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This week I have been reading
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so much of his work has been adapted for films and TV series .. The Shining, Green Mile and of Course 'Shawshank' are perhaps amongst the best known .. there are a LOT moreRufus is a dogs name said:One of my favourite books of all time is Stephen King's '11/22/63' which is about a time traveller who attempts to prevent the assassination of JFK. 750+ pages but so, so good.
There was also a mini-series based on the book, starring James Franco, which was excellent4 -
good choicecafc4life said:
Thanks for that! I did think Mr Mercedes sounds good so maybe I’ll give that a go next.Lincsaddick said:
oooh .. long story .. I'll keep it as brief as possible .. his career has various 'themes' throughout his life .. first it was 'horror' and quasi 'science fiction' try 'Firestarter' or the very long 'The Stand' for starters .. he's a great short story writer (try 'Hearts in Atlantis' as a taster) and the collection which includes 'Rita Hayworth and The SHAWSHANK Redemption, the title of the collection escapes me.. and lately he's into crime fiction 'Mr Mercedes' and the following few, based around the 'Finders Keepers' detective agency .. 'Billy Summers' a very recent book is terrific apart from a strange endingcafc4life said:
Got any recommendations @Lincsaddick?Lincsaddick said:
you have missed out on one of the all time great novelists of any era .. take a look at the long list of his writings contained in the 'introductory' pages of Fairy Tale or on Wikipedia .. not all works of art or genius, but many many are .. enjoycafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.
google 'Apt Pupil' and 'The Mist' excellent short stories .. I could go on .. Amazon is a good source of reasonably priced 2nd hand (or new of course) King books, he is VERY popular .. I must have 20 of his books at least dating from 1970s to now and I reread them quite often, always finding new bits and pieces .. he's a sports and music fan, so lots of references to them, he's VERY 'American' and can sometimes be a bit long winded, but patience will be rewarded
He went through a very bad time in the 80s with booze and dope and the books in that period are i m o not all that, e.g. 'The Tommy Knockers'; ... last resort read his wiki profile which will confuse you even more .. Stephen King - Wikipedia .. I'm sure you'll find a lot to enjoy, if you come across one of his duds, just try another one .. good reading2 -
Realised I hadn't read my Stephen King, so got a few cheap paperbacks... The Shining, Doctor Sleep and Cujo... should keep me entertained for a while.2
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all very different .. except for the suspenseMcBobbin said:Realised I hadn't read my Stephen King, so got a few cheap paperbacks... The Shining, Doctor Sleep and Cujo... should keep me entertained for a while.
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Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?cafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.1 -
not yet, it's on the 'unread' shelf awaiting my attention .. I have been waylaid by a series of good non fictions .. did you enjoy 'Fairy Tale' ?..someone told me the ending was a bit iffycafc4life said:
Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?cafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.0 -
Sweet Heart - Peter James. Not a Grace novel - one of his supernatural thrillers, and a pretty good one as it goes. Quite scary in places and if you have ever had dela vu, vaguely plausible.1
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I love doggies so Cujo sounds rather jolly!Lincsaddick said:
all very different .. except for the suspenseMcBobbin said:Realised I hadn't read my Stephen King, so got a few cheap paperbacks... The Shining, Doctor Sleep and Cujo... should keep me entertained for a while.3 -
come back to me when you have read it. iffy is not the wordLincsaddick said:
not yet, it's on the 'unread' shelf awaiting my attention .. I have been waylaid by a series of good non fictions .. did you enjoy 'Fairy Tale' ?..someone told me the ending was a bit iffycafc4life said:
Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?cafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.0 -
will do .. ol Steve is well into his 70s now and I fear his powers are perhaps waning especially in his more supernatural novels ? .. I suspect that when deadlines approach and there is a need to finish up, he (and quite a few other very talented authors i m o) just rush the denouement (one of my favourite words lol) to meet their printers' and publishers' schedules, if that is the case it's a pity, though a 2000 page book would take a LOT of concentration especially if the ending was still very iffycafc4life said:
come back to me when you have read it. iffy is not the wordLincsaddick said:
not yet, it's on the 'unread' shelf awaiting my attention .. I have been waylaid by a series of good non fictions .. did you enjoy 'Fairy Tale' ?..someone told me the ending was a bit iffycafc4life said:
Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?cafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.0 - Sponsored links:
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Second half of the book is even more tragic. One of the few footballing biographies that has left a mark on me. The other obvious one that springs to mind if Paul McGrath's confessional. Both make for very dark reading however,North Lower Neil said:I'm about halfway through A Life Too Short, Ronald Reng's book on Robert Enke.
