Relaxing Fun discussion
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A-Z word game GoodReads style
A- manda QuickShe is one of my favorite historical romance author. It is actually Jayne Anne Krentz's pseudonym when she writes in this genre.
B-arbarian
Its is a good book by one of my fave others. About 4 boys from different time periods in history trying to fit in in prestent day LA. They have powers and bad guys basicly are trying to destroy them.
Its is a good book by one of my fave others. About 4 boys from different time periods in history trying to fit in in prestent day LA. They have powers and bad guys basicly are trying to destroy them.
C -harlaine HarrisAuthor of the Sookie Stackhouse series on which the popular HBO True Blood tv show is based on.
Mod
Well-known romance author.
E -rich SegalAuthor of Love Story, Doctors, The Class. Most of his books has Harvard as part of it. Wonderful writer and great books.
F-rederick ForsythEnglish author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger and recently The Afghan.
G-eorgia Byngauthor of the Molly Moon's series
H-oward RoarkMy favorite hero, from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead
I - I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
not many know the book.
not many know the book.
J-K RowlingThe amazing author of the Harry Potter series
K-en FollettPillars of the Earth and World Without End...2 incredible books!
M-árquez, Gabriel Garcia, the author of one of my favorite "yet to have finished" books " One Hundred Years of Solitude" The storytelling is so beautiful and vivid. There is alot of it though, so you have to really commit before you even open it.
N-ineteen eighty-four, a somewhat overrated dystopia by the somewhat overrated George Orwell.
Choupette wrote: "N-ineteen eighty-four, a somewhat overrated dystopia by the somewhat overrated George Orwell."O-K, I'm provoked. This is the book that launched the expressions "newspeak", "doublethink" and "memory hole", among others. Agreed, it's not as good as Animal Farm, but then how many books are?
Manny wrote: "Choupette wrote: "N-ineteen eighty-four, a somewhat overrated dystopia by the somewhat overrated George Orwell."O-K, I'm provoked. This is the book that launched the expressions "newspeak", "doub..."
L-oser, is what I feel like for not knowing the works of George Orwell first hand. I should probably read his work so I can contribute elegant comments like Choupette & Manny. I am intrigued to read something that most books can't live up to.
Jasmine wrote: L-oser, is what I feel like for not knowing the works of George Orwell first hand. I should probably read his work so I can contribute elegant comments like Choupette & Manny. I am intrigued to read something that most books can't live up to. Jasmine, read Animal Farm AT ONCE, it is very short and completely perfect. Then read Martin Amis's Money. You won't see the connection at first, but, trust me, when you get to the relevant point you'll recognize it. I'll give you a Money back guarantee.
Manny wrote: "Jasmine wrote: L-oser, is what I feel like for not knowing the works of George Orwell first hand. I should probably read his work so I can contribute elegant comments like Choupette & Manny. I am i..."oooooh. a money back guarantee! my interest is definately aroused. i will follow your advice as you appear to be a man who knows what he speaks of! thank you!!!
Jasmine, I appreciate your kind words! Though about the Amis, if you haven't read any of his books, should warn not to attempt if you are easily shocked... the narrator is just about the most unpleasant fictional character ever. But I found the book hilarious and impossible to put down.
Manny wrote: "Jasmine, I appreciate your kind words! Though about the Amis, if you haven't read any of his books, should warn not to attempt if you are easily shocked... the narrator is just about the most unple..."i'm from Detroit. I don't think i'm the sort to be easily shocked. (hahaha) thank you for the warning though. If it gets too bad i'll remember that you found it to be hilarious. Sometimes shocking can be good.
From Detroit, huh? Well, most of the action in Money takes place in New York City and London... so I'll switch over completely, you may find it a bit on the wussy side :)
Manny wrote: "From Detroit, huh? Well, most of the action in Money takes place in New York City and London... so I'll switch over completely, you may find it a bit on the wussy side :)"Hahahahaha! I've never been a South Park fan, but there is this recurring joke that Satan and Saddam Hussein are lovers and the only place they hate with all of their being is Detroit. I find that to be one of the funniest things in the world.
