The Literature Thread

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Moggy
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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Moggy » Mon May 09, 2016 5:58 pm

Poser wrote:
Moggy wrote:I should have 22/11/1963 finished off tonight and I am not sure I am going to like the way it ends (spoilers obvs!)

I have loved the book and the way that King has put everything together. Just the right amount of historical stuff mixed in with fantasy and a slight bit of horror (the Jimla in the back of the car!).

I have just got to the section where he has returned to 2011 after killing Oswald, found out that the world is strawberry floated and then gone back to 1958 through the toilet portal.

What I don't like is why King felt the need to make it that the change has caused earthquakes that "could destroy the world by 2080!". The political fallout and the fact that so many nukes have gone off (let alone Maine joining Canada :lol: ) should be more than enough to make Jake/George want to reset it, without having to throw in all the end of the world stuff.

And the resolution to the Yellow Card Man isn't great either, so they are Timecops who wear cards that change colour to show if they are mad? I was hoping for something better than that!

I still have a little bit to go though, hopefully it all ties together nicely, I just think King should have left it as JFK had to die because the world was worse if he lived, not because Earth will be shaken apart into another asteroid belt. :roll:


Yeah, agree with all of that.


Finished!

I enjoyed reading that more than I have enjoyed any book for a very long time.

But!

That ending is shocking and there was no need for it other than to make it a "Stephen King" book. Why why why not just have it that JFK had to die because the political situation would go to gooseberry fool if he lived? It would have just worked so much better as a standard time travel story with a few hints of King's larger world.

I'm glad he got to meet Sadie again, but it would have been better to have reset the JFK timeline and then just go to live with her (avoiding crazy husband altogether!). Or even just have Jake stay in the future as he's too worried about the butterfly effect and then meet her in 2012 as per the ending.

I strawberry floating loved that whole Derry section though. :wub:

One weird thing today, I rarely ever have dealings with anybody in America at work and then today I had to write to somebody in Fort Worth. The book was harmonising with my real life. :dread:

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Memento Mori
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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Memento Mori » Mon May 09, 2016 6:07 pm

I finished Revival by King the other day after owning it for like a year. Unusually for a Stephen King book, the ending is the best part and is genuinely horrifying.

It would probably have been better as a short story considering there's 300 pages of filler before those really good last 60 pages though.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Poser » Mon May 09, 2016 6:31 pm

Moggy wrote:
Poser wrote:
Moggy wrote:I should have 22/11/1963 finished off tonight and I am not sure I am going to like the way it ends (spoilers obvs!)

I have loved the book and the way that King has put everything together. Just the right amount of historical stuff mixed in with fantasy and a slight bit of horror (the Jimla in the back of the car!).

I have just got to the section where he has returned to 2011 after killing Oswald, found out that the world is strawberry floated and then gone back to 1958 through the toilet portal.

What I don't like is why King felt the need to make it that the change has caused earthquakes that "could destroy the world by 2080!". The political fallout and the fact that so many nukes have gone off (let alone Maine joining Canada :lol: ) should be more than enough to make Jake/George want to reset it, without having to throw in all the end of the world stuff.

And the resolution to the Yellow Card Man isn't great either, so they are Timecops who wear cards that change colour to show if they are mad? I was hoping for something better than that!

I still have a little bit to go though, hopefully it all ties together nicely, I just think King should have left it as JFK had to die because the world was worse if he lived, not because Earth will be shaken apart into another asteroid belt. :roll:


Yeah, agree with all of that.


Finished!

I enjoyed reading that more than I have enjoyed any book for a very long time.

But!

That ending is shocking and there was no need for it other than to make it a "Stephen King" book. Why why why not just have it that JFK had to die because the political situation would go to gooseberry fool if he lived? It would have just worked so much better as a standard time travel story with a few hints of King's larger world.

I'm glad he got to meet Sadie again, but it would have been better to have reset the JFK timeline and then just go to live with her (avoiding crazy husband altogether!). Or even just have Jake stay in the future as he's too worried about the butterfly effect and then meet her in 2012 as per the ending.

I strawberry floating loved that whole Derry section though. :wub:

One weird thing today, I rarely ever have dealings with anybody in America at work and then today I had to write to somebody in Fort Worth. The book was harmonising with my real life. :dread:


Yeah. Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Such a fantastic book, with unnecessary things tacked on at the end. Wouldn't stop me recommending it though.

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Moggy
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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Moggy » Mon May 09, 2016 7:13 pm

I recommend it, it was a great read.

I am just going to pretend that my slightly altered version was the actual ending. ;)

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Errkal
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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Errkal » Mon May 09, 2016 7:50 pm

Memento Mori wrote:I finished Revival by King the other day after owning it for like a year. Unusually for a Stephen King book, the ending is the best part and is genuinely horrifying.

It would probably have been better as a short story considering there's 300 pages of filler before those really good last 60 pages though.


I really enjoyed revival.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Poser » Wed May 11, 2016 10:55 am

I'm racing through It (by my standards, anyway.) The characters are so familiar, yet so much of the detail had left my head since I read it last.

It's magnificent.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Poser » Wed May 11, 2016 11:43 am

Agreed, his endings are often problematic. He frequently looks for real-world solutions to supernatural problems, which can be jarring. Or, as Moggy found out recently, sometimes the endings are needlessly complicated.

Needful Things was one of the worst examples of this, for me. Incredible set-up, IMO, with a lame ending.

