Odd Interlude - September 17th, 2016

[Kristie, Moderator]

We will be having a buddy read of Odd Interlude: A Special Odd Thomas Adventure by Dean Koontz beginning September 17, 2016. Everyone is welcome to join in the discussion.

This is part of the Odd Thomas series that we are reading as a group. This book takes place between books 4 and 5 of the series.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Are we doing any kind of schedule to keep me under control us in sync?

[Kristie, Moderator]

lol... however you want to handle it is fine with me. There are 3 short stories included: 4.1, 4.2, & 4.3. I am listening to the audio, which is about six and a half hours, so I'm guessing each one is about 2 hours or so. Do you want to plan one story each day? More or less?

[Lynn, Moderator]

Yeah, a story a day sounds good

[Lynn, Moderator]

Within the first chapter we already have:

As we reach the foot of the ramp and halt at a stop sign, I say, "You feel it too?"
"I'm not gifted as you are, odd one. I don't feel such things. But I know."
"What do you know?"
"What I need to know"
"Which is?"
"Which is what is."
"And what is this what-is that you know?"
She smiles. "I know what matter, how it all works, and why"

Aaarrrggghhh, so infuriating! lol

[Kristie, Moderator]

Oh no! That was the most frustrating thing in the last book!

[Lynn, Moderator]

Totally! lol

I'm up to chapter 6 so far, and there's a little bit more interaction with Annemarie but mainly he's separate from her again. I'm enjoying it so far and is pretty creepy.

[Kristie, Moderator]

That's good. I plan to start in a few minutes.

[Kristie, Moderator]

This one (and maybe the series in general) seems to be getting a bit more paranormal....not sure what just happened.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Just finished chapter six and this had me laughing out load

If I were Mr Daniel Craig, the most recent James Bond, I would quickly kick out the wooden muntins separating the panes in the lower sash, squeeze through the sash without raising it, and be gone ........

Another famous film character, Kermit the Frog, sings a song about how "It's not easy being green," and as true as that might be, it's even less easy being a man who isn't James Bond.

Also, (view spoiler)[so you're running for your life from a possessed man and you stop for a pee? Really?!?! lol (hide spoiler)]

[Lynn, Moderator]

Kristie wrote: "This one (and maybe the series in general) seems to be getting a bit more paranormal....not sure what just happened."

There's a lot of 'what is happening' at the beginning.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I am on the app, so I can't check spoilers until this evening, but I am at the Daniel Craig part now. Odd makes me lol. I think that's partly what I like so much about the series.

[Lynn, Moderator]

You'll probably finish before me then .... I'm currently at work and only reading during breaks. Will finish the first book tonight once I'm back.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I snuck on the site just so I could read your spoiler! I thought the same thing! Lol. It did make some sense though. Haha (view spoiler)[ He also took time to wash his hands. Lol (hide spoiler)]

[Lynn, Moderator]

End of chapter 7 is the end of 4.1 I assume and therefore where we are finishing for the day?

Quite the cliffhanger! But knowing Koontz, it will come to nothing or we won't find out for at least another couple of chapters. Infuriating man :)

So far, so good.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Oh! I'm not there yet. I assumed each short story would have a proper ending, so I wasn't expecting any cliffhangers.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Nope, it looks like it's one long story that was split into three shorts.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Unless I've misunderstood what I've bought lol
I didn't go for the individual stories but the one book package, which is split into three parts.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I have the one book package too. Sounds like it was one book split into 3 parts and probably sold individually originally.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Yes! That was a cliffhanger. I feel the same way you do, not sure it'll be anything. Guess we'll see tomorrow.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Trouble sleeping, so I got a head start. :)

Favorite quote:
"I must not scream like a little girl because the little girl herself is not screaming." Hahaha

Ch 9 - (view spoiler)[ Aww poor Jolie. She feels so guilty about killing her cousin. :(

Oh! Interesting that she has learned to hide things from him! (hide spoiler)]

Ch 11 - (view spoiler)[ OMG! The door opened! Oh no... (hide spoiler)]

Ch 12 - (view spoiler)[ The high jacking scene killed me! Of all the people to high jack. Geez. Too funny. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 13 - (view spoiler)[ Sphere??? (hide spoiler)]

[Kristie, Moderator]

Ch 16 (view spoiler)[ what is going on with that sphere & voice?? I thought it was an experiment, then maybe an alien, then some sort of of artificial intelligence? They get the sense that it's evil... (hide spoiler)]

[Kristie, Moderator]

Ch 17 (view spoiler)[ so it turns out to be aliens and AI!! (hide spoiler)]

[Kristie, Moderator]

Were you able to read anything today, Lynn? I'm up to part 3, but can wait an extra day to start, if you want.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Unfortunately I haven't had time to get to it (despite a day off, I spent most of my time working at home), I will start the second part tomorrow.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Ok. I'll skip a day and wait to start the third part.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Sorry Kristie, why on earth I agreed to do a buddy read in the middle of festival time I'll never know lol

I am back on it today, and just finished Chapter 8 ..... I'll just keep plugging away when I get some breaks, if I don't finish too late this evening I think I could get through the whole book :)

[Lynn, Moderator]

Chapter 9 finished - Agreed about Jolie, it's pretty heartbreaking :/

(view spoiler)[I wonder if because of her ability to hide things, she come into play to help Odd eventually (hide spoiler)]

[Kristie, Moderator]

No worries, Lynn! I look forward to seeing what you think. I'm really enjoying this one.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Chapter 10 - He's bloody done it again, builds you up to something and then moves on to something else! I wonder what 'bad' thing Odd is going to do.

