April 2016 Reading

Starting the new thread.

The Thing itself by Adam Roberts is a fix-up of a great short story, am now onStation Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Wrong touchstone, there, Alan.

Just finished Fifth Season by N. K. Jemison, I started this book begin confused, finally figured out who was who and when was when, then it ended.... I assume there will be more books in this series, or maybe this is like an Anime... "Hey, I'm bored with this stuff, THE END"

>4 davisfamily: The sequel, The Obelisk Gate, should be coming out late this summer.

Curretly reading Heinlein's Double Star and came across the following line, "a woman will forgive any action, up to and including assault with violence, but is easily insulted by language". I'd always been under the impression this novel was among Heinlein's least offensive, but apparently not. And the world-building seems badly off-target, particularly for Heinlein.

Finished Necroville which was an interesting read. The setting was fascinating and really drew me in, but the five viewpoint characters were mostly unengaging, and one or two of them were pushed into the background for so long that when they appeared again I'd forgotten where they were and what they were doing. But I kept reading to discover more about the world. Then when all the strands came together at the end it mostly made sense and was satisfying. I think this is a book that will be more rewarding on a reread.

>5 Euryale: Thanks for the info, was about to be really disappointed!!

>6 iansales: I think of Double Star as the point in Heinlein's career where I took the view he had basically gone over to the Dark Side.

Right now I have nothing to read because I'm still waiting on the postman for a couple of books.

In a satire sort of mood, so I'm starting The Sirens of Titan.

Just finished: Philip Jose Farmer's 1961 novel The Lovers which I thought was quite good (and quite scandalous, I'm sure!) for its era.

Just started: I'm determined to work my way through the Farmer omnibus Strange Relations that I purchased from Amazon a few years ago, so I'm onto the next book in the collection, the novel Flesh. I'll also be dipping into a short story collection (a ginormous one called Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction) periodically, as is my wont.

>6 iansales:

"a woman will forgive any action, up to and including assault with violence, but is easily insulted by language"

Yikes. :/

Just finished The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

Gave up on Synners (way too many character points of view with little dissimilarity between them) and The Robots of Dawn (turgid pace, god-awful, "robotic" dialogue that wasn't helped by being used for virtually all the exposition).

Started Earth Abides. First chapter is decently written at least.

I'm quarter of the way through Starfish. Not much has happened yet apart from some attacks by giant fish attracted by the lights, but I am sure it must be building up to something more exciting.

I'm in the middle of The Three-Body Problem, which has some interesting ideas, but also a fair amount of what feels like dead space.

I gave up on it about a third of the way through for muchly that reason.

>16 Jim53:

It's a weird pacing issue - I am kinda used to it, it reminds me a lot of the books I grew up with but the narrative is flowing very differently from a Western novel. And some of that dead space becomes relevant down the road (not all of it but still).

Started listening to The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. One of my favorite series that I like to return to at least once a year.

Fortunately I received Wasp by Eric Frank Russell today from one of my American suppliers.

>11 Euryale: loved Siren's of Titan & I probably should read it again as I have forgotten much about it. Vonnegut is one of my fav authors.

Ive just finished reading Azanian Bridges by Nick Wood and am now reading Albatross by R.A MacAvoy and Nancy Palmer.

Just started the final book in Philip K. Dick's Valis trilogy, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer.

>21 DugsBooks:, >11 Euryale: I'm another fan of Sirens of Titan. Loved that one.

>21 DugsBooks:, >23 jnwelch: I'm enjoying this one so far, but my favorite Vonnegut is still Cat's Cradle.

>14 justifiedsinner: It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on Earth Abides. It certainly a different take on a life after an apocalypse. The writing was decent as I recall but the believability of the story left a lot to be desired IMHO

>24 Euryale: Yes. Mine, too.

>25 Lynxear: Yes, the research is a bit spotty. I can't help compare it The World Without Us. The idea that in the 50's the electricity supply would last for months (who's shoveling the coal?) and the decomposing bodies so conveniently out of sight. Still the story is moving along so far, he's picked up a dog (shades of Harlan Ellison perhaps?).

>23 jnwelch: How are you liking TToTA so far? I'm currently re-skimming Valis as a precursor to threading through the entire trilogy. The capstone will be to read Radio Free Albemuth just prior to watching the film on DVD.

Actually reading two trilogies at once as I am currently also halfway through the 2nd volume in Stephenson's Baroque Cycle.

Still reading The girl with all the gifts. Creepy but good.

