What Are You Reading? Part Deux

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Tery

Say hello to my fishy buddy
Moderator
Apr 12, 2006
15,304
44,712
Bremerton, Washington, United States
easy, track the purchasing of all the local arts and crafts stores to see who's buying just a bit too much. Has anyone heard of that guy who left amazon reviews for his murder tools on how great they were for murder and torture and everyone just thought he was a troll? Todd Khelp, I think was his name, something close to that at least.
No!! I missed that. Wow.
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
About 2/3 of the way through Deliverance by James Dickey. I never read this book before and have only seen bits and pieces of the movie. After this I'll dive into The Institute!!!


I just read this (was a kindle daily deal) and thought it was amazing. The movie is great and is a faithful adaptation but the movie can't capture the beauty of James Dickey's writing. The writing about nature was beautiful. There's a lot of beauty in this horrific novel.

The movie dropped the beginning 30 or 40 pages of the book which was basically just describing how ho-hum Ed's life was and setting the character up to be in way over his head when he got on the river. I watched the movie again right after I finished the novel and thought Boorman and the cast did a great job with the film. There is a documentary on the blu-ray that is very interesting. John Boorman and the cast had a love/hate relationship with James Dickey on set. The admired him and had some fun with him but Dickey was a gigantic pain in the butt too. :)
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I just read this (was a kindle daily deal) and thought it was amazing. The movie is great and is a faithful adaptation but the movie can't capture the beauty of James Dickey's writing. The writing about nature was beautiful. There's a lot of beauty in this horrific novel.

The movie dropped the beginning 30 or 40 pages of the book which was basically just describing how ho-hum Ed's life was and setting the character up to be in way over his head when he got on the river. I watched the movie again right after I finished the novel and thought Boorman and the cast did a great job with the film. There is a documentary on the blu-ray that is very interesting. John Boorman and the cast had a love/hate relationship with James Dickey on set. The admired him and had some fun with him but Dickey was a gigantic pain in the butt too. :)
I read this last year and Doc Creed and I had some major discussions regarding the novel, the movie, the documentary. All of these were good and each gives a person an appreciation for all the creative influences.

There are some interesting interviews with Dickey on youtube also. And the cast of the movie, little tidbits here and there.
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
I read this last year and Doc Creed and I had some major discussions regarding the novel, the movie, the documentary. All of these were good and each gives a person an appreciation for all the creative influences.

There are some interesting interviews with Dickey on youtube also. And the cast of the movie, little tidbits here and there.

Have you read the other Dickey novels? (I think he has three)
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
I just read this (was a kindle daily deal) and thought it was amazing. The movie is great and is a faithful adaptation but the movie can't capture the beauty of James Dickey's writing. The writing about nature was beautiful. There's a lot of beauty in this horrific novel.

The movie dropped the beginning 30 or 40 pages of the book which was basically just describing how ho-hum Ed's life was and setting the character up to be in way over his head when he got on the river. I watched the movie again right after I finished the novel and thought Boorman and the cast did a great job with the film. There is a documentary on the blu-ray that is very interesting. John Boorman and the cast had a love/hate relationship with James Dickey on set. The admired him and had some fun with him but Dickey was a gigantic pain in the butt too. :)
Yes, there are moments inside the novel that are written beautifully. There were also a couple of times when I was like 'What the heck? He just repeated what he said in the last sentence only used different words combinations.' All in all it is definetly a great and wonderful novel. This one along with First Blood brought on the wave of naturalistic fiction that happened in the 70's.
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
9,682
65,192
59
sweden
Read The Expedition by Bea Uusma. She is swedish of, i think, latvian heritage. The book is about Engineer Andrees attempt to reach the northpole in 1897. He was not, like others that tried at about this time like Scott, Amundsen and Nansen, an experienced polar explorer. He got this idea into his brain that they had tried the wrong approach to reach the pole. His idea was to get as far north as possible which in his case was Spetsbergen, an island north of norways northernmost spot, wait for the right wind and then take a balloon. They had a lot of food, medicine and other supplies with them so if anything went wrong there would be no danger according to plans. And in the summer of 1897, they had waited the whole of the summer of -96 without getting the right wind, they got the right wind and they were off. For 33 years it was a mystery what happened to them but in 1930 by pure coincidence a ship found the remains. But another mystery arose from that find. What did they die of? They had plenty of food. Warm clothes and shelter. So starvation and freezing to death is out. Andree had a diary that he wrote in practically every day but suddenly he stops writing. One of them died in his sleepingbag, warm and cozy. The book goes through different possibilities (the author is a doctor in medicine) examines the remains of the bones and the clothes in detail. Interesting book. A lot I didn't know about their expedition. It is a famous failure in sweden.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
Read The Expedition by Bea Uusma. She is swedish of, i think, latvian heritage. The book is about Engineer Andrees attempt to reach the northpole in 1897. He was not, like others that tried at about this time like Scott, Amundsen and Nansen, an experienced polar explorer. He got this idea into his brain that they had tried the wrong approach to reach the pole. His idea was to get as far north as possible which in his case was Spetsbergen, an island north of norways northernmost spot, wait for the right wind and then take a balloon. They had a lot of food, medicine and other supplies with them so if anything went wrong there would be no danger according to plans. And in the summer of 1897, they had waited the whole of the summer of -96 without getting the right wind, they got the right wind and they were off. For 33 years it was a mystery what happened to them but in 1930 by pure coincidence a ship found the remains. But another mystery arose from that find. What did they die of? They had plenty of food. Warm clothes and shelter. So starvation and freezing to death is out. Andree had a diary that he wrote in practically every day but suddenly he stops writing. One of them died in his sleepingbag, warm and cozy. The book goes through different possibilities (the author is a doctor in medicine) examines the remains of the bones and the clothes in detail. Interesting book. A lot I didn't know about their expedition. It is a famous failure in sweden.
So, why did they die? What are their thoughts? Sounds very interesting.
 

