What are you currently reading?

[Ricky]

...then The Regulators?

[Mattrick]

When I can find it. I had both of them, hardcover probably first editions, and they disappeared when we moved years back.

[fernandito]

Tis now time for me to read Desperation.

hurry up b****.

[Jean]

Yeah, good, promising concept, but the story/plot just didn't deliver for me.Same here. But I generally don't really like Bradbury.

[Mattrick]

Tis now time for me to read Desperation.

hurry up b****.

LOL sorry, found two books that I wanted to read first. Desperation will be started tonight.

[Mattrick]

When did you read Farenheit? It's incredibly relevent today, moreso than ever, with the advent of reality TV and lack of artistic integrity in the world. My copy had an afterword by Bradbury where he talked about things he wote about coming to frution; classics works being bastardized, cut down, to the bare bones version. The hound was an awesome part of the book, such an iconic and fearsome presence. And he way books and the ideas held theirin are kepts in the minds and heart of people. People these days want such simple entertainment, flashy, lacking substance. I also noticed a lotof allusions to the holocaust and what life might be like in America under a fascist regime, where the ideas, though and introspection are suppressed and controlled. I found it a terrifying book.

[OchrisO]

Arthur C. Clarke maaaaan.

Him and Niven keep SCIENCE in S.F. Science behind their world building is absolutely mind-blowing. It's not like fantasy where you invent a country/continet and describe a sunset for ten pages. These guys create worlds in space and explain why and how it works with legitimate science. I had to do a double take more than once while reading Ringworld,ditto for Rama. If the science isn't foolproof, NASA, scientists, and fans with scientific background will write them and correct them. Niven corrected some of the info in the second edition of Ringworld because apparently, that's not how things work in space. Boom!

I wish more people on here were into S.F. so we can geek out together.


Me too...love Sci-Fi stuff...will have to start reading more of it now...been reading stuff by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough lately.

Despite being a fan of a wide range of science fiction in television and film, or even comics, I rarely read any scifi books. I'm not sure I'd be keen on an ACC book, personally. The appeal to me of science fiction is less in the science and more in the stories it can tell that many other genres can't. Even my favourite show has some of the worst "science" in "science-fiction" out there. To a degree, the same can also be applied to certain fantasy sub-genres.


I'm into theoretical sci-fi, such as Phillip K Dick or Isaac Asimov or Kurt Vonnegut.

Need to read more of the first, need to read anything at all on the other two. But yes, when a writer uses science-fiction as a way of wondering "what if?" in a big way, I'm usually really keen to read that, both on a personal and on a sociological level. It's why I've greatly enjoyed the remake of Battlestar Galactica, as it really examines on multiple levels what happens when a race is nearly wiped out to extinction and how people would survive, while paralleling situations in our own society (sometimes being very subtle, sometimes not so subtle). Hell, even Judge Dredd remains some of the best science fiction I've read, as it acts as both a satire of what our culture is now and gives an indication of where it could easily be heading while dealing with very human characters. If anyone has recommendations of science fiction of that kind to read, I'm all for it.

Orson Scott Card's Ender series.
Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick(most anything by him, really)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Frank Herbert's Dune series (not an Earth sort of situation, but certainly a lot of religious and political commentary and what excesses of either can lead to throughout)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

[Ricky]

When did you read Farenheit?

I don't know if you're referring to me or Jean, but I read it about 2 years ago.


[Orson Scott Card's Ender series.
Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick(most anything by him, really)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Frank Herbert's Dune series (not an Earth sort of situation, but certainly a lot of religious and political commentary and what excesses of either can lead to throughout)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Brave New World was awful, but 1984 is one of my favorites. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was a good one, though it was definitely more "hard" sci-fi than the sci-fi I usually like/read.

[DoctorDodge]

Orson Scott Card's Ender series.
Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick(most anything by him, really)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Frank Herbert's Dune series (not an Earth sort of situation, but certainly a lot of religious and political commentary and what excesses of either can lead to throughout)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

I've read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Really liked that one. A nice quick read, too.

Top of the list though has gotta be Dune, I've heard a lot of good things about that. The reasons you've given certainly help, too. :D

[Girlystevedave]

I'm almost done with the 1000 something pages of IT. I'm not sure what I'll do with my life when I'm done. :unsure:

[fernandito]

how's that Nightwing search coming along?

[Girlystevedave]

Oh Fuck, I pretty much put that off for now since I realized how costly it would be to begin that journey. :lol:
I can check out certain graphic novels from the library, but unless I can start at a good beginning point, I don't want to bother with it yet.

But shit, I really do want to read about some Nightwing. :(

[John Blaze]

The problem with Nightwing is that there are tons of different origin stories and different Nightwings. You'd have to do it chronologically and jump around a lot.

[Girlystevedave]

Yeah, I know. I just don't want to jump into the middle of a series if it's all I can get my hands on.

[TwistedNadine]

Cool, thanks for the feedback, Brice. I'm only on the fourth story (the one by Gaiman), I'm looking forward to all the tales yet to come. (Also, I edited my post. Thanks again.)


I hope RF fixes the slow loading issue soon - just took me 10 mins to find this post and try to reply. Lets see how long it takes to load the reply.
Anyway - did you finish reading this one and how did you like it? I thot I had already read it but doesnt look like I did. Brice gave it a great review - let me know what you thot.

btw did you notice that king used your name in both of his two new shorts?

[TwistedNadine]

OMG!! I cant stand how slow this site is. Grumble!

someone posted a good review about the Wool by Hugh Howey (I would find your post and quote it but the darn site is just taking way too long to navigate from page to page).
I went to downloaded it and saw there are 5 books in this series - was so cheap I bought them all. Wondering if you read the other ones and what you thot?

[John Blaze]

Yeah, I know. I just don't want to jump into the middle of a series if it's all I can get my hands on.
You should totally do a Deadpool read instead. :)

[John Blaze]

OMG!! I cant stand how slow this site is. Grumble!


It's working fine for me, and I'm on from work on IE. Maybe it's an issue on your end?

[TwistedNadine]

OMG!! I cant stand how slow this site is. Grumble!


It's working fine for me, and I'm on from work on IE. Maybe it's an issue on your end?

Its picking up a bit now. I havent had a problem with any other sites

[jhanic]

I've also had the problem, but not as extremely as you seem to have had. I use Firefox.

John

[TwistedNadine]

I've also had the problem, but not as extremely as you seem to have had. I use Firefox.
John

I use firefox too Im on a lap top now seeing if its any better - so far its not quite as slow but still slower than what my patience can easily handle

[alkanto]

Orson Scott Card's Ender series.
Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick(most anything by him, really)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Frank Herbert's Dune series (not an Earth sort of situation, but certainly a lot of religious and political commentary and what excesses of either can lead to throughout)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

I've read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Really liked that one. A nice quick read, too.

Top of the list though has gotta be Dune, I've heard a lot of good things about that. The reasons you've given certainly help, too. :D

I'm very much not into pure Sci Fi stuff, but I really liked Dune. In fact, I was think just the other day of rereading it.

[Patrick]

Cool, thanks for the feedback, Brice. I'm only on the fourth story (the one by Gaiman), I'm looking forward to all the tales yet to come. (Also, I edited my post. Thanks again.)

...Anyway - did you finish reading this one and how did you like it? I thot I had already read it but doesnt look like I did. Brice gave it a great review - let me know what you thot.

btw did you notice that king used your name in both of his two new shorts?
I swear I replied to this post yesterday, but now I don't see it. Must have closed the window or something before hitting Submit.

I'm about half way through STORIES. I'm quite enjoying it. It's been a while since I read an anthology of short stories by different authors rather than the same author.

[TwistedNadine]

I swear I replied to this post yesterday, but now I don't see it. Must have closed the window or something before hitting Submit.


Maybe 'cause the site was so messed up last night
Thanks for the feedback - think Ill start this one (Stories) next

[divemaster]

I have a *ton* of anthologies. Mostly sci-fi from the "Golden Age" but also lots of horror and some general collections as well. Right now I am about halfway through Hartwell's The Dark Descent. I've been planning on starting Stories or perhaps one of the recent Cemetery Dance publications (The Stoker Winners: Horror Hall of Fame or the two-volume The Century's Best Horror Fiction). Before this horror kick, I finished up Conklin's The Best of Science Fiction; Robert Silverberg's Science Fiction Hall of Fame; and a couple other collections (Science Fiction of the '50s and Space Odyssey).

Other recent reads were Roger Caras' Treasury of Great Cat Stories; Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts, and Joyce Carol Oates' The Museum of Dr. Moses.

I actually keep a speadsheet of all the stories, including my personal rating (1 to 4 stars) and a brief plot synopsis so I can keep track of what I've read over the years! For example, here are some 4-star stories from my current reading (first half of The Dark Descent):

The New Mother (Lucy Clifford)
Young Goodman Brown (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Sticks (Karl Edward Wagner)
Vandy, Vandy (Manly Wade Wellman)
The Roaches (Thomas M. Disch)
Bright Segment (Theodore Sturgeon)
The Monkey (Stephen King)
The Rats in the Walls (H.P. Lovecraft)

[OchrisO]

When did you read Farenheit?

I don't know if you're referring to me or Jean, but I read it about 2 years ago.


[Orson Scott Card's Ender series.
Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick(most anything by him, really)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Frank Herbert's Dune series (not an Earth sort of situation, but certainly a lot of religious and political commentary and what excesses of either can lead to throughout)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Brave New World was awful, but 1984 is one of my favorites. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was a good one, though it was definitely more "hard" sci-fi than the sci-fi I usually like/read.

Time seems to be proving Huxley right, though.