My tolerance for a fantasy anthology I've been reading is wearing thin, but I'll still plough on to the end. To lighten the mood, I'm reading Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling.

>28 ScoLgo: Just started Timothy Archer, so I can't really comment yet. I certainly enjoyed the bizarre first two. Watching the film on dvd - are you referring to The Gospel According to PKD, or something else?

>28 ScoLgo:

Speaking of Neal Stephenson, does everyone here know that his Seveneves is available for request through Early Reviewers this month?

https://www.librarything.com/er/list

>31 jnwelch: No, there is a film adaptation of Radio Free Albemuth - which is itself the first draft of what later turned into the VALIS trilogy. A clear example of reality being just as strange as PKD's fiction! ;)

I've just started reading Downbelow station which has been on my tbr pile for a few years. It would probably benefit from me not reading it when I'm so tired; but nevertheless, it has started well.

>34 Sakerfalcon: Yes, I didn't get it the first time I read it because I was reading it whilst commuting and so in 15-minute chunks and watching out for when my trains was coming, whether it was going to be on time or on the right platform and so on! It needs the reader to have a slightly longer concentration span; when i read it later in uninterrupted 30-minute and more chunks, it made much more sense.

The Children of Men by P.D. James. I've never seen the movie because I always wanted to read the book first, just getting to it now.

>36 Cecrow:. I read it recently, too, after having seen the movie so many years ago that I barely remembered it. The book did not have as much impact on me as I remember that the film version had. I wondered whether the book has become dated somehow? It will be interesting to compare your thoughts when you have finished.

I am listening to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Definitely for children, but the wordplay is delightful.

>33 ScoLgo: Thanks. The movie looks good.

I've got A Fire Upon the Deep queued up, and I'll probably start it today.

>36 Cecrow:, >37 vwinsloe: That was one of the rare times I preferred the movie to the book. The book is more meditative (from what I remember; it's been a few years), and the movie is more visceral. There are some major plot differences, too, so it may be best to take them as separate entities.

Finished Chapelwood by Cherie Priest

>27 justifiedsinner: Have you reached the civilization yet? If not, I won't spoil it for you except to say I was disgusted with the population. On the other hand if I were wandering through such a world, there would be a lot of opportunity :)

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman sounds like a book I would like to read... it really is not SciFi though so where would I look for it... non-fiction ecology section of a book store?

>42 Lynxear: Definitely non-fiction. It came out in 2007. It was probably the basis for the tv series Life Without People but wasn't acknowledged as such. Should be pretty easy to find, it was on a lot of the 2007 book lists including a nom for the National Book Critics Circle.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel was a rather bland EOTW novel, am now on The 900 year Reich, and other stories by Ian Watson, as an Early Reviewer...

>44 AlanPoulter: I just picked pu a copy of Station Eleven from a charity shop, but I'm not a big fan of post-apocalypse novels as I find most of them pretty bland. And did Ian lose 100 years when he sent his book out for early review? My copy, bought at the Eastercon, is The 1000 Year Reich...

Just finished an Early Review copy of The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins.

> 45 iansales

Sorry, lost a decade... -)

Just finished Proxima and it's follow up Ultima Stephen Baxter. I wanted to find out what happened to these characters but wasn't very impressed and couldn't recommend the series even with big ideas explored like multiverses, alternative histories and wormholes. It all got quite silly but if you want to read about Romans or Incas in space then you'll want to check this out. He may have created a new genre, Romepunk or Incapunk.

10> This is when you get out your phone, log onto a kindle store and hit the download button :-) No seriously, try sfgateway.com.

>48 wifilibrarian: Romanpunk already exists (at least in the mind of one author).

Finished Wasp by Eric Frank Russell, which I enjoyed on a rather superficial level, despite it being basically just a spy novel with the usual SF tropes added. I wonder how much Russell influenced Harry Harrison?

Anyhow, next up I'm re-reading Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss (published as Starship in the US).

After a sidestep and romp through A Confederacy of Dunces, I'm back to science fiction, reading Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. A hundred pages in, it's a bit of a mash-up of between Spinrad's Child of Fortune and Robinson's other works.

I finished Aurora and now my dreams of singing up for a generation starship to colonize another world are DEAD.

^ Ha! "Like"

I'm reading Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits to prepare for our next library book club meeting.

Finished my re-read of Valis and liked it better than the first time through. Since I am next in line for All the Birds in the Sky at the library, I am holding off starting The Divine Invasion for now while continuing to chip away at The Baroque Cycle. Currently halfway through the 2nd volume of this immense series and enjoying it greatly.

