NOS4A2 [Oct 24, 2019]

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

NOS4A2

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

I really liked this one.

[Yanique, Thread Master]

I'm excited! And the BR starts on my birthday too.

[Lesa]

I'll love to reread this....

[Hailee]

This is the reading schedule I'll be (hopefully) sticking to if anyone is interested. It averages out to about 18 pages a day.

Prologue (8 pages)
24th October

Shorter Way (28 pages)
25th October

Spicy Menace (38 pages)
27th October

The Librarian (39 pages)
29th October

Disappearances (30 pages)
31st October

Sleigh House (48 pages)
2nd Nov

Interlude: The Spirit of Ecstasy (60 pages)
5th Nov

Bad Mother (117 pages)
8th Nov

Search Engine (127 pages)
14th Nov

Christmasland (141 pages)
20th Nov

Triumph One Eternal Xmas Eve (33 pages)
28th Nov

Come All Ye Faithful (17 pages)
30th Nov


*Page totals apply to the UK paperback edition I own. ISBN 9780575130692

[Jessica]

Yanique wrote: "I'm excited! And the BR starts on my birthday too."

October twins! (Though I'm the 27th, so this is a tiny bit early)

This is one of my favorite fall reads, will definitely be joining in with you guys!

[Yanique, Thread Master]

Jessica wrote: "Yanique wrote: "I'm excited! And the BR starts on my birthday too."

October twins! (Though I'm the 27th, so this is a tiny bit early)

This is one of my favorite fall reads, will definitely be joi..."

October Scorpios Unite!!!

[Zaara]

IN but I am a coward and it’s been ages since I last read horror so brace yourself for some serious lily-livered poltrooning…and sppoked out posts.

Also, Hailee I will follow your sked.

Yanique wrote: "I'm excited! And the BR starts on my birthday too."

AND a BR with Yani after ages...I dont think we ever...after LoLL and Rebecca...

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Zaara wrote: "IN but I am a coward and it’s been ages since I last read horror so brace yourself for some serious lily-livered poltrooning…and sppoked out posts.

Also, Hailee I will follow your sked.

Yanique w..."

I think you'll really like this. There's definitely a sarcastic sense of humor and an urban fantasy element.

If I have one complaint about the Hill books I've read it's the reliance on pop culture nostalgia. He can never just give a generality. It's always Journey was playing on the jukebox and then include a few of the lyrics to drive it home and remind you Steven Perry was the lead singer.

If you're going to use pop culture references, IMO, you should make the reader work for it. Give them a hint so they feel good about figuring it out or make them Google it.

[Zaara]

Scott wrote: "Zaara wrote: "IN but I am a coward and it’s been ages since I last read horror so brace yourself for some serious lily-livered poltrooning…and sppoked out posts.

Also, Hailee I will follow your sk..."

I'll keep those things in mind as I read...
This will be my first Joe Hill.

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "IN but I am a coward and it’s been ages since I last read horror so brace yourself for some serious lily-livered poltrooning…and sppoked out posts.

Also, Hailee I will follow your sked.

Yanique w..."


I'll be right there with you on the lily-livered spooked out comments. I don't read horror books or watch scary movies at all coz I'm a serious coward lol. It'll be good having someone else with similar temperament along for the ride. They say misery loves company after all ;-).

I'm not even sure why I own this book really but I've put it off for a couple of years with the excuse that I'll save it as my Halloween read and then Halloween passes and I still haven't read it so I've held myself accountable this year by planning a buddy read :-)

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "I'll keep those things in mind as I read...
This will be my first Joe Hill. "

It'll be my first as well but I also own The Fireman by Joe Hill since that seemed more like a dystopian than a truly scary horror book.

[Zaara]

Hailee wrote: "It'll be good having someone else with similar temperament along for the ride."

Yea together we will man up and grow a pair!!!!

[Zaara]

O Hailee...truth told, I watched alllll them old Die Hard movies b2b to cut the boredom (we were addressing a pile of invitations) and got influenced. Ha...will you look at me swaggering around like an ass.
Were you revolted? I do apologise. I was always that crass, uncouth child who ran around with a towel knotted around my back waving fallen tree branches and yowling. Oddly, my superpowers (they varied 💪💪💪) never had anything to do with being silent...😂😜😝

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "O Hailee...truth told, I watched alllll them old Die Hard movies b2b to cut the boredom (we were addressing a pile of invitations) and got influenced. Ha...will you look at me swaggering around lik..."

