Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
I just finished a fantasy book, Blue Moon Rising by Simon R. Green, that started out funny and a bit weird, and as I kept reading, it got better and by the end I was glad I read it. As so many books do, maybe most, the two main protagonists separate and we have to follow the path of one, then the other, and then go back to the first and so on until their journeys come together again. This happened in The Lord of the Rings, too, as Frodo and Sam go in one direction, Pippin and Merry get split off, and Gandalf, too.
In an epic like Lord of the Rings with so many characters and places, it is necessary.
BUT…in some books, it is really annoying!!!!
I hand it to Mr. Green that he finishes the episode before going to the other protagonist so I am not upset about his story, but many books leave us at a cliff hanger that is really awful and then are gone for a long time, too long…so long that I forget what was happening to the poor character who was left behind so long ago in such a terrible position. It happens over and over in the story and really makes me say bad things.
Cherryh does this, too, but because there are usually happy endings for the characters, I read on without pulling my hair out.
BUT sometimes I feel really manipulated.
Does it bother you? Do you have any prime examples of this that you would like to get off your chest?
For those of my readers who were hoping this diary would be about Westerns, please do comment about your favorite stories. I haven’t read very many though you all know that I think Shane by Schaefer is the perfect short novel. I also think that East of Eden by Steinbeck might count as a western. I also enjoyed the Tony Hillerman mysteries set in the Four Corners. C. J. Box’s mysteries often include ranches in Wyoming. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton is also set in the West.
It is OK to discuss favorite Western TV and movies, too. I have nostalgia about The Wagon Train, The Lone Ranger (the radio version), Sky King (radio), Gunsmoke, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, The Cisco Kid, Have Gun Will Travel, and Zorro.
Nichols with James Garner was funny, but it only lasted one year, 1971-72.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Nichols (also known as James Garner as Nichols) is an American Western television series starring James Garner broadcast in the United States on NBC during the 1971-72 season. Set the fictional town of Nichols, Arizona, in 1914, Nichols differed from traditional Western series of the era. The main character, a sheriff, rode on a motorcycle and in an automobile rather than on the traditional horse. The hero did not carry a firearm and was generally opposed to the use of violence to solve problems, preferring other means. Margot Kidder portrayed Ruth, the love interest/barmaid of Nichols.
I loved the movies
Silverado and
Second Hand Lions.
A list of TV westerns is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
According to the list, Firefly qualifies and I agree.
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! That opening scene
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Standing in the Dark on a Sunny Day
by palantir
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Martinique - A moment in time
by erratic
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Energy Efficiency Strikes Again
by gmoke
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Why Everything You Know about Your “Self” Is Wrong
by Robert Fuller
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Robert Fuller says:
Chapter 6 of my novel "The Rowan Tree" has now been posted online:
http://www.rowantreenovel.com/...
Readers are welcome to add to and annotate the novel location map:
http://www.rowantreenovel.com/....
Also, the Goodreads Giveaway for a free paperback copy of "The Rowan Tree" is still open:
http://www.goodreads.com/...
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NOTE:
plf515 has book talk on
Wednesday mornings early