In Which We Discuss The Talisman

Published in 1984, The Talisman was a collaborative work between Stephen King and Peter Straub.

I was quite excited to read this.  King praised Straub highly in Danse Macabre, and I'd previously read the first comic in the series of the graphic novelization, though I couldn't recall the plot.

It feels more fantasy than horror or sci-fi.  In short, it's about a boy who can flip between two worlds; our world, and The Territories, a condensed version of our world where people's twinner's live.  Twinners are the other halves of people who live in both worlds.  Jack is on a quest to save his mother and the mother of his twinner (his, twinner, Jason) having died at a young age.  The book is later tied into The Dark Tower Series, although this was not planned and, reportedly, the references to The Dark Tower Series in The Talisman were written in by Straub not King.

In 1984, King's career had taken off.  He was writing as Richard Bachman as well, and I'll be reading Thinner next.   He was teaching creative writing in Maine, where he still resides.

James Smythe had a similar experience to me, with totally forgetting the plot before he reread it.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 31/52

Terry Pratchett died this week.

The first Prachett book I ever read was Only You Can Save Mankind, when I was ten.  Then The Colour of Magic, at eleven.  Then Jingo.  Then, I think Maskerade, then I saw the animated version of Wyrd Sisters, then I spent my birthday money on lots more of the discworld books, whatever they had in my local waterstones.  I'm now reading Raising Steam.  It's the last one for me.  It's the last one for all of us.

Last week, I reread Peony in Love for my feminist book group, which meets next week.  I read it back in November or December as well, so I won't repeat what I said then.

The Housemates was a book I've had sitting on my unread pile for a while.  It reads like someone watched Big Brother, hated it, and decided a fitting punishment for the contestants would be to mash it up with the Saw movies.  Everyone involved in the torture-gameshow is a criminal, and the whole thing is arranged by their victims.  Uncomfortably gory and violent, but compelling and quiet well plotted.  The ending, when it comes, is more obvious than I thought it would be.

Fortunately the Milk... I saw at the library, and had finished it before I got home.  A short children's book, with lots of illustrations, about a father explaining why he was delayed bringing home the milk.  Definitely does not including a time-travellings stegosaurus.

I read How to Become a Police Officer: The Insider's Guide because I'm applying to join the WMP when applications open on Monday.  Some of this is inspired by Commander Vimes.  Vimes is who I want to be when I grow up.  It's a pretty good guide, which talks through the recruitment process in depth with examples of questions that are likely to come up.  I'm confident about the tests - SJT, verbal and mathematic.  I'm confident about the phone interview and the bleep test (I ran one in my garden the other day).  I'm less confident about the initial application form and the face to face interviews, and the roleplay, and the essay questions.  We'll see.  I guess if my application form is fine, that'll mean I've gotten the hang of answering the competency questions, or at least that I'm better at it.

Mr and Miss Anonymous is another book I've had sitting on my unread pile for a while.  I read it because I'm aiming to read all the unread books on my Kobo.  Then maybe sell it or give it away.  I love my Kobo, and it was my faithful companion for months when I couldn't afford a Kindle.  But now I can, and the Kindle is better maintained with a better range of cheaper books.  Plus, I can read my Kobo books on that, or my phone, or my nexus.

Anyway, it's about a couple who donate to an egg and sperm bank.  They meet afterwards, fall in love at first sight, then don't see each other for years.  They meet again when they find out that something very dodgy happened to their genomes.  There are lots of contrived coincidences and love at first sight suddenly happening.  All very silly.  Quick read though.

Something Fierce is the memoir of a girl who served as a revolutionary in South America in the eighties.  I'm glad I read, since that's an area and a time period I don't know a lot about.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 30/52

Seven books this week!

Defriended is part of the Point Horror series; a new one, written and released recently, instead of in the late 80s/early 90s.  The first few chapters were totally rad, complete with bad texting and lots of facebook references.  It got a bit better after that.  It was interesting, but lacked the nostalgia factor of the older books.

Dark Places was good.  It was one of the few books I've listened to as an audiobook without having read the original.  It was also one of the first books I've really enjoyed under those circumstances.  I find it hard to focus on listening to things, and concentrate much better when they're written down, so that should tell you something about how compelling it was.

Prep is a book I've read before.  I recently read another book by Sittenfeld, Sisterland, which I really enjoyed.  I didn't like The Man of My Dreams, which I read eight years ago.  That's why it took me so long to try another of hers.  Anyway, that prompted me to read Prep again. 

The Talisman is me starting on my Stephen King chronological reading challenge again.  I'll write a longer post about the book at some point this week.

Fundamentals of Drawing is a book I picked up on the Kindle store for less than a pound.  Excellent for the price.

Howl's Moving Castle was another audiobook.  I listened to it with Tom, after we watched the movie.  He agrees that a Welsh Howl is much more fun.  I'm disappointed that there's no unabridged version available, because I do like the original text.  Luckily, I also have the book on Kindle, so I can read it I want.

Finally, The One.  It's the third part of the original Selection Trilogy, though there's a fourth book coming out in May, which focuses on the children of the main characters from the first three.  I first read the original books when I got my kindle, so near the end of 2012.  I did consider rereading them first, but I wanted to find out how it ended, and now I know it seems silly to go back.  I'll probably reread them some day.

