Sam Oliver Never Learned to Read (but we did!)

[pacejunkie]

Dec 5, 2008 19:58:14 GMT -5 cko said:

He did "sound" a touch surprised. "What a small world! Tell [pace] hi for me!" then a lot of enthusiastic detail about his events, which actually sound quite a bit like the one we do! He asked about that, and HEY this gives me an idea. This other trivia charity event we know of has been ailing due to lack of planners. I wonder if he would contract out to help? I shall have to inquire further.

Oh he definitely would. Consulting is part of his gig. That's a great idea.

[novium]

Nov 22, 2008 20:56:35 GMT -5 pacejunkie said:

Oh, please don't judge the series on the TV show. The show is a weak shadow of the book series, which has a much richer world, many more characters and an ongoing mythology. The first book, Storm Front, is a good introduction but not the strongest story. Try that and the next one, Fool Moon to see if you're hooked. There are ten books out right now and a graphic novel. The next book comes out in the spring. It's very addictive.

I agree with you. I was very disappointed with the TV show. I didn't expect it to be the same, but it was kind of dumb that they stripped out most of the...signature elements. Harry loses his cool as a more typical noir-detective type. Broke, desperate, stupidly chivalrous, *not* smooth-ladies-man , snarky harry is where it's at. And it is mostly humor, but yeah.

[pacejunkie]

They stripped the show of everything that made the books so cool, and the shame of it was, it had all the elements of every successful genre show already built in. All they had to do was keep it.

[cko]

Oh, I just finished this very cool book that I heard about from onyourmark. Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory. "A novel of pop culture and possession."

A world like our own in every respect… save one: Beginning in the 1940's, random acts of possession begin to occur. Ordinary men, women, and children are seized by entities that seem to spring from the depths of the collective unconscious—pop-culture avatars that some call demons.

When Del Pierce was five years old, he was possessed by the entity called the Hellion. Twenty-three years later it's back, trapped inside his head and clamoring to get out. He needs an exorcism, by any means necessary.

Really good characters--just love the brothers' relationship and the exorcising, rocking nun--funny, but an uneasy theme. Quick read, too.

[novium]

Oct 1, 2008 14:57:17 GMT -5 pacejunkie said:

Right now I'm reading book five, Death Masks and its awesome.

Death Masks has been my favorite in that series so far. Not that it's the best book, necessarily. I just enjoyed it the most. If pressed, I'd say that after that book, or maybe starting with that book, the over arching plot of the series began to pick up enough momentum that there's never quite as much closure in any book after that. Death masks was built off the foundation of the earlier books, which is always good, but at that point in the series, there wasn't a sense of waiting for the other shoe(s) to drop.

[pacejunkie]

That's true, the books become much more serialized as you go on, so you really can't pick it up anywhere and hope to understand it. I'm now reading book ten, and there's a lot that continues over the course of several books.

[onyourmark]

I finally picked up The Exorcist last week and read it in one day. It's almost identical to the movie, except with more Things That Only Happen In People's Minds (naturally) and a few subplots. The only real difference that struck me was the novel's parallel to the famous scene in the movie where Linda Blair crabwalks down the stairs all crazy-like and upside-down. The scene in the book is slightly different and much, much scarier. It's still giving me the creeps a week later and I love it.

I'd also get a kick out of knowing what our Devil's opinions are on both the movie and the novel. In the book the primary spirit possessing the little girl first claims to be The Devil and then tells the main character that he is actually only "a devil," (but of course you can't trust anything he says, so who knows). He gets a couple of scenes where he's very similar to our Devil, but then also with the creepy de-virginizing of a twelve-year-old girl and other assorted not-particularly-debonair possession-related antics.

Now I'm taking a break with The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley: the Jersey Dutch and the Neutral Ground, which is much slower reading and kinda on the dry side even for me. It's good to get a local perspective on my favorite historical military conflict, though. I'm expecting my copy of Dave White's Exile in Guyville: How a Punk Rock Redneck stinger97* Texan Moved to West Hollywood and Refused to Be Shiny and Happy to arrive this week sometime, which'll be waaay different from both The Exorcist and the Hackensack book.

* guess which bleeped-out curse word this is!

[cko]

* charming almost-22-year old maybe future lawyer?

Aw, the West Hollywood is a tip-off, and anyway I read that book. Fun.

