What are you currently reading?

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Originally Posted by kingfan2323

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Originally Posted by Girlystevedave

I'm finally reading Pet Sematary. I avoided it for years because I had seen the film and wanted to forget all that I knew before I could read it. Then I avoided it because I had a kid and was too scared to read it.
Having said that, about 30 pages in, I decided that I don't really care for The Creeds very much. Are these people supposed to be likable?

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Seems to me Louis does not like his own daughter much (cannot blame him on that)! Ha!

Gotta love Jud though!

seeking Gunslinger #246

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:lol:

I thought the same thing! Within the first few pages, he wanted to slap her. A few pages later, I couldn't really blame him. haha

From 2/7 - 2/22 I read The Institute. This is the first King I've read since finishing a re-read of DT2 just over 3 years ago; I think this was the first time I’ve read King’s latest while it still was his latest since Just After Sunset, which I believe was 2008.

These days I approach new King reads with a list of pet peeves I hope to avoid:

- spoilers (little ones are ok; big ones are bad; frequent big ones are the worst (they destroyed Duma Key, which should've been titled Answer Key));

- unsatisfying or illogical resolutions (Under The Dome ended in the literary equivalent of a pile of wet cardboard; Black House came to rest in a discouraging morass of levitating honey, magic bees, and a wonder bat);

- paper villains (the vampires of Salem's Lot didn't care if you believed, nor did the hedge animals of The Shining, but everything at the hotel at the end of The Talisman needed the murder equivalent of viagra).

...but I do begin King reads with an open mind, ready for the good stuff too (among my reads of his recent work, he did a fine job with Revival, a great job with Doctor Sleep, and somewhere in between for Hearts In Atlantis and Lisey's Story).

Anyway, on to The Institute:

Overall, I enjoyed it, it was definitely a success, but not a classic.

As for my specified pet peeves: spoilers weren't an issue; the resolution was logical and enjoyable; there was no paper villain.

My main problem was that it had no atmosphere/vibe whatsoever, feeling instead like a recitation or notation of events. The setup was good and there was no shortage of interesting events, but the story felt like it wasn't being told with King's usual storytelling verve (I'm not sure how to better explain this). The characters were generally fine, but the Institute kids other than Luke felt a bit like "characters," not as real to me (which is odd, given that King is great with characters).

I now enter spoiler mode to protect the innocent:

Spoiler:

I thought it was odd that the book opened with Tim and then left him for a long time, but not a big deal.

I was surprised that Luke escaped before the book was even half done; that definitely made things more interesting.

I was unable to accept the amazing chain of assumptions that led the Institute staff to focus on DuPray, a town which is “built around the intersection of SR 92” and which has a police force of 7:
- They’ll check in Portland and Portsmouth, but don’t think he’ll disembark there
- They think he’ll go to Sturbridge, but instead of disembarking, he’ll stay when train 4297 becomes 9956, which goes south to Miami
- They’ll watch Richmond, Wilmington, and Miami, but don’t think he’ll disembark there
- They decide to send actual teams to two stops out of all the ones that 4297 and 9956 hit, one being DuPray
…ladies and gentlemen, I give you Master Detective!

And now I present some truly unacceptable fiction, shit I just can’t accept, along the lines of Wendy and Hallorann choosing to wait out The Shining’s final act on the stairs while Jack hunts Danny:
- The Institute has a guy (Norbert Hollister) living in DuPray! (again: “built around the intersection of SR 92” and a police force of 7). Seriously, this is akin to the inclusion of Springfield in the statue of David’s American tour on The Simpsons, but The Simpsons is supposed to be laughable.
- When Luke jumps off the train (not at a station or depot, mind you), one of the two men in the barely-there town of DuPray that sees him is the Institute's freakin' plant.

...I will say that, as ridiculous as all of that was, I have a much higher tolerance for "convenient" plotting mid-novel than for anything like this at the end (see my previous comments re: Black House) and I can't say this much damaged my overall opinion of The Institute.