As far as NYC is concerned...the first time I went to New York I went with a group of friends. Everyone warned us how bad New York was. Once we got there we looked around and said "seriously? this is what they're talking about?" I guess the good thing about growing up here is that I'm never afraid when I'm in other cities. It makes you a tough kid. Please let me say though, that Detroit isn't that bad. Really, I promise.
Mod
O-K, I'm provoked. This is the book that launched the expressions "newspeak", "doub..."
Manny, Very few books are as good as Animal Farm. I agree with you re 1984, but then I was an English major--read it in college so had help with understanding the literary styles and terms...I guess (sometimes I'm not so sure).
Jessica Frank wrote: Manny, Very few books are as good as Animal Farm. I agree with you re 1984, but then I was an English major--read it in college so had help with understanding the literary styles and terms...I guess (sometimes I'm not so sure). I read 1984 as a teenager, and I think I was mostly impressed at the unflinching way in which it exposed the lie of totalitarianism. My parents were lefty 60s types who sort of felt that the Soviet Union had a fair number of good things going for it. This book strips off the mask. And it's not just old-fashioned 20th century communism. I think Orwell's analysis of how people who want to seize and maintain power always start by distorting language is just as relevant to the Bush administration. If it's not as easy to fool people these days, he had a fair amount to do with it.
Though for my money, the greatest force for truth and freedom in the world today is the Internet. When are they going to give the Nobel Peace Prize to its inventors? Way, way overdue :)
P-alahniuk, Chuck - author. His stuff is weird and shocking (see i can be shocked Manny) and odd and out there and sometimes when i'm done reading his books i feel dirty... like i need a shower. i've yet to read a single book of his that i really liked. yet, he must be doing something right because i keep buying his books.
I haven't read any Palahniuk - though his name's close enough to Kosteniuk that he may draw some benefit from benefit from that. She's a most unlikely person... very few novelists would get away with a Women's World Chess Champion who has also modeled for Vogue. I've been a fan for a while, was really pleased when she won the title last year.
Manny wrote: "I haven't read any Palahniuk - though his name's close enough to Kosteniuk that he may draw some benefit from benefit from that. She's a most unlikely person... very few novelists would get away wi..."chess champion and Vogue model?!
i'll have to check her out!
Palahniuk is the author behind Fight Club...which was later adapted to film starring Ed Norton. Brad Pitt starred as the unforgetable Tyler Durden. That charachter is a mind assault. Wow.
The next film adaptation of Palahniuk's is Invisible Monsters(currently in production)...which also served as inspiration for the band Panic! At The Disco's first album. I'll probably go see it just to see which actors were brave enough to attempt to play the characters. Palahniuk is pretty big amongst the hipster crowd...casually tossing his name around to say that they've read Palahniuk...that or they confused him with Chuck Klosterman...which is equally as "hipster" if not more so.
**Nothing against hipsters. Hipsters rule...in their own way**
tam wrote: "manny. you have just managed to shock me. literally, yes, i jolted, went into spasm.never. read. palahniuk.
"
I'm also one of the five people in the Western hemisphere who haven't seen Fight Club. We meet up for dinner once a year and exchange non-Palahniuk stories. I had to plan this a long way ahead.
Jasmine wrote: "chess champion and Vogue model?!i'll have to check her out!"
http://www.kosteniuk.com/
It is hard to believe she really exists, isn't it?
tam wrote: "manny. you have just managed to shock me. literally, yes, i jolted, went into spasm.never. read. palahniuk.
