Odd Hours (Group Read - October 2020)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

It's only life. We all get through it.
Not all of us complete the journey in the same condition. Along the way, some lose their legs or eyes in accidents or altercations, while others skate through the years with nothing worse to worry about than an occasional bad-hair day.
-Opening Lines of ODD HOURS by Dean Koontz

October approaches with Odd Hours. Thank you to everyone who is reading or re-reading the Odd Thomas Series with us in Koontzland!

On a related note: New Release of ELSEWHERE by Dean Koontz is set for Tuesday October 6th.
Happy Reading!

[Charissa]

Great!

[Matthew]

So most of my books are packed away because I am moving in a couple weeks BUT Odd Hours is SO fast paced i might manage to get through it once the chaos settles.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Matthew wrote: "So most of my books are packed away because I am moving in a couple weeks BUT Odd Hours is SO fast paced i might manage to get through it once the chaos settles."

Best wishes for your move. Hope you enjoy your new home :-)

[Mary]

I hope you didn't have to thin out your books too much. I miss just seeing mine on shelves!
Be happy in your new home.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Mary wrote: "I hope you didn't have to thin out your books too much. I miss just seeing mine on shelves!
Be happy in your new home."

I was thinking that too. Every time I moved it meant parting with some books. I'm happy to be pretty well settled for the past 7 1/2 years. Today I did part with five books that I didn't want to read again, I wasn't very attached to them, donated them to my neighborhood Little Free Library.

[Charissa]

I hope you don't lose any books in the move. I've lost quite a few that way, including a recipe book that was a family favorite.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Everyone immediately has the same concern about moving :-)

[Karen]

I try not to move too much, because...books. My kids and friends will inevitably comment on the many boxes of books. I don't need that kind of negativity. Kidding, but I bet they wish I had less.

[Susan]

Finished Odd Hours early this month. Have to say, I did like the story.
Last time I moved was 20 years ago. Then I only had 10 bookcases full of books. I have at least twice that upstairs. Not sure but likely 3 times that in the basement. And the books are double stacked in the shelves, so we are talking many, many boxes.

[Matthew]

I just wanted to take this time (now that all my stuff is moved into the new place...not unpacked, but it's THERE, which in itself feels great...I wanted to thank all of you (Dustin, Mary, Karen, and Charissa) for carrying on a conversation about how stressful moving is for...well, everyone, but us book lovers especially! Your comments have made me smile during a busy time.

[Mary]

Well, I finally finished Odd Hours. I remember when reading it last that I was quite confused at some of it. Well, that has not changed. The destruction of the world part was fun, always is, but it seemed like there was really not much going on for long stretches.
Especially, Annamaria, I pretty much just found annoying and frustrating. I wanted to scream at her to just answer the question---leave out the cute attempted riddle-like answers, the attempted hard to read or maybe just nonexistent spirituality..."Just answer the D-mn question" I don't remember feeling that way last time. She annoyed me with her poor me, helpless act as well. I longed for kick-ass Stormy.
There were many Koontz quotes poetic lines and paragraphs that kept me enjoying this book.
BUT, I barely lasted the first few chapters of some silly slow crawl under the pier at Magic beach.

[Mary]

Matthew wrote: "I just wanted to take this time (now that all my stuff is moved into the new place...not unpacked, but it's THERE, which in itself feels great...I wanted to thank all of you (Dustin, Mary, Karen, a..."

Glad you are safely moved, Matthew.
Say, I was looking through for the page we were going to list our favorite odd books in order???

[Karen]

There is something very satisfying about all your stuff being safely moved. The unpacking happens at your leisure.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Just started Odd Hours this week. A bit behind schedule. I plan to read Odd Interlude immediately after to catch up in November.

[Matthew]

Mary wrote: "Matthew wrote: "I just wanted to take this time (now that all my stuff is moved into the new place...not unpacked, but it's THERE, which in itself feels great...I wanted to thank all of you (Dustin..."

Howdy Mary...yes, we were going to do our own Odd series rankings when done with Saint in a few months!

[Mary]

EESH! I will have to get a post-it note and try to keep track. That is a long time to remember all these books!

I have gotten spoiled by library books so I feel way behind because I'm going to try and wait for Elsewhere to come to the library. I love FREE!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I highly recommend Elsewhere. Certainly my favorite stand alone since Ashley Bell (which I need to re-read).

Forever Odd is currently at the bottom of my ranking list.

[Matthew]

Finished my Odd Hours re-read yesterday and it IS a confusing book. This makes my 3rd complete reading and, despite this, I still can feel the book's disjointed nature. And heeeeere's why the book seems mish-mashed... at some point during the writing of this 4th Oddie book, Koontz experienced an Eureka! moment and realized this series would no longer be just be a series of stand-alone books but rather encompass an overarching story\world. Helluva realization to hit you when in the middle of a novel...even more so when it's a novel that appears over midway through an entire series! So, Hours is entertaining with the trademark humor of Oddie but the story itself is jumbled.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Matthew wrote: "And heeeeere's why the book seems mish-mashed... at some point during the writing of this 4th Oddie book, Koontz experienced an Eureka! moment and realized this series would no longer be just be a series of stand-alone books but rather encompass an overarching story\world. Helluva realization to hit you when in the middle of a novel...even more so when it's a novel that appears over midway through an entire series! So, Hours is entertaining with the trademark humor of Oddie but the story itself is jumbled."

Thanks for the enlightenment. I hadn't realized that before :-)
I just finished re-reading Odd Hours yesterday and dropped my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

My Odd Thomas Rankings so far upon re-reading:
1. Odd Interlude
2. Brother Odd
3. Odd Thomas
4. Odd Hours
5. Forever Odd

[Mary]

Matthew wrote: "Finished my Odd Hours re-read yesterday and it IS a confusing book. This makes my 3rd complete reading and, despite this, I still can feel the book's disjointed nature. And heeeeere's why the book ..."

I didn't know these started out by being stand-alone books. I can see how that could be true for books one and two. I have always thought there was an odd (haha) overlap OR gap between Odd Thomas and Forever Odd. Regardless of which, the flow just didn't flow. Maybe, if FO had not started with such a bang the transition would have been easier. At the same time it was my favorite part of the book, so I guess I can be very hard to please.
:-)

[Mary]

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "My Odd Thomas Rankings so far upon re-reading:
1. Odd Interlude
2. Brother Odd
3. Odd Thomas
4. Odd Hours
5. Forever Odd"

Our rankings are the same except I have not read Odd Interlude yet.

1. Brother Odd
2. Odd Thomas
3. Odd Hours
4. Forever Odd

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Mary wrote: "Our rankings are the same except I have not read Odd Interlude yet.

1. Brother Odd
2. Odd Thomas
3. Odd Hours
4. Forever Odd"

Have you started Odd Interlude or maybe completed it by now?

[Peter]

I find it impossible to rank the books in the Odd Thomas series because I loved every word of every one!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

You are quite the devoted fan.

[Kirstin]

Just hit chapter 19... I have to say that I'm having a hard time engaging with this one. I still like it better than Forever Odd but we'll see were I rank it when I finish all of them.
(please note: I have not read the odd thomas set before so this is first impressions here)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Thanks Kristin!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Kirsten :-)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Kirstin. so sorry. I'm currently using my phone. I usually use my laptop to comment :-) Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Kirstin]

Not a worry Dustin!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

On this re-read round, I've put Odd Hours and Odd Apocalypse on the same level. They're still better than Forever Odd though in my book though.