Finished The Three-Body Problem and posted a review. Four stars. As others said, the apparent dead spaces and disconnects are explained (somewhat) in the book's final quarter. I'll probably read the sequels, but I'm not dropping everything to look for them now.

>53 fikustree: What a wonderful review!

>58 lansingsexton: Same old story. Parents work, scrimp and save in order to provide their children with the opportunity to live in a barely habitable, extremely uncomfortable distant star system and what do they do? - the ungrateful kids throw it all away!

>53 fikustree: & >58 lansingsexton: & >59 DugsBooks: :: I'm still only a 170 pages into Aurora, and at this point, I mean, like, isn't it all ship's fault for wasting cycles processing decision trees for creating the narrative?

(Edited to add, "Please don't answer that.")

Just finished The integral trees, by Larry Niven. Entertaining, but not a great Niven. Now reading Gardner Dozois' Year's best science fiction: second collection - it has 4 Hugo nominees from 1985. Already finished Press enter, by John Varley, which I wouldn't have voted for.

OK, I give in, how do I find the work number to fix that touchstone?

Just finished Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

>61 dajashby: When you type in a title for a book on the right side of your post space is a section called "Touchstones". Click on "(others)" and scroll thru the list until you find the book you really want then click on that title. The touchstone you chose will replace the default one that popped up when you made your entry.

>61 dajashby:

If the "Others" method doesn't work (it often doesn't), just go to the work page. I assume you mean

https://www.librarything.com/work/637683

(Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection); it's Dozois 1985 and has the Varley story. Never heard of it being given the "Series" label as a subtitle though.)

Then just stick that work number followed by two colons in front of the title inside your touchstone.

{637683::Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Edition}

Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Edition

63 & 64> Thanks guys. Should have confirmed the correct title :-(. I now find that right-clicking on Members stat on the work page gets a link containing the work number, but it isn't particularly intuitive that that is the case.

I really enjoyed Starfish and will definitely read the next in the series in a month or so, but my next sf read is The End of Eternity, which I started this morning.

Just finished Dark Orbit, which was fine but I wasn't that invested in it. Now I'm starting Planetfall while impatiently waiting for my library hold on All the Birds in the Sky.

Finished up two excellent collections: I Am All Crying Inside and Darrell Schweitzer's Awaiting Strange Gods.

Now I'm on to Adam Connell's The High Hunt

Really enjoyed Heavy Weather. Bruce Sterling is creeping up the ranks towards being one of my favourite authors.

I'm now doing research into immanentizing the Eschaton; please forgive me should anything go wrong. At 805 pages I may be some time!

Not the greatest month for this reader. Both Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss and The Galaxy Primes by E. E. Smith disappointed on second reading, even though I didn't expect much from the latter. Next up: A Clash of Cymbals by James Blish.

Just finished a re-read of The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes

Hmmm. 805 pages. 8 + 5 = 13. Something in it?

Anyway, just finished The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy gathered together by Mike Ashley. Pretty clear conclusion: fantasy doesn't work in short form.

That seems harsh. I'm pretty sure there's some good short fantasy around, though indeed science fiction seems more suited as it's often more about ideas than characters.

>72 Noisy:
>73 igorken:

Harsh indeed. Every read Robert E. Howard? Clark Ashton Smith? Michael Moorcock? Lord Dunsany? All of them wrote excellent fantasy short stories.

Read Syne Mitchell's Murphy's Gambit, review to appear on SF Mistressworks on Wednesday. Then read the latest of Eric Brown's 1950s-set crime novels, Murder at the Loch, which was a nice light read. Have now started Creation Machine, which currently reads as if it owes a little too much to Banks's Against A Dark Background...

Patchwerk, one of the novellas in the new Tor line, was entertaining. Onto some of the other ones (and some more novels)

I'm reading I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore...

Just finished - and totally engaged with - Kim Stanley Robinson's Pacific Edge. Taking a little break with a photography book before starting on Graham Joyce's The Limits of Enchantment.

>72 Noisy:, it's probably the attempts at comedy that was tripping them up. Other than The Princess Bride and Bridge of Birds I haven't seen too much success with mixing fantasy and comedy that didn't turn childish.

>79 Cecrow: It seemed to work reasonably well for a certain Sir Terry Pratchett...

