later some aliens decide to forcefully conquer the Earth and find that humans kick ass and take names in fighting."

Oh and then he has an "Oh No John Ringo" moment in the end, because vampires.
Um, not my favorite Weber book (which is probably The Apocalypse Troll for standalone books NOT part of the Honorverse)

Now I'm reading the pile of Robert Ludlum thrillers and some Clive Cussler for S's and G's.
I suddenly realized that David Weber's book reminds me of Harry Turtledove's "Worldwar" series. But condensed into one book, and with a sillier ending and all the plot devices removed.
But it had vampires.
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evan price
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by evan price »

CByrneIV wrote:Actually, in the case of the presidentail agent series, I had only re-read it in its entirety twice. Once before the last book, and then 2 years later, before this one.

The first two books of the series were OK, but not spectacular. Certainly worth reading the third. The third was actually very good, and the fourth was pretty good.

It was the fifth book where things started getting weird... That was when he introduced what would become the major twist and driving force of the remainder of the series... and that's where it went down hill.

The fifth nook was not great. The sixth was plain bad... and had already started descending into parody. The thing is, not knowing that it was intentional because the author hated what he was writing... it was indistinguishiable from when a bad ghostwriter takes over a series and doesn't bother reading the previous books in the series.

The final book, as I said, was straight up, intentional, absurdist parody... but not for the first couple hundred pages. It was just mediocre for the first 100 or so.

I suspect Griffin did this on purpose in order to get it past a lazy editor.

Then things went downhill until the final third, in which the absurdity level was ramped up so high it was at times laugh out loud funny.

Griffin's series about the Philadelphia police (Badge of Honor) wasn't bad until it got to The Traffickers, where the main character "Matt Payne" goes off on a rant about how civilians should not be allowed to own guns because they are not responsible like law enforcement while they are investigating a murder in their Comstat room and the weapon turns out to be a stolen Ruger revolver. Now, he's handily pointed out that his ideas of gun control are bullsh*t by a supporting character. But then it turns out the stolen gun was taken from an off-duty Philly PD detective who left it in his car...and now it's totally excusable that the guy had a gun and it got stolen.
Bearing in mind the Matt Payne character was portrayed as a shooter, preferring a Colt officer's 1911 as a carry gun among others.
Yeah, I know the "Only Ones" attitude is pretty common but it totally ruined the character for me ever appreciating him because now he neatly slotted into the pigeonhole assigned to "Only Ones Competent Enough To Carry A Glock Fotay".

I accidentally bought a copy of The Traffickers while preparing for a plane trip a few months ago, forgetting that I had already read it once. Luckily it was on clearance. New dust jacket, and I confused it as a new, new book.
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Darrell
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Darrell »

I just started the Tudors by G. J. Meyer. I guess I've been on an English history kick.
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Weetabix
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Weetabix »

Just got Brittanica's Great Books of the Western World - the 54-volume 1952 edition (30th printing in 1988).

In the first volume, there's a 10-year reading plan. Why not? I started it last night with Plato's Apology. Crito is next.

Incidentally, I'm also in the middle of Mansfield Park.
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
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Highspeed
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Highspeed »

" Lion's Gate " by Steven Pressfield, about the 6 Days War. Very, very good.

Followed up by a book on Ted Bundy, just to break up my constant diet of military history and related stuff. It reminded me why I very rarely read books on serial killers. It's not that it was badly written or sensationalized, it's just that I don't find monsters like Ted Bundy very interesting.

Then "AWOL On the Appalachian Trail" , an account of hiking the trail by a bored software engineer who gives up his job to walk the whole thing in one attempt. Pretty good.

Now reverted to type and reading " A Military History Of The Cold War " by a formerly high ranking British army officer. Not too interesting yet, he's going over ground I'm already very familiar with to set the scene.
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Mike OTDP
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Mike OTDP »

Weetabix wrote:Heinlein's Number of the Beast and it is killing me.

"We should all offer sex to our in laws and children. Or at least make out with them in front of our spouses."

"I'm a genius and I'll explain why in 5,000 words then the next genius can have 5000 words. "

"Tits!"

"Now let's have a prolix bicker that demonstrates every one's smug cleverness. "

I may not be able to finish.
Heinlein was clearly experimenting with a multi-first-character writing style in that book.
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