What are you nerds reading? :D

[Caostotale]

OT: I forgot to mention the other book I'm reading right now which is Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

That's one of the best novels I've ever read and the movie with Anthony Quinn is excellent as well. I was fortunate enough to take a really well-taught college course on Kazantzakis' books and would strongly recommend checking out the autobiographical Report to Greco if you like Zorba (to be sure, all of his books and plays are really good, but reading about his life and its spiritual journey was really interesting and sometimes inspiring). One of these years, I'm planning on pushing myself to read his massive 'modern sequel' to Homer's Odyssey, a work that's considered his magnum opus. It'll be a big commitment, as (a.) I've not read either of Homer's big poetic works (which my OCD will most certainly require if I want to read the 'sequel') and (b.) I've always had trouble reading poetic writing.

 

[Blow_Pop]

I've never read Misery though! Or The Stand. Those might be the next things I read if I can finish up Pet Sematary. ADHD has always made reading kind of tough, and yet I was an editor for 6.5 years. Go figure!

EDIT - have you ever read It? That's probably my favorite book of all time, ever since I read it in 6th grade.

Misery, the stand or pet semetary?

never read the stand, don't remember much of pet sem (though I did read it) I just rember being rather unsettled by it

Misery was one of my all time favourite books, so much I've read It multiple times I read it when I was pretty young and didn't think books actually "go there" I definitely like King better when he's not being supernatural. I think that's also what got me reading more at that age (more King mostly...stick to what you like) I haven't really seen another Author which such a distinctive style that resonated to strongly with me, so much so that it just works even when he's at his most ridiculous (hence why most of his stuff doesn't translate well to screen)...I think either people Love King or they can't stand him

my other favourite is actually one of his lesser known books "Delores Claiborne" the story of a no nonsense house keeper, I really liked it...even enough to rival Misery

another funny thing was I flicked through TV once and caught a thing on late night...it had Kathy Bates in it....they got talking and I heard some character names, and realised HOLY SHIT this is an adaptation of that book I like! its uncanny when that happens....Kathy Bates was definitely a good casting choice in that regard

My favorite King book though is still 11/22/63. A fictional story about a man who goes back in time a year before JFK's murder (hence the title) and decides to stick around for the full year to try to stop it. A fascinating read that is well worth checking out.

I haven't read all of kings work but I've read quite a bit and I think I've just about had all the King one person can handle

*jumps into the Stephen King conversation*

I can't read Stephen King with the exception of Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot, and From a Buick 8 (I don't know why those 3 don't infuriate me writing wise but some reason they don't and everything else does) but I can listen to the audiobooks of his books. I remember trying to read Misery and wanting to tear the book up and burn it. I forced myself through half the book before I permanently put it down. I love the movie though. However, I think my favourite Stephen King "book" (technically it's only an audiobook but still counts right?) is Blood and Smoke. Particularly the short story 1408. Which also had a decent movie adaptation. Followed by Carrie (which I still haven't seen The Rage: Carrie 2 or the newer Carrie that came out a few years ago but I've seen and own the original), Doctor Sleep, and The Shining. Christine was.....ok but even with my love of possessed cars trying to kill people and possessing the owners it just didn't do it for me. Also, those are all fun to listen to while playing Diablo 3. I'm still trying to figure out what, from what I own, that I want to listen to next after I finish The Canterbury Tales.

Just purchased the unedited version of The Two Towers as well as Bram Stoker's Dracula (sceptical against the latter). Got Njal's Saga, a book on the history of the Balcans (spelling?) and some of Nietches works laying around.

Was fairly surpised by Machiavelli's The Prince. Now I want Achtung Panzer! and something by Voltaire.

Candide's pretty good. I got to read it in high school the first time and it's a really short book (short meaning 113 pages in small print so it's really thin too). Haven't read The Prince yet but I have a copy of it somewhere (I think backed up from my old computer cause it was digital). Dracula was pretty good and I loved the LOTR trilogy when I first read it and still love it as well as The Hobbit (the current trilogy of that movie doesn't exist to me either). But The Hobbit/LOTR got me into fantasy back in 7th or 8th grade when I first read them

 

[Blow_Pop]

OT: I forgot to mention the other book I'm reading right now which is Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

That's one of the best novels I've ever read and the movie with Anthony Quinn is excellent as well. I was fortunate enough to take a really well-taught college course on Kazantzakis' books and would strongly recommend checking out the autobiographical Report to Greco if you like Zorba (to be sure, all of his books and plays are really good, but reading about his life and its spiritual journey was really interesting and sometimes inspiring). One of these years, I'm planning on pushing myself to read his massive 'modern sequel' to Homer's Odyssey, a work that's considered his magnum opus. It'll be a big commitment, as (a.) I've not read either of Homer's big poetic works (which my OCD will most certainly require if I want to read the 'sequel') and (b.) I've always had trouble reading poetic writing.

