Just started Literature of the Occult editied by Peter B. Messent, 1981. The interesting thing this is that Carlos Castaneda is included in the collection.
Just started Literature of the Occult editied by Peter B. Messent, 1981. The interesting thing this is that Carlos Castaneda is included in the collection.
I'm finishing The Victorian Act II: Self-Immolation and just about ready to start Fortress Rabaul: Book Two of the Rabaul Trilogy by Bruce Gamble.
Cap
Books are weapons in the war of ideas.
Read Gwendy's Button Box today. I guess I was expecting more from a Richard Farris/Randall Flagg tale. Seemed like King's version of Matheson's Button, Button. Oh, well, there's always Sleeping Beauties this winter. 3 stars ob GR.
Starting October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Mieville. Not a sci-fi tale, just a historical novel about the events that inspired him most in his life. I can count my socialist and communist sympathies on the big toe of my left hand, but I think it worth reading.
Last edited by srboone; 05-17-2017 at 05:41 AM.
"I'm a vegan. "
---Kirby Bliss Blanton , The Green Inferno (2013)
The Red Sister By Mark Lawrence!
Finished October by China Mieville and I finally got around to CD's The Doll: the Lost Short Stories by Daphne Du Maurier.
Getting ready to tackle Jerusalem by Alan Moore.
"I'm a vegan. "
---Kirby Bliss Blanton , The Green Inferno (2013)
Half way in James Ellroy's Clandestine. Really digging. His style isn't quite as honed as it would become later with the L.A. Quartet, but it really is amazing for an early work and you can see the direction that he would soon take developing here.
I still need to pick up some Mark Lawrence. Maybe next time I'm in a fantasy mood.
Nearing the end of Clandestine. Love it. Planning on picking up Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin next.
Tried reading The Entity, but it just wasn't do much for me. I had just watched the movie (for the first time I think), then started the book. Didn't finish it - could not hold my interest really. Read Gwendy's Button Box, and thought it was well done. Now I am finally reading Nick Cutter's The Troop. So far, so good!
Right now I'm reading The Hollow Man by Dan Simmons. Very well written and intriguing, through it seems a bit all over the place. I'm 120 pages in and have no real concept of what the plot is. Also reading The Kennedy Chronicles, about the 90s heyday of MTV.
Read Knots and Crosses and loved it. Followed it up with W.L. Burnett's The Asphalt Jungle, also great. Very sympathetic story, toward criminals. And am now reading Mystic River by Denis Lehane and Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy.
Ellroy is such a freak! Love his books. Lehane, A Drink Before the War, another favorite. Early James Lee Burke, John Lutz, Charles Willeford. Willeford is interesting because he also wrote two really interesting autobiographies, I was Looking for a Street and Something About a Soldier.
Last edited by mhatchett; 06-18-2017 at 11:54 AM.
Great book. I like everything Lehane has written. The most recent one I read is World Gone By, which had been sitting on my TBR pile for a long time. It was also really good.
I'm currently reading The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson. 556 pages done, and it's great so far. I hope he ties it up nicely in the remaining 190 pages![]()
Enjoying Mystic River so far. Kind of has coming of age story, or so it seems, like IT. I recognize James Lee Burke's name, but have never read anything by him. Can't go wrong with Ellroy, at least in my experience.
Thanks for the responses! I guess I need to move it up the queue a bit. Unfortunately, this year has been terrible for reading so far. I think I've only read two books over the last six months. Work has had me running for the last year due to a promotion and I've found it more and more difficult to get time to read. I'm hoping to turn that around in a couple weeks as things should settle down a little bit.
Thirty-seven days to read Jerusalem! (At over 600,000 words, it's longer than any English translation of War & Peace or Les Miserables.) But I loved every frustrating, challenging, beautiful word of it. Followed that up with The Black Elfstone by Terry Brooks.
Currently reading a book I should have read in college and didn't (at least I don't think I did, I don't remember reading it--but from the copious notes I took in the margin of the book I found on my paperback shelves, I attended all the lectures on it): The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.
"I'm a vegan. "
---Kirby Bliss Blanton , The Green Inferno (2013)
Mystic River was great, not at all like how it seemed in the beginning. The plot itself is not so convoluted or unpredictable, but the characters are complex and believable and it's one hell of an emotional rollercoaster.
I followed it up with The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe. This is a great story of historical fiction. There is two separate stories that tie together, 1920's Hollywood screen writer trying to track down an old Western star who really lived the life, and that old Western star's experiences 40+ years before. Very insightful and enjoyable read. I can't recommend it more.
Currently following up on one of my reading goals this year, exploring history. I've always been a fan of mythology, folk tales and legends, as well as studying anthropology, but have never really explored history much. I'm starting with the history of Rome with Anthony Everitt's The Rise of Rome. Not sure where I will go from there.
I'm done with Fortress Rabaul: Book Two of the Rabaul Trilogy by Bruce Gamble. I read Phases of the Moon-A Moonstone Books tpb and now I'm starting The Victorian Act III: Self-Estrangement.
Cap
Books are weapons in the war of ideas.