I'm pretty sure this has been posted somewhere on here before, but it is still pretty interesting.
Infographic behind the spoiler because it is big:


http://abetterkuwait.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/orwell-huxley.jpg

[OchrisO]

Orson Scott Card's Ender series.
Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick(most anything by him, really)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Frank Herbert's Dune series (not an Earth sort of situation, but certainly a lot of religious and political commentary and what excesses of either can lead to throughout)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

I've read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Really liked that one. A nice quick read, too.

Top of the list though has gotta be Dune, I've heard a lot of good things about that. The reasons you've given certainly help, too. :D

I really can't recommend Dune and the first few sequels enough.

[Ricky]

I enjoyed the ideas and concepts in Brave New World, but it felt like Huxley was using those ideas and plot to further get across his own political opinions/viewpoints. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I usually prefer story to take presidence.

[TwistedNadine]

I actually keep a speadsheet of all the stories, including my personal rating (1 to 4 stars) and a brief plot synopsis so I can keep track of what I've read over the years!


Although thats a great idea I dont think I will get quite that detailed. But I think I may start keeping track of which anthology Ive read. Been a few times now that Ive purchased one I already had and already read, and found some on my shelf Ive never read and thought I had.

[Mattrick]

Fernando would be happy to know I'm 280 pages into Desperation since I started the book last night. At the part where Entragian takes Ellie into the mine I'll be very curious to read The Regulators when I find a copy of it...won't read it till I find the hardcover though so it could be awhile. I've actually never read a Bachman book before, but I doubt there is too much difference in the styles anyways.

[divemaster]

I'll be very curious to read The Regulators when I find a copy of it...won't read it till I find the hardcover though so it could be awhile. I've actually never read a Bachman book before, but I doubt there is too much difference in the styles anyways.

Mattrick, I beg you...read any of the other Bachman books first. The Regulators is not only the worst of the Bachman books but may be the worst thing King has ever written. It is nothing like Desperation, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In my opinion.

[Mattrick]

I don't know much about the regulators aside from it's like a parallel universe with the same characters or something like that. Sounds intriguing but yeah, Desperation always begged me to read it more (and I heard Desperation should be read first, as aparently The Regulators is more complete that way).


For the first time in a month I have NO IDEA WTF I'M GOING TO READ NEXT!!!! My gut is leaning towards 'Cat's Cradle' by Vonnegut, but I may want to wait to read more Vonnegut. That's the problem with having twenty unread books on your couch.

[Ricky]

I think The Running Man might be my favorite Bachman book.

[WeDealInLead]

I don't know much about the regulators aside from it's like a parallel universe with the same characters or something like that. Sounds intriguing but yeah, Desperation always begged me to read it more (and I heard Desperation should be read first, as aparently The Regulators is more complete that way).


For the first time in a month I have NO IDEA WTF I'M GOING TO READ NEXT!!!! My gut is leaning towards 'Cat's Cradle' by Vonnegut, but I may want to wait to read more Vonnegut. That's the problem with having twenty unread books on your couch.

Try around 200 books in a TBR pile and you'll see my dilemma.

[Mattrick]

Well I have tons of books in on my 'to read list' and I get new books every week, the books at the top of my list get pushed back due to new purchases then those get pushed back, so it gets aggravating at times. Then I've got the books my friend has as well he's telling me to read, then the books my friend coming back from Korea in a few weeks will be recommending me lol

[jhanic]

I'll be very curious to read The Regulators when I find a copy of it...won't read it till I find the hardcover though so it could be awhile. I've actually never read a Bachman book before, but I doubt there is too much difference in the styles anyways.

Mattrick, I beg you...read any of the other Bachman books first. The Regulators is not only the worst of the Bachman books but may be the worst thing King has ever written. It is nothing like Desperation, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In my opinion.

Divemaster, I just don't agree. I thoroughly enjoyed The Regulators.

The Bachman style and the King style are very different.

John

[Brice]

I now have more than 250 books in my to read pile(s).

:thumsup: to The dark Descent and Stories. Great anthologies and I read a LOT of horror anthologies.

Skarlet-Thomas Emson

[Jean]

I'll be very curious to read The Regulators when I find a copy of it...won't read it till I find the hardcover though so it could be awhile. I've actually never read a Bachman book before, but I doubt there is too much difference in the styles anyways.

Mattrick, I beg you...read any of the other Bachman books first. The Regulators is not only the worst of the Bachman books but may be the worst thing King has ever written. It is nothing like Desperation, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In my opinion.
in bears' too

[TwistedNadine]

I think The Running Man might be my favorite Bachman book.

The Long Walk for me

[Dan]

I think The Running Man might be my favorite Bachman book.

The Long Walk for me

Yes, this!

[Robert Fulman]

I just finished reading "One Who Walked Alone" by Novalyne Price Ellis, who was Robert E. Howard's girlfriend in the 1930s before he died. The book was interesting, if a bit repetitive (he was an interesting man, but it seems like he had a limited range of things he liked to talk about). My wife and I also just watched the movie based on the book, called "The Whole Wide World" starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Renee Zellweger. It was a good adaptation of the book.

[Odetta]

Just finished A Clash of Kings... deciding whether I should go straight into the next one or read something else for a break!

[Ruthful]

http://ia600802.us.archive.org/zipview.php?zip=/1/items/olcovers675/olcovers675-L.zip&file=6752582-L.jpg

And yes, my copy looks almost exactly like that one.

[WeDealInLead]

Larry Niven - A-hole in Space

Wait... A Hole in Space

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

I have too many books going, cant seem to finish any of them:
1.Nightmares and Dreamscapes - on " The House on Maple Street"
2.Lovecraft fiction Volume 4 - about halfway through
3. The Old Testament - on the book of Esther
4. Metallica - Some Kind of Monster - about halfway
5. Social Forces: The Great "They" in the Sky - about halfway
6. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - almost done
7. On the Origin of Species - about halfway.
8. We Were Soldiers Once, and Young. - just started.
9. The God Delusion - just started.

I've never had this many books going at once, not really my style. Just received a whole bunch of books in electronic format and cant resist the urge to start others before I finish the one I'm on. Guess I'll be finishing a bunch all at once.

[neosatus]

I have too many books going, cant seem to finish any of them:
1.Nightmares and Dreamscapes - on " The House on Maple Street"
2.Lovecraft fiction Volume 4 - about halfway through
3. The Old Testament - on the book of Esther
4. Metallica - Some Kind of Monster - about halfway
5. Social Forces: The Great "They" in the Sky - about halfway
6. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - almost done
7. On the Origin of Species - about halfway.
8. We Were Soldiers Once, and Young. - just started.
9. The God Delusion - just started.

I've never had this many books going at once, not really my style. Just received a whole bunch of books in electronic format and cant resist the urge to start others before I finish the one I'm on. Guess I'll be finishing a bunch all at once.

Wow, how do you read so many books at once? I'd have a hard tome remembering where I left off if I did that, I think. That would be cool to be able to manage though.

God Delusion is a great book. I learned a lot more from Selfish Gene, but both were excellent.


I'm reading:
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/webzine/cosmos.jpg

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Well two are short story collections (N&D, Lovecraft) one is a collection of non-related essays (Social Forces) The bible is sufficiently divided. Couple are non-fiction. Only real fiction novels I have going are HGTTG (which i am almost done with) and We Were Young which I just started.

[Brice]

That is actually how I normally read. In fact it might explain why I'm reading so little this year. I've been reading one or two at a time. Normally I'd have anywhere from ten to twenty books going at once. When I get stuck on one (or more) I'll just start another and go back to the others. So are you reading the entire bible?

[thegunslinger41]

Just finished A Clash of Kings... deciding whether I should go straight into the next one or read something else for a break!

You must take a break and move onto something else for a while....the books are good but it's quite exhausting. :)

[fernandito]

..Normally I'd have anywhere from ten to twenty books going at once. When I get stuck on one (or more) ..

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/197/179/watch-out-we-got-a-badass-over-here-meme.png

[WeDealInLead]

Ray Bradbury - Machineries of Joy
Dean Koontz - Darkest Evening of the Year (almost done)

[Brice]

..Normally I'd have anywhere from ten to twenty books going at once. When I get stuck on one (or more) ..

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/197/179/watch-out-we-got-a-badass-over-here-meme.png


:rofl:

[Mattrick]

I have to read a book at a time. Sometimes I realize a particular book isn't the book for me to be reading at the time, so I move on. I still have a book mark in The Dark Half from high school haha

[Ka-mai]

Just finished A Clash of Kings... deciding whether I should go straight into the next one or read something else for a break!

How can you stop?!

:P Anyway, regardless, I think Storm of Swords is the best in the series, so savor it when you do decide to read again.

I just finished The Man in the Iron Mask, and all I have to say is, WHAT THE FUCK. The man in the iron mask showed up in the beginning, maskless, briefly made an appearance with a mask, and then disafuckingppeared for the remainder of the book. Oh, and then just when it seems it's going to wrap up, he inserts some insane conversation between the king and his sister-in-law for reasons I can't even imagine. :panic: Yeah, I don't care how ridiculous and cheesy the movie is, I like it that way.

[John Blaze]

Just finished A Clash of Kings... deciding whether I should go straight into the next one or read something else for a break!

How can you stop?!


Ditto.


@Kamai, The Man in the Iron Mask was probably my least favorite book of his, but I still enjoyed it.

[Ka-mai]

I really did enjoy the part where Aramis and Porthos are in the cave, but other than that, I really didn't understand why any of it was happening. Maybe it's just a culture difference of a couple hundred years.

[Patrick]

I swear I replied to this post yesterday, but now I don't see it. Must have closed the window or something before hitting Submit.


Maybe 'cause the site was so messed up last night
Thanks for the feedback - think Ill start this one (Stories) next
These stories are all over the map in terms of genre, so go in ready for anything.

Perhaps because it was late and I was very tired, but Palahniuk's contribution had me laughing so hard I was crying.


