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What Are You Currently Reading?
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Jason
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Nov 12, 2008 03:30pm
I just finished The Rising by Brian Keene and am about to start tackling Dead Man's Song by Johnathan Maberry.
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Just finished Dead to the World, charlene Harris. Her books are page turners, and they are fun to read. The series True Blood, based on them, is lot's of fun as well.
Just finished “Dead Sea”. Just started “Boy’s Life”. Still working on “Zombie Survival Guide”, and “Monster Nation”.
Now reading 'The Ruins' by Scott Smith. I tried to read Thomas Ligotti's 'Shadow at the Bottom of the World', but only got halfway through it before realizing that I was actually dreading picking it up again. It was just a little too self-consciously "cerebral" for me.
I have too many going at once to even know... I keep misplacing them, starting something new and then finding them again... I'm currently in the middle of:Pit Stop - brand new auth, pretty good so far
One foot in the Black - this is a self pub auth
Ulysses - Joyce
Tale of Two Cities
Great Expectations
and
Bite by Laymon
I'm re-reading Breeding Ground. (I hope you like it Melissa)The Celler
Salem's Lot
New Moon
The Wolf's Hour
Rebecca
Eldest
Queen of the Damned
I hope to start The Notebook at sometime too.
How the hell do you guys keep track of 5 or more plot lines at a time? I never read more than one book at a time...unless one is a novel and one is non-fiction.
Finished off One Foot in the Black... had to review that one for herodessy's review site... not recommended for the horror crew.Today I'll finish off Pitstop... which is much more entertaining so far... it's about these people who are in a pitstop on the way to hell after they have died. Very entertaining through the half way point. I'll let you guys know how it ends up. I'm reviewing that one for "Monster Librarian" great website for learning about horror books you've never heard of.
Personally Rob, I think I keep multiple plot lines straight because I almost always read them in the same place. I have a book I read during lunch break, one I read on the train, one at home, one I listen to in the car, one I read online, etc. I think that way my brain associates the story with the location.
I'm the same way Rusty... I have books strewn about different locations... my book by the bed, my book in my purse, my online books at work, etc.I do have to admit that having two books going by the same author has caused me some problems... like right now I have two Dickens books and I'm getting them a bit mixed up, so I'm quitting one until I get the other finished.
Just started Succulent Prey by James White Wrath. You want gross out, read this book. It's even turning my stomach and thats not easy to do.
I'd love to read tthat than! I haven't read much gut wrenching gorey books, besides The Ruins. I'd like to read Succulent Prey. :D
High Cotton by Joe R. Landsdale. I'm halfway through and i bought it today. I should be done before i go to sleep. So far each story in this collection has been full of southern fried horror goodness. The kind that sticks to your ribs.
I'm halfway through Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. I'm loving it. It's hard for me to put it down when I start reading.I can usually keep at least two fiction books going, and at least five nonfiction books at any given time. I've got different stations in my house where my nonfiction books are placed--the table by the easy chair; the table at the end of the sectional; sitting on my kitchen table; next to my bed. I hate NOT to be reading, KWIM?
Tressa, I read "Song of Kali", and I thought it was pretty good, but it was difficult to get through. I know that was Simmons' first novel; so are his other books any easier to wade through?
Finally finished "Tale of Two Cities" and Started up "Sense and Sensibility"Lost "Pitstop" for a while, but I just found it again so I should have it done today...
Then I also Started "Bite" by Laymon... not impressed so far, but then again I'm only on page 30 or so.
Yeah... so far Bite appears as though it's going to take some forcing to finish it... then again I'm not a huge Laymon fan to begin with... But I'm about 30 pages in and he has used the word "rump" to describe a woman's rear 3 times already.
I am now reading The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. It is delivered, as a children's book, with accompanying artwork, but is a fairly macabre premise. An infants family is murdered by "the man Jack" and he is taken in and raised by the ghosts of a graveyard accross the street from where he lived. There are ghouls, and good ghosts, bad ghosts etc. I love Gaiman, and the book is a treat.
Rusty, Carrion Comfort is only the third book of Simmons I've read. I read Song of Kali and really enjoyed it, even though it was very macabre. I read Summer of Night and thought it was OK. His horror books always entertain.I tried to read The Terror but just got so bogged down in it that I lost interest. So many others here really like it, so I might give it another go at a later date.
Carrion Comfort is a good read. It's about a group--mainly two old white ladies and one old Nazi--who can Use people by getting into their minds and controlling them; basically turning them into zombies to do their bidding.
They play games throughout the decades with these "zombies" and are responsible for some of the infamous crimes of our times, e.g. the Tate murders; John Lennon's death; Kennedy/Oswald; the attempted assassination of Reagan.
One Jewish man who was Used by the Nazi during the Holocaust tries to track him down later. The book takes place in the eighties. It's full of action, gore, revenge, etc. I think you'd like it. ;)
I'm currently on to "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" not sure if you would call that horror, but it's disturbing if nothing else.
