What are you reading now?

[bowser123]

Just finished The Shining. For 470 pages it was absolutely brilliant, kept me hooked and I preferred it to the brilliant film. One of the best things I've read, so nasty and sinister in places.

The ending though :/
Very, very weak IMO. It turns out the films most famous part, "Here's Johnny!!!" never actually happened in print. Sure he caved doors in, but he used the infamous roquet mallet. The axe seems much more suitable. The other good bit, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" also is a Kubrick fabrication.
What I really didn't like was what Torrence eventually was by the end of the book, and the blindingly obvious near miss after the creatures demise. Really didn't buy that and it was so obvious it hurt.

I wouldn't say it spoilt it, but I'd say the films ending is far superior. The book goes into tremendous detail in painting this huge sinister hotel (Redrum is brilliant) and then maybe lets itself down.


It's the 1st King I've ever read, however I've been told this is the norm for him. Huge build up, slightly poor end. Apparently he's also hugely formulamatic and just keeps to a rigid plan. Is this the case?
Was going to start Dark Tower but if I'm going to be a bit let down then I'm not sure.


Just started "Vernon God Little". Seems quirky and interesting, very Catcher in the Rye though. Hopefully I can have more empathy for Vernon than I did Holden.

[Geoff D]

Death & The Penguin by Andrey Kurkov. Story of an obituary writer & his penguin - so far, so darkly comic...

[kokyu]

Just finished The Da Vinci Code (awesomely plot driven) and The Five People You Meet In Heaven (intrestingly thought provoking). Looking for a copy of The Great Gatsby now.

[Ish]

I've just started The Five People You Meet In Heaven.

[Sigur]

Looking for a copy of The Great Gatsby now.

I left my copy in the airport. I was sitting there reading it, half-way through, then my plane is called so I go there, sit down on plane and realise I've left it in the lounge!

Haven't replaced it yet! GRR!!

[bowser123]

I've just started The Five People You Meet In Heaven.

Yuck. I really got bored that. Just doesn't go anywhere and was very predictable. Still it's short and very easy to read, you won't have wasted too much time by reading it.

[PH]

Just finished The Da Vinci Code (awesomely plot driven)

Just finished reading that myself. Thoroughly enjoyed it, a real page turner.

Just started The Shadows of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

[TheShend]

I was reading Paula Radcliffes autobiography but i got 2/3 the way through and couldn't be arsed finishing it.

I'm reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett and it's funny ^^

[darkangel]

[QUOTE=bowser123]
It's the 1st King I've ever read, however I've been told this is the norm for him. Huge build up, slightly poor end. Apparently he's also hugely formulamatic and just keeps to a rigid plan. Is this the case?
Was going to start Dark Tower but if I'm going to be a bit let down then I'm not sure.
QUOTE]


Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

DONT PUT OFF THE DARK TOWER ON THE BASIS OF ANOTHER ONE OF HIS BOOKS FOR **** SAKE!!!

Stephen King writes in very, VERY diffrent styles depending on the series he wrote. For example I ****ing love the Dark Tower series, The Girl who loved Tom Gordon, some of his short stories and The green mile, but I hated IT, for example.

Take it from me, i'm on the 3rd book of the Dark Tower series, and I know someone who has just finished his last Dark Tower book, and she said the ending could not have been anymore perfect.

Do yourself a favour, and read The Dark Tower series.

[bowser123]

Don't get me wrong, I loved The Shining. Even the slightly weak end didn't spoil what is a fantastically gripping read. I was riveted in places and just couldn't stop reading.

However I've been told he follows a set formula where once you're read one book then the next is very similar. They're still good, just very formalistic.

I thought if this was the case then reading seven books on the same series might grate, especially as I can only seem to find the 1st four in a set and can't seem to buy them individually. Admittedly I've only looked online, just surprised they were not readily available.

[JRMacumber]

You really should do yourself the favor of reading the Dark Tower series. I usually describe it as The Lord Of The Rings meets A Fistful Of Dollars with a dash of Alice In Wonderland. In my opinion it is the only saga written in the past several decades that is truly worthy of the word "Epic." Others try for it, but none manage to capture the grandness and depth of The Dark Tower. Part western, part fantasy, part horror, and part science fiction, it really is remarkable. Plus, if you can get into the ancillary books (The Stand, Eyes Of The Dragon, Insomnia, Desperation, Hearts In Atlantis, The Talisman, Black House, etc.) then the story and universe becomes that much richer. The last book had me in tears, and the ending was perfect. I didn't care for how it finished at first, but the more I thought about it the more it made perfect sense. It really couldn't have ended any other way and be true to itself.

Get it, read it, and thank us later.

[bowser123]

Just finished Vernon God Little by D.B.C Pierre. It's about a Columbine school shooting in a US school in Texas. It's told totally through the eyes of it's protagonist, Vernon.

The book reads very similarly to Catcher in the Rye, thankfully Vernon is a lot nicer than CITR's Holden. I felt much more empathy for Vernon and he wasn't nearly as snivelling and annoying as Salinger's character.

It reads as a satire on the media and it's influence, it also throws up a few ideas that are preposterous but very funny. Certainly worth a read.


Just starting American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellison. This is mostly down to having the book for years and never reading it, and also because watching the film recently has ignited my interest in it.
Do intend to read Dark Tower, just waiting for Play to get it back in stock and them to post my order for the boxset of the 1st four books.

[Olympichero]

I've just started The Five People You Meet In Heaven.

Ditto. Heard good things about it and havent read anything for a while.

[Ian(not Ian)]

In my opinion it is the only saga written in the past several decades that is truly worthy of the word "Epic."

Try the Lyoness 'trilogy' by Jack Vance, if you can find it nowadays. Set in a mythical England pre-King Arthur, complete with Orcs, mermen and talking mirrors to name but a few of its' exquisite characters. Vance captures the essence of European folk tales and intertwines them with truly despicable bad guys and ancient myth and magic. Awesome stuff, every bit the equal of Lord of the Rings.

Probably.

[darkangel]

See the problem with Epic is that ppl more often then not associate it with fantasy.

But the Dark Tower doesnt have orks and all that crap.

I can't really explain it myself, but try it out. I'm half way thourgh the 3rd book at the Moment and its brillent.