Book thread

[Freed Roger]

"Gone Girl" was a fun book to read. Should make a good movie

[SHOW]

with all the plot twists, the movie could easily take a different route. Interestingly, there is no Mississippi River town within a short drive to St. Louis that resembles the Carthage MO in the book. Cape G I guess is the closest thing.

In the book, I must admit I was duped by the original path of the story- I believed the fake diary. So duped that I was about to quit on the book for the hackneyed path the story seemed to be taking

[Donnie Ebert]

"Gone Girl" was a fun book to read. Should make a good movie

[SHOW]

with all the plot twists, the movie could easily take a different route. Interestingly, there is no Mississippi River town within a short drive to St. Louis that resembles the Carthage MO in the book. Cape G I guess is the closest thing.

In the book, I must admit I was duped by the original path of the story- I believed the fake diary. So duped that I was about to quit on the book for the hackneyed path the story seemed to be taking

[SHOW]

I felt like the first half of the book went on too long, and then I was surprised and intrigued by the fake diary twist. By the end, however, I hated both characters so much I just wanted the book to be over. I thought it was odd that so many of Amy's troublesome acquaintances in New York would also have ties or live near her in Missouri. Plus, it didn't seem plausible that she had covered her tracks so completely as to avoid any suspicion.

Also, it seemed like "North Carthage" moved around somewhat throughout the book, seeming sometimes south of St. Louis and sometimes north. I think that may have been my misunderstanding, though.

That said, I think it could actually make an intriguing movie if it is done correctly. So does this guy:

[heyzeus]

"The Marriage Plot" by Jeffry Eugenides is, so far, disappointing. Not for being bad, but because I expect a lot more out of that guy.

[Donnie Ebert]

I'm reading One Last Strike by some guy named Tony LaRussa, and even though I'm a fan of the team and I find the 2011 season to be one of the most exciting I may ever witness as a fan, I'm still having trouble getting through the book, which is odd, because Three Nights in August, a book about one series in the middle of the spoiled 2003 season was a much more interesting and thorough book. I think it's because LaRussa doesn't want to denigrate anyone from that team, so much of what he is saying just comes out as platitudes and generalities. I may just skip ahead to near to the end (I hear it's a doozy).

[Freed Roger]

"Gone Girl" was a fun book to read. Should make a good movie

[SHOW]

with all the plot twists, the movie could easily take a different route. Interestingly, there is no Mississippi River town within a short drive to St. Louis that resembles the Carthage MO in the book. Cape G I guess is the closest thing.

In the book, I must admit I was duped by the original path of the story- I believed the fake diary. So duped that I was about to quit on the book for the hackneyed path the story seemed to be taking

[SHOW]

I felt like the first half of the book went on too long, and then I was surprised and intrigued by the fake diary twist. By the end, however, I hated both characters so much I just wanted the book to be over. I thought it was odd that so many of Amy's troublesome acquaintances in New York would also have ties or live near her in Missouri. Plus, it didn't seem plausible that she had covered her tracks so completely as to avoid any suspicion.

Also, it seemed like "North Carthage" moved around somewhat throughout the book, seeming sometimes south of St. Louis and sometimes north. I think that may have been my misunderstanding, though.

That said, I think it could actually make an intriguing movie if it is done correctly. So does this guy:

[SHOW]

I agree with all your criticisms. I think one of the reasons I was duped by the fake diary, was because that part of the book was so very long - I thought no way the set up could go on that long. That is a part in which a movie could do better. At first, I thought it was going to be the sick Dad had killed her on one of his walkabouts, Nick was innocent of murder, but guilty of coverup and so much other [expletive] that poetic justice had him go to prison for it. But then, why would this take so long to develop?

As far as the sense of place, North Carthage MO which is supposed to be around here somewhere -that may be a weakness in the book, but one mostly perceptible to us, because we can't picture anywhere around here anything like that. My artsy nephew from WI who recommend the book to me, after I mentioned to him I liked the sense of place in the brutal Ozark tales of Daniel Woodrell i.e. "Winter's Bone", thought I'd like the MO/Mississippi River connection in "Gone Girl".

And yeah, the last twists -after she comes back yet manages to keep fooling people - was a bit over the top/unbelievable.
....Ok, now I hate the book. Just kidding - Good enough, but not great -with potential to be good movie. When it would get gritty, the author's pic on the backpage made a contrasting image.

[Vidor]

I'm reading One Last Strike by some guy named Tony LaRussa, and even though I'm a fan of the team and I find the 2011 season to be one of the most exciting I may ever witness as a fan, I'm still having trouble getting through the book, which is odd, because Three Nights in August, a book about one series in the middle of the spoiled 2003 season was a much more interesting and thorough book. I think it's because LaRussa doesn't want to denigrate anyone from that team, so much of what he is saying just comes out as platitudes and generalities. I may just skip ahead to near to the end (I hear it's a doozy).

I thought it was really obvious that TLR wrote that book himself, despite Rick Hummel's credit. It was indeed quite turgid.

There's a great book still to be written about the pennant chase and playoffs of 2011. Or hell, write a book called "Game 6" and make it about the World Series games of 1975, 1991, and 2011.

[Vidor]

Hey, would anybody like to read a book about the founding of the St. Louis Cardinals?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161039 ... rd_i=typ01

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/27/179242101 ... nd-whiskey

http://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2013/8/5/ ... ard-achorn

[MrSaigon]

I wasn't going to read (read: listen) because I'm really tired of the cult worship and also the more recent but just as annoying and inflated cult hatred of Jobs (I myself have sort of participated in this--even here I think, but it was more about the way people jizzed themselves whenever Jobs showed them a slightly different iPod and the annoying aspects of the fan culture, as well as Ghandi and MLKj associations), but I was finally in a position where I needed something to listen to and I've had the biography on my iPod for quite a while.

It's a great book.

I'm most struck by what an incredible learner and what an other-worldly ahole Jobs was. Could you imagine presenting an idea to your manager, having him say 'this is [expletive], you're [expletive]' then having the manager come back to you a week later and presenting the same idea to you as both good and his own? Apparently that didn't happen infrequently with him. Also, he literally didn't think his body odors stunk, and when people called him on his BS he would start crying, and ripped off his friends without much conscience. But there was something very magnetic about him, people did like him, or at least producing with him. And he was smart, and though people like to discredit him, incredibly important to the modern PC. I haven't even gotten to the 'second act' yet which is surely more flattering.

I never could have worked with him, ever. I'd rather be poor. And I wonder, if you ran back that situation 100 times with his effective but terrible leadership, how many times it would succeed.

[JackofDiamonds]

Anyone else read "S." from J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst? Just put it down, that was a weird read, but I can appreciate the project. There are 3 overlapping stories: the novel "Ship of Theseus" by fictional author V.M. Straka, the mystery of who exactly V.M. Straka and the organization S. is that's played out in the margins and embedded ephemera, and a relationship between the two conspirators writing to each other in marginalia... it was definitely new. I would say that in typical J.J. Abrams fashion, I was more intrigued by the prospect and set-up than I was in the execution and finish, but it was worth picking up.

[Jocephus]

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