Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Miscellaneous => Chatterbox => The AC Book Club => Topic started by: mare on March 08, 2009, 03:22:21 PM
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I picked most of the books that were mentioned in the other thread. If you want to read a synopsis of any of those you can peek into that thread or go to this link that Julie shared with us.
http://www.stephenking.com/library/novel/
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I voted for "Cell" cause it's one I haven't read and would like to read... although my life would be made easy if we chose "The Stand," since I had to abandon that one for My Sister's Keeper and will hopefully be going back to it as soon as I finish.
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I voted for Cell too for the same exact reason lol
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Should I vote for cell just to make things easier? lol
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Well I'm on the bandwagon. (geez, I'm usually the odd one...)
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YAY! lol
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LOL is this going to be our first unanimous vote?
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I think it might be! LOL
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Am I the only one who's read Cell before? lol
Though I've been dying to reread it once I'm done rereading Christine. Yay for Stephen King kicks.
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How are you liking Christine?
(And so far, yes, it appears you are the only one who has read Cell. lol.)
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How are you liking Christine?
(And so far, yes, it appears you are the only one who has read Cell. lol.)
I love it, I've read it before but it's been awhile. I forgot that he used to do lyrics at the beginning of each chapter, for example. I think that's where I got that from (since I do it myself sometimes LOL). I have a huge Stephen King collection lol. Maybe after we're done with Cell, I'll reread Firestarter, that one is a classic.
Cell is good though, I promise, it made me not wanna touch my cell phone for like a week though lmao.
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It would have been fun to read the Dark Tower series. We would need at least 6 months for that one though lol
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It would have been fun to read the Dark Tower series. We would need at least 6 months for that one though lol
I mentioned that as well lmao. But yeah that one would take forever. And although I love The Gunslinger, it doesn't represent (in my eyes) the series so I'd hate to discuss just that one out of the whole series.
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LOL is this going to be our first unanimous vote?
HA! Take THAT!
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Am I the only one who's read Cell before? lol
Though I've been dying to reread it once I'm done rereading Christine. Yay for Stephen King kicks.
No, I've read it. It was one of the few books of his I didn't really like. Well, except for the ones where he's NOT drunk or stoned :P
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HA! Take THAT!
LOL you would be the rebel
No, I've read it. It was one of the few books of his I didn't really like. Well, except for the ones where he's NOT drunk or stoned :P
Really? hmm. How come? Just curious.
And btw Mare thanks to you I ended up ditching Christine and picking up Gunslinger :P
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hehe lol I agree abouyt the Gunslinger. That one doesn't even begin to cover what the hecl the Dark Tower is all about and wow I just realized when you slepp tower on the keyboard all the keys are right beside each other besides the O...cool!
:) lol
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hehe lol I agree abouyt the Gunslinger. That one doesn't even begin to cover what the hecl the Dark Tower is all about and wow I just realized when you slepp tower on the keyboard all the keys are right beside each other besides the O...cool!
:) lol
Just curious. Are you by chance on cold medications today? ;)
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hehe lol I agree abouyt the Gunslinger. That one doesn't even begin to cover what the hecl the Dark Tower is all about and wow I just realized when you slepp tower on the keyboard all the keys are right beside each other besides the O...cool!
:) lol
lmao *stares at all the typos*
And yeah Gunslinger doesn't represent the series at all. Drawing of the Three starts to, but doesn't even quite get there. I'd say Wastelands is really when you're shown completely what you might be in for.
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yeah my computer is being super slow and I didn't have the patience to sit here and wait to be able to fix things. LOL
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SO, does everyone have the book yet or should we wait another week before we start? I don't have it yet personally but if i'm the only one i'll be more than happy to get things going today so, let me know how the progress is going.
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I don't have it yet... I'm going to be at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, so I might get it then, but last time I was there, they didn't have it... so I don't know. Maybe I should just order it. Either way, if we could wait a week, that would be great! I'm almost done with the book I'm reading now.
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I am going to try to get it tomorrow on my way home from school because I pass a Borders but i'm usually soo exhausted after school I never want to stop in there! LOL
I think we should wait a week. So, let's say we'll start next Monday or we could even wait until the first. I guess i'll see where everyone is at that point. I just started reading a new book today, which was dumb of me.
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Yeah, I ordered two books a few weeks ago, and am almost done with one... the other one I haven't even touched yet... and I'm still not done with The Stand... But I guess too many good books is better than not enough!
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I'm reading another Jodi book. I need an intervention. lol
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I got my book, but I haven't started reading it yet.
