SMBC Comics Forum

Liriodendron_fagotti wrote:I'm making my 5th or 6th attempt to get through The Brothers Karamazov.

Oh yeah! I did it! Like, way back in May.

Once I had a handle on the characters it went fine. I did laugh at the pompousness of the narrator, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to or not till I read the intro by the translators (after finishing the book). The entire plot can fit on twenty pages, which is a little frustrating. I don't know how Russians managed to get to space if they have to spew essays at each other every time they talk.

Hello new person, I believe you have not introduced yourself in the new people thread.

That book sounds interesting, I like linguistics.

Right now I am reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I started reading The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew, made it about a fifth in and realised it's a bit too heavy for where I'm at right now, so I'm going to have to pace myself through it. I'm looking for a lighter fiction book to balance it out too. Preferably something fun. I've never read a Stephen King book before but he's been on my list to try out for a while. Are his books fun horror or more disturbing horror?

Uh, depends what you mean by "fun". Some of his are definitely intended to chuckle at, others are a lot more cerebral. Like, there's a book where a car kills people (intentionally).

I would start with Misery and see how you feel after that.

I'm 3/5 through The Terranauts by T.C. Boyle. I thought it was going to be some neat sci-fi with maybe some post-apocalyptic undertones, but instead it's a soap opera. It's really not very interesting. Even the three characters you read from the first-person are pretty one-dimensional, let alone the rest. BUT they're written like journal entries, so you can take it as being realistic in that sense, BUT none of them seem to have much self-awareness. Not recommended.

Oh, I got my brother The Relic Master, which I'm looking forward to reading myself. It's satire and I believe fun.

My wife is a big Boyle fan, I don't think she has read that one. I read one I can't remember the name of offhand and got about halfway through Drop City. His books are usually all about the characters with very little actual plot. Things just kind of happen like in real life. None of the characters in the 1.5 books of his I read were appealing to me and I found the books to be pretty dull.

I'm almost done The Measure of All Things which is an account of the expedition to measure the quarter meridian through France and Catalonia to define the meter. It of course also talks about the metric system in general and the French Revolution along the way. It started out very interesting, but just became tedious. I don't think it is really the fault of the author, one of the expedition heads, Mechain, was just not someone you would really want to read about at length.

That's a great title though.

Liriodendron_fagotti wrote:Uh, depends what you mean by "fun". Some of his are definitely intended to chuckle at, others are a lot more cerebral. Like, there's a book where a car kills people (intentionally).

Sorry I was vague. Like some horror is scary, but in a safe way. Like you're reading about scary situations and places, but in a safe spot from like your living room or bedroom and it's done for a thrill like a roller coaster. And some horror is meant to push boundaries and disturb you and Stephen King always struck me as the former, but if he's more the latter, I should probably hold off on him until I'm done the book I'm currently on.

I would start with Misery and see how you feel after that.

Cool, I'll look into Misery.

Stephen King's somewhere in the middle of those two descriptions, for a lot of his more famous horror-y books. If you want some quick thrill-ride horror, read a coupla short stories from Night Shift. 'The Lawnmower Man', 'Trucks', 'The Mangler' and 'The Children of the Corn' are all quick-read shock-horrors with sucker-punch gore. They're not taxing to read, entirely absurd, and they give a good indication of his general writing style.

Personally, I think he's far better at coming-of-age stories; Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and The Body in Different Seasons (Shawshank Redemption/Stand By Me in the movie world) really capture the human condition, and there's very little horror involved. For all its notoriety as the ultimate horror opera, IT is more bildungsroman than horror, and it captures being an outcast growing up, bullying, and school life in a way that we can all empathise with, even if the setting is inescapably Americana (which is unrecognisable to anyone growing up outside the US, save for relentless media representations of it). The horror within it is more thrilling than disturbing/insidious, I'd say (very monster-based: child alone in a deserted school gym, monster appears, frantic chase, narrow escape, etc.) but then it's a good 1,000+ pages, so best not to start with that until you feel that you actually like King's style.

Frankly, anything he wrote before ~1985 is worth reading, most stuff after hasn't been premium King.

I'm currently reading Purple Hibiscus, as I saw it in my library. It's very good so far. I also picked up Mysterious Skin and Asimov's Robot Dreams.

I read Misery by Stephen King

kiwichan wrote:I read Misery by Stephen King

Were you looking for a cookie?

Felstaff wrote:Different Seasons

I knew I was forgetting a set I liked. Those four are really fantastic.

And IT, of course. But yeah, it's an investment if you don't enjoy his writing. Reading it as a sophomore in high school was an appropriate time - my friend and I were being harassed by this older, huge guy at our bus stop every morning. He'd walk over a mile from his assigned stop to pick on us every morning. I should read it again. IT's (heh) probably not what you're looking for right now though, Smiley.

Felstaff wrote:Stephen King's somewhere in the middle of those two descriptions, for a lot of his more famous horror-y books. If you want some quick thrill-ride horror, read a coupla short stories from Night Shift. 'The Lawnmower Man', 'Trucks', 'The Mangler' and 'The Children of the Corn' are all quick-read shock-horrors with sucker-punch gore. They're not taxing to read, entirely absurd, and they give a good indication of his general writing style.

Personally, I think he's far better at coming-of-age stories; Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and The Body in Different Seasons (Shawshank Redemption/Stand By Me in the movie world) really capture the human condition, and there's very little horror involved. For all its notoriety as the ultimate horror opera, IT is more bildungsroman than horror, and it captures being an outcast growing up, bullying, and school life in a way that we can all empathise with, even if the setting is inescapably Americana (which is unrecognisable to anyone growing up outside the US, save for relentless media representations of it). The horror within it is more thrilling than disturbing/insidious, I'd say (very monster-based: child alone in a deserted school gym, monster appears, frantic chase, narrow escape, etc.) but then it's a good 1,000+ pages, so best not to start with that until you feel that you actually like King's style.

Frankly, anything he wrote before ~1985 is worth reading, most stuff after hasn't been premium King.

Ah cool, yeah I'll start with some short stories and if I like them move on to something like Misery or one of his coming of ages. Honestly Stand By Me's a story a movie with a premise that always interested me but I never got around to, so I might pick that one up. Thanks.

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How was it?