...
Time seems to be proving Huxley right, though.

I'm pretty sure this has been posted somewhere on here before, but it is still pretty interesting.
Infographic behind the spoiler because it is big:


http://abetterkuwait.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/orwell-huxley.jpg

I liked both books back when I read them. That infographic was great.




I'll be very curious to read The Regulators when I find a copy of it...won't read it till I find the hardcover though so it could be awhile. I've actually never read a Bachman book before, but I doubt there is too much difference in the styles anyways.

Mattrick, I beg you...read any of the other Bachman books first. The Regulators is not only the worst of the Bachman books but may be the worst thing King has ever written. It is nothing like Desperation, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In my opinion.
in bears' too
Add me to the list of those found DESPERATION superior to THE REGULATORS.




I think The Running Man might be my favorite Bachman book.
The Long Walk for me
Yes, this!
I agree with TwistedNadine as well.

THE RUNNING MAN was pretty cool too, but THE LONG WALK is one of my favorites of King's under any name.

[TwistedNadine]

hey how do you do that multiple post response thing?

[Patrick]

hey how do you do that multiple post response thing?
Click the button on the far right that looks a quote thing with a plus sign on it. It will turn into a check mark. Do that as many times as you want until the last post you want to quote. On the last post you want to quote, hit the "Reply with Quote" button.

Then go in and add your comments on all the in-between spaces as you see fit. It is often easier to hit the "Go Advanced" button so that you get a bigger screen to view and type in.

[TwistedNadine]

Thanks Patrick for the Stories review - Long Walk second King favorite of mine, first being The Stand. Its been so long since I read Desperation or Regulators I am not in a position to comment. I can only say that they are perhaps the only two King/Bachman I have not re-read numerous times...

[TwistedNadine]

hey how do you do that multiple post response thing?
Click the button on the far right that looks a quote thing with a plus sign on it. It will turn into a check mark. Do that as many times as you want until the last post you want to quote. On the last post you want to quote, hit the "Reply with Quote" button.

Then go in and add your comments on all the in-between spaces as you see fit. It is often easier to hit the "Go Advanced" button so that you get a bigger screen to view and type in.

Ha! Ok thats cool


I have to read a book at a time. Sometimes I realize a particular book isn't the book for me to be reading at the time, so I move on. I still have a book mark in The Dark Half from high school haha

I prefer one at a time - seems you can get lost in the story more completely

[Patrick]

hey how do you do that multiple post response thing?
Click the button on the far right that looks a quote thing with a plus sign on it. It will turn into a check mark. Do that as many times as you want until the last post you want to quote. On the last post you want to quote, hit the "Reply with Quote" button.

Then go in and add your comments on all the in-between spaces as you see fit. It is often easier to hit the "Go Advanced" button so that you get a bigger screen to view and type in.

Ha! Ok thats cool
Good job! Now I'm splitting your multi-quote post to respond to different parts.



I have to read a book at a time. Sometimes I realize a particular book isn't the book for me to be reading at the time, so I move on. I still have a book mark in The Dark Half from high school haha

I prefer one at a time - seems you can get lost in the story more completely
I agree, unless one of the books is an anthology.

[TwistedNadine]

hey how do you do that multiple post response thing?
Click the button on the far right that looks a quote thing with a plus sign on it. It will turn into a check mark. Do that as many times as you want until the last post you want to quote. On the last post you want to quote, hit the "Reply with Quote" button.

Then go in and add your comments on all the in-between spaces as you see fit. It is often easier to hit the "Go Advanced" button so that you get a bigger screen to view and type in.

Not all of this shows up in original post weird


I have to read a book at a time. Sometimes I realize a particular book isn't the book for me to be reading at the time, so I move on. I still have a book mark in The Dark Half from high school haha





hey how do you do that multiple post response thing?
Click the button on the far right that looks a quote thing with a plus sign on it. It will turn into a check mark. Do that as many times as you want until the last post you want to quote. On the last post you want to quote, hit the "Reply with Quote" button.

Then go in and add your comments on all the in-between spaces as you see fit. It is often easier to hit the "Go Advanced" button so that you get a bigger screen to view and type in.

Ha! Ok thats cool
Good job! Now I'm splitting your multi-quote post to respond to different parts.



I have to read a book at a time. Sometimes I realize a particular book isn't the book for me to be reading at the time, so I move on. I still have a book mark in The Dark Half from high school haha

I prefer one at a time - seems you can get lost in the story more completely
I agree, unless one of the books is an anthology.

True! Im reading two right now The are very different so mixing it up
Lets see if I did this right

[TwistedNadine]

Wait - that was a bit of a clusterfuck

What did I do wrong? So confused now

[Heather19]

Long Walk second King favorite of mine, first being The Stand. Its been so long since I read Desperation or Regulators I am not in a position to comment. I can only say that they are perhaps the only two King/Bachman I have not re-read numerous times...

Same here. The Long Walk is one of my all-time favorite stories. And it's only second to It. I really do need to finish reading The Stand.

Also I loved both Desperation and The Regulators. I think the idea behind it was very creative and it makes for quite an interesting read. Mattrick, I highly recommend picking it up as soon as possible. I think it's best to read the other while the first is fresh in your mind. That way you'll pick up on all the cross overs.

[Patrick]

I re-read THE LONG WALK about a year ago, but now I want to read it yet again. However, I am about to start reading, PREY, by Michael Crichton.

[Jean]

I re-read THE LONG WALK about a year ago, but now I want to read it yet again. However, I am about to start reading, PREY, by Michael Crichton.Crichton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
: ecstatic bear :

[Dan]

Started Jurassic Park last night. I watched the movie many years ago and don't really remember it. So far very excited with the book.

[Merlin1958]

I re-read THE LONG WALK about a year ago, but now I want to read it yet again. However, I am about to start reading, PREY, by Michael Crichton.

Now that is a pretty good Crichton novel!!!! The concept is freaking awesome!!!!

[noal]

Endgame by Derrick Jenson. It's a re-read but you most definitely need to read it more than once.

[mae]

Jean has begun a Crichton epidemic :)

[Mattrick]

Two thirds into Desperation, imaine I'll have it finished tomorrow night if I get right into the homestretch. After that I think I need some book recommendation time, as I'm usually lost as to what to read next, something someone else recommends me I know I can at least talk about it with them when I am done.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonngeut
War and Peace vol 1 by Lyof Tolstoi
Daisy Miller by Henry James
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Dan]

Great Expectations is a very good book. Probably that and David Copperfield are my favorite Dickens. I have not read those others, yet.

[WeDealInLead]

Tim Lebbon - Faith in the Flesh

Dark, disturbing stuff.

[mattgreenbean]

Picked up a copy of The Mailman by Bentley Little a couple of months ago and just started reading it. Reads like a movie so far.

[Jean]

Jean has begun a Crichton epidemic :)thanks to you, my friend!

[WeDealInLead]

King - Under The Dome
Bradbury - Machineries of Joy
Lebbon - Faith in the Flesh
Lebbon - Jack London 2

[John Blaze]

King- Rose Madder
Crichton - Andromeda Strain
Rice - Interview

[Dan]

Full Dark, No Stars -King
The Island of Doctor Moreau audiobook - Wells

[Jean]

reading Sphere

I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. I can't imagine a better book to read.

[Mattrick]

F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel 'The Last Tycoon'.

[mae]

reading Sphere

I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. I can't imagine a better book to read.

Can't wait for your full-fledged and eloquent review in the MC thread.

[Jean]

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

[Brice]

Knowing Jean's love of both horrors and the japanese culture I think he should see if he can find a copy of the japanese horror anthology listed on my reading list. Of particular note in japanese mystery/weird fiction is nearly anything by Edogawa Rampo ...say it quickly(there is only one of his stories here). There are many more gems here too.

[Jean]

I think I've read all known Edogawa, but I will see if there's something by someone else I've missed. Yes, bears adore horror and are very partial to anything Japanese!

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs32/f/2008/190/4/d/4d426f3bdb3ba77a907b964beb3f6118.jpg

[Brice]

TOC:


1.Secrets Of The Metropolis (foreward)
2.Earthquakes, Lightening, Fire, and Father (introduction)-Higashi Masao
3.Bizarre Reunion-Akutagawa Masao
4. The Diabolical Tongue-Murayama Kaita
5. The Face-Tanazaki Jun'ichirō
6. Ghosts Of The Metropolis-Toyoshima Yoshio
7. Doctor Mera's Mysteerious Crimes-Taro Hirai
8. The Midsummer Emmissary-Minagawa Hiroko
9. In Thy Shadow=Hisao Juran
10. Spider-Endo Shusako
11. The Talisman-Yamakawa Masao
12 The Arm-Kawabata Yasunari
13. Expunged by Yakumo-Akae Baku
14. A Sinister Spectre-Morohoshi Daijiro


Forgive my ignoring the diacriticals. I am lazy. :D

[Jean]

oh great!!! I'll look for them now

[Brice]

:D

Now I must find the first two volumes myself.

[Jean]

what is the exact name of the anthology?

[Brice]

KAIKI: Uncanny Tales From Japan Volume 3:Tales Of The Metropolis-Edited by Higashi Masao

[divemaster]

Knowing Jean's love of both horrors and the japanese culture I think he should see if he can find a copy of the japanese horror anthology listed on my reading list. Of particular note in japanese mystery/weird fiction is nearly anything by Edogawa Rampo ...say it quickly(there is only one of his stories here). There are many more gems here too.


I think I've read all known Edogawa, but I will see if there's something by someone else I've missed. Yes, bears adore horror and are very partial to anything Japanese!



Have either of you seen the movie The Mystery of Rampo?



