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2012 Book Thread For Forum Members
1. Flashback by Dan Simmons:
A sobering look at the near future. Ostensibly a murder/mystery, Simmons uses it as a story engine to postulate a very frightening, potentially real future especially given the recent economic and political climates around the world.
A sobering look at the near future. Ostensibly a murder/mystery, Simmons uses it as a story engine to postulate a very frightening, potentially real future especially given the recent economic and political climates around the world.
Comments
Must amend that.
2. Rage Against The Night: - horror anthology including a tale by Bev - View From The Top - a nifty Bradburyesque small town tale dealing with a Ferris Wheel. Really enjoyed it.
The standout story for me was Gary Braunbeck's - Afterward, There Will Be A Hallway - about the coming together of several characters to form a rather unique 'family.' Extremely touching.
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5 - thanks to a 50% off sale managed to snag the entire series for digital digestion. Love comics on a tablet, especially with the guided view option which moves from panel to panel. Really like this as I often read panels in the wrong order because I have difficulty figuring the proper flow at times. Must be a sign of old age I guess.
At any rate, comics look fantastic on tablets and this series by Joe Hill is top notch stuff.
BTW, he is overdue for a book....
Hill's next book is NOS 4A2 and won't be out until next year. He read the opening section at WHC last year.
Definitely a great, quick read kind of book. Finished it in two nights.
Now, what to choose next....
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
At just over 300 pages this felt more like a novella than a full blown novel given how long his last couple of books have been. And how this is a string of 3 stories within a much bigger story.
Like that favorite old sweater or pair of comfy lounging pants it was great to return the universe of The Dark Tower. Or like a family reunion. It was treat to visit with these characters again even if they are only a small part of this book.
The two other stories were both engrossing and fleshed out more of Roland's backstory and the series's mythos.
A pleasant time indeed.
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
6. The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners
The surprising thing here for me was that every story was not a home run. A couple of clunkers in this collection of the Stoker Winners from 1987 to 1998 was not what I expected. Thankfully the stories in this collection that are good, are very good.
Special mention to George R.R. Martin, Robert Bloch and Joe Lansdale, also the editor of this collection, for their stories.
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
6. The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners
7. The Five by Robert McCammon
This is a fantastic book!
McCammon does not spell things out - how can one provide the answer to those questions we have been asking since man has first emerged after all? - nor, most importantly, does he try.
He leaves the texture of those moments open for the reader to interpret. The net result is that I found this story very moving in that same way a great story or song can inspire or energize.
Great Book!
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
6. The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners
7. The Five by Robert McCammon
8. Death Masks: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Always a pleasure to read these books and this one delivers too. Butcher puts Dresden through an emotional and physical wringer each time and the mythos of this universe becomes more intriguing with each book.
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
6. The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners
7. The Five by Robert McCammon
8. Death Masks: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
9. Triggers - Robert J. Sawyer
The latest SF novel from Robert J. Sawyer. After his wonderful WWW trilogy where the internet gains 'self-awareness' this comes across like a palette cleanser.
This time in the near future it is mankind, through the sharing of memories and then thoughts, that elevates itself to the next level. There are a lot of intriguing ideas here but they never coalesce into something unified. And the group mind is not explored or explained enough to demonstrate why this evolution is one the reader can embrace.
In some ways, this feels like a poor man's - A Childhood's End.
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
6. The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners
7. The Five by Robert McCammon
8. Death Masks: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
9. Triggers - Robert J. Sawyer
10. The Long Walk - Stephen King - more relevant today than ever.
11. The Providence Rider - Robert McCammon
Took me awhile to finally grab this book. McCammon's books are not as easy to get in my area, especially at a reasonable price. Luck would have it, there was an ebook sale and I snatched it up for a mere $3! 8-)
Took awhile for the sails to fill with wind in this story but once it does, it never relents. Almost felt like a James Bond story at times but Professor Fell is a most intriguing adversary. And I'm not sold on the character presented to us as actually being Fell.
Story was a lot fun to read and has a Raimi Spiderman ending to boot.
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
6. The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners
7. The Five by Robert McCammon
8. Death Masks: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
9. Triggers - Robert J. Sawyer
10. The Long Walk - Stephen King - more relevant today than ever.
11. The Providence Rider - Robert McCammon
12. The Twelve by Justin Cronin - partial
Only made it 3/4s of the way through this one before I had to return it to the library. I'll have to reborrow to finish it but with an upcoming Christmas vacation that likely won't happen till next year.
The shifting timeline that occurred in the first book is back this time to even more annoying affect. At least in the first book it was in chronological order. In the second, it jumps back again with characters whose fates we know and don't care about. The first book left us with a certain group of characters and then when the second picks up with them it is some time after the first book ended.
Rather off putting and a momentum killer. 300 pages plus in and it was only then the book felt like it was gathering steam. On the plus side I really do like Cronin's way with characters.
Currently reading Cloud Atlas - haven't seen the movie but the plot synopsis intrigued me enough to check it out.
1. Flashback by Dan Simmons
2. Rage Against The Night
3. Locke & Key Vols 2 - 5
4. A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene
5. Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
6. The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners
7. The Five by Robert McCammon
8. Death Masks: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
9. Triggers - Robert J. Sawyer
10. The Long Walk - Stephen King - more relevant today than ever.
11. The Providence Rider - Robert McCammon
12. The Twelve by Justin Cronin - partial
Last reads of 2012
13. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle - a Young Adult novel recommended to me by a friend because of the similarity between what was happening to Peter Bishop in Season 5 of Fringe. Pretty lofty book for a YA novel. A novel and a writer that seems to be well known and beloved by many who grew up reading her books but this wiriter was a blind spot for me. Highly recommended.
14. No Sanctuary by Richard Laymon - typical Laymon fun and mayhem about disparate groups of people that cross paths in the wilderness with each other and a serial killer. This one works well because of the tension of not knowing who is whom. The perfect beach book which is where I read it while in Jamaica vacationing. 8-)
Cloud Atlas still needs to be read and The Passage needs to be finished.
All in all a pretty anemic reading year in terms of quantity for me but the quality was pretty high. It is my goal to do better now that job searching and relocation are behind us.
Read, and heard one too, a few short stories by Stephen King:
1) Batman and Robin Have An Altercation
2) AfterLife
3) In TheTall Grass - cowritten with Joe Hill
4) Little Green God of Agony - comic book form
5) A Face In The Crowd - cowritten with Stewart O'Nan.
Really enjoyed 1, 2, & 5. Special mention for 2 - love King reading his stories. Mixed feelings on 3 - liked the first part, disappointed with the second half.
4 was run in comic form at King's website. Too much story for the space allocated? The last two panels were very confusing to figure out.
Also read various short stories by other authors such as Jeff Strand etc.
I haven't read enough of Jeff Strand's stuff, but I know him fairly well. He's an incredibly funny guy -- he's been the MC at a number of events because of his humor -- plus he's a huge Survivor fan, so we're always talking online about that.
I have mixed feelings about Laymon. A lot of my contemporaries look at him as a mentor because he was very generous with them early in their careers, but I find some of his stuff hard to swallow.
I have similar feelings about Laymon. With the exception of The Traveling Vampire Show, his books end up feeling like guilty pleasure reading.