Heartbreaking knowing what the whole thing is leading to.0 -
Slaughterhouse-five deserves it's reputation as a modern classic. A gem of a book that only Vonnegut could conceive and pull off. Really enjoyable short read.IdleHans said:Halfway through Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Little Miss Idle's boyfriend recommended him and although I know the name I've never read anything by him until now. It's a slim volume but I'm enjoying it a lot and will look out for more of his once my current stack of christmas books has diminished a bit.2 -
I have read a lot of his but not for a while .. S/House 5 is about his experiences of the Dresden firebombing, where he was a POW and he, fellow prisoners and the German guards huddled together in the basement of an abattoir, the S/House 5 of the title .. very harrowing book i m o, but he writes so matter of factly .. remarkableMaking_all_the_noise said:
Slaughterhouse-five deserves it's reputation as a modern classic. A gem of a book that only Vonnegut could conceive and pull off. Really enjoyable short read.IdleHans said:Halfway through Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Little Miss Idle's boyfriend recommended him and although I know the name I've never read anything by him until now. It's a slim volume but I'm enjoying it a lot and will look out for more of his once my current stack of christmas books has diminished a bit.1 -
I read Victor Gregg's Dresden: A Survivor's story.Lincsaddick said:
I have read a lot of his but not for a while .. S/House 5 is about his experiences of the Dresden firebombing, where he was a POW and he, fellow prisoners and the German guards huddled together in the basement of an abattoir, the S/House 5 of the title .. very harrowing book i m o, but he writes so matter of factly .. remarkableMaking_all_the_noise said:
Slaughterhouse-five deserves it's reputation as a modern classic. A gem of a book that only Vonnegut could conceive and pull off. Really enjoyable short read.IdleHans said:Halfway through Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Little Miss Idle's boyfriend recommended him and although I know the name I've never read anything by him until now. It's a slim volume but I'm enjoying it a lot and will look out for more of his once my current stack of christmas books has diminished a bit.
Gregg spent the entire week in Feb 45 above ground. His story is also harrowing. He seemed to think that the bombs were delivered in such a way to cause the effects of a nuclear strike with high speed winds rushing in to fan the flames and cause a mushroom effect. Absolutely horrific. He says he witnessed a war crime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vNT7012BJg
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I stopped reading at some point and figured I should get back into it. Can anyone recommend a book that will really immerse me and get me back into reading?0
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John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men worked for me.Foxycafc said:I stopped reading at some point and figured I should get back into it. Can anyone recommend a book that will really immerse me and get me back into reading?
I'd reached middle age before I even read a book. I've never been without one since I read that novella. (I draw a pension now
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Unfortunately already read this in Year 8 English, although it wouldnt hurt to read it again. Brilliant book.Raith_C_Chattonell said:
John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men worked for me.Foxycafc said:I stopped reading at some point and figured I should get back into it. Can anyone recommend a book that will really immerse me and get me back into reading?
I'd reached middle age before I even read a book. I've never been without one since I read that novella. (I draw a pension now ) 0 -
James Swallow - Nomad is very good. First in a series of 6 books. Ive got the last on my 'to read' pile but I highly recommend this as a start.Foxycafc said:I stopped reading at some point and figured I should get back into it. Can anyone recommend a book that will really immerse me and get me back into reading?0 -
Something like an Ian Ranking or a Val McDermid, probably any really. Nothing beats a good crime thriller.Foxycafc said:I stopped reading at some point and figured I should get back into it. Can anyone recommend a book that will really immerse me and get me back into reading?2 - Sponsored links:
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You could always go for some of the better YA stuff as a bitesize route back into reading - Hunger Games, Lord of the Flies.Foxycafc said:I stopped reading at some point and figured I should get back into it. Can anyone recommend a book that will really immerse me and get me back into reading?