I'm currently reading The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present. Cool thing, my brother downloaded all 500 songs, so reading and listening. Lot of stuff I know and lots I don't. Will post good stuff in the Music thread. By the way, Pitchfork is a very cool site: "the best site for music criticism on the web" according to the NY Times.

[beatrixkiddoe]

I've been reading I'd Rather We Got Casinos by Larry Wilmore (who I love from The Daily Show) and it's very entertaining.

[pacejunkie]

I just picked up a few Doctor Who novels and can't wait to start them.

[beatrixkiddoe]

I just bought some of the new ones with Donna, I started reading Shining Darkness and so far it's good. I bought the new set of Torchwood ones too, and I've read two of them already.

[pacejunkie]

Feb 5, 2009 17:10:46 GMT -5 beatrixkiddoe said:

I just bought some of the new ones with Donna, I started reading Shining Darkness and so far it's good. I bought the new set of Torchwood ones too, and I've read two of them already.

Oh really? That's good to hear. I've got Shining Darkness on it's way, as well as a few with Rose. I've just started "The Eyeless", the first post-Donna story (no companion) and it's great so far.

[beatrixkiddoe]

I had no idea "The Eyeless" was out already, I'll have to pick it up.

[pending]

*sighs* If only 'Watchmen Babies' were real...

[pacejunkie]

Feb 5, 2009 18:57:57 GMT -5 beatrixkiddoe said:

I had no idea "The Eyeless" was out already, I'll have to pick it up.

I'm halfway through already, I can't put it down.

[hypercaz]

Sept 11, 2008 7:01:26 GMT -5 pacejunkie said:

I've just started reading The Dresden Files and I'm loving it. I just finished the first book Storm Front and I'm picking up books two and three today. Mystery, detective fiction, supernatural, fantasy, action, suspense... it's right up my alley.

YES! Dresden Files for the win! My favourite book in the series is ummm Proven Guilty. I'm eagerly awaiting my copy of the paperback for the newest book Small Favour.

What can I say, I have a thing for fandoms with powers. And besides which, Jim Butcher has a great handle on the genre, which no one has come close to for over a decade. I've seen some cheap imitations pouring out since Storm Front, but nothing compares.

That said, I recently read Benighted by Kit Whitfield and that was really good. It's set in a universe where most of the population are actually werewolves, and to be human isn't normal. Great premise, decent carry-through.

Hopefully on Monday, the Star Wars books I ordered will appear in my mail box, courtesy of the iniquitous and the vile. I am most excited about Splinter of the Mind's Eye, published 1978 as a back-up sequel to ANH just in case it tanked at the box office.

*geeks out*

[pacejunkie]

YES! Dresden Files for the win! My favourite book in the series is ummm Proven Guilty. I'm eagerly awaiting my copy of the paperback for the newest book Small Favour.

*continues the geekout* I'm all caught up on the Dresden books now and eagerly waiting the new one, Turn Coat, in April. Good news for fans, Jim Butcher is doing a book signing on the release at a branch of Joseph Beth booksellers somewhere. Nevermind if you can't be there, the manager is taking advance requests and will send a signed copy to you at no extra charge (apart from international shipping I imagine)! I've ordered mine, he can sign past releases too, anything they have in the shop.

Interested?: e-mail Brian Delambre at [e-mail]

[beatrixkiddoe]

I'm halfway through already, I can't put it down.

I'm really looking forward to reading it.

*sighs* If only 'Watchmen Babies' were real...

I still giggle whenever I think of Milhouse asking Alan Moore which of the babies is his favourite.

[cko]

Aww, you all are reading books! Nice to know people are. I have stacks of books I want to/should be reading (science fiction, marijuana, and fear are the subjects) but the most I seem to peruse is articles linked online.

There is a pretty cool book I'm sorta reading, Everything is Miscellaneous, by David Weinberger, about how we deal with information in the digital age. He talks about two categories of people, lumpers and splitters., and how they deal with information, items, or data.

A lumper takes things that are disparate and combines them because they have something similar. A splitter tends to take two things and separate them into smaller categories.

I'm definitely a lumper, by the way.

