Angela’s excellent post, combined with my daughter’s new pseudo-schedule and a little more free-time, remind me of how much I miss reading. But after my little break, I feel out of the loop. In an effort to keep us all accountable (and drum up some possibilities for me) please tell me what you’re reading–doesn’t matter if it’s YA, adult, fiction, non-fiction. I’m just curious.
The last book I read:
The No-Cry Sleep Solution, Pantwell
What I’m reading now:
What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Yancey
Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.
Sarah: thanks for the link. I’m not a huge mystery buff, but I hate to rule out any genre so I’ll keep it in mind.
Marian: looking forward to your reviews!
fiona: I own To Kill a Mockingbird. That’s how much I love it. For what my opinion is worth, my favorite SK books are The Stand, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, and ‘Salem’s Lot.
courtney: loved Twilight. I’m curious to see how the movie translates.
Donna: thanks for letting us know how you felt about that one. 🙂
Fiona:
There are lots of subtle similarities in many of his books–the idea of Ka & Ka-tet (basically destiny and those connected by destiny)–you’ll see this strongest in the Black Tower (Gunslinger) series–in fact, SK has written himself into the final book of the series as a character (himself–the horror writer, Stephen King), and that his novels are actually the workings of Ka-tet, giving them a greater purpose than simply books to entertain. They are part of the greater world destiny that Roland (the MC, the Gunslinger)is meshed in.
The theory that ‘There are other worlds than these’ is strong in many of the books–kind of a parallel universe that is very close to ours, yet with subtle differences, but all striving for the same Ka-tet destiny, but with different outcomes.
The antagonist in most of his books is a version of Randall Flagg (same character, sometimes known as different names, who embodies evil in the books, like the devil) or the antagonists are puppets of Randall Flagg, doing his bidding to serve a greater Ka-tet that Randall Flagg belongs to.
There are also some books that ‘meet’, like lives crossing on a road–one book folows the life story of car A, then another book follows Car B. You aren’t aware of this until you read both, and realize, “Hey–this point in time happened in that other book too, only from a different character’s POV!” The Regulators is one of these books. I’d have to go downstairs to see what the other one is that is connected to it (I have all of SK’s books), but I do know the cover is a very similar style, and the first clue the books have something in common.
I just finished The Society of S by Susan Hubbard (eh, one I’d pass on) and I’ll soon start Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.
The last book I read was… Twilight, I think. And right now I’m reading the graphic novel Watchmen. Yay reading! 🙂
I’m reading To Kill a Mockingbird now. Deverstated by The Stand. 🙁
Angela, that’s interesting to know about SK’s books… in what way are they linked though, just through subtle mentioning?
I want to read The Shining, It and Misery now.
I’m reading the Nightside novels by Simon R. Green (borrowed them all from the library), and I’ll write a review of them later. They’ve got a lot of imagination, very colorful and vivid, but are thin plot-wise. Still an enjoyable read on the whole, though.
He’s a Scottish mystery writer.
What great suggestions. it’s amazing what you can learn about people just by hearing what they’re reading :).
cr: i have that one on hold. good to hear another recommendation on it before i check it out.
tabitha: I liked the Stargirl book, though I agree it was a little…different.
fiona: the stand is my absolute favorite sk book. And i agree with my fellow Kingite, Angela, that he’s an amazing writer.
vijaya: good luck with the puppy training. that can be SUCH a pain.
just me: I need to read a Pratchett book. for some reason, I don’t think I ever have.
keri, pj, and tarra: I’ve added some of your books to my to-read list.
sara: i don’t know ian rankin. what does he write?
I read various children’s books daily to my kids, but I rarely read a book myself. I did pick up The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx at the library and read about half of it in two days! It makes me glad that I never tried drugs!
I recently finished Skin Hunger, I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You, and The Perks of Being A Wallflower.
I picked up Love, Stargirl with great anticipation, but am having trouble getting in to it. Maybe I’m just tired…
I picked up my first Ian Rankin novel earlier this week, and I’m totally hooked.
I decided that I wanted to read something YA, fictional, and upbeat (been reading a lot NF How to Write books lately)so I picked up “How to Ditch Your Fairy” by Justine Larbalestier (Scott Westerfield’s wife). It’s really charming. You can kind of see where Scott has rubbed off on her a bit. lol, but the book is fun. It’s about a girl who has a parking fairy, when everyone else has a more useful fairy, and she wants to get rid of it. Cute.
The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan — a great big family saga.
The Right to Write by Julia Cameron — this one I’m re-reading and doing the exercises. Loving it.
My Smart Puppy by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson — again, learning lots by doing specific exercises for bite-inhibition, etc.
The Little Red Book of Wisdom by Mark deMoss — sometimes we all need a good dose.
Ditto on the reminder!
Just finished Everlost by Neal Shusterman and an almost done with The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine by April Lurie.
Both fantastic!
Does reading my computer screen for editing count?
I do have a copy of Terry Pratchett’s Thud! floating around for when dinner has to simmer for 8 minutes or the computer is loading slow.
Stephen King is so much more than ‘one of those’ Horror writers. Many don’t know this, but he has managed to make a supernatural connection between most of his books, tying them all together like a tapestry. The more books you read, the more you see this happening, particularly if you read The Dark Tower books. Utter coolness.
**Semi-spoiler alert**
I have just finished reading: Savvy (Ingrid Law) Unique, great voice, heavy on similies (BUT if you want to see how the perfect simile can paint an instant and memorable image, this is a great book to read) I really enjoyed it, and I hope she writes a sequel.
Tattoo (Jennifer Lynn Barnes) First few chapters were waaaay too fluffy, but the rest was pretty awesome and worth reading. Great characters.
Golden(Barnes) Great book, great characters (except for Grandma) great plot…really liked this one.
Platinum (Barnes) Sequel to Golden, and a completely different feel to this book. I found myself skimming and I couldn’t get close to the main character because she didn’t ‘need’ or ‘want to need’ anyone, and she had a hard outlook on life to some degree. Unfortunately I felt there was an imbalance here–too much internal and not nearly enough action.
A Curse as Dark as Gold (Elizabeth C. Bunce) I really enjoyed this one. Setting & characters were well drawn, excellent plot–READ THIS BOOK.
The Humming of Numbers (Joni Sensel) This book was very unique, and I mostly enjoyed it. There was one point where the MC’s actions were so far out of character that it created some distance for me and it was a bit religion-heavy in the end, but overall worth reading. I liked the whole number thing–very imaginative.
Something to Blog About (Shana Norris) Really enjoyed this one!! This one is totally worth reading. My only niggle was how one character (not the MC) does something really bad and isn’t made to pay for it, nor does she seem to lose standing in the eyes of those hurt by it (other than the MC). I felt dissatisfied with that, but the rest was fantastic for this type of book and age group.
The Stand by Stephen King. Never read a SK book but I thought I’d give him a go and see what the fuss was about.
I’ve been walking around like a zombie since I started it.
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone – I love it! Honest, fresh, and amazing. 🙂
I’m reading THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX. All I can say is WOW! Some people can’t put the book down, but I am opting to take it slow so that I can mull over the thought process of this book. It’s a must read!