What fiction book are you currently reading?

girlbug2

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Now it's Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. 300 pages in, and so far, it is rabidly anti-socialist. I can see where she had a huge influence on American philosophy and politics in the mid-20th century.
 

crushing

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I just couldn't get in to Eyeless in Gaza so I moved on to Bradbury's Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band is Playing & Leviathan '99 and now I'm reading Number of the Beast by Heinlein.
 

crushing

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Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo

I'm halfway through the huge book and it is quite captivating.
 

Sukerkin

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Aye, Dumas makes for a wonderful read. I've always preferred the 'Muskateers' for swashbuckling fun but the Count is an excellent book.

Complete change of tack, I'm currently reading "The Song of Homana" by Jennifer Roberson. I read "Shapechangers" in the early '80's and this author then just seemed to drop out of sight. Now I learn that there is a whole series that grew from that first book (and other series besides).

Goes to show that not only is publishing a fickle trade but also that distribution and 'exposure' are not necessarily follow-ons from getting your work into print.
 

tellner

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The Judging Eye
The Count of Monte Cristo by sheer coincidence
The Shahnameh
An as-yet unpublished Steve Perry book
 
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arnisador

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Now I'm reading a crapload of Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan novels

Oh, I read a bunch of those as a kid!Also many of the knock-offs...The Death Merchant, The Butcher...

Atlas Shrugged

Read it at my wife's suggestion years ago. I hear they want to make a movie of it with Angelina Jolie.
 

jks9199

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Oh, I read a bunch of those as a kid!Also many of the knock-offs...The Death Merchant, The Butcher...



Read it at my wife's suggestion years ago. I hear they want to make a movie of it with Angelina Jolie.
I preferred The Destroyer books... but for a while, they lost the humor... and just plain got hard as hell to find.
 

Omar B

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So I hear, but a movie won't do it. Atlas Shrugged needs a mini-series at least, or a year long run at most. Condensed it would not be nearly as good. ASome things need to be in long form instead of an hour and a half adaptation.

As for Mack Bolan, I'm a huge Punisher fan (as well as all round comic nerd) and someone suggested it to me. Used book sale at 4 for a dollar, I gave the dude a $5 and grabbed a huge handful. Loving it.
 

tellner

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Not... Journey's Steve Perry?
jks is right. It's Steve Perry the science fiction writer. He is the best out there at fiction with martial arts in it. If you haven't read his Matador series do yourself a favor and buy them. They were recently re-issued.
 

Big Don

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jks is right. It's Steve Perry the science fiction writer. He is the best out there at fiction with martial arts in it. If you haven't read his Matador series do yourself a favor and buy them. They were recently re-issued.
I'll pick one up, thanks for the tip
 

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I'm in the middle of Mary Shelley's original Frankenstein. I had started it a couple of times in the past, but I kept losing the book somewhere and not getting back to it. I finally picked up a new copy and I'm about halfway thru. It's quite good.

what I find amazing is the quality of the writing, particularly that Shelley was largely self-educated and it was a point about which she was rather self-conscious. I think a lot of what gets published these days has some truly atrocious and shallow writing, and it becomes glaringly apparent when compared to something like Frankenstein, which was written in the early 1800s. I am just amazed at how much more eloquent it seems many of the authors of that time were. They seem to exhibit a command of the language that simply surpasses the norm of today.

Anyway, it's a great story, I highly recommend it.
 

girlbug2

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So I hear, but a movie won't do it. Atlas Shrugged needs a mini-series at least, or a year long run at most. Condensed it would not be nearly as good. ASome things need to be in long form instead of an hour and a half adaptation.

.

Considering the changes in technology since the book was written, I'd say it would have to be set in a sort of alternate universe to work as a movie today -- along the lines of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. (We just dont' seem to rely on railroads like we once did).
 

Omar B

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You know, that's exactly how I envisioned it, being similar in Style to Sky Captain. Also, if you've seen Casshern (the most beautiful looking movie ever!) which takes the digital backlot approach like Sky Captain and goes even further with the visuals. Even as a kid reading AS the first time I realized that it has to be done in that retro-futuristic style like the world of Superman and Batman (in the comics, the movies modernize) and that's the same style Sky Captain (which looks like a Max Fleisher Superman cartoon) and Casshern went for.

As for books, right now I'm reading George RR Martin's A Clash of Kings, amazing book. GRRM is my second favorite fantasy author after Terry Goodkind (me being an Ayn Rand fan can you blame me?).

So I've given Mack Bolan a couple days off but I have 4 brand new ones waiting for me. I'll get to those by Sunday I think.
 

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