I generally don't let it put me off, though: the rest is usually so good.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by sawyerpip » Wed May 11, 2016 11:55 am

In his book On Writing, King says that he very rarely plots his books, and instead thinks of a 'what if...' scenario and just starts writing, for example 'what if vampires invaded a small New England village' for Salem's Lot. That problably explains why his endings aren't always the best. I think the only book he said he had plotted out was The Dead Zone, which I really enjoyed.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Poser » Wed May 11, 2016 12:23 pm

Brerlappin wrote:
Poser wrote:Agreed, his endings are often problematic. He frequently looks for real-world solutions to supernatural problems, which can be jarring. Or, as Moggy found out recently, sometimes the endings are needlessly complicated.

Needful Things was one of the worst examples of this, for me. Incredible set-up, IMO, with a lame ending.

I generally don't let it put me off, though: the rest is usually so good.


Wasnt the ending to needful things basically the bad guy going "i was the devil all along! now i will ride off in a flaming chariot buh bye suckers!" and then he flies off into the sky or some gooseberry fool or something to that effect? Majorly disappointing given how brilliant the book was up to that point


Yeah, that was it - but it was coupled with the hero basically firing some sort of child's joke snake-in-a-can at him, or something. (It's been a while, I could be wrong.) I do remember it being a huge let down after such an engrossing book. :lol:

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Squinty
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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Squinty » Wed May 11, 2016 12:41 pm

The Stand has something similar toward the end. Such a shame, as the first third of book is incredible. It's just when the more supernatural elements appear, the book starts to falter a bit. Still a worthwhile read.

Still plugging away at Words of Radiance. I have a feeling that the end if this book is going to be spectacular. Sanderson actually made me like Shallan, I hated most of her chapters in the previous book.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Irene Demova » Wed May 11, 2016 12:50 pm

Squinty wrote:Still plugging away at Words of Radiance. I have a feeling that the end if this book is going to be spectacular. Sanderson actually made me like Shallan, I hated most of her chapters in the previous book.

I can't stand any of the kholins in that series, all of their viewpoints are horrendously boring

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Squinty » Wed May 11, 2016 5:39 pm

Irene Demova wrote:
Squinty wrote:Still plugging away at Words of Radiance. I have a feeling that the end if this book is going to be spectacular. Sanderson actually made me like Shallan, I hated most of her chapters in the previous book.

I can't stand any of the kholins in that series, all of their viewpoints are horrendously boring


I like him and his son, but Dalinar's chapters are definitely less action packed in this book (he's more like a political leader in this one).

The king is a total turd though.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Oblomov Boblomov » Sat May 21, 2016 6:04 pm

Rex Kramer wrote:
[iup=3582563]Rex Kramer[/iup] wrote:I'm about 50% of the way though David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks. I'm kind of torn on it at the moment, at times it's really intriguing but then at other times it just seems a retread of Cloud Atlas.

Nearing the end now, the second half is considerably stronger than the first.

Sorry, I know these posts are very old now but I finished this book a couple of days ago.

I couldn't disagree more. I loved the first four sections and was disappointed to find such an unsatisfying final third.

The fifth part becomes embroiled in fantasy bobbins and the sixth is essentially an extended epilogue that feels like a campaign piece for the Green Party. A real shame (in my opinion) as I had been thoroughly enjoying it.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Errkal » Sat May 21, 2016 6:16 pm

Finished the running man this morning, really enjoyed it. Also now started Finders Keepers.

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Squinty
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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Squinty » Sat May 21, 2016 6:41 pm

Finished Words of Radiance. The end of the book was pretty strawberry floating epic.

Started Legend by David Gemmel immediately after. Not far enough into it to pass judgment.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by King Chaz » Mon May 23, 2016 3:16 pm

Squinty wrote:Finished Words of Radiance. The end of the book was pretty strawberry floating epic.

Started Legend by David Gemmel immediately after. Not far enough into it to pass judgment.


Great book, can't wait for the next one. Have you read Sanderson's Mistborn series and the 'Wax and Wayne' sequels?

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Squinty » Mon May 23, 2016 4:10 pm

King Chaz wrote:
Squinty wrote:Finished Words of Radiance. The end of the book was pretty strawberry floating epic.

Started Legend by David Gemmel immediately after. Not far enough into it to pass judgment.


Great book, can't wait for the next one. Have you read Sanderson's Mistborn series and the 'Wax and Wayne' sequels?


That's the series that got me interested in him as a writer. I haven't read any of the second trilogy yet, but the first three books are excellent. I was genuinely surprised at some of the plot developments throughout that trilogy.

The chosen one's identity at the end of the Trilogy was so surprising but perfectly logical. The red herring's totally misled me.


Legend is really enjoyable so far. I thought Druss would be really one dimensional, but he has a lot of depth to him.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Rex Kramer » Tue May 24, 2016 8:44 am

According to my emails this morning, I've had the final part of the Passage trilogy delivered to my Kindle. It's the first time I've ever pre-ordered a book and I didn't think it was released for another couple of weeks. I'm going to have to plough through the end of The Terror now as I really want to finish this before moving on.

By the way, The Terror is very good albeit also very long. It's amazing how little has actually happened during the period of time the book describes but I'm still hooked. Some of the descriptive text is pretty horrific (some of the bits about scurvy are particularly nasty).

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Squinty » Tue Jun 07, 2016 9:31 am

Read two books since I last posted. Finished Legend, which was a cracking read. It was basically Helm's Deep the book, the main character, Druss, was the best dude. Then I started and completed the first Foundation book by Asimov. Very different from what I expected, but still very good. The idea behind it was exceptionally clever.

Started reading another David Gemmell book, this one is Druss the Legend's origin story. I think I found a good author. He grabs you by the balls, keeps it simple but there's complexity there if you want it.

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PostRe: The Literature Thread
by Photek » Tue Jun 07, 2016 1:26 pm

The Third and final book in the Stephen King Bill Hodges Trilogy is out today - End of Watch.

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