What are you reading?

mayor al


Chewie,  My Clancy was a Costco buy also.  Let me know what you think of it.   It is ingrained in my brain that as I read these, the Harrison Ford image of Jack Ryan is pretty consistent...but not the John Clark image from 'Clear and Present Danger'. Who do you visualize as John Clark, or Jack Junior? Or Domingo Chavez???  I enjoy putting images to characters in these stories. After serveral volumes, you 'get to know then' fairly well.

Al, that's also something I do but the problem is, most of the well known actors are about 5" 7 or 8, makes it tough to cast them in my mind!

There are "work-arounds" for short actors...
 
One is casting a leading lady that is of similar height...
 
Another is an "apple" or a "half apple"...these are modern versions of an apple crate that short actors stand on...
 
Another is shooting angle, background, and the sense of perspective, something Gollywood manipulates on a regular basis...

I've just completed two great books,"Dark rose", a short well-written book about Portland's political corruption in the first half of the twentieth century, and "Doc"by Mary Doria Russell. It is a historical novel of the first order about Doc Holliday and the earls, cir cal their time Dodge City. I don't know its accuracy but it was a great read and she is a formidable writer. I would check it out.

"Packing for Mars" by Mary Roach. A wonderfully funny and interesting book on the logistics of living in space.

"Folks, this ain't normal" by Joel Salatin,  an organic farmer; a thought provoking treatise on industrial farming, etc.  One main theory, for example,  2 chickens are quieter and easier to raise than 2 parakeets, and they give you eggs. 
"The Great Influenze"  by John M Barry.  Incredible saga of the 1918 flu epidemic that killed more people than any other epidemic.

"Tricky Business" by Dave Barry. If you like Carl Hiiasen, you'll like this. pb

Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky
 
For convenience, here is an excellent quality pdf of it:  http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/82214106

The Corleone Family, Ed Falco...This book is incredibly spellbinding, starts with Vito in 1933!

chewingthefat

mayor al


Chewie,  My Clancy was a Costco buy also.  Let me know what you think of it.   It is ingrained in my brain that as I read these, the Harrison Ford image of Jack Ryan is pretty consistent...but not the John Clark image from 'Clear and Present Danger'. Who do you visualize as John Clark, or Jack Junior? Or Domingo Chavez???  I enjoy putting images to characters in these stories. After serveral volumes, you 'get to know then' fairly well.

Al, that's also something I do but the problem is, most of the well known actors are about 5" 7 or 8, makes it tough to cast them in my mind!

Clark Gable was 6'; Harrison Ford & Leo DiCaprio are both 6'1"; Connery is 6'2"; Eastwood (is) & Wayne (was) 6'3⁺".  The one physical characteristic actors have in common is disproportionately large heads.  I'm told that large heads "shoot better"; why this is I have no idea.  It was certainly true of my all-time favorite film actors, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, & Al Pacino. 

Bruce Cameron's A Dog's Journey". sequel to the #1 Best Seller, "A Doug's Purpose". Superb novel from a dog's perspective...funny and a tear jerker, too.'''with a wild twist!! Love both...soon to be, as they say, a mojor motion picture. Urge you to read it before the movie comes out!!

Did a bunch of this thread go missing?

There are two similar threads going at the same time, I think.
 
What are you reading right now?

OK, that makes sense.
 
Am I required to post the same thing in both places?