>72 Noisy: A few fantasy story favorite's would include Robert Sheckley's humorous "Protection"; Connie Willis' "Jack"; Jerome Bixby, Jr's It's a Good Life, Kuttner and Moore's "What You Need", Keith Robert's, "Timothy"; J. G. Ballard's "The Drowned Giant"; Terry Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire"; Suzy McKee Charnas' "Boobs" and L. Sprague deCamp and Fletcher Pratt's humorous Harold Shea stories. Ambiguous stories, are they SF, or Fantasy?, such as Michael Bishop's "The Quickening", H.G. Wells' "The Country of the Blind" and Robert Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot" would also make my list. That's not to say that you are wrong about the Mike Ashley anthology you read.

>80 RobertDay:, whoops, another good example. And probably others I didn't think of (Robert Asprin, etc), I should have been more general in my statement.

>81 lansingsexton:

"It's a Good Life" (or, more properly, "It's a Good Life") is one of my very favorite short stories of all time, but it's probably closer to science fiction horror than it is to fantasy, IMHO. We discussed it in our Deep Ones reading group over at The Weird Tradition - you can find that here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/179520

"Bears Discover Fire" is excellent, too.

I finished off Press Start to Play, a sci-fi anthology based on the theme of video games. There were some very good stories, and overall I gave it 3.5 stars. I then read The Road while on a long airport layover on Saturday - the bleakest post-apocalyptic novel I've ever read.

>84 LisaMorr:

I then read The Road while on a long airport layover on Saturday - the bleakest post-apocalyptic novel I've ever read.

Yeah, that one's tough going, isn't it? Excellent novel, though, and very much deserving of its Pulitzer Prize win.

>84 LisaMorr: >85 artturnerjr: I thought for McCarthy it was pretty upbeat compared, say, to Blood Meridian.

>86 justifiedsinner: The Road? You and I have different views on the meaning of the word upbeat. LOL!!

But then, I have not yet read Blood Meridian so there is that...

>87 ScoLgo: The Road has a happy ending (at least in McCarthy's terms). This is exceedingly rare in his oeuvre. I figured they were all going to die.

>88 justifiedsinner:: In view of the gritty realism of Cormac McCarthy it may be irrelevant to think of happy or sad endings. It seems to me the implication of the story is that life goes on, at least for some.

>53 fikustree: & >54 jnwelch: :: I finished reading Aurora several days ago. I found much to like, and much not to like about the novel. I wish the book design included some of the images the prose brought forth. I wish there had been more technical explanation about the biological and biochemical failures.

Now reading Mistborn, my first Sanderson, for no particular reason.

>90 psybre: I think you'll enjoy Mistborn. It's a good series.

Finished Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

Just finished Welcome, Chaos by Kate Wilhelm. I've liked her books. Though the ending seemed a bit abrupt, giving me a feeling she wasn't quite sure how to finish, it was still enjoyable. Her writing is good, and she has a great talent for exploring how biotechnological changes might affect society and history, as in this book, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, or Huysman's Pets.
In this mode she reminds me of the Nancy Kress books starting with Beggars in Spain (probably I should say Kress reminds me of Wilhelm, honoring the order in time).

>85 artturnerjr:, >86 justifiedsinner:, >87 ScoLgo:, >88 justifiedsinner:, >89 EnsignRamsey: It was a good book but I thought the ending was tied up a bit too neatly for my taste. I haven't read anything else by him yet.

>88 justifiedsinner: >94 LisaMorr: >89 EnsignRamsey: >87 ScoLgo:

I liked The Road as well, I thought it was a fairly realistic portrayal of life after a nuclear winter event (though you don't know what caused the weather in the book).

The movie was pretty faithful to the book... almost too faithful in that reading the book spoiled the movie and the reverse. My only disappointment in the movie was the casting of the young boy. In the book the boy is about 8/9 and as such required a great deal of protection.

In the movie, they case the boy as a 12 year old. A 12 year old is almost a man and should not act like a weak 9 year old.

I will never read another book after seeing the movie based on the McCarthy book. I saw "No Country for old men" and it was a great movie... I was disappointed with the book as the screen play was virtually copied from the book. Learned nothing from the book and got bored.

Am just starting Infinity Beach by Jack McDevitt

Just finished World War Z by Max Brooks. SO much better than the movie!

Finished reviewing 1000 Year Reich and other stories by Ian Watson for Early Reviewers, now on Aurora

I'm reading Alas, Babylon and finding it chilling, despite how dated it is.

Finished a re-read of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I am about half way through Aurora (as usual touchstones don't work) by Robinson, I feel depressed......

Now reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner...

Just started Chains of Command, the 4th installment of a solid Military SF series by Marko Kloos.

