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Re: What are you reading?

#101 Post by MaximRecoil »

J.J. Walters wrote:I'm ashamed to admit that I have never heard of Dexter (other than the really good TV show). Heh. I don't believe Dexter has ever been featured in any of King's novels or short stories. But there are so many small towns in Maine, he can't possible feature them all, now can he. Didn't know that parts of Creepshow 2 was filmed there. Creepshow 2 wasn't nearly as good as the first one, but it does feature "The Raft", one of my favorite SK short stories. Dexter looks like a nice little town.
Dexter is best known for Dexter Shoe:

https://www.dexterbowling.com/

But they are no longer manufactured in Dexter. The company was founded in Dexter by Harold Alfond in the 1950s, and until the early '00s, about 1/4 of Dexter's population worked there (I worked there for the last two years of its existence here in Dexter, on the bowling shoe line). There were also several other Dexter Shoe factories in other towns in Maine. All of Dexter Shoe's manufacturing is in China now. Dexter's shoes and boots used to be very high quality; I don't know if they still are or not (I doubt it). I wore the same pair of Dexter Shoe boots from 1993 when I bought them new at the factory outlet for $70, until 2014 when one of them finally ripped open (I still wear them occasionally, as long as it's dry out). Not to worry though, because I have two brand new identical pairs of them that I got for free during the couple of years that I worked there.

The mill they filmed in for Graveyard Shift (1990) was in Harmony, Maine, which is somewhat of a "satellite" of Dexter, i.e., Harmony kids attend Dexter Regional High School (they have their own primary/middle school). The same goes for Exeter, Ripley, and Garland.

By the way, all of the Maine accents you hear in some Stephen King movies are utterly ridiculous. In fact, I've never heard anyone fake a Maine accent in any TV show or movie correctly (Tom Bosley on Murder, She Wrote was perhaps the all-time worst offender; Fred Gwynne's accent in Pet Semetary was especially bad too). If I were directing a movie set in Maine, if I couldn't find actors who have a real Maine accent (not everyone from Maine does; not even close), I would just have them speak in a neutral accent, which is perfectly valid for a native Mainer. For example, my older brother, younger sister, and I all have a neutral accent; no one could tell what part of the country we are from just from hearing us speak. On the other hand, my older sister, father, and mother all have a pronounced Maine accent. There is really no rhyme or reason with regard to who in this state has a Maine accent and who doesn't.

Speaking of Maine accents, the guy who sings this novelty song is from Dexter ...

https://youtu.be/GyZXnpO8Jew

... though he's a lot older than me. He graduated in 1980, the same year I started kindergarten.

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Re: What are you reading?

#102 Post by ConchRepublican »

I didn't get a chance to do the full tour, SK Tours was fully booked, plus we didn't have a lot of time to spend in Bangor anyway (Bar Harbor is FAR from NYC) but we did swing by Mr. King's house on the way home. It is VERY cool, somewhat gothic as you'd expect, and very, unpretentious, for a writer of his stature at least. When we got there, no one was upfront and the driveway gate was wide open, like he just came home from food shopping and hadn't locked up yet. We of course respected his privacy and just looked around from outside the fence, the house is BIG, and Mrs. Conch & I took the obligatory picture at his front gate. Between the guard bats. :-)

Image

To get prepped for the trip I jumped a King book I hadn't read yet, It, to the top of my reading list. I'll probably be reading it through the end of the year, it's massive! But very good.
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Re: What are you reading?

#103 Post by J.J. Walters »

MaximRecoil:

Ayuh! :)

I hear ya about the accents. But let's not forget that the majority of the Stephen King movie adaptations are crapola! A mere handful are good/great. And yeah, as much as I love Fred Gwynne's Jud Crandell in Pet Sematary, his Maine accent was pretty bad. There hasn't been many good ones (in any movie). It's such a hard accent to nail. Not being from Maine, I'm not the best judge, but I thought Kathy Bates' "Downeaster" accent in Dolores Claiborne was pretty good, same with David Strathairn from the same movie.

Conch:

That is so awesome you got to swing by his house! What a great picture! Smart of you to not step inside the gate. They would have "released the hounds" on you. :)

IT is one of my favorites (as is the case with most fans). It's one of his magnum opus's (opui?). Yeah, he has more than one (The Dark Tower being the other). Perfect book since you were just in Bangor. IT is all about Derry, his fictional representation of Bangor. BTW, they are filming a remake of IT with Andrés Muschietti directing as we speak. I believe they are filming some exterior shots in Bangor, but most is being filmed in Oshawa and Port Hope, Ontario. From what I have seen and read, it looks promising. It has a chance to become one of the few good Stephen King movies. ;)
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Re: What are you reading?