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Okay everyone, I think we'll start officially discussing this on on Wednesday. It makes sense to just wait until the end of the month. I did finally get my book on Friday though so, i'm probably going to read it starting tomorrow so I have a good idea of what to ask everyone as we read.
For those of you that do have it and want to start, go ahead! I'll be back on Wednesday to officially kick things off! :wave: Hey, where's the woot guy?
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I looked for my book this weekend, and naturally, Barnes & Noble still did not have it, so I'm ordering it. But I'll catch up when it gets here; spring break is next week.
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I'm 30 pages in! Woot! I was reading it and my husband was laughing at the faces I was making while reading. It's funny because I always watch horror, but I've never actually read it. It's still gross even when it's written on paper. But the thing with reading is, I can't shut my eyes when the nasty parts come and wait for Josh to tell me when it's over.
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Why don't we just start the ball rolling on this one. I just finished the first part of this story and all I can say is WTF? and Holy Hell! lol So now it's time for everyone else to get their WTF's and Holy Hells in.
Let's try to read up to the end of the first part. That's about 84 pages or so.
Did you feel like you were right in the middle of the action?
Did you think he did a god job at his descriptions of what was going on?
How do you feel about Clay, Tom, The girl (I can't remember her name lol) and the hotel dude?
Anything bugging you about the story so far?
:) happy reading!!
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Are you all so busy saying "Holy Hell!" that you don't know what else to say?
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I just got my book today finally... I had to order it cause the stupid store didn't have it. But spring break has officially started, so I'll get caught up pretty soon here!
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Yay to spring break! I wish we had one of those!
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Okay, I'm almost done with the first part! My only real "Holy Hell!" moment was the guy chewing off his dog's ear in the park... ew!! :( Beyond that, nothing was too far beyond my realm of expectation.
One thing I like about this book so far is how quickly it jumped into the action. A lot of other S.K. books I've read are pretty slow in the beginning... he takes a lot of time introducing you to the characters and setting the stage for what's going to happen, which is good for slow-building suspense, but I like how this story started three minutes before the action and drew you into it right off the bat.
Another thought I had was that the story reminds me of the movie "The Happening," except in this book, everyone goes crazy and starts killing other people, instead of themselves. The Happening was a terrible movie, though, so hopefully Cell will turn out to be better LOL.
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The dog part by far was the most disturbing part for me too! I am so afriad for the cat that's coming up. I'm not sure what SK has against animals. lol
It reminded me of the Happening as well, at least from what I had heard about it. It also reminds me of The Mist by him. I agree about the action, it was nice getting right into it.
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lol the dog thing took me by surprise. Nasty. But I'm still only 30 pages in. I haven't had any time to read. grr.... hopefully 'll get a little time today.
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Time to start reading the next section of the book. So, let's read up to the Gaiten Academy (Around page 153 I believe?) By next week.
Here's a few more things to ponder while reading...
Why do you think SK always adds a child into his books as a lead. Do you feel the girl and jeez! I can't remember her name again! lol Whoever she is...do you feel like she adds an important element to the story or do you think she's kind of unnecessary?
What was your take on the woman on the bridge and do you think youth has a significant role to play in what's happening?
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The girl is Alice. So far I haven't decided yet, but I do think she makes a nice contrast to the two older guys. One thing I am liking about this book so far is that it's been following the same characters the whole time. Before this and My Sister's Keeper, I was reading The Stand, which has about a bazillion different characters, it seems, and in the beginning, it was hard to keep them all straight. I'm sure they'll all turn out to be important to the story, but I like that so far, this whole story has been from Clay's perspective. Makes it much simpler LOL.
As for the woman on the bridge, are you talking about the old lady with the Bible? I don't know if she'll be important, but you gotta have the Bible-spouting holy-roller thinking it's the end of the world in there LOL. There was a good point made about the lack of young people around when they were on the bridge... what better way to target the future of America than send something through the cell phones!
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Alice, That's it! I'm not sure why i'm having such a hard time remembering that name lol
I really couldn't think of any good questions for this chapter.
I doubt that old lady plays an important role in the story, but she reminded me of the old lady in The Mist. I'm seeing a lot of similarities between the two stories.
