Jazzfanz Bookclub

[Boondocksaint27]

Any of you King fans read On Writing? I listened to the audio book two and a half times on a solitary drive back from Boston. Pretty interesting.

You know, that's one I need to get around to reading as well. I always read the excerpts from the back of King's books where he writes on how the ideas for his novels came about. I often read these before I read the book, or will flip to the back and read it in the middle of the story. The man has a way of taking the reader into the supernatural like no other.

 

[balli]

Negative. Is it fiction or a 'How To' on writing?

Eh. Presented as a kind of a 'how to' type of thing but more just a description of his own method and ideals. Some good critique of other writers, a lot of his own personal history and a bit on how some of his own books and stories came to be. Sort of a weird hodgepodge of his life, his work, his method and his suggestions for would be writers. I haven't read much King or pop fiction in the past decade, but I used to and thought it (On Writing) was enormously interesting. How often does a mega-author write a manual on how he does it?

 

[LogGrad98]

Hey Trout, you read this one yet? Excellent, excellent novellas. 1922 in particular I read on a flight from Long Beach to SLC and couldn't put it down. I think King is always great, but IMO he's at his best when writing short stories like in Graveyard Shift or Just After Sunset.

Pretty sure there was a bigger image of this out there.....maybe not though.

 

[LogGrad98]

Eh. Presented as a kind of a 'how to' type of thing but more just a description of his own method and ideals. Some good critique of other writers, a lot of his own personal history and a bit on how some of his own books and stories came to be. Sort of a weird hodgepodge of his life, his work, his method and his suggestions for would be writers. I haven't read much King or pop fiction in the past decade, but I used to and thought it (On Writing) was enormously interesting. How often does a mega-author write a manual on how he does it?

Agreed. I found it very entertaining, and informative, and the way King writes anyway you feel like you are sitting with him in his study while he is telling you this book, rather than just reading it. I have liked his non-fiction books, this and especially Danse Macabre.

 

[VINYLONE]

Ever read The Stand? Some of his best work...

 

[Boondocksaint27]

Agreed. I found it very entertaining, and informative, and the way King writes anyway you feel like you are sitting with him in his study while he is telling you this book, rather than just reading it. I have liked his non-fiction books, this and especially Danse Macabre.

I was trying to think of the best way to describe King's story-telling last night while posting in this thread, but yours is perfect. Vinyl, I agree 100%. I re-read The Stand every year.

 

[LogGrad98]

Ever read The Stand? Some of his best work...

Really "The Stand" and maybe "The Shining" and "The Dead Zone" are probably his best. He worked into a formula in other books that he follows somewhat that make a lot of his other books kinda cookie cutter. But IMHO King really shines in his short works (stories, novella, etc.). His story collections are spine-tinglingly scary and often full of wonder and amazement. Something he has difficulty catching in his books anymore. I think he got too caught up in placing ALL of his works into his "Dark Tower" universe and some them (and we readers) suffered for it.

BTW, am I the only one who threw the last Dark Tower book across the room in disgust for the crappy and fake way he neatly tied up all the loose ends, neutered the otherwise very scary and mysterious bad guy (The Crimson King) and then ended it with a horrible cliche cop-out?

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

I loved Apt Pupil. The movie sucked beyond belief though. A complete sellout.

 

[Stickler]

Really "The Stand" and maybe "The Shining" and "The Dead Zone" are probably his best. He worked into a formula in other books that he follows somewhat that make a lot of his other books kinda cookie cutter. But IMHO King really shines in his short works (stories, novella, etc.). His story collections are spine-tinglingly scary and often full of wonder and amazement. Something he has difficulty catching in his books anymore. I think he got too caught up in placing ALL of his works into his "Dark Tower" universe and some them (and we readers) suffered for it.

BTW, am I the only one who threw the last Dark Tower book across the room in disgust for the crappy and fake way he neatly tied up all the loose ends, neutered the otherwise very scary and mysterious bad guy (The Crimson King) and then ended it with a horrible cliche cop-out?

I am nervous about finishing the Dark Tower series. I will eventually, but I'm taking my time. My favorite Stephen King book is "It," though I acknowledge the possibility that it's mostly for sentimental reasons. I read it when I was 13, only a year or two older than the characters, and living in a town that (to me) looked and felt eerily and exactly like Derry, Maine. I was transported into that world and I could imagine very strongly being one of the friends in the story.

The Stand is a great novel. The Dead Zone is, too.

 

[sirkickyass]

I tried to get on the Stephen King bandwagon once and started with "The Stand."

