My "book of the year" is the Amazon Kindle. My actual Kindle is shown to the right. I've read many many books on it so far, and have a few comments:1) The Kindle falls out of its leather folder-case too easily. Maybe this is resolved with the Kindle 2.
2) It locks up too much. Maybe this is resolved with the Kindle 2.
3) It's way too fragile. The one I have now is a replacement for one where the screen shattered. I hear all over the place stories about Kindles breaking too easily or buttons just not working anymore. This is true for the Kindle 1 and Kindle 2.
1) It has an actual on-off switch, an incredibly useful and time-proven ease-of-use feature that even Apple has forgotten (last time I checked, iPods don't even have one).
2) My Kindle has 60 or so books in it. Imagine how much shelf space this would take up.
3) There's such a large number of free (and good) books in the Kindle store, more than I would have expected.
Other books I have read this past year, worth mentioning:
Dracula by Bram Stoker. Reading this one, I found out that the movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula" was still not actually Bram Stoker's: while quite good, it had a lot of major deviations from the book. It is quite worth reading. A sure antidote to the Twilight vampires too: Dracula does not visit for romance and he can be contained or destroyed by an intricate and varied number of methods (as opposed to the Twilight vampires, who are like Superman but without the flight and kryptomite).
Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child. I've just discovered "thrillers" recently, and the Jack Reacher series is considered to be one of the best. The author bills his character as "the toughest guy in literature", and he's probably right. Compared to say, Connery's Bond, Reacher is a lot more mission-focused (once you convince him to take on the mission), and he could probably beat Bond in any type of fight. There are no movies yet, but the most recent buzz has Hugh Jackman to play Reacher.
Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly. I'd also never read police novels before this year. There's a first time for everything.
Sookie Stackhou
se / Southern Vampire Mysteries / True Blood books by Charlaine Harris. I think three names for the series should cover it. I've been reading these on the Kindle, but the paper-books have great cover art, reminiscent of the "Harry Potter" covers.The books complement the "True Blood" TV series in the best way: the TV series sometimes sticks very closely to characters and situations, but other times goes off in entirely new angles so a reader of the books won't get bored watching the TV show and knowing what exactly will happen. I read two or three of the books, then watched two seasons of the TV show, then read more of the books, and each enhanced the other. I've read 8 of them so far, and there are two or three more.
What books would you mention?
16 comments:
I think that I will just stick to good books.
I find the Kindle very intriguing. I was surprised at how easy it is on the eyes (I mean that literally.) I thought I wouldn't want one, but now I wonder. It seems like a great thing to have for trips where you might spend a lot of time in transit. I'd hate to have it completely replace printed books though. It would be hard to let those go.
I was surprised too. Yeah, they claim it is just like paper. But it isn't: the background is grey. I'm sure the future ones will have a white background some day. But it's really not that bad.
I'm afraid that I don't read anymore, so the only books that come to mind this year are the novelization of the Star Trek movie (which was a disappointment regardless of the author, and we learn very little back story from reading it), and a book about the YouTube lion reunion video (which was actually very good and proved that some of the stuff tacked on the version of the video that I first saw was all wrong). And while I said that I would get back to those Harry Potter books this year, I didn't do that either.
As for Dracula movies, it seems that the one that follows the book most closely is the old black and white film, which in places is word for word the same. I have always found that odd, as the Frankenstein movies of the same era don't get much of anything right.
A subject close to my heart. I read a lot. I guess what stands out in my mind published this year would be:
- Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
- Genertation A by Douglas Coupland
- The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman
- The Georges and the Jewels by Jane Smiley
You can see I am a fiction fan :-)
Still holding out on the Kindle, but I remain intrigued.
I love True Blood but haven't read the books. I keep kidding with my wife (and giving her gray hairs) that our son will be just like Jason Stackhouse in 5 years.
Tim: The portrayal of Jason in the TV show fits perfectly to the book, I think. Other than the characters going through different story arcs (for example, the whole thing with Jason going deep inside the Fellowship of the Sun is big in the TV show, but just not there in the books). There's also a great story arc in the last few books that I wonder if it will get into the show.
Laura: At least I've heard of those authors! But I've not read their books.And keep holding out on the Kindle. The next ones will be so much better. Nick Hornby always makes me think of Bruce Hornsby ("Some things'll never change....")
Laughing: I did not read the latest Star Trek movie novel, but I do remember reading the books for movies #2 and/or #3. Though the books were relatively thin (not the monster novels typical now), I thought they added interesting background material for the characters.
The 1931 Dracula (Bela Lugosi) is one I watched earlier in the year, right after reading the book. It is a lot different from the book (the movie having long scenes of Dracula standing around visiting someone's house, looking talking suave). However, I've heard that the old black-and-white "Nosferatu" is very close to the book. I think they got sued by the Stoker estate over it.
The classic "Frankenstein" movies also deviate hugely from the book, but I think they are much better than the Lugosi "Dracula". I also watched all of those earlier in the year, but did not read the book yet.
One cool thing about the second movie (Bride) is the framing sequence in which author Mary Shelley is stranded in a storm and decides to tell scary stories to friends.
So what do you think about the Reacher and Bosch books?
I received my Kindle 1 in August and have 2 pages of book titles on my home page. I love it (hope it doesn't break) and I am a huge fan of the Reacher and Harry Bosch books. I've also found I read books I probably would have never come across at the book store... Like my current read - Right now I'm reading A Short History Of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. I love it so far!
I think they are a great invention, and yet I have a hard time reading on a screen for long. It's my sole complaint about the bog world, in fact.
Rob: They're great. I can see now that I was overly impressed with the Rollins books, now that I have read better "thrillers"
DaBlade: It's great all the free books you can find. The top of their Bestseller list is peppered with them.
Secret: It's really different from reading on a computer screen. The technology is a lot different, and I have had no eyestrain/bother from it.
I love reading a book and holding it in my hands. I'm sure I'll be the last to accept technology on that front.
I read Dracula in college and really liked it. I may have to read it again sometime soon here.
I'm really glad you wrote up the negative points of the Kindle as I'm thinking of saving up for one when I finally find a job.
I was refering to him being super horndog! My son is blond, blue eyed and a good looking kid. Once he gets a car who know what trouble that kid will get into! Happy New Year DM.
Happy new year Tim!
And everyone!
I'm always on the look out for good book recommendations. Thanks for your suggestions.
I just finished "The Lovely Bones" which I can't believe became a national bestseller. It was hyped to be some literary masterpiece, but I found it
mediocre compared to "Special Topics In Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl, a complex, over-footnoted, yet utterly enjoyable read.
Pessl's book reminded me of "Infinite Jest" and "A Confederacy of Dunces" in that they all left you wanting more even though they were long novels.
Post a Comment