What are you reading the week of July 22, 2012?

[DUgosh]

The Flower Arranger At All Saints by Lis Howell - Norbridge Chronicles book#1

2012 book #107

[seabeyond]

1. a susan mallery series that is fun. fools gold.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Re-reading Stephen King's "The Stand".

I read it when it first came out, so it has been a long time. I just started, so if will be some time before I finish this one. It is not a short novel.

[Little Star]

3. Yikes! That's an oldie but a goodie!!!....

Cujo was my favorite though! Enjoy! Again! lol

[Curmudgeoness]

4. I liked a lot of the old King novels

but my favorite was Salem's Lot. The problem with re-reading that one is knowing too much. I was so creeped out the first time around and remember it was halfway through the book before you found out what was going on. But I know now.

I suppose I know "The Stand" too, but there is so much that I don't remember anymore. I just know that it was intense. And I am in the mood for intense.

Hope all is well with you.

[fadedrose]

10. I like your signature.

It would work around my house...

[Curmudgeoness]

13. Oh, I guarantee that it works around here too. nt

[mvccd1000]

11. I really liked the book Salem's Lot

But I found the short story to be even creepier. I think it was published in "Night Shift" or one of the other early short story anthologies... he later expanded it into a full novel.

The part where the Sheriff noticed the little girl wasn't leaving footprints was one of the scariest moments in fiction for me.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. that's one to really dive into - I've read it three times total - for me it is a comfort read!

I actually really loved Duma Key for recent Kings that I recommend.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. A comfort read???

As I remember it, the story was really disturbing to me. We will see how it plays out this time.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. oh, very disturbing indeed - comfort meaning I love the story, really dive in, and

is a favorite to reread on occasion....not comfort taken literally re the story! Randall Flagg is one of his creepiest, most awful, malevolent characters.

[AngryOldDem]

24. I need to reread "Duma Key".

Almost every King book is like an old friend to me. I reread almost everything of his now and again. I used to have an almost complete set of his paperbacks, but alas, they disappeared in one of my many moves.

Have you read "Under The Dome"?

[AngryOldDem]

22. Are you reading the uncut version?

If so, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.

[Curmudgeoness]

26. Sadly, no.

This is my book from when it first came out. I was tempted to buy that one when it came out, but didn't....and I forgot that they had release it. Damn.

[AngryOldDem]

27. Actually, I enjoyed the first version better.

It is better paced, at least from where I sit. The uncut version has a lot of elements that don't really add much to the story (but others may disagree).

I had to read "The Stand" for a college English class, and I could not put it down. I remember rigging up my desk lamp so that it shone on my bed so I could continue to read after my roommates had gone to sleep. It is one of King's best, bar none.

[mvccd1000]

28. Thanks for the info...

I had always considered going back to read the uncut version, but that's a lot to tackle, especially after reading the first one (25 years ago).

I may try it if I feel the need to reread the book, but now I won't waste the money just to find out if there's anything compelling in the left out parts. (Which is probably why there were left out, no?)

[Curmudgeoness]

30. Actually, the parts left out were for another reason.

There is a preface to the uncut version where King explains that the publishers did a mathematical formula to determine how many pages he could have to keep the cost of the book where they wanted it. They asked if he wanted to do the cuts or should they. He chose to do it himself but still felt that it left some characters more shallow than he had wanted. He did say that there was one part that he did leave out of this version too because it did seem to go on too long.

So you can see that I visited the library and got the uncut version today.

[AngryOldDem]

35. Correct.

That said, I think the book's pacing really suffered in the uncut version. Not to disagree with a master, but...

I would really like to find an original version of the book. I did have a copy (several paperback copies of King's works, for that matter) that somehow vanished.

[Curmudgeoness]

36. I won't give up my original copy, but

if I were looking for one, I would make sure to hit all the library used book sales or used book stores. We have a lot of them around here. I am not all that far with the uncut version, but so far, I don't see anything too enlightening about the additional chapters. I am reading uncut and using the original to know when it is something that was not there before. It has been so long since I read it that I probably would not remember if a particular chapter was in the original or not.

It has been over 30 years since I read this book, and the minute I saw the name "Randall Flagg", I shuddered.

[AngryOldDem]

37. This conversation has prompted me to give the uncut version another try.

Sometimes that happens...my feelings about a book will change on a subsequent read.

To me, there was just too much unnecessary detail that did not add to the story.

It will be awhile before I get to it, though...I'm finishing up one book and have two others to go.

[Curmudgeoness]

29. Dang it.

You put the idea in my mind, and I checked to see if the library had the uncut version. They did, so I went and got it. I haven't gotten that far yet, so I will skim the beginning to see if any of it is new, then I will read it this way.....sigh, this will take me forever to get through, but it is a good idea.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. working my way through 1Q84 (and enjoying it).

