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Am 9/10's of the way through the Stand. Its definately King's Masterpeice. Its phenominal, even some parts were ruined by that crappy made for TV movie of my youth (damn my great memory!). Some of his best characters of all here.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I really liked "It" by Stephen King as well too. Even though they both start out a little slow and had trouble visualizing both endings... still both are great books.
I recently read Magician by Raymond Feist. It was a very well crafted story indeed and extremely enjoyable read for 660 of about 680 pages. He lost me for about 20 pages in the middle where he started talking about the history of one world. Its important to the plot and has to be there, but I found my mind wandering and wanting to get back to other peoples' stories.
Overall I'd probably compare this book with George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones but with more magic involved. The book gets a strong A from me. Very enjoyable.
-------------------- Something Filthy!
From: NOVA by way of NOIN | Registered: Jul 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
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quote:Originally posted by minesurfer: I recently read Magician by Raymond Feist. It was a very well crafted story indeed and extremely enjoyable read for 660 of about 680 pages. He lost me for about 20 pages in the middle where he started talking about the history of one world. Its important to the plot and has to be there, but I found my mind wandering and wanting to get back to other peoples' stories.
That's my favorite book, ever. (Although Zelazny's Lord of Light comes close.)
If you liked Magician, check out Feist's Daughter of Empire / Servant of Empire / Mistress of Empire trilogy co-written with Janny Wurts, based on the other world of Kelewan (on the other side of the rift). Very, very cool books. (The sequels to the Magician books, not so much. They aren't bad, but the main characters have reached the point where there isn't as much room for drama by the end of Magician.)
Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by minesurfer: I really liked "It" by Stephen King as well too.
Y'know, that was a great book, but there's always been one thing about it that bothered me. Remember when as kids when they all got hopelessly lost after destroying the monster? Remember what they all did to get back their focus?
I know it was handled fairly tastefully, and you can argue it played into the underlying theme of growing up...but it just seemed so wrong.
As much as I enjoyed that book, I'm not sure I'll ever reread it because of that scene. It disturbed me more than any of King's graphic horror scenes in his books. Sadly, I don't think it was supposed to.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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It has been a long time (near 15 years or so) since I read that book but I can only think that you are talking about them "discussing" their problem as a "group". That fell into the me having trouble visualizing the ending... being the description of the actual creature or the action leading directly to its downfall in either setting.
It really didn't disturb me all that much... I find the foot scene in Misery to be much more disturbing. ------------------------------------------------
I have Feist's Daughter of Empire / Servant of Empire / Mistress of Empire trilogy on my list of "to gets" now that I've made it through Magician. I'll probably read them within the next year or so.
-------------------- Something Filthy!
From: NOVA by way of NOIN | Registered: Jul 2003
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I am re-reading Piers Anthony's Incarnation of Immortality series. Finishing up "On a Pale Horse" right now. I'm just planning on reading the first five.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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Looks like slow reading through the holidays for the Legion World community...
Let's see... since my last post I've read three books. Stinger by Robert McCammon, Halls of Stormweather by Various, and Shadow's Witness by Paul Kemp.
Stinger is a scifi/horror type tale about an alien fugitive crashing in a sleepy, racially divided, Texas border town. The alien is of course being tracked by another alien. Now... I like McCammon and I like aliens and bounty hunters and horror too. But I thought this book worked a lot better when McCammon was focussed on the inhabitants of the town. Overall I'd give it a weak B-. Plenty of things to like in this book, but plenty more that could have been fixed... or left out all together.
Stormweather and Shadow's Witness are Forgotten Realms' novels. Stormweather is a collection of seven short stories centered around members or servants of a well to do merchant family in an important city. Each story lasts about 50 pages or so and I'd say that I enjoyed every one, but two lagged behind the others. Each member gets a follow up book and Witness was the follow up book for the butler with the mysterious past, Erevis Cale.
Not bad books, but not great either. I'd give them both a hearty B.
-------------------- Something Filthy!
From: NOVA by way of NOIN | Registered: Jul 2003
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I'm reading "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman. It's a rather literary novel about superheroes and super villains. The villain, Dr. Impossible, tells half the story, while Fatale, the cyborg superhero, tells the other half. It's quite insightful with it's observations about the mundane aspects of superhero life that the comics gloss over. And, while Fatale seems nice, the true (anti)hero is Dr. Impossible.
