I'm finally giving in

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by NVash

Im not much of a fan of Stephen King either. I tried reading his infamous 'Dark Tower' series and got bored out of my wits. Oddly I started when I tried reading it from the third book and I enjoyed what I could read of it. It was a relatives copy and I didnt take it with me after visiting. Then I decided to start from the first and Ive tried reading it many times, never got very far. But there are some that I finished. The first was 'The Mist' which was recently a movie. Not a bad book at all, kept me reading from beginning to end. The second one is actually two that were in a compilation of stories written under his alias of 'Richard Bachman'. They were 'The Long Walk' and 'Rage'. I enjoyed 'The Long Walk' and its one of my favorite books to this day. 'Rage' was okay.

Also, his son Joe Hill writes some pretty good books.

I read The Long Walk when I was 12 or 13. that was one of those that sticks with you pretty much forever

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I read The Long Walk when I was 12 or 13. that was one of those that sticks with you pretty much forever

Absolutely!

It's my favourite Stephen King story so far (recommended to me by my sister). I never could shake it completely - much like Requiem for a Dream in the movie world.

Regards
Caleb

[caleb72]

Twilight for me was something I became vaguely interested in once I heard about the movie. I heard that it was a massive bestseller and so started hunting around for reviews.

From the reviews I worked out that I probably didn't want to read the series. And then I saw the preview of the movie and I was utterly convinced that I didn't want to read the series.

So until now I have not read any of the books or watched any of the movies and I absolutely love vampires and werewolves.

What makes things worse is that now I'm seeing shelves and shelves of these books littering bookstores and I know it will be difficult finding a vampire or werewolf book that I'll take a chance on for the foreseeable future.

That all sounds very damning, but it's not. My sister read Twilight and she's a more sophisticated reader than I am. She was able to appreciate it enough to get enjoyment out of it. I just simply have a visceral reaction to it that I currently trust more its bestseller classification.

Regards
Caleb

[foghat]

Originally Posted by NVash

Im not much of a fan of Stephen King either. I tried reading his infamous 'Dark Tower' series and got bored out of my wits. Oddly I started when I tried reading it from the third book and I enjoyed what I could read of it. It was a relatives copy and I didnt take it with me after visiting. Then I decided to start from the first and Ive tried reading it many times, never got very far.

While I enjoyed the Gunslinger, I can understand why some wouldn't. I've gotten a number of my friends to read the dark tower series (they've all loved it), when I lend them the books, I tell them to just power through the gunslinger (it is short enough), as from the second book on they get much better.

[shanghaichica]

I'm too old to read the Twilight books.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

I'm too old to read the Twilight books.

if you are reading, you are not too old to read anything (well, maybe Pat The Bunny has some limitations). quality is something else entirely

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by DuaneAA

Since no one has mentioned it, I would highly recommend the audiobook version. I have listened to the first three and while I agree the writing isn't the best, the woman they got to read the books has the best voice of any reader I have ever heard. Even in places where the story really drags, I looked forward to my commute simply to listen to her voice. Plus the first person style really works well with audiobooks and it doesn't take long until it feels like Bella is telling her story directly to you.

Here in Fort Worth the audiobooks are available at the public library and I would guess in most other big cities, too.

Duane

Add me to the list of fans of the Twilight narrator (her name is Ilyana Kadushin in case anyone is interested). I doubt that I would have made it though the first book if I'd been reading it (much less complete the series), but although I didn't think it was anything particularly special, I did enjoy the audio version enough to continue beyond the first book to complete the series, and the narrator was the primary reason.

[emonti8384]

I read the first one and thought it was pretty fantastic. The 2nd-4th were wastes of paper- poor trees. The movie I absolutely loathed; bought it and gave it away after one viewing. Now it has sparked similar stories by different authors all saying,"if you like Twilight, you will like this." So now there are at least 30 Twilight-ish books out there that are ridiculously pitiful.

Good luck in your reading!

[emellaich]

Everyone has different tastes. I'm pretty easy to please in terms of writing style and it was fine for me. I just didn't care for the main character much. The problem was that the interesting stuff was all about the other characters and the main character just seemed to be there as an observer -- I do understand that changed in the later books.

However, I'd give a much higher recommendation to the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs:
http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Called-Me...1509736&sr=8-2

I like a main character that has a bit more moxie of her own.

[DuaneAA]

Originally Posted by KarenH

Add me to the list of fans of the Twilight narrator (her name is Ilyana Kadushin in case anyone is interested). I doubt that I would have made it though the first book if I'd been reading it (much less complete the series), but although I didn't think it was anything particularly special, I did enjoy the audio version enough to continue beyond the first book to complete the series, and the narrator was the primary reason.

Have you listened to any other books she has narrated? I went to Amazon and found about 8-10 books, but none of them jumped off the page as being worth buying.

Duane

[ImogenRose]

I read the whole series. I really enjoyed the first book the most, got slightly annoyed as I read the second, but the third and fourth were okay.

[NVash]

Imogen Rose! Might I add that I purchased 'Portal' a year ago for $.99 off Amazon for the Kindle and have loved it? Just wanted to throw that in, great book! It was marketed as a cross between 'The Time Travelers Wife' and 'Twilight' IIRC. Thats what got me to buy it.

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by DuaneAA

Have you listened to any other books she has narrated? I went to Amazon and found about 8-10 books, but none of them jumped off the page as being worth buying.

Duane

No, I haven't. A quick look at the Overdrive search site only showed one that I might try - James Patterson's "You've Been Warned". I like his series books (Women's Murder Club and Alex Cross), but haven't been particularly impressed by any of his stand-alone titles that I've read.

[durkinrobinson]

Almost halfway through Twilight. This sorta reminds me of Lent, only instead of giving up chocolate, I've given up brain cells.

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by durkinrobinson

Almost halfway through Twilight. This sorta reminds me of Lent, only instead of giving up chocolate, I've given up brain cells.

Well, there you have it then. That's why I liked Twilight -- I OFTEN give up brain cells when I read. Reading is my primary means of turning my brain off after a busy or stressful day. Sometimes I like to have to think when I read, but sometimes, not so much.

I doubt you're going to like it any better if you finish it than you do now, but your original post HAS sparked 6 pages of pretty good discussion. If you are looking for cerebral entertainment, though, you might want to cut your losses now. A few of us are reading Ulysses on one of these threads in here somewhere, and I'll be glad to let you take my place there and I'll pick Twilight back up. I'm finding it slow going!