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by **hiko** » Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:52 pm

gotribe31 wrote:
hiko wrote:Reading this before the HBO series comes out...

How far along are you in the series? Did you keep going or just read the 1st one?

I read all 5. The first 3 are all great. 4 & 5 need an editor.

by **swerb** » Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:00 pm

by **motherscratcher** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:06 am

^^^^^long

by **swerb** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:52 am

motherscratcher wrote:^^^^^long

I know. I'm only on page 4, and was hoping a good review or two from some that have already read it could inspire me to start that journey.

Did just read they're gonna make it into a movie too, and Spielberg is gonna be directing it.

by **motherscratcher** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:01 pm

swerb wrote:
motherscratcher wrote:^^^^^long

I know. I'm only on page 4, and was hoping a good review or two from some that have already read it could inspire me to start that journey.

Did just read they're gonna make it into a movie too, and Spielberg is gonna be directing it.

I read it a year or two ago. It was good, not great. It is very much a stephen king book, if that makes sense. If you generally like King, you will probably like this well enough to make it worth it.

by **swerb** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:05 pm

motherscratcher wrote:
swerb wrote:
motherscratcher wrote:^^^^^long

I know. I'm only on page 4, and was hoping a good review or two from some that have already read it could inspire me to start that journey.

Did just read they're gonna make it into a movie too, and Spielberg is gonna be directing it.

I read it a year or two ago. It was good, not great. It is very much a stephen king book, if that makes sense. If you generally like King, you will probably like this well enough to make it worth it.

I do like King a lot. You read Bag of Bones? Better or worse?

by **motherscratcher** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:45 pm

I thought I'd read pretty much everything King had written, but I cant remember Bag Of Bones. I googled it and it doesn't sound familiar. Strange. At least I have another book to put on manliest. Don't know how I missed it.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:54 pm

motherscratcher wrote:I thought I'd read pretty much everything King had written, but I cant remember Bag Of Bones. I googled it and it doesn't sound familiar. Strange. At least I have another book to put on manliest. Don't know how I missed it.

That's being made into a TV movie too. With Pierce Brosnon.

by **swerb** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:16 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:
motherscratcher wrote:I thought I'd read pretty much everything King had written, but I cant remember Bag Of Bones. I googled it and it doesn't sound familiar. Strange. At least I have another book to put on manliest. Don't know how I missed it.

That's being made into a TV movie too. With Pierce Brosnon.

I loved that book. I consider that another "classic King book" too.

Most people that love King love that book. People with lower levels of King-Love tend to not like it.

by **motherscratcher** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:28 pm

Somehow "my list" autocorrected to "manliest"... If anyone was wondering.

by **mattvan1** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:02 pm

motherscratcher wrote:Somehow "my list" autocorrected to "manliest"... If anyone was wondering.

I assumed you were discussing CDTs avatar

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:58 pm

mattvan1 wrote:
motherscratcher wrote:Somehow "my list" autocorrected to "manliest"... If anyone was wondering.

I assumed you were discussing CDTs avatar

That man is a Russian, and he is dressed for the winter.

by **StewieG** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:11 pm

I'm really excited for King's new book...it's coming out soon, right?

by **swerb** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:17 am

StewieG wrote:I'm really excited for King's new book...it's coming out soon, right?

In about a week ...

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/11-22-63/promo_page/

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:29 pm

What's the Stephen King books that the covers go together? The only books of his I can remember reading is It and Cycle Of The Werewolf.

by **e0y2e3** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:14 pm

That's because It was the only book he wrote worth reading CDT.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:29 pm

e0y2e3 wrote:That's because It was the only book he wrote worth reading CDT.

Bullshit. They aren't all great, but he has a lot of books worth reading.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:38 pm

I always hear about how I need to read The Gunslinger. I assume it's tied to most of the other Dark Tower series, but i'm not sure if i'd have to read other books in the series to get a frame of reference.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:09 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I always hear about how I need to read The Gunslinger. I assume it's tied to most of the other Dark Tower series, but i'm not sure if i'd have to read other books in the series to get a frame of reference.

The Gunslinger is the 1st of the Dark Tower series. He wrote it in the 70s. It is the shortest by far of the books. You can read it on it's own, but I don't know how you could read it and not want to continue. The first 4 or 5 books of Dark Tower are phenominal. Just a wonderful story.