The Mystery of Rampo
Directed by Kazuyoshi Okuyama
Starring Masahiro Motoki, Naoto Takenaka, and Michiko Hada
In Japanese with English subtitles
Film: 5 stars (out of 5)

I love it when a director shows me something new--reaches me in a novel way. The Mystery of Rampo certainly fits the bill. In reading a couple of reviews prior to watching this film, I was led to believe that it would be at best an exercise in trying to follow stream-of-consciousness, overly pretentious filmmaking; or at worst, plotless incoherency.

I did not find that to be the case at all. Of course it is a rather unconventional film that owes a lot to the school of Metafiction. But I never felt lost or manipulated, or felt that the director (Kazuyoshi Okuyama) and cinematographer (Yasushi Sasakibara) were just showing off. I think I could deconstruct what happened plot wise (well, most of it anyway) if I were so inclined. But that’s not the point. I’d rather sit back and revel in the experience and allow myself to appreciate what I think the director is trying to show me.

Basic plot: A mystery writer (Rampo, played by Naoto Takenaka) creates a story where a woman murders her husband by allowing him to suffocate in a trunk. He tries to get his story published but the Japanese censor board is having none of it. Frustrated, he burns his manuscript.

The next day, he reads a story in the newspaper where a woman named Shizuko (Michiko Hada) murders her husband by allowing him to suffocate in a trunk. He is flummoxed because no one but him had any clue about his story.

Rampo endures further insult to his artistic integrity as his previous works are made into ridiculous screenplays and insipid movies. You can see his disillusionment as he attends publicity parties and press events. Is it no wonder that he would rather fall into a fantasy world where his artistry and imagination can break the limitations placed on him by society?

It is at this point that the film veers into the realm of the imagination where characters are not bound by the constraints of reality. Is fantasy imitating life or is life imitating fantasy? Is he writing the story or is the story writing him? Or are they inexorably intertwined?

I've seen this movie many times--it is gorgeous and captivating film. Hada’s beauty is transcendent. I agree with one reviewer who said "just about every scene in the film could be framed and sold as an art poster." Akira Senju’s score (played by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra) is a perfect fit and some of the prettiest music I’ve ever heard in a film.

*Trivia note:* Edogawa Rampo was a real person. It is the pseudonym for acclaimed Japanese mystery writer Hirai Taro who took the name as an inside joke. Say “Edogawa Rampo” slowly (slurring over the “wa” helps) and with the inflection of a Japanese trying to speak English for the first time and see if you can’t come up with Taro’s favorite author.

[Jean]

No, I haven't seen it! I sure want to

and grrr, I can't find the book...

[Brice]

I've never even heard of it before.

[Garrell]

Finished "A Clash of Kings"-GRRM, now starting "A Storm of Swords"-GRRM

[thegunslinger41]

Just started reading "The Wind-up Girl." Opinions on this book without spoilers of course. It's a bit slow so far.

Gabriel

[WeDealInLead]

I'll get to it one of these days. It won all sorts of awards so I'm guessing it should be good. I've only read Shipbreaker by him and it was good. YA but competent and not dumbed-down.

I'll take China Mievielle over Bacigalupi in the title for the up and coming future classics deathmatch. Check out Railsea. It came out a couple of months ago. He's a master world builder and he'll do it in 300 pages or less. He's got very creative ideas and an original approach to writting.

[TwistedNadine]

Jumped on the bandwagon and re-read Crichton's Prey. Interesting - I liked it better first time thru.
Now reading the anthology Stories - love the first story so far...

[jhanic]

I finished The Dark Tower (book 7) and am about 1/3 of the way through The Wind Through the Keyhole. I decided to read them in the order they were written.

John

[becca69]

I just started A Face In The Crowd and then my Kindle died! Now what to read?

[CRinVA]

Just read I The Tall Grass and A Face in the Crowd.

I have started listening to Mockingjay, the third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy!

there was a book on the counter at work with a note saying Free so I took it - will get to it when i can. It's The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll. Its an action, spy thriller (computer espionage) and it's quoted as a NY Times Best Seller.

Also have The Woman, by Jack Ketchum and The Passage, by Justin Cronin sitting on my nightstand!

[Patrick]

Jumped on the bandwagon and re-read Crichton's Prey. Interesting - I liked it better first time thru.
Now reading the anthology Stories - love the first story so far...

:thumbsup: on STORIES.

I just finished PREY. I liked it!


About to start reading another anthology:

FIRST WORDS: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors

[Jean]

I just started A Face In The Crowd and then my Kindle died! Now what to read?
OH NOOOOO!!!!! how do they die, and why?????

[becca69]

When I don't charge it, it dies (but is quickly resurrected)! lololol

[Girlystevedave]

What I'm reading right now?

Nothing.

I went from wanting to read anything I could get my hands on, to having a hard time deciding what to read now...

[TwistedNadine]

I finished The Dark Tower (book 7) and am about 1/3 of the way through The Wind Through the Keyhole. I decided to read them in the order they were written.
John

On my reading list is to re-read the entire series all the way thru but I plan on reading WTTKH after DT4 - see how it gels. Doubt Ill get to it before the holidays tho




About to start reading another anthology:

FIRST WORDS: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors

Isnt this book mentioned somewhere on the site? I know I read something about it not too long ago.

[Brice]

Yes!

[Jean]

When I don't charge it, it dies (but is quickly resurrected)! lololol
oh thank God. You had scared me. I am seriously addicted to my Kindle.

[Patrick]

...


About to start reading another anthology:

FIRST WORDS: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors

Isnt this book mentioned somewhere on the site? I know I read something about it not too long ago.

Yes!
This site is most likely how I heard of the book, but I have no recollection of where it may have been discussed. Best guess is that maybe someone got a signed copy and that started a discussion.

[Ruthful]

Almost done with the first two parts of The Gulag Archipelago. Just started reading my third book from the Lonesome Dove saga.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d8/LarryMcMurtry_StreetsOfLaredo.jpg/200px-LarryMcMurtry_StreetsOfLaredo.jpg

[John Blaze]

Almost done with the first two parts of The Gulag Archipelago. Just started reading my third book from the Lonesome Dove saga.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d8/LarryMcMurtry_StreetsOfLaredo.jpg/200px-LarryMcMurtry_StreetsOfLaredo.jpg

I thought this was the worst of the series. it's just not the same without Gus.

Almost done with Rose Madder on my King reread kick.

[jhanic]

I just finished my reread of The Dark Tower series with The Wind Through the Keyhole. I'm moving on to Mick Garris' Snow Shadows.

John

[Bethany]

What I'm reading right now?

Nothing.

I went from wanting to read anything I could get my hands on, to having a hard time deciding what to read now...

:'( I'm right there with you.

[Mattrick]

The Last Tycoon wasn't the book for me to read at that time, it happens sometime. I suppose I wanted a book I could really sink my teeth into, so I chose:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/316718_10152089684255571_674743848_n.jpg

[WeDealInLead]

Dean Koontz - The Mask
Stephen King - UTD

[Jean]

Joe Hill - Horns

[thegunslinger41]

Sluggggish reading through Paulo Bacigalupi's THE WIND UP GIRL. Very, very slow....i've developed virtually no feelings towards the characters...characters and their setting seems impossible to identify with. Dystopian future lexicon just adds to the disconnect. Going to finished it (listening it to my ipod so essentially no engery is required). Hoping that it gets better. Not too impressed.

[Ben Staad]

Sluggggish reading through Paulo Bacigalupi's THE WIND UP GIRL. Very, very slow....i've developed virtually no feelings towards the characters...characters and their setting seems impossible to identify with. Dystopian future lexicon just adds to the disconnect. Going to finished it (listening it to my ipod so essentially no engery is required). Hoping that it gets better. Not too impressed.

Finished this book recently and had the same feeling. The last 1/8 of the book went pretty fast and I enjoyed the added section in the sub press edition.

[fernandito]

The Last Tycoon wasn't the book for me to read at that time, it happens sometime. I suppose I wanted a book I could really sink my teeth into, so I chose:


Hey you motherfffff-----freaking nice guy you. Where the hell is your Desperation review? I ain't about that waiting business.

[WeDealInLead]

Sluggggish reading through Paulo Bacigalupi's THE WIND UP GIRL. Very, very slow....i've developed virtually no feelings towards the characters...characters and their setting seems impossible to identify with. Dystopian future lexicon just adds to the disconnect. Going to finished it (listening it to my ipod so essentially no engery is required). Hoping that it gets better. Not too impressed.

your conscience whispering to you: china mieville, china mieville, china mieville, railsea, railsea, railsea

[Mattrick]

I gave my thoughts on Facebook, but I'll give them maybe better worded on here now. Full spoilers yos

Desperation may be King's greatest failure. Don't hate me Feev lol. I enjoyed the book, it was by no means a bad book, but it had the potential be a different kind of potent that King had ever written before. The first 300 pages gripped me strongly; Entragian and his craziness, the murders, Steve and Cynthia exploring the town and how grotesque it all was. I was hooked, it was gritty and visceral and looked like it was going to be a completely twisted book. But then about halfway he just lost me. The way he used Tak in the second half as opposed to the first, night and day; Tak was something indomitable, evil, ubiquitous then we have needless expositon about bleeding from the vagina. I bega to laugh at Tak, not taking Tak as serious as I had. Tak did nothing in the seond half of the book that made it unstopppable, it was stupid, retarded and deserved to lose. I really wish King never went as deep into detail about Tak, leaving it as a mystery, it would have been freakier. I think Tak in Ellen Carvers body showing up and taking Mary would have been far more impactful. The cougar happening out of nowhere, without being inside the cats head, would have been like OH SHIT! We knew Tak controlled animals, we would have understood it sent it. And then there is the massive mystery being solved way to deftly. I just wish more was unexplained. King used David to explin way to much and David seemed way to much of a superhero in th second half. I wish the God helping him aspect was less definite and more something to think about. This could have been a great, haunting book, with little explained, that would have stuck wih me. Even with the exact same plot, King could have taken little bits out and made a much more terrifying book. That's my biggest complaint, he could have written a horror masterpiece but I hardly even felt creeped out anymoe 400 pages in. I'd put it middle of the road for King books. I suppose some decisions King made with Desperation may make more sense after reading The Regulators, I'm not sure. Like Under The Dome, I saw he potential for something special and it's probably why I'm harder on it than I usually am on King

[neosatus]

http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/TheDescent190.jpg


I heard this was an excellent book and so far I totally agree. It's one of those in which I get lost in time while reading it. I'm about 20% in and it's absolutely nothing like the movie.

