Books

jlew24asu

Byrnzie wrote:

Possibly.

I read the book you recommended on rwanda. amazing read. amazing story.

FinsburyParkCarrots

Byrnzie wrote:

Interesting. Is there any parallel with Martin Amis' 'The Information'?

When you read New Grub Street, you'll know the answer!

Byrnzie

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

When you read New Grub Street, you'll know the answer!

I'll make a point of doing so. Thanks.

Byrnzie

jlew24asu wrote:

I read the book you recommended on rwanda. amazing read. amazing story.

You mean: 'We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families'?

Yeah. Harrowing stuff. Incredible piece of journalism though.

small town beck

I love reading books. I go through cycles where I seem simply seem to consume books in the span of weeks and where I may not pick up a book for another month after having read four in three weeks. I love seeing movies for mindless entertainment to the same degree I do in the reading of books. not always what I am looking for but somtimes just good fun


I love after finishing a book to share ideas and maybe even drinks across the sofa and discuss all of that...to me that could be the perfect day

as for actors well they all become actors because of some inherit flaw no? but Ed Norton does seem to be the cat's pyjamas??? brilliant and beautiful... but which came first???

maybe I am just drunk.....

stb

Jeanie

small town beck wrote:

I love reading books. I go through cycles where I seem simply seem to consume books in the span of weeks and where I may not pick up a book for another month after having read four in three weeks. I love seeing movies for mindless entertainment to the same degree I do in the reading of books. not always what I am looking for but somtimes just good fun
I love after finishing a book to share ideas and maybe even drinks across the sofa and discuss all of that...to me that could be the perfect day

as for actors well they all become actors because of some inherit flaw no? but Ed Norton does seem to be the cat's pyjamas??? brilliant and beautiful... but which came first???

maybe I am just drunk.....

stb

Seems to me you're thinking pretty clearly.

I mean Ed Norton really is something to see and I'm stone cold sober!!!

And besides, I completely agree with you about books! Amongst other things!

small town beck

Jeanie wrote:

Seems to me you're thinking pretty clearly
I mean Ed Norton really is something to see and I'm stone cold sober!!!

And besides, I completely agree with you about books! Amongst other things!

Thanks, J!!

Probably not a great movie but Ed was BRILLIANT in Primal Fear... actually he is brilliant in all he does... American History X..WOW... just WOW.. no words can really express it. I still remember that moment when I realized the kerb scene :eek: :(

I actually enjoyed Primal Fear..

Books though.. even if you are reading fluff(well good fluff), you are still learning

Jeanie

Byrnzie wrote:

That book. Ahh, not yet. I've got quite a few to plough through first. As for being 'a words person'...hmm, not really. I hated 'The Royal Tenenbaums', and I didn't like 'Pulp Fiction' either. Too wordy. I prefer films like 'Dead Man', or 'Ivans XTC', or 'The Proposition', or like 'Lust for life'. Long silences are my thing. People talk too much.
I still think my favourite scene from any film is the part in 'The Deer Hunter' where De Niro returns to his home town and tells the cab driver to drive past his house where the welcome home party is going on. He goes to a motel room and just sits on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. That scene speaks more than any dialogue I've ever heard.
A similar thing in 'Cool hand Luke' where Paul Newman hears that his Mother's died. No words are spoken. He just returns to the prison dorm and sits on his bed and plays his guitar. Beautiful. That scene alone kicks a million dialogues into the kerb.

I know the feeling Byrnzie! I've got a bedside book queue myself!
I'm moving on to The World from Islam by George Negus next, and I'll probably start reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins at the same time. Just coz I suspect my concentration won't be so good. Oh and if my sister in law ever finishes it, I must read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne just to know what all the fuss is about.

If you like movies with little talking then how about "Into Great Silence"?
"It’s a documentary 2¾ hours long depicting life inside the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps. It’s the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order which is a silent order."

Here's a link that tells a little bit more about it.
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s1910423.htm

I couldn't stand the Royal Tenenbaums and I'm still wondering what all the fuss was about with Pulp Fiction. It was ok, but I really liked True Romance better.
I must see The Proposition! I meant to when it came out, but like most movies, it'll be relegated to DVD. I haven't seen The Deer Hunter. I'm not a huge De Niro fan. But I have seen Cool Hand Luke, several times, it's an amazing movie and I must be just about due for a repeat, it's been a while. I love the scene with the hard boiled eggs. And that amazing line,"What we have here is a failure to communicate." Love that movie.
Anyway, I'm talking too much!

Jeanie

catefrances wrote:

without words what do we have?

im a words person myself. i visualise inside my own head. and there is nothing better than that when reading.

this week though my english prof asked us how we approach poetry. and because every dullard in the class immediately stared at their shoes i spoke up(i know, i know a shocker. ) i said i read them out loud. and probably do so cause i like the sound of my own voice. which sounds like ego talking but its not. its more than that. its about phrasing and intonation. its about feeling what it is youre reading. there's nothing worse than having to listen to someone read who doesnt know how to do it. who thinks its a chore to do so.
i think having to watch actors convey to us some other world and do it convincingly, is tedious if they're crap at it. a pretty face does not an actor make.