I was hooked from the first line: "The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed."

by **e0y2e3** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:52 pm

No seriously, King is not a good writer. His works are meh. I've read ten and the only one that inspired me was IT.

He is the Real Housewives Franchise of Writing.

Reading him religiously defines cutting yourself out of unique thought.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 5:32 pm

e0y2e3 wrote:No seriously, King is not a good writer. His works are meh. I've read ten and the only one that inspired me was IT.

He is the Real Housewives Franchise of Writing.

Reading him religiously defines cutting yourself out of unique thought.

Yeah, awesome, we get it. He's not Cormac McCarthy.

I spend a lot of time reading dental journals and text with medical and dental and sciencey stuff. When I go to bed I like to read fiction for 10 to 15 minutes. Sometimes I like that fiction to be Stephen King because I like a lot of the stories he tells. I find them interesting and entertaining without having to think a whole hell of a lot about "what it all means".

I know you don't like to waste time with less than Tolstoy. That's fabulous. Maybe you can get on Keith Law's bowling team.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 5:49 pm

I don't care for sports books myself.

by **Orenthal** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:15 pm

I don't care for Russian winter clothing.

by **e0y2e3** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:45 pm

I'm not asking for that much, just at least Eugenides.

If you are going to read fiction it should be good.

by **motherscratcher** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:02 pm

e0y2e3 wrote:I'm not asking for that much, just at least Eugenides.

If you are going to read fiction it should be good.

OK, tell you what. I finished a book last night (the latest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child*). Give me a recommendation. I'll download it today and start it tonight. I trust you.

*I'm still in awe that Tom Fucking Cruise as Jack Reacher is actually happening. They aren't joking. What a world.

by **e0y2e3** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:24 pm

Eugenides - Middlesex.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 5:11 pm

No MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by **JJN** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:08 pm

I just finished The Gunslinger last week. It was ok. I'll read the next book in the Dark Tower series and see where it goes, but I'm more excited for a few other books first.

by **motherscratcher** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:19 pm

e0y2e3 wrote:Eugenides - Middlesex.

I don't know, man. A hermaphrodite Greek from Detroit? Are you sure, dude?

I'll do it.

by **e0y2e3** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:21 pm

Obviously it is hard to do when your favorite book involves a 14 year old that sets things on fire with her mind.

by **JJN** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:50 am

by **hiko** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 3:42 pm

swerb wrote:
Cerebral_DownTime wrote:
motherscratcher wrote:I thought I'd read pretty much everything King had written, but I cant remember Bag Of Bones. I googled it and it doesn't sound familiar. Strange. At least I have another book to put on manliest. Don't know how I missed it.

That's being made into a TV movie too. With Pierce Brosnon.

I loved that book. I consider that another "classic King book" too.

Most people that love King love that book. People with lower levels of King-Love tend to not like it.

I thought that was actually one his better ones.

I think King is a great storyteller, just horrible with dialogue. And he manages to cheese up the ending sometimes. I can only take him in doses.

by **Orenthal** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:08 pm

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:16 pm

Peter Bergen is a fantastic writer, probably the most knowledgeable author on the subject. I've read Holy War Inc 3-4 times.

I have to get that book soon.

by **Orenthal** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:32 am

The book is one of many for the Homeland Security course I'm taking. Had to read The Dark Side by Jane Mayer this week. As a card carrying neo-con that was a fun read.

by **RedDawg53** » Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:20 pm

World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War

Fantastic book. Very entertaining. Written by Max Brooks who is the son of funny man Mel Brooks. This book is beyond anything I ever read in my life. Very realistic at how the USA and the entire world could be taken over by zombies. Some of the "interviews" hit me hard whenever it involved a child. Made me think of my daughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_Z

by **JJN** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:46 pm

^The Morningstar Saga by the late Z.A. Recht and Day by Day Armageddon by JL Bourne are better than World War Z, IMO. The two books by Recht (Plague of the Dead & Thunder and Ash) were brilliant.

by **RedDawg53** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:24 am

JJN wrote:^The Morningstar Saga by the late Z.A. Recht and Day by Day Armageddon by JL Bourne are better than World War Z, IMO. The two books by Recht (Plague of the Dead & Thunder and Ash) were brilliant.

