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| | | From: Old Coot (Original Message) | Sent: 10/27/2008 10:11 PM |
Barnes and Noble after lunch out. Since I did not have anything specific in mind, I wandered around a bit and at one point found myself in the young kids area. I was/am amazed at some of the sci fiction that the kids are reading these days. Just a few aisles away was adult mystery fiction. My eyes just happened to fall on a set of John D. MacDonald's McGee books. It turns out that John and I were on an environmental committee some years ago in Sarasota FL. Got to know him fairly well. Neat guy.
oc... |
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| | From:  _Xer | Sent: 10/27/2008 10:30 PM |
That's really cool, Coot.
Since leaving FMH and 'going silent' at USA, I have had enough time to actually read a book! That too is cool! <grin> Just finished it this morning, and planning to start another one later today. Feels good to read a book again!
Right now it is time to go up to the hospital for my exercises. Later 'gators. |
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What are you reading Xer? |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/28/2008 1:27 AM |
Thanks for asking, jen. Just finished Night Train to Rigel by Timothy Zahn. Getting ready to start Idlewild by Nick Sagan (yes, Carl Sagan's son). I've always loved science fiction, so it was only natural, when I discovered some time on my hands I'd reach for sf.
When a kid (preteen and into teens) I used to read one to one and a half sci-fi novels per day. One and a half a day was during summer months when I didn't have to pretend to pay attention in class. To this day I haven't a clue what was happening in the Iliad and Odyssey because I was reading a sci-fi book behind the text book.
It got sort of embarrassing whenever the teach would call on me to read 'cause I had no idea where to start reading! 
It's not so much I wasn't challenged in school as I was simply bored!
With the stupid cataracts in my eyes it takes me days to read a book now. It's pretty frustrating, which is why I basically stopped reading books when I discovered computers. With computers I can adjust the text size to my comfort level. Still love books though, the touch and feel of pages. Computers don't have that. |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/28/2008 1:28 AM |
| Need to run to the pharmacy and get one of my BP scripts refilled. Will check again later this evening. |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/28/2008 1:31 AM |
| In again! Will check in again later this evening. |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/28/2008 9:26 PM |
Night Train was written by one of those hacks who make a living writing Star Trek novels. The idiot actually used a nacelle on one of his ships. I could have belted him for that. Nacelles are used for warp drives. There were no warp drives in this story! It took almost half the book before I actually got pulled it. The book was pulp, pure and simple. No depth.
Nick Sagan sucked me in on the first page! Idlewild was his first book. and he grabbed me on the first page. This 'young' man is a good writer. Ironically, the book is about a character named Halloween and the book is full of orange and black. Great timing, eh?
So, let me pull a Belle on you. This is from Idlewild, the first page. Para 3:
"Cold and dark. Orange. Harvest. A damp, musty smell; sound of crickets; the bite of a monster headache. Yes, I was trapped in a pumpkin patch, twisted and tensed, taking breaths like a newborn kitten."
Paragraph 2 was longer than I wanted to copy and I thought para 3 was pretty darn good anyway. Para 1 was a grabber though:
I'm not dead.
Personally, I never cared for Carl Sagan. He reminded me too much of Mr. Rogers. But, his son certainly seems to have a gift for prose, eh? |
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