Yeah, the stand pwnz... though its the only King book I've read thus far.

I love all his earlier works and don't particularly care for his latest stuff, what he's published in the past 10 or so years.

What made King GREAT, was the possibility of belief that the story could actually happen...Cujo, Firestarter, Night Shift(short stories) and his other early works.
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...the bunched salt-dome that was his knee...

I had to put the book down, down on the table and walk that one off. I get shivers just writing about it now, years later. :thepain3:

Ooohhh! That's the same part that gets me!
I remember my sis and I rented the movie and rewound and replayed the "smackin' of the knee" several times, trying to get our mother to keep her eyes open to WATCH it.

Can't watch that part of the movie. Don't need to since the image is already burned into my brain from the book.

Let's change the subject, shall we?

No-one read 'The Turn of the Screw' ?

I did similar. In our school, we had group reading regularly and then all kids at the same level (not necessarily same grade) would sit together with an adult and read aloud in turn. By the time I was about 8 I was in the top level (9) and remained there for a while before they decided to let me read on my own. That's when I picked the big Jules Verne book out of the closet and read 20.000 Miles Under the Sea and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. That was also the period that I really got into getting five books out of the library every week (that was the maximum allowed amount of books to take) and have them all read before the week had passed. And then I had to wait until the library truck came again (our town's not big enough to have a permanent library so we get a mobile one).

You should check out The Gunslinger and the rest of the Dark Tower books. They are totally different from his other stuff and, IMO, really good - the earlier ones more so than the later, but all worth reading. The Stand actually figures in to the Dark Tower mythology, too.

Yeah, I know some of the background of Dark Tower... the Walkin' Dude.

Man, I wish I could find the Walkin' Dude's pork button somewhere...

LOL. If I ever see one I'll send it to you.

Quite a few of his later books do, too. I'd say his collaboration with Peter Straub on "The Talisman" comes closest in theme to his Dark Tower books.

Of the Dark Tower series, the 4th book has been the only book I've ever mourned finishing. I moped for several days before I could begin another book...and that isn't like me at all! I usually have a book or magazine going at all times, sometimes two books at once.

Agreed, The Talisman is also an excellent book. Black House was also good, but failed to really capture the magic of the first book. Perhaps it was because the world was no longer being seen through the eyes of a 12-year old; Jack was a lot more jaded in the second book.

I *think* that Insomnia is the only non-series book that ever explicitly refers to Roland.

(Trying to not give spoilers here) yeah, what happened near the end of the Majis part definitely explains a *lot* about Roland's character.

Long days and pleasant nights :)

*taps my throat three times with the straightened fingers of my hand*

I love reading. I will usually read a book in a day because I have to know what happens. Not really feasible with larger than 400 page books, but I finish those in two days. I use to read Steven King, loved Misery the best but I only read about half a dozen or so. Usually I read romance novels because they are easy and most of the time don't have sad things in them that would bring down my mood. Books are my escape from the real world and I want it to be a fun escape.

But I do love sci-fi books. Right now I am also reading Heinlein's The Cat That Walks Through Walls. I haven't gotten that far into it, but it seems interesting so far. I really enjoyed Stranger in a Strange Land. It is probably one of my favorites of all.

I would much rather curl up with a book than watch T.V. anyday, but that is just me. :)

Three books that as soon as I was done reading them I started over again right away: LITTLE WOMEN, CANDIDE, THE CORRECTIONS.

All awesome.

I loved Little Women . I remember the scene when they did something to hide the hole in the glove . Can you remind me , Brianna ?

I actually like his earlier work better. Here are some that I have read and enjoyed:

* Orphans of the Sky (1941)
* Puppet Masters, the (1951)
* Rolling Stones, the (1952)
* Star Beast, the (1954)
* Tunnel in the Sky (1955)
* Door Into Summer, the (1956)
* Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)
* Have Space Suit, Will Travel (1958)
* Starship Troopers (1959)
* Glory Road (1963)
* Podkayne of Mars (1963)
* Farnham's Freehold (1964)
* Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, the (1966)
* Time Enough for Love (1973)

I almost got Starship Troopers. At the very last minute I decided to get the other one. That will be the next on my list. Do you have a favorite?

I just visited her grave at Sleepy Hollow Cemetary in Concord, Mass a few weeks ago.
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Thoreau was born in Concord , wasn't he ?

IIRC, she wore one glove and held the hole-y one in her hand. Very resourceful, those March girls.

Ah , thank you for the reminder , Brianna . I have great respect for those who hide holes . Another good one can be found in 'Down and Out in Paris and London' , by Orwell . He refers to hiding the holes in your dark socks by inking the exposed skin .

Not sure, but he certainly is buried there. He is also on Author's Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetary in Concord along with Hawthorne, Ralph Emerson Waldo (did I get his names right? RWE? REW?) and Alcott.
hh

RWE . What a splendid set of writers sleeping together . I shall visit Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to pay them my respects one day . It is perfectly scandalous that I have not yet set foot in America .

Hoof Hearted , would you be kind enough to describe the cemetery so that I can have an imaginary picture of it in my mind ? Thank you .

I'll do you one better, I'll take you there...
Directory to Author's Ridge:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/hd.jpg
View from Author's Ridge:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/gi.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/fp.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/gn.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/gb.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/ga.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/gc.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/gd.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/gf.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...emetary/gg.jpg

Thank you , Hoof Hearted !