#104 Post by ConchRepublican »

I wasn't messing with Cujo!!
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Re: What are you reading?

#105 Post by MaximRecoil »

J.J. Walters wrote:MaximRecoil:

Ayuh! :)

I hear ya about the accents. But let's not forget that the majority of the Stephen King movie adaptations are crapola! A mere handful are good/great. And yeah, as much as I love Fred Gwynne's Jud Crandell in Pet Sematary, his Maine accent was pretty bad. There hasn't been many good ones (in any movie). It's such a hard accent to nail. Not being from Maine, I'm not the best judge, but I thought Kathy Bates' "Downeaster" accent in Dolores Claiborne was pretty good, same with David Strathairn from the same movie.
I don't think I've seen Dolores Claiborne, but I just watched the trailer on YouTube and everyone's accent made me cringe. Like I said, I've never heard anyone in a movie or TV show get it right, and I doubt that will ever change. They all do the same thing, i.e., drop the "r" at the end of words such as "car", but there's more to a real Maine accent than that. I can't describe exactly what makes an accent sound fake vs. real, it is just something that comes from living in Maine my whole life. A real accent sounds natural; I don't even notice it unless I make a point to, and every fake Maine accent I've ever heard sounds forced and stilted, and it stands out to me immediately like a sore thumb.

I don't know why the Maine accent is so difficult to get right, because a neutral American accent seems to be quite easy. I've heard a lot of people from the UK and Australia affect such an accent believably. Ironically, a Brit or an Aussie who is good at affecting a neutral American accent could pass for a native Mainer (because a lot of us have neutral accents), while an American "flatlander" trying to fake a stereotypical Maine accent, couldn't.

By the way, I can't fake a Maine accent any better than anyone else can; I make myself cringe if I try to do it; I just can't make it sound right, even though I hear it from other people, including my older sister and parents, all the time.

Here's a real Maine accent; a short voicemail from my mother:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s04aElcKMMPN

She says "Dextah" instead of "Dexter", "freezah" instead of "freezer", and "theyah" instead of "there", but it's subtle and natural. When people try to fake it they hit you over the head with it. They also lack a natural cadence in general.

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Re: What are you reading?

#106 Post by J.J. Walters »

ConchRepublican wrote:I wasn't messing with Cujo!!
They actually have a small army of Corgi's. One of their current one's is affectionately called "The Thing of Evil"! Don't ask me how I know this, but I do. Corgi's don't look intimidating, but if you had four or five of them running after you, you'd probably run. ;)

Here's one from the cover of the paperback edition of his most excellent non-fiction book On Writing (2000)...

Image

MaximRecoil:

Yeah, I see what you mean about the accent. The "ah" is much more subtle in the Maine accent. It's not as pronounced as in the Boston version (Car, as in "CAAHH"). Has there ever been a Maine accent correctly used in film?
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Re: What are you reading?

#107 Post by Luther's nephew Dobie »

Styles Bitchley wrote:
J.J. Walters wrote:Those look like great books, Conch!
Is MacDonald anything like Spillane? I've real all the Mike Hammer novels. Would love to delve into something similar.
Hi Styles,
I too read all the Spillane Mike Hammer books. With 225 million books sold, he is on the short list of all time biggest selling authors in history.
He mined his hometown of Elizabeth, NJ for colorful characters whose monickers he slightly changed or left intact in his books as a homage. Shady joints, street layouts, named business places he transposed from Elizabeth to NYC.
He often came back for school reunions and to hang out with his old crew and eat at the old joints.
I get a big kick out of the scenes in the classic movie Marty when Ernest Borgnine's buddies are discussing a scene from a Hammer book, citing a spicy passage prompting Marty to shush them as his Ma is in the next room. It rings so true as Spillane was then a cultural icon and his books were instrumental in pushing the boundaries and rightly could be argued as key in starting the Sexual Revolution.
Too bad the Magnum producers didn't invite Spillane on to guest star. Mickey had starred in a few movies/tv and could act. Imagine him inter-acting with Luther Gillis and Magnum on yet another PI writing a book, crossing swords with Higgins, sporting a fedora and trench coat.
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Re: What are you reading?

#108 Post by MaximRecoil »

J.J. Walters wrote: MaximRecoil:

Yeah, I see what you mean about the accent. The "ah" is much more subtle in the Maine accent. It's not as pronounced as in the Boston version (Car, as in "CAAHH"). Has there ever been a Maine accent correctly used in film?
Not that I'm aware of. There aren't many famous actors who were born and raised in Maine; Rachel Nichols and Anna Kendrick being the most famous ones that I know of, and they both have neutral accents like I and many other Mainers do (Stephen King's accent is also pretty much neutral). Every movie or TV show I've seen which is set in Maine, complete with "Maine accents", feature actors who are not from Maine (AKA: "flatlanders", AKA: "from away") and are faking the accent, and like I said, I've never heard any of them sound believable.