[fadedrose]

9. AGATHA RAISIN AND THE LOVE FROM HELL (2001) by M. C. Beaton

Last edited Sun Jul 22, 2012, 01:38 PM - Edit history (1)

This is the 11th of the series, which I think started out kind of slow but improves with each new book. Beaton, like no other author, writes what real women over 40 think about. Wouldn't hurt a man to read these books to better understand, if they wanted to, what we think about, married or single. It ain't easy, guys.

She has Agatha thinking about all the things wrong with her appearance, and how sad/mad she feels when someone makes a crack about her being "old," the lengths she goes thru to look younger to get a man, to be more "refined" - and Beaton does it so skillfully. I've never seen anything quite like Beaton writing about Agatha Raisin.

If you start, remember I warned you that it starts slow. At some point you will be hooked...It's the kind of book that's good after an exceptionally long, sad, or scary book.


http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/B_Authors/Beaton_M-C.html

DUgosh - did I nail it?

Book 61

[bemildred]

12. "2312" -- KSR nt

[bemildred]

19. "Galileo's Dream" -- KSR nt

[bemildred]

21. "Cannibals and Kings" -- Marvin Harris nt

[pscot]

14. The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan

I was rummaging my bookshelves and ran across this. I read it years ago. Sagan won a Pulitzer for this one, and it just radiates charma and erudition. He was a national phenom. There hasn't been anyone like him since. He made the country a better place.

[demguy_5692]

15. books i'm reading this week

1984
Catcher in the Rye
Wiseguy

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. Origins/Neil DeGrasse Tyson

I just finished the chapter on anti-matter . Very interesting.

[sinkingfeeling]

17. Ninth in the Elizabeth Peter's series: "Seeing a Large Cat".

[Ineeda]

18. Re-reading Barbara Kingsolver's

Small Wonder, a book of essays. Sadly, in the decade since it was published, none of the things of concern that she writes about have improved, (violence in America, environmental issues, etc.) so it hits close to home for this Democrat! Anyway, she's a terrific writer of novels and essays. I also loved High Tide in Tucson, another volume of essays, pub. 1995.

[JitterbugPerfume]

25. she has a new book coming out in Nov.

I have it on pre order at Amazon (Barbara Kingsolver)

[elfin]

20. Three Seconds

By Roslund and Hellstrom - another Nordic thriller. excellent so far.

[matt819]

31. I couldn't get into that one

How far are you into it? I stopped around p. 50. I'll try again at some point.

[elfin]

38. Had to stick with it

Confusing for a while. Kept putting it down and then getting back into it. Then it really picked up, with an amazing pace and many twists.

Sorry for the late reply - keep forgetting to check my posts.

[AngryOldDem]

23. "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier

Just finished "The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln" by Stephen L. Carter. I highly recommend it. Fast-paced, well-crafted mystery, with some interesting tweaks with the historical record.

I really like Chevalier's work, too. I have also read "The Virgin Blue" and "Girl With a Pearl Earring" -- she has such an elegant and understated style of writing.

[matt819]

32. This week

Just finished listening to One Perfect Shot, by Steven F. Havill. I've written about his books before. Not great literature, but an enjoyable series that I'm going to miss when I'm done (or Havill is).

Now listening to Gone Missing by Linda Castillo, 4th in the series about a small time police chief in Ohio, former Amish. Pretty good police procedurals, with the Amish twist.

Reading the latest (in Kindle) by Alafair Burke in her Ellie Hatcher series, Never Tell. Not my favorite in the series, but still a page turner.

And, finally, the latest from Meg Gardiner, and the only paper book I'm reading this week, Ransom River. I prefer the Jo Beckett novels, but this is also a bit of a page turner. I'm tempted to call the story far-fetched, but then I'd probably learn that it was based on a true story. (But it really is far-fetched.) Dysfunctional families, a 30-year-old armored car robbery, Serbian bad guys, corrupt police. What can go wrong?

[fadedrose]

33. THE FEAR ARTIST (2012) by Timothy Hallinan

Didn't care for this as much as the previous "Poke Rafferty" books in the series which take place in Thailand. Too much going back to Viet Nam and torture descriptions make me too sad. Skipped thru a lot of the book.

The other books in the series & a review are here:

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/H_Authors/Hallinan_Timothy.htm

Book 62 of 2012

[fadedrose]

34. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT (1969) by Philip Roth

Reading this off and on - it's not a "real" story book so I pick it up off and on. I would probably like it better if the library copy I'm using wasn't so old and yellowed...

I often feel like I'm eavesdropping on that family's private business....

Book 63