I never finished it. Today, due to its ideal combination of heft and small dimensions in the paperback format, it acts as a weight on my pressure sensitive cat litter robot so that my tiny cat can use it as a stepping stool to trigger the robot.

Money well spent.

 

[Archie Moses]

Awesome book. Would read again.

 

[TroutBum]

I think he got too caught up in placing ALL of his works into his "Dark Tower" universe and some them (and we readers) suffered for it.

I couldn't disagree more. One of the things that I LOVE about King is how each of his characters has a life outside of the story you're reading. If you had never read the Dark Tower series, would you know that it was all tied together? Likely not. I know I didn't.

BTW, am I the only one who threw the last Dark Tower book across the room in disgust for the crappy and fake way he neatly tied up all the loose ends, neutered the otherwise very scary and mysterious bad guy (The Crimson King) and then ended it with a horrible cliche cop-out?

You're not the only one. I got into a discussion with the librarian at the T-Ville library the last time I checked it out. She hated it, much like you, and had the same complaints. I, on the other hand, thought it was brilliant. Ka is a wheel, and that is pretty much the only ending that really justifies the premis of the story.

I am nervous about finishing the Dark Tower series. I will eventually, but I'm taking my time.

Don't do it! The Drawing of the Three, The Wastelands, and Wolves of the Calla are three of my all time favorites. Book six is hard to get through on some parts, but it picks right back up at book seven.

 

[AtheistPreacher]

I tried to get on the Stephen King bandwagon once and started with "The Stand."

I never finished it. Today, due to its ideal combination of heft and small dimensions in the paperback format, it acts as a weight on my pressure sensitive cat litter robot so that my tiny cat can use it as a stepping stool to trigger the robot.

Money well spent.

My brother tried reading a Stephen King novel a year or two ago just to see what all the fuss was about. I don't think he finished that one either. I don't think I'll be trying any Stephen King novels myself anytime soon.

That does remind me, though... at one point I was using an old Shakespeare anthology to hold up one side of my couch during undergrad. My roommates and I had picked up a gold crushed-velvet couch at the Salvation Army, and at one point five people piled on and broke one side of the damn thing (as I recall, we were watching Aliens with a lesbian I knew who was in love with Sigourney Weaver and yet hadn't seen Aliens yet... she got really drunk and kept talking about how hot Sigourney was during the film. But that's another story). In any case, the anthology was perfect for the broken leg of the couch. That, too, was money well spent.

Good times, those...

What were we talking about? Books? Right. Sorry.

 

[sirkickyass]

My brother tried reading a Stephen King novel a year or two ago just to see what all the fuss was about. I don't think he finished that one either. I don't think I'll be trying any Stephen King novels myself anytime soon.

That does remind me, though... at one point I was using an old Shakespeare anthology to hold up one side of my couch during undergrad. My roommates and I had picked up a gold crushed-velvet couch at the Salvation Army, and at one point five people piled on and broke one side of the damn thing (as I recall, we were watching Aliens with a lesbian I knew who was in love with Sigourney Weaver and yet hadn't seen Aliens yet... she got really drunk and kept talking about how hot Sigourney was during the film. But that's another story). In any case, the anthology was perfect for the broken leg of the couch. That, too, was money well spent.

Good times, those...

What were we talking about? Books? Right. Sorry.

+7.

 

[UB]

The funny thing about this thread is that no one of you has ever actually read a book, let alone the many books you've "reviewed" via google-copy-and-paste.



SMH

 

[LogGrad98]

The funny thing about this thread is that no one of you has ever actually read a book, let alone the many books you've "reviewed" via google-copy-and-paste.



SMH

Dude weak sauce outing everyone like that. This is a group-think thread, you are expected to play along.



Btw, ever heard of transference?

 

[LogGrad98]

I am currently reading David Brin's "Sundiver", part of the Uplift series. Way cool hard sci-fi. Brin is a top author if a little off the radar.

 

[UB]

Shamefully, I'm reading Chuck Klosterman IV, at the wife's request. It's not that it's bad reading, it's just that non-fiction can be so...what's the word? Pretentious, unimaginative, phlegmatic, esoteric, linear, etc.

 

[TroutBum]

Shamefully, I'm reading Chuck Klosterman IV, at the wife's request. It's not that it's bad reading, it's just that non-fiction can be so...what's the word? Pretentious, unimaginative, phlegmatic, esoteric, linear, etc.

You're LINEAR!

 

[Archie Moses]

I enjoyed this book and I'm glad I read it. I feel much more educated on globalization, 9/11, and the the Middle-East (the Muslim and Arabic world).