Booth #5: ThoRns Grove - Where Books Eat YOU

[Thorngrub]

The Colorado Kid:

Count me in on the 50% of this books general audience who loved it (rather than hated it, as the author charmingly suggests in the afterword).

I don't want to give away any traces of spoilers,
suffice it to say that this book, which contains no
real horror in the traditional King fashion,
is a refreshing turn to the dimestore mystery novel
of that fading age of pulp fiction.

However, that being said, this is no nostalgic "re-enactment" nor painted attempt at revisiting the lost noir grittiness of the Raymond Chandlers of that bygone era; rather, it focuses on the sterling clarity of the present day, and sets the narrative stage on an island off the coast of Maine, where a young newslady is interning at a local paper, and listens to the two oldtimers who run it while they relay the story of "the Colorado Kid" to her. A story within a story, so to speak.

This is an easy, short read, and I find it quite remarkable in subverting the standard tropes of the mystery genre w/such ease that the reader can't help but feel they are being guided by the hand of a master storyteller.

Which, of course, indeed they are.

I can only recommend this book to those with an open mind, and no expectations. At the book's end, you should find a rewarding outcome upon thoughtful reflection . . . I know the author did; and so did I.

[Thorngrub]

[Thorngrub]

Big Steve Is Back With A Vengeance!




Seriously, all you have to do is read the first freakin 5 pages.

#1]The damn thing is dedicated to RICHARD MATHESON and GEORGE ROMERO

#2]The bloody carnage and action begins almost immediately, just a few pages in. His writing is lean and mean, and he ain't kiddin around, this time.

I am overjoyed . . . and somewhat awed . . . that Big Steve has gone back on his word, and decided to "screw retiring, I don't care what I told my Dear Readers last year, I'm back to show everyone how & why I've lived up to my last name".

This book is every bit as apocalyptic as The Stand, only, it doesn't mess around with building it up, it just starts w/Arma-fukkin-gettin-it-ON right from the Get-Go, fuuuuck!

I'm like a kid in a candy store, w/this one. It renews my hope in mankind. It says to me, maybe there is a chance our souls can be saved.

I can tell this is one where Big Steve decided to just have fun with it, and as a direct consequence, so will the dear reader that dares to fork over their hard earned cash and discover for themselves how the World Ends. . .Stephen King -style . . . from a Pulse across all the cell phones in the world.

Can you hear me now -? I'm telling you Stephen King is back . . . and in better shape than ever. All the rest of em . . . your Dean Koontzes, yer Jack Ketchums, yer Edward Lees . .. can just sit the fuck down. And pick up their own copy of CELL.

There's a reason CELL rhymes with HELL.

I'd go on and on about this, but I've got me a book to read. Hell yes.

[wayved]

I dont own a cell phone. I will read the book!!!!

[rockysigman]

I recently read this:



I really love Hornby.

[sisyphus]

i've only read high fidelity, but i lurrved it.

[rockysigman]

I made the mistake of reading High Fidelity only after I had seen the movie. The movie actually follows the book very, very closely, other than changing the setting from London to Chicago. I would have enjoyed that book a lot more if I could picture the story with anyone else other than John Cusack and Jack Black acting it out. Would be better if I could picture the characters for myself.

I've also read About A Boy, which I loved, but I never saw the movie. Can anyone tell me if this movie is worth seeing? The book was great, but I've looked over the cast of the movie, and I could see how it might be not as good.

How to Be Good was an all right book. Nothing special.

And then this newer one, A Long Way To Fall. A great, and oddly funny look at suicide. Four separate narrators. I really loved this book. And I understand that Johnny Depp has just bought the production rights for a movie. I hope he doesn't screw it up by putting himself in it (I like Johnny Depp, but he would not fit in this movie at all). Will be very curious to see how they deal with the narration in the movie.

I've never read Fever Pitch, nor have I seen either film version. The trailers for the American film version looked awful though, but I understand that it was a very, very loose interpretation of the book, so I'd imagine the book is much better.

