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Darkweasel wrote:Just finished Alan Dean Foster's 1979 film novelization of Alien and I must say, after watching Prometheus recently, it was a very interesting read indeed.

I've got the original 1979 paperback upstairs somewhere,complete with photo's from the film in the middle. I bet I haven't actually read it since 1979 either!

MetalBeast wrote:

thehairyone wrote:I downloaded the sample, then the whole book to make sure. It truely is an utterly terrible book, with some of the worst, and creepiest, writing I have ever encountered. I worry for anyone at all who can say it is at all titillating.

The best thing about it is the parody potential:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1RcKJVbHA

http://youtu.be/i9G0XFVBVuI

http://youtu.be/leT-4Y1l7NY

Not heard one good thing about it. Might read it just for shits and giggles.

That Gilbert Gottfried one is class!

Littlemissmetal wrote:

CrappyMike wrote:expected to hate it like the rest of the books we had to read, but it was one of the few i enjoyed.

Did anybody else find that? You as a general rule didn't enjoy things you had to read, but then if you read them afterwards they were a lot better?

i definitely did. the outsiders was helped by the incentive that we got to watch bits of the movie alongside the book, so i gave it a chance and loved it. skellig was one i hated though, and i actually now have a copy of skellig on my shelf which i have read 5 times since leaving school

Did you get to watch bits of the complete novel version of the film, or was that not yet out when you where at school? I can't believe how much better a film it is with the additional stuff put back in.

I don't know if it's a problem as such, but in my head I can only imagine Howell, Dillon, Macchio, Swayze, Lowe, Cruise etc. rather than how they are described. Like Dally has whitish-blond hair in the book, but I still see Matt Dillon with dark hair. And all the locations exist in my head. And I can't decide if it's stifled my imagination, or it's helped it by giving it something to work with.

nah we read it just before that version came out. although i didnt know it was out until you mentioned it, i had to look it up. i think i'll need to see if i can get it.

It's sometimes just listed as Special Edition on places like play.
I'd say it's well worth it though, you get like 20 odd minutes of extra footage in the main film, plus a second disc with deleted scenes, 2 different commentaries, a small documentary on the casting process with some rare footage of the auditions, a few short tv documentaries and stuff.

PhilMow wrote:

MetalBeast wrote:

thehairyone wrote:I downloaded the sample, then the whole book to make sure. It truely is an utterly terrible book, with some of the worst, and creepiest, writing I have ever encountered. I worry for anyone at all who can say it is at all titillating.

The best thing about it is the parody potential:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1RcKJVbHA

http://youtu.be/i9G0XFVBVuI

http://youtu.be/leT-4Y1l7NY

Not heard one good thing about it. Might read it just for shits and giggles.

That Gilbert Gottfried one is class!

Some bad news. Brian Blessed says he's not going to do a 50 Shades Of Grey audiobook.

https://twitter.com/brianblessed/status/224849617127342080


...and neither is Alan Carr

https://twitter.com/AlanCarr/status/224830941464494080

Vassily Grossman: life and fate

Truly amazing writing.....sad, uplifting, depressing amazing....all in one chapter


On the other hand, I've read a sample of fifty shades of Grey....makes the Da Vinci Code look like a supreme work of class literature

Alex gave me Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora for the journey to London and back.

So far (about half way through) it's a good pacey read and the story is interesting - the jumping between two different time periods in the character's life is well-timed and maintains interest and suspense effectively.

I have no problem with actual swearing in fantasy books - it's a slightly stuffy genre so books like Malazan and this one that allow for a bit of obscenity in the right context are a breath of fresh air (eg. soldiers swear, get over it.)

However, Lynch has something of a habit of throwing obscenity in at token moments where it's out of place in the conversation, leaving it a little cringe-worthy because it jumps off the page as not flowing as part of the dialogue - it's as if the characters are going "Look at me, I said a naughty word!" It feels like the author is trying too hard. The more I read, the more this irritates me.

Overall though it's a lot of fun.

eg. I won't for a second believe that an equivalent of a run of the mill police constable would follow "shit-eating little rat fucker" with "oh, such an infamy!" in the same sentence

Stephen King - Gerald's Game.

If Fifty Shades of Grey has made women more open to sexy funtime, then Gerald's Game would redress the balance by putting them off ever doing anything involving handcuffs.

The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Scott Lynch, you scoundrel. Luring me into a false sense of security with all that silly swearing and rather obvious death marks on some characters only to go and do something that utterly frustratingly brilliantly clever.

Everyone, go read this

Warcraft - War of the Ancients Archive by Richard A Knaak. Set around The Burning Legions invasion of Azeroth.

Can anybody recommend me some decent fantasy books please?

Finished a song of ice and fire and absolutely loved it and then moved on to trying to get through the wheel of time series by Jordan but i'm completely bored 3 books in so is there any other books out there that people think can rival ASOIAF?

You certainly are in the right place. Here's a short list...

Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Sword of Truth series by Terry Brooks
I quite like the Rachel Morgan series, but others my disagree and it's not 100% fantasy
The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
Deepgate Codex by Alan Campbell

Hannah will no doubt recommend Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Combined, that lot made me very, very bored with ASOIAF. I would suggests ticking with WoT - if you can get through and hit books 6, 7, 11 and 12 then it really is worth it.

thehairyone wrote:You certainly are in the right place. Here's a short list...

Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Sword of Truth series by Terry Brooks
I quite like the Rachel Morgan series, but others my disagree and it's not 100% fantasy
The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
Deepgate Codex by Alan Campbell

Hannah will no doubt recommend Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Combined, that lot made me very, very bored with ASOIAF. I would suggests ticking with WoT - if you can get through and hit books 6, 7, 11 and 12 then it really is worth it.

Brilliant, thanks alot ! I'll be sure to check out at least a few of those soon. In the mean time I guess I'll try and soldier on with WoT