"
you know. that was my FIRST reaction!! but then i was in borders and i saw another one of his books so i thought..what the hell, i'll give him another shot.
and i was left with my mouth hanging open, in the shower, trying to wash away that dirty feeling i was left with. i gave it to someone else to read to see if they could explain it, but they had the same reaction.
then a month or two later...i was in borders again and i bought ANOTHER DAMN PALAHNIUK BOOK!!
i don't get it! i don't know why i keep buying this man's books. but he must be doing something right because there i am in line...behind all of those damn twilight kids!
tam wrote: "why is it so hard to believe that a smart and beautiful woman exists?"i most definately believe that she exists...but the woman that is pretty and smart never gets her name in lights unless being discussed as some sort of anomoly or is being mocked. Beauty and brains are treated as incompatible. it's one or the other.
which is sad and pathetic.
tam wrote: "why is it so hard to believe that a smart and beautiful woman exists?"Well, in a novel I would say that the author was making the point in an unnecessarily heavy-handed way. It takes so much time and effort to become a Vogue model or a Women's World Chess Champion that it's unlikely anyone could in practice do both. They should have picked something more credible.
But somehow Kosteniuk pulled off this amazing double. As I said, I'm a huge fan. For pretty much the same reasons why Legally Blonde is one of my favorite movies.
Jasmine wrote: "tam wrote: "why is it so hard to believe that a smart and beautiful woman exists?"i most definately believe that she exists...but the woman that is pretty and smart never gets her name in light..."
No one in the chess world mocks Alexandra! She's kicked way too many top player butts :)
Manny wrote: "tam wrote: "why is it so hard to believe that a smart and beautiful woman exists?"Well, in a novel I would say that the author was making the point in an unnecessarily heavy-handed way. It takes ..."
That sounds like a perfect example!
Although it proves my point to a certain extent, Elle is mocked. She's mocked by the characters and even the audience gets pulled into laughing at her expense before she wins a case based on her knowlegde of cosmotology procedures. That would never happen!
I think the ending of Legally Blonde is one of the most brilliant comic sequences ever. You know perfectly well by then that she's super-smart, but somehow she still got me, and I would guess most other people too. Reese Witherspoon plays it absolutely flawlessly. I would say those five minutes were what made her into a major star.
Manny wrote: "I think the ending of Legally Blonde is one of the most brilliant comic sequences ever. You know perfectly well by then that she's super-smart, but somehow she still got me, and I would guess most ..."i do love that movie. despite itself. lol
Jasmine wrote: "She's mocked by the characters and even the audience gets pulled into laughing at her expense before she wins a case based on her knowlegde of cosmotology procedures. That would never happen!"
On thinking about it, what's so brilliant is the way she suddenly fuses the two sides of her personality. She wins the case on her in-depth Cosmo-girl knowledge of hair-perming technology, but she presents it like a hard-hitting top-of-the-class Harvard lawyer. I must have watched this movie at least three times.
tam wrote: "i've never seen it. never had the desire.i love getting my mind expanded here on gr."
I very nearly didn't see it, but was persuaded by a (smart, blonde) woman I used to work with. We had this tradition of going out to see a movie together every now and then after work. That evening, I wanted to see The Man Who Wasn't There and she wanted to see Legally Blonde. We ended up seeing both, and decided they were both great in very different ways :)
Manny wrote: "Jasmine wrote: "She's mocked by the characters and even the audience gets pulled into laughing at her expense before she wins a case based on her knowlegde of cosmotology procedures. That would nev..."three times? that's it? slacker!
but then again i am a girl, and i was in high school when it came out and i have three sisters and i've supervised tween sleepovers...so i guess my 50+ viewings would be the norm.
i LOVED the lesbian who was soooo mean to her at Harvard. I thought she was great! the lawn scene where they're all discussing their accomplishments and Elle starts talking about knowing Aaron Spelling or something like that. The looks on their faces was classic!!
Jasmine wrote: "three times? that's it? slacker!but then again i am a girl, and i was in high school when it came out and i have three sisters and i've supervised tween sleepovers...so i guess my 50+ viewings would be the norm.
i LOVED the lesbian who was soooo mean to her at Harvard. I thought she was great! the lawn scene where they're all discussing their accomplishments and Elle starts talking about knowing Aaron Spelling or something like that. The looks on their faces was classic!!"
