Currently Reading

[Vyn]

I mentioned previously that I was interested to see how Pigeons from Hell faired against a couple of other spooky-house books I had recently read. Therein was my downfall, there is no comparison, simply due to do format. Pigeons from Hell is a short-story.

Howard attempts to jam so many different thematic canvases into it, that it seems like a very short story. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet, so my comments will be generalized.

Overall, I thought it was OK. There were a couple of points in the story that started to draw me in, but for the most part it struck me as very shallow. Perhaps it would have appealed to me more if Howard had settled on one theme and fleshed it out more. The ending was neither expected nor surprising. It simply didn't matter to me because everything leading up to it was couched in terms of a backstory constructed of cardboard rather than something more substantial. An unfortunate, but predictable consequence of short stories that seem more like drafts for novels.

There are many great things in Pigeons from Hell. The best thing is that the story has all the makings of an absolutely fantastic novel. That is also the worst thing, because it isn't.

Would make a good campfire story.

[Zzzptm]

Absolutely agree on the campfire story part. It's really several campfire stories brought together.

[Vyn]

The Nightmare Room by Chris Sorensen.

Another haunted house book. I read it last night. I haven't had time to think about it critically (as if I'm a critic or something), but I came away from it impressed. It was a page-turner, and if you enjoy that kind of genre I recommend checking it out.

[Zzzptm]

I'm reading up on epidemiology, articles here and there. It's helping to understand the data in terms of how it's collected, how it's analyzed, and what it can and can not tell us.

[Jack the Stripper]

So I just finished “Confess” by Rob Halford audiobook style, which may become the new norm for me. Really enjoyed the book, even more so having Rob read it to me. It is a little confronting at times and makes for some uncomfortable reading, but you can’t help but think how brave he was to put it all out there. It does focus more on his life growing up and the personal torment he faced concealing he was a gay man rather than the ins & outs of the music but still a fascinating and engrossing read.

[Charger]

^^^
Bit disappointed to hear that but I expected it... I have to say I would have much rather it would focus more on his career as it is a mighty one and would deserve a proper book...

I honestly couldn't care less about his personal life...nor would I that of any musician really.

Which is one of the reasons I so enjoyed Iron Man as it focused virtually entirely on the music life and the band and relations within the bands various line ups.

So I'll be giving Rob's book a hard pass...as I did with Bruce's one too.

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^ He does go through each album individually and discuss aspects of each one working in the studio and also discusses certain songs on every one of them inc lyrical themes and inspirations as well as the touring. It’s just just not a breakdown on every song and who came up with what riff or melody and how each was created. I think there’s a good balance between his life and the music, it’s just more weighted towards his life story which is an important and fascinating tale to tell.

I like a bit of both in a book. I like to find out the real person and what makes them tick as well as their creative side while being entertained at the same time.

Tony’s book was ok, but it’s a bit dull and dry and overly simplistic and not an engrossing read.

Bob Daisleys book is one of the few I’ve read that has it all. It’s in depth on all aspects while being entertaining. Just such a so well written book.

[Charger]

You can add a bit of yourself in the books as well ofcourse you can. But you can do too much of that too and then it becomes a tedious read quite fast.

I really need to get that Bob's book I think...

[Scott]

Gonna start on Jerry Seinfeld's 'Is This Anything?' later. I heard it's mostly selections of his comedy routines, but that's fine with me. I enjoyed 'Seinlanguage' that came out years ago.

[Zzzptm]

I just recently read two histories of World War One in the East... I might be ready for some fiction, I'll see... I usually like to go to Eastern Bloc sci-fi, so I'll see what's out there.

[Thelemech]

The Complete Chronicles Of Conan - Robert E. Howard  what a fabulous writer!!

[Charger]

I bought a new Astronomy book about Exoplanets written by Finland's top science writer...Looking forward to diving into that one.

[Zzzptm]

Going through the stories I wrote for a now-defunct security website...

[Vyn]

Currently reading Karel Hrubý's Cesty komunistickou diktaturou - kritické studie a eseje. I'm about a fourth of the way into it, and it is slow going because I absolutely must use the Czech dictionaries I have in order to understand the text. It is a collection of commentary from before Communist occupation, during Communist rule, and just after the Velvet Revolution.

As an aside, online language translators (i.e. Google Translate) are wholly unreliable when attempting to translate Czech into English. Unless it's simple. You can translate text from news websites and such and get the gist of what is being said, but with academically oriented or colloquial text you can only expect fist-sized chunks of fail.

[Zzzptm]

That's pretty much my experience. Anything beyond "prosim" and you need a native to help guide the translation. Knowing a little Russian helped me with some roots, but only some.