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boardadmin
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:34 pm Post subject:
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I normally wouldn’t read something promoted as “An Oprah Pick”, simply because I’ve been burned in the past by her recommendations. But when Stephen King mentioned that he “liked it too much,” it piqued my curiosity. Then a rave review from Publisher’s Weekly and many other review houses added to my curiosity. Then my mother gave me the book and said, “You have to read this.” So much for withstanding an Oprah pick.
Others have summarized the book, so I’m not going to go into detail on who did what and when, and instead I’ll just tell you what to watch for and why this book might be for you.
First is that it really is a conglomeration of many genres: ghost story, thriller, drama, mystery, and love. Normally this could be a serious negative. But first time novelist David Wroblewski does an admirable job juggling them all and integrating them rather seamlessly into the story.
Second is that the story gradually develops and mutates as the main character (Edgar) grows and has situations forced upon him (from the death of a close loved one to learning to survive on the run). The characters (including many of the dogs) have excellently drawn traits that the author slowly reveals through Edgar’s unique experiences.
Third is the love story surrounding Edgar’s parents, Edgar’s love of his parents (that eventually changes into something else ...which I won’t give away), Edgar’s love of the Sawtelle breed of dogs, and the dogs’ love of Edgar.
Finally comes the thriller portion of the book, which is entwined with the ghost story. This is the climax that will have most readers cringing and rooting for Edgar. But will it do any good?
The story really isn’t that interesting, Hold on! Before you lambaste me for that, let me explain. The story of a boy and his dog(s) has been done to death (including films), so there’s really no new territory being covered in those terms. But what makes this book so darned readable and enjoyable is the ample pros ability of the author. He can make a meandering dogs last day a heart-wrenching yet chilling combination that really sets the reader back on his/her heels. And the ghost story portions will probably cause goosebumps to sprout on your neck and a lump to form in your throat. Yeah, it’s that well written.
THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE is a literary work that has a well-told — if retold — story as its base. If you’re looking for originality, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for an exceptionally well written fable, this one’s recommended. Yeah, even by that Oprah gal.
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my skin is not my own
Joined: 26 May 2009
Posts: 82
Location: the wheel of samsara
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:38 pm Post subject:
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zen flesh, zen bones
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Israfil
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
Posts: 376
Location: No Boundary Proposal
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Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:24 pm Post subject:
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Clarke's 3001
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There's another kind of time, imaginary time, in which the universe has no beginning or end. It would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE.
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boardadmin
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Israfil
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 1:57 pm Post subject:
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| boardadmin wrote: | | Israfil wrote: | | Clarke's 3001 |
I pity you. |
Thanks...just reading it to close that saga... 
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There's another kind of time, imaginary time, in which the universe has no beginning or end. It would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE.
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newfacedancer
Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 116
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:12 pm Post subject:
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Rebecca Hardcastle PHD's book, Excoconsciousess, Your 21st Century Mind, is about exploring the extraterrestrial dimensions of human consciousness. That link is directly to the cosmos and its inhabitants. Exoconsciousness is committed to preparation for peaceful coexistence and communication with extra-terrestrial communities.
When Rebecca was young she was taken out of body to underground bases manned by reptilian aliens. Besides the aliens there is a whole civilization beneath the Earth.
When Shirley MacLaine's mother was dying she told Shirley about how beautiful the beings were who lived inside the Earth. A few years ago after listening to a talk by a woman who channeled messages from a being who lives in a city underneat Mt. Shasta in California, I was visited by a priest-like being who came from the inner earth. I was shown a village that looked like it was from the Civil War era. Also, I saw a plant that I never had seen before.
This book is full of gems which will expand your consciousness.
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arnoldo
Joined: 27 Apr 2007
Posts: 1905
Location: Aztlan
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:23 pm Post subject:
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| newfacedancer wrote: | | Besides the aliens there is a whole civilization beneath the Earth. . |
There is also an alien civilization inside Uranus 
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It is forbidden to unleash an artificial consciousness on the universe.
