What Books Have You Read Recently

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California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
For those who like reading John Le Carre, Len Deighton's Bernard Sampson triple trilogy is less cerebral, and adds some humor. I've read the series three times.
They can be read in any order, but in order of series they are:
"Berlin Game", "Mexico Set", "London Match"
"Spy Hook", Spy Line", Spy Sinker"
"Faith", "Hope", "Charity"

His "IPCRESS File" and "Funeral In Berlin" were made into movies starring Michael Caine.

Too, he has authored several well researched and written WW II books. "Blood, Sweat and Folly" is particularly interesting.
 
Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
fiver said:
can't much stand the movies either.
i know i haven't watched an entire one.
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I could not keep my attention on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. However I was made to watch it.
Not my style.

I just watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Enjoyed it way more then Lord of the Rings.
 
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Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I liked the whole series of LOR movies. The book LOR is kinda dry, but there's a lot more of the backstory you don't get in the flicks. Much prefer something like that to most of the movies or books comint out today. When Tom Clancy died that was the end of one type of book I liked. Westerns pretty much the same thing when L'Amour died. I tend to go more for history these days.
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
Best thing I ever read by Louis Lamour wasn't technically a western. Last of the Breed is one of the best books I ever read. I still pull out a cooy and reread it every few years.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Bret4207 said:
..... Much prefer something like that to most of the movies or books comint out today. When Tom Clancy died that was the end of one type of book I liked.......
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I'm with you there.
I read every book in the original Clancy series.

To this day, I think "Red Storm Rising" is the best hypothetical war ficition ever put into print.
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
As to westerns, two books Alan Lemay wrote, The Searchers and The Unforgiven, are excellent. Lemay actually lived through some of that era of Texas history. The movie they made from The Searchers is very good, but doesn't fully communicate to the audience just how dark and brutal that story is. They made a movie from The Unfogiven, but even with a cast like Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Lillian Gish, Audie Murphy, etc., they still came up way. Way short, sim ppl ly because they took way too much artistic license with the story. I wouldn't call it a terrible movie, but it's a big dissappointment if you've read the book.

Two westerns by Walter Van Tilburgh Clark, The Oxbow Incident and Track of the Cat, are also very good and also made into movies though Track of the Cat was much like The Unforgiven, ruined a great story with too much artistic license.
 
Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
L'Amour was the king of the westerns as far as I am concerned.
His stories even let you see things from the bad guys side.
Some characters carried over into other books. Like this one big saga of interconnected people that made his western universe. Often connected or associated with accurately described real life individuals. The places were real and accurately described. Some characters changed and learned while others never did, just like real life.
 
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Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I found the same thing about taking too much artistic license in the attempt to make "Atlas Shrugged" into a 3 part movie. There's too much in the book to turn into a movie people would watch. Didn't help that the actors from the first movie weren't in the others, the cast got all mixed up. THe first "Dagny" was great, and dark haired as in the book. Next thing we know she's a blond! Too much book to make into a good movie.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Mitty38 said:
L'Amour was the king of the westerns as far as I am concerned.
His stories even let you see things from the bad guys side.
Some characters carried over into other books. Like this one big saga of interconnected people that made his western universe. Often connected or associated with accurately described real life individuals. The places were real and accurately described. Some characters changed and learned while others never did, just like real life.
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L'Amour managed to bring the Sacketts and Tallons and Cap Rountree and Moss Reardon along and mix it up through several books. Good stuff!
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Bret4207 said:
I found the same thing about taking too much artistic license in the attempt to make "Atlas Shrugged" into a 3 part movie. There's too much in the book to turn into a movie people would watch. Didn't help that the actors from the first movie weren't in the others, the cast got all mixed up. THe first "Dagny" was great, and dark haired as in the book. Next thing we know she's a blond! Too much book to make into a good movie.
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Having read "Atlas Shrugged", I must agree that it's a daunting book to make a movie out of. I don’t think it would be impossible, but it would require the right person to draft the screenplay and the right person to edit the script.

In an interview Tom Clancy explained the editing process as giving your baby to someone and having them put tattoos on the kid.

I think if you found the right person to draft the screenplay AND had the deep pockets to push the production to completion and had the right director (and those are all big If’s) a decent movie could be made from that book. A movie like Schindler’s List (based on the book Schindler’s Ark) comes to mind. But Spielberg had the deep pockets and the artistic respect to make that movie.

It can be done but it wouldn’t be easy.
 
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blackthorn

Active Member
My experience is that you watch the movie and then read the book. Doing it the other way never seems to work. I read almost constantly. I do two kinds of reading, educational and fun. For fun I read a whole variety of stuff but mostly fiction. Educational usually involves firearms.
 
Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
Not necessarily recent reads, more like best of all times:
"A LAND REMEMBERED"
"CUTTING FOR STONE"
"WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING"
and just for fun "GEORGIA BOTTOMS"
 
glassparman

glassparman

"OK, OK, I'm going as fast as I don't want to go!"
Haven't read the book but the movie "WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING" was fabulous!
 
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Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
Books are usually better than the movie because movies have time restraints. Stuff has to be left out. Can you imagine a Harry Potter book that didn’t leave anything out, 15 to 20 hours long.
 
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