Haha you are always too entertaining to be revolting!!! I can so easily imagine you as a child running around yowling. Are you sure you left that behind in childhood? I find it harder to believe there aren't occasional periods of adulthood yowling ;-)

[Zaara]

Hailee wrote: "Haha you are always too entertaining to be revolting!!! I can so easily imagine you as a child running around yowling. Are you sure you left that behind in childhood? I find it harder to believe there aren't occasional periods of adulthood yowling ;-)"

*drawls*
Why yaaaass, luv.
I do.
Towel I take ain’t the same size tho.
;p
(view spoiler)[




GOTCHA! Gotcha Hailee, got youuuuuuuuu….*capers* haheeeeehuuuuuu HUUUUU…I bet you were expecting something else!!!
(hide spoiler)]

See gal…I tried to be good and serious, I did. But when it’s so beautifully served up for me like that…I couldn’t resist…hehehehe….ohk I promise. I promise to grow up and behave maturely for the rest of this BR. Please don’t kill me. I just learned how to post GIFs and got a little crazed….

[Hailee]

LOL yes I see I did walk straight in to that.

I however am always mature and serious therefore...

(view spoiler)[ I see your gifs and raise you:








Some jump scare gifs!!!!! Which seem particularly relevant on this thread. ;-)

Are you jealous about how how mature I am? :-) (hide spoiler)]

[Zaara]

Hailee wrote: "LOL yes I see I did walk straight in to that.
I however am always mature and serious therefore..."

UHaaaaaaah...I esp didnt expect that last one!!! It loaded first on my page...
No I only like you the more yeah defffooooo jealous!! How dare you be soooooo serious and mature?
Boooooooooooh!

[Hailee]

Anyone ready to start this tomorrow?

[Zaara]

Hailee wrote: "Anyone ready to start this tomorrow?"

I'm here...prologue tonight.
Don't worry...we will freak out together as promised.
🙈🙈
Just finishing the last ten chapters of SoT...so (after that) there is only 😂 this, Dune, Priory and Scythe until November.

[Zaara]

Yanique wrote: "I'm excited! And the BR starts on my birthday too."

Oh and of course this means Happy Birthday, Yani...
(view spoiler)[

We all get Monster Cake this close to the Hallows...AND it has jelly...😄

(hide spoiler)]

[Hailee]

Yanique wrote: "I'm excited! And the BR starts on my birthday too."

Yes Happy birthday!! Hope you are doing something fun

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "Yanique wrote: "I'm excited! And the BR starts on my birthday too."

Oh and of course this means Happy Birthday, Yani..
"

Love the picture Zaara 😂. Very seasonal!!

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "Hailee wrote: "Anyone ready to start this tomorrow?"

I'm here...prologue tonight.
Don't worry...we will freak out together as promised.
🙈🙈
Just finishing the last ten chapters of SoT...so (after t..."

Yay!! I'm probably going to read the prologue in the next hour or two. I don't think I'm brave enough to read this book once its goes dark 😱😱

[Yanique, Thread Master]

Thanks for the birthday wishes friends!!!

I'm probably 60% into this one. I wanted to read it in one sitting, but I've been so busy lately. So far I love the premise and the setting and everything, but these characters are infuriating. I'm getting a little tired of reading about the same kind of person in these scenarios, I don't know if it's a relatability thing but its exhausting.

[Hailee]

Yanique wrote: "Thanks for the birthday wishes friends!!!

I'm probably 60% into this one. I wanted to read it in one sitting, but I've been so busy lately. So far I love the premise and the setting and everything..."


Being 60% through is nothing to sneeze at. Well done. I don't think I could read a nearly 700 page book in one sitting, even if it turned out to be my favourite book ever!! 😅

[Hailee]

I read the prologue earlier. Even is 8 pages the author manages to make the reader feel awfully freaked out. Or maybe thats just because I'm such a scaredy cat 🙀

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Hailee wrote: "I read the prologue earlier. Even is 8 pages the author manages to make the reader feel awfully freaked out. Or maybe thats just because I'm such a scaredy cat 🙀"

The narration manages similar... the voice for that Charlie Manx guy is really creepy... the dialogue doesn't help...

[Frank]

I am about 40% in,
With the creepy feeling I have, it's much again experiencing for the first time a Stephen King paperback in the late 1970's as a teen.
Just on that note itself, I'm really enjoying it.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I still haven’t really read Stephen King... I’m enjoying this, tho... it’s like a creepier Brotherhood of the Wheel, basically...