Here in Maine, the person most famous for a Maine accent is Tim Sample (example: https://youtu.be/Ecg_WizWicQ), but his is highly exaggerated as part of his comedy act. When he speaks normally, e.g., in interviews, his accent is more or less neutral. "Eben", from Dexter, the singer of the "Mister Man" novelty song I linked to earlier, is another example of an intentionally exaggerated Maine accent.

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Re: What are you reading?

#109 Post by BWheelz54 »

HEY CONCH!

Let me say that first of all, I LOVE THAT YOU HAVE YOUR MAGNUM DIGS ON OUTSIDE OF MR. KING'S HOME! That is such a cool outfit, and it just screams to me that you're having a good time.

I thought I might post a book I just started this afternoon on the thread as I believe it's one a lot of folks on the forum might like. I just jumped into a book titled "River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" by Candice Millard. It's a history book about Teddy's ill-fated expedition through the Amazon rainforest following his loss in the 1912 election. I'm only four chapters in, but seems like great stuff for history geeks. Here's a link to the book on Amazon if anyone might be interested.

https://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Theo ... r+of+doubt

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Re: What are you reading?

#110 Post by ConchRepublican »

BWheelz54 wrote:HEY CONCH!

Let me say that first of all, I LOVE THAT YOU HAVE YOUR MAGNUM DIGS ON OUTSIDE OF MR. KING'S HOME! That is such a cool outfit, and it just screams to me that you're having a good time.

I thought I might post a book I just started this afternoon on the thread as I believe it's one a lot of folks on the forum might like. I just jumped into a book titled "River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" by Candice Millard. It's a history book about Teddy's ill-fated expedition through the Amazon rainforest following his loss in the 1912 election. I'm only four chapters in, but seems like great stuff for history geeks. Here's a link to the book on Amazon if anyone might be interested.

https://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Theo ... r+of+doubt
Thanks Wheelz!! It's getting to the point where the "aloha look" is my standard non-working attire (I have Chrismas shirts and my designated Palm Sunday and Easter shirts as well). Either that or a variety of Florida Keys bar t-shirts. :-)

That looks like a cool read. As a Teddy Roosevelt fan I may have to add this one to my list (gonna be a while to get to it, my reading time had shrunk, I've been working on IT for almost 2 months!). Very interesting topic that you don't hear much about.
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Re: What are you reading?

#111 Post by J.J. Walters »

Funny that you are reading IT right now, Conch, what with all these crazy scary clown sightings that are happening across the country right now. What a bizarre trend that is! It's unfortunate, because those people are giving legitimate clowns a bad name. I suppose the same could be said for Pennywise, but he's from outer space. It doesn't really count. But really, Pennywise aside, IT is really about childhood and friendship and the wonderful town of Derry, Pennywise is secondary. It's one of my very favorite books of all-time. "Hi Ho Silver, away!" :)

I'm currently reading the first book in the late 60's/early 70's adventure/spy series Operation Hang Ten (Hang Dead Hawaiian Style, paperback original, 1969) by Patrick Morgan. Wonderful escapist fun. It could almost be seen as an early prototype to Magnum. The back cover says it all.

Image
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Before that I read Blood of Victory (2003) by Alan Furst, the undisputed master of the WWII-era historical spy novel. He never disappoints.

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Re: What are you reading?

#112 Post by ConchRepublican »

So, finished up It. Good book but as great a storyteller as King is, he has a hard time finishing things cleanly. To me at least ..... after that was John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee in Bright Orange for the Shroud followed by Darker Than Amber, two very good tales.

I still have Dan Simmons' The Terror on the bench, something about reading an arctic book in cold weather that's not as appealing.

I'm rereading William McKeen's Mile Marker Zero in prep for a summer return to the Keys and have Randy Wayne White's next Doc Ford book, Mangrove Lightning on pre-order.

And yesterday, reinforcements arrived.

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Re: What are you reading?

#113 Post by ConchRepublican »

J.J. Walters wrote:Funny that you are reading IT right now, Conch, what with all these crazy scary clown sightings that are happening across the country right now. What a bizarre trend that is! It's unfortunate, because those people are giving legitimate clowns a bad name. I suppose the same could be said for Pennywise, but he's from outer space. It doesn't really count. But really, Pennywise aside, IT is really about childhood and friendship and the wonderful town of Derry, Pennywise is secondary. It's one of my very favorite books of all-time. "Hi Ho Silver, away!" :)

I'm currently reading the first book in the late 60's/early 70's adventure/spy series Operation Hang Ten (Hang Dead Hawaiian Style, paperback original, 1969) by Patrick Morgan. Wonderful escapist fun. It could almost be seen as an early prototype to Magnum. The back cover says it all.

