1. Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

Off Topic Art & Literature

Discussion in 'Southampton' started by Beddy, Nov 26, 2019.

  1. davecg69

    davecg69 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Messages:
    5,759
    Likes Received:
    6,822
    Hate to be a pedant (actually, no I don’t :emoticon-0103-cool:), but it’s “Stephen King”, though I gather he’s comfortable being called “Steve”. I’d have loved to have met him, seeing as he’s generally my “go to” author and I bought a copy of “Carrie” in the US before they made the film and before he became famous. I love the way he can write true horror (“Salem’s Lot”, “Christine” ....) but also fantasy (“The Dark Tower”, “The Stand” etc) but also really interesting stuff like “11.22.63” - which is a cracking book by the way (imo). Great writer .....
     
    #381
    thereisonlyoneno7 likes this.
  2. Beddy

    Beddy Plays the percentage

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    9,567
    Likes Received:
    2,694
    sorry yes you are right looked at his signature on my one and only book of his.
     
    #382
    davecg69 likes this.
  3. thereisonlyoneno7

    thereisonlyoneno7 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2011
    Messages:
    18,162
    Likes Received:
    26,952
    11.22.63 was excellent - so much better than the TV series.
     
    #383
    davecg69 likes this.
  4. Beddy

    Beddy Plays the percentage

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    9,567
    Likes Received:
    2,694
    I don't know if its me but I didn't enjoy "In the heart of the fire" By Dean Kootz. It got 4.5 stars but I only gave it a 3 .............Nah wasn't for me........Maybe just that book who knows.
     
    #384
  5. davecg69

    davecg69 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Messages:
    5,759
    Likes Received:
    6,822
    Told you, his later stuff has been very “meh” in my opinion (and this from a really big fan - now ex-fan - of his).
    IMO - his best were some of his earlier ones - “Strangers” and “Watchers” are his best.
    If you (like I do) liked Stephen Kings “The Stand) - and I’m thrilled to see they’re going to remake the TV series (better this time I hope) so yourself a favour and look out Robert McCammon’s “Swan Song” - I thought it was stunning. Would be interested to know if it was only me! :emoticon-0103-cool:
     
    #385
  6. StJabbo1

    StJabbo1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2019
    Messages:
    8,242
    Likes Received:
    9,909
    Rooting through my boxes of books and came across a number of Kurt Vonnegut books looking forward to rereading.
     
    #386
  7. Schrodinger's Cat

    Schrodinger's Cat Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2011
    Messages:
    5,385
    Likes Received:
    8,138
    Re Swan Song, I bought it many years ago but haven't currently got a copy
    So I looked online.
    After wading through the £125 - £500 first editions I found some less well cared for specimens and managed to get a cheap 2016 copy for £8.

    Long story short, the original book from 1987 (US) and 1988 (UK) are worth a mint if they're in good nick, so was kicking myself that I'd let my copy go. Thanks Dave for reminding me of it and then costing me an additional £8 :emoticon-0100-smile
     
    #387
    davecg69 likes this.
  8. davecg69

    davecg69 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Messages:
    5,759
    Likes Received:
    6,822
    No worries, RJ! Glad to be of assistance <rushing off to look at his copy of the book - ooh goody, it’s 1988 Sphere U.K.) .... not that I’m planning on selling it, but my children probably will when I’m not around anymore ......... :emoticon-0103-cool:
     
    #388
  9. It's Only A Game

    It's Only A Game Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2017
    Messages:
    3,083
    Likes Received:
    6,143
    In honour of Rabbie Burns born this day in 1759

    please log in to view this image


    please log in to view this image

    please log in to view this image
     
    #389
  10. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2011
    Messages:
    37,241
    Likes Received:
    35,094
    Address to a Haggis
    Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
    Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
    Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
    Painch, tripe, or thairm:
    Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
    As lang's my arm.

    The groaning trencher there ye fill,
    Your hurdies like a distant hill,
    Your pin wad help to mend a mill
    In time o need,
    While thro your pores the dews distil
    Like amber bead.

    His knife see rustic Labour dight,
    An cut you up wi ready slight,
    Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
    Like onie ditch;
    And then, O what a glorious sight,
    Warm-reekin, rich!

    Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
    Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
    Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
    Are bent like drums;
    The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
    'Bethankit' hums.

    Is there that owre his French ragout,
    Or olio that wad staw a sow,
    Or fricassee wad mak her spew
    Wi perfect scunner,
    Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
    On sic a dinner?

    Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
    As feckless as a wither'd rash,
    His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
    His nieve a nit;
    Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
    O how unfit!

    But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
    The trembling earth resounds his tread,
    Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
    He'll make it whissle;
    An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
    Like taps o thrissle.

    Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
    And dish them out their bill o fare,
    Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
    That jaups in luggies:
    But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
    Gie her a Haggis.
     
    #390

  11. davecg69

    davecg69 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Messages:
    5,759
    Likes Received:
    6,822
    Let’s hope the Spurs team are all “wee timorous beasties” today! :emoticon-0103-cool:
     
    #391
    It's Only A Game and ChilcoSaint like this.
  12. Beddy

    Beddy Plays the percentage

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    9,567
    Likes Received:
    2,694
    Mum.....what’s a beasty........answer.........Your step father!!! (Or whoever takes your fancy<laugh>
     
    #392
  13. Archers Road

    Archers Road Urban Spaceman

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2011
    Messages:
    53,854
    Likes Received:
    58,352

    I’ve only read the one, Slaughterhouse Five. It made quite an impression on me; very funny, very dark, very clever.
     
    #393
    StJabbo1 likes this.
  14. StJabbo1

    StJabbo1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2019
    Messages:
    8,242
    Likes Received:
    9,909
    Plenty to get your teeth into. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut
     
    #394
  15. Beddy

    Beddy Plays the percentage

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    9,567
    Likes Received:
    2,694
    Just finished another James Patterson book.......an Alex Cross book. His books of AlexCross is getting a bit same old same old.....or is it me?
     
    #395
  16. hotbovril

    hotbovril Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2011
    Messages:
    2,727
    Likes Received:
    1,538
    I only recently discovered that the books were novelisations of the radio show and not vice versa.

    On another subject, whilst I haven’t read the whole thread, there has been much mention of Michael Connelly and Lee Child but none of Robert Crais. Crais is the Daddy of this genre and his Cole & Pike books are fabulous. Interestingly enough, he lives on the same street as Connelly, is friends with him and both have had each other’s characters make cameo appearances in their novels.
     
    #396
    tiggermaster likes this.
  17. tiggermaster

    tiggermaster Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 2, 2012
    Messages:
    1,698
    Likes Received:
    1,270
    Agreed, Robert Crais is excellent. He was a script writer on Hill Street Blues back in the day..
     
    #397
  18. Ian Thumwood

    Ian Thumwood Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2011
    Messages:
    3,021
    Likes Received:
    2,887
    Curious to read the enthusiasm for American writers here. I have read a number of books by Americans in the past , the most recent being Colson Whitehead's "The underground railroad." I feel there is a tendency for American writers to be a bit pretentious if they have literary aspirations. The Whitehead book was initially annoying but improved markedly once he got in to the story and I was very impressed by the premise of the book as soon as the principle characters fled the plantation where they were slaves. It's ending was also quite ambiguous which I really liked. The film rights for this book have now been snapped up. Other American writers I have tried have been less impressive. I read a Tom Clancy novel once about 20-odd years ago and thought it was appalling although I concur about Stephen King being a better writer than most people would take him for. Clancy really put me off American authors in a way that has not happened with writers from France, Denmark, and Australia who I have tried. It was just junk and made Wilbur Smith seem like a master wordsmith. These days I purposely avoid American writers and think the better quality British writers as actually more down to earth and can tell a story much better.( I have been massively impressed by Kate Atkinson's style of writing and her ability to craft nonlinear stories. Other English writers like Iain McEwan can tell a story in a unfussy and compelling manner which I feel often eludes American authors.) There was a really interesting article on the radio I came across this week about the American crime writer Harlan Cobin which intrigued me because the book has been remade in the UK where the story has now been re-set and the review suggested that the television version had mitigated against Cobins habit of writing rushed and unconvincing endings. The reviewers were hugely critical of Cobin's story telling ability which relied on putting questions in to the reader's mind to make them turn the page yet always failing at the end with an unconvincing attempt to tie up the lose ends. There are so many good writers in this country like McEwan, William Boyd, Reginald Hill, Philip Kerr and Kate Atkinson that I tend to play it safe when reading fiction.
     
    #398
  19. thereisonlyoneno7

    thereisonlyoneno7 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2011
    Messages:
    18,162
    Likes Received:
    26,952
    Is this 'The Stranger' on Netflix? Mrs No7 & I binge watched it the other day (lol we actually did all 7 episodes in one sitting finishing at 4:30am) and thought it was excellent, but there were one or two loose ends left.
     
    #399
  20. Ian Thumwood

    Ian Thumwood Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2011
    Messages:
    3,021
    Likes Received:
    2,887
    This was the programme and book. I understand that the TV series was revised at the express request of the author but the results appear to have improved the story. It is usually the case that the books are better than the film / cinema series. The only other example that readily springs to mind is John Le Carre's "The Night Manager" which was transformed in the BBC series in to something far more sophisticated and satisfying.
     
    #400
    thereisonlyoneno7 likes this.

Share This Page