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I'm trying to read Country People by Daniel Mason. It's a turd so far. Not sure if I can keep plugging away at it. The protagonist is completely unrelatable to me.
Posted : July 13, 2026 11:34 pm
I'm trying to read Country People by Daniel Mason. It's a turd so far. Not sure if I can keep plugging away at it. The protagonist is completely unrelatable to me.
As much as my OCD wants to compel me to finish every book that I start, like I always used to, I finally realized that time is not on my side as far as reading goes. My time left here is too limited to waste slogging through a book that I'm not enjoying.
Posted : July 14, 2026 4:20 am
Yep. The prose is pretty good and the literary style is interesting but the story itself is probably going to make this a DNF. I was trying to read a few things outside of my normal sweet spot but this one isn't going to be it.
My time left here is too limited to waste slogging through a book that I'm not enjoying.
Posted : July 14, 2026 12:50 pm
I finished CONAN THE BARBARIAN: THE OFFICIAL STORY OF THE FILM, which was a great making-off book, but it had SO many easily spotted mistakes (Roger Ebert's partner was Richard Schickel...?) that it really took away from my enjoyment. Just started Jan Klement's THE CREATURE, a classic true (?) story of the author's encounter with a Bigfoot.
Posted : July 14, 2026 4:00 pm
I'm trying to read Country People by Daniel Mason. It's a turd so far. Not sure if I can keep plugging away at it. The protagonist is completely unrelatable to me.
It doesn't happen often, but if I get to a point in a book where I really don't care what happens to the characters then I move on. Doesn't mean it's a bad book - just not the right book for me. This may be heretical to some, but that's how I felt with Game of Thrones. I know how popular the series is, and I'm a big fantasy fan, but I just couldn't get into it.
Posted : July 14, 2026 5:49 pm
I'm trying to read Country People by Daniel Mason. It's a turd so far. Not sure if I can keep plugging away at it. The protagonist is completely unrelatable to me.
It doesn't happen often, but if I get to a point in a book where I really don't care what happens to the characters then I move on. Doesn't mean it's a bad book - just not the right book for me. This may be heretical to some, but that's how I felt with Game of Thrones. I know how popular the series is, and I'm a big fantasy fan, but I just couldn't get into it.
The GOT series are probably some of my favorite books of all time, ruined by the fact that Martin will surely die before he comes close to finishing the series.
One of the things I love about this board is how our tastes all differ...one man's masterpiece is another man's "Meh", lol.
Posted : July 14, 2026 6:17 pm
rmquist reacted
Just finished Revelator by Daryl Gregory, which I liked a lot.
Up next, probably back to Stories, edited by Gaiman & Sarrantonio.
B
Posted : July 16, 2026 1:44 am
Just finished Revelator by Daryl Gregory, which I liked a lot.
Up next, probably back to Stories, edited by Gaiman & Sarrantonio.
B
You made REVELATOR sound pretty good in the Midworld thread. Folk-Horror has been my go-to for the past year or so.
Posted : July 16, 2026 1:58 pm
I'm trying to read Country People by Daniel Mason. It's a turd so far. Not sure if I can keep plugging away at it. The protagonist is completely unrelatable to me.
It doesn't happen often, but if I get to a point in a book where I really don't care what happens to the characters then I move on. Doesn't mean it's a bad book - just not the right book for me. This may be heretical to some, but that's how I felt with Game of Thrones. I know how popular the series is, and I'm a big fantasy fan, but I just couldn't get into it.
The GOT series are probably some of my favorite books of all time, ruined by the fact that Martin will surely die before he comes close to finishing the series.
One of the things I love about this board is how our tastes all differ...one man's masterpiece is another man's "Meh", lol.
Martin’s delay is why I haven’t started reading the series yet. I picked up the first book long ago, but since there were delays at that time already, I shelved it and decided not to read it if and when Martin finishes it. So I might never read it…
Posted : July 16, 2026 4:22 pm
I finished Jan Klement's THE CREATURE: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH BIGFOOT, which was really good. True? I don't know. But it was convincing...I felt that Klement was talking about a real connection that he had made with one of these creatures. The end was touching and heartbreaking. The book is filled with odd little touches and behaviors that really made the story being related ring true. Fascinating stuff. And the cow incident alone is worth the cover price.
On the other side of the coin, I just started reading ABOMINABLE SCIENCE, which debunks Cryptozoology completely. Killjoys!
Posted : July 18, 2026 2:53 pm
I finished Jan Klement's THE CREATURE: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH BIGFOOT, which was really good. True? I don't know. But it was convincing...I felt that Klement was talking about a real connection that he had made with one of these creatures. The end was touching and heartbreaking. The book is filled with odd little touches and behaviors that really made the story being related ring true. Fascinating stuff. And the cow incident alone is worth the cover price.
On the other side of the coin, I just started reading ABOMINABLE SCIENCE, which debunks Cryptozoology completely. Killjoys!
I always have to chuckle about Bigfoot in fiction. The poor guy's gone from a solid horror protagonist in the vintage pbs from the '80s horror boom to, I'm not kidding, a romantic figure that has carved out an entire sub-niche called Bigfoot Romance. Here are a few choice selections:
Posted : July 18, 2026 4:15 pm
Taking another break from Stories (I swear I‘ll finish it one of these days!) and starting a reread of Dune.
I want to read Herbert’s first trilogy before the next Dune movie opens in December, so I decided to bite the bullet and start with a reread of the first novel (which I first read a couple of years ago, and was less than enthusiastic about it).
Hopefully the second time around I’ll know what I’m getting into and have a greater appreciation for this classic novel.
B
Posted : July 18, 2026 9:58 pm
Taking another break from Stories (I swear I‘ll finish it one of these days!) and starting a reread of Dune.
I want to read Herbert’s first trilogy before the next Dune movie opens in December, so I decided to bite the bullet and start with a reread of the first novel (which I first read a couple of years ago, and was less than enthusiastic about it).
Hopefully the second time around I’ll know what I’m getting into and have a greater appreciation for this classic novel.
B
I've tried to read DUNE twice -- once long ago, and once again relatively recently (via an Easton Press HC that I won, in preparation for the Centipede HC that I knew was coming my way) -- and I just can't do it. So after receiving the first three Centipede DUNE volumes, I threw in the towel, sold all three, and admitted to myself (as @jeff-terry has presumably also done) that the DUNE saga just isn't for me. DUNE is such a beloved work for so many, it's times like these that make one wonder what they're blind to that everyone else seems to see.
Posted : July 18, 2026 10:57 pm
@ronclinton I guess his feet aren't the only thing about him that's big.
Posted : July 19, 2026 2:37 pm