I gotta check them out. It's going to be a long winter and I'm open to more good zombie books. WWZ has like 100 short stories or "interviews" which is fascinating to me.

by **pup** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:53 am

Going to give this a run and follow it up with Slaughterhouse Five based on this thread.

by **motherscratcher** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:09 am

pup wrote:

Going to give this a run and follow it up with Slaughterhouse Five based on this thread.

In the midst of my knock-down drag'em out with Christmas Ale on friday night I got to talking about books with my wife's friend. These are the 2 that I insisted she read immediately. In that order.

Weird.

by **swerb** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:46 pm

No one could convince me to trudge forward with Under The Dome.

About 100 pages into Clancy's new one. So far, so good.

by **GodHatesClevelandSport** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:06 pm

swerb wrote:
StewieG wrote:I'm really excited for King's new book...it's coming out soon, right?

In about a week ...

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/11-22-63/promo_page/

Just finished it, took about 10 days. That's pretty good for an 840-page book. Grabbed this because it is a time-travel book, not b/c it is Stephen King. Still, ole Steve knows how to turn a tale. Good voice to the characters and it brings small-town living in 1960 alive. I've read reviews where people who lived at that time say King's vision is pretty accurate.

If you're reading it for JFK stuff you'll probably be disappointed. Takes about half the book to get to that part. But King keeps the story moving. It's good enough. Not a great book, but it's a pretty good story.

by **GodHatesClevelandSport** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:09 pm

P.S. Swerb, you might enjoy a book called Without Warning. It's a combo of Under the Dome and Tom Clancy novels. One day the world wakes up and some kind of invisible force field has covered most of the U.S. No one knows where it came from. Touch it and die. Everything inside appears to be gone. All that's left of the U.S. is Hawaii and Alaska and Seattle, plus overseas troops and other Americans abroad. It's a good thriller that gets into political intrigue, spy stuff, and the apocalypse.

by **olecowboy** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:22 pm

interesting.

all the continental u. s. gone.

but if you still gots 1.) the oversea bases - korea, germany, etc. 2.) the aircraft carriers, and most importantly, 3.) the nuclear subs, then

it's a game of RISK that you still win; all you are giving up is all of the Taco Bells and Wal Marts, the way I see it.

by **e0y2e3** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:25 pm

^ showing no compassion for all those Wal Mart greeters

by **swerb** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:25 pm

GodHatesClevelandSport wrote:P.S. Swerb, you might enjoy a book called Without Warning. It's a combo of Under the Dome and Tom Clancy novels. One day the world wakes up and some kind of invisible force field has covered most of the U.S. No one knows where it came from. Touch it and die. Everything inside appears to be gone. All that's left of the U.S. is Hawaii and Alaska and Seattle, plus overseas troops and other Americans abroad. It's a good thriller that gets into political intrigue, spy stuff, and the apocalypse.

Sounds cool. I will have to check it out.

by **olecowboy** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:57 pm

"showing no compassion for all those Wal Mart greeters"

CDT is collateral damage that I am willing to accept.

throw in FUDU as well. . .

by **e0y2e3** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:04 pm

You may be on to something old friend, you just may be.

by **StewieG** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:29 pm

GodHatesClevelandSport wrote:Just finished it, took about 10 days. That's pretty good for an 840-page book. Grabbed this because it is a time-travel book, not b/c it is Stephen King. Still, ole Steve knows how to turn a tale. Good voice to the characters and it brings small-town living in 1960 alive. I've read reviews where people who lived at that time say King's vision is pretty accurate.

If you're reading it for JFK stuff you'll probably be disappointed. Takes about half the book to get to that part. But King keeps the story moving. It's good enough. Not a great book, but it's a pretty good story.

Thanks! I picked it up, but I'm in the middle of another book right now, so I won't start that until probably after the holidays. I'm not specifically reading it for the JFK stuff...I do love a good time travel book, and Stephen King rarely disappoints me.

After I'm done with this, I'll probably check out your other recommendation, Without Warning. The plot of that one sounds interesting as well.

by **swerb** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:54 pm

Just ordered "The Odds" (per Lead Men rec earlier in the thread) and "Without Warning" on Amazon.

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