Summer reading/viewing
As a random gift to my nephew across the country, I sent him my copy of "Fight Club." To this point, he has read only the assignments they gave him in school. I love to read, but the require reading nearly ruined it for me. His recreational reading is comic books.
In my letter accompanying the book, I told him not to watch the movie until he had read the book, which is better. And that isn't meant to slam the film; I enjoyed it and that's how I discovered Chuck's writing. Sorry, I wasn't hooked into the underground lit world, which seems trite and childish to me.
Is it that much of a letdown to read the book first and watch the movie? He's excited, as he is involved in mixed martial arts; I admit to some Hollywood manipulation in drawing him in with the title.
Like Hunger Games or 50 shades of Grey/gray?
lqtm ( yeah, I laugh at my own whatever I just posted right now)
I've heard really good things about the Hunger Games books, but Fifty Shades is terrible. I've flipped through it and read parts. I can't believe that got published when I know so many great authors struggling to get heard.
And it started as fan-fiction...
And it started as fan-fiction...
I'm still dumbfounded that people continue to say the books are "good". Read this from a reviewer at Amazon:
And oh, the repetition...and the repetition...and the repetition. I'm convinced the author has a computer macro that she hits to insert one of her limited repertoire of facial expressions whenever she needs one. According to my Kindle search function, characters roll their eyes 41 times, Ana bites her lip 35 times, Christian's lips "quirk up" 16 times, Christian "cocks his head to one side" 17 times, characters "purse" their lips 15 times, and characters raise their eyebrows a whopping 50 times. Add to that 80 references to Ana's anthropomorphic "subconscious" (which also rolls its eyes and purses its lips, by the way), 58 references to Ana's "inner goddess," and 92 repetitions of Ana saying some form of "oh crap" (which, depending on the severity of the circumstances, can be intensified to "holy crap," "double crap," or the ultimate "triple crap"). And this is only part one of a trilogy...
...*UPDATE*: Thanks to the many other perturbed readers who have shared their own choices of the most annoyingly overused phrases in this masterpiece. Following up on their suggestions with my ever-useful Kindle search function, I have discovered that Ana says "Jeez" 81 times and "oh my" 72 times. She "blushes" or "flushes" 125 times, including 13 that are "scarlet," 6 that are "crimson," and one that is "stars and stripes red." (I can't even imagine.) Ana "peeks up" at Christian 13 times, and there are 9 references to Christian's "hooded eyes," 7 to his "long index finger," and 25 to how "hot" he is (including four recurrences of the epic declarative sentence "He's so freaking hot"). Christian's "mouth presses into a hard line" 10 times. Characters "murmur" 199 times and "whisper" 195 times (doesn't anyone just talk?), "clamber" on/in/out of things 21 times, and "smirk" 34 times. Christian and Ana also "gasp" 46 times and experience 18 "breath hitches," suggesting a need for prompt intervention by paramedics. Finally, in a remarkable bit of symmetry, our hero and heroine exchange 124 "grins" and 124 "frowns"... which, by the way, seems an awful lot of frowning for a woman who experiences "intense," "body-shattering," "delicious," "violent," "all-consuming," "turbulent," "agonizing" and "exhausting" orgasms on just about every page.
Okay, y'all can now have the thread back.
Great gift
What is this thread about?
Scribbs gets +1 internet.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Alecia, there's stuff like - "He grimaced slightly, then caught himself frowning, then smiled to compensate all in less than a second when he realized I..." (not a direct quote but only because I can't remember the exact quote - but pretty fucking close.) It's all pretty funny.
We're about to start the Potter books.
This is why we can't have nice things.
There's nothing wrong with reading comics or graphic novels. I love them.
As far as using a movie or media to get somebody to read a book - I feel that any tool used to get people to read more is good. Even when it's a shitty Stephanie Meyer book. Those people will eventually graduate to better things... hopefully.