Wanted to punish me as a kid, no books... same goes for my three-year-old.
Cutest thing in the world is him "reading" me The Hungry Caterpillar. We need to video tape it, keep putting it off... got to this week.
All of those are good, but my fave is Number of the Beast.

I guess since the last time I posted here (back in the day.... maybe a month or so ago,.... but in internet times = 7 or more years) I have gone through some 37 books. (Nora Roberts "In Death series" and WEB Griffins "Semper Fi" series..... and a couple extras)

Audio Books may not count for much.

However, when read unabridged through a pair of earbuds, ... they are better than drugs, booze, and monoslobic whistling or coversations of cohorts during working hours.

Nothing beats the imagination that a book read or read to.

Even those who don't care for the Harry Potter books should borrow the audio books from the library. Jim Dale's work is so extraordinary that it will be worth your time. I prefer the audio books to the movies, by far.

I always have felt a bit out of place, being the big reader in school. Even my closest friends never read as much as I did, and I always felt like the biggest nerd for "wasting my time" with books, instead of going outside to play with them. However, I'm incredibly thankful that my parents instilled such an important quality in me, and continue to carry on my love of reading, so much so to the point that I've read most of the books I own and nearly every one at my parents house at least twice.

I think it's a shame that so many kids divert themselves away from reading. I've always been told that reading is the best way to escape into another land, become another person, experience new things - and it truly is. Why have an image created for you on a screen when you can use your own imagination to fill in any detail, just the way you want?

Welcome to the Cellar, Brooke. :D
I found if I read the book, I wouldn't feel bad about missing the movie by being....uh....preocupied.

In my experience, the book is always better than the movie. I love movies too, but books are better. ;)

I can't understand how people can not love to read. I've had a passion for books since I could only look at the pictures. My motto in life has been 'never leave home without a book' and it has served me well.

I always get so sad when I finish a good book. The truely great ones leave me unable to start another for a while cos I'm so deeply involved in the world. Robin Hobb's incredible Farseer Trilogy left me wandering around vaguely for a week trying to find something to fill the void it left in my life :sniff:

I find I always expect the movie to be just like the book, not just the way I imagined it but also have every little part in it. I've enjoyed many movie when I think of them as entirely differrent to the book but have rarelly found one I enjoy as much, or more than, the book.

The one movie I can think of that I preferred over the book, was Nicholas Evans' "The Horse Whisperer". I felt the book ending was bogus and if he knew horse behavior, cowboy codes-of-conduct and how a REAL horseman is....his book would have had the movie's ending...which I liked MUCH better.
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I thought so too Hoof Hearted.
I thought the writer just got bored and gave up. It was the worst and most unrealistic ending I ever read.



I do love books. I cross between a couple genres.

Somewhere in the previous 95 replies, I may have already mentioned that Ayn Rand wrote a decent screenplay of her own novel, The Fountainhead, which produced a decent film starring Gary Cooper. Rand managed to avoid the common problem of the film not having enough time to cover the material in the book by fusing characters and events together while maintaining the spirit of the book. She could do that because her characters and events were just stark symbols in the first place.

I read some Rand in college. I don't think I agree with her. Her views and Frued I just can't stomach. That said, I didn't know she did a screenplay or any other books.

I dont agree with a lot that Ayn Rand has to say, but she's a good writer, thats for sure.

I saw that movie. It was pretty funny.

Man, that scene at the end, in the quarry, cutting stone! That was the best.

No doubt about it, Gary Cooper is a comedy genius.

I'm like Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird - I wouldn't have said I loved reading when I was little any more than I would have said I loved breathing.

I used to get quite sulky at lunch when I was 9 or 10 because when we ate in the kitchen we had the television on, but I wasn't allowed to read at the table. TV was monitored and limited in my house, but casual meals were always accompanied by the TV because we children argued less then!

If I had books for Christmas my parents would confiscate them until after Boxing Day, otherwise I would hide away and read them, not taking part in the fmaily celebrations.

I probably read about 3 new books a week, taking them out of the library or buying them 2nd hand from our local charity bookshop at £2 each. I'll also reread about 3 or 4 of the favourites I have in the flat - I don't have an awful lot more to do with my time!

My reading age outstripped my comprehension age as a child - I read Joan Aitken's Midnight Is A Place far too young and it haunted me for years - a dark confusing blur of images.

I also sneaked into my Mum's room and read James Herbert's Domain when I didn't have any new books of my own. The description of the nuclear attack on London distressed and sickened me so much, I felt violated and wished I could open up the top of my head and give my brain a wash.

Of course the resilience of youth meant that within a week I was back reading it chapter by chapter when Mum was at work. She shrieked one evening, reading it in the living room, and carried away I said, "Oh have you got to the bit where the arm is chopped off?" Boy was I in trouble.

Oh and to answer a previous question - I have read The Turn of the Screw. It just didn't touch me that much. In fact I've tried it twice - I'm afraid it's just not for me.

And then there are all those "serious pieces of literature" that don't resonate with you, or are largely misadvertised. Fear Of Flying is not an erotic novel. It is a neurotic novel, with a great many New York City idiots in it.