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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 19, 2015 18:03:56 GMT -5
Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story by Nick Tosches. Tosches' bio of The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis. Interesting and compellingly readable, it occasionally verges on literary excess. But it is a great portrait of an artist utterly torn by his art and his religion...and his propensity for excess. It's a good look at Lewis and his psychology...but I'm not sure it gave me the insight into the formative years of Rock N Roll that I was looking for.
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Post by berkley on Sept 19, 2015 21:22:44 GMT -5
Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story by Nick Tosches. Tosches' bio of The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis. Interesting and compellingly readable, it occasionally verges on literary excess. But it is a great portrait of an artist utterly torn by his art and his religion...and his propensity for excess. It's a good look at Lewis and his psychology...but I'm not sure it gave me the insight into the formative years of Rock N Roll that I was looking for. I had similar feeling about Tosches Dean Martin bio when I read it years ago. Well-written, but you got the impression that Tosches wouldn't have any scruples about treating the facts loosely if he thought it would help reinforce his interpretation of his subject. Not that I have any reason to think he knowingly wrote anything false or misleading.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 25, 2015 20:35:30 GMT -5
The Fala Factor by Stuart Kaminsky Eleanor Roosevelt believes that Fala, the President's dog has been dognapped and replaced by a doggleganger. And Toby Peters, Detective to the stars is on the case. Another fun romp.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 25, 2015 21:21:33 GMT -5
I recently finished Dune after years of attempting it. I like the 80's movie and I loved the Sci-fi channel mini series but ever since first attempting to read it in middle school I had never been able to finish the damn thing. I don't know about you guys, but just after about half way it just becomes a slog to get through. I like how Herbert does political intrigue but he just can't seem to write a good war story, the whole rebellion is told from the side rather than as it happens with only side results like Paul gaining skilled death soldiers from the combat but nothing to suggest that he is the bogey man that we are told he is in the eyes of the Empire. It's a frustrating section even now, and even the conclusion where he defeats the emperor feels lacking despite showing us more of the action. Still the ending is equal to the fascinating beginning and I blew through Dune Messiah as it featured Herbert sticking more to his strong suit.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 25, 2015 21:58:59 GMT -5
I recently finished Dune after years of attempting it. I like the 80's movie and I loved the Sci-fi channel mini series but ever since first attempting to read it in middle school I had never been able to finish the damn thing. I don't know about you guys, but just after about half way it just becomes a slog to get through. I like how Herbert does political intrigue but he just can't seem to write a good war story, the whole rebellion is told from the side rather than as it happens with only side results like Paul gaining skilled death soldiers from the combat but nothing to suggest that he is the bogey man that we are told he is in the eyes of the Empire. It's a frustrating section even now, and even the conclusion where he defeats the emperor feels lacking despite showing us more of the action. Still the ending is equal to the fascinating beginning and I blew through Dune Messiah as it featured Herbert sticking more to his strong suit. My congratulations. I've tried to read Dune at least a dozen times. I've never made it more than a hundred pages in. I just find it completely unreadable.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 25, 2015 22:25:46 GMT -5
Dune is pretty much an acid trip on paper... I got through it, but you feel bad at the end. The Bene Gesseret motto/chant thing... "Fear is the Mind Killer" is one of my favorite paragraphs ever, though.