Image
Image

Before that I read Blood of Victory (2003) by Alan Furst, the undisputed master of the WWII-era historical spy novel. He never disappoints.

Image
I never heard of Patrick Morgan before . . . interesting . . . thanks for sharing the good stuff JJ!
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Re: What are you reading?

#114 Post by eagle »

Back in junior high, I loved reading, but something flipped in high school and I quit reading. I didn't get back my love of reading until this year, more than 30 years later. So far this year I have read 6 books (Jurassic Park; a couple of Spenser novels; a Bosch novel; an essay called "As A Man Thinketh"; and a book called "Evangelpreneur.") It was probably junior high when I last read 6 books in a year, never mind doing that in less than 3 months.

In the queue now are -- in no particular order:
- Calico Joe
- Bosch 1 & 2 (The Black Echo, The Black Ice)
- Robert Ludlum's Bourne books
- The Leader Who Had No Title
- How To Win Friends & Influence People
- What Got You Here Won't Get You There
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

I do think I'll start with Calico Joe. It's a quick read and, with baseball season upon us, it just seems like the right thing to do.

I've found that I really like Michael Crichton, Michael Connelly, Robert B Parker, and John Grisham. Are there any other authors I should consider adding to that list?

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Re: What are you reading?

#115 Post by ConchRepublican »

eagle wrote:Back in junior high, I loved reading, but something flipped in high school and I quit reading. I didn't get back my love of reading until this year, more than 30 years later. So far this year I have read 6 books (Jurassic Park; a couple of Spenser novels; a Bosch novel; an essay called "As A Man Thinketh"; and a book called "Evangelpreneur.") It was probably junior high when I last read 6 books in a year, never mind doing that in less than 3 months.

In the queue now are -- in no particular order:
- Calico Joe
- Bosch 1 & 2 (The Black Echo, The Black Ice)
- Robert Ludlum's Bourne books
- The Leader Who Had No Title
- How To Win Friends & Influence People
- What Got You Here Won't Get You There
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

I do think I'll start with Calico Joe. It's a quick read and, with baseball season upon us, it just seems like the right thing to do.

I've found that I really like Michael Crichton, Michael Connelly, Robert B Parker, and John Grisham. Are there any other authors I should consider adding to that list?
You're doing well there! Michael Crichton is one of my all time favorite authors. The cores of his books are so interesting and I really like what he focuses on. I think Jurassic Park is a classic and those who know it only by the movies don't really know it at all.

I also like Dan Simmons. He's a genre jumper but everything I've read by him - horror, sci-fi, historical fiction - has been really good. Hyperion is his sci-fi stand out and I also really enjoyed Crook Factory.

Nelson DeMille is another, Plum Island is a good intro.

David Morrell, the father of Rambo I enjoy as well. His first book, First Blood, is a good start and, again, a bit different from the movie.

I'm a south Florida fan so these next two I really enjoy:

Randy Wayne White is kind of the heir to, or at least is aiming to be the heir to, John D. MacDonald. I enjoy his Doc Ford character - start with Sanibel Flats.

Tom Corcoran is more of a personal fave, he's been in and around the Key West scene from back in the 70s and lived an interesting life - he was basically the center character of the book Mile Marker Zero, a look at the 70s Key West scene. He served Jimmy Buffett his first beer on the island, co wrote a few songs with him and finally started writing books a few years ago. The Mango Opera is the jumping off point.

I can't mention John D. MacDonald without, well, mentioning him. Our Founding Father, J.J., is a big fan, and would be able to tell you other books by him, but you can't go wrong with Doc Ford's inspiration, Travis McGee. The first book is The Deep Blue Goodbye.

William Diehl is another, Sharkey's Machine and Primal Fear are standouts in a short, but very good, bibliography.

Allan Folsom's first novel, The Day After Tomorrow, blew me away at the time.

If you want to try the Fantasy genre, while I love The Lord of the Rings and have read it many times, Tolkien can be intimidating so I'd recommend David Edding's Belgariad series, which I think is a bit more accessable and a classic in it's own right.

Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series is an all time favorite of mine, another series I have read multiple times. Not fantasy, more sociological sci-fi with historical fiction elements ..... that's what happens when everyone who has ever lived is resurrected in a world encompassing river valley and Sir Richard Burton, Alice Hargreaves, Samuel Clemens, King John of England, Cyrano de Bergerac, Lothar von Richthofen, and Hermann Göring are main characters ....

I'll close out with a few different, but still favorite, entrys:

Mitch Albom - Tuesdays with Morrie
Robert Fulghum - All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Neil Peart - Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

That should keep you busy!
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