Oh I'm with you cate!! I can't even begin to understand poetry unless I read it aloud. And as for scripts, or plays, I'm lost if I can't have a read through.
We had so much poetry recited around the house as kids, I've always loved to hear it spoken, as much as singing. Lots of recitation went on.
And I think that's why I do ok with reading aloud. That and the fact that Mum always read to us. And the Grannies of course. And I've been reading myself since I was quite small. Used to snuggle up in the corner of the couch in the little sunshine spot and read books and eat apples. Was just dreamy. Listening to people struggle to read aloud or deliver lines is as excrutiating to me sometimes as nails on a chalkboard!! :eek: And I feel sad for people not having that skill. Maybe it's the Irish ancestry in us cate. We love the verbal storytelling.

catefrances

Jeanie wrote:

Oh I'm with you cate!! I can't even begin to understand poetry unless I read it aloud. And as for scripts, or plays, I'm lost if I can't have a read through.
We had so much poetry recited around the house as kids, I've always loved to hear it spoken, as much as singing. Lots of recitation went on.
And I think that's why I do ok with reading aloud. That and the fact that Mum always read to us. And the Grannies of course. And I've been reading myself since I was quite small. Used to snuggle up in the corner of the couch in the little sunshine spot and read books and eat apples. Was just dreamy. Listening to people struggle to read aloud or deliver lines is as excrutiating to me sometimes as nails on a chalkboard!! :eek: And I feel sad for people not having that skill. Maybe it's the Irish ancestry in us cate. We love the verbal storytelling.

to be sure.

Heineken Helen

Byrnzie wrote:

Watching a film requires NO effort whatsoever. Reading a book forces you to engage your concentration and apply your imagination into transforming the words on the page into images and ideas, and connections in your head. And you will not get pretty much the same story from watching a film. You will get someone else's interpretation of a book from a film - an interpretation that will always only ever skim the surface of the depths of a book. There are also some books which are nigh on impossible to film.

Couple of good points there although I will argue that a BOOK is also only the authors interpretation... if we're talking non-fiction.

catefrances

Heineken Helen wrote:

Couple of good points there although I will argue that a BOOK is also only the authors interpretation... if we're talking non-fiction.

and thats why you always read more than one book on a given subject helen. that way you can form your own opinion based on what you read. and even do your own research if you feel so inclined.

Heineken Helen

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

There's more life in a book than there is in a pub full of wankers.

Did I mention the pub? And if you think a pub is just a place 'full of wankers' then we're not on the same page anyway (no pun intended).

I'm just putting out another point of view there... I have read, it's not like I don't know what's IN a book or what it has to offer.

Heineken Helen

Jeanie wrote:

Oh I'm with you cate!! I can't even begin to understand poetry unless I read it aloud. And as for scripts, or plays, I'm lost if I can't have a read through.
We had so much poetry recited around the house as kids, I've always loved to hear it spoken, as much as singing. Lots of recitation went on.
And I think that's why I do ok with reading aloud. That and the fact that Mum always read to us. And the Grannies of course. And I've been reading myself since I was quite small. Used to snuggle up in the corner of the couch in the little sunshine spot and read books and eat apples. Was just dreamy. Listening to people struggle to read aloud or deliver lines is as excrutiating to me sometimes as nails on a chalkboard!! :eek: And I feel sad for people not having that skill. Maybe it's the Irish ancestry in us cate. We love the verbal storytelling.

That's a good point... I just love communicating with people. And maybe it IS an Irish thing that we can't shut the fuck up, lol.

Heineken Helen

catefrances wrote:

and thats why you always read more than one book on a given subject helen. that way you can form your own opinion based on what you read. and even do your own research if you feel so inclined.

Or depending on the subject, you can go out there and study it yourself rather than read a load of conflicting descriptions

Scubascott

A couple of books that everyone on this forum should read -

'Tiger Force' by Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss. About some really fucked up stuff that american soldiers did in Vietnam, and investigation that was covered up by the military.

'The places in between' by Rory Stewart. About a dude who walked across Afganistan just weeks after the american invasion.

catefrances

Scubascott wrote:

'The places in between' by Rory Stewart. About a dude who walked across Afganistan just weeks after the american invasion.

i'm adding this one to my already long list. i'm currently reading a history of conflict in afghanistan(along with others).

Scubascott

Another one:

'The Blind Watchmaker' by Richard Dawkins, a defense of Darwinism, including good layman's explanations of the concepts of evolution by natural selection.

More if I think of them later. Need to read some more of Tim Flannery's stuff. I've read his book about his adventures in New Guinea, and it was really interesting stuff.

lucylespian

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

For fuck's sake.

Every once in while, there is a perfect post that sums everything up perfectly. Tihs is one.

Perfect punk even !! LOL !!!
Now get on board with me wanting to publish the PJ songs for exactly teh same reason.
Actually, I've given up on that, I don't care any more.

Byrnzie

Byrnzie wrote:

As for being 'a words person'...hmm, not really. I hated 'The Royal Tenenbaums', and I didn't like 'Pulp Fiction' either. Too wordy. I prefer films like 'Dead Man', or 'Ivans XTC', or 'The Proposition', or like 'Lust for life'. Long silences are my thing. People talk too much.
I still think my favourite scene from any film is the part in 'The Deer Hunter' where De Niro returns to his home town and tells the cab driver to drive past his house where the welcome home party is going on. He goes to a motel room and just sits on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. That scene speaks more than any dialogue I've ever heard.
A similar thing in 'Cool hand Luke' where Paul Newman hears that his Mother's died. No words are spoken. He just returns to the prison dorm and sits on his bed and plays his guitar. Beautiful. That scene alone kicks a million dialogues into the kerb.

Byrnzie, you should have used the film 'The Straight Story' to emphasize your point regarding silences. You big klutz! That film epitomizes the power and beauty of silences better than any other. You fucking bozo! :rolleyes:


Edit: I wonder if you can get banned from the message board for verbally abusing yourself?