"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

Tolkien good :thumbup:

Neil Gaiman not :thumbdn: I’ve tried several of his books. He's a competent writer who just irritates me.
 
Before someone really misunderstands me, I'm not comparing Tolkine to Gaiman nor to any other writer in history. Tolkien is, and I assume always will be, absolutely unbeatable in his field.
A couple of days ago, I started a book by one of my favourite authors, I haven't read much of it yet, but it seems promising:
Paul Auster "Man in the dark"

Fausto
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The one thing I found when Christopher took over collating JRR's work is that Christopher had trouble keeping the tone enthralling, tales of Hurin I struggled to keep interested...I liked it in that it had a vibe of a historical text, but some parts he really dragged on where JRR would have moved on to keep the pace up and keep the reader dying to know what happens on the next page. I dunno if anyone else has ready the stuff Christopher Tolkien did but while it was good in the sense of a deeper understanding of middle earth, it was a little hard to sit through in one bash (it took me multiple attempts to read it all).
 
Over in the Tom Selleck lockback thread, Carl mentioned Robert Parker books. I confess I've never read any of these, but I'm mighty curious. Can anyone recommend a good starting point? Maybe one or two of his books that have knife content, if possible.

BTW: We've talked a lot about Western novels, but who's your favorite fictional detective, guys? Being from Florida, I've always been a Travis McGee fan.

-- Mark
 
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I agree with Robert that there is quite a difference between the "original" Tolkien and the books managed by his son.
But, again, even if Christopher was his son, Tolkien is really too much for anyone to confront with.
As for fictional detectives...the list is pretty long for me.
For "classics", I would say Poirot (I grew up with Agatha Christie's novels) and Gideon Fell, with Ellery Queen a good bronze medal.
For more modern ones, I like Adamsberg (in Fred Vargas' books), and, to mention something from my country, I like Marco Buratti (nicknamed "the alligator" in Massimo Carlotto's novels).
The new wave of Scandinavian detective novelry has come out with some very nice books too.

Fausto
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The biography of Arthur Conan Doyle was far more entertaining than his Sherlock Holmes stories, I thought. The Silmarillion was hard for me to get through at the age of 13, I re-read it when I was an older teen. Christopher did have a hard road ahead of him when he "filled in the blanks" for his father.
 
Tolkien was a game changer. He brought Fantasy out of the Science Fiction ghetto.

No genera gives a better picture of a vanished past than the Mystery. By their nature, Mysteries are all about details.

Nothing wrong with old Trav. :thumbup:

I’ll take Miss Marple over Poirot any day. But I’ll take Peter Whimsy over either.

Then there is Fantasy/Mystery. I like the Lord Darcy books. Darcy solves crimes for the Plantagenet Duke of Normandy with the invaluable aid of his forensic sorcerer. :confused:
 
I started a book thread in Community, and I know some members in Traditional posted in there. Anyone read HP Lovecraft? That was a guy who had some problems.
 
I read most of his writings.
He sure had problems. More than some. But, he's pretty unique. And he knew where fear and horror have a home inside the human being. Whether he was aware of it, or not.
We might as well take this discussion to the Community thread anyway.

Fausto
:cool:
 
Keeping in line with books, if you haven't checked out the Great Eastern Cutlery book, you better. Informative and fun read.

Back to knives, I have such a bad hankerin' for a Case swayback jack. Oak, cayenne or chestnut bone (already have a peanut and coffin jack in chestnut, gotta have some variety). I think I might have to go for cayenne.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I started a book thread in Community, and I know some members in Traditional posted in there. Anyone read HP Lovecraft? That was a guy who had some problems.
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Cthulhu4Prez-Preview.png


:D haha I love Cthulu...I always laughed at these pictures, I want one on my bumper.
 
mnblade said:
Over in the Tom Selleck lockback thread, Carl mentioned Robert Parker books. I confess I've never read any of these, but I'm mighty curious. Can anyone recommend a good starting point? Maybe one or two of his books that have knife content, if possible.

BTW: We've talked a lot about Western novels, but who's your favorite fictional detective, guys? Being from Florida, I've always been a Travis McGee fan.

-- Mark
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Any library should have the Spencer series by Robert Parker. There's about 40 or 50 books in the Spencer series, ( well maybe 25 or so) so you have to pick the older copy right dates to get a rough chronology. You don't really need to go in order, but there are some that have re-occuring charaters and sub plots. Robert Parker's Spencer charater is a Boston P.I. and is a hard core individual. I can only put it this way, if Spencer ever ran into Sam Spade, Sam would have his cajonies handed to him just before Spencer tossed him in back bay. It's a darker kind of P.I., more like a Donald Hamilton Matt Helm type of individual.

The Jesse Stone novels by Parker are also a little darker than the made for TV movies. Very good books to pass some time with.

Carl.
 
Carl, I seriously think you have the gift of a natural charisma. I don't know if it happens to others...but when I read your last post, and especially the Sam Spade reference (since I love dashiell Hammett) I decided I want to buy a Robert Parker book. No wonder you have drawn so many people to the "peanut side"... :D

Fausto
:cool:
 
Carl has nicely characterized Spencer. There are at least 35 Spencer novels.

Carl notes that these novels build on previous incidents and the many reappearing and quirky ancillary characters add to the flavor of the books. Reading them in order is not necessary, but it will add to your enjoyment.

Spencer is an ex-professional Boxer, and a serious shooter. I think knives came into play occasiosionaly, but these guys are primarily shooters and hitters. Spencer is not a slave to orthodoxy. He happily relies on a .25 caliber when that is all that is available when he is out he is out running.

Mike H.
 
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Yes, they had Robert Urich doing a series for a little while, but it was as watered down as a nice whiskey over a glass of ice and then adding water. Kind of recognizable as such, but lacking the essence of the thing.

Robert Parker was not thrilled. That's why Tom Selleck had to have several meetings with Parker, and promising him to remain faithful to the books.

Carl.
 
Spillane was good old fashioned hard boiled PI fare. But my all time favorite was the Helm series by Donald Hamilton. Helm loved a good knife. It gave a whole new meaning to the words hard boiled. :thumbup::D

Carl.
 
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