A very small quibble, and only a quibble: I had trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that by the time of the lisping man’s October visit, the flash drive hadn’t been provided to anyone with power, as if Luke & Co. were satisfied to have destroyed the institutes around the world and content not to stir up official trouble (perhaps it would’ve been too hard to prove very much about the Institute).

Story-wise, however, I very much appreciated that the Institute, rather than being cleanly eliminated under the brute force of official bureaucracy as it would’ve been at the conclusion of a Tom Clancy novel, retreated into a haze of mystery and possibility, with the “Good Guys” content to merely survive while hoping they didn’t enable the apocalypse – this messiness was an admirable touch of realism. Some books (King and others) that end weakly seem to get stuck in one gear and just ride it out without thinking, but The Institute shifted around, and everything felt authentic as it coasted to a stop.

Not bad at all, Steve.

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Originally Posted by St. Troy

From 2/7 - 2/22 I read The Institute. This is the first King I've read since finishing a re-read of DT2 just over 3 years ago; I think this was the first time I’ve read King’s latest while it still was his latest since Just After Sunset, which I believe was 2008.

These days I approach new King reads with a list of pet peeves I hope to avoid:

- spoilers (little ones are ok; big ones are bad; frequent big ones are the worst (they destroyed Duma Key, which should've been titled Answer Key));

- unsatisfying or illogical resolutions (Under The Dome ended in the literary equivalent of a pile of wet cardboard; Black House came to rest in a discouraging morass of levitating honey, magic bees, and a wonder bat);

- paper villains (the vampires of Salem's Lot didn't care if you believed, nor did the hedge animals of The Shining, but everything at the hotel at the end of The Talisman needed the murder equivalent of viagra).

...but I do begin King reads with an open mind, ready for the good stuff too (among my reads of his recent work, he did a fine job with Revival, a great job with Doctor Sleep, and somewhere in between for Hearts In Atlantis and Lisey's Story).

Anyway, on to The Institute:

Overall, I enjoyed it, it was definitely a success, but not a classic.

As for my specified pet peeves: spoilers weren't an issue; the resolution was logical and enjoyable; there was no paper villain.

My main problem was that it had no atmosphere/vibe whatsoever, feeling instead like a recitation or notation of events. The setup was good and there was no shortage of interesting events, but the story felt like it wasn't being told with King's usual storytelling verve (I'm not sure how to better explain this). The characters were generally fine, but the Institute kids other than Luke felt a bit like "characters," not as real to me (which is odd, given that King is great with characters).

I now enter spoiler mode to protect the innocent:

Spoiler:

I thought it was odd that the book opened with Tim and then left him for a long time, but not a big deal.

I was surprised that Luke escaped before the book was even half done; that definitely made things more interesting.

I was unable to accept the amazing chain of assumptions that led the Institute staff to focus on DuPray, a town which is “built around the intersection of SR 92” and which has a police force of 7:
- They’ll check in Portland and Portsmouth, but don’t think he’ll disembark there
- They think he’ll go to Sturbridge, but instead of disembarking, he’ll stay when train 4297 becomes 9956, which goes south to Miami
- They’ll watch Richmond, Wilmington, and Miami, but don’t think he’ll disembark there
- They decide to send actual teams to two stops out of all the ones that 4297 and 9956 hit, one being DuPray
…ladies and gentlemen, I give you Master Detective!

And now I present some truly unacceptable fiction, shit I just can’t accept, along the lines of Wendy and Hallorann choosing to wait out The Shining’s final act on the stairs while Jack hunts Danny:
- The Institute has a guy (Norbert Hollister) living in DuPray! (again: “built around the intersection of SR 92” and a police force of 7). Seriously, this is akin to the inclusion of Springfield in the statue of David’s American tour on The Simpsons, but The Simpsons is supposed to be laughable.
- When Luke jumps off the train (not at a station or depot, mind you), one of the two men in the barely-there town of DuPray that sees him is the Institute's freakin' plant.

...I will say that, as ridiculous as all of that was, I have a much higher tolerance for "convenient" plotting mid-novel than for anything like this at the end (see my previous comments re: Black House) and I can't say this much damaged my overall opinion of The Institute.

