Read any good books lately?

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by Broncomutt

At the age of 10, I got a copy of the novelization of the movie Alien. Ironically, my parents wouldn't let me watch the movie, but had no problems with me reading it, so I read the movie years before I ever watched it.

The novelization is pretty much a prose version of the screenplay written by Alan Dean Foster (Alien (1979) ISBN 0-446-82977-3). The screenwriter for the movie was Dan O'Bannon. It is just shy of 200 pages long. There are only 2 differences I can remember. The first is a conversation between the female crew members. In the book, Ripley asks Lambert if she's ever slept with Ash, hinting at a fair degree of promiscuity among the crew members.

The second I include because it's possibly the most chilling part of the book, but was never featured in Ridley Scott's epic movie.





Ripley still hadn't moved. Faint shrieks reached her over the 'com. The screams were Lambert's and they faded with merciful speed. Then it was quiet again.

She spoke toward the pickup. "Parker...Lambert?"

She waited for a response, expecting none. Her expectations were fulfilled. The import of the continuing silence took only a moment to settle in.
She was alone. There were probably three living things left on the ship: the alien, Jones, and herself. But she had to be sure.

It meant leaving Jones behind. She didn't want to, but the cat had heard the screams and was meowing frantically. He was making too much noise!

She reached B deck unopposed, her flamethrower held tightly in both hands. The food locker lay just ahead. There was an outside chance the alien had left someone behind, being unable to manuever itself and two bodies through the narrow ducts. A chance that someone might still be alive.

She peered around the jamb of the locker entrance. What remained showed her how the alien had succeeded in squeezing both victims into the airshaft. Then she was running, running. Blindly, a little madly, neither thinking or caring. Walls reached out to stun her and slow her down, but nothing halted her crazed flight. She ran until her lungs hurt. They reminded her of Kane and the creature that had matured inside him, next to his lungs. That in turn reminded her of the alien.

All that thinking brought her back to her senses. Gulping for breath, she slowed and took stock of her surroundings. She'd run the length of the ship. Now she found herself standing alone in the middle of the engine room.

She heard something and stopped breathing. It was repeated, and she let out a cautious sigh. The sound was familiar, the sound was human. It was the sound of weeping.

Still cradling the flamethrower, she walked slowly around the room until the source of the noise lay directly below her. She found she was standing on a companionway cover, a round metal disc. Keeping half her attention on the well-lit chamber surrounding her, she knelt and removed the disc. A ladder descended into the near darkness.

She felt her way down the ladder until she reached solid footing. Then she activated her light bar. She was in a small maintenance chamber. The light picked out plastic crates, rarely used tools. It also fell on bones with shreds of flesh still attached. Her skin crawled as the light moved over fragments of clothing, dried blood, a ruined boot. Bizarre extrusions lined the wall.

A huge cocoon hung from the ceiling, off to her right. It looked like an enclosed, translucent hammock, woven from fine white silky material. It twitched.

Her finger tense on the trigger of the flamethrower, she walked nearer. The beam from her lightbar made the cocoon slightly transparent. There was a body inside...Dallas!

Quite unexpectadly the eyes opened and focused on Ripley. Lips parted, moved to form words. She moved closer, simultaneously fascinated and repelled.

"Kill me," the whisperer pleaded with her.

"What...what did it do to you?"

Dallas tried to speak again, failed. His head turned a little to the right. Ripley swung her light, turned it upward slightly. A second cocoon hung there, different in texture and color from the first. It was smaller and darker, the silk having formed a hard, shining shell. It looked, although Ripley couldn't know it, like the broken, empty urn on the derelict ship.

"That was Brett." Her light turned back to focus on the speaker again.

"I'll get you out of here." She was crying. "We'll crank up the autodoc, get you..."

She broke off, unable to talk. She was remembering Ash's analogy of the spider, the wasp. The live young feeding on the paralyzed body of the spider, growing, the spider aware of what was happening but...

Somehow she managed to shut off that horrid line of thought. Madness lay that way. "What can I do?" she sobbed.

The same agonized whisper. "Kill me."

She stared at him. Mercifully, his eyes had closed. But his lips were trembling, as if he were readying a scream. She didn't think she could stand to hear that scream.

