Normally, I'd wait until the end before posting about a book. But I'm reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I intended to ditch it as soon as I realized it would be first person. But I got stuck in its world. It starts out a bit YAD feeling, with what seems like it'll be a frame story. What King is actually doing is setting up a means of discussing time travel, which I really appreciated. In fact a … [Read more...]

Of course I had to read this one. Child fleeing abusive home. They're hunting him, and he has to learn to make a life on his own. It's a novella, and maybe another of Koontz's recent teasers. But I'm willing to be teased with this. There's a teaser for 77 Shadow Street at the end, but I found it bleh. Just horror. I'll pretty much read any more that Koontz puts out with the three main protagonists … [Read more...]

Some books serve as scripture for one's life. They are the kind of books that provoke change, or sum up a way that we intend to look at the world. For me, A Separate Peace is reverently kissed and laid alongside a number of such books. In fact, one of the two primary characters, Phineas, tends to look at the world exactly like that, with intent, not as merely informing him, but as it ought to … [Read more...]

King's book is really a number of stories in a cycle. The film is actually one of the stories, but not the title story - which means, if you watch the film, you never really learn what the title means. The film is fantastic, one of my most beloved, but I love the book separately and together with the film at once. I love both versions of the story. This is also, as a whole, one of the books I … [Read more...]

Tigana is the kind of book I won't talk about with people who don't love it. If you can shrug and say "it was all right", let's not discuss it. Not because I don't respect your opinion, but because you'd be better off giving my wife a black eye - I'd be less emotionally involved. I'm exaggerating, of course, but not by much. When I think about Tigana or, to be more accurate, think in Tigana, I'm … [Read more...]

I'm a fan of roughly a half dozen TV programs (only three of which are still on), and top of my list would have to be BookTV on C-Span2. It's one of the rare places of intelligent speech in a medium that epitomizes free speech. Tonight is Jim Hightower, "Swim Against the Current". Of course, the title either sells itself or causes disinterest, depending upon your inclinations, so I like that … [Read more...]