What are you reading?
My kids have recently discovered the local library which has seen me deciding to get back into reading myself. I was pleasantly surprised to see this autobiography sitting on the shelves & thought "why the fuck not?". It was a thoroughly rewarding read too as there's a whole bunch of stuff in there that I had no idea about. It's been great to be able to see the Metal God as a human being who harbors self-doubt & human frailties like everyone else too. Every metalhead should read this at some point.
I don't often read biographies, but I bet this is an interesting read. Does he speak about the case that Priest faced in the US when they were accused of their music causing the two kids to commit suicide? That must have been a trying time for the band as they faced potentially very serious consequences for what was a tragedy not of their doing.
I am quite into my history nowadays and this 525 page monster of a book is my current read. McLynn likes his detail and spends most of chapter 1 talking about the harshness of the climate of Mongolia and how the nomadic peoples had to basically live in two different places depending on whether it was summer or winter in order to survive (due to farming requirements), so I am expecting this book will need a lot of my attention to get through.
I always have two or theee books on the go at once with a complete collection of HP Lovecraft's work (a 1600 page behemoth) being one, a book about Elizabethan natural philosopher John Dee another and the fifth (and so far last) book of George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series being my main read.
If you were a fan of the "Game of Thrones" TV show then this fifth in the series would deliver a few surprises, one of which had me literally shouting out aloud 'no fucking way' as I sat reading it in the car waiting for my wife to come out of the dentists. Looks like we will never see the ending the story deserves though as Martin either has writer's block or he has just got too comfy being lauded by all and sundry rather than sitting down and getting on with his day job. I would think that a writer would be desperate to get their story out there, but Martin seems to enjoy basking in the fame more than the desire to tell his story.
I don't often read biographies, but I bet this is an interesting read. Does he speak about the case that Priest faced in the US when they were accused of their music causing the two kids to commit suicide? That must have been a trying time for the band as they faced potentially very serious consequences for what was a tragedy not of their doing.
Yes, he goes into some depth about that case which is really interesting. He is also completely open about his sexuality & the challenges he faced during a time when celebrities couldn’t be as open about such things & also his substance abuse/addiction. Did you know that he never actually intended on quitting Priest after “Painkiller”? It was just a miscommunication that resulted in him being replaced.
My mother just gave me a stack of Aldous Hunxley books to read through, even though I just bought Mystic River, Timeline and The Stand at Goodreads with a birthday giftcard. So I'm gonna speedread one Huxley a day if I can and then send each one back to her. She wants to get through them once I'm done.
Mystic River has fantastic prose and excellent characterization. But the first act is a very slow drag that the movie thankfully fixed. Might've been perfect if it had a better soundtrack.
I don't often read biographies, but I bet this is an interesting read. Does he speak about the case that Priest faced in the US when they were accused of their music causing the two kids to commit suicide? That must have been a trying time for the band as they faced potentially very serious consequences for what was a tragedy not of their doing.
Yes, he goes into some depth about that case which is really interesting. He is also completely open about his sexuality & the challenges he faced during a time when celebrities couldn’t be as open about such things & also his substance abuse/addiction. Did you know that he never actually intended on quitting Priest after “Painkiller”? It was just a miscommunication that resulted in him being replaced.
No, I didn't. That is one hell of a miscommunication. I wonder if they would have maintained the quality of Painkiller or still produced the Jugulator/Demolition crap. At least he was never associated with those albums.
My mother just gave me a stack of Aldous Hunxley books to read through, even though I just bought Mystic River, Timeline and The Stand at Goodreads with a birthday giftcard. So I'm gonna speedread one Huxley a day if I can and then send each one back to her. She wants to get through them once I'm done.
Mystic River has fantastic prose and excellent characterization. But the first act is a very slow drag that the movie thankfully fixed. Might've been perfect if it had a better soundtrack.
I loved The Stand, but I haven't read it in donkey's years. Maybe it's getting time for a revisit. I do like the Mystic River movie but I haven't read the book. Is Timeline a Michael Crichton book?
