What are you reading right now?

[lhb412]

^I want to read Ready Player One. It seems people either love it or despise it, to the point where I'm quite interested.

Haines, your dive into primate studies is quite impressive!

[jellydonut25]

[klen7]

[jellydonut25]

I think mileage varies on RPO based on how much goodwill you give it based on an interesting premise. Sadly, I found the way the book was structured and written to be REALLY lacking and it made for a dull read. Lots of backtracking and passive voice stuff that made it feel like a slog.

[MekaGojira3k]

Making my way through the Dark Tower series. I've never read this much Stephen King before. Up to this point I'd only read Carrie, THe Shining, and Dreamcatcher.
The Dark Tower books are easily the most entertaining of his stuff.

Also finally finishing a Series of Unfortunate Evens (I read the first 3 books as a kid, haven't read any since, just finished 4).

[lhb412]

I'm currently reading Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life by Philip José Farmer, A Madeline Treasury by Ludwig Bemelmans (a collection of all his Madeline children's books), and The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.

What does this all say about me? Probably a lot.

[canofhumdingers]

Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler

A fun globe trotting adventure where a husband and wife team, Sam and Remi Fargo, go on an epic scavenger hunt following clues to treasure hidden by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte himself. But, of course, they’re not the only ones searching for it. There’s an evil Eastern European mob boss searching too, and of course their paths cross resulting in exciting chases and adrenaline filled confrontations.

Overall it was quite good. Very entertaining. It’s a little James Bond, a little Jason Bourne, and a whole lotta Indiana Jones. At times Sam and Remi came off as a bit too perfect. They have almost impossible backgrounds and at times can come off as somewhat cheesy. Also, some of Sam’s MacGuyver-esque solutions to getting out of a tight spot fell like they probably defy logic or physics. But it’s nothing worse than you’d see in a typical action movie. The treasure hunt is very engaging and does a nice job incorporating history and lots of neat exotic locales.

Overall I really liked it. It was my second Cussler book and I’ll definitely read more from him.

There was, however, one big thing that I had major issues with.

[khouji]

I just finished reading Tales of Demons and Gods (Light Novel)

[lhb412]

Almost done with Steve Ryfle and Ed G.'s Ishiro Honda biography. It's the bee's knees.

[superhedorahsaiyan]

Arkham Horror: the Deep Gate by Chris A. Jackson

[lhb412]

Reading Powers of Darkness an English translation of the original Icelandic version of Dracula. Several years ago someone put two and two together and realized the original Icelandic translation of Bram Stoker's Dracula was very different from the English language novel we all know. While it's possible the translator, a then famous Icelandic poet and writer, simply elaborated on the tale on his own the fact that several of the changes and additions reflects some of Stoker's notes makes it seem like this is based on earlier or alternate version of the story by Stoker.

[Dr Kain]

Well, it took me 3 months, but I finally finished IT. There was a lot of good, there was quite a bit bad, but overall, it was enjoyable. I did like that more was shown/talked about with the Deadlights, especially revealing that it was a female. That was weird. On the other hand, after all of this talk about the turtle god, I expected it to have some major role in the book as opposed to the like page it got. Wow, so the only thing it did was tell Bill his brother's death was part of the will of the Macroverse and then gives him a sentence to help cure him of his stutter. Talk about being anti-climatic. Beverly's childhood "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" scene got like 10 pages. WTF?! I also did not need to know about Henry's penis hardening when Patrick touched it while they were setting farts on fire. Also, jeez, Stan had even less development in the book than he had in the movie. I was hoping the book would get me to like this character, but nope, he's even worse.

Anyway, I'm really surprised that the movie did not feature the Michael Bay orgasm scene, I mean Derry being destroyed by an immense flood. That seems like that would be something a movie studio would have loved to have incorporated.

I do love all of the movie references throughout the book, especially with them being used to scare the kids. The Crawling Eye would have been really cool to have seen in the movie as opposed to just Pennywise getting his (or should it be "her?") ass beat by a punch of kids with a pipe at the end of the first part.

In the long run, if someone were to ask me which version of the story is my favorite, the book, the Curry movie, or the recent movie duology, it would still be the new movies. There's just a few things it does better in my viewpoint, and it also gets rid of some of the pointless fluff, especially the horrid Beverly sex scene, but there are some other aspects I do wish it featured that were from the book, especially when it came to Henry and his goons. Nevertheless, I'm glad to have gone on this adventure of diving into all three variations of the tale in a short timespan.

[lhb412]

I'm reading the Roger Corman autobiography, which I was finally able to get from the library after being checked out for like 2 months. Who's been bogarting the Roger Corman autobiography? Anyway, it's a lot of fun. He's done so much that he'll cover the production of three or four films in 2 pages!

[superhedorahsaiyan]

Prehistoric Monster Mash: Science Fictional Dinosaurs, Fossil Phenoms, Paleo-pioneers, Godzilla and other Kaiju-saurs by Allen A. Debus (2019) , 9 out of 10, fantastic read, very informative

[superhedorahsaiyan]

The Dark Heart of Cinema Frightfest Guide: Ghost Movies by Axelle Carolyn