Re: Book thread : Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:03 am  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

Seeing as it's that time of the year, I reckon the Ghost of Christmas Past needs to come to visit you tonight and take you to watch Dolph Lungren's Jack Reacher. Tom Cruise might not have the physical presence of the Jack Reacher of the novels, but he's more Jack Reacher in every other respect than Lundgren could ever be.

I like Jack Reacher and think the books are good. But FFS they are Murder She Wrote for blokes. I can't understand why people just can't let go of him being this imposing giant.

Because as Jerry Chicken says, it's exactly who he is. Even if you do leave aside the size factor, a big part of the Reacher character is that he is someone whom people are usually wary of approaching, being quite unkempt as well as a little scary looking. How many people would be too intimidated to approach Tom Cruise if he wasn't famous?

The Jack Reacher film is an excellent example of when an adaptation just doesn't make sense to me. Not a bad film on its own terms, but altered in such a way that I don't really understand why they were so determined to use the source material other than as a name to get people through the door.

Re: Book thread : Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:07 am  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

Not only is he so big, but that size is purely natural as Jack Reacher hates the gym!

The Jack Reacher of the books is a ridiculous cartoon character. A bad ass Military Policeman who takes down the baddest of the bad special forces warriors??? You accept that utter drivel but aren't prepared to let go of Reacher being so big?

Of course the Jack Reacher of the films would be better with an imposing actor. But there's practically none of them around these days. Jason Statham and Channing Tatum are too of the biggest action stars right now. They're closer to being Tom Cruise than they are of being Reacher. If the film producers waited for a 6ft 5 giant who can portray Reacher, it would never get done.

Tatum, probably, Statham, you must be having a laugh. Where would Tom Cruise fit in in The Expendables, and how would a Jerry Maguire remake with Jason Statham go?

Re: Book thread : Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:14 am  

Having said all that, and whilst I enjoy the American crime genre in a novel (just can't get interested in a crime novel set in the UK, and yes, I realise that Lee Child is British), after you have read a few you realise pretty quickly that there is a pre-set template for the crime novel and its hardly ever veered from to the point where at page 200 you're waiting for the false ending where everyone thinks the killer is behind bars now but wait, there's 50 more pages left so THERE MUST BE A FINAL TWIST !!!

Dipping into the genre once every few months is fine but read more than two back to back and you do wonder if you've already read this one - I love James Lee Burke as a writer but his novels are almost what used to be described as pulp fiction unless you leave a decent gap of several months between each one.

Maybe thats why John Grisham throws in the odd non-fiction book every now and again ?

Re: Book thread : Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:49 am  

I'm not a fan of creepy Tom, but I personally liked his performance as Reacher. While he clearly physically isn't anywhere close to the same, I thought he got close to the nuances of the character. I actually thought that the ending of the film was more in line with the character than the ending in the book.

I've recently just finished "Personal" so I've read all the novels, but not the short stories. Heard an amount before reading it about its setting in Romford, but disappointed at the lack of Essex feeling! That aside, like a lot of the recent Reecher books, I thought the set up was good, but the ending unimpressive and almost rushed as if Lee Child didn't know where to take the story.

Now onto Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series

Re: Book thread : Wed Dec 24, 2014 8:18 am  

Sarf Essex Taff wrote:

Now onto Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series

I think you'll like those just as much if not more than the Reacher series, but as I mentioned above, they do get a little formulaic.

Re: Book thread : Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:45 pm  

I'd recommend the Tom Rob Smith trilogy of Child 44, The Secret Speech and Agent 6.

Re: Book thread : Thu Dec 25, 2014 12:23 pm  

Him wrote:

I'd recommend the Tom Rob Smith trilogy of Child 44, The Secret Speech and Agent 6.

Agree also Tom Wood and Chris Pavone

Re: Book thread : Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:09 am  

Has anybody read my latest novel "Two Seasons" yet with its background of work, family, old friends and rugby league. I know quite a few people who have either bought a copy or had one bought for them as a Christmas present but as yet no one appears to have had any time to read it.
As I await some feedback, I am combining starting to write my next novel with looking at three books which hopefully might give me some fresh ideas: Ray Gent's "Rugby League In Its Own Words", Mike Critchley's "As Good As It Gets" and Gillian Tetts "Fools Gold".

Re: Book thread : Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:45 pm  

Currently reading Porno by Irvine Welsh, struggling with some of the lingo especially with Begbie!!

Re: Book thread : Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:18 am  

JerryChicken wrote: Anyway, as well as reading the book (proper book) mentioned above "An Innocent Man" by John Grisham, a factual account of a man wrongly convicted as a murderer and serving 11 years on death row for it, I was browsing the excellent Leeds City Libraries eBook loan selection and came across Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood", the true story (indeed he wrote it in a reportage style while the investigation was taking place, he and Harper Lee writing up thousands of pages of notes from interviews ) of a Kansas family who were murdered in their farmhouse home, a fascinating story all the more so because its true and because its written in a novelistic style yet still sticks rigidly to the facts, its still the second largest selling true crime novel. Steve Earle and his take on In Cold Blood. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30846163 ''The power of intellect and humanity flowing from heart to hand to pen to page.'' I also got it.

JerryChicken wrote: Anyway, as well as reading the book (proper book) mentioned above "An Innocent Man" by John Grisham, a factual account of a man wrongly convicted as a murderer and serving 11 years on death row for it, I was browsing the excellent Leeds City Libraries eBook loan selection and came across Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood", the true story (indeed he wrote it in a reportage style while the investigation was taking place, he and Harper Lee writing up thousands of pages of notes from interviews ) of a Kansas family who were murdered in their farmhouse home, a fascinating story all the more so because its true and because its written in a novelistic style yet still sticks rigidly to the facts, its still the second largest selling true crime novel. Steve Earle and his take on In Cold Blood. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30846163 ''The power of intellect and humanity flowing from heart to hand to pen to page.'' I also got it.