Two Books, Two Months . . .

Ready? Set? GO!

Two books, two months.

Despite the break in the hot weather, I still think we should go with a chiller first, despite its being a really quick read.

(1) Pick up a copy of 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King; it's usually around $6 and every bookstore and website carries it.

You have until August 12th to acquire and read it; we start posting about it on Tuesday, August 15th . It'll be a short discussion, despite all the things that can be said about it, and I'll limit it to the book only, despite the fact that two mini-series versions exist out there. Skip them for now; if you want to watch them after reading and discussing the book, feel free.

(2) When you're acquiring your copy of the Lot, pick up a copy of Wicked by Gregory Maguire. It doesn't matter if you choose the first-run paperback or the Broadway show version (which just includes photos from the original cast, etc.) because the text is exactly the same. I believe that the cost for both paperback versions is around $14.

We'll be posting about Wicked starting September 12th and running through September 19th.

Rules for posting in a discussion are the same:

(1) All members of the blog are free to post whatever they wish to discuss about the assigned book at any time of day until 8pm local time.
(2) Length is not a problem, but try your best to be coherent.
(3) More than one person may post on any given day; in fact, this is strongly encouraged! When we did Memoirs, I really loved the comments, but wanted very much to see those points made physically on the blog, so discuss all you want.

Yeah! Alright! Someone Else Loves Chiller Novels in Summer!

D -

I am SO glad you brought up 'Salem's Lot . . . I read that either last summer or the summer before and I hadn't been so scared since the summer I read Dracula. I think that it's one of Stephen King's best "early" novels. And the latest rendition of it (on TNT) really bummed me out because I thought they missed the best points, despite having capable actors like James Cromwell, Rutger Hauer and Rob Lowe in the cast. I was upset that it didn't work as well as I'd imagined it could.

Speaking of his early works, if you ever need to feel good about your own writing by reading something clunky, read Cycle of the Werewolf, which inspired the film Silver Bullet, one of the first werewolf pictures I really enjoyed. (The other is, of course, An American Werewolf in London, of course!)

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was issued in a pop-up book version right around when the closer was traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees. . .this makes me laugh because Stephen King is a DIE-HARD BoSox fan!

About The Stand, I've only seen the made-for-TV mini-series with Molly Ringwald and Laura San Giacomo, but I've been told by die-hard Stephen King fans that it was very close to the book, so I'm certainly interested in reading that, especially with all the "bird flu" paranoia in the news nowadays.

A more recent King work that's been catching my eye is Cell: A Novel and I think it serves as kind of an outlet for one of my biggest pet peeves as well as my worst fears. (The man is a total maniac.)

I could read Wicked a billion times and not get sick of it, but feel like I have an unfair advantage having read it several times already. . .in addition to having read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Wicked "sequel", Son of a Witch.

If I'm going to go out and get another book for the summer, though, I'm very interested in getting one in horror. . .plus, it'll give me an excuse to use my Borders card!

Looking forward to more postings,
Lizzy

The Alchemist

Add another one to the list... The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I really enjoyed this book, and it's a quick read, about 170 pages, tradeback. I picked it up on a whim when I was in my trip to Hades and decided to read it as a light break after the heavier, longer books I have been reading lately.

Check out the Amazon site and see what you think...

The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

[Edit: Sorry, it was running into the links bar, so I edited the title down. - L.W.]
{Dude, it's ok. I was having hyperlink issues earlier. - Clo}

List of Recommended Reading - July/August

What a fun discussion we had! I'm impressed and inspired to read the extra sources D brought up and now have yet another book to add to the reading list.

Anyway, as the days get hotter and I need more brain-time, rather than veg-out time, I'm listing our last several "recommended" reads.

In no particular order, they are:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Mary Roach)
My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult)
Wicked (Gregory Maguire)
The Plot Against America (Philip Roth)
The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
Running With Scissors (Augusten Burroughs)

These are books published within the last 7 or so years. There's a film version of the Burroughs book due out in late 2006 or early 2007. There's a musical version of the Maguire book. The Roth book got mixed reviews and the Diamant is one of my favorites to recommend to my friends. Clo reviewed the Picoult and now I'm curious about the whole idea, especially because I saw a similar concept in an episode of CSI.

If I were to read only one new book this summer, however, I'd love to visit the morgue with Stiff.

My other "you need to read this" recommendation tends to be The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: A Novel (Michael Chabon), which I even recommended to my FATHER, who is a huge Superman fan.

And, of course, my all-time favorite genre to read in the summertime is horror. From Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley to Stephen King and R.L. Stine, I love getting so scared I feel cold. . .and have to repeatedly check my closet and under the bed for any bogeymen before I can go to sleep.

Anyway, that's about it for now. When we decide which book we want to read or revisit, we'll post about that here ASAP.

So, what are your favorite books to read in the summer?

Dan Millman is AWESOME

Ok, background story. Me, really PO'd because the Peaceful Warrior movie is only showing in one theater in a part of town I'm not familiar with, so I can't see it. As many knows, I am obsessed with all things Dan Millman, so this has tormented me for a while.

So, I was talking about my disappointment regarding this with a coworker, when someone else chimed in about how he was seeing it this weekend (he sucks!) and he asked if I had read Journey of Socrates. "Not yet," I said, "but it's on my bookcase."

"Then you don't know who Socrates is..."

And, thus, I felt challenged. Cracked open the spine today and just finished it, and let me tell you... Does NOT disappoint! If you read any Peaceful Warrior books, you need to read this one too. It rocked!

Still PO'd about the whole movie thing and the fact that coworker of mine got to see it this weekend.... Ppppppplbt on him. LOL

So, Lizzy, add Journey of Socrates to your list (don't know if it's out in PB yet, I've had it on my shelf for a little bit.)

L8rs!