Loved the Odyssey currently working my way through the Iliad on the topic of Homer. After I finish the book I plan on looking up the movie to watch it. And I'll keep that in mind. To be fair, the reason I'm reading it is because one of the Greek songs I like is in the movie and spurred a discussion between me and a friend from Greece about it and that's how I found out about the movie and subsequently the book.

 

[Caostotale]

Allow me to retract what I said above about none of his books making for good movies.

There really are only a King movies that are good. The Frank Darabont films (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile) are obvious standouts (I haven't yet seen The Mist, but I can imagine it's pretty good). Rob Reiner's Stand By Me (based on the novella The Body) is also great. The original Carrie, Kubrick's The Shining, Misery, and Dolores Claiborne (also starring Ms. Bates) are all good. Aside from that, most of the movies I remember seeing (and I haven't seen them all) are either campy 'good bad movies' (e.g. Creepshow, Creepshow 2, Sleepwalkers, Needful Things, which might be worth it if only to see Amanda Plummer's performance), forgettable movies (e.g. The Dark Half), or horrible made-for-TV horseshit. All of those mini-series films based on his books (It, The Stand, The Langoliers, Stephen King's The Shining) are absolutely terrible and all-the-worse because they give people a horrible impression of King as a storyteller. I'd rather watch the made-for-TV adaptation of Dean Koontz's Intensity (with John C. McGinley playing a serial killer) than any of those.

 

[Caostotale]

I can't read Stephen King with the exception of Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot, and From a Buick 8 (I don't know why those 3 don't infuriate me writing wise but some reason they don't and everything else does) but I can listen to the audiobooks of his books.

That's interesting. I'm curious why it's infuriating. I've always found his writing very easy to engage with, which makes it effortless to float along with his imaginative tale-spinning. Books like the uncut version of The Stand and Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass just breezed along, despite being rather lengthy. I would agree that he's certainly not a writer that I would go to for exceptional 'literary' writing (for that, I'd sooner read something by Philip Roth, John Updike, or Joseph Conrad). I've read a few horror/fantasy books by King's comrade Peter Straub, who writes in a far more 'academic' fashion than King, and the books suffer a bit as a result. Maybe I haven't read the right Straub books, but Koko and the aforementioned Shadowland were equal parts repellent and interesting. The writing in both was very good, but things like wonky pacing, shifting perspectives, and way too much abstract symbolism made them tedious as hell.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

There really are only a King movies that are good. The Frank Darabont films (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile) are obvious standouts (I haven't yet seen The Mist, but I can imagine it's pretty good). Rob Reiner's Stand By Me (based on the novella The Body) is also great. The original Carrie, Kubrick's The Shining, Misery, and Dolores Claiborne (also starring Ms. Bates) are all good.

OMG, how stupid I feel now forgetting all of those! lol Not sure about The Mist though because I never saw the movie. However, the short story is REALLY good. It's the first one in Skeleton Crew, one of his Richard Bachman books.

Aside from that, most of the movies I remember seeing (and I haven't seen them all) are either campy 'good bad movies' (e.g. Creepshow, Creepshow 2, Sleepwalkers, Needful Things, which might be worth it if only to see Amanda Plummer's performance), forgettable movies (e.g. The Dark Half), or horrible made-for-TV horseshit. All of those mini-series films based on his books (It, The Stand, The Langoliers, Stephen King's The Shining) are absolutely terrible and all-the-worse because they give people a horrible impression of King as a storyteller. I'd rather watch the made-for-TV adaptation of Dean Koontz's Intensity (with John C. McGinley playing a serial killer) than any of those.

Totally agreed with those except Creepshow. It's a bit campy, yes, but the story with Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen is really tense and creepy (especially the end). Oh, and the first segment, Father's Day. OMG, that story is one of the best pieces of horror ever put to film. The meteor one starring King is fun campy, I'm not a fan of The Crate, but the last one with the cockroaches? Whoa... what a mindfuck!

I also agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the made-for-TV movies. How can you capture King's unique language and visuals in PG-13?

THAT SAID! I really do recommend watching It, but only because Tim Curry's performance as Pennywise is one the best of his already brilliant career.

Spoiler: Still, the book is a MILLION times better!

 

[Blow_Pop]

I can't read Stephen King with the exception of Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot, and From a Buick 8 (I don't know why those 3 don't infuriate me writing wise but some reason they don't and everything else does) but I can listen to the audiobooks of his books.

That's interesting. I'm curious why it's infuriating. I've always found his writing very easy to engage with, which makes it effortless to float along with his imaginative tale-spinning. Books like the uncut version of The Stand and Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass just breezed along, despite being rather lengthy. I would agree that he's certainly not a writer that I would go to for exceptional 'literary' writing (for that, I'd sooner read something by Philip Roth, John Updike, or Joseph Conrad). I've read a few horror/fantasy books by King's comrade Peter Straub, who writes in a far more 'academic' fashion than King, and the books suffer a bit as a result. Maybe I haven't read the right Straub books, but Koko and the aforementioned Shadowland was equal parts repellent and interesting. The writing in both was very good, but things like wonky pacing and shifting perspectives made them tedious as hell.

