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Karen.d's Reading List 2018


karen.d

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Great review of Cujo! I can't for the life of me remember if I already commented on the review on FB, so if I'm repeating myself, do forgive me! But it was a really horrifying novel, wasn't it? I mean I was scared to read on and see how things escalated. I agree what you said about feeling sorry for Cujo, as he couldn't help it at all. I think King did a great job, writing from Cujo's perspective, as well. 

 

One of the scenes that haunts me most about the novel is when

Spoiler

that kid starts vomiting blood. Obviously the reader thinks the kid is a goner. Horrifying!! And then later on it's revealed that the color additive on the cereal is what made his vomit look like he was spewing blood from his guts, and while it was rather disgusting and inconvenient, it wasn't dangerous! :D  I thought the whole thing was pure genius! :D

 

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On 11/8/2018 at 9:20 PM, frankie said:

Great review of Cujo! I can't for the life of me remember if I already commented on the review on FB, so if I'm repeating myself, do forgive me! But it was a really horrifying novel, wasn't it? I mean I was scared to read on and see how things escalated. I agree what you said about feeling sorry for Cujo, as he couldn't help it at all. I think King did a great job, writing from Cujo's perspective, as well. 

 

One of the scenes that haunts me most about the novel is when

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that kid starts vomiting blood. Obviously the reader thinks the kid is a goner. Horrifying!! And then later on it's revealed that the color additive on the cereal is what made his vomit look like he was spewing blood from his guts, and while it was rather disgusting and inconvenient, it wasn't dangerous! :D  I thought the whole thing was pure genius! :D

 

Yes! I know what you mean!! !ow I'm reading 'Dreamcatcher' and I'm not that impressed with it so far. Too much burping and passing wind for my liking. By the characters in the book, not by me I might add!

Edited by karen.d
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On 11/16/2018 at 6:58 AM, karen.d said:

Yes! I know what you mean!! !ow I'm reading 'Dreamcatcher' and I'm not that impressed with it so far. Too much burping and passing wind for my liking. By the characters in the book, not by me I might add!

 

:lol: Yes, Dreamcatcher is one of my least favourites of his books. 

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It's OK as an escapist read, it's very OTT  though.  Must admit of the few Kings I've  read I haven't been that impressed - From a Buick 8 was like an extended edition of an X FIles episode, and Bag of Bones is probably the best one I've read, I haven't read any others by him.

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4 hours ago, Madeleine said:

It's OK as an escapist read, it's very OTT  though.  Must admit of the few Kings I've  read I haven't been that impressed - From a Buick 8 was like an extended edition of an X FIles episode, and Bag of Bones is probably the best one I've read, I haven't read any others by him.

I'm a fan of Stephen King, but I haven-t enjoyed every single of his books, 'From a Buick 8' is one of them.I'm not enjoying 'Dream Catcher'. It seems to be all over the place.

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On 11/20/2018 at 7:50 PM, karen.d said:

Update- I'm 100 pages into 'Dreamcatcher' by Stephen King, but I'm seriously considering DNFing this. For anyone who has read this, is it worth continuing?

 

Probably not worth it, if you're not enjoying it. I don't recall it getting any better, so if you don't like the first 100 pages then you probably won't like the rest of them. :lol:

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13 hours ago, bobblybear said:

 

Probably not worth it, if you're not enjoying it. I don't recall it getting any better, so if you don't like the first 100 pages then you probably won't like the rest of them. :lol:

That's true. The only thing is that I've DNFed a lot of books this year, I don't like the idea of doing the same to this one. I din't know about anyone else, but as I have got older, I've found that I've DNFed a lot more books than I used to. May be I'm getting pickier with my reading choices.

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47 minutes ago, karen.d said:

I din't know about anyone else, but as I have got older, I've found that I've DNFed a lot more books than I used to. May be I'm getting pickier with my reading choices.

 

Same. I don't think I'm getting pickier, but I have been DNFing more books the past few years, than before then. Sorry you're not enjoying Dreamcatcher. I haven't read it but I'd probably DNF it (the younger me wouldn't have though!).

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1 hour ago, Athena said:

 

Same. I don't think I'm getting pickier, but I have been DNFing more books the past few years, than before then. Sorry you're not enjoying Dreamcatcher. I haven't read it but I'd probably DNF it (the younger me wouldn't have though!).

I have now DNF'ed 'Dream Catcher'. Life is too short to read a book I'm not enjoying, purely to boost my number of reads.

Edited by karen.d
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On 16.11.2018 at 8:58 AM, karen.d said:

Yes! I know what you mean!! !ow I'm reading 'Dreamcatcher' and I'm not that impressed with it so far. Too much burping and passing wind for my liking. By the characters in the book, not by me I might add!

 

:lol:  :lol:   Sorry you didn't like Dreamcatcher! I've never even tried reading it, the synopsis has never appealed to me. I actually had to google what the book is about. I found something interesting on Wikipedia: 

 

"The book, written in cursive, helped the author recuperate from a 1999 car accident, and was completed in half a year. According to the author in his afterword, the working title was Cancer.[1] His wife, Tabitha King, persuaded him to change the title. A film adaptation was released in 2003.

In 2014, King told Rolling Stone that "I don't like Dreamcatcher very much," and stated that the book was written under the influence of Oxycontin.[2]  

 

So don't feel bad about not liking the book, King doesn't like it either :lol::lol:

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5 hours ago, frankie said:

 

:lol:  :lol:   Sorry you didn't like Dreamcatcher! I've never even tried reading it, the synopsis has never appealed to me. I actually had to google what the book is about. I found something interesting on Wikipedia: 

 

"The book, written in cursive, helped the author recuperate from a 1999 car accident, and was completed in half a year. According to the author in his afterword, the working title was Cancer.[1] His wife, Tabitha King, persuaded him to change the title. A film adaptation was released in 2003.

