Last Book That You Read- Fiction

Loomis wrote:

HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris. Excellent (especially during the fact-packed and atmospheric Florence chapters). I wonder whether Harris will pen another Lecter novel. I suspect not - as HANNIBAL would seem to wrap things up pretty definitively - but I hope so.

He did write another book namely the prequel Hannibal Rising which was.............euh............dissapointing.

I even liked Hannibal the movie which was done very well, and its soundtrack has some unbelievable great pieces of music.

Clive Cussler- The Race and Poseidon's Arrow. The former is the fifth Isaac Bell story, ones set in the early 20th Century and as with latest adventures co-authored. I don't mind the Bell stories, the first one (The Chase) was quite good and the others are well enough (even if the artwork for The Spy is suspiciously similar to that of Crescent Dawn). Unlike the Oregon/NUMA/Fargo adventures these feel more in line with Cussler's work than of late. Brings neatly onto the latest (as it stands) Pitt adventure as again co-authored with Dirk Cussler (for whom Pitt was named after). Better than previous entries but marginally, I detect Dirk's influence in the dialogue and I imagine he'll takeover completely once Cussler has moved on. It'll never be like those early adventures (Iceberg/Deep Six/Raise the Titanic...up to Cyclops more or less) which had a distinct feel but forty years is a long time.
Still harbour, in that realm of deep fantasy, a remake idea for RTT truer to the book, Barry's score etc...

After these, to mark the 40th, trek back to Pacific Vortex and Raise the Titanic.

EXCESSION by Iain M. Banks.

Probably the best of the Culture novels that I've read so far, if only because Banks' sense of humor is especially prevalent here. As usual, Banks' imagination is astonishing.

Continuing the Cussler trawl, the latest Isaac Bell (The Striker), Pacific Vortex and today, Sahara. Sahara of course being the failed 2nd Cussler movie. The movie is quite unrelated to the book (the one touch I had liked it in was Dirk's office at the start showing his triumphs). The book I quite like, from the breaking out of the CSS Texas to the last stand at the Foreign Legion fort. It has some fault but not much considering what it is. The Texas subplot involving Lincoln is pure Cussler and it could be said that Sahara is the last of a good bunch.

Onto Atlantis Found...

JOYLAND by Stephen King.

King attempts writing a Ray Bradbury novel. Doesn't really succeed.

Currently reading:

COCAINE NIGHTS by J.G. Ballard.

HOLLYWOOD by Charles Bukowski.

PLATFORM by Michel Houellebecq.

Paul Gallico's The Poseidon Adventure

in some respects I guess this is a pulp novel. It's nothing too flash but it does a job to the end. Some differences to the film such as a couple of the survivors being British, one infatuated with Reverend Scott to the point of a proposal of marriage, Scott's past being questioned, Robin dying (guess it was too much for Allen to kill off the kid in the film) and importantly, the sheer amount of survivors beyond our heroes. Many are encountered on Broadway, here Gallico portraying Poseidon as purgatory and at the end thirty-odd are rescued from the bow. Maybe the doctor made it after all.

What with Snowden and all, felt it was time to again reread Allan Steele's ORBITAL DECAY. Actually wonder if Snowden ever read this as a kid or young man, since it is about a US big brother telephone eavesdropping deal handled from earth orbit, with various working class folks basically throwing their careers away because they think it important to expose and/or derail this. Both this and his followup, LUNAR DESCENT, I find to be great reads (very much in the Heinlein mode, but without the overloading of politics.)

x

Stephen King's Under the Dome. Now having read it interesting to see how it'll spread beyond a first season. Timeline here is a few days but heard the series might last months or years and "new faces in the town" feature. Might suffer from Space 1999/Voyager syndrome...where do these new faces come from in a small population

Hilly wrote:

Stephen King's Under the Dome. Now having read it interesting to see how it'll spread beyond a first season. Timeline here is a few days but heard the series might last months or years and "new faces in the town" feature....where do these new faces come from in a small population

I'm going to take a big guess here and say... "A wizard did it".

I've just started reading The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor, by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga. The present-tense writing was weird at first, but it took about two pages to get used to.

England, Their England -AG MacDonnell, an 80 year old book that reflects a country long past in quaintness and a near sense of fantasy. Heard a recent radio adaptation that captured the book fairly well and featured that uberactor, Ian Hislop.

After spending last year reading exclusively non-fiction, I decided it was time to lighten up things a bit....so January has been the month of junky/light entertainment.

Pretty much a dozen or so Mack Bolan novels. Not exactly high literature...just some guy killing a bunch of bad guys book in and book out, but it's all good fun. Plus with a ton of spin off series and monthly installments at least it is nice to know I'll never run out of material...It would take a life time to read them all.

