The Stand by Stephen King
I’m still having a mad fling with fiction, but the number of books I’ve read have sharply declined for two reasons.
The first is that we’ve (finally) started renovating, and that is eating up humungous amounts of time, both spare and not-so-spare. I’ll be writing more about that in another post.
The second is that The Stand is not a short book. It wasn’t short when it was first published, but I’m reading the uncut edition – for the first time, I add. I’m going slow and enjoying myself, too.
The Stand was among my top five King favourites when it first came out and about ten years ago, I dipped into the uncut print edition and got bogged down horribly by what I felt was author indulgence. I preferred the beloved first edition and stopped reading.
Now I’m interested from a writer’s perspective, and it’s been so long since I read it, that I’m enjoying all of the story, both the scenes I had nearly memorized, and the new stuff.
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A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
I
’ve never read this before. Don’t be shocked!
I’ve actually had it sitting on my Kindle for months and months, read the first page or two, and put it aside, because I already knew what happened, because I’ve been watching the series.
However, in the last few days before we launched full time into renovations, Mark and I watched all but the last episode of Season 4 (and tonight we’ll watch the final episode), and I found myself coming back to the book again.
I primarily want to read it because there is always more details in the book than ever reach the screen, including entire sub-plots. But because I know how the story goes (so far) I still find I’m dragging my heels over this one. I’m having far too much fun with King.
Also, because I’m anal-geeky-nerdy, I researched the name, because it’s really baffling what the proper name of the book/series is.
A Game of Thrones is the name of the first book in the series.
“A Song of Ice and Fire” is the name of the series overall.
Game of Thrones (no “A”) is the name of the television series. Like the story itself, the title got truncated for TV.
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And that is it for reading this month. I’ve been horribly short on time, plus I’ve also been pumping out the pages on the new book…
I too have the book sitting in my to read pile of books “A Game of Thrones”. Remodeling my office so haven’t had time to sit and read for very long.
Remodelling/renovations … I guess it’s the season. I rammed a splinter under my fingernail last night. I don’t think I’ve felt such agony before. No wonder they used to shove metal under prisoners’ fingernails to torture them — it’s agony!
t.
I saw the first season of Game of Thrones and then went whole hog into the books. I read all of them, one right after the other for 4 months. I loved the books and really enjoyed all of the TV series. I can’t wait for the last two books and any future seasons of the TV series. I read The Stand years ago and also saw the TV mini-series. Actually, I have seen the mini-series several times. I have read most of Steven King’s work, except for the Gunslinger series. I can’t quite bring myself to finish even the first book. Keep reading A Games of Thrones, Tracy, you might find yourself engrossed. It’s addicting.
Hi Rita:
Thanks for commenting!
I remember the TV series based on The Stand.…I remember it being terrible, but I suspect that I was totally prejudiced because they cast Molly Ringwald as Franny. I honestly couldn’t think of anyone who would be more mis-cast for the role. Even Zoë Saldana would be a better choice!
However, Stu, I remember. It was my first introduction to Gary Sinise and I’ve watched him ever since. Interesting actor and perfect for Stu.
I’ll keep working at A GAME OF THRONES – thanks!
Cheers,
Tracy