~The Ascenscion Factor.
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newfacedancer
Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 116
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:39 am Post subject:
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In Tibet there are caves that the Tibetans believe are entrances to Agartha. It is an inner world that the Tibetans say is the home of the legendary Shamballa. The place where highly advanced souls live who influence humanity's evolution.
Also, Adolf Hitler sent spies to Tibet looking for the entrances of the inner Earth in hopes of finding Shamballa. He sent u-boats to the poles looking for the entrances to the inner Earth.
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my skin is not my own
Joined: 26 May 2009
Posts: 82
Location: the wheel of samsara
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 12:52 pm Post subject:
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newfacedancer wrote | Quote: | ??
do want to know how many times i've heard that! |
consciousness IS internal  NOTHING external can alter it. unfortunately human consciousness IS unconscious, asleep, in darkness. jeshua so rightly said
| Quote: | | the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not |
funny enough, FH also used this. fortunately the universe IS susceptilbe to change...
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Last edited by my skin is not my own on Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:40 am; edited 3 times in total
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Israfil
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arnoldo
Joined: 27 Apr 2007
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Location: Aztlan
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Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:47 am Post subject:
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| my skin is not my own wrote: | .
consciousness IS internal NOTHING external can alter it. unfortunately human consciousness IS unconscious, asleep, in darkness. jeshua so rightly said
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I don't subscribe to Idealism which claims that reality is entirely subjective. I'm curently reading Adler's book entitled Adler's Philosphical Dictionary; 125 Key Terms for the Philopsher's Lexixon who defines being as follows .
| Quote: | | Being: What does the word "real" mean? The sphere of the the real is defined as the sphere of existence that is totally independent of the human mind. . . Existence has three modalities. The first is real existence, existence independent of the human mind and unaffected by it. The second modality is subjective existence. The contents of the human mind, its sensations, perceptions, images, memories, and concepts, have existence in your mind and mine. Since you are I really exist, subjective existence is also one form of real existence. There is a third modality--a third mode of existentence that is neither totally independent of the human mind nor totally dependent on the individual mind. This third mode is the existenece of all the objects of the human mind except perceptual objects. . . This third mode of existence is a middle ground between real existence and subjective existence. |
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It is forbidden to unleash an artificial consciousness on the universe.
~The Ascenscion Factor.
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my skin is not my own
Joined: 26 May 2009
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Location: the wheel of samsara
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:42 am Post subject:
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i am not familiar with that book or author.. i quote personal notes i have made from my own investigations..
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Last edited by my skin is not my own on Sat Sep 19, 2009 10:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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arnoldo
Joined: 27 Apr 2007
Posts: 1905
Location: Aztlan
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:33 pm Post subject:
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| my skin is not my own wrote: | | my skin is not my own wrote: | | consciousness IS internal NOTHING external can alter it. unfortunately human consciousness IS unconscious, asleep, in darkness. |
i am not familiar with that book or author.. i can only quote personal notes i have made from my own investigations.. |
Which is fine, thus your bolded comment above seems to be a subjective rather than an objective statement. . . however from a jungian perspective there may be, in fact, a collective unconscious which lies beneath what we perceive as "reality." 
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It is forbidden to unleash an artificial consciousness on the universe.
~The Ascenscion Factor.
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my skin is not my own
Joined: 26 May 2009
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Location: the wheel of samsara
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 10:42 am Post subject:
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if you cannot read between the lines i was trying to say evolution and/or involution cannot awaken consciousness..
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Last edited by my skin is not my own on Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
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arnoldo
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Location: Aztlan
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:00 pm Post subject: Dune 7 outline
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It is forbidden to unleash an artificial consciousness on the universe.
~The Ascenscion Factor.
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Xianghua
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
Posts: 18
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject:
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LOL. ARC??? ^^^^
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arnoldo
Joined: 27 Apr 2007
Posts: 1905
Location: Aztlan
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject:
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^^^
No, it's an ebook I purchased from ebookstore.sony.com.