[hypercaz]

Feb 6, 2009 9:01:05 GMT -5 pacejunkie said:

*continues the geekout* I'm all caught up on the Dresden books now and eagerly waiting the new one, Turn Coat, in April. Good news for fans, Jim Butcher is doing a book signing on the release at a branch of Joseph Beth booksellers somewhere. Nevermind if you can't be there, the manager is taking advance requests and will send a signed copy to you at no extra charge (apart from international shipping I imagine)! I've ordered mine, he can sign past releases too, anything they have in the shop.

Interested?: e-mail Brian Delambre at [e-mail]

Oh so cool!!! Thanks for letting me know, but I am really, really picky about the type of cover I get. I have all the books in one particular set, which is the reason I wait so long for the books to be released. I'm a bit of a nutcase about my books matching. Also, I get them cheap online, free postage.

I forgot that I hadn't ordered Small Favour yet, so I just did that. Should get it in 7-9 days. I can't wait... the blurb sounds very interesting. And I sort of like Morgan, even though I don't.

[pacejunkie]

And I sort of like Morgan, even though I don't.

Whose your favourite supporting character? I'm mad about Thomas and I really like Michael. What do you think of Luccio?

[hypercaz]

Luccio can certainly kick some butt! Not a favourite, but she's cool. I love Michael, because he is awesome. And I don't know, the whole knight thing - I certainly have a weak spot for it.

Also, I demand more Mister. The dog gets all the spotlight.

[pacejunkie]

Also, I demand more Mister. The dog gets all the spotlight.

Mouse is pretty badass though. I like the suggestion that he's not a normal dog, I want to know more about what these temple dogs are.

[hypercaz]

Feb 6, 2009 21:42:54 GMT -5 pacejunkie said:

Also, I demand more Mister. The dog gets all the spotlight.

Mouse is pretty badass though. I like the suggestion that he's not a normal dog, I want to know more about what these temple dogs are.

Yeah, have to admit, Mouse has me intrigued. OH! And 6 days after ordering it, Small Favour arrived yesterday!!!!!! I read it all before bed. Interesting. Not sure I like the, ah, Luccio angle... but I don't mind seeing where it goes.

(I kept thinking - "dang it! now the white court vampires can get Harry!")

Mister and the catnip, oh my lord, that was inspiring. I laughed like a madwoman. And I was so worried for Michael. =/

[pacejunkie]

I know. Michael. OMG. I couldn't put that book down.

[novium]

And now harry has to find two people worthy and willing to wield holy swords.

[pacejunkie]

Mar 3, 2009 13:05:34 GMT -5 novium said:

And now harry has to find two people worthy and willing to wield holy swords.

Well Murphy is the obvious choice and as for the other one (assuming Michael really is out of commission), Thomas? That's if he could wield the sword without it burning him.

[novium]

Yeah, I'd like both of those, but I don't think it's going to go there. Although maybe the tease in Small Favor was a tease in favor of murphy instead of a tease as a way to shut down that avenue of speculation.

[Reaperess]

Uh, okay, I'm reading a book called H.I.V.E. dunno if anyone else is reading it *silence* I see. Anyway, I love it! It's actually my second time reading the two books. They're written by Mark Walden, the dude who produced a lot of video games that I cannot remember or name. It's pretty much about a school for supervillains. The first one is "The Higher Institute OF Villainous Education, H.I.V.E." I finished the first one and I'm reading the second part, "The Overlord Protocol." Damn Bloomsbury Publishing! It hasn't released the third one, "Escape Velocity" to the genera public in the U.S. and if they have, I haven't heard it! Other than that, I don't really read much, I more or less write instead of read. Though, it's mostly just little stories that no publisher will actually look at until I'm older, at least eighteen or twenty or whtever, however, I shall get published in my school's literary journal! Wow, I went off topic didn't I?

[Blue Sunflower]

Apr 11, 2009 20:26:18 GMT -5 Reaperess said:

Other than that, I don't really read much, I more or less write instead of read. Though, it's mostly just little stories that no publisher will actually look at until I'm older, at least eighteen or twenty or whtever, however, I shall get published in my school's literary journal! Wow, I went off topic didn't I?

Ooooooooohhhhhh, bad move. Very, very, very bad move. Nothing makes cko pounce more than learning someone is a writer. Or without a date.

I shall swoop in and save you, however. I shall only be slightly annoying in my efforts to recruit you, instead of ck's more gentle - yet completely overpowering - style.

_{We need reaper fic. We need reaper fic. We need reaper fic.}