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Post by berkley on Sept 26, 2015 5:25:17 GMT -5
I recently finished Dune after years of attempting it. I like the 80's movie and I loved the Sci-fi channel mini series but ever since first attempting to read it in middle school I had never been able to finish the damn thing. I don't know about you guys, but just after about half way it just becomes a slog to get through. I like how Herbert does political intrigue but he just can't seem to write a good war story, the whole rebellion is told from the side rather than as it happens with only side results like Paul gaining skilled death soldiers from the combat but nothing to suggest that he is the bogey man that we are told he is in the eyes of the Empire. It's a frustrating section even now, and even the conclusion where he defeats the emperor feels lacking despite showing us more of the action. Still the ending is equal to the fascinating beginning and I blew through Dune Messiah as it featured Herbert sticking more to his strong suit. I loved Dune as a teenager, haven't tried to re-read it since. Never found it a slog, and didn't really think of it as a war story, more political intrigue - of which war is obviously a prominent element - on a space-operatic scale. Just to make sure I understand what you're saying - you liked Dune Messiah more than you did Dune? That's a unusual reaction in my limited experience of talking to other Dune readers and I'd like to hear more about it. I'm a fan of Dune Messiah myself (and of Children and God Emperor) but I haven't come across many readers who preferred it to Dune.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 26, 2015 9:56:25 GMT -5
I recently finished Dune after years of attempting it. I like the 80's movie and I loved the Sci-fi channel mini series but ever since first attempting to read it in middle school I had never been able to finish the damn thing. I don't know about you guys, but just after about half way it just becomes a slog to get through. I like how Herbert does political intrigue but he just can't seem to write a good war story, the whole rebellion is told from the side rather than as it happens with only side results like Paul gaining skilled death soldiers from the combat but nothing to suggest that he is the bogey man that we are told he is in the eyes of the Empire. It's a frustrating section even now, and even the conclusion where he defeats the emperor feels lacking despite showing us more of the action. Still the ending is equal to the fascinating beginning and I blew through Dune Messiah as it featured Herbert sticking more to his strong suit. I loved Dune as a teenager, haven't tried to re-read it since. Never found it a slog, and didn't really think of it as a war story, more political intrigue - of which war is obviously a prominent element - on a space-operatic scale. Just to make sure I understand what you're saying - you liked Dune Messiah more than you did Dune? That's a unusual reaction in my limited experience of talking to other Dune readers and I'd like to hear more about it. I'm a fan of Dune Messiah myself (and of Children and God Emperor) but I haven't come across many readers who preferred it to Dune. Had the same reaction as Berk. Read Dune when I was about 16 and finished as well as enjoyed it.Never read any sequels but they were published later in my life. The one book I did abandon when I was young after 100 pages or so was Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 26, 2015 11:10:40 GMT -5
I recently finished Dune after years of attempting it. I like the 80's movie and I loved the Sci-fi channel mini series but ever since first attempting to read it in middle school I had never been able to finish the damn thing. I don't know about you guys, but just after about half way it just becomes a slog to get through. I like how Herbert does political intrigue but he just can't seem to write a good war story, the whole rebellion is told from the side rather than as it happens with only side results like Paul gaining skilled death soldiers from the combat but nothing to suggest that he is the bogey man that we are told he is in the eyes of the Empire. It's a frustrating section even now, and even the conclusion where he defeats the emperor feels lacking despite showing us more of the action. Still the ending is equal to the fascinating beginning and I blew through Dune Messiah as it featured Herbert sticking more to his strong suit. I loved Dune as a teenager, haven't tried to re-read it since. Never found it a slog, and didn't really think of it as a war story, more political intrigue - of which war is obviously a prominent element - on a space-operatic scale. Just to make sure I understand what you're saying - you liked Dune Messiah more than you did Dune? That's a unusual reaction in my limited experience of talking to other Dune readers and I'd like to hear more about it. I'm a fan of Dune Messiah myself (and of Children and God Emperor) but I haven't come across many readers who preferred it to Dune. I don't think of it as a war story either, it's definitely intrigue but when you get to the part where he begins to lead the Fremen into war with the Harkonnens you don't get that war, which is something I always found frustrating. We're told he's this great military leader, and that that he's taught thousands of Fremen his tactics and caused the Harkonnens to see Muad Dib almost like this desert boogey man...but we don't see any of that so it feels hollow, and the whole section where we hear all of that second hand has always been where I just tossed it aside. And yeah, I loved Messiah much more than Dune itself. I loved the nuances in characterization Herbert gave us, and all the delicious, multi-layered intrigue. I've been using the Dune books as my work books, only reading them while on break, and while Dune itself took a couple of weeks worth of my lunch breaks I flew through Messiah, forsaking eating lunch so that I could read more. I think in all it took me like four or five days to complete and Children of Dune is shaping up to be just as big of a page turner for me.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 26, 2015 12:03:50 GMT -5
I know I read Messiah and Children, but I don't remember them at all. I also recall attempting and failing to read God Emperor of Dune it was just too much for me, acid trip wise.