The nozzle of the flamethrower rose and she convulsively depressed the trigger. A molten blast enveloped the cocoon and the thing that had been Dallas. It and he burned without a sound. Then she swung the fire around the lair. The entire compartment burst into flames. She was already scrambling back up the ladder, heat licking at her legs.

Here's the scene:

[broncosteven]

I read Tim O'brien's "The things they carried" in about 2 days.

I then dove into Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander" and totally love it. I thought it would be too much about boats but so far, 200 pages in, it is a lot less about the boat or details about seafaring than Moby Dick was. Totally love this book and this series should see me through 3 days a week of soccer practices!

[No1BroncoFan]

Just scored a signed first of the new "Legend" series book my Marie Lu, "Champion"!

Woo hoo!

This is the third and final(?) book in the serias and I'm actually almost done with it already. I already had it on my nook (pre-ordered a while back) and the signed first is carefully put away.

Really good dystopian future series if you like those.

[Archer81]

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

[Archer81]

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

[BroncsCheer]

I'm hooked on the Gray Man books by Mark Greaney now.

Page turning sob's

[Miss I.]

Dr. Sleep by Stephen King. Sequel to "The Shining"

[Archer81]

Originally Posted by Miss I.

Dr. Sleep by Stephen King. Sequel to "The Shining"

Any good? I saw it on my kindle but I am not sure it's worth buying.

[Rohirrim]

Going back in time and reading everything by Philip K. Dick, who I never read before. Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Amazing how different this book is from the movie Blade Runner. The only scene in the movie that came straight from the book is Decker's interview with Rachel, and even that is changed considerably.

[Miss I.]

Originally Posted by Archer81

Any good? I saw it on my kindle but I am not sure it's worth buying.

I enjoyed it, but what I would recommend if you aren't sure about it is see if the local library has a program where you can check out Ebooks. Mine does, as well as for electronic Audiobooks. You can ususally get out about 20 at a time for about 30 days each or so and keep renewing them if nobody else has reserved them. Being a newer book they might have it so you can read it for free.

[Archer81]

Originally Posted by Miss I.

I enjoyed it, but what I would recommend if you aren't sure about it is see if the local library has a program where you can check out Ebooks. Mine does, as well as for electronic Audiobooks. You can ususally get out about 20 at a time for about 30 days each or so and keep renewing them if nobody else has reserved them. Being a newer book they might have it so you can read it for free.

Sweet. Normally I am not a Steven King fan but I'll read anything somewhat interesting.

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by Archer81

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

Great book, written in 1947, right after the war. If you wanna know how Hitler got away with all that crap, this book is mandatory reading. Long, but very, very, very good.

[Archer81]

Originally Posted by Tombstone RJ

Great book, written in 1947, right after the war. If you wanna know how Hitler got away with all that crap, this book is mandatory reading. Long, but very, very, very good.

Hindsight is a hell of a thing. I am currently at September 17, 1939. When the Soviets and Germans made changes to their secret protocol of their non aggression/trade pact. Exchanging Lithuania for some Polish provinces.

Always interesting to see that even after everything Hitler pulled, the French were willing to negotiate after the Germans invaded Poland. Even the writer admits when he was in Germany he was taken in by the Nazis and their rhetoric.

[BroncosfanGuy]

Originally Posted by broncosteven

I then dove into Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander" and totally love it. I thought it would be too much about boats but so far, 200 pages in, it is a lot less about the boat or details about seafaring than Moby Dick was. Totally love this book and this series should see me through 3 days a week of soccer practices!

Probably anout 2/3 of the way through War and Peace right now. I did pick up a copy of Master and Commander, though, and plan to take that one down sometime after I finish Tolstoy's epic.

Broncosteve, you get around to reading anymore of the Aubrey/Maturin series? I've read that it really starts to pick up with the 2nd installment The Post Captain.

[BroncosfanGuy]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

Going back in time and reading everything by Philip K. Dick, who I never read before. Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Amazing how different this book is from the movie Blade Runner. The only scene in the movie that came straight from the book is Decker's interview with Rachel, and even that is changed considerably.

one of the few times I think I enjoyed the movie more than the book.

that's not to say I didn't like the book. I just didn't get as into it as I did the movie for some reason.