A very small quibble, and only a quibble: I had trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that by the time of the lisping man’s October visit, the flash drive hadn’t been provided to anyone with power, as if Luke & Co. were satisfied to have destroyed the institutes around the world and content not to stir up official trouble (perhaps it would’ve been too hard to prove very much about the Institute).

Story-wise, however, I very much appreciated that the Institute, rather than being cleanly eliminated under the brute force of official bureaucracy as it would’ve been at the conclusion of a Tom Clancy novel, retreated into a haze of mystery and possibility, with the “Good Guys” content to merely survive while hoping they didn’t enable the apocalypse – this messiness was an admirable touch of realism. Some books (King and others) that end weakly seem to get stuck in one gear and just ride it out without thinking, but The Institute shifted around, and everything felt authentic as it coasted to a stop.

Not bad at all, Steve.

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YOu liked Doctor Sleep? Oh man.. it was the worst King book I ever read AND THE ONLY time I sincerely struggled to finish.

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Originally Posted by webstar1000

THE ONLY time I sincerely struggled to finish.

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I remember the only time I sincerely struggled to finish.

It involved too much alcohol and... I don't remember her name. :wtf:

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Originally Posted by webstar1000

YOu liked Doctor Sleep? Oh man.. it was the worst King book I ever read AND THE ONLY time I sincerely struggled to finish.

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I really liked it - almost loved it. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed something from King so much.

From 2/25 - 2/26 I read Elevation.

Expectations are funny things; going into this, I'd heard:
- it was short
- it was mighty political (as a conservative, less likely to please me specifically)
- it involved gay rights (not necessarily a negative, but I don't enjoy reading soapbox-things, so...)
- the main character was today's stereotypical "bad man" (unwoke, white, old)
- something about a burrito someone mentioned? I dunno

My impressions through the early stages of the book (Deirdre badly needs to watch Dave Chappelle's "monsters" sketch and remember that most new restaurants go out of business in general; Scott ain't the enemy here) meant less and less as I continued, and not just because events shape how we view characters; the story was changing into something else before my eyes.

Things started to get mighty simple (the seemingly instant attitude adjustments of Dierdre, Myra, and Trevor Yount, for one thing), but the story was becoming the type of story for which I'm willing to forgive that kind of thing, or maybe the kind of story for which that kind of thing actually fits.

"Fable" and "parable" are the wrong words, I think, nor does "fairy tale" quite apply, but...by the end, I felt I was...

Spoiler:

...floating off into the distance along with Scott, as I held the pages...

...and feeling for everyone there at that scene.

It's not that I feel I learned something in terms of how to treat others - I'm already a decent person and laugh off any contention to the contrary - but...Elevation did something for me.

Good book.

Generally agree. I didn't think the political aspect of the story was preachy or overbearing - in fact, King presented much of the friction between characters as being the result of *perceived* prejudice, rather than actual prejudice, and resolution was attained through communication and, well, spending time together. That's a pretty rational and even-handed viewpoint, I think.

HBJ

Mistborn : The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I'm about half way through and enjoying it so far.

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Originally Posted by St. Troy

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Originally Posted by webstar1000

YOu liked Doctor Sleep? Oh man.. it was the worst King book I ever read AND THE ONLY time I sincerely struggled to finish.

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I really liked it - almost loved it. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed something from King so much.

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DS really seems to divide fans right down the middle. I really enjoyed it as well. Revival was terrible for me and Duma Key is one of my all time favorites. The Institute was meh for me as much of King's recent stuff. I really, really want to have him blow my hair back again but I feel he's somewhat phoning it in these days.

In other news, started Red Dragon.

From 2/26 - 3/2 I finally read On Writing (which I'd long looked forward to). The copy I have is sometimes listed as the 10th anniversary edition (although I don't think it officially is that), and the funny thing is that, when I began it, I was thinking that the original came out in 2010, but that actually came out in 2000 and this edition (in my hands) is from 2010. I need to catch up...

King is great "in conversation;" I loved Danse Macabre and loved this too; it was all very interesting and informative. I liked hearing the inspirations for various works (some I'd heard before, but some were new to me), and I was surprised that he went into so much detail about the accident, but probably shouldn't have been, given that it happened during the writing of this book. Even accepting that, I was (and remain) surprised that he named the driver, and more than once.

