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What is everybody reading?

I finished Making Money on Friday, it was great. Terry Pratchett is a fantastic author. Going from one of his 80's books, to one from the 2000's, there's hardly a switch in quality.
I'm back to Mona Lisa Overdrive for now.
 
Finished Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg last night. Quite surprised how different the ending is from the film in terms of the aliens and how they act.

Going to start The Running Man by Stephen King tonight.
 
Currently reading Before the Big Bang: The Origins of Our Universe from the Multiverse by Laura Mersini-Houghton. Mersini-Houghton is a theoretical physicist and the world's leading expert on multiverse theory. It's a fascinating book packed with scientific theories of our creation, but what makes it really special is how the author weaves in her personal life story, from growing up in communist Albania to eventually earning a scholarship to study physics at a university in the United States. It's a great read and fairly accessible to those that aren't physics nerds.
 
Reading the name of the rose 🌹 so far so good. I saw the movie when it first came out so I don’t remember any of this. I plan on watching the movie after I’m done
 
Just finished The Running Man by Stephen King last night. I won't spoil it but I am very surprised how it is almost entirely different from the movie, the only parts that remain the same as the film is that there's a show called The Running Man ran by a guy called Killian and Ben Richards is a contestant of the show, trying to survive with his life, and that the show twists the audience against their contestants.

While I liked the story, it sort of falls apart and rushes itself at the end, without tying the loose ends raised in the story earlier. That was a bit disappointing. Also the book has a lot of racism in it. Not even racism that benefits the story much in any way, it's just racism for the sake of racism. Perhaps King was trying to show what the people are like in this world he's created, but for me it was walking a fine line between racism for world/character building and racism directly from the author. Honestly the story would've been just as fine without that level of racism, but it is what it is.

I do prefer the movie, but it was certainly interesting to read this version of the story that the film bases itself on, and couldn't quite believe how bleak it was in its entirety.

Will be starting 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke tonight.
 
I loved that movie as a kid. I don’t imagine it hold up as well as terminator 1-2 or predator or total recall. But that’s just a taste thing. As for 2001 I heard once that the story was a Stanley Kubrick idea commissioned to Arthur c Clark ? Not sure how true that is
 
I’m finishing up a re-read of the The Dragon Reborn in advance of the next season of the Wheel of Time show.

Over the next few days I’ll start American Pastoral by Philip Roth.
 
kinnikuman said:
I loved that movie as a kid. I don’t imagine it hold up as well as terminator 1-2 or predator or total recall. But that’s just a taste thing. As for 2001 I heard once that the story was a Stanley Kubrick idea commissioned to Arthur c Clark ? Not sure how true that is
Click to expand...
The starting point for 2001 was a short story Clarke wrote a few years before, 'Sentinel', about an old artifact buried on the moon. From there on, Kubrick and Clarke collaborated on the script. When Kubrick started filming, Clarke started writing the novel on his own. Which is probably why book and movie aren't completely the same.
 
ScottCrane said:
The starting point for 2001 was a short story Clarke wrote a few years before, 'Sentinel', about an old artifact buried on the moon. From there on, Kubrick and Clarke collaborated on the script. When Kubrick started filming, Clarke started writing the novel on his own. Which is probably why book and movie aren't completely the same.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about how most sci fi movies are just action movies - with gadgets. 2001 is truly science fiction. Thanks for the info!
 
Finished 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. Now I'm someone who finds the movie to be technically and visually masterful, but the story of the movie loses me at the end, because I honestly can't comprehend WTF is happening with the main character, so it just ends in a stupid way IMHO with a giant baby.

The book fixes the issues I had with the movie on a story level entirely. Not only that but it details cosmic wonders that the movie never made an attempt to show visually. It provides context to the monolith and its origins, as well as provides an explanation for what the monoliths are, and most importantly, explains what happened to the main character and why there's a giant baby floating in space.

