What books are you reading?

[Thorngrub]

Sept 29, 2005 10:31:26 GMT -5 poseidon said:

I've yet to read "Wolves of the calla" and "Songs of Susannah." I really think I need to start with the first book in the series as I have forgotten most of everything about the series. Trip to the library is coming one-of-these-days.

Whelp, I don't think poseidon will be logging back on anytime soon, but I quoted this post of his because it just so happens that I am reading, for the first time ever mind you, Stephen King's extracurricular Dark Tower novel The Wind Through the Keyhole (book 4.5 in the Dark Tower series--fitting narratively in between Wizard in Glass and Wolves of the Calla).

I've got the extremely purdy looking 1st slipcased edition, that appears to be bound in green dragon hide, and is signed by the artist, Jae Lee.

Let me just cut to the quick. I'm about 70% of the way through it and it's already my favorite Dark Tower book -- and one of my favorite Stephen King novels, tbh. There's just something about it that transcends the rest of King's catalog. Not only is it a "story within a story within a story" -- but considering that's the nature of the Dark Tower series itself (where our own story here on "Prime Earth" remains a subset of the greater scope of the Dark Tower's overall setting) I have to say that King's writing for The Wind Through the Keyhole really nails the mythopoetic aspect of the overall saga.

Add to that the key factor that Roland is telling a story about one of the quests his father sent him on as a young gunslinger -- to track down a Skin Man that's been terrorizing and killing people in a nearby village -- the brutality of these killings really coincides with the author's legacy of horror quite well. Considering the Skin Man is a lycanthrope, that makes this novel a "werewolf" story, in part.

But what really makes it interesting is the tale-within-the-tale of the old fairytale The Wind Through the Keyhole, which Roland relates and is one of those old timer stories that folk in Midworld heard when growing up. The story of Tim and what happens to his Da on the border of the Endless Forest. It's like a Grimm Brothers tale, all bound up within the nesting dolls of the greater Dark Tower episodes, and I have to say yeah I'm enjoying it tremendously right now.

[Matheus]

May 26, 2020 11:35:25 GMT -5 Thorngrub said:

Sept 29, 2005 10:31:26 GMT -5 poseidon said:

I've yet to read "Wolves of the calla" and "Songs of Susannah." I really think I need to start with the first book in the series as I have forgotten most of everything about the series. Trip to the library is coming one-of-these-days.

Whelp, I don't think poseidon will be logging back on anytime soon, but I quoted this post of his because it just so happens that I am reading, for the first time ever mind you, Stephen King's extracurricular Dark Tower novel The Wind Through the Keyhole (book 4.5 in the Dark Tower series--fitting narratively in between Wizard in Glass and Wolves of the Calla).

I've got the extremely purdy looking 1st slipcased edition, that appears to be bound in green dragon hide, and is signed by the artist, Jae Lee.

Let me just cut to the quick. I'm about 70% of the way through it and it's already my favorite Dark Tower book -- and one of my favorite Stephen King novels, tbh. There's just something about it that transcends the rest of King's catalog. Not only is it a "story within a story within a story" -- but considering that's the nature of the Dark Tower series itself (where our own story here on "Prime Earth" remains a subset of the greater scope of the Dark Tower's overall setting) I have to say that King's writing for The Wind Through the Keyhole really nails the mythopoetic aspect of the overall saga.

Add to that the key factor that Roland is telling a story about one of the quests his father sent him on as a young gunslinger -- to track down a Skin Man that's been terrorizing and killing people in a nearby village -- the brutality of these killings really coincides with the author's legacy of horror quite well. Considering the Skin Man is a lycanthrope, that makes this novel a "werewolf" story, in part.

But what really makes it interesting is the tale-within-the-tale of the old fairytale The Wind Through the Keyhole, which Roland relates and is one of those old timer stories that folk in Midworld heard when growing up. The story of Tim and what happens to his Da on the border of the Endless Forest. It's like a Grimm Brothers tale, all bound up within the nesting dolls of the greater Dark Tower episodes, and I have to say yeah I'm enjoying it tremendously right now.

I've read nearly everything King has ever written... except The Dark Tower. I've tried to start The Gunslinger several times and just couldn't get past the first few chapters. I really want to try again... maybe this coming Fall and Winter. I'm reading If It Bleeds now and it's just alright. I'm also reading The Green Mile again. It was the first book I read of King's in my youth. I'd wait each month to get the next book in the series so I'm reading it the same way. One piece per month.

I'm really looking forward to Paul Tremblay's Survivor Song. He's become one of my favorite more recent horror writers.