urrutiap

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2009
324
1,017
Ive been reading Star Wars Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor and finishing the last 60 pages of it tonight.

then ill be reading the Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy hardcover and to get back into To Kill a Mockingbird or continue with Wheel of Time Great Hunt or The Ceremonies an old 1980s horror novel
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
54
Heart of the South
Y'all would be embarrassed to know by my summer reading: British Chic Lit. The latest: How to Find Love in a Bookshop. There've been others too - all summer. Just feel good stuff. I did pick up a B.A. Paris mystery at the GW - The Breakdown. I find her mysteries to be agonizing. I keep wanting to go to the end and just find out already. Everyone on the planet is suspect. I also got The Rosie Project - sounds promising. Waiting until I can get to the B&N for The Institute because it's so much the type of King novel I love. I'm going to head over to the proper thread to see what everyone's saying. It appears I have an entire Saturday this weekend to just be - maybe I'll spend it reading the Institute.
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
54
Heart of the South
Read The Expedition by Bea Uusma. She is swedish of, i think, latvian heritage. The book is about Engineer Andrees attempt to reach the northpole in 1897. He was not, like others that tried at about this time like Scott, Amundsen and Nansen, an experienced polar explorer. He got this idea into his brain that they had tried the wrong approach to reach the pole. His idea was to get as far north as possible which in his case was Spetsbergen, an island north of norways northernmost spot, wait for the right wind and then take a balloon. They had a lot of food, medicine and other supplies with them so if anything went wrong there would be no danger according to plans. And in the summer of 1897, they had waited the whole of the summer of -96 without getting the right wind, they got the right wind and they were off. For 33 years it was a mystery what happened to them but in 1930 by pure coincidence a ship found the remains. But another mystery arose from that find. What did they die of? They had plenty of food. Warm clothes and shelter. So starvation and freezing to death is out. Andree had a diary that he wrote in practically every day but suddenly he stops writing. One of them died in his sleepingbag, warm and cozy. The book goes through different possibilities (the author is a doctor in medicine) examines the remains of the bones and the clothes in detail. Interesting book. A lot I didn't know about their expedition. It is a famous failure in sweden.
Kurb - this sounds very much like a documentary I watched recently. I can't remember the site though. Very unusual - I don't think they really know for sure how or why even now (amiright?)
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
Ive been reading Star Wars Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor and finishing the last 60 pages of it tonight.

then ill be reading the Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy hardcover and to get back into To Kill a Mockingbird or continue with Wheel of Time Great Hunt or The Ceremonies an old 1980s horror novel
The Ceremonies is a fantastic novel! I wish T.E.D. Klein had or would write more books. He knows his stuff as he was editor of the reboot of The Twilight Zone magazine back in the day. He has one other collection called Dark Gods (it contains 4 short stories/novellas) and then one other very limited edition book but I don't know the name of that. The Ceremonies is written in the vein of the Gothic novels and reminded me of Peter Straub's writing but much more accessable. Stephen King's blurb on the back of the hardcover edition:
'The Ceremonies is a wonderful, exciting, and suspenseful book, full of tension and a sense of deep, brooding mystery. It's a real Gothic novel for our time and place, one that can easily rank with the classics of that strange and powerful genre, and the most exciting novel in the field to come along since Straub's Ghost Story. I lost myself in it for a space of days, and that's the greatest gift a story and a writer can give.'
 

urrutiap

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2009
324
1,017
Youre knowledge of T.E.D Klein of the old Ceremonies book frightens me lol. Old obscure books like that im hunting down if im lucky where I mostly find those old stuff at thrift stores or Goodwill stores. You never know what you might find these days.

The Ceremonies is a fantastic novel! I wish T.E.D. Klein had or would write more books. He knows his stuff as he was editor of the reboot of The Twilight Zone magazine back in the day. He has one other collection called Dark Gods (it contains 4 short stories/novellas) and then one other very limited edition book but I don't know the name of that. The Ceremonies is written in the vein of the Gothic novels and reminded me of Peter Straub's writing but much more accessable. Stephen King's blurb on the back of the hardcover edition:
'The Ceremonies is a wonderful, exciting, and suspenseful book, full of tension and a sense of deep, brooding mystery. It's a real Gothic novel for our time and place, one that can easily rank with the classics of that strange and powerful genre, and the most exciting novel in the field to come along since Straub's Ghost Story. I lost myself in it for a space of days, and that's the greatest gift a story and a writer can give.'