I somehow have been reading two books simultaneously that both deal with the concept of words that force action. The other, Snow Crash, I’ve been enjoying as an audiobook for the last two weeks and should finish soon. It’s very focused on computer language, making it a bit more inaccessible (though still enjoyable) than Max Barry’s Lexicon, which I just flew through. Both novels reference the Tower of Babel story, as well as the god Enki (remember him from the Epic of Gilgamesh?) and the idea that words have […]
Bad Ass Ladies
Ah, another Ken Follett book. Let’s see how this one adds up: Historical background? Check = the last days of WWII, just before D-Day Great bad guy? Check = Dieter Franck, Nazi tortuer extraordinaire (and his beautiful Jewish sidekick, Stephanie) Feisty chick? Check, check, check = our heroine, Felicity “Flick” Clairet, the beautiful British leader of a French resistance group and all around bad ass; plus a bonus feisty chick: a Gypsy murderess named Ruby, plus a collection of crazy women willing to go along on the mission (all of […]
But I wanted to see him go to jail!
Jordan Belfort — what an asshole. Such an asshole, in fact, that he ends his book right before anything truly terrible happens to him. Therefore the reader must wait until he releases his next book to find out how exactly the law punishes him for his asshole-ness (my guess–barely, if at all). “They were drunk on youth, fueled by greed, and higher than kites.” — everyone in this book In case you’ve somehow missed the commercials for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie (which I haven’t seen, and don’t […]
What a Mind F&*!
I have never in my life wanted so badly to flip to the back of a book and read the ending. I never do that, but I was majorly tempted here. Luckily, I listened to the audiobook, which prevented me from doing so. Otherwise, I might not have been so strong. “Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge”. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you […]
Focuses as much on the teacher as the speaker
I picked this up thinking it was the basis for the Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush movie, which I liked quite a bit. It’s not–it was actually written by a descendant of Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), whose interest in his grandfather (deceased 12 years when Mark was born) was piqued by a phone call from the movie’s producers. He began digging through his family’s papers, even going so far as to pull a box of archive material down from a cousin’s attic. Here he found carbon copies […]
A little more Koontz-ing for you
The Moonlit Mind was published in the back of 77 Shadow Street, but it’s a stand-alone story and over 100 pages, so I’m counting it separating. It’s tied into the Pendleton (apparently it’s going to be a series–quit working on new series, Koontz, and go finish the final Fear Nothing!!) by taking place across the street but other than a constant presence of evil, they don’t really seem to be connected. Maybe Koontz’s plan is to write a novel for every house on the block? A Fear […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 139
- 140
- 141
- 142
- 143
- …
- 164
- Next Page »