What Are You Reading?

[cfimages]

Just finished Life by Keith Richards.

And...

He's still alive.

It's a good read but seems to skim over a few parts that should have had more attention.

[Dr. McCoy]

Just finished Life by Keith Richards.

And...

He's still alive.

It's a good read but seems to skim over a few parts that should have had more attention.

I don't know too much about him, but I enjoyed reading the liner notes he wrote for the greatest hits CD. It was kind of funny.
He said that Mick Jagger had become a decent rhythm guitarist because "he had a good teacher."

[Icon]

Going back to basics:

What is my dog thinking?

Dogs for Dummies.

[cfimages]

Just finished Life by Keith Richards.

And...

He's still alive.

It's a good read but seems to skim over a few parts that should have had more attention.

I don't know too much about him, but I enjoyed reading the liner notes he wrote for the greatest hits CD. It was kind of funny.
He said that Mick Jagger had become a decent rhythm guitarist because "he had a good teacher."

He actually trashes Jagger a lot in the book. Highly critical of him over a lot of things, although based on a recent interview I read, he showed the manuscript to MJ before submitting it so you can only imagine the stuff that got cut.

[ThreadKiller]

I have just finished We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It took me longer to read than was planned as it isn't the lightest pre-sleep material.

The novel consists of a series of letters/e-mails from Eva to her husband Franklin (who she is clearly no longer with) and mulls over their marriage, her ambivalence about motherhood, and all the events that led up to their teenage son doing a Columbine and taking out his schoolmates.

It's not going to be one of my favorite novels, but I get why Shriver won the Orange Prize for this. Halfway through, I was scared there would be no attempt to try and explain the tragedy at the book's center. But reasons are provided, even if readers need to decide for themselves between various options (nothing is heavy-handed; the nature/nurture debate comes through Eva's descriptions of life events and not through philosophical musings).

I know this novel will mean more to parents than it does to me. I simply appreciate Shriver's avoidance of easy answers. I felt for Eva. And the novel is a good one for discussion: What if your child simply doesn't evoke (or deserve) the appropriate parental response of love? What if you have given birth to something malicious? Who is to judge if a parent is at fault or if it is an "act of God" if a minor turns psychopathic?

I'm not going to rush out and read everything else Shriver has written, but I will keep an eye out for what she writes later. Her previous novels don't appeal to me, but she is clearly skilled.

I recommend this one, especially to those who have opted to have kids. Has anyone else out there read Kevin?

[jimipresley]

Has anyone else out there read Kevin?

I think it's a bit crap.

[ThreadKiller]

Has anyone else out there read Kevin?

I think it's a bit crap.

I know your shelves and drawers. We should read books before commenting upon them.

[jimipresley]

Has anyone else out there read Kevin?

I think it's a bit crap.

I know your shelves and drawers. We should read books before commenting upon them.

Irrelevant. I read the reviews. They said it was good. Hence, it's obviously a bit crap.

[bismarck]

Has anyone else out there read Kevin?

I think it's a bit crap.

I know your shelves and drawers. We should read books before commenting upon them.

Irrelevant. I read the reviews. They said it was good. Hence, it's obviously a bit crap.

Mate, you think most things are "a bit crap."

[Funk500]

I just finished reading The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.

Good Lord what a load of shite. I'd really been looking forward to reading this as I've liked GDT's film work e.g. Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone, and the Hellboy films. He has a visual flair and imagination that is completely unmistakable. So thinking what he could do to redefine the vampire genre= potentially ace.

But as a novel writer:

It starts off well enough when an aircraft arrives in New York full of dead bodies but soon goes downhill after that. Plot holes abound, crap dialogue, idiotic stereotyped characters you don't care about, over describing things that don't need to be over described, clumsy wording e.g.

the wings were straight up like Paula Abdul.

You get the feeling that this is definitely going to be made into a film and I'd say it would probably be a smash hit summer blockbuster.

I'm also wondering how the heck they are supposed to string this out over another two books.
Very disappointing.