Well maybe four times. Five tops.
Yes, I also love the boasting scene and the mean lesbian, but I think my absolute favorite bit is where she slaps the nerdy guy's face and he is so slow catching on to why she's done it. Her hidden smile as she turns away is absolutely priceless.
I think I might have seen Howard the Duck 50 times. It's the family cult movie. We all know it line by line.
Manny wrote: "Jasmine wrote: "three times? that's it? slacker!but then again i am a girl, and i was in high school when it came out and i have three sisters and i've supervised tween sleepovers...so i guess my..."
THAT is my favorite scene in the entire movie.
I also must admit that when I was younger Howard The Duck was my favorite movie. Why a six year old with impecible taste in music would chose such a bad film, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was because he was a lifesize talking duck.
Nirvana, The Police and Depeche Mode were my favorite bands at six years old in 1992, but then again Ace of Base was my all time favorite band so maybe my tastes weren't all that evolved.
It's my older son's favorite movie. He's autistic-spectrum. At first, the rest of us didn't quite understand how brilliant it was, but after the tenth viewing it kind of grows on you. For what it's worth, I did once see it on a list called something like "The 25 most undervalued films of all time". It's definitely so-bad-its-good. Tim Robbins is great as Philsey.
Jasmine wrote: "I also must admit that when I was younger Howard The Duck was my favorite movie. Why a six year old with impecible taste in music would chose such a bad film, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was because he was a lifesize talking duck."Oh wow. So you know it well then.
My favorite line is "Let the female creature go!". But there are so many to choose from.
Manny wrote: "It's my older son's favorite movie. He's autistic-spectrum. At first, the rest of us didn't quite understand how brilliant it was, but after the tenth viewing it kind of grows on you. For what it..."
things that are "So bad it's good" is my guilty pleasure...which can be a little more easy to love than the "so weird it's brilliant" genre. I don't know why but i love stuff like that. those and innuendos.
Well, Howard certainly combines so-bad-its-good and innuendo."Hm, must be the mating season!"
By the way (so rare to meet another Howard fan) have you come across the comic book where he meets the Holy Trinity? I even posted a Never-Ending Quiz question about that.
Manny wrote: "Jasmine wrote: "I also must admit that when I was younger Howard The Duck was my favorite movie. Why a six year old with impecible taste in music would chose such a bad film, I'm not sure. Perhaps ..."revisiting things you adored as a child can either reinforce your love for them or ruin the memory forever. I recall seeing Neverending Story again as an adult and still loving it then explaining to my Somalian roommate why it's a great movie. But then I saw Howard The Duck again a few years ago and thought "WHY did i watch this so much?"
Manny wrote: "By the way (so rare to meet another Howard fan) have you come across the comic book where he meets the Holy Trinity? I even posted a Never-Ending Quiz question about that."
no. i never got passed watching it non-stop until about age ten at which point i lost interest.
Jasmine wrote: "revisiting things you adored as a child can either reinforce your love for them or ruin the memory forever. I recall seeing Neverending Story again as an adult and still loving it then explaining to my Somalian roommate why it's a great movie. But then I saw Howard The Duck again a few years ago and thought "WHY did i watch this so much?" "Ah yes, I believe E. Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle was the second book I read at age 6, and I still love it. I was meaning to post a proper review soon. But then I think that I once liked E.E. Doc Smith. Embarrassing.
I believe Jonathan likes Howard because he kind of identifies with him. Howard's from the Duck Planet, and all our ways are strange to him, and people don't treat him well because he's a three foot high duck. But in the end he saves the world and gets the girl. It's very encouraging if you're mildly autistic.
To make it more interesting, add a tidbit of information, recommendation, comment, etc. about your chosen answer, so we get to learn more from the group's reading experience.
Hope you'll play with me...*smiles*