The Book Thief is brilliant and that's YA-ish.
Matt Haig has some decent concept easy reading stuff, How to Stop Time, The Humans.
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Agree that you're best starting with a gripping novella rather than a chunky tome. Spy Who Came in From the Cold is a pretty gripping classic. Another short crime book is the Collini Case which is hard to put down.Foxycafc said:I stopped reading at some point and figured I should get back into it. Can anyone recommend a book that will really immerse me and get me back into reading?
If you like non-fiction, some of the most gripping reads I got into were 'Into Thin Air' and 'Touching the Void' but it depends what interests you.0 -
war crime ? .. possibly .. personally I believe that if the Germans had had the technology and the heavy bombers available to the UK/USA later in the war, London, Coventry, Plymouth etc etc along with Warsaw and Rotterdam in 1939 and the early 1940s would have suffered the same fate as Dresden and many other German cities .. the Germans set the template by obliterating the small Basque city of Guernica, terror bombing on behalf of the Spanish fascists .. as the cliché goes .. as the Germans sowed, so they reaped their rewards .. anyway, I digress from recent Good BooksRaith_C_Chattonell said:
I read Victor Gregg's Dresden: A Survivor's story.Lincsaddick said:
I have read a lot of his but not for a while .. S/House 5 is about his experiences of the Dresden firebombing, where he was a POW and he, fellow prisoners and the German guards huddled together in the basement of an abattoir, the S/House 5 of the title .. very harrowing book i m o, but he writes so matter of factly .. remarkableMaking_all_the_noise said:
Slaughterhouse-five deserves it's reputation as a modern classic. A gem of a book that only Vonnegut could conceive and pull off. Really enjoyable short read.IdleHans said:Halfway through Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Little Miss Idle's boyfriend recommended him and although I know the name I've never read anything by him until now. It's a slim volume but I'm enjoying it a lot and will look out for more of his once my current stack of christmas books has diminished a bit.
Gregg spent the entire week in Feb 45 above ground. His story is also harrowing. He seemed to think that the bombs were delivered in such a way to cause the effects of a nuclear strike with high speed winds rushing in to fan the flames and cause a mushroom effect. Absolutely horrific. He says he witnessed a war crime.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vNT7012BJg0 -
having read this again, perhaps you'd do better reading some of his early work, especially the short stories or (e.g.) novels like 'Firestarter' or 'The Shining' .. i m o his earlier work is much more obviously 'his' meaning very original and unusual .. anyway enough of Stevie K for now lolcafc4life said:
come back to me when you have read it. iffy is not the wordLincsaddick said:
not yet, it's on the 'unread' shelf awaiting my attention .. I have been waylaid by a series of good non fictions .. did you enjoy 'Fairy Tale' ?..someone told me the ending was a bit iffycafc4life said:
Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?cafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.1 -
oh dont get me wrong, i enjoyed it. Its just bizarreLincsaddick said:
having read this again, perhaps you'd do better reading some of his early work, especially the short stories or (e.g.) novels like 'Firestarter' or 'The Shining' .. i m o his earlier work is much more obviously 'his' meaning very original and unusual .. anyway enough of Stevie K for now lolcafc4life said:
come back to me when you have read it. iffy is not the wordLincsaddick said:
not yet, it's on the 'unread' shelf awaiting my attention .. I have been waylaid by a series of good non fictions .. did you enjoy 'Fairy Tale' ?..someone told me the ending was a bit iffycafc4life said:
Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?cafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.1 -
thaaaatttts Steviecafc4life said:
oh dont get me wrong, i enjoyed it. Its just bizarreLincsaddick said:
having read this again, perhaps you'd do better reading some of his early work, especially the short stories or (e.g.) novels like 'Firestarter' or 'The Shining' .. i m o his earlier work is much more obviously 'his' meaning very original and unusual .. anyway enough of Stevie K for now lolcafc4life said:
come back to me when you have read it. iffy is not the wordLincsaddick said:
not yet, it's on the 'unread' shelf awaiting my attention .. I have been waylaid by a series of good non fictions .. did you enjoy 'Fairy Tale' ?..someone told me the ending was a bit iffycafc4life said:
Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?cafc4life said:im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.