Registered: Aug 2003
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I'm just about finished with Eternity by Greg Bear (part of a 3 book series, I've recently read the other 2 and accidentally discovered this one in the bookstore) Pretty amazing books. Speculative fiction at it's best. Before that, I read his Forge of God and the sequel Anvil of Stars also really good stuff and either could be read independently. Before that I devoured Johnathan Lethem's fortress of Solitude I can not recommend this book enough . Next it will be Ringworld's Children. I loved the Ringworld series, re-read them a couplse time and always wished for more. I had no idea this book existed so I'm pretty excited about it. I'm going to have to get away from so much sci-fi soon and read a fiction novel or some non-fiction maybe something political.
-------------------- Is that a moon?
From: Portland, OR | Registered: Aug 2006
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I'm still working through the Incarnation series. On "With a Tangled Skein" right now.
But today I was flipping through my copy of "Everything You Always Wanted to KNow About Sex * *But were afraid to ask" BY David Reuben M.D. This book is a hott and a half. It was the first Sex book for the general public. It was written in 1969. It is written in a question and answer format. I want to share the entry for gay bars with you.
All homosexuals don't find their partners on the street, do they?
For the average homosexual there are not too many other alternatives. The usual heterosexual social situations just don't exist for them. Church meetings, singles groups, blind dates, family introductions, are exclusively heterosexual territory. Not even the ultimate in commercialized sex, computer dating, has found a way to cash in on homosexuals.
The one refuge for every homosexual is the gay bar. These establishments cater exclusively to a homosexual clientele and are often operated by homosexuals. They are profitable because they corner the market - no gay guy can relax in a straight joint.
The first visit to a gay bar is quite an experience. Superficially, it seems like any other cocktail lounge. Men and women sit at the bar and mingle freely at booths and tables. There is the usual background of conversation with male and female voices balancing each other. Then it slowly begins to sink in - the entire room is filled with men!
The feminine whispers, the high-pitched laughter, the soft sighs, are men's voices. The cocktail dresses, the tight black outfits, are worn by men. Even the trim, middle-aged matron entering the ladies room (one sign says "Queens") is a man.
The sexy babe in the tight miniskirt owes her womanhood to two pounds of foam padding, a pound of makeup, and a lot of wishful thinking. In the daytime "she" parks cars.
In the corner booth, a senior citizen in a Nehru outfit is sitting with three young men. They have a hard glossy look; they mean business. Old homosexuals who have lost their charm but not their money attract a swarm of male prostitutes who will put up with anything if the price is right. Sometimes an aging queen needs, and is willing to pay for, two or three of them to do what one could do twenty years ago.
At another table a woman - no, a man, sits glumly. He is a closet queen. This is his first time out in drag and he is nervous. He has spent hours putting on his makeup; every hair on his blond wig is sprayed carefully in place. His padded breasts strain against his tight silk blouse. A sinister-looking butch in tight suede pants and a studded belt swaggers over and drops into the chair opposite him. "How about a drink, baby?"
The queen nods her acquiescence. Homosexual romance begins to blossom. A pastry-chef has just picked up a used-car salesman.
Homosexuals live in their own world, with their own substitute for woman, and even their own language.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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Finished Lord of the Flies. You know the first 3/4 of the book I was not into it at all. I remember liking it much more as a teenager. So EDE was right about that. Lots of social commentary and I'm not sure I agree with it all. (though I certainly agree with some)
Started reading a Tale of Two Cities. You know I was worried about reading an old book like this. But the language isn't bad. Infact Dickens is pretty entertaining.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
The thing about Lord of the Flies is that the whole pessimistic view of human nature (we're all just one step from becoming brutal savages) is the kind of thing that's sort of appealing when you're a teenager or in college, but the older I get the more it just seems kind of immature or simplistic.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Jorg, can't wait to hear what you think about "Tale of Two Cities". I loved that book when I read it (I was a teenager).
I think the next book I'll be reading when I complete the Dark Tower series is Stephen King's Salem's Lot, since I'm on a King kick. I've heard great things about it.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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