Current reading - Page 72

Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes

Vince Flynn, whose success basically let Thor have an audience, is actually worse and much scarier in his politics. Fuck, early Tom Clancy is better than both.

Read Barry Eisler instead. All the thrills, actually a good writer, none of the racism.

Originally Posted by Kevin Macken

Just finished Pet Sematary recently, I have mixed feelings...

Spoilers below


The book was absolutely creepy, no doubt about that. I totally agree with what was said on the previous page about the building dread, and how even in the beginning of the book things never felt right for the Creed family. Even when things were going fine for them, I seemed to always have a pit in my stomach. It established a kind of a subdued sense of dread pretty much from the start, so no complaints there.

What I didn't like at all was how it basically turned from a story on grief and loss, into a story about an invisible, magical Indian force that somehow has the power to cause people to miss planes and stall new cars.

I was really digging it until about 3/4 of the way through, when King stopped hinting that some kind of weird power was responsible for these happenings and just started flat out saying it, and saying it about every other page at that. I'm sure people will disagree, but for me it kind of cheapens the whole story if Louis is not in control, (or as much control as someone could be who just lost a child) when he is contemplating what to do with Gage, and ultimately makes his decision. It was no longer a story of how far grief could take a person, and turned into a story about some near omnipotent spooky.. whatever it was, force or entity or thing. I didn't like the idea of something possessing or even just influencing Louis's decision making process, because it just kind of takes away from the act when he finally does dig up his son.


Other thoughts;

This book is really fucking bleak, and I appreciate the balls of the ending

Jud Crandall really manages to do pretty much everything wrong, and every time he was in the story, I couldn't stop thinking about the South Park spoof, "You Don't wanna go down thaat Road.."


Actually, now that I mention it though, I don't think he actually says that line in the book.

Originally Posted by Princess Kate

IMHO he was in control till he brought the cat back to life. You ask for help from a wendigo, and you're not going to be able to say "OK, that's enough help now bye"

PS The part where the book describes the guy who was brought back to life by his father back in the 20s or whatever? Some of the scariest stuff I've ever read, how King describes the guy once he was brought back.

Originally Posted by Kevin Macken

Yea, I'd buy that. But even still, it's pretty clearly stated that force, or Wendigo, or whatever the hell, was responsible for the cat's death. That kinda bugs me too, especially towards the end, when it turned into Final Destination type shit, making Jud fall asleep, making Rachel miss the plane, stall the car, etc. Maybe it's just me, but when you have such an uneven playing field, it makes the story less interesting. You knew there was no way that Louis was going to be stopped from burying Gage.

Originally Posted by Kevin Macken

[B]
I agree with you on the second part as well, I found that to be the scariest part too. I will say though, I think part of why I found it so creepy was because it was never clear what exactly happened to them once they were buried. There are few suggestions given, and I wish King left it open like that. When Gage came back, and it was the same personality as the other kid (I believe it was the 40's, and the he was killed in the war), it basically just leads me to think it's just a case of them coming back possessed. I liked the ambiguity of the story that Jud told, one of them mentioned that maybe the people who came back had seen something and it had driven them over the edge, or just they came back and were just kind of, wrong. Like the cat was.

Originally Posted by Kevin Macken

[B]
But when Gage came back and I found it to be a little too cartoonishly evil.

Originally Posted by Kevin Macken

I will say that, having read It, Salem's Lot and Pet Sematary back to back, I kind of wanna stay the hell out of Maine.

Originally Posted by Princess Kate

You might want to try Jerusalem's Lot.

1) It is shorter than SL

2) It is scarier, IMHO

I read most of Salem's Lot and liked it, but I missed the very end of the book because the tape broke and I never ended up finishing it

Originally Posted by Kevin Macken

I will say that, having read It, Salem's Lot and Pet Sematary back to back, I kind of wanna stay the hell out of Maine.

Originally Posted by Kevin Macken

Any particular book to start off with?

Originally Posted by Subotai

I see the strengths in Connolly's writing but I can't quite recommend the Charlie Parker books. I've enjoyed a couple and found others meander. It's not an easy thing to link the detective genre with gothic horror and I'm not sure he pulls it off.

Originally Posted by RathBandu

Great story from THE MEN WHO WOULD BE KING, the recent book about Dreamworks: At the Cannes Premiere of Shark Tale, Angelina Jolie refused to get on a giant mechanical fish as a stunt. Will Smith said to her "You ever want to be in a movie that grosses over 100 million? Get on the fucking fish." She got on the fish.

Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes

Vince Flynn, whose success basically let Thor have an audience, is actually worse and much scarier in his politics. Fuck, early Tom Clancy is better than both.

Read Barry Eisler instead. All the thrills, actually a good writer, none of the racism.

Originally Posted by jvc

Cameron, just picked up Barry Eisler's first two John Rain novels. From what I've read of the two authors, my politics seem a little closer to Brad Thor's than Barry Eisler's. But I've never let that stop me from enjoying a good book, movie, show, etc. These books don't look too dense. Should be great beach reading for when I'm on vacation next week.

Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes

Absolutely the right attitude. I can't tell you how fucking sick I am of hearing "But they're CONSERVATIVE." if I bring up South Park. So what? They're funny. ManBearPig was hilarious.

Originally Posted by Subotai

Ferrigno's a good writer. That trilogy, taken on its own merits, is pretty damn entertaining. Ferrigno himself isn't that impressive in conversation.

Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes

He's a nice guy, always been friendly to me. I do think its pretty funny that he went from writing several small-scale Leonard-type novels to these big international thrillers.

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Next I'm reading My Booky Wook by Russell Brand and re-reading Less than Zero to prepare for the release of its sequel Imperial Bedrooms.

Originally Posted by Martianman

Always forget to update this:

Listening to:

The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee - Sarah Silverman

Originally Posted by Leviathan Joe

Reading: "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami. A Japanese pulp detective story with subterranean monsters and a parallel narrative set it in a pastoral dream world. Solid.

Originally Posted by Chris Spider

Incidentally, I'm interested in seeing where the story goes next, so I picked up Dune Messiah from the library. How much more of Herbert's original series do I need to read to get the "full" experience? I am already aware that Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert's Dune novels are to be avoided at all costs.

Originally Posted by Matt M

I think everything through God Emperor is worth reading. It lost me after that.

Originally Posted by bendrix

Have you read Lunar Park? Just finished it this weekend and loved it. I'm a sucker for author-as-protagonist metacommentary. Having only been familiar with his writing through film adaptations and interviews, I had to read between a few lines, but it was an interesting thought experiment to try to separate the author from the myth, especially in the opening chapters.

Originally Posted by JetManX

GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield

Rollicking good time. The battle of Thermopylae with room for a backstory featuring the castration of a teenager, the death of a young kid who would rather die than cry mercy to the pain caused by his strict masters' punishment, and other such niceties. Though there's a faux-ancient voice, it's not at all stuffy and flows really well. I'm really looking forward to the big battle scenes, as even this early on Pressfield writes action very clear and very well.

Of course if you don't like the Spartan world, where death in battle is glorious and women are only around to produce strapping young men*, than you probably should skip this.

* A little unfair on my part, but you get the point.

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis

I checked out William Goldman's Marathon Man & Brothers from the Library. I've never read any of his stuff, so looking forward to it.