.. bizarre is often his middle name 1 -
Don't want to digress further, but a war crime is a war crime, no matter what 'team' or side of the war committed it.Lincsaddick said:
war crime ? .. possibly .. personally I believe that if the Germans had had the technology and the heavy bombers available to the UK/USA later in the war, London, Coventry, Plymouth etc etc along with Warsaw and Rotterdam in 1939 and the early 1940s would have suffered the same fate as Dresden and many other German cities .. the Germans set the template by obliterating the small Basque city of Guernica, terror bombing on behalf of the Spanish fascists .. as the cliché goes .. as the Germans sowed, so they reaped their rewards .. anyway, I digress from recent Good BooksRaith_C_Chattonell said:
I read Victor Gregg's Dresden: A Survivor's story.Lincsaddick said:
I have read a lot of his but not for a while .. S/House 5 is about his experiences of the Dresden firebombing, where he was a POW and he, fellow prisoners and the German guards huddled together in the basement of an abattoir, the S/House 5 of the title .. very harrowing book i m o, but he writes so matter of factly .. remarkableMaking_all_the_noise said:
Slaughterhouse-five deserves it's reputation as a modern classic. A gem of a book that only Vonnegut could conceive and pull off. Really enjoyable short read.IdleHans said:Halfway through Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Little Miss Idle's boyfriend recommended him and although I know the name I've never read anything by him until now. It's a slim volume but I'm enjoying it a lot and will look out for more of his once my current stack of christmas books has diminished a bit.
Gregg spent the entire week in Feb 45 above ground. His story is also harrowing. He seemed to think that the bombs were delivered in such a way to cause the effects of a nuclear strike with high speed winds rushing in to fan the flames and cause a mushroom effect. Absolutely horrific. He says he witnessed a war crime.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vNT7012BJg
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fair enough .. haven't heard from you for a while, all good I hopeLonelyNorthernAddick said:
Don't want to digress further, but a war crime is a war crime, no matter what 'team' or side of the war committed it.Lincsaddick said:
war crime ? .. possibly .. personally I believe that if the Germans had had the technology and the heavy bombers available to the UK/USA later in the war, London, Coventry, Plymouth etc etc along with Warsaw and Rotterdam in 1939 and the early 1940s would have suffered the same fate as Dresden and many other German cities .. the Germans set the template by obliterating the small Basque city of Guernica, terror bombing on behalf of the Spanish fascists .. as the cliché goes .. as the Germans sowed, so they reaped their rewards .. anyway, I digress from recent Good BooksRaith_C_Chattonell said:
I read Victor Gregg's Dresden: A Survivor's story.Lincsaddick said:
I have read a lot of his but not for a while .. S/House 5 is about his experiences of the Dresden firebombing, where he was a POW and he, fellow prisoners and the German guards huddled together in the basement of an abattoir, the S/House 5 of the title .. very harrowing book i m o, but he writes so matter of factly .. remarkableMaking_all_the_noise said:
Slaughterhouse-five deserves it's reputation as a modern classic. A gem of a book that only Vonnegut could conceive and pull off. Really enjoyable short read.IdleHans said:Halfway through Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Little Miss Idle's boyfriend recommended him and although I know the name I've never read anything by him until now. It's a slim volume but I'm enjoying it a lot and will look out for more of his once my current stack of christmas books has diminished a bit.
Gregg spent the entire week in Feb 45 above ground. His story is also harrowing. He seemed to think that the bombs were delivered in such a way to cause the effects of a nuclear strike with high speed winds rushing in to fan the flames and cause a mushroom effect. Absolutely horrific. He says he witnessed a war crime.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vNT7012BJg1 -
Nina Simone s Gum is an excellent read. Even if you’re not a Nick Cave fan.
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The Vanishing Point - Val McDermid. A standalone novel about a ghostwriter who becomes very close to the reality TV star she is writing a book with. The TV star is very much based on Jade Goody, it's not giving anything away that you wont find in the first chapter to say that she dies of cancer and the writer ends up with custody of her child. Said child is then kidnapped, and the tale goes from there.
Compulsive and easy to read.0