Just finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

>104 Jacksonian:, how was the Atwood? I'm trying to squeeze that into my reading plan for next year, I'm pretty much "booked" for 2016.

>105 Cecrow: It's an excellent book. Elegantly written with her own brand of feminist ideals.

>105 Cecrow:
>106 Jacksonian:

I'll second that motion. Seems like THT gets more relevant with each passing year.

Just finished: Flesh (Philip Jose Farmer). It was meh. Potentially interesting Planet of the Apes-type scenario (astronauts away from Earth for centuries return to find their home planet has utterly changed) is not developed in an interesting way and I really didn't care whether or not any of the characters lived or died. Not the book I would recommend to someone if I was trying to get them started on Farmer's stuff.

Just started: another Farmer - Strange Relations (as I mentioned in >12 artturnerjr:, I have this fat omnibus of his that I'm trying to polish off). This one's a short fiction collection, and if the first story doesn't grab me, I think I'm gonna put it aside for awhile and start something else.

Just saw the latest entries in this discussion thread.

Ironically, I find I have a preference of zombie books that focus on an individual or small group. One of the better zombie books I have read is Day By Day Armageddon.

World War Z was set all over the world with a big cast of unconnected characters. Too much for me. Actually enjoyed the movie more than the book just due to the action.

I took a look at your library and you don't seem to have read I am Legend by Richard Matheson. This is 100% better than the Will Smith rip-off movie. It is a story about a man (who thinks he is the only human alive, living in a zombie environment.

Oops! That is a Vampire book...my bad! But it is still a book worth reading.

It is a movie but you should try to find "Fido"... this is a hilarious movie about a community who keeps Zombies as servants. They are tame as long as they wear a certain collar... But of course, accidents happen.

>110 Lynxear:

Oops! That is a Vampire book...my bad!

True, but it's also basically ground zero of the zombie apocalypse sub-genre. Quoth Wikipedia:

Although Matheson calls the assailants in his novel "vampires", and though their condition is transmitted through blood and garlic is an apotropaic-like repellant, there is little similarity between them and vampires as developed by John William Polidori and his successors, which come straight out of the gothic novel tradition. I Am Legend influenced the zombie genre and popularized the concept of a worldwide zombie apocalypse.

I just finished Aurora by Stanley Kim Robinson, I feel so stressed. Was an amazing listen.

Almost done with The Quiet War on the kindle (and so far it is a love/hate relationship between me and the book) and just started The Hercules Text - the new and revised version that McDevitt did for the reissue. Not sure how revised it is, the only reason I know it is is because there was an introduction by him on the topic...

>109 usma83: I couldn't get into World War Z either and I agree, Day By Day Armageddon is very good, a standout of the genre.

>110 Lynxear: I am legend is one of my all time favorite stories. The movie destroyed the meaning of the book, the first 15 minutes of the movie are alright, as soon as the movie "vampires" come in to it it's down hill from there. The movie's monsters are much closer to zombies than the book's, Will Smith didn't even know they could communicate with each other.

>111 artturnerjr: Yes, the general thrust of attempting to survive in a world of changed humans would apply to many zombie and horror stories. Matheson said "the leitmotif of all my work... is as follows: The individual isolated in a threatening world, attempting to survive." But there were some unique elements about not fitting into to society that don't generally apply in a book set in a world of mindless zombies.

>110 Lynxear: You probably already know this...

To date, there are actually three movies based on I Am Legend...

- The Last Man On Earth starring Vincent Price, (1964). Stays most true to Matheson's story. Not too surprising since he helped write the screenplay.
- The Omega Man starring 'Moses', (1971). Not a completely terrible adaptation but suffers a bit from the early 70's soundtrack and Heston's overacting.
- I Am Legend, (2007). Worst of the bunch. Overly done CGI zombie/vampires are often poorly rendered. But the re-written ending is an utter and complete fail. It fully misses the point of the book's poignant twist ending.

All of the films fall a bit short of the brilliant written version, IMHO.

Finished The Three-Body Problem. The first half was a bit slow and seemed to jump about all over the place, but it all came together in the second half. I enjoyed the hard science aspects but, without getting into spoiler territory, the actions of Ye Wenjie and the Adventists just didn't ring true for me. I'll probably pick up the next one but meanwhile I have Europe at Midnight, Luna and Fellside (which sounds more thriller than SFF, but I really like Mike Carey) - to be going on with.