[sisyphus]

i'm not really much for romantic comedies, so i avoided fever pitch and about a boy....have not read them either. i actually love Cusack, but he is not exactly what i expected (i had read the book first).




ya know who i like?

tom robbins. he cracks me up.

[rockkid]

Oh obviously you haven’t gotten to the end of Cell yet.
Sorry to pop your bubble but the dude is NOT back.
See Pats book board for more.

[Thorngrub]

yeah, I noticed. . . .but I'll wait till I finish CELL, 1st. One friend done already told me that all the excitement was @the book's beginning. . . . *I don't need to know anymore, thank U*

[rockysigman]

Just started this, per Ms. Blaney's recommendation:

[poseidon]

Finished "Cell" yet Thorn? What are yer thoughts?

[Thorngrub]

oh yeah! I did finish CELL . . . just yesterday, in fact. I liked it. Although I can kinda see how folks might be disappointed . . . rockkid can chime in here & lemme know what she thinks, but I loved reading CELL despite the following flaws:

~It seemed kinda rushed. Like he wanted a bonafide epic on the scale of THE STAND, but either couldn't hack the extensive character development that would require, or maybe his publishers put a limit on the word count, I don't know. (But I must say it was refreshing to have the action start off bang up front on page 3! That was cool as hell)

~I kept expecting it to slow down around the middle (based on things I'd heard from a few friends including rockkid), but it never did for me. In fact it went skidding to a halt right up to the very last word, at which point:

~THAT was the one thing that kinda disappointed me, was how *and here's the real spoiler! beware! I'm about to reveal the ending dammit!* the reader never even gets to find out if the lame scheme about "saving to system" ends up workin' on his kid! Talk about leaving the reader hangin'~!

I mean, that was perfectly acceptable w/The Colorado Kid, cuz in that book, that was the whole point. And I was totally down with that. The nature of mystery, hell yeah. I was satisfied. But the ending of CELL. . . well, let me re-phrase that: What "ending"-?! There was no ending. It just .. . stopped.

Oh well. The reason I enjoyed the book, was cuz I literally enjoyed every single page right up until the last sentence. So, c'mon, I ain't about to let the fact "it didn't end" ruin my enjoyment of nearly every single page ! My House Of Cards don't just fall down backwards like that from one lousy little blow.

So: All in all, I liked the book OK. By a long shot not his greatest, but on the other hand, I gotta say that it was a fun little read, kinda like on the scale of a comic book, only without the pictures. And that's fine by me. Too bad he didn't have Bernie Wrightson or someone like that illustrate it. That woulda been cool.

And yeah, I had some problems with narrative continuity and/or plot developments. Some of it, especially towards the end, wasn't convincing enough.

*More spoilers* For instance, rockkid, did you buy that Clay (the protagonist) would have rigged that bus filled w/dynamite at story's end to explode on that field when he knew perfectly well his son was still out there -? I mean, after all the trouble he had already taken to TRY and find him -? That just didn't add up, to me.

And what about that part where he finally sees his wife, as one of the "phoners", and just dismisses her cruelly callin her a bitch, did you think, "WTF?" , cuz I did. So I shrugged it off.

So yeah, there were a lotta holes in the thing, but like a good block of Swiss Cheeze, I downed it all and didn't complain too much.

- - -

But that excerpt at the end - - of his next book "Lisey's Story" - - MAN does that look BORRRRING.... !!

[sisyphus]

rockysigman said:

Just started this, per Ms. Blaney's recommendation:

that was a great book...much better than "the virgin suicides." then again, i'm fascinated by the subject matter....'specially the psychology of the thing as the book ends....*trying not to spoil*

[TheLady]

I had never read it, and then the person who recommended it to me equated reading it with trying to cram large rocks into your head through your ear canals, and I thought, "Hell, yeah, that's for me." Then I opened the cover and the first page said simply "This is not for you." And I was hooked.