Book Reviews
- Thread starter Brick
- Start date
ABB
Mega Ultra Ultimate Magnificent Chief Moderator
Making it So: A Memoir, Patrick Stewart. Autobiography of Sir Patrick Stewart, most known for his portrayal of Captain Picard (aka, the greatest lawyer in the history of stage and screen) and Professor X, but before any of that had a long, storied career as a Shakespearean theater actor. The first half is a bit slow (this is a pretty long book, >400 pages) but nevertheless interesting as it took me into a completely foreign world of industrial northern England (specifically Mirfield, Yorkshire) through his unlikely ascent to the highest rankings of stage acting. The second half is probably more interesting to the general public, as he gets into his breakthrough Star Trek role and the other projects that followed. He's quite candid about his personal life, including the first two marriages that failed in no small part due to his own infidelity, and his current marriage to someone about 40 years younger than him (he's currently 86, she's 47, so...yeah). Interesting stuff.
Hell House, Richard Matheson. A dying rich guy wants to find definitive proof of life after death, so hires a kind-skeptic scientist and a couple of psychic mediums to spend a week at the scene of horrific debauchery back around the turn of the century (1900). Two previous attempts at investigation of this "Hell House" resulted in catastrophe, with only one survivor who avoided ending up dead or insane, and that survivor is one of the four returning for this investigation. Things predictably go sideways fairly quickly. Elements of the story seemed a bit familiar, but this was written in 1970 so it just goes to show Matheson's influence on the genre and the extent to which he was copied. He also wrote the classic I Am Legend (forget about that goofy Will Smith movie and just read the book). I liked it.
Hell House, Richard Matheson. A dying rich guy wants to find definitive proof of life after death, so hires a kind-skeptic scientist and a couple of psychic mediums to spend a week at the scene of horrific debauchery back around the turn of the century (1900). Two previous attempts at investigation of this "Hell House" resulted in catastrophe, with only one survivor who avoided ending up dead or insane, and that survivor is one of the four returning for this investigation. Things predictably go sideways fairly quickly. Elements of the story seemed a bit familiar, but this was written in 1970 so it just goes to show Matheson's influence on the genre and the extent to which he was copied. He also wrote the classic I Am Legend (forget about that goofy Will Smith movie and just read the book). I liked it.
Man! I read Hell House for the 1st time a couple of months ago. Great read!
osubuckeye4
Well-known member
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
AI recommended this one to me. Im not familiar at all with the author but the premise seemed interesting and it's a relatively quick read (270'ish pages).
All in all, it was 'meh'. It's basically about a dude who gets fired right before COVID hits and ends up Doordashing, which leads to an 'interesting' almost too good to be true job offer. When he shows up, he's whisked away in a helicopter to a military base and enters thru a portal to an alternate Earth that is populated by... kaiju type monsters.
A bunch of stuff happens, but it's all rather breezy and flippant... even as people are dying and shit has hitting the fan
I dunno, its not terrible but it was a weird read and I was a bit disappointed because the 2 minutes worth of research I did in Scalzi led me to believe he was a read solid author.
His "notes" at the end are almost an apology for the book... saying he wanted to write something else but couldn't focus because of the election/insurrection and COVID. He called this the writers equal to a pop song from a musician. At least that was honest.
All in all, I will be taking a break from him for the foreseeable future.
AI recommended this one to me. Im not familiar at all with the author but the premise seemed interesting and it's a relatively quick read (270'ish pages).
All in all, it was 'meh'. It's basically about a dude who gets fired right before COVID hits and ends up Doordashing, which leads to an 'interesting' almost too good to be true job offer. When he shows up, he's whisked away in a helicopter to a military base and enters thru a portal to an alternate Earth that is populated by... kaiju type monsters.
A bunch of stuff happens, but it's all rather breezy and flippant... even as people are dying and shit has hitting the fan
I dunno, its not terrible but it was a weird read and I was a bit disappointed because the 2 minutes worth of research I did in Scalzi led me to believe he was a read solid author.
His "notes" at the end are almost an apology for the book... saying he wanted to write something else but couldn't focus because of the election/insurrection and COVID. He called this the writers equal to a pop song from a musician. At least that was honest.
All in all, I will be taking a break from him for the foreseeable future.
Not his strongest work. Check out the Old Man's War series if you decide to go back to Scalzi. Or maybe Redshirts or Starter Villain.
Definitely not. Old man's war is a must.
osubuckeye4
Well-known member
I'll have to check out Old Man's War at some point.
I will say it was the first time I read the "authors notes/thank you's" section at the end of the book and it was a complete mea culpa/explanation for the 270 pages that proceeded it.
I did respect that
I should also note that it was written competently enough. I was just expecting a bit more given how celebrated he is as an author (he's been writing for decades and won numerous awards) and given how highly the AI said I'd like it based on what I was looking for
Last edited:
ABB
Mega Ultra Ultimate Magnificent Chief Moderator
ABB
Mega Ultra Ultimate Magnificent Chief Moderator
I gotta eat lunch at some point today. Given how this conversation is going I think I'll skip it.
ABB
Mega Ultra Ultimate Magnificent Chief Moderator
oh ffs you ain't throwing a chunk of Swiss on a fried chicken thigh AND YOU KNOW THIS fool.
And she ain't either, both y'all be full of excrement. Yous just happy to see her use the reply button
ABB
Mega Ultra Ultimate Magnificent Chief Moderator
Doesn't make it right! This fad began when the Mexicans stopped eating chicken sammiches they couldn't consider a taco on thick fluffy tortillas. The masters of fried chicken, the blacks, detest this move.
This fuckery is the sole reason the DSA came into existence.
Tosh
There Can Be Only One
ANGEL DOWN by Daniel Kraus
Don't Sweat The Technique.
This is not a story about the great war.
I'd give @ABB 's right arm to have Kraus's talent.
Are there atheists in foxholes? Is redemption possible? Is war inevitable? Can guilt and shame be blamed for what we see, do, don't do? This is automatic for the people a top ten best book I've ever read, right up there with Lord Jim.
Don't Sweat The Technique.
This is not a story about the great war.
I'd give @ABB 's right arm to have Kraus's talent.
Are there atheists in foxholes? Is redemption possible? Is war inevitable? Can guilt and shame be blamed for what we see, do, don't do? This is automatic for the people a top ten best book I've ever read, right up there with Lord Jim.
Last edited:
You're my favorite FNG now.