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I am the keeper of private knowledge and uncounted secrets. You will never know what I know! I would pity you, if you were not an infidel.
~ Mirage in the Shariat Road,
an apocryphal Tleilaxu writing
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kryptonitehalo
Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 2
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:06 pm Post subject:
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Scourge of God -- S.M. Stirling
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boardadmin
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my skin is not my own
Joined: 26 May 2009
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Location: the wheel of samsara
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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 12:45 pm Post subject:
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GEoD
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TwoSheds
Joined: 12 Aug 2009
Posts: 3
Location: Farnborough, UK
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:50 pm Post subject:
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Freedom's Choice by Anne McCaffrey
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Linbar Chiesa
Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 27
Location: New Geidi Prime (Detroit)
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FishReader
Joined: 04 Jun 2006
Posts: 133
Location: Athens, Greece
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 2:29 pm Post subject:
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Harlan Ellison
The Deathbird Stories
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MargeD10191
Joined: 19 Oct 2009
Posts: 10
Location: So Cal
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:35 pm Post subject:
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Right now I'm reading Hunters of Dune, but I love different types of books. I also love John Sandford, Dean Koontz, Cormac McCarthy, Larry Brown, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Flannery O'Connor. I really loved No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. To be honest, Frank Herbert is about the only science fiction writer I really love. Someone recommended Ursula LeGuin to me and I read one of her novels but it did nothing for me. No one can compete with Frank Herbert!
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boardadmin
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:52 pm Post subject:
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| MargeD10191 wrote: | | Right now I'm reading Hunters of Dune, but I love different types of books. I also love John Sandford, Dean Koontz, Cormac McCarthy, Larry Brown, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Flannery O'Connor. I really loved No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. To be honest, Frank Herbert is about the only science fiction writer I really love. Someone recommended Ursula LeGuin to me and I read one of her novels but it did nothing for me. No one can compete with Frank Herbert! |
Great authors you mention. A good rounding of material.
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Usal420
Joined: 20 May 2009
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Location: Lakewood, CO
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:49 am Post subject:
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| MargeD10191 wrote: | | Right now I'm reading Hunters of Dune, but I love different types of books. I also love John Sandford, Dean Koontz, Cormac McCarthy, Larry Brown, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Flannery O'Connor. I really loved No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. To be honest, Frank Herbert is about the only science fiction writer I really love. Someone recommended Ursula LeGuin to me and I read one of her novels but it did nothing for me. No one can compete with Frank Herbert! |
Try Robert A. Heinlein, start with Stranger in a Strange Land. Or The Years of Rice and Salt(Alternate History tale) by Kim Stanley Robinson. and I have to mention the Honor Harrington series by David Weber, starting with Basilisk Station, a wonderful Heroine character in a Military Space war series, but more about the character, then about the war, but still great scenes of battle to, in all forms. It also is big on the politics.
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Poey
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Posts: 862
Location: Dublin, CA
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:21 am Post subject:
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Finished "A Storm in Flanders" by Groom last week or so. World War I nonfiction, written very well. Fascinating stuff, WWI... it "hella sucked", if I may say so.
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newfacedancer
Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 116
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:13 pm Post subject:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v905fhCqq2Y
Inner Paths to Outer Space Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies.
One experience from DMT was insect creatures all around me, trying to break through. The insectoids began feeding on my heart. I was making love to them at the same time they were eating me. The thought came to me with certainty that they were manipulating my DNA, changing its structure.
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boardadmin
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Israfil
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:49 pm Post subject:
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| newfacedancer wrote: | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v905fhCqq2Y
Inner Paths to Outer Space Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies.
One experience from DMT was insect creatures all around me, trying to break through. The insectoids began feeding on my heart. I was making love to them at the same time they were eating me. The thought came to me with certainty that they were manipulating my DNA, changing its structure. |
AW yes... 
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There's another kind of time, imaginary time, in which the universe has no beginning or end. It would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE.
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