Because something about his writing makes me want to slap him, tear his books up, and burn them? I've heard (not sure how true or not this is) that he tends to edit his own books which if so could be a factor. It could also be that a lot of his writing seems like same story different shit. But Misery was the last book I tried reading from him about 8 years ago. I only recently tried audiobooks. And truthfully, to me, his work reads better if I'm not actually reading it and just listening to it. I get more engrossed in the story that way. And I know a lot of authors do same story different shit but unless it's a series, they don't seem to do it as blatantly as King does. At least to me. I threw the one Dark Tower book I tried reading across the room because it pissed me off and was so hard to read for me. So I'm just at the point that I'd rather listen to him than read him. And I enjoy MOST of the movies based off his books I've seen. Didn't like The Shining. And I think that's the only one I haven't liked so far that I've seen.

 

[StormShaun]

Well, I am currently heavily involve with the The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E. Feist.
I must say, it is a wonderful series. It has only influenced me to write my own novels.
Though I can only wish to be that good.

Anyway, it all started with Magician. That first books was long, and great. It killed many hours of time, be it spare lunch time, bus time, or just sitting down to read. It was great, it completely immersed me into two worlds, which had lovely characters, and made magic feel like something unique.

I'm only onto the fourth or so book, so I got a long way to go.

 

[Caostotale]

Because something about his writing makes me want to slap him, tear his books up, and burn them?

He's got a few tropes that I can't stand. I hate his addiction to dialogue that can be best described as playful bumpkin bullshit. Often related to that first problem, many of his characters become cartoonish in some way or another, which is just about the quickest way I can be pulled out of a story.

 

[Vault101]

Oh, I'm talking about King's book, It. It's his most epic piece of writing (IMO, anyway). I've read it three times, which is more than I've read any other book.

ohhhhhhh yeeeeah I did...that was an epic slog....don't think I could manage it again...ut it felt like an acheivment to finish

[quote/]
SO very true. Except for The Shining, I've never liked any screen adaptations of any of his books. And even with The Shining, King himself said that it was a good Stanley Kubrick movie, but it wasn't HIS book. If you read The Shining, you can see how many liberties Kubrick took with the story, almost to the point where a good 50% of the movie had nothing but King's characters and that was all. Not to mention how the endings are TOTALLY different. I've never been able to wrap my brain around Kubrick's final scene.[/quote]
there was a TV adaptation actually writtin by King...which everyone agrees isn't as good as Kubricks work..again it was more Kubrick than king

[quote/]Allow me to retract what I said above about none of his books making for good movies. I'm too lazy to go back and re-type it. And I totally agree with your comment about Kathy Bates. Everything about her was perfect for the role.
[/quote]

yeah...there are actually a number of good films based on his work Shawshank redemption which I'm not sure how closely it follows the source material...that's everyones favourite movie

I'd say the biggest exception to all of it is the green mile...I saw the film before I read the book so I'm biased but everything seemed dead on there in terms of adaptation

 

[Jusey1]

I'm about to have a second reading through "Fallout: Equestria" (amazing story, that is).

 

[Randoman01]

I am currently reading the culture novels by Ian M Banks. So far they are really good.

 

[hazabaza1]

The Wheel of Time #5/14(!!): The Fires of Heaven/

Really enjoying the series so far, has that nice High Fantasy feeling without being all Elves and Dwarves and such. The way it approaches magic is pretty interesting/fun too, and it's generally pretty enjoyable, even if all the villains are obviously smirking ponces who can be seen from 700 pages away.
Though as of this book I've noticed that the author really has a thing for women either sitting around naked, standing around naked, or getting into their very medieval underwear in many occasions. He doesn't go into details about the precise size and weight of the boobs or how particular their nipples look, thankfully, but the general nakedness happens more often than expected, especially considering how... I dunno, 'Christian' the main characters seem to have grown up as.

 

[Coppernerves]

Chris Ryans' "Osama"

So far this guy saw the SEAL team go out of that compund in Abottobad with TWO body bags, later the same team take him and other SAS guys as scouts on another op, they have to go through a minefield which was marked with a clear chalk path by bomb crews, but that was sabotaged so his mate got blown up next to him, he goes home with like ptsd or something, thinks he's getting stalked so he takes his family up to a Scottish country cottage, which gets invaded by guys who paralyse him, put a knife in his hand, and then shank his wife with the knife.
So many feels!

I'd recommend The One That Got Away, same author but about himself, when an op in the stan went FUBAR and he conducted the longest escape and evasion in SAS history.

 

[DeimosMasque]

Besides my normal weekly comic reading and some new Trade Paperbacks I got recently I FINALLY got around to reading the Star Trek: New Frontier books by Peter David and have been having a blast with them.

 

[robmastaflex]

Been burning through the Horus Heresy series recently. I've loved 40k lore ever since I started playing it and it's nice to have such a major event fleshed out. I finished 'Know No Fear' the other day and despite the Ultramarines being potentially the most mundane table-top army they have some brilliant tales to them. It was also fun to have a book about the majorly overlooked White Scars too.