Chapter 11 - Interesting that we've moved onto a different POV, it hasn't happened in other books has it?
The door yes ..... but more her name being said! Aaarrgghh!

[Kristie, Moderator]

I thought the same thing with the point of view. I don't think it's changed before. I was quite surprised.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Wow, it's all happening in this second 'book'!

Chapter 12 - So bloody funny but so sweet too!

Chapter 13 - Her reaction to the voice was very amusing. What on earth is going on?!

Chapter 14 - Interesting distraction lol
I loved "I'm Odd, but I'm not nuts" :D

[Kristie, Moderator]

Haha... I loved that too! I still like, "I must not scream like a little girl because the little girl herself is not screaming" too. He really does make me laugh.

Chapter 12 so funny!

I'm only in chapter 18 now, so you're close to me. I haven't had a lot of time to read/listen today. I am planning to do more in a bit.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Chapter 15 - I nearly said this before ... (view spoiler)[is the voice a computer? (hide spoiler)]

[Lynn, Moderator]

Start of chapter 17, do you think Koontz is taking the piss (out of himself)?
When Joie is talking about writing ""Be concise, Jolie, be succinct, get to the point"!!!

[Lynn, Moderator]

So 'book 2' ends on another cliffhanger. I'm very glad we're not having to wait!

I'm now moving on to the next book and Chapter 19. I'm really enjoying this. His other books dragged a little for me, but this one is zipping by at a fast rate.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Oh and another thought (view spoiler)[Odd is welcoming bring more people into Harmony Corner for the disraction, but sure that means more people for 'evil man' (can't remember his name for the moment) to control?

Well let's hope that Jolie, Ed and his super computer mates can help him! (hide spoiler)]

[Kristie, Moderator]

Lynn wrote: "Start of chapter 17, do you think Koontz is taking the piss (out of himself)?
When Joie is talking about writing ""Be concise, Jolie, be succinct, get to the point"!!!"

Hahahaha!!!!

[Lynn, Moderator]

It is however 12.30am and I think I'd better get some sleep. I will carry on tomorrow

[Lynn, Moderator]

Chapters 25 and 26 - Eeeeeewwwww and Yuk!

[Lynn, Moderator]

So I've finished - my favourite so far in the series, really enjoyed it.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Lynn wrote: "Chapters 25 and 26 - Eeeeeewwwww and Yuk!"

Absolutely! Yikes.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Lynn wrote: "So I've finished - my favourite so far in the series, really enjoyed it."

I agree! I really enjoyed this one. Strange that the best one isn't part of the regular series. I teetered between four and five stars on this one and settled on 4, but noted it as 4.5. I saw that you did the same.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Hey! I just realized that I have 75 books for my yearly challenge and this was #75!! :D

[Lynn, Moderator]

Kristie wrote: "Lynn wrote: "So I've finished - my favourite so far in the series, really enjoyed it."

I agree! I really enjoyed this one. Strange that the best one isn't part of the regular series. I teetered between four and five stars on this one and settled on 4, but noted it as 4.5. I saw that you did the same. "

Yeah, it wasn't good enough for 5 stars for me but I wanted to note that it was pushing that way and I enjoyed it more than the others. The things that are usually present in the other books that annoy me weren't there for the most part.

I do find it strange that this story wasn't classed as a main book though.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Oh, and congrats on the yearly challenge .... you do have 3 months left though, get that challenge changed! lol

[Kristie, Moderator]

I agree. I wanted to give it the five stars because I liked it better than the others, but it wasn't quite there for me.

Thanks! I was thinking about changing it. I just don't know what to change it to. The end of the year is looking to be incredibly busy for me, so I don't know how much I'll get to read and I don't want to make it stressful because I have enough of that going on in real life at the moment.

[Lynn, Moderator]

Come on, you can at least add 10 books to the total you'll easily read that in 3 months :)

You read my mind btw, I was about to put something about this book in the last Odd group read.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Hahaha...I know I can add some. I just haven't decided how many yet or if I want to bother. :) I'll think about it when I have some time to think about the upcoming months.

I thought there might be someone else interested in reading it. Knowing that it's actually a book in the series and not some short stories on the side may make a difference for someone. It's definitely worth the read.