I read this who-done-it style thriller across three days. It was really good until the end when all of the twists were thrown out in no time flat. I struggled to keep up with them & felt it would have been better to ease them out over a longer period. It was like he had a deadline to meet so tried to close everything out in a night.
My mother just gave me a stack of Aldous Hunxley books to read through, even though I just bought Mystic River, Timeline and The Stand at Goodreads with a birthday giftcard. So I'm gonna speedread one Huxley a day if I can and then send each one back to her. She wants to get through them once I'm done.
Mystic River has fantastic prose and excellent characterization. But the first act is a very slow drag that the movie thankfully fixed. Might've been perfect if it had a better soundtrack.
I loved The Stand, but I haven't read it in donkey's years. Maybe it's getting time for a revisit. I do like the Mystic River movie but I haven't read the book. Is Timeline a Michael Crichton book?
Yeah, but not one of his best. Every villain in the medieval ages is pretty much the same character: "I freak out and accuse you of lying because I can't handle that I'm someone in power who's being told he's wrong." Honestly, I'd rather have lunch with Trump. Yeah, these guys are more annoying that Mr. You're Fired.
I thought I'd give Jeff Abbott another crack after enjoying "An Ambush of Widows" recently & I feel very similar about this 355-page murder mystery/who-done-it style thriller. It had me completely captivated until it dumped all of its secrets on me all at once at the end which nullified some of the value in the clever plot twists in my opinion.
I've really enjoyed my first novel from this American crime author & screenplay writer. The twists are well constructed & the storyline is quite original. I might be back for more from Megan at some point.
Started Twilight of the Idols today. I am already fairly acquainted with Nietzsche and his works. It is good that I am regaining my habit of daily reading. I usually read at least 1 hour of a book a day but the last 2 months was pretty inconsistent. Thinking of picking up a few books by Bataille books as well
Nerd Alert:
Currently reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion as I haven't done so since the 1980's. It isn't anything like as difficult a read as I remember it being and I am really enjoying it.
Nerd Alert:
Currently reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion as I haven't done so since the 1980's. It isn't anything like as difficult a read as I remember it being and I am really enjoying it.
I still need to read that for this years book challenge.
As for myself, I'm on the fourth Discworld, Mort. Decent series so far, but apparently I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet.
Nerd Alert:
Currently reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion as I haven't done so since the 1980's. It isn't anything like as difficult a read as I remember it being and I am really enjoying it.
I still need to read that for this years book challenge.
As for myself, I'm on the fourth Discworld, Mort. Decent series so far, but apparently I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet.
I love Discworld. True, the very best ones are still to come. I would be very interested to know how Pratchett's humour lands with readers from outside Britain.
Nerd Alert:
Currently reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion as I haven't done so since the 1980's. It isn't anything like as difficult a read as I remember it being and I am really enjoying it.
I still need to read that for this years book challenge.
As for myself, I'm on the fourth Discworld, Mort. Decent series so far, but apparently I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet.
I love Discworld. True, the very best ones are still to come. I would be very interested to know how Pratchett's humour lands with readers from outside Britain.
The wit is easily recognizable. I'd say the strongest balance between wit and storytelling so far has in fact been Mort. Of course, having just got off the back of the Hitchhiker's series, these jokes are more "decent" than anything. I chuckle occasionally, but I'm expecting better things later on, so I might as well start from No. 1.
Stephen King's The Long Walk. Figured I'd finally read it before watching the recently released movie.
Stephen King's The Long Walk. Figured I'd finally read it before watching the recently released movie.
I plan on reading that before seeing the movie as well.
Just finished Mort. While its humor is still only chuckles, its world building and reliance on alternate realities is very cool. Death's a surprisingly believable character due to the satire of getting tired with your work, and it was cool to see the Rincewind cameo lived up to. Just as awkward as ever.
80/100, best of the four books so far IMO.