I feel bad about my Kobo.  It was a constant and faithful friend to me for almost a year before I got my Kindle, and now it mostly lies neglected on a bookcase.  I've made a daily habit on HabitRPG to read a chapter of a Kobo book every day, just to get rid of the last ten unread books I have on there.  After that, I don't know.  I can use Calibre to load the books onto my Kindle, or read them on my Nexus or iPhone if I want to.  Maybe I'll sell it.  It's a nice little machine, but the Kindle is more convenient and has cheaper books on it.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 29/52

Four books this week!

Hyperion I read for a book club.  It was pretty long.  About six people on their way to visit Hyperion, and what's brought them there.  Those stories are interesting.  The actual frame story, less so.

Fangirl is one that's been on my unread pile for a while.  About a girl leaving home for college and learning to interact with the world outside of her favourite fictitious universe.  Has some excellent dialoague.

The Last Vampire: Eternal Dawn is a new book in the series, written several years after it ended.  It retcons the ending of the sixth book (justified in-story) and carries on with it.

Finally, Fat Chance is about a couple who are overweight.  They enter a weight-loss competition sponsored by their local radio.  It's pretty sensible about obesity and being overweight, and manages to avoid a lot of the obvious fallacies.  It's pretty funny too.

Yeah, this one is half-assed.  I've been busy.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 28/52

Seven books this week!

I finished the original Last Vampire series.  There is a sequel, published in 2010.  The last of these was published in 1997, which gives you an idea of the gap.  I can only assume the vampire zeitgeist was responsible for this, especially since they were all republished in matching binding at the time.  They were pretty good; more actiony, less heart-rending than my favourite Pike novels, Remember Me and The Midnight Club.

Herland I reread for a feminist bookclub recently.  I was hoping to revive the group by choosing a short, sci-fi-ish book.  It's 120 pages, and we had a really good discussion about it.  It lasted two hours, which meant we could all have sat in silence and just reread the entire book, which says a lot about the ideas in it.

Maxiumum Willpower is a book I've been reading at a chapter a week for the past month and a half.  It's about all the things that can test our willpower, and contained some interesting tips for holding out against it.  Definitely worth reading.

Finally, Maskerade.  I've read it before, when I was thirteen or fourteen.  I stole my original copy from my school library.  It was the third or fourth Discworld book I read, depending on whether I got my hands on it before or after Wyrd Sisters.  I enjoyed the audio performance, though I'm a bit baffled as to why the witches all have slightly London accents.  It makes a sort of sense for Vimes, but surely they should be a bit more West Country?

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 27/52

Six books this week!  Four of them I've been working on for a while.  The Calculus, for instance, I started last November, simply because I'd never quite mastered it and it was bugging me.  I feel like I have a much better grasp on it now, though I'd need to look up the specific techniques to actually solve a calculus problem.

The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack is something I bought when I first got my kindle because it was less than £1.  It's a hefty collection of 25 short stories, including Ayn Rand's Anthem.  It's a very nice collection, especially for the price.

Saffy's Angel is an audiobook I listened to with Tom in the car, whenever we had a long trip.  It's short - four hours - but it took a while, because we spend most of the time in the car chatting.  It was nice.  I'll probably look for later books in the series on Kindle.

The Hockey Term at Trebizon is another children's book, or at least, aimed at young adults.  This was the first book in the Trebizon series that I read, when I was eight or nine.  It's a boarding school series about close friends who work hard and play hard, like a slightly more mature The Twins at St Claire's.

Speaking of twins, The Girls is written from the point of view of a set of conjoined twins, Rose and Ruby Darlen.  I first read it in 2007 or 8, and recently bought it as an audiobook.

House of Leaves is a book I'm really glad I read.  It's about a young man, Johnny Truant, who find the masterwork of one of his neighbours, following their death.  The book is about a documentary, which is entirely fictitious.  It includes a number of footnotes and references which are also fictitious both in our world and in Johnny's.  The documentary is about a family, who move in a house which suddenly starts expanding and shrinking alarmingly.  It's very experimental; when the family are in a labyrinth for instance, the words are suddenly laid out like a labyrinth, which links to footnotes which eventually lead to deadends, and cause one to backtrack to the main text.

Finally, The Wonderful and Terrible Reasons Why I Run Long Distances.  It's by The Oatmeal, and includes expanded comics on the blerch and other fitness related issues, several of which appears on his webcomic, but a few which haven't.  It's a quickread; took me an hour last night.  I enjoyed it.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 26/52

Only two books this week; The Man in the Rubber Mask and The Handmaid's Tale.

The Man in the Rubber Mask is the autobiography of Robert Llewellyn, who played Kryten in season 3 and onwards of Red Dwarf.  Some backstage gossip - most of it outdated, from early season of Red Dwarf - and lots of whinging about the rubber mask and middle class guilt.  Interesting read though, especially for a fan.

The Handmaid's Tale was a book I read for my sci-fi book group.  This is the more literary one, which reads Hugo and Nebula award winners, as opposed to the more pulpy one which just reads whatever sounds fun.  Handmaid's Tale is one I read years ago, when I was about fourteen.  I think reading it was a big part of identifying as a feminist, for me.  I also like the language in it; my favourite line is "I describe the rope" after a passage where the narrator - Offred, or June - has spent a while doing just that, while discussing coping methods.  I'm kind of talked out on after the other evening, to be honest.

I've not read anything by Stephen King for ages.  Finally bit the bullet and bought a copy of The Talisman.  I'm not planning to start it right away, since I have six books I'm currently reading, but once I've finished House of Leaves, I'll get into it.  Though I'll also be starting Dan Simmons Hyperion then....