Bing: (view spoiler)[for a hot second when he was writing the letter to Christmasland, I felt for the guy and the misguided actions he was taking, which was amazing given his pretty gross introduction... but that was quickly overshadowed by everything else about him... (hide spoiler)]

Around 33% now, but that spoiler can be read around 5-10%...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

75-80%: the beginning started to drag a bit, when I started to wonder how long it would take for the story to catch up the prologue, but around 30-40% it finally happened and things picked up again...

[Zaara]

Yanique wrote: "Thanks for the birthday wishes friends!!!
I'm probably 60% into this one. I wanted to read it in one sitting, but I've been so busy lately. So far I love the premise and the setting and..."

Oh Yani...😂 you and Iain are cut from the same cloth...was jezzt (like literally just now) kickin' him over at the YA BookClub.
If you'd give me and Hailee some more spoilers, please (once you're done celebrating) we'd love those!

[Zaara]

Hailee wrote: "I read the prologue earlier. Even is 8 pages the author manages to make the reader feel awfully freaked out. Or maybe thats just because I'm such a scaredy cat 🙀"

I will follow the timetable but may only pots here on alternate days...hope that's ok.
+ twenty pages a day is a perfectly handle-able amt of creepery, good call!

[Zaara]

Prologue
(view spoiler)[
Ooooouuff...that creepy jolt when you realise who he is and what he did...no wonder the nurse dropped the bag of blood...
(hide spoiler)]

Ch 1
(view spoiler)[
Ok time jump is actually ten years BEFORE the prologue..took me a second to notice that.

Parents: seems indiscriminate (and kinda awful) to me that ppl in a bad marriage have kids (mostly ppl don't PLAN to have a bad life together, it just unravels) but by then the kids go thru alot...the domestic violence...even if verbal...poor Brat!

Setting: Nobody can do the sheer day2day domestic ugliness of suburban "almost poverty" in Anytown, America like the King family...😂
God...that poorkid coming home sick and thirsty and craving some juice and the fridge's empty cuz Mom ain't gone to the store yet and Dad is slamming down cans of cool...😡 well, they seem to care about her tho...despite being inefficient.

Style: I like the inchapter placeholders between the sections...sure itsits gimmicky but so well done that they heighten the feeling of Brat "jumping"/the reader getting immersed in the book + they sure make it handy to nav inside in my ebook. Also...this guy knows how to write like how kids SEE the world...dunno how to explain that, Hailee but I'm sure you kmow what I meant.

Vic: This kid is that "helper/healer" type + also a denial expert/blocker out-er (can you blame her, with that home atmosphere?)...dunno if those tendencies will one day get her into a truckload of sh!t...usually does.
(hide spoiler)]

[Hailee]

Timelord Iain wrote: "75-80%: the beginning started to drag a bit, when I started to wonder how long it would take for the story to catch up the prologue, but around 30-40% it finally happened and things picked up again..."

I honestly don't mind if this gets off to a bit of a slow start because hopefully that means nothing too scary is happening 😅.

I've just finished Shorter Way. (view spoiler)[ I found the magical aspect of her 'travel' quite interesting but if I got that ill after doing it I'm pretty sure it'd put me off completely lol.

Also were we supposed to infer that her father hit her mum? (hide spoiler)]

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "Prologue

Ch 1..."

(view spoiler)[Yeah I guess what you said about her being an expert blocker-outer would actually explain why she kept going back repeated despite how ill it makes her.

Yeah her dad at least seems to care a lot. Despite not seeming to gave many other outstanding attributes. (hide spoiler)]

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "Hailee wrote: "I read the prologue earlier. Even is 8 pages the author manages to make the reader feel awfully freaked out. Or maybe thats just because I'm such a scaredy cat 🙀"

I will follow the the timetable but may only pots here on alternate days...hope that's ok.
+ twenty pages a day is a perfectly handle-able amt of creepery, good call! 

"
Yep 20 pages of scare a day was all my doctor recommended 😬😱😉

And of course you post whenever is convenient for you. The schedule is more of a flexible guide anyway. I'll be reading this mainly at work (where there are lots of people around to protect me 😂) so I'm sure their will be days I don't read my 20 pages on the exact day the schedule indicates or I read slightly more or less than intended. I expect it'll all even out in the end.

[Hailee]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I still haven’t really read Stephen King... I’m enjoying this, tho... it’s like a creepier Brotherhood of the Wheel, basically...

Bing: [spoilers removed]

Around 33% now, but that spoiler can be ..."

