by Fievel on Sat Jan 30, 2016 11:39 pm
I'm going to attempt to keep this up. I failed regularly at the movie journal, but feel like I could handle (remember) to keep up a book journal.
Note: almost all of my entries will be audiobooks.
It - Stephen King, read by Stephen Weber (9/10) - I tried to get through the physical version of this story for 10 years. I'd start it, something would come up in my life and I'd put it down. A year or later the whole process would begin again and ultimately stop. Finally I cleared a spot on my list to listen to this, and the journey was wonderful (as it is in most King epics). And like most King epics, something in the ending bugged me. My issue came with the whole gangbangscene. Completely unnecessary, and (fuck I'm getting old) I felt horrible for listening to it. I mean really, it was kiddie porn to an extent. I guarantee you it wouldn't have bothered me so much had I not been a parent (heightened awareness/sensitivity). I wouldn't have enjoyed it, but I also wouldn't still be typing about it. I'm sure the arguments, complaints, and defenses for that scene have been long played out in the thirty years since the book came out. But really, it was the only thing that bugged me about it. Stephen Weber's reading was brilliant. Great voice(s).
Star Wars - The Force Awakens - Alan Dean Foster, read by Marc Thompson (8.5/10) - Decent read of the movie. A little insight gained and some deleted scenes added to the story are what make this worth the time of a Star Wars fan. Thompson's reading was only fair. My key critique is that his Finn sounded like a whiny little white farm boy rather than a black ex-Stormtrooper. There was absolutely no depth to the voice and it took me away from the known character somewhat. I'm not saying the reader needs to perfectly mimic the voice, but at least get in the right octave, chief!
Star Wars - The Perfect Weapon - Delilah S. Dawson, read by January LaVoy (9/10) - Entertaining short story about the black-clad female in Maz's palace that alerted the First Order to the whereabouts of Han/BB-8/etc. They built her backstory up so much in this that she seems more interesting than Boba Fett. Seriously. Fair reading. LaVoy has a generic female's voice that struggles to effectively pull off a male character (think Ed Rooney's secretary Grace in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when she tries to pretend she's actually Rooney on the phone). The reading adds nothing to the story.
Revival - Stephen King, read by David Morse (8.5/10) - A lot of King-isms happen in this book, for me - Great character detail, great use of geography, the occasional horrible dialogue, the one or two lines that made me stop and say "Damn.....that was a good line," the parts that drag, and the journey that makes the ride worth it. And the ending was....... better than I had hoped. Nothing really surprised me at the end, though, and that was disappointing. Even the "surprises" weren't terribly shocking. If anything, they were predictable. But all in all I enjoyed the story. They're going to make a movie out of it - could be interesting.
On my list (can and will change):
Miles: The Autobiography
Star Wars - Tarkin
City of Mirrors (Part 3 of The Passage Trilogy) - Justin Cronin (In May....I might go back through the first two again, or at least the second)
Last edited by
Fievel on Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
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