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Odd Hours (Odd Thomas, #4)
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Odd Thomas Series > Odd Hours (Group Read - October 2020)

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message 1: by Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado (last edited Sep 27, 2020 01:31PM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
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 Wilkinson (lilmizflashythang) | 270 comments Great!


Matthew | 183 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
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 (broomemarygmailcom) | 377 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
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 Wilkinson (lilmizflashythang) | 270 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
Everyone immediately has the same concern about moving :-)


message 9: by Karen (new)

Karen Dandurant (karendandurant) | 88 comments 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 Beamon (susanbeamon) | 71 comments 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 | 183 comments 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.


message 12: by Mary (last edited Oct 25, 2020 08:45PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Mary (broomemarygmailcom) | 377 comments 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.


message 13: by Mary (new) - rated it 4 stars

Mary (broomemarygmailcom) | 377 comments 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???


message 14: by Karen (new)

Karen Dandurant (karendandurant) | 88 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
Just started Odd Hours this week. A bit behind schedule. I plan to read Odd Interlude immediately after to catch up in November.


Matthew | 183 comments 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!


message 17: by Mary (new) - rated it 4 stars

Mary (broomemarygmailcom) | 377 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
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.


message 19: by Matthew (last edited Nov 06, 2020 01:48PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Matthew | 183 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
My Odd Thomas Rankings so far upon re-reading:
1. Odd Interlude
2. Brother Odd
3. Odd Thomas
4. Odd Hours
5. Forever Odd


message 22: by Mary (last edited Nov 09, 2020 10:52PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Mary (broomemarygmailcom) | 377 comments 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.
:-)


message 23: by Mary (last edited Nov 09, 2020 11:04PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Mary (broomemarygmailcom) | 377 comments 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


message 24: by Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado (last edited Nov 27, 2020 08:21AM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
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?


message 25: by Peter (new)

Peter Darcy (peterdarcy) | 2 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
You are quite the devoted fan.


message 27: by Kirstin (new) - added it

Kirstin Viland | 9 comments 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 (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
Thanks Kristin!


Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
Kirsten :-)


Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
Kirstin. so sorry. I'm currently using my phone. I usually use my laptop to comment :-) Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.


message 31: by Kirstin (new) - added it

Kirstin Viland | 9 comments Not a worry Dustin!


Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl (dustpancrazy) | 6120 comments Mod
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.


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