[Jimimck]

Just started Joe Hills Horns. Enjoyed the first few chapters so far.

[Mattrick]

http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/TheDescent190.jpg


I heard this was an excellent book and so far I totally agree. It's one of those in which I get lost in time while reading it. I'm about 20% in and it's absolutely nothing like the movie.

thats probably becase the movie isn't based on the book.

[Jean]

Just started Joe Hills Horns. Enjoyed the first few chapters so far.I am about to finish it. Loving it, except

one Big and Soppy turn the events took at 80% (sorry, don't know the page, reading on Kindle) - not really unexpected, I dreaded it all the time. I still haven't lost hope there'll be another turn.

[Jean]

http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/TheDescent190.jpg


I heard this was an excellent book and so far I totally agree. It's one of those in which I get lost in time while reading it. I'm about 20% in and it's absolutely nothing like the movie.

thats probably becase the movie isn't based on the book.
ROFL!!!!!!!!!

[Mattrick]

A third of the way through East of Eden by Steinbeck, it is a fantastic book so far.

[WeDealInLead]

A little more than halfway through The Mask by Koontz. Some times I'll read a non-King book and due to lack of space, I'll take it to Goodwill or give it to a friend/co-worker. This one is a keeper. I'm not sure how it'll play out but a 70 year old lady just talked to her husband on the phone who's been dead for 17 years I had to put the book down after that.

[Mattrick]

I cant stand Koontz personally lol.

[WeDealInLead]

I'm not invested in Koontz enough to defend him but he wrote what... 100 books? YA, thrillers, S.F., horror, crime. Surely some of them would be to your liking?

[Ricky]

I like Koontz, but his books (to me) are what I call popcorn fiction. Good, fun novels that are pure entertainment. I like to read something like Koontz after a particularly long or serious/draining novel.

[Jimimck]

I'm a fan of Koontz, but the only problem I have with his is the titles of his books! I can never recall what the book is about based just on the title. Sometimes I start readng one and get a wee way in before I realise I've read it!

[Mattrick]

I'm not invested in Koontz enough to defend him but he wrote what... 100 books? YA, thrillers, S.F., horror, crime. Surely some of them would be to your liking?

From the one book I read I'm not itching to hop back on the bandwagon, it was awful lol. Whenever I think of Family Guy, where Brian hit someone with his car and he say "Oh my god! Are you Stephen King?" and he replies, "No, I'm Dean Kootz" so brian reverses and drives over him a few times more, I can't help but agree haha. Then there is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg0EpEzqYCc

[Garrell]

I'm a fan of Koontz, but the only problem I have with his is the titles of his books! I can never recall what the book is about based just on the title. Sometimes I start readng one and get a wee way in before I realise I've read it!

Gotta total agree with that, read 20+ Koontz years ago and only sure that "Lighting" was one of them. Did love them all though, fast reads and very entertaining:)

[Garrell]

I'm not invested in Koontz enough to defend him but he wrote what... 100 books? YA, thrillers, S.F., horror, crime. Surely some of them would be to your liking?

From the one book I read I'm not itching to hop back on the bandwagon, it was awful lol. Whenever I think of Family Guy, where Brian hit someone with his car and he say "Oh my god! Are you Stephen King?" and he replies, "No, I'm Dean Kootz" so brian reverses and drives over him a few times more, I can't help but agree haha. Then there is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg0EpEzqYCc

Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Patrick]

That video was awesome!


Joe Hill - Horns

Just started Joe Hills Horns. Enjoyed the first few chapters so far.
:thumbsup:


Currently reading: THE DHARMA BUMS, by Jack Kerouac

[thegunslinger41]

Sluggggish reading through Paulo Bacigalupi's THE WIND UP GIRL. Very, very slow....i've developed virtually no feelings towards the characters...characters and their setting seems impossible to identify with. Dystopian future lexicon just adds to the disconnect. Going to finished it (listening it to my ipod so essentially no engery is required). Hoping that it gets better. Not too impressed.

your conscience whispering to you: china mieville, china mieville, china mieville, railsea, railsea, railsea

I will check out this railsea book. :)

[John Blaze]

Interview with the Vampire

Andromeda Strain

[WeDealInLead]

King - UTD
Tom Piccirilli -Last Kind Words
Elmore Leonard - Road Dogs

[Ruthful]

Just finished up the first two books of The Gulag Archipelago.

In the middle of this:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GaNPg9M10nU/TQejS9dHyII/AAAAAAAABWQ/hDr_FRaZJEQ/s1600/glass_castle.jpg

[TwistedNadine]

Currently reading lots and lots of laws, publications, forms, numbers, buy-out agreements, buy-in agreements, and bullshit disputes.
Cant wait to get back to something more entertaining

[Brice]

King - UTD
Tom Piccirilli -Last Kind Words
Elmore Leonard - Road Dogs

King and Leonard of course are almost always great. I've only read a few things by Piccirill, but so far I've really enjoyed everything I have.

[Dan]

It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm really liking Drood by Dan Simmons. Might be because I'm such a fan of Charles Dickens.

[Jean]

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

[jhanic]

It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm really liking Drood by Dan Simmons. Might be because I'm such a fan of Charles Dickens.

That's one of my Simmons favorites also. As you said, though, it's not to everyone's taste.

John

[Patrick]

Currently reading lots and lots of laws, publications, forms, numbers, buy-out agreements, buy-in agreements, and bullshit disputes.
Cant wait to get back to something more entertaining

Yikes. Good luck with that!

[WeDealInLead]

King - UTD
Tom Piccirilli -Last Kind Words
Elmore Leonard - Road Dogs

King and Leonard of course are almost always great. I've only read a few things by Piccirill, but so far I've really enjoyed everything I have.

Piccirilli has made a conscious shift from horror to noir. It suits him more. It feels more real, especially when you can tell it's autobiographical stuff. I suggest Every Shallow Cut. It's a 3 hour read if you commit to it. I've never seen any writter put so much of himself on paper.

I just finished Last Kind Words. Brilliant stuff. And because I suck at reviewing books here's a link to Amazon where he got 4.5 star rating out of 59 reviews which is really high: http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Kind-Words-Novel/dp/0553592483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347677330&sr=8-1&keywords=last+kind+words

[TwistedNadine]

Currently reading lots and lots of laws, publications, forms, numbers, buy-out agreements, buy-in agreements, and bullshit disputes.
Cant wait to get back to something more entertaining

Yikes. Good luck with that!

First client of the day will be here shortly but I have to share this and I hope that spoiler thing works.
Im mid Gaimans story called The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains (Stories anthology) which I havent been able to pick up in days now.
But my first waking thought this morning had nothing to do with work kids life etc - it was:

OMG he's a freaking leprechaun!

[Patrick]

:lol:

[Ruthful]

http://collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Comanche_Moon/larry_mcmurtry_comanche_moon_book.jpg

Trying to finish the Lonesome Dove series before the year is out.

[WeDealInLead]

GRRM & Lisa Tuttle - Windhaven
Julianna Baggott - Pure

Just finished Face in the Crowd. Finally got an e-reader and I figured the first thing I read on it should be King. I liked the story. I called the ending about halfway through and really, that's not a bad thing. The predictability of a story doesn't necessarily mean the ride's not fantastic. Also finished Joe R. Lansdale's Act of Love.

[mae]

Thinking of getting this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51llwRzzcXL.jpg

It's the complete Little House series in two deluxe volumes published by The Library of America: http://blog.loa.org/2012/09/an-interview-with-caroline-fraser-why.html

[Patrick]

Looks like a nice set, Pablo.


Currently reading for the first time: NEEDFUL THINGS, by Stephen King

[Ruthful]

I've finally succumbed to peer pressure.

http://www.jstudentboard.com/reporter/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/wpid-a_game_of_thrones_book_cover.jpeg

[John Blaze]

I've finally succumbed to peer pressure.

http://www.jstudentboard.com/reporter/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/wpid-a_game_of_thrones_book_cover.jpeg
You won't regret it. :D

[Patrick]

Way to go, G!

[fernandito]

About time!

One of us! One of us!

[Ricky]

Currently reading for the first time: NEEDFUL THINGS, by Stephen King

:o

You are in for a treat, Patrick! One of my favorites.

[mae]

Would I be evil if I said I have no desire whatsoever to read Game of Thrones? :unsure:

[Mattrick]

Ditto Pablo.

[fernandito]

Not necessarily, for some people high-fantasy just isn't their bag.

In it's defense, it places emphasis on the characters instead of the standard HF tropes we've all come to expect from the genre. Not to say it doesn't have them, but the characters are always at the forefront.

[Ricky]

Ditto Pablo and Matt. I never could get on the hard fantasy bandwagon.

[Lurker]

Cloud Atlas. But I'm just not seeing how they can make it into a movie.

[fernandito]

Uhhhh, it's been made into a movie. :lol:

[John Blaze]

I'm really looking forward to that too.

[Girlystevedave]

Currently reading for the first time: NEEDFUL THINGS, by Stephen King

:o

You are in for a treat, Patrick! One of my favorites.

YES.
I really enjoyed this one.