For anyone who like me struggles to grasp the jittery storytelling methods of Kubrick for the end of the movie 2001, the book will have you covered and then some. The book is IMHO better than the movie. I would absolutely recommend it, if not for the better context and details, then for being able to revisit 2001 in a new way other than movie form.

Will be starting The Abyss by Orson Scott Card tonight.
 
Just finished the name of the rose - cool summer mystery read. I was hoping to stream the movie or the show but nobody has it on right now :/
 
Finished The Abyss by Orson Scott Card. I enjoyed the book, but due to my own personal experiences, I really dislike Lindsey as a character, mostly because of the reasons created to explain the divorce between Lindsey and Bud. As such, I could not stand to see her get a happy ending. I haven't seen the movie in a long time so I don't know if the movie contains the backstory of their divorce, but if not then for me personally I prefer the movie. If so, then I think the book does a nice job of adapting the story.

Will cease reading books until the later end of next week, vacation time.
 
I decided to reread Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, due to how Discworld is often compared to it. Personally, I think Terry Pratchett is the better author, but they are really different types of stories. I'm near the end of Resturant At The End Of The Universe which I might be enjoying better than the first book, I regret giving up on it years ago.
 
I’m reading the skeptics guide to the future. It’s pretty cool it takes realistic views on modern tech and rate of progress and current underway science to predict more reasonable look at future- and not just the world of tomorrow everyone will have jet packs approach. A lot of this book is repetitive if you even keep up a little with a with science news but some stuff is new to me and very interesting. Also the guy is a good writer and very good and explaining hard science - dumb it down ? - and making it very accessible.
 
Will start reading D.A.R.Y.L. by N. H. Kleinbaum either tonight or tomorrow. Depends on how tired I feel after only just returning from vacation.
 
I just started the second book of Remembrance of Earth’s Past, better known as The Three Body Problem trilogy. This book is called The Dark Forest. Im only a small way into it but I’m surprised how different it is from the first book.
 
Finished D.A.R.Y.L. by N. H. Kleinbaum. Quite a light and quick read, yet enjoyable, just like the movie. It doesn't particularly offer anything new as to what is seen in the movie, but was still a fun read regardless. Will start Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark by Campbell Black tonight.
 
Finished Raiders of the Lost Ark by Campbell Black. That was quite a slog to get through. Don't get me wrong, the story was fine. It had way more connotations that Indiana Jones was actually a pedo towards Marion since the book plays up the whole her being a child and him being older and should know better schtick. Even to the point where Marion's father absolutely never forgave Indy for the rest of his life.

That didn't bother me, but it does dive into that a bit more. For me the problem is that it's not very well chaptered. When you start off, there's a few long chapters and a few short ones, but the short ones are only 1 or 2 pages long, whereas the long ones consist of a large chunk of the book, which is most of the chapters. As someone who likes to finish a chapter before placing a bookmark and taking a break, especially reading at night, I found I was unable to do that with this book. I got too tired before I even got close to the end of the chapter, so I had to break in mid chapter. I don't like doing that but I had little choice. D.A.R.Y.L. by N. H. Kleinbaum is very well chaptered and is consistent throughout keeping the same length chapters through the book, but that is not the case with Raiders. It's not a major issue, as I've read books with similar structure before, but I don't have to like it. As a result it took me longer than usual to read through the book entirely.

Other than that, it was an enjoyable read. I'll be starting Mars Attacks! by Jonathan Gems tonight.
 
ScottCrane said:
The starting point for 2001 was a short story Clarke wrote a few years before, 'Sentinel', about an old artifact buried on the moon. From there on, Kubrick and Clarke collaborated on the script. When Kubrick started filming, Clarke started writing the novel on his own. Which is probably why book and movie aren't completely the same.
Click to expand...
I'm a huge Clarke fan. I was the one girl in school who loved classic science fiction. 😂
 
I've enjoyed Clarke, but I haven't made a point of reading a lot of his work. I did read one or two of the Foundation novels, and as I remember them the AppleTV+ series (which just started its second season) is a very loose adaptation.
 
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