[broncosteven]

Originally Posted by BroncosfanGuy

Probably anout 2/3 of the way through War and Peace right now. I did pick up a copy of Master and Commander, though, and plan to take that one down sometime after I finish Tolstoy's epic.

Broncosteve, you get around to reading anymore of the Aubrey/Maturin series? I've read that it really starts to pick up with the 2nd installment The Post Captain.

It cracks me up that you bumped this thread. I did a search because I found a great book the other day at the library book sale and wanted to mention it here. I did the search only to find that the thread was on the 1st page of the forum!

To answer your question 1st, I love the Aubrey/Maturin series, I was let down a little with Post Captain but it finished strong, I just got the 3rd book at a used book store and it is in my read pile. I was afraid that it would be to nautical for me to slog through but so far it isn't in the way of the story telling.

Like I said above I was at the library Monday and I always try to stop at the book sale offerings because you can get used books for a $1.00 or less. I was drawn to a book. Anything that is published by a University Press gets my attention and the cover and fonts just drew me to it. Then I read the 1st paragraph and was blown away. Anyone hear of Conrad Richter's "Sea of Grass"? I never hear of Richter before and googled him. His 1st paragraph of his 1st novel is one of the best opens I have ever read! Can't wait to read it but I need to finish the bio of Bing Crosby I am reading right now.

I got into Bing through Bix Biederbecke, read a Bix Bio and found out Bing sang my favorite Bix song then researched Bing's early stuff. Very good and detailed Bio that is entertaining. Bing was the Beatles of his day and pioneered quite a bit in recording, performing and radio, not to mention his film roles that I have neglected until recently. I have been big into anything from the 20's for the last 5-7 years.

[BroncoMan4ever]

My fiance recently got me hooked on a book series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. It is something like 25 books long and growing. I don't know why, I am usually not that into the Urban Fantasy story genre. I usually find them to be rather predictable and obvious. Just stories that let women's fantasies run wild about hot dudes and steamy sex stories.

For some reason these books have really grabbed my attention. So if anyone is interested in books that deal with a lot of paranormal stuff, mixed into Greek mythology, that have violence, gore, romance, brutality and sex, than I recommend Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series.

[SouthStndJunkie]

I read '11/22/63' by Stephen King a while back and really enjoyed that adventure.

I've read a few more of the 'Jack Reacher' novels and enjoy them when I'm in the mood for that genre.

I read 'White Fire', the latest of the Agent Pendergast novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child....that was the 14th book in the series, that started with 'Relic'. I've really enjoyed this series over the years. Anyone else read any of the novels in this series?

I read 'The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service' by Henry A. Crumpton a while back....an inside look at intelligence gathering pre-9/11 and post-9/11. It was interesting to get more of an idea of what happens in the intelligence gathering community, but it was a pretty dry read after a while. It started reading like more like a text book, laden with theory than the 'spellbinding' story the book advertised to be. It was an interesting, albeit dry read.

[Drunk Monkey]

Good sifi book. I like most things Reynolds writes. If you are into sifi you should check him out.

[backup qb]

I am currently reading 'American Sniper' the Chris Kyle autobiography. Only 100 pages in but it is really good.

[TheReverend]

I'm reading a translated French historical fiction series called the "Accursed Kings" by Maurice Druon about the Capet dynasty and all that entailed (burning the Templars, murder for the throne, lots of kings dying, succession laws, manipulating the papacy, etc).

Pretty terrific stuff despite being dry. I've learned quite a bit.

[iforgotmypassword]

slow getting up by Nate Jackson has tons of good Bronco tidbits and is a solid read.

I usually read non-fiction but because all my students have been reading the Divergent series I figured I could skim through it and bare it enough to have conversations with them.... now I'm hooked.

[Drunken.Broncoholic2]

If anyone grew up skateboarding in Northern Cali or in general FTC has put out a book detailing the SF scene back in the EMB days. Back when skateboarding was real, instead of cookie cutter energy drink contest robots of today.

[backup qb]

Slow Getting Up was a solid read.

[Broncomutt]

Shift by Hugh Howey

Not too shabby.