Would I be evil if I said I have no desire whatsoever to read Game of Thrones? :unsure:

I've still got the 3rd book sitting half finished on my bedside table and can't seem to muster the desire to finish it.
:unsure:

[Mattrick]

Needful things is one of the first King books I've owned and the only one I own that I have not read yet. Wait, scratch that, I haven't read From a Buick 8, neither have screamed at me to read them.

[Jean]

Would I be evil if I said I have no desire whatsoever to read Game of Thrones? :unsure:


Ditto Pablo.


Ditto Pablo and Matt. I never could get on the hard fantasy bandwagon.

Bears have tried, and failed.

[Jean]

Needful things is one of the first King books I've owned and the only one I own that I have not read yet. Wait, scratch that, I haven't read From a Buick 8, neither have screamed at me to read them.

Now it's bears who are screaming.

READ THEM

both are superb

[Lurker]

Uhhhh, it's been made into a movie. :lol:

I know - with Tom Hanks or somebody. But I'm just not seeing how they can do it. They may have done it - and I might see the film, but the book just doesn't seem to lend itself to an adaption. I'm only about 2/3 through so maybe something will happen at the end to change that for me.

[Mattrick]

Needful things is one of the first King books I've owned and the only one I own that I have not read yet. Wait, scratch that, I haven't read From a Buick 8, neither have screamed at me to read them.

Now it's bears who are screaming.

READ THEM

both are superb

I was actually going to make needful things my next king read in a few months. Hope it isnt a disappointment like desperation was

[WeDealInLead]

Tim Powers - Hide Me Among the Graves
Paolo Bacigalupi - The Drowned Cities
Brandon Sanderson - The Way of Kings

[neosatus]

http://i43.tower.com/images/mm112259174/knockemstiff-donald-ray-pollock-paperback-cover-art.jpg

About 12% in and so far it's hardly boring!

[Jean]

Hope it isnt a disappointment like desperation was
grrrRRRrrrRRRrrr

[Mattrick]

The Great Gatsby time today.

[educatedlady]

Pitch Dark by Steven Sidor

[Patrick]

Currently reading for the first time: NEEDFUL THINGS, by Stephen King

:o

You are in for a treat, Patrick! One of my favorites.

YES.
I really enjoyed this one.


Needful things is one of the first King books I've owned and the only one I own that I have not read yet. Wait, scratch that, I haven't read From a Buick 8, neither have screamed at me to read them.

Now it's bears who are screaming.

READ THEM

both are superb

I was actually going to make needful things my next king read in a few months. Hope it isnt a disappointment like desperation was
I picked up NEEDFUL THINGS a few years ago, but I just couldn't get into it. My mind tended to wander and I finally put it down after a couple false starts only a few pages in.

This time, however, I am really enjoying it.

[Brice]

Needful Things is one I love.

Now reading a book called Grim Devices.

As for GoT, I liked it, but somehow got away from it. I was probably only 100 pages or so into it though. I despise hard fantasy, but it was extremely well done, imo...at least based on what I read.

[OchrisO]

When I was young(around 11) I tried to read Needful Things as my first King book. I couldn't get through it at all. I went back to it in my mid-twenties and LOVED it.

[Ben Staad]

I've been on a Zombie genre kick. These are kind of like the male equivalent to romance novels IMO. Quick reads, entertaining (enough), and pretty much the same script in every book. Nice reads for a tired mind.

[WeDealInLead]

Check out Naming of Parts and Changing of Faces by Tim Lebbon. They're a little different from typical zombie stuff.

[Ben Staad]

Check out Naming of Parts and Changing of Faces by Tim Lebbon. They're a little different from typical zombie stuff.

Thanks. I will make a note and see if I can pick these up.

[mae]

Also try Zone One by Colson Whitehead:

http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/16941/q-and-a-colson-whitehead.html

“I’m here because I was born here and thus ruined for anywhere else,” says Colson Whitehead in his 2003 book of essays The Colossus of New York. Born and raised in Manhattan, a student at Trinity, a writer at the Village Voice, Whitehead is truly a lifelong New Yorker. So in celebration of Tin House’s latest issue, it is only fitting to share a conversation with long-time Brooklyn resident, and master of ceremonies for Tin House’s 10th anniversary celebration, Colson Whitehead.

Whitehead spoke with writer David Naimon, host of Between The Covers, at the studios of KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, Oregon, about Zone One, a distinctly literary take on the horror genre, a book that manages to be a ruminative meditation while also delighting in the grotesque fun of a zombie apocalypse overtaking Manhattan.

David Naimon: Our protagonist in Zone One, Mark Spitz, is a sweeper. Tell us what a sweeper is and what exactly he is up against at the beginning of the novel.

Colson Whitehead: The book takes off from various entries in the zombie apocalypse genre. Which for me is a film genre. I grew up on the first Romero trilogy and various post-apocalyptic films. And those are the main inspirations for the book. Sweepers are people trying to put society back together after the apocalypse is in abeyance. Most of the zombies are dead. There are settlement camps up and down the east coast and the survivors have this idea that they can resettle Manhattan. It’s an island, so you can block off the bridges and the tunnels. And once you get the plague-infected wretches out of the residential towers and corporate buildings, people can live there again. So the army has gone through and swept out 99% of the monsters and now civilian teams, volunteers, are going door to door, getting the remainders.

DN: And those are the sweepers?

CW: Yeah, the sweepers are the civilian volunteers. The book has a little bit of lingo. The sweepers, the skels—that is the name of the zombies in the book, for their skeletal appearance. And then there are the stragglers. Stragglers are a variant of the zombies in the book. They are kind of like ghosts. Instead of feasting on human flesh they feast on their own pasts. So, once they get infected they head, as if by homing signal, to places they are emotionally attached to, neurotically fixated upon.

DN: I had a soft spot for the stragglers. I know that might sound strange. This is your contribution to zombie lore, the idea of the straggler who is caught in doing one last nostalgic gesture that they are trapped in in the end. I saw these sad souls going back to these poignant places in their lives and their jobs and becoming frozen there. And it was touching actually.

CW: Well, yeah. I’m trying to talk about nostalgia and the idea of the self. In the same way that the stragglers are completely stuck on who they used to be even though the situation on the ground has changed, the survivors are also stuck in the past, trying to bring their former lives into this new world of the disaster. And, of course, it doesn’t go as planned. So, in comparing the uninfected survivors with the infected stragglers and skels, I’m trying to break down the divisions between the two, to figure out what is dead about the living, and what is still living in the dead.

DN: On a superficial level this feels like a big departure from your previous books. Obviously with Sag Harbor we have an African-American teenager spending the summer on the wealthy beaches of Long Island. But on another level it feels like Zone One is squarely a literary book, just dealing with a genre topic. How do you balance these two things, fulfilling the tropes of the genre, and doing these meditations, these contemplations on society?

CW: My first book, The Intuitionist, was a take-off on the detective novel. Partially I’m paying tribute to what I love about the detective genre. And I’m trying to invent my own way of dealing with the conventions, rejecting some, embracing others. I’m doing the same thing in Zone One. In Sag Harbor, it is sort of an anti-coming of age novel. So I was trying to understand what made that type of story tick and deconstruct it. So I’m always doing my shtick no matter what sort of rhetorical prop I’m using, whether it is teenagers in Sag Harbor or flesh-eating monsters in Zone One. They really are just rhetorical flourishes that allow me to talk about society, people. This book to me is not so much about blowing up monsters’ heads but about how to survive in a changed world, negotiating the before and after. Whether you’ve encountered a big disaster in your life, a communal one, or a private one, how do you make the change, navigate this new landscape and remain intact.

DN: A lot of your books deal either directly or obliquely with issues of race, and while Zone One doesn’t, I wondered if part of your attraction to zombies, versus, say, vampires or werewolves, had to do with the strange racial history of zombies. In doing research about them, I discovered all sorts of things I didn’t know—that the original zombies to enter American consciousness were from Haiti, blacks disinterred and animated to work for the American Sugar Company because they were considered docile, hard laborers. And that at one point it was considered a novelty for a zombie to be white. Of course that changed later on but I was curious if you were intrigued by that history and if that somehow played into the choice of zombies.

CW: My history of zombies starts with the novel I Am Legend. The Haitian zombie, for me, does not connect so much as post World War II fiction and film. I locate the terror of the zombie apocalypse in the idea that suddenly your friends, your family, your neighbors, the guy at the café, all these people can be revealed as the monsters you’ve always sort of suspected them to be. So my idea encompasses Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the fifties version and the ’78 version, the early Romero entries where the rules of our civilized society are turned on their heads. Everyone you’ve trusted and loved your whole life is now against you. And that’s a sad commentary on my psychology but that’s how I’ve always interpreted it. But definitely seeing Night of the Living Dead when I was in sixth grade, seeing a really strong black protagonist resonated with me. I’d seen a lot of blaxploitation films. But seeing just a normal Joe who is on the run from a white mob who wants to destroy him seems to be a part of the American chronicle. And George Romero will say in interviews that he cast Duane Jones, the African-American actor, just because he was the best person who auditioned. And he didn’t realize until later what sort of resonance it would have in post-civil rights America. But it definitely stuck with me and made me attached to the genre.

DN: Similar to the Romero films it feels like you put the reader in an unusual position since you are also doing commentary on society. I didn’t exactly want the zombies to win but I also couldn’t entirely cheer for the humans because it felt like they were so eager to recreate this society of corporate consumerism. Tell us about this branded, zombie-like human effort to reconstruct New York.

