Karli’s Comments (group member since Feb 23, 2010)

Karli’s comments from the Busy as a Bee Books group.

I really have to look. I've been not fabulous at this one. Adonica, I am SO PROUD OF YOU for not going totally OCD on it this year!

Started Dark Places for a Hive task - I think I will spend this last month choosing based on hive tasks remaining!

There are a few King books on the cyber Monday deals - Mr. Mercedes was one of them!

This one is currently $6.99 on amazon!

Lots of cyber Monday deals today on both amazon and nook! I grabbed several.

Amy - lucky duck on the Sarah Addison Allen score!!!

It is horrifying!!! And yet SOOOOOO good!!!! That's one of my favorite King books.

Mine are:

Stephen King - 56
John Sanford - 31
Janet Evanovich - 24

I totally agree with wanting to see percentages of the works written. I have read everything JK Rowling has published, other than the most recent, so I've read nearly 100% of her published work, but it's not going to come close to Janet Evanovich, whose Stephanie Plum series is at nearly 20 and I can rip through one in a day...

I agree - the end just fell flat. And it actually reminded me a lot of what happens in Duma Key - but it was better in Duma Key.

The image of life after death was horrible - but I would have liked to see/hear more of Charlie's reaction than he basically drops dead of another stroke. I really just didn't like the part in the sick room.

But I really loved the whole rest of it. I thought the childhood parts were quite good, especially the description of Con's injury, the marital stress that followed. His ability to go from the perspective of a small child to that of a man in his 60's is just mind blowing. He is so crazy talented.

I would have liked to have had more in this book - we move past his childhood and right into addiction. SK is such an amazing storyteller, and I would have liked more of Jamie's story.

I haven't updated in awhile...

I got to read Uncaged - which I LOVED. It was really hard for me to put down. I thought the story and characters were really engaging, and I'm excited to move on to the next one in the series, which won't be until next summer. :(

In anticipation of my Stephen King weekend I re-read It and Needful Things. It was even better than I remembered it. Needful Things was quite horrifying, but I felt a good one to read right before Revival (which I finished today)

OK, I'm done too - and I can see where you're coming from Tricia - it wasn't the whole second half, but the last 50 pages or so that really fell flat. I think it could have been done better. I too LOVED Lisey's Story and that ending felt more cohesive somehow.

Someone, tech me how to do the spoiler tag, then I'll talk more specifically.

Must read...lots of car time coming up so I will jump in too.

I liked Paper Towns better than Looking for Alaska - but I too am solidly a John Green fan.

Uncle Stevie read a section to us from it, so I'm pretty sure my ability to be objective is shot.

I think so too - it didn't feel modern. But I enjoyed it. Quick summer read. I didn't find it predictable, so I guess that's why I enjoyed it more.

I have it beside my bed!

I really liked it too - mix of genres, and I think it's set up to go interesting places. It really sets up questions about race, class and breaking into a different society. There's potential for some fun conversations here.

I really liked it too - mix of genres, and I think it's set up to go interesting places. It really sets up questions about race, class and breaking into a different society. There's potential for some fun conversations here.

The paper in Wichita did an article that totally took his comments out of context and irritated Adonica and I.

He talked about how common it is for him to be approached by someone who tells him "I have read your books, you scared the shit out of me!!! Can I have a hug?" And so he said it's like being Godzilla and Santa Claus. He also gave a hilarious time-delay scare about "maybe you forgot to lock the door...but probably not". And he said that he always makes sure that he sleeps with his feet covered, because "blankets are monster kryptonite"

He spoke often of his wife - it was sweet. He also told us that when he was writing Gerald's Game he had his son Joe try to maneuver his way out of the bed tied with scarves.

Report of everything, per Tricia's request! Adonica, fill in the gaps for me!

We drove to Omaha the first night, then from there to Wichita. We got to town a little after 2:00 and went right to the venue. There were already people in line snaking around the building. The event was scheduled to start at 6:00. They were going to start banding the first 1700 people at 4:00 then we were supposed to be entering the building at 5:00. It was a sunny day, but only about 30 degrees. We got COLD!

Once we got inside we had fairly good seats - it was a college auditorium, capacity 1700 and they had overflow rooms with audio/visual equipment set up. We were in the main auditorium, on the floor, about 10 rows from the stage.

It didn't get started until 6:15 or so - and he came out smiling, walked the stage holding the mic, went back and forth to the podium where he had some notes and some water. He said that he'd brought a bug with him from Maine...and he was pretty sure it wasn't ebola. And pretty sure it wasn't Captain Trips...He commented that he doesn't do "this type of thing" very often because it "scares the shit out of him" and said that as a writer, he's more comfortable by himself.

He made a crack about Fox News - "We report, You decide...BULLSHIT!"
(Adonica and I found this hilarious)

He said that for him the writing process it like pulling a red string from a mouse hole. He said that sometimes the string is a short story, or a novella, or something really long like The Stand or Under the Dome. He said sometimes the thread breaks and he can't finish the story because he doesn't know where it goes.

He talked about the inspiration for Cujo - he had a motorcycle that needed to be repaired, and he drove it to this guy's place in the mountain and a huge Saint Bernard came out and growled at him - and continued to make unfriendly noises. The owner eventually whapped him on the haunches and told him to go away, but didn't apologize and just said, "I guess he doesn't like the looks of you." and so Cujo's story began...

He was self deprecating, funny and sincere. I was struck by how different his profile looks from his face straight on. He looks a bit frail and very thin. His shoulders slope. He walks well - it's evident that it causes him some pain, and when he rested, he did lean on the podium. I find it amazing that after getting hit in 1999 that he is in the shape he is.

OK, I'm going to let Adonica fill in some of the parts too...it's more fun to do this in tandem. :)