Bibliophile Thread

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Wed Oct 12, 2022 7:14 am

Yeah. I think they could only pre-order the passenger for me at the time though.

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Fri Oct 21, 2022 9:22 pm

"Critics have detected the influence on him of Faulkner and Hemingway, but this is to understate his achievement. His new novel, The Passenger, shows that McCarthy belongs in the company of Melville and Dostoevsky, writers the world will never cease to need."

John Gray, New Statesman

Postby **Gaucho** » Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:42 am

Like Faulkner doesn't belong in the company of Melville and Dostoevsky. Pshaw.

Postby **Gaucho** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 10:57 am

New Bosch.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 11:08 am

New Bosch.

hopefully not the last ...

Hmm. I am on a very, very long list for the audiobook from our library.

I enjoy Renee Ballard, and hope she makes it into Bosch:Legacy or her own show.

Oh, and z-lib was shut down by the FBI.

Postby **Gaucho** » Wed Dec 07, 2022 6:55 pm

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Wed Dec 07, 2022 7:15 pm

Almost done with the passenger. Grabbed stella yesterday. Feels a little rip offy with stella being 189 pages but I'm happy enough to give it to him

Passenger thoughts? Hmm. It's ok for McCarthy. I prefer his Appalachian stuff. It could still win me over by the end. Tons of fun dialogue and some tight description and tension. I enjoy the physics/math dialogue. I don't prefer the imagery associated with the alternative plot. I have steered clear of all talk about it as of yet

Edit to say the protagonist is hinting at a philosophy that feels very close to what i feel is left to believe. Off memory a quote i read today "You prefer to run from your dreams to escape your nightmares. I don't think that's a good bargain"

anyway there is something that hits close to home to me about the book. But the journey isn't as drenching as my favorites. Where you have to shake yourself off every 30 pages.

Postby **Gaucho** » Wed Dec 07, 2022 7:23 pm

Stella Maris arrived in the mail yesterday. I loved The Passenger.

Postby **crusherstasiak** » Wed Dec 07, 2022 9:42 pm

Stella Maris arrived in the mail yesterday. I loved The Passenger.

shedden is western, right?
or should i say western is shedden

Postby **shafnutz05** » Wed Dec 07, 2022 11:05 pm

Man, I always forget he's alive

Postby **Gaucho** » Thu Dec 08, 2022 3:41 am

Stella Maris arrived in the mail yesterday. I loved The Passenger.
shedden is western, right?
or should i say western is shedden

Long John Sheddan, the dude with the JFK theory? He's an old acquaintance of Western. Also a real-life acquaintance of McCarthy, apparently.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Thu Dec 08, 2022 7:47 am

Working through The Great War by Peter Hart. Great read but man, the first hand accounts are brutal

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Thu Dec 08, 2022 8:18 am

Reading the latest Bosch/Ballard book, Desert Star. It's good so far, but very short - only 300 pages or so. I do hope Ballard gets into the Bosch TV series, or starts her own series. I think she was added to keep Bosch going, as he's been retired from the LAPD and is in his 70s (He's a Vietnam veteran), so they may not need her in the Bosch Legacy show.

Also listening to the audiobook of Fredrik Backman's The Winners, which is third book in the Beartown series. It's an excellent book about small town rural youth sports culture - but it's in rural Sweden and it's about hockey. My only issue with the series is that the translator is not a hockey fan, and is probably from the UK - they use a lot of soccer terms instead of hockey terms. Like "The team's backs were slow" instead of "The team's defensemen were slow" and "training matches" rather than "preseason games" and so on. It takes a second, as a non-soccer fan, to figure out what's going on.

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Thu Dec 15, 2022 2:10 pm

Stella Maris is fulfilling my expectations for what it is. Loving it so far.

I guess combined I'm still disappointed in the 2 books. I'm thrilled with the topics but let down by the packaging (world building i guess). But i get it. I kinda thought his change from biblical language to screenplay language was more about getting marketable. But maybe it was also about getting ideas out faster. And since he's been focusing on mathematics, metaphysics, nature of being/unconscious whatever philosophy and building his understanding and insights to a point where his time dwindling he better get the ideas out i guess i prefer to get that to more setting and language which is still tight enough to provide some nuggets.

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Sat Dec 17, 2022 7:25 am

Stella Maris: 6/5

Postby **Gaucho** » Sat Dec 17, 2022 8:08 am

Interesting. I much preferred The Passenger.

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:09 am

Interesting. I much preferred The Passenger.

interesting. of course i couldn't really have enjoyed stella maris that much without the passenger. again it's mostly about expectation. as i was reading the passenger big ideas as to where it might be going were forming. and the further i read, despite enjoying it all, i slowly realized it wasn't going to reach the vague grand hopes i had for it which taints my initial experience with it. but my love of maris redeems it to a large degree.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 1:50 pm

Listening to Blake Crouch's latest Upgrade on audiobook. I love his stuff, but the person reading the story blows. Sounds like they are reading for a children's book. The book is good so far, but too many times I'm baffled at why the reader is depicting an adult's voice like a child's.

Postby **eddy** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 2:14 pm

I'm excited to read upgrade. I'm rereading Jurassic Park and Lost World and I forgot how much I enjoyed these books.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Wed Jan 11, 2023 12:28 pm

I didn't know there was a new Blake Crouch book, need to check that out.

I am currently enjoying this a lot. My wife got me a signed copy for Christmas. Doc is a good dude and one hell of a storyteller:

Postby **eddy** » Wed Jan 11, 2023 12:40 pm

Library was out of new Cormac and Crouch, so I grabbed the newer Bob Spitz led Zeppelin biography. Hopefully it's good

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Jan 11, 2023 12:42 pm

The Crouch audiobook was on a long waitlist, so not surprised you didn't find a copy, eddy.

Postby **count2infinity** » Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:12 pm

I just finished up "The Song of the Cell" and needed something a little less sciency... Grabbed "The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet" by John Green. So far, very enjoyable. And keeping with the theme of the book. 4.5 stars.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:20 pm

I just finished up "The Song of the Cell" and needed something a little less sciency... Grabbed "The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet" by John Green. So far, very enjoyable. And keeping with the theme of the book. 4.5 stars.

I had to look this up to see what the hell you were reading and it sounds delightful. Not realizing the author, I've read a couple things from him and he's always an interesting read. Thanks for the heads up

Postby **eddy** » Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:23 pm

The Crouch audiobook was on a long waitlist, so not surprised you didn't find a copy, eddy.

Can you call me and I'll just listen to it when you do?