Yes Bing (view spoiler)[seems pretty unstable and disgusting really. He probably has mental health issues and Charlie Manx is taking advantage of that. (hide spoiler)]

[Hailee]

I've finished Spicy Menace.

(view spoiler)[ So we've now seen Charlie Manx at the height of his "glory". I wonder if those children's "futures are real or if he is just making it up to help justify his own sick plans.

There is an interesting mix of real life creepiness together with a generous amount of magical realism. I can't quite decide if I find the book creepier because of the added magical aspects or less so. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Zaara wrote: "Yanique wrote: "Thanks for the birthday wishes friends!!!
I'm probably 60% into this one. I wanted to read it in one sitting, but I've been so busy lately. So far I love the premise and the setting..."

This story has a kind of momentum, that makes it hard to comment on smaller pieces I think...

One of the largest things I found myself thinking about as the story progressed, was what makes a story Urban Fantasy vs Horror, and it's generally the tone used to describe similar events, and how much access the MC has to people who know and understand the supernatural elements, and are able to teach/accept the MC into the fold...

I really liked Joe Hill's afterword at the end of the audiobook... he talked about writing the story, being the child of writers, and his attempts to sell a children's book he wrote earlier in his career (publishers weren't interested in a book more likely to keep children awake than help them fall asleep at night, lol)...

[Zaara]

Hailee wrote: "I'll be reading this mainly at work (where there are lots of people around to protect me 😂) so I'm sure their will be days I don't read my 20 pages on the exact day the schedule indicates or I read slightly more or less than intended. I expect it'll all even out in the end."

Yep *nodding* it is funny how freaked out we are! So far, I'm handling it quite well actually 💪 altho its early days in the schedule...😅

Read two more, Hailee.

Spicy Menace/ WROTE POST AFTER READING THE CHAPTER
(view spoiler)[
First, foremost and importantly...thank god we are reading this arnd Halloween and not Xmas or we might be scarred forever abt Christmas...the creepy carnie feels are really...somethin'...I'm scared of clowns...😂😂😂 not the artsy Pierrot types...but you know......

Charlie Manx twistedly seems to actually believe that he is on some righteous "mission" of SAVING kids 😳 don't understand how ppl can get like this...that all the terror and pain they cause...seemed "correct" in his head...

:O the ice graveyard of alive children...but I didn't freak out as much as I expected I would, Hay...still didn't stop me from wanting to hack at all that ice like a madwoman tho.
And these sickos are drinking cocoa? Ok I'm neither here nor there...was all this happening on hallucinogens (inside Bing's head) or is there an element of the supernatural/prophecy about the graveyard...uhh according to Manx...not sure..it's not clear...and the car "jumped" places like Vic's bike. Opened your spoiler to see if you felt this...aaaah yes, magical realism - the term I was groping for...thanks!

Pervy selection process quote:
"The graveyard shows me children who will, if I do nothing, have their childhoods stolen by their mothers and fathers."

Re Bing: yea when you think how lonely, scared and yearning the little child inside him is...but the feeling quikcly goes away when his creepiness comes to the fore and how!
Also he seems to relish all this...sicko.....and so easily mindbent...TOOL!

EDIT To add....just saw your mental health issues spoiler abt Bing...yup...agree...Manx is pushing on all that, hard. (hide spoiler)]

[Zaara]

Librarian/REALTIME LOG
(view spoiler)[
Back with Vic, phew! Ok the art project photo of the Dad's mother...I have the wobbles about this...so much poignant background info is deffo to twist the knife in our hearts...what if Brat goes to look for Grandma photo and accidentally "jumps" into that icy grave and them creeps are waiting?
(hide spoiler)]

Abt Brat's mother:
(view spoiler)[
I am disliking her, I'm trying not to bcuz she isn't a fully bad person but my selftalk is not working): have you noticed how some ppl in a crisis (whether it were large or small) just...make things worse just by putting out the bad vibes/hurtful words and creating confusion?
On the other hand some ppl, if they're around, you just know you can face anything, come what may, because they give you ease or a confidence booft/exude a soothing...you can also go to them and admit you stuffed up...

“Her chest hurt, as if she had been biking for hours, not minutes, and her breath was strangled, as if she were fighting her way uphill, not gliding along level ground.”