>111 artturnerjr: This is true... Matheson's depiction of vampires was sort of a vampire/zombie cross... Vampire in their aversion to garlic/seeing themselves and night/day time habits but zombie like in look. Modern day vampires are not ugly as he described.

>115 ScoLgo: I really hated Will Smith's penchant for stealing really good book titles for his films. His films (I, Robot and I am Legend), if they were titled in other ways, would have been fine but blatantly steal the names of famous novels and bastardize them took Will Smith down a peg or two in my impression of him. And you are right... the ending for I am Legend was ridiculous.

But I hope the readers here hunt down the video, "FIDO". This is the most hilarious zombie movie ever IMHO. I won't spoil it though with any spoiler.

Finished Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson, now on The water knive by Paolo Bacigalupi

For the next few weeks, I'll be creating a personal mental mash-up from reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco and Axis by Robert Charles Wilson.

>117 Lynxear: Well... I'm not sure those films are Smith's fault. He wasn't involved in the writing, directing, producing, or financing at all. He's just the guy on the poster and DVD box. As a matter of fact, Smith was a bit of a last-minute substitution for the role of Robert Neville. Ah-nold was originally slated to play him. No doubt, we would have been treated to a few "I'll be back!" type of zingers if that had come to fruition, (~shudder~).

Just finished up The Grace of Kings (B-), a book that I started with high expectations but found sort of "meh" in the end. I suspect that Liu was going for a mythic, folkloric, quality but wound up with a book that merely felt busy in the end.

Forgot to mention that I read The Uncertain Midnight by Edmund Cooper (aka Deadly Image). I enjoyed it more than I expected since I detested Cooper as both a writer and a human being. At least The Uncertain Midnight was relatively free of blatant sexism. I'm now on War of the Wing Men by Poul Anderson.

>117 Lynxear:
>120 ScoLgo:

Will Smith has made as much as twenty million dollars for working on a single film. For better or worse, I think that kind of money tends to negate a lot of people's scruples about the quality of the screenplay, direction, etc.

>123 artturnerjr: Can't argue with that. As much as I did not personally care for the latest 'I Am Legend' film adaptation, it did make a huge pile of money (over half a billion USD). To this day it remains in the top 100 domestic money earning films out there*. The year it released, (2007), it was in the top 10 worldwide. In that respect, Smith probably earned his pay, (as much as anyone can possibly 'earn' that type of paycheck, anyway).

I remember going to a movie premiere starring Bruce Campbell a few years ago. Bruce was there and did a pre-movie question/answer thing. One guy asks, "Bruce, one word: 'Congo'... Why?"

Campbell did not so much as bat an eye. He snapped back with, "Why?!? I'll tell you why, smart-ass!", and starts ticking off on his fingers...

1. Directed by Frank Marshall (Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Color Purple, etc.)
3. Based on a book by Michael Crichton, (the Jurassic Park guy).
2. Starring Laura Linney & Dylan Walsh with Tim Curry, Ernie Hudson and Joe Don Baker.
4. Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

"What was wrong with that package? I didn't know the movie was gonna suck!!" Needless to say, the audience roared.

He makes a good point though... actors probably never know ahead of time if they are going to be lauded or lambasted based on the small part of the process they see while filming.

* Source: http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/I-am-Legend

Michael Caine put it most succinctly: "I've tried working, and I've tried not working. On the whole, I prefer working."

Finished Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

>120 ScoLgo: I guess you are probably right that I was a bit too hard on Will Smith for being in both movies... but his name is the one you think of when you here the names of those films.

I looked at who were the writers/producers of both films and the common one to both is Akiva Goldsman.... he is probably the bad guy in the name rip-off in these cases. However in looking at his filmology these seem to be his only transgressions.

I would like to see movies that had these respective books as true inspiration for their screenplay. It always amazes me that more science fiction movies are not made based on good scifi books.... there are so many that could be good movies... undoctered by screenwriter deviations

Finally finished MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

May thread is up:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/222712

>127 Lynxear:, the good news being Hollywood had to pay $ to the authors/estates, which is at least well deserved.

Apparently Asimov's "Foundation" has been optioned for movie treatment, and I'll cross my fingers that Mr. Goldsman has nothing to do with it. But I really can not see how it won't get severely mauled in the transfer to screen. You can't build a lot of tension for movie audience with foregone conclusions, unless you jump straight to the second book.

>130 Cecrow: In an alternate universe, John le Carré wrote the Foundation trilogy, and it was made into a complex and moody tv mini-series with Alec Guinness (in his George Smiley persona, not his Obi-Wan Kenobi one) as Hari Seldon...