CW: Even before I wrote a word I was trying to figure out what are the features of this particular apocalypse. And early on I decided that living in the end times in a ruined world is pretty much like living before, it’s just that 95% of the population is dead and people are more bummed out. When the characters in the book try to reestablish society they are still stuck in their old grooves. And I think the worst parts of contemporary society will come back quickly. So for me that is marketing, our need for fresh organic greens. It’s corporate branding, a need for catchy slogans. The government plucks a songwriter out of the wasteland, and he comes up with an anthem for reconstruction called “Stop Can Your Hear The Eagle Roar.” People are humming this as they go about destroying zombies. So, in the same way that the stragglers and the skels are not too far removed from the survivors in a certain kind of way, the pre-disaster self is very much overlapping, merging with the post-disaster self.

DN: It feels both very realistic and dispiriting that they would so quickly be thinking of things like types of furniture to put in the condominium, or the different sponsored products that the Army are using, furnished by the various corporations vying to be the biggest part of the reconstruction.

CW: It’s all they know. It’s those creature comforts and consumerist ideals they’ve been chasing their whole lives that will guide them pretty swiftly after things start to get back to normal.

DN: Interestingly, there seemed to be more joy and humor in your descriptions of the grotesqueness of the zombies, and more of a nauseating dread in your descriptions of the brands and the products. It felt like a heap of human trash was accumulating, that people were wondering about shopping again while still trying to eliminate the city from these so-called zombies

CW: Well, sure. The zombie world is not too far away. If you’ve ever tried to catch a train at rush hour in Grand Central or any sort of big transportation hub, or try to go shopping at Whole Foods at 6pm on a weekend, you are in a zombie world for a few minutes, in the blind mob after their grubby ends. It’s part of my take on where we’ll be once it all goes down.

DN: Let’s talk about New York. I know you set some of your work there. Was there a specific reason other than that, that you decided to destroy New York versus somewhere else?

CW: This is actually my first novel that takes place in the city itself. The Intuitionist takes place in a kind of detective novel Gotham that is like an essential city, not necessarily New York. So I was overdue to set a novel in the city. And I think from growing up in Manhattan in the 70s and 80s when the city was broke, when it was being ravaged by the crack epidemic, that ruined city was part of the original conception of where I live. And if you live any place for any real amount of time you are always superimposing that city you’ve known for years over what’s there now. Outside the studio twenty years ago perhaps was a run-down stretch of Portland. Now there are hipster cafes, a hip hotel—The Jupiter Hotel, around the corner, but if you are a long-time resident you can see that ruined Portland that used to be your landscape and still superimpose it. So it’s that idea of the kind of city we see in front of us and walk around with that animates some of Mark Spitz’s relationship with zone one. He’s a suburban kid who always wanted to move to New York to become that sophisticated city fellow of legend. So as he walks through the devastated city he can still insert his childhood dreams of being a metropolitan dandy. And, of course, he can’t go back there.

DN: In that sense, Zone One feels like a companion piece to The Colossus of New York. You have an essay in Colossus, entitled “Lost and Found,” where you talk about how you know you are a New Yorker when you can remember something that no longer exists, that’s been destroyed, that’s been replaced.

CW: I wrote that right after 9/11 and I was trying to grapple with my city which had become briefly ruined for me. And I was trying to figure out, partially through writing that, how I could live in this place that I loved so much when it had been changed forever. I wasn’t directly writing about 9/11 in Zone One. I think it is in there within a larger notion of disaster. Our disasters are communal sometimes, felt by our whole communities, or private, a death in the family or losing your job. So the heart of Zone One is really about Mark Spitz finding that new self in the aftermath of a catastrophe. But he is using some of the tropes that are in Colossus to describe how he feels about the city.

DN: Mark Spitz as a sweeper was, at least for me, very evocative of Giuiliani, with his sweeping of undesirables off the island. I don’t know if that was intentional but when you talk about layers of memory and how different New Yorkers have different New Yorks in their minds, when I think about people just going in and sweeping out the people they don’t want to be there anymore in Zone One, I couldn’t help but think of him

CW: It wasn’t intentional. [laughs] But it was probably in there now that you mention it.

DN: I know you say this isn’t a 9/11 book but it definitely has a lot that is evocative of it. I think of “ground zero” and “zone one” having a resonance in sound and name. And the idea of post-apocalyptic stress disorder, which everyone in Zone One is suffering from, surely that’s something similar to what people must have been experiencing after 9/11.

CW: Yeah, the survivors are diagnosed with this condition, post-apocalyptic stress disorder and the symptoms are insomnia, eating too much, sleeping too much, eating too little, irritability, headaches, nightmares, and that’s basically the symptoms of anyone on a Monday morning. So the traumatized survivor self again isn’t too far from the harried, existential modern person.

DN: So do you think you are going to continue in the horror/sci-fi genre with your next book?

CW: I’m not sure. Since I am sort of perversely jumping from style to style I probably wouldn’t do another horror one next. I just finished this book in January so we were editing all spring. And I could use a rest. So I’m just going to chill. You know, I’m teaching two days a week, hang out with my kid, and watch a lot of TV for the next year or so.

DN: That sounds like a great year. You’re going to be a zombie next year!

CW: [laughs] Yes! Back to my old shtick, yeah.

[Joe315]

I've been on a Zombie genre kick. These are kind of like the male equivalent to romance novels IMO. Quick reads, entertaining (enough), and pretty much the same script in every book. Nice reads for a tired mind.

I thought The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell was pretty good. I also enjoyed the two zombie books, Torment and Sentinel, by Jeremy Bishop ( aka Jeremy Robinson).

[Mattrick]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/541254_10152127833665571_649086561_n.jpg
Rare that I have two books going, but Jung will take time to ingest, sowill be doubling up with fiction for the next month at least.

[WeDealInLead]

Just finished The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi. I liked it much more than Shipbreaker. Also finished The Turtle Boy by Kealan Patrick Burke. Loved it. The e-book is still free at Amazon in case anyone is interested. I feel like I should read something by King as the 100th book this year. I'm thinking The Plant or alternatively Regulators, the last published book I still need to read.

Still chipping away at The Way of Kings. The book could be easily 2/3 of its size if it weren't for the useless descriptions that do absolutely nothing for the story.

[Dan]

I recently finished Desperation and The Regulators (Desperation being my favorite of the two) and The Hellfire Club by Straub. I've started Ghoul by Brian Keene. This is my first Keene novel.

[Girlystevedave]

"The Last Picture Show"
Larry McMurtry

[TwistedNadine]

Finally got around to finishing Stories - thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation guys.
Not sure whats next. My To Read list is so long I get dizzy looking at it.
But at the same time nothing is jumping out at me...

[WeDealInLead]

What's a sample of your list?

I'm reading The Plant by King. You can download that and Cannibals directly from his site in pdf. I could send you a link to an epub file of The Plant if you'd like.

[Girlystevedave]

I quit my book, Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry.
It's only the second time in my life I've ever left a book unfinished. (First one being The Scarlet Letter. bleh! )
Anyway, I'm going return this one to the library and suggest they just burn the book right there on the spot so that no one else has to read about this bunch of disgusting characters in a small Texas town. <_<

[Odetta]

Storm of Swords - but after this, I will need a break from this series before starting book 4

[Ka-mai]

SoS is the best one, hands down. But the next two have good moments as well.

[TwistedNadine]

What's a sample of your list?

I'm reading The Plant by King. You can download that and Cannibals directly from his site in pdf. I could send you a link to an epub file of The Plant if you'd like.

Thanks - read The Plant several times but not The Cannibals. Just downloaded it. Thanks for the tip!
My Read list is all over the place.
But here's a couple that I've had on there a while that caught my eye. Thumbs up or down?
McCammons The Five?
Straubs A Dark Matter?

[Dan]

I really like A Dark Matter. Have not read The Five.

[WeDealInLead]

What's a sample of your list?

I'm reading The Plant by King. You can download that and Cannibals directly from his site in pdf. I could send you a link to an epub file of The Plant if you'd like.

Thanks - read The Plant several times but not The Cannibals. Just downloaded it. Thanks for the tip!
My Read list is all over the place.
But here's a couple that I've had on there a while that caught my eye. Thumbs up or down?
McCammons The Five?
Straubs A Dark Matter?

I haven't read much by either. 5 stories by Straub was... tedious. If You Could See Me Now was phenomenal. Baal by McCammon was alright but Swan Song was great. Dunno, read first one then the other?

I'm reading Sandkings by George R.R. Martin (the collection, not just the short story), and still going slowly through Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers and The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I did just finish a book by Patton Oswalt to mix things up a bit. Funny stuff and he earns a lot of points for mentioning Yog-Sothoth, Minor Threat and Bad Brains on the same page.

[jhanic]

I'll be starting J.K. Rowling's The Constant Vacancy tonight (or maybe sooner!)

John

[Jean]

I will, too, in a couple of days. Finishing The Wind Through the Keyhole now, very good.

[Mattrick]

My read list....Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte, for whom the bell tolls and the sun also rises by earnest Hemingway, the.portrait of the artist as a.young man by James Joyce, villete by Charlotte Bronte, great expectations and a tale of two cities by Charles dickens, lord of the flies and the paper men by William golding, cat's cradle and god bless you Mr rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut, tender is the night by f Scott Fitzgerald, Moby dick, billy budd and bartlbey by Herman Melville and 9 short novels by henry James.


Next to start is the strange case.of.Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[frik]

Finishing The Wind Through the Keyhole now, very good.

Agreed!!
I finally got around to reading this book and I absolutely LOVE it!

sk

[Dan]

Just started The Twelve!

[mae]

Finishing The Wind Through the Keyhole now, very good.

Agreed!!
I finally got around to reading this book and I absolutely LOVE it!

sk

Reading it now too, but admittedly the first part so far, up to The wind Through the Keyhole, has been pretty slow. This is the same trouble I had with Wizard & Glass. I guess I just don't find Roland's past fascinating, nor the Mid-World universe per se.

[Ricky]

This is the same trouble I had with Wizard & Glass. I guess I just don't find Roland's past fascinating

I feel the same way. Still enjoyed WTTK, though.