Mothers shouldn't hv this effect on their kids, no?
:(
If something bad happens now and Vic falls into harm, I totally blaem the mother.
Sorry, I began to rant and HA how nice I freaked prematurely in my paranoia and guessed wrong *relief* she is home safe, manx didn't get her...the bridge had a serious destabilising effect on some poor ole bloke tho...so I dunno...is the SWay bridge good or is it evil...can we close our eyes and trust it? So far its helping Vic.....and she sure seems to trust it in Jack Dawson ways.
(hide spoiler)]

I dunno why I freaked out...xept...when I read horror (and this is so rare its almost never) I'm bracing for something on every page. This is due to my supreme cowardice. Its better to epxect the worst and then be relieved.

Library: (view spoiler)[ 😂 totally wasn't expecting an adorkable librarian, a Hermione bag, and weirdcute infosplains...so far this book isn't much too terrorising at all...huh? Oh and I really LOVED the A. Chekov paperweight and I want one!! I hope we see more of Mags.
(hide spoiler)]

So far this was my fave chapter. Also, re the endchapter poem...I pulled up the SparkNotes, Hay...and found them useful...thought mebbe ppl'll like to take a look:

https://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/hop...

NONPLOT QUOTE FOR ANY LUURVELY LURKERS 👀, SIOBHANS 😛 OR GHOSTS 👻, IF ANY:

"She breathed deeply of the scent of decaying fiction, disintegrating history, and forgotten verse, and she observed for the first time that a room full of books smelled like dessert: a sweet snack made of figs, vanilla, glue, and cleverness."

I disagree with this quote tho...😛😆
Old books and dessert smell way different......

[Siobhan]

If your dessert smells like glue you have problems... 😂

[Yanique, Thread Master]

I didn’t end up loving this one, but I still mostly enjoyed it though. Not really a fan of how heavily this book is leaning on the Stephen King universe and ideas that King has already explored. It made it extremely predictable. I’m looking forward to hearing how you all rate it.

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "Yep *nodding* it is funny how freaked out we are! So far, I'm handling it quite well actually 💪 altho its early days in the schedule...😅"

Yeah I'm handling it well at the moment as well but I think we are being eased in gently. Iain said it picked up around 30-40% in so I'm guess thats when its gonna get hella scary as well as creepy lol

[Hailee]

Zaara wrote: "Spicy Menace/ WROTE POST AFTER READING THE CHAPTER"

Yeah Charlie Manx (view spoiler)[ is definitely delusional. I'm still not quite sure what he does with the kids once he has them. And he took his own children to Christmasland!! Given how old he is they must have been there for decades so far!!!

I think/hope those kids in the graveyard aren't actually since the girl was seen by them a few minutes later at t jug e top of that hill being shouted at by her mother. I think its just a supernatural representation of them (I hope anyway). (hide spoiler)]

As for Bing (view spoiler)[ I agree that despite my thinking he has mental health issues that doesn't mean I don't think he's a sicko. He was way too easily persuaded to kidnap that girl and kill her mother (hide spoiler)]

[Hailee]

Siobhan wrote: "If your dessert smells like glue you have problems... 😂"

I don't know what you're talking about. Glue is a vital ingredient in all the puddings I make. I like my puddings really sticky. (view spoiler)[ Christ that is the kind of pun my dad would make, shoot me now 😂😂 (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Hailee wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "If your dessert smells like glue you have problems... 😂"

I don't know what you're talking about. Glue is an vital ingredient in all the puddings I make. I like my puddings really s..."

Glue is used in place of milk in cereal commercials / posters.

[Zaara]

Jessica wrote: "October twins! (Though I'm the 27th, so this is a tiny bit early)"

Logged back in to say happy (belated if my timezone math is off) birthday, Jessica.
Hope you have a great day!
(view spoiler)[
(hide spoiler)]

[Hailee]

I finished The Librarian

@Zaara I totally agree about The Brat's mother (view spoiler)[she may not be evil but she is totally selfish and self centred. Her daughter was lying ill in her room for countless days but her mom still manged to make it all about herself and how it affected her. And that comment about it not being a holiday if it was just her and Vic alone. Charming!!!

Her dad is obviously a bad husband and I have a feeling he may be cheating on her, maybe that is what all those 'surveying jobs' are about but at least he is pretty committed to to Vic. (hide spoiler)]

The Library - (view spoiler)[ So far Margaret is my favourite character in the book, I like her even more than Vic. Glad we are finally getting some answers about theses special abilities they have. (hide spoiler)]

Also I love the slogans on Margaret's mugs lol. Especially the Do NOT Make Me Use My Librarian Voice one. Although to be fair I like using my librarian voice. sometime the student annoy me so being able to let them off for making too much noise is a stress reliever ;-)