December 2021 Group Read #2 - Desperation

[WendyB]

Stephen King's Desperation has been voted the second group read for December.
Remember to use spoiler tags where needed. Have fun!

[Jason]

Nice, I'm in for this one. Will prob start early as December is busy.....

[Greg]

I have a copy of Desperation - I hope to have the time to read it in December and join in the discussion!

[Andrea Thomas]

I read this years ago when in high-school (back when I could lay on the couch and read all day) excellent choice!

[Giovanni]

I never read this one, it didi not tempt me at all when it got out

[Kasia]

There are some great scenes in this one, looking forward to everyone's comments :)

[Zain]

Read a ton of him during my childhood. Would rather spend my time exploring and reading a new or independent author.


Zain

[Sally]

Will be starting this one soon, picked it up from the library this week. Man, it's a thick one!

[Kimberly]

We had so many great choices this month!

[WendyB]

I read this a long long time ago. Don't remember much about it but I hope everyone reading it here enjoys it. King is very good at telling a story.

[LTJ]

YES!!! LoL I voted for this one and can't wait to read it as I've yet to do so. Grabbing a copy after work today :-)

[Monica]

Yeeey finally something i already own .

[Emilie]

I read this one sometime this year and I loved it. Excited to see how everyone enjoys it. Just so you are aware The Regulators by Richard Bachman (aka King) is a companion/mirror novel to this. I’d recommend reading them one after the other as that’s how he wrote them.

[Monica]

Does this take place in a small town?

[Kasia]

Monica wrote: "Does this take place in a small town?"

Pretty much haha.

[Kasia]

LTJ wrote: "YES!!! LoL I voted for this one and can't wait to read it as I've yet to do so. Grabbing a copy after work today :-)"

Nice! There's a scene towards the end that legit gave me nightmares. Hope that you like this one!

[Monica]

Kasia wrote: "Monica wrote: "Does this take place in a small town?"

Pretty much haha."

Good

[Damir]

Monica wrote: "Does this take place in a small town?"

Sort of - it's not the typical Stephen King small town.

Beyond a gut-wrenching scene in the first half, Desperation didn't impress me much when I read it years ago. I re-read it recently and picked up on a few things I'd missed that first time round. It was a much better reading experience.

[Kasia]

I wish that the rating would show up in the little banner next to our name if we already read it in the past.

[LTJ]

@Kasia: Nightmares, you say? Let's goooooo

[Kasia]

Wish I could say more but I don't want to spoil anything, but yeah, I woke up petrified because I dreamt that part and I still remember it very vividly. It was a great scene!

[LTJ]

@Kasia: LoL I appreciate that and wow, this sounds so awesome! I'm going to rip through so many novels after work today since I'll be off all of next week and plan to go through this month's group reads and possibly get a head start for December's group reads :-)

[Kasia]

Very nice! I'm caught up with the group reads I wanted to do this month so I'm listening to an audiobook about an assassin that's not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. I keep thinking "how is it that you're still alive?"

[LTJ]

@Kasia: LoL by the skin of his teeth, maybe? Glad to hear you're all caught up with the group reads, that's impressive!

[Kasia]

LTJ wrote: "@Kasia: LoL by the skin of his teeth, maybe? Glad to hear you're all caught up with the group reads, that's impressive!"

Haha, or sheer dumb luck! I've missed listening to audiobooks, so I'm at least enjoying that aspect. I actually have Desperation from audible, Stephen recorded the whole thing himself, pretty good but I ended up reading this on my kindle. Might give it a listen next month.

I can't even imagine recording an audiobook, to me it's like handwriting a letter and getting tired towards the end, hurrying to finish, the writing itself changing style completely into scribbles lol. It's impressive to record a 500 page story and read it at the same tempo and tone.

[LTJ]

@Kasia: LoL I tried to do audiobooks but maybe it's because I prefer reading on my Kindle that I prefer reading it that way. I also don't think I can keep up with narratives and characters through an audiobook as I can reading it on my Kindle :-)

I'm glad you enjoy them, though. My wife also prefers audiobooks/audible so we always have fun conversations as to which medium is better where we agree whatever makes people happy is the best option for them!

I agree, much respect to those that do audiobooks because I can imagine it's not easy at all to capture the proper tone, accents, plot twists, etc.!