I was surprised that he considered Insomnia (which I loved) a “plotted novel” that was “stiff, trying-too-hard.”

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Originally Posted by Brian861

...Duma Key is one of my all time favorites.

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There was so much I loved about Duma Key but ultimately King stopped it from working; he robbed me of the reading experience I was intended to have. :(

I recently started The Secret History by Donna Tartt. It came out in 1992, but I'd never heard of it until my daughter recently read it. It has some connection to an "aesthetic" or something called "dark academia," which I'd also never heard of (proponents of dark academia tend to cite Dead Poets Society, which sets my little antennae a-tingle).

96 pages in and absolutely loving it, the writing is fantastic.

The only thing I remember about Duma Key is muchacho.

And something about a ghost.

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Originally Posted by St. Troy

I recently started The Secret History by Donna Tartt. It came out in 1992, but I'd never heard of it until my daughter recently read it. It has some connection to an "aesthetic" or something called "dark academia," which I'd also never heard of (proponents of dark academia tend to cite Dead Poets Society, which sets my little antennae a-tingle).

96 pages in and absolutely loving it, the writing is fantastic.

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Read this WAY back, soon after it came out, and loved it. Must reread.

Now reading The Seventh, by Richard Stark, the seventh Parker novel. Short, sharp, and mean. Loving it.

HBJ

I really liked both ON WRITING and DANSE MACABRE.
Currently reading the book of GENESIS along with THE BEST OF UNCANNY. The stories in UNCANNY are surprisingly good so far, despite the slanted left wing liberal views I do not subscribe to, although they are doing their best to convert me. We shall see.

Duma Key is one of my favorites. Love that book so much.

Currently re-reading Different Seasons. And just finished Inspection by Josh Malerman. Loved that one. Reminded me of The Institute, but I enjoyed this one way more.

Ah, I enjoyed Inspection, too. Intrigued by Malorie coming out later this year.

Just finished the Suntup AGE edition of Misery and I have to admit that reading these Suntup AGE and CD GE editions really ramps up the joy of reading for me. I started The Cabin At The End Of The World by Paul Tremblay. I'm saying his name in my head like Jeff said it in his video...god help me. This is my first Tremblay book so I have no expectations but I'm hopeful I'll enjoy it due to the King blurb and the forum members who enjoyed his writing.

I CANNOT PUT GONE GIRL DOWN!! I love books like this that make me keep going even when I am ready to stop. lol

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Originally Posted by webstar1000

I CANNOT PUT GONE GIRL DOWN!! I love books like this that make me keep going even when I am ready to stop. lol

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You go, girl!

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Originally Posted by Heather19

Duma Key is one of my favorites. Love that book so much.

Currently re-reading Different Seasons. And just finished Inspection by Josh Malerman. Loved that one. Reminded me of The Institute, but I enjoyed this one way more.

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Ditto on Duma Key. Not ditto on Malerman. He hit gold with Birdbox and ever since then it's been a mush of repurposed ideas with try-hard writing. I'm glad people find him enjoyable but I can't not group him with Grady Hendrix, Tremblay, and those two dudes who wrote RP1 and The Martian. They peaked early and will forever be coasting the hype currents of those books. I worshipped the literary ground Tremblay walked on at first, then one day I didn't buy his book the day it went on sale, then another day I checked it out from library, then finally I couldn't even finish Growing Things. Too bad.

I'm embarrassed to say I still haven't read The Great God Pan so I'm about to start it today.

Third thru Swan Song. Crazy great story. Absolutely loving it.. already bought Boy’s Life tonight so it is on the list to say the least.

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Originally Posted by Garrell

Third thru Swan Song. Crazy great story. Absolutely loving it.. already bought Boy’s Life tonight so it is on the list to say the least.

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I'm so glad you're liking it. It IS pretty great, isn't it? :)

HBJ

Off the charts fun

About to start the 4th Witcher book (2nd in the core saga). The series has quickly shot up to one of my favorites, and I'm so glad I didn't get a chance to start the show