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Rob Shalda
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Joined: 25 February 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 419
Posted: 11 June 2013 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I just picked up Stephen Kings Joyland this week. This is a departure from his typical style and was written as a crime novel. It does have a supernatural theme running through it. I have to say this is one of the best King books I have read in many years. Highly recommended for King fans.
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Wallace Sellars
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Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17659
Posted: 12 June 2013 at 4:57am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

BUDDY DOES JERSEY
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Andrew Hess
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9842
Posted: 18 June 2013 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

It's got fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...but I've seen the movie often enough that it felt like the screen play with a lot of unnecessary bits and some flubbed lines. (Yes, I know the book came first.) 

Fun, nonetheless, tho.
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Andrew Hess
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9842
Posted: 18 June 2013 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Rob -

What are some other King books you really like?

I was a big fan way back in the 70s and 80s, but gave up on him with Insomnia. I've tried a few highly recommended King books since, but they come up wanting IMO. 

BUT I *really* want to like his recent books!
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Rob Shalda
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Joined: 25 February 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 419
Posted: 19 June 2013 at 12:42am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Andrew, Like yourself I was a big King fan back in the 70's and 80's. I really felt that King lost touch after The Talisman that he co-wrote with Peter Straub. It really seemed to me like he was writing one cheesy movie script after another,instead of the classic stuff that came beforehand. I really enjoyed The Dark Tower series,although there were some sleeper moments in a few books. A few recent lesser known stories that King has written,that I have enjoyed were "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and "Blockade Billy". Both of these had a strong baseball theme,as King is a huge Red Sox fan. "Duma Key" and "11/22/63" are both exceptional books as well. King seemed to be going back to his roots with those two. You may also want to check out "Throttle" and "In The Tall Grass". Both are rather short stories co-written with King's son Joe Hill. I found them fun to read.

I'm really looking forward to "Doctor Sleep",The sequel to "The Shining" due out in October.

If you really like the early work's from King, You may want to pick up the early stuff from Peter Straub and Robert R McCammon, If you have'nt done so already that is. Another King-ish series I have really enjoyed is "The Passage" Trilogy by Justin Cronin. Waiting for the third installment is killing me!

Thanks goodness his son inherited his talent. Right now he is beating the old man hands down. His short story collection "20th Century Ghosts" is incredible!



Edited by Rob Shalda on 19 June 2013 at 12:43am
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Peter Martin
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Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 15729
Posted: 19 June 2013 at 4:50am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

I finally finished This Immortal by Zelazny (bit disappointing compare to the other works of his that I've read) and I've now moved on to Young Sherlock Holmes: Red Leech by Andrew Lane.
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John Popa
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Joined: 20 March 2008
Posts: 4360
Posted: 19 June 2013 at 5:51am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I really enjoyed "Joyland" as well and haven't enjoyed much of King's work in a long time.

I'm reading "Monster Hunter International" by Larry Correia.  Unfortunately, it's pretty much laughably bad.  The protagonist is just nerd wish fulfillment (overweight, shy kid who's also DEADLY and AWESOME AT EVERYTHING,) the rest of the characters are cardboard at best, (the prettiest girl in the world who's also super awesome at everything because, you know, they're really soul mates, her boyfriend who's dead sexy but, of course, kind of a douche, the tough but caring military vets, etc ...)  I just finished an action scene that was, I'm not kidding, 50 pages long, of just guys shooting at zombies and vampires and wights. Oh, the book also gets into maor gun fetishism, with every weapon being described to the most minute and irrelevant detail, just so the writer can show off his gun wisdom.  (I don't have anything against guns, per se, but just tell me it's a shotgun, I don't need to know what year it was made, what kind of grease was used on it, etc ...)

The series of books came pretty well recommended to me but I can't pass along the endorsement at this point.  I'll finish the first one because I'm obsessive that way.  And I am enjoying a laugh at its expense.



Edited by John Popa on 19 June 2013 at 5:53am
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David Ferguson
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Joined: 17 March 2007
Location: Ireland
Posts: 6782
Posted: 19 June 2013 at 6:39am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

"The Gonzo Papers" - Hunter S. Thompson. Have nearly finished vol. 1 "The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time". I love his writing style. I wish I'd discovered his work years ago. 
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Rob Shalda
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Joined: 25 February 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 419
Posted: 19 June 2013 at 9:14am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

I just started reading Neil Gaiman's "Ocean At The End Of The Lane" yesterday. This is one of Gaiman's best to date. It really captured my interest from page one,and I like where it's going.

Edited by Rob Shalda on 19 June 2013 at 9:15am
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David Ferguson
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Joined: 17 March 2007
Location: Ireland
Posts: 6782
Posted: 28 June 2013 at 5:41am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Finished Vol. 1 of "The Gonzo Papers". Taking a break and reading "The Rum Diary" also by Thompson. Having seen the film, I know the plot but, thanks to my terrible memory, I am still enjoying it a lot. It has captured my attention (I'm reading it every night). The film is pretty much faithful to it (I'm remembering it as I go along).
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Andrew Hess
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9842
Posted: 30 June 2013 at 11:31am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

"The Green Trap" by Ben Bova, read by Stefan Rudnicki

A microbiologist is killed, and his brother is left to pick up the pieces as to why his work on cyanobacteria might be have led industrialists or Middle East oil concerns to murder.

A fun modern-day thriller based at least in part on actual science (given Bova's credentials as both an SF and science fact writer/editor), it ultimately fails because a lot of the cloak-and-dagger stuff relies on email working in a completely different way than it actually does. As the plot progressed I so hoped there was something I wasn't understanding, or that the characters tripping over each other was because only one of them didn't understand, but no. 
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Carmen Bernardo
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Joined: 08 August 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 3666
Posted: 30 June 2013 at 4:26pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

   "Tales To Astonish" by Ronin Ro.  It's a biography of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, their role in the evolution of the comicbook industry, and the origins of Marvel's classic characters.  Quite a bit in there that I was barely aware of with Jack that really comes out in detail, and the "story behind the story" for characters like Ka-Zar and the Submariner tickles me quite  a bit.  You could see parallels between comics in the Depression era and today's webcomics.
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