NOW READING

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Just finished "Robert Galbraith's" The Silkworm. Just like with Cuckoo, I absolutely loved it. In fact, it was probably even better. Even though I suspected some of the twists in advance, the discovery of the meanings of the novel itself made it a rather clever "detective story within a detective story", IMHO.
 
Forced to read a couple of classic Turkish novels for one of my classes. Just read Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü (The Time Regulation Institute) by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar. It's quite a brilliant novel actually, aside from a dull beginning. Nice, delicate sense of humour. Great take on deceit, manipulation and fraud. The quick spreading of lies and made up stories, how they can be twisted and turned into creating fascinating fake legends and packaging alone can help you force-feed consumers into a false state of need for something they actually don't need.

It's probably have been translated into English, I saw a review of it on New York Times.
 
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I have a copy of that. I once opened it up at a random page and gave it to a friend to read without him knowing what it was. His first response: "Is this by Khomeini?"
 
Maturin said:
Favourite King-book? The Dark Tower VII. King not only brought a satisfying conclusion to his most ambitious work, he ended it in a way that still resonates with me today, 10 years since I first read it.
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Just finished Book II. Book I was cryptic and weird, and had pretensions of being more literary than it really was. But it was mercifully short. Book II was a much better read and I'm looking forward to starting Book III shortly. I'm kind of on a Stephen King kick. I read The Stand and The Shining since Thanksgiving, in addition to the first two Dark Tower books. Agree with the recent statements about The Shining -- the movie greatly changes the story and the vibe. For example:
in the book, the good side of Jack takes over the possessed side just long enough to spare/save Danny; whereas in the movie Jack is murderous until the end.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
Just finished Book II. Book I was cryptic and weird, and had pretensions of being more literary than it really was. But it was mercifully short. Book II was a much better read and I'm looking forward to starting Book III shortly.
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It's a very fair criticism of The Gunslinger, but I still love the book - it really got my imagination going and the piece of mysticism at the end is still pretty impressive. It makes me think of Star Maker by Stapledon. As it stands though, even the revised edition would be better as a stand alone work.
 
I have all seven books in my library since they came out in Czech, but The Gunslinger has already discouraged me twice. I would really like to read the series, though, since everyone goes crazy about it.
 
BTW, currently reading:

Herbert - Chapterhouse: Dune
Dostoyevsky - Brothers Karamazov
Tolkien - LOTR (in English)
St. Augustine - Confessions

It usually helps to have more books at hand. Once you get tired of the first, you move on to the second and so on. Definitely improves my reading experience.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
I have all seven books in my library since they came out in Czech, but The Gunslinger has already discouraged me twice. I would really like to read the series, though, since everyone goes crazy about it.
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One of the most impressive things about The Dark Tower is how it puts everything in perspective. The books were written over decades and they actually give a great insight not only of King's development as craftsman but also as a person. While reading, mostly the last two books, it feels as if one gains a more personal perspective of what he was going through in his life. At some point the lines between fiction and biography blur and the reader can really sense why The Dark Tower is King's most majestic achievement and what it meant to him.
 
It depends on how you define representative. Maybe if you're thinking of works like Cujo and It, it is different indeed. But to me The Dark Tower is King himself.
 
Representative for his other works, or better: all his works, in which fantasy is not the prime genre. The fantasy (locations/language Tolkien influences etc) aspects are different from most other works, I assume. Isn't the bulk of his work more earth related? My brother (who has read a lot of fantasy) was really into The Tower, and not that much into Stephen King in general.
 
Funny that you mention it, but there was a time when I returned to his books almost exclusively because of his personal and biographical digressions and allusions. It probably isn't surprising then I was completely crazy about It, The Shining, Hearts in Atlantis, The Body (I still think Seasons are brought down a bit by both Pupil and Method, but maybe that's just me), Tommyknockers and most of all, On Writing. I even realised I keep re-reading the forewords and afterwords (especially to the short story collections), where he was usually very personal. I guess I really should read Tower then. Problem is, Gunslinger is a molasses-slow introduction (just like the first season of The Wire :D ) and considering I am already midway through a massive series (Dune) and a friend of mine (well, a preacher, actually, but somewhat of a friend too) keeps bugging me that I should read Malazan Book of the Fallen and I would also like to read Witcher before I'll play the game, I just have a hard time starting with it.
 
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