In 2014, King told Rolling Stone that "I don't like Dreamcatcher very much," and stated that the book was written under the influence of Oxycontin.[2]  

 

So don't feel bad about not liking the book, King doesn't like it either :lol::lol:

That's interesting! It is a bit all over the place, now I understdn why. There's another book by Stephen King, 'TommyKnockers' which had a similar theme and I didn't like it either. 

Spoiler

Instead of burping and passing wind, this one had lots of women having uncontrollable periods! I don't think he can do books about aliens effectively.

 

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I thought that about Dreamcatcher too, and wondered if his accident and recovery had any bearing on the writing style, which felt quite fractured at times, such as chapters ending in the middle of a sentence.

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16 hours ago, Madeleine said:

I thought that about Dreamcatcher too, and wondered if his accident and recovery had any bearing on the writing style, which felt quite fractured at times, such as chapters ending in the middle of a sentence.

 

:o chapters ending in the middle of a sentence, that would really bother me!

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12 hours ago, Athena said:

 

:o chapters ending in the middle of a sentence, that would really bother me!

It was kind of trying to show thought processes of characters I think, but yes, it was quite annoying at times. 

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23 hours ago, karen.d said:

What's your favourite Stephen King book?

 

Ooh, that's a big question! I love the short story "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank redemption" , IT, Cujo & Under the Dome. Taken as a whole - the Dark Tower books are excellent too. Not sure I could pick one book as an absolute favourite.

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Just finished 'The Virgin's Lover' by Philippa Gregory and I really enjoyed it. I don't really know why it took me so long to finish it (it is over 400 pages though, which might explain it) but I love the double crossing and scheming that goes on in Philippa Gregory's historical novels! It brings historical textbooks to life.

 

Now I'm going to read 'The House of Cold Hill' by Peter James. My friend lent me this book, because she knows that I liked watching 'The Haunting of Hill House' and this looks similar.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I haven't done an update in a while! I DNFed 'Master and Commander' by Patrick 'O'Brien, not because I didn't think the writing was very good, but I couldn't understand the vocabulary associated with ships, which was included quite a lot. Now I'm re-reading one of my favourite books 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott. It's getting me in the Christmas mood. I'm going away for a few days tomorrow, so I want to wish you all  :merry:

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18 minutes ago, karen.d said:

I DNFed 'Master and Commander' by Patrick 'O'Brien, not because I didn't think the writing was very good, but I couldn't understand the vocabulary associated with ships, which was included quite a lot.

 

That's a frequent complaint - understandable given the amount of technical language he uses.  I initially found it bothered me,but then realised that I could slide over the language, picking up snippets here and there, and still thoroughly enjoy the narrative. You don't actually need to fully understand the naval language to get caught up in the action- these books work on more than one level, right from the nautical expert who can follow all the minutiae of the technicalities, through to the novitiate who is more interested in some brilliant character and plot development in an authentic setting. In fact, I found that a lot of the language gradually fell into place like the proverbial pieces in a jigsaw (the sailing plan included in each book helped a lot, as do some of the conversations when Stephen Maturin is being introduced to the naval world!). Having said that, I've just finished the 7th book and there were still bits that I didn't follow precisely, but I still loved it!

 

Every now and again I do want to check up on a word or phrase. To make that easier, I've acquired a copy of A Sea of Words by Dean King.  The subtitle explains all:  A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian.  It's a great dipping-in book in its own right if you have any interest in the world of that time.

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37 minutes ago, willoyd said:

 

That's a frequent complaint - understandable given the amount of technical language he uses.  I initially found it bothered me,but then realised that I could slide over the language, picking up snippets here and there, and still thoroughly enjoy the narrative. You don't actually need to fully understand the naval language to get caught up in the action- these books work on more than one level, right from the nautical expert who can follow all the minutiae of the technicalities, through to the novitiate who is more interested in some brilliant character and plot development in an authentic setting. In fact, I found that a lot of the language gradually fell into place like the proverbial pieces in a jigsaw (the sailing plan included in each book helped a lot, as do some of the conversations when Stephen Maturin is being introduced to the naval world!). Having said that, I've just finished the 7th book and there were still bits that I didn't follow precisely, but I still loved it!

 

Every now and again I do want to check up on a word or phrase. To make that easier, I've acquired a copy of A Sea of Words by Dean King.  The subtitle explains all:  A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian.  It's a great dipping-in book in its own right if you have any interest in the world of that time.

So maybe, if I can get over the technical language, it might be worth another go? I definitely can see this is well written, so maybe it is.

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33 minutes ago, karen.d said:

So maybe, if I can get over the technical language, it might be worth another go? I definitely can see this is well written, so maybe it is.

 

I'm a fan, so it's probably inevitable that I'd say it is (the series is amongs my top half dozen books, if that makes sense!). 

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On 12/21/2018 at 9:30 PM, karen.d said:

I haven't done an update in a while! I DNFed 'Master and Commander' by Patrick 'O'Brien, not because I didn't think the writing was very good, but I couldn't understand the vocabulary associated with ships, which was included quite a lot. Now I'm re-reading one of my favourite books 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott. It's getting me in the Christmas mood. I'm going away for a few days tomorrow, so I want to wish you all  :merry:

 

I wish you a very merry Christmas Karen!! :grinhat:

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