What have you read recently?
Stephen King - The Dead Zone (1979). King at some point said this is his best book. I don’t agree, but it’s a damn good one. Greg Stillson is also pretty damn close to Trump in many ways (“regular” people love him, as does the press), but I guess it’s just the fact that both are populists.
Recommended if you’ve not read this one. Not seen the Cronenberg-adaptation ever, might have to check it out. I’ve seen clips of Martin Sheen as Stillson comparing him to Trump, and he at least seems perfect. Christopher Walken might be too weird for me as Johnny Smith.
Michael Connelly - Resurrection Walk
The latest Harry Bosch/Mickey Haller outing. A welcome return to form really following a couple of wonky efforts. Would recommend, they are always very easy to follow and read and nearly always have a decent plot
Speaking of reading in general terms, a friend of mine said in 2021 she’s trying to read a book per week that year. I thought that sounded like a fun challenge, so started keeping track of my reading in January 2022. At the end of December I’d managed 35 books.
Being permanently online had rotted my concentration. I had to make all sorts of rules when I could get on my phone and so forth to get any reading done, but it worked. The Dead Zone was my 52nd book this year, so that challenge already done in 2023, and besides getting more books under my belt, I’m much better at staying away from my phone now.
I won 2022 then (37)
26 this year so far. I think my long-term goal would be 30 a year.
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (1818). First time reading, and it was pretty damn good actually still in 2023. Sure the dialogue is far from natural, but it was the Victorian times so anything natural didn’t come to it anyway.
I did have a small chuckle for how the creature learned to talk and read. He hid under a house in Germany for a winter and listened to the people there, who in the spring just happened to teach the language to a Turkish woman. As for reading someone had chucked some books in the forest from which he learned a lot, Paradise Lost among them. So he spoke like someone out of Shakespeare.
Guillermo Del Toro is doing a new movie adaptation next year for Netflix. Frankenstein is his favorite book of all time so he might make the most faithful adaptation yet.
Homegrove The Dead Zone, book and film, are in my top five for SK books and film adaptations. I agree that Walken was a weird choice for the main character, but he actually works well in that role.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Despite some of the awful things in it (the coming to America-chapter that deals with slavery especially) this book is what I call a really good hang. My first reread since the “started great, quickly went to shit” TV version of 2017, and every moment I spent with this book was once again a very happy one.
This book is also easily in my top 5 all time novels.
Lol!