What are you reading?

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

11/22/63 is one of the few King books I haven't read. After so many of his novels having shit endings I just stopped readng him. I got a hardback copy of Duma Key that I was given when it came out and still haven't read it.

I made it about halfway through Duma Key.

11/22/63 is fantastic. The TV Adaptation wasn't bad, either.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Duma Key was okay, not great. I've really enjoyed King's last several books though - the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, The Outsider, Revival and Under The Dome. The title story from If It Bleeds was great too, the others are decent to good. I also am a fan of 11/22/63. I have The Institute and Later here waiting to be read but I've been on a huge Michael Connelly jag and can't seem to want anything else.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

See Under the Dome I was enjoying until the reveal near the end. Felt like King was thinking "OK this is 600 page I need to end it." then pulled something out of his ass.

But really since Tommyknockers I have felt his non-Dark Tower novel usually have crap endings.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I like King's work but I often think he seriously needs an editor brave enough to tell him to chop his novels in half. His novellas and short stories, on the whole, are pretty damn good. (I'm mid-way through IF IT BLEEDS currently and enjoying it a great deal.)

JOYLAND is a high point of his body of work, for me.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

I agree Paul. His Novellas and short stories are great. Full Dark No Stars is my favorite of his novella collections. But for close to 30 years now his novels have been too long and usually have shit endings.

Oddly while most had an issue with how Dark Tower book 7 ended I loved the ending. But part of that might be I figured out in book 5 how the series would end.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I agree Paul. His Novellas and short stories are great. Full Dark No Stars is my favorite of his novella collections.

FULL DARK NO STARS is one I bought when it came out in paperback but haven't yet read. I may dig my copy out and read it over the summer.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

It is good. 3 of the 4 novellas have been made into films.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Yeah, but 1922 sucks lol. I need to read this, anyway.

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

I like King's work but I often think he seriously needs an editor brave enough to tell him to chop his novels in half. His novellas and short stories, on the whole, are pretty damn good.

That sums it up in a nutshell.

I've been raiding the local library of their limited King books. I just finished DOME and had figured out all of it (who was going to go bad, what would happen, why it happened) within the first 50 pages. But I stuck with it anyway.(Thank God I'm a speed reader).

Next up will be INSOMNIA. I've already read OUTSIDER & INSTITUTE, both of which I enjoyed.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

That sums it up in a nutshell.

I've been raiding the local library of their limited King books. I just finished DOME and had figured out all of it (who was going to go bad, what would happen, why it happened) within the first 50 pages. But I stuck with it anyway.(Thank God I'm a speed reader).

Next up will be INSOMNIA. I've already read OUTSIDER & INSTITUTE, both of which I enjoyed.

Don't bother with Insomnia. 900 page book and nothing happens until about page 703. It is only useful as a doorstop or as a cure to the titular malady.

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

Don't bother with Insomnia. 900 page book and nothing happens until about page 703. It is only useful as a doorstop or as a cure to the titular malady.

ACK! May be going back to the library sooner than I thought. Will give it a try though. Thanks for the warning.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Yea Insomnia was not good. Almost as bad as Bag of Bones.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

I had no recollection of it, and just read a synopsis...it was pretty bad, from what I remember.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

I had no recollection of it, and just read a synopsis...it was pretty bad, from what I remember.

It had a cool concept that would have made for a great novella, but the monotonous first 2/3rds of the book was just insanely boring, though well-written. I hated myself for continuing to read it after about page 350 or so because nothing was fucking happening, but the prose was King's usual enjoyable style.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Read Brubaker's Gotham Noir one-shot from 2011 last night. Decent enough if a bit cliched. Jim Gordon was well-written here as a hard drinking PI who lost his job on the force and his marriage to the bottle. He and Bruce were in WWII together which ties into the story about trying to figure out what happened to be young woman Gordon escorted to a party only to have her get murdered.

Not amazing, but worth reading if you like his noir writing and can find it cheap.