I'm re-reading The Exorcist, one of my favorites, and just starting Songs for the Missing, Stuart O'Nan's new novel--not horror, but very good so far!
I am currently reading McDowell's Blackwater series. I don't know who decided to classify this as horror.
Acknud, I'm a big fan of the Blackwater series. I guess anything with a monster in it is considered horror? After all, Eleanor is an amphibious creature from the Perdido River who takes revenge on several of the townspeople and even her own family.
True that Elinor isn't quite human and does some mischievous things. :-) I am just used to more horrible stuff in my horror. No doubt these are goods reads though.
Well, you're reading the genteel horror of the southern writer. We don't usually get as bloody as Ketchum or Laymon. :)They are good reads--all of of McDowell's books are. Hope you enjoy them.
Somehow i never got around to reading The Stand. I just started it 2 days ago and i'm more than halfway through. Good stuff so far. I think i will pick IT next.
I just started The Stand. I love it so far. It's a big read though. I have alot of King's books to read. That should be fun! :D
The Stand is one of my all time favorite novels. Do you have the original version, or the uncut one?
I read the Stand back in High School, on a plane ride from Jax FL to LA... I about beat the woman next to me with the book every time she sniffled, I kept thinking - You're not gonna get me with that superflu!
Funny, on a fluke after about twenty years I picked up The Stand and started flipping through it again. In the past I read it so many times I had huge chunks of text memorized. There's some great dialogue in there. I love the meeting and exchanges between Nick and Mother Abigail about the Dark Man, God, and what's expected of them all.It's truly a great adventure story.
You could read it as King's own journey through addiction...or like you said, Tressa, just a great and grand adventure story. I don't know if he meant it to be anything but that, but our own personal demons do bleed through into fiction whether we mean them to or not...and that usually makes for the best possible work.
I know something about The Stand and why he wrote it. He read something about a toxic chemical spill that would have wiped out a city if the bind hadn't blown it into a field of cows.
Nate, when I saw your name it dawned on me that I have one of your books way overdue from my library! It's Bloodstone and I need to get busy reading it. It looks like a great read. Working at a library is like working at Baskin-Robbins--too tempting.Interesting info., Dylan. The Stand grabbed me from the first page as I read how the virus spread across the world. I thought Larry Underwood was a fascinating character, coming into his own at the end as he unselfishly sacrificed himself.
Tressa, I worked for the Brookline Library here in Massachusetts for three years after college, and I know very well what you mean! I used to take so many books home I couldn't keep track of them all--and read in the stacks when I was supposed to be working... :) And don't get me started on donated books! A bin full of free books...As a matter of fact, THE REACH takes place in the area, and there's a couple of scenes where the main character visits the Brookline Library...sort of a little in joke for my co workers from back then.
I've never worked at a library, but I used to work at a book distribution warehouse. I can't count how many times I'd stop working when a book caught my eye and I just had to stop and read it. On the downside, I had to BUY the book if I wanted to read the whole thing.
I really liked The Stand, but I think the "uncut" version was totally unnecessary. I don't even know why it's called "uncut" because it's obvious King went back and added things to the original version. There's quite a few pop culture references made that wouldn't have been applicable when the book was originally written.
I really liked The Stand, but I think the "uncut" version was totally unnecessary. I don't even know why it's called "uncut" because it's obvious King went back and added things to the original version. There's quite a few pop culture references made that wouldn't have been applicable when the book was originally written.
Nate, there's nothing like working at a public library. You realize it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.Rob, I used to work at a bookstore and while straightening books, I used to stop and flip through them. But that was a no-no. We could take the book home without buying it, but you had to make sure it was in pristine condition when you returned it. Pretty hard for me to do because I like to read no matter what messy thing I'm doing at the moment.
When was the uncut version of The Stand released? I remember back in the late eighties (I think) an "uncut" version was published. I remember a few extra scenes and the name of the candy bar the chubby misfit kid eats was different. If the book takes place in the seventies, why change the pop culture references to a later decade? Is this what he did?
Yep--if you work up front in circulation, or in reference, you sure do see a slice of life, don't you? It was quite an experience.The pop culture changes in The Stand didn't bother me--I always figured King had put old scenes back in, and THEN made more changes to update the dated references...I do remember reading an interview with him where he talked about the original version of the manuscript and what he had to cut out when it was first published. It hits home for me because I had to cut almost 40,000 words from Bloodstone when it was published, and it made it a different book. I'd love to go back and find the original version someday (if I can) and publish it that way. I loved it in its original form--more characters, much more about the town. It was a more epic-style novel.
Thanks Kristen--I know I have versions that are about 30,000 words longer than the published version, but the original first draft, which was about 145,000 words, is probably on an old zip disk somewhere buried in the attic. :) It really is a different book in many ways--a lot more characters fleshed out rather than mentioned in passing, different points of view, entire scenes and chapters that were cut...
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