[Kimberly]

Kasia wrote: "Wish I could say more but I don't want to spoil anything, but yeah, I woke up petrified because I dreamt that part and I still remember it very vividly. It was a great scene!"

I think I know what scene you mean! But maybe I should try to squeeze a re-read in?

[Kasia]

LTJ wrote: "@Kasia: LoL I tried to do audiobooks but maybe it's because I prefer reading on my Kindle that I prefer reading it that way. I also don't think I can keep up with narratives and characters through ..."

Honestly I have only listened to one audiobook this year which was The Midnight LIbrary, and the currents is the 2nd haha. But I've learned to enjoy the medium :) glad to hear that you wife reads too, that's awesome!

[Kasia]

Kimberly wrote: "I think I know what scene you mean! But maybe I should try to squeeze a re-read in?."

(view spoiler)[ It was that chase in the desert towards the end, holy cray I've never pictured something so vividly in my mind as that horrific scene (hide spoiler)]

[LTJ]

@Kasia: That's pretty cool and yeah, I tried an audiobook and it wasn't for me. I think because I type/read so fast because of being a professional writer/editor, it's hard for me to focus on audio unless it's metal music \m/

LoL glad you enjoy the medium and thanks for the kind words about my wife :-)

[Sarah]

Fantastic choice one of my favourites. Looking forward to this.

[Michaela]

Andrea Thomas wrote: "I read this years ago when in high-school (back when I could lay on the couch and read all day) excellent choice!"

Me too and I sure do miss the days when I could lay on the couch all day reading books!

[LTJ]

I miss those days too but I used to spend all day reading books at my local Barnes & Noble back in the day. They had a little cafe (before it became a Starbucks years later!) in there and everything which made it a perfect spot to sit, drink coffee, and read :-)

[Michael]

I'm new to the group reads. Does it matter which order we read the two choices in?

[Kasia]

Hi Michael, glad to have you! There is no order, this book was the runner up in votes and that's why it's the second group read for December. You can read the one you prefer, or both :)

[LTJ]

Welcome, Michael! Glad to have you and enjoy some virtual hot coffees as you get used to us :-)

[Kasia]

LTJ wrote: "LoL glad you enjoy the medium and thanks for the kind words about my wife :-)"

You are always such a gentleman, you're welcome!

[Rambling]

My first group read so be gentle, are there any rules for this group reading besides the obvious use of spoiler tags.
I'm glad desperation was chosen as king is one of my favourite authors, I'm looking forward to reading this title.

[WendyB]

Rambling wrote: "My first group read so be gentle, are there any rules for this group reading besides the obvious use of spoiler tags.
I'm glad desperation was chosen as king is one of my favourite authors, I'm lo..."

Mention what you like or dislike about the book w/o spoiling the plot for someone who is still reading. It's ok to ask questions if you aren't sure about something in the story. And mainly, just enjoy reading a book with a fine group of people at HA. :)

[Rambling]

I'm not sure if you are a "fine" group of people just yet haha,
I am still deciding on that one :)

Thank you for your response wendy :)

[Jess]

I actually can’t remember if I’ve read this one or not, which is rare for me. But I went through a big King phase about 15 years ago where I blazed through most of his catalog. I don’t think I’ve read anything by him since so it’ll be interesting to give him a revisit.

[Kasia]

Definitely one of my favorite books this year Jess, thanks for reading with us :)

[Amanda]

Desperation is one of my favorite Stephen King books. This is one of the few books that I have read multiple times and I can't wait to read it again.

[Jason]

That sheriff is nota nice fella

[Kasia]

Jason wrote: "That sheriff is nota nice fella"

Just a tad rough around the edges!

[Sally]

Just started last night, we just dove right into the action I see.

[Monica]

Me too. Read the first whole chapterand was very intrigued. Couldnt put it down.

[Fishface]

I haven't read this one since it first hit paperback. I remembered close to zero about the story-- what little I did retain was scrambled together with The Regulators -- and it's so much more rich and complex than I dared to hope. Great, great story.

[Sarah]

Second time around, still loving it.

[Sally]

Just finished part 1. Loving this so far. Getting Dark Tower vibes with the made up language the sheriff uses. He even said can-toi. The low men in the DT series. I love how everything comes back around when reading a King book