[Jean]

I guess I just don't find Roland's past fascinating, nor the Mid-World universe per se.bears concur

[Girlystevedave]

I'm about halfway through 11/22/63 right now, and I'm absolutely obsessed with it.
Really really loving it so far.

[Mattrick]

Cat's cradle by Vonnegut

[OchrisO]

The Story of B by Daniel Quinn

[John Blaze]

I'm about halfway through 11/22/63 right now, and I'm absolutely obsessed with it.
Really really loving it so far.
I love it too. :huglove:

[TwistedNadine]

Nothing.
Im doing the pick up put down thing.
Seems Life is just more interesting right now.
Think I'll just hang and wait for The Twelve...

[fernandito]

Working my way through my The Great Gatsby reread.

My co worker is going to lend me The Girl That Kicked the Hornest Nest this week so I should be wrapping that series up before year's end.

[Ricky]

Gatsby re-read? By choice? :lol:

Hope you like Hornet's Nest. Not as good as Fire, but a good page turner.

[Dan]

Gatsby re-read? By choice? :lol:


I agree. If it wasn't short, I wouldn't have finished it. One of the worst books I've read.

[alkanto]

I love The Great Gatsby! I've read it 5 or 6 times...and only twice was for school.

[Ricky]

I knew you were crazy, Jen, but not that crazy. :lol:

[alkanto]

I LOVE the Great Gatsby. You don't even know the half of it. I even included it in my senior year English speech about my life philosophy. :lol:

To be fair, it's one of the only "classics" I like...so I guess once I finally found one I enjoyed I grasped on tight and never let go?

[fernandito]

I remember reading The Great Gatsby in High School and having a lukewarm impression of it. I've been on a classics binge this year so I decided to give it another shot. Maybe it's because I was too young to truly grasp the complexity of Fitzgerald's style but I am really, really loving it this time around.

[Girlystevedave]

I just read The Great Gatsby for the first time this past year. I can't say it made much of an impact with me. But I think classics are usually hit or miss like that. [shrugs]

On another note: I've only got a little over a hundred pages left in 11/22/63. I'm putting off finishing it. :(

[thegunslinger41]

The Great Gatsby...takes me back to my high school days where along with reading the book, I had to constantly come up with 5,6,7,8 and 10 page reports to accompany my reading experience. Now reading Chuck Palahnuik's DAMNED...just finished Paolo Bacigalupi's SHIP BREAKER, Also just finished 2 HP LOVECRAFT books...the someting of Caluthu something and the Durnberry?? something Horror. Yawwwnnn... No reports required.

G

[Jean]

Also just finished 2 HP LOVECRAFT books...the someting of Caluthu something and the Durnberry?? something Horror. Yawwwnnn...
oh

[Dan]

I am re-reading The Drawing of the Three (audiobook). I am liking it much better the second time. Muller really is an excellent reader.

[jeffreylay]

I am reading the Talisman for the umpteenth time. I think Drawing of the Three will be next.

[Patrick]

Cat's cradle by Vonnegut :thumbsup:


I love The Great Gatsby! I've read it 5 or 6 times...and only twice was for school.
:thumbsup:


I remember reading The Great Gatsby in High School and having a lukewarm impression of it. I've been on a classics binge this year so I decided to give it another shot. Maybe it's because I was too young to truly grasp the complexity of Fitzgerald's style but I am really, really loving it this time around.
I never read that book for school. I read as an adult simply because it was so well known. Loved it.


Currently reading: THE POWER OF A POSITIVE NO, by William Ury

[Patrick]

I am reading the Talisman for the umpteenth time. I think Drawing of the Three will be next.
THE TALISMAN is one of my favorites. Welcome to TheDarkTower.org, Jeffery! Please post in the Introduce Yourself thread and make yourself known!

[stkmw02]

I wish I could read The Great Gatsby for the first time again... I LOVE that book!

I'm reading the DT comic series right now, after a pretty long reading dry-spell. Then I think I'll tackle The Wind Through The Keyhole, finally.

[Mattrick]

Har to believe the great gatsby is the most banned book.

[Mattrick]

The Paper Men by William Golding, it has been very good thus far.

[neosatus]

Just started this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E24Nx8fmlvM/TVRaScCDjPI/AAAAAAAAAWc/6xfRT1MgF3E/s1600/THE-RED-GARDEN-by-Alice-Hoffman.jpg


And the first story has bears! lol

Seems pretty interesting. It's about this town and the people there beginning with its founding. Multiple stories take place chronologically so there's always some heritage connection. Much of it involves tragedy, but as is life.
So far I'm always ready to jump into the next story as one ends, so it's hard to put down.

[Jean]

Just started this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E24Nx8fmlvM/TVRaScCDjPI/AAAAAAAAAWc/6xfRT1MgF3E/s1600/THE-RED-GARDEN-by-Alice-Hoffman.jpg


And the first story has bears! lol
: interested :

[mae]

Speaking of recommendations for bears, as a Dickens fan, Jean, you should probably check out Terry Pratchett's Dodger.

[Jean]

: makes a note :

[fernandito]

I can't remember who it was but someone on here was reading Clive Barker's Books of Blood and now I really want to check it out. My only exposure to Barker's work thus far is Imajica (which I freakin' LOVED) and I want to read some of his classic horror stuff that made him famous.

[WeDealInLead]

I'd love to read Books of Blood one day. I just need to find them somewhere. I did read Cabal (adapted into Nightbreed) and The Hellbound Heart (adapted into Hellraiser) and they were both quick, good reads.

[Jean]

I can't remember who it was but someone on here was reading Clive Barker's Books of Blood Must have been Brices and bears, with different outcome

[fernandito]

I'd love to read Books of Blood one day. I just need to find them somewhere. I did read Cabal (adapted into Nightbreed) and The Hellbound Heart (adapted into Hellraiser) and they were both quick, good reads.
Honestly, the TPB cover of Cabal is enough to make me want to read it haha.



I can't remember who it was but someone on here was reading Clive Barker's Books of Blood Must have been Brices and bears, with different outcome

I bet I know which is which :lol:

[Jean]

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear4bis.gif

but I really liked two or even three stories... they would all be nice if he knew how to stop when the story is over.

Reading now: The Casual Vacancy. Judging by what people here said, it must become worse very soon, but so far it's delightful!

[OchrisO]

I can't remember who it was but someone on here was reading Clive Barker's Books of Blood and now I really want to check it out. My only exposure to Barker's work thus far is Imajica (which I freakin' LOVED) and I want to read some of his classic horror stuff that made him famous.

I can't recommend Clive Barker's The Thief of Always enough. It is one of my favorite stories.

Here is an excerpt:
http://www.clivebarker.info/yathiefex.html

[Jean]

wow, I have it!!! long live the Kindle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! will start some time after TCV

[DoctorDodge]

Reading now: The Casual Vacancy. Judging by what people here said, it must become worse very soon, but so far it's delightful!

:lol: I suspected as much that this would be your reaction, Jean! Alright, I'll aim to give it a chance, then.

[fernandito]

I can't remember who it was but someone on here was reading Clive Barker's Books of Blood and now I really want to check it out. My only exposure to Barker's work thus far is Imajica (which I freakin' LOVED) and I want to read some of his classic horror stuff that made him famous.

I can't recommend Clive Barker's The Thief of Always enough. It is one of my favorite stories.

Here is an excerpt:
http://www.clivebarker.info/yathiefex.html

You've been on this site for a while, so I'm sure you're aware of my running joke with ToA and how it's been on my to read list for about ... 3 years now :lol:

No but seriously, I really, really want to read that soon. I think that excerpt might be just the push I needed. Thanks Chris.

[Mattrick]

The theif of always was great, love the edition of it that I have.

[stkmw02]

Just got the last of the DT comic hardcovers, so I'll finish those up... I need to catch up on a bunch of King books!

[Dan]

Just got the last of the DT comic hardcovers, so I'll finish those up... I need to catch up on a bunch of King books!

Did they turn out to be first printings? I was going to order from Amazon also, but didn't know what I would get.

[Empath of the White]

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie.

[stkmw02]

Yes! All three were shrinkwrapped first printings, plus I pre-ordered the next one. ;) They've got the lowest prices now right, I think (or hope anyway lol)

[Girlystevedave]

Time and Again
~Jack Finney

[Ben Staad]

The Man in The Seventh Row by Brian Pendreigh

[TwistedNadine]

The Twelve Justin Cronin.
So far Im enjoying it as much as The Passage

[Dan]

Yes! All three were shrinkwrapped first printings, plus I pre-ordered the next one. ;) They've got the lowest prices now right, I think (or hope anyway lol)

Sweet! I will order from them.

[Odetta]

The Twelve Justin Cronin.
So far Im enjoying it as much as The Passage

*squee*
HAVE to get this... NOW!!!!!

[Dan]

The Twelve Justin Cronin.
So far Im enjoying it as much as The Passage

I don't think you will be disappointed.

[WeDealInLead]

Norman Prentiss - The Fleshless Man
Steve Rasnic Tem - Deadfall Hotel (never read him but saw this was published as a limited from Centipede Press, Dan Simmons praised, D'Israeli did illustrations and it and it received great reviews so I picked it up. It's dedicated to Charles Grant. Add all those factors together and you'll get a pretty clear picture of what kind of horror this is.)

Still reading these two. It's been a month and a half since I started them:
Tim Powers - Hide Me Among the Graves. Only half finished. I love it but can't read more than a chapter or two at a time.
Brandon Sanderson - The Way of Kings. I love the world he created but it's so fucking tedious. His fight scenes are opposite of dynamic. They're overwritten, too similar to each other and take forever. He can write novella-length works too - Legion from SubPress is a great story - but this need for fantasy works to be so painfully long is just silly.