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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Apr 2, 2024 18:11:16 GMT
Moneyball was just ok. It's a cool story but it unfolds with less focus than in the movie adaptation. Feels like it covered less ground too, with large portions dedicated to the draft or a single game and extensive backstory about Bill James and not enough to tie all these disparate segments together. One of the most affecting aspects of the film is the underlying idea of people being misjudged and undervalued for biased or perceived flaws (and why it doesn't feel like *just* a baseball movie) and math cutting through that. It's in the story but Sorkin & Zaillian's adaptation in conjunction with Miller's tightly-controlled observational approach does a better job extracting it than Michael Lewis did. That may also be because Movie Billy is more sympathetic than Book Billy, who comes off like an antagonistic asshole who falls back on sabermetrics not only as a means of survival but out of spite. please come back, Bennett Miller started Jennifer Saint's Ariadne a couple weeks ago to scratch the mythology itch. Progress has been slow-going and she's no Madeline Miller, but I'm getting through it. It does something I really don't like which is switch POVs deeeeeep into the story. Like I'm halfway through having spent all that time with one character, and all of a sudden we're changing POVs every few minutes
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Post by sterlingarcher86 on Apr 3, 2024 20:07:57 GMT
Just started Night of the Hunter. Going to read that then watch the movie and fill in a HUGE blind spot. Oooooh, enjoy. I would recommend following it up with William Gay's Twilight, which owes a massive debt to Davis Grubb and would (in my opinion) make for a better project to tackle rather than re-adapting Night of the Hunter. No real connection between these two books but I’ve been thinking about it and I think those two should adapt The Hellfire Club by Peter Straub. A book I believe if written by King would already have a movie because the villain is so cinematic.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Apr 6, 2024 20:25:13 GMT
Ariadne was even more disappointing than Moneyball. There's practically no dramatic momentum at all, the main character spends the whole book passively hanging out on an island, there are tons of narrative gaps, the constant perspective-shifting in the second half spreads the story too thin, and it barely counts as a retelling. I come back to audiobooks after a whole year and this is what I get?!? next couple weeks are going to be busy w/ family visiting and travelling, but at some point my next will either be more Cormac McCarthy or Erik Larson.
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Post by Brother Fease on Apr 8, 2024 0:23:08 GMT
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. Picked it up today at the library.
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tep
Full Member
formerly known as Ban
Posts: 577
Likes: 149
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Post by tep on Apr 10, 2024 15:43:16 GMT
After a bit of a break from reading through King's bibliography, I'm back on it. Finished Desperation which I thought was pretty good. Now I'm a little over halfway through 11/22/63, and it's terrific so far. I was so fucking shocked when Jake encountered Beverly and Richie lol. idk why, I should be expecting this from King by now.
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Post by sterlingarcher86 on Apr 11, 2024 23:58:56 GMT
After a bit of a break from reading through King's bibliography, I'm back on it. Finished Desperation which I thought was pretty good. Now I'm a little over halfway through 11/22/63, and it's terrific so far. I was so fucking shocked when Jake encountered Beverly and Richie lol. idk why, I should be expecting this from King by now. May be his best book honestly. My favorite is still It since I’m such a big horror guy and It is like THE horror novel but 11/22/63 doesn’t have any of the weak points that It (or The Stand) does. Let me know what you think of the ending!
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Post by sterlingarcher86 on Apr 12, 2024 0:00:30 GMT
Just started Night of the Hunter. Going to read that then watch the movie and fill in a HUGE blind spot. Oooooh, enjoy. I would recommend following it up with William Gay's Twilight, which owes a massive debt to Davis Grubb and would (in my opinion) make for a better project to tackle rather than re-adapting Night of the Hunter. I’m going to do The Library at Mount Char right now then Twilight. Think it could be better for me to not go back to back on similar books and get fatigued so I’ll use a buffer.
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Post by stabcaesar on Apr 16, 2024 8:37:54 GMT
Ariadne was even more disappointing than Moneyball. There's practically no dramatic momentum at all, the main character spends the whole book passively hanging out on an island, there are tons of narrative gaps, the constant perspective-shifting in the second half spreads the story too thin, and it barely counts as a retelling. I come back to audiobooks after a whole year and this is what I get?!? next couple weeks are going to be busy w/ family visiting and travelling, but at some point my next will either be more Cormac McCarthy or Erik Larson. I wanted more Greek mythology content after The Song of Achilles and Circe too but fucking hell these stories are all so depressing. I plan to start reading Cormac McCarthy too, but apparently his books are even more depressing. I guess I'll stick to some John Irving for now
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Apr 16, 2024 15:10:50 GMT
I plan to start reading Cormac McCarthy too, but apparently his books are even more depressing. I guess I'll stick to some John Irving for now well I've only read The Road and it's depressing as hell lol, but beautifully written. don't know if you've read it but I can't recommend Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn enough as far as less-depressing novels go. That book was like a long warm hug, especially the ending. (And I don't know if you're a reader or listener but Kate Burton's narration is excellent)
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Post by stabcaesar on Apr 16, 2024 16:53:01 GMT
I plan to start reading Cormac McCarthy too, but apparently his books are even more depressing. I guess I'll stick to some John Irving for now well I've only read The Road and it's depressing as hell lol, but beautifully written. don't know if you've read it but I can't recommend Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn enough as far as less-depressing novels go. That book was like a long warm hug, especially the ending. (And I don't know if you're a reader or listener but Kate Burton's narration is excellent) I'm a reader. I can't concentrate when I listen. When I want something lighter I generally just read romance novels . Alexis Hall for example is an author I really like. He writes fun queer novels set in England. I've seen the movie adaptation of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and it's incredible.
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Post by ireallyamsomething on Apr 18, 2024 21:23:18 GMT
I read two books recently.
Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls: A beguiling little book. Weird premise but I like it when otherworldly things are treated in an ordinary way.
Trust by Hernan Diaz: Brilliantly written and structured. In a way also about the act of writing and reading.
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