has anyone read this book? i randomly bought it today at half price books bc i heard someone talking about it.

Good, easy read. Enjoyable mind candy.

The book was alot better than the movie. I liked it.

This book is based loosely on the author's time at the Citadel. The movie had to be filmed at some castle in England since the Citadel refused to allow it to be shot on its campus.

Excellent book, good movie. Shows both the positive and negative side of the whole military, bonding, kick-ass thing.

Awesome book! Pat Conroy is one of America's great living authors.

I read it in two marathon sessions. Once you get going, the only reason you'll put it down is if you can't physically hold your eyes open any longer.

Any of Pat Conroy's books would make excellent reads this August given the upcoming journey of the maroon faithful to his home state of South Carolina.

"The Lord's of Discipline" is a great book. I read it after my junior year in the Corps at A&M. I was so moved by the book I bought 10 paperback copies and sent them to all of my buddies in my outfit that summer.

"The Prince of Tides" is another great read by Conroy. I simply cannot put this book down once I start. Too bad Barbara Streisand thought the book was about a Jewish psychiatrist and made a movie leaving out the title character Luke. I would say that "Tides" is my favorite book of all time.

I think Conroy is one of the most underrated authors of our time. He is not very prolific, if you get hooked you will wait years for his next book.







[This message has been edited by Old Main (edited 8/12/2005 6:02a).]

A couple of good movies made from Pat Conroy books:

"Conrack" starring Jon Voight from "The Water Is Wide."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071358/




And "The Great Santini" with Robert Duvall.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079239/

Gig 'em, FAST FRED '65.

Before the world wide web, village idiots usually stayed in their own village.

[This message has been edited by FAST FRED (edited 8/12/2005 11:29a).]

Great Santini may very well be my all time favorite movie - if I had to choose.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Pat_Conroy.htm

The above site has a bibliography of his writings. Including his first book in 1970 he has written only six novels. These are The Boo, The Great Santini, The Water is Wide, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, and Beach Music.

The Boo is almost a companion piece to The Lords of Discipline. It has to do with his relationship with the cigar-smoking Colonel from Lords. This was his first novel and he basically paid to publish it himself.

The Water is Wide is about Conroy's personal experience being a school teacher on an isolated island off the South Carolina coast. The movie with Voight is good and is called Conrack.

The Great Santini is basically about Conroy's relationship with his father and both the book and movie received critical acclaim.

Lord's of Discipline novel is so much better than the movie. There are parts of this novel, especially passages that depict the strength and unity of the plebe (fish) class surviving The Cadre (pissheads), that are incredibly moving. For anyone visiting Charleston, The Citadel, or the coastal lowlands on the Clemson trip reading Lords or Tides (or both) beforehand is highly recommended.

The Prince of Tides is probably my favorite as previously mentioned, but it would be very difficult to choose between Tides and Lords. The book is about 20 times better than the movie. Reading Tides is almost like watching a movie play out in your head. It is hard to explain, but Conroy "paints a picture" of a scene better than almost anyone. One of my favorite parts is the sunset/do it again scene near the beginning. This would be great to read out loud to your Mother on Mother's Day. Tides is still probably my favorite novel of any author. Beware, if you start reading it and you have the time you may not be able to put this novel down - I'm not kidding.

Beach Music is good but very disturbing. In his real life Conroy has had a somewhat tragic family life including suicide and child abuse. Let's just say he explores his deamons in this book. Hopefully Streisand doesn't screw-up this movie too.

I think Pat Conroy is an underappreciated author. Unfortunately some writers aren't fully appreciated until after their death. I fear that many base their opinion of Conroy on the films and not his novels. No matter what Hollywood does to his books I think someday Conroy will be considered one of the best southern writers since Faulkner.