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pontalba said:
Lucifer's Hammer is one of my favorites! I enjoy knowing the author is really a nice guy.
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Very approachable. It's a small Con, Missoula, Montana, so it's easier to get to talk to the authors. We often go out for dinner with them or such. It's always a good weekend and the authors love the relaxed atmosphere.

Niven and about 10 fans, we had a whitebaord and were hanging out creating worlds...just a blast.
 
Outer dark

This 1968 novel written by Cormac McCarthy is brilliant, but also one of the most disheartening stories that I’ve ever read. Warning: If you are suffering from depression, don’t even think about reading this somber book. Cormac is truly the gloom and doom master. A quote from 'All the Pretty Horses' sums up Mr. McCarthy’s thoughts on life:” It was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all.” One of Cormac’s Outer Dark quotes is:“Ive seen the meanness of humans till I dont know why God aint put out the sun and gone away.” One of the two main characters, Culla states bleakness best when talking to the mysterious bearded man and says:” I never give nobody nothin, I never had nothin. Never figured nothin, never had nothin, never was nothin, the man said. He was looking at nothin at all.” I added the quote marks, but Cormac doesn’t use them, or any other basic elements of prose in his novels. If you have read any of my reviews, you know that I’m not a fan of his famous novel 'The Road' , however I am an admirer of this novel. He has stated in the past that if the story is good enough, the author doesn’t have to be grammatically correct. I hear you loud and clear! This story will stay with me for awhile.:):star5:
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos and translated by Helen Constantine :star4:

Don't suppose there is much anyone can say that isn't known already. Pre-French Revolution manipulative antics. Love, sex, betrayal, super manipulative persons, final comeuppance. Good stuff.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark :star2: 1/2
Meh.

I didn't care for Sparks writing style. Ending better than the body of the story.
 
pontalba said:
Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos and translated by Helen Constantine :star4:

Don't suppose there is much anyone can say that isn't known already. Pre-French Revolution manipulative antics. Love, sex, betrayal, super manipulative persons, final comeuppance. Good stuff.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark :star2: 1/2
Meh.

I didn't care for Sparks writing style. Ending better than the body of the story.
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Sometimes, "The End" is the best part of the story...:whistling:
 
David Kenyon Webster - Parachute Infantry :star4:

Another book from my "Band of Brothers" collection. Easy Company's "college boy" tells his story in a book that was written long before Stephen Ambrose's book and the TV series were made (sadly, Webster died in a boating accident long before the book was published in the 90s). I liked his rather jaded and sometimes doubtful look on his time as a soldier and his vivid, beautifully written descriptions of life in the battlefields. A must-read for everyone with an interest in the subject.
 
:star4: The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin

Yes, that Justin Cronin of vampire fame. But nary a vampire in sight here. Just beautiful prose, well-built story and characters covering from approximately WWII to more or less present time. Generational angst, crisis, father to son, parents to daughter, upheaval, blessed relief.

Great story, recommended.
 
Jonathan Stroud - Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon

The prequel of Stroud's wittily entertaining Bartimaeus trilogy tells the story of how the loud-mouthed, full-of-himself and nevertheless likeable djinn came to get involved in a feud between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Full of subversive humour, footnotes, fun and action.
 
  • Just finished: A Higher Call: My God, what a book! Adam Makos with Larry Alexander bring us this harrowing and chivalrous story of two World War II Air Forces. This is not just a story about an incident involving a German Messerschmitt BF 109, and a U.S. B17 Flying Fortress. No, it’s also about both sides fighting with courage and perseverance, while maintaining a healthy respect for each other. The German Air Force fighter pilots were not Nazi Party members, in fact their attitude was a thorn in the hat of the German Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering ( German spelling ). They fought because they had no choice, fly or die. On page 288, the pilots attitude is confirmed when Major Hohagen of the German Air Force tells a joke to one of the book’s protagonist, Ace Franz Stigler: “ Hitler, Goering, Himmler, and all of their friends are out on a boat at sea, there’s a big storm and their boat sinks! Who’s saved?” Franz knew the joke. “Germany.” If a political officer overheard this joke, by law they both would have been executed. Herr Goering would occasionally slip a political officer into the ranks of the Air Force to get the flavor of the pilots. I extol the effort the authors made to bring the readers this compelling non-fiction Pulitzer Prize worthy story. I know that says a lot, but you haven’t read this book.:) 5 stars
ricksreviews.BlogSpot.com
 
Little Bird Of Heaven - Joyce Carol Oates 4 stars
A Story of two youths in a small town in upstate New York, who's lives are terribly altered when one's father is accused of violently killing the other's mother.
JCO is one of the best writers I've read when it comes to the application of atmosphere and suspense. She completely inhabits her characters and can take the reader to some pretty chilling places. Not because they are gratuitously violent or macabre, but because everything feels so real and possible. Sort of like reading true crime written from the perspective of the victim. Hard to put down.
 
"Remake" by Connie Willis was a nice little read about a future in which movies are no longer made the traditional way by using "warmbody" actors but with digitalized copies of the old stars, complete with litigation issues. Of course everything has to be politically correct, so it is Tom's job to edit out any unwanted references to drugs and alcohol and the like, notwithstanding the fact that in real life there are plenty of new drugs that have taken the place of cocaine and booze. And then there's this girl who has set her mind on dancing in the movies - live!
 
LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go, Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. For some reason that children’s rhyme popped into my mind as I started to read this tale of survival. It involves a 16 year old Indian boy, and a 3 year old, 450 pound Bengal Tiger marooned together on a lifeboat for 227 days in the Pacific Ocean. Wow, what a tale spun by the Man Booker Prize winner, Yann Martel. Oh, I forgot to mention that initially there was also a zebra, a rat, a hyena, and a orangutan on board. You can imagine how long they lasted with a furious tiger aboard. Did I like this novel? Yes, but I’m not sure it was worthy of the “Booker” award. It has the strength of an unusual story, but lacks the strong finish to knock the reader out. I did like Martel’s easy to understand prose, and I also enjoyed the font changes that let the reader know who was narrating the story. It’s a difficult novel to rate because of the long and sometimes tedious middle, and then the seemingly abrupt ending. Yet it was so entertaining. Do you see my dilemma? I must recommend this novel by virtue of it’s original and exhilarating story, even though some say that it was similar to Moacyr Scliar’s 'Max and the Cats'. :) 4/5 stars.
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
 
Chronicle Of A Death Foretold - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Just what the title professes. The story of the murder of a prominent Arab businessman in a small South American town. Marquez completely immerses you in the culture, and the quirky and many times humorous atmosphere of the town itself. He parades through an amazingly detailed group of townsfolk from lowlifes to royalty, and provides a scandalous back story replete with rumors and theories provided by the colorful witnesses to the events leading up to the slaying. He takes serous issues like pride, friendship, betrayal and misplaced anger, and weaves them into a tale that is lighthearted and thought provoking at the same time. And he does it in 143 pages. 4.5 Stars
 
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