I also tried to read on the the prequels (which seemed like a really cool idea) but couldn't get into it... anyone read those?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 26, 2015 21:19:00 GMT -5
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen
I picked this up from the library when Jayson Stark mentioned it in an article... as he claimed it made out Cobb to be a much nicer guys that his is usually portrayed as.
Very well researched and written, he depicts Cobb as a tortured baseball Genius.. and has lots of primary sources to back it up. I'm not sure he wasn't the Allen Iverson of early baseball (I think, in fact, he was), but being a racist, and being universally hated, both seem to be pretty silly.
And man, was early baseball interesting! Games ending in ties because the team has to make a train... players vanishing with no explanation.. brawls, pranks, fans storming the field... sure sounds like fun
Great book if you're interested in dead ball era baseball.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 26, 2015 21:32:06 GMT -5
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen I picked this up from the library when Jayson Stark mentioned it in an article... as he claimed it made out Cobb to be a much nicer guys that his is usually portrayed as. Very well researched and written, he depicts Cobb as a tortured baseball Genius.. and has lots of primary sources to back it up. I'm not sure he wasn't the Allen Iverson of early baseball (I think, in fact, he was), but being a racist, and being universally hated, both seem to be pretty silly. And man, was early baseball interesting! Games ending in ties because the team has to make a train... players vanishing with no explanation.. brawls, pranks, fans storming the field... sure sounds like fun Great book if you're interested in dead ball era baseball. This is on my list of books to read. But it's very very very far down on a extraordinarily long list.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 26, 2015 22:03:37 GMT -5
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen I picked this up from the library when Jayson Stark mentioned it in an article... as he claimed it made out Cobb to be a much nicer guys that his is usually portrayed as. Very well researched and written, he depicts Cobb as a tortured baseball Genius.. and has lots of primary sources to back it up. I'm not sure he wasn't the Allen Iverson of early baseball (I think, in fact, he was), but being a racist, and being universally hated, both seem to be pretty silly. And man, was early baseball interesting! Games ending in ties because the team has to make a train... players vanishing with no explanation.. brawls, pranks, fans storming the field... sure sounds like fun Great book if you're interested in dead ball era baseball. I never understood the racist slant, by all accounts he loved Willie Mays and Roy Campanella and was all for integration.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 27, 2015 6:30:35 GMT -5
Yeah, and there's really no evidence. Yeah, he was from the south in the Jim Crow era, so there's a certain about of built in cultural racism.
He also got into fights...alot. But it had nothing to do with race. Several of the more famous ones, which previous biographers attributed to race, had no proof that the 'victim' was even black, never mind Cobb's motivation. It was more like 'he fought with a bellboy who disrepected him, so he's a racist'.
Mostly, he got into fights if people didn't fawn over him for being Ty Cobb. Not the best personality trait, but not unique among sports legends.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 3, 2015 21:49:55 GMT -5
Looks like I missed a couple... Other side of timeKeith Laumer c. 1965 The inside cover says this was a short story first, but I can't really see where the break/expansion was... kinda odd. This book starts off REALLY slowly, and the over-description in some of the early chapters is really annoying, but for those stalwarts that stick with it, you are rewarded with very clever story of time travel, alternate universes, and lots of intelligent primates of the non-sapien persuasion. The twist ending was really fun, if scientifically unfeasible. I'm not sure how the rest of the books in the series is, nor does it matter. In fact, the story was very much plot and not character driven... so much so that I'm really not that interested in what happens to the main character in either the book before or after. Totally worth reading as a stand alone book, though, especially if you like Planet of the Apes.
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