Had an alternate history fest with Yiddish Policemen's Union (M. Chabon) and Fatherland (R. Harris).

The former was a pretty dull affair for the most part. Promising concept, wearisome execution. The Yiddishisms that were charming at first swiftly became a pain in the tuchus and made my kopf hurt. The ending was a total cop out too.

I really liked Fatherland on the other hand. The protagonist was a tad stale and the plot unsurprising (mind you, I was anticipating a far rosier ending), but it was, nevertheless, a cracking good read at a cracking pace.

I started Gillian Flynn´s Gone Girl, but put it aside after something like 80 pages. It starts out with lushest description of every tiny detail that may jump around in the protagonists´ heads, which is very cool in the beginning. A bit like Stephen King in the 80s. But then after a while the tedious thought description turns into a psychotic maelstrom. Perhaps this was meant as a means of storytelling, but to me it felt more like the author herself was psychotic.

Nic Pizzolatto's "Galveston".
Not bad, but not particularly brilliant either.
I was actually surprised to find out that many of the ideas and themes were re-used for "True Detective". I'm not sure if he'll end up being a writer with an awful lot to say.
I guess True Detective season two should give us some idea.

Hit parade - Lawrence Blocks 3rd outing for stamp collecting hitman Keller where the stories are more about life than the actual killing.

De STraatvogel & de blonde baviaan by Janwillem van de Wetering a Dutch writer whose Grijpstra & de Gier were very popular in the US as well. The man did not translate his books from Dutch to English but he rewrote them himself. Some books were written in English before they appeared in Dutch. His books are Buddhist and zen when it comes to crime and mystery.

March Violets & the pale criminal by Philip Kerr, the earliest adventures of Bernie Gunther policeman in Berlin during the Nazi-years. Brilliantly written historical fiction books with another portal on the Germans before the war.

The Kerr books aren't too bad, especially the Berlin Noir trilogy that starts it off.

SEVEN ANCIENT WONDERS

I normally try to finish a book; I don't like starting it and then not finishing it. In fact, I can't recall any other book that I've quit halfway through. I even slogged through ATLAS SHRUGGED for over a year. But I had to put down SEVEN ANCIENT WONDERS and move on to something else. This is the 2nd Matthew Reilly novel I've read (or attempted to); the first one being SCARECROW. It's not that the stories lack imagination; the problem for me is that it's like reading a description of one huge action scene after another. I like to *see* action; I like to *read* dialogue and plot. The two novels from Reilly that I have read have felt like on characterization, and heavy on mind-boggling, balls-to-the-wall action. I can never get into the characters, and what little dialogue exists feels like it was written in a B-movie style. They almost feel as if they were ready-made to be turned into big budget movies.

Flashman's Lady, George MacDonald Fraser.

rollicking good fun as before. Oh for a Flashman now.

Not a read update, but disappointed to hear the Mack Bolan series will be ending in December 2015 to do News Corps. acquisition of Gold Eagle Books.

It's not high literature, but it's a fun pulp series that has been running since 1969. Since 1983 it started running monthly written by a team of writers in addition to several spin off series totaling 24 books a year. After almost 900+ titles when you combine the series and its spinoff it looks like the series is finally saying farewell. It's a shame, but an impressive run. I hope when the rights revert back to the authors estate they continue it.

Or at the least reboot the series and release one or two a year focusing more on story and character than churning them out.

They were fun reads though. Started reading them back when I was a kid.

The original 37 titles in the series are being reissued for Kindle around the 16th of December. If you look good pulp, action junk fiction I would highl recommend checking out some of those titles (Miami Massacre, Death Squad, War Against the Mafia, Chicago Wipe-Out, etc)

x

Who's Zoella? No, don't answer. I could google that, I'm just too lazy.

Reading another Matt Helm, Removers, now. It's not a bad series, written better than many others. But I can't help it, after some books the pattern isn't that involving any longer. I'd say I read them more for the tone than for the actual plot.

Next James Ellroy, American Tabloid.

Erica Ambler wrote:

So Zoella didn't write her own novel. Quelle surprise ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/zoella-publishers-admit-zoe-sugg-didnt-actually-write-the-fastestselling-debut-novel-ever-girl-online-on-her-own-9908926.html

What exactly is the point of this, other than a cynical money grab?

Erica Ambler wrote:

So Zoella didn't write her own novel. Quelle surprise ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/zoella-publishers-admit-zoe-sugg-didnt-actually-write-the-fastestselling-debut-novel-ever-girl-online-on-her-own-9908926.html

She's got an adorable blowjob face though.