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Ok, how far is everyone? I'm at the "Fading Roses, this garden's over" part. like page 200... I feel like I have so much rattling around in my brain right now that I don't think I can even get it out right now. I'll have to sleep (if I can lol) on it and then come back tomorrow. It's just that not only have I never read any Stephen King before, but I've never read any "creepy" books in general. I'm so the light romance kind of girl. But I ALWAYS get very sucked into the books I read, like I'm in the adventure right along with the characters. I'm one of those people who will cry all the time as I read, or get mad and actually yell out loud at the people and whatnot. Well can I just tell you that little miss severe anxiety disorder here had to stop reading because I don't think I physically could continue right now? I swear my heart is just pounding and I'm so anxious and creeped out and just stressed and scared for these people all at once. It's insane.
I am absolutely LOVING this book, and I don't know what I expected from Stephen King. I mean I expected the gore, and in all honesty that' snot what's getting to me. But I didn't expect the crazy intensity. From like what, page three or something, this book has just been one giant adrenaline rush for survival and there has just been like next to zero down time. Always on the edge. I guess I didn't expect that. Even when he's writing the little character moments and whatever, always there's this insane pull. I think I feel the need for them to escape worse than they do. LOL. Ok, wow you know what it's late, I just got caught up in the book and now I need sleep but I'm seriously too anxious. I'm all creeped out lol and if I go to sleep now I'm sure I'll have nightmares. But if I keep reading, I'll throw myself into a panic attack.
Insane I tell you. I'm insane right now.
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You're right; this one is pretty intense! Not all of his books are like this. Like I said earlier, most of the ones I've read, particularly the older ones, start off a lot slower... but even in those, you can see bad things transpiring before the characters know it, so they're still pretty nerve-wracking.
I'm enjoying it too. I'm not as far as Kelly; I'm on the morning after the first night in Tom's house... creepy!!
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I agree with you both about the intensity. I think out of all his books, this one has the most intense from the start. I do have to say it's probably not one of my favorites so far but it is hard to put down.
I'm more than halfway through the Gaiten Academy part. When they are in the stadium lol eww!
This man has a genius mind and he did make me wonder breifly if I would have been on my cellphone at that time on that day.
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It's not one of my favorites so far either, but we'll see. I am liking it, and I like that it's not slow-paced; it's easier to get into that way.
I realized most of the SK books I've read are his old ones... besides Cell, I think the most "modern" book of his I've read is Misery, and that was written in the early 90s. So it's interesting to read his his more recent writing.
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I have read all his books to date except for maybe three of them. I tend to like his dramas with a little bit of suspense minus his sheer horror fics. I think my problem with this one is I feel like he's just kind of plagiarizing himself left and right because he's written so many end of the world type stories, they are kind of melding together in this one.
I think the intensity of it is making me enjoy it. If it was a slower paces story, I probably wouldn't be so involved in it. I am trying to slow down though lol I tend to read too fast. That's why i'm reading two books at once.
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LOL that makes sense. Like I said, I was reading The Stand before this, and I didn't get that far into it, but I can see the similarities, with the whole end of the world type scenario... everyone else either sick or zombie LOL. I'm sure, with as many books as he's written, it's hard to come up with completely original ideas anymore. The kind of stuff he writes takes a lot of creativity.
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My fave from Stephen King as I said a million times is his Dark Tower series.
But as for Cell, I loved how intense it was. I seriously could not put it down. And since a lot of his stories involve a ton of buildup, and this one had essentially none, I really liked the change. Also, the idea of having the end of the world come through cell phones creeped me the heck out lol, especially since I adore mine lol.
I'm rereading this along with his other fic Bag of Bones. I'm on such a SK kick right now.
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lol well I guess it's good that I started with this one, because they can only get better. Josh said this one was just a random quick one he wrote on a spur of the moment just to kind of pay homage to his favorite zombie movie guys... I guess he read some interview somewhere where he said it was just kind of supposed to be a fun quick read... I'll have to check out some of his other work too. I love his dramas too. (At least the movies, anyway. lol.) Josh says for me he'd recommend the Dark Tower series. And I know a lot of you guys have said you like that one too. So maybe I'll eventually start that monstrosity.
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lol well I guess it's good that I started with this one, because they can only get better. Josh said this one was just a random quick one he wrote on a spur of the moment just to kind of pay homage to his favorite zombie movie guys... I guess he read some interview somewhere where he said it was just kind of supposed to be a fun quick read... I'll have to check out some of his other work too. I love his dramas too. (At least the movies, anyway. lol.) Josh says for me he'd recommend the Dark Tower series. And I know a lot of you guys have said you like that one too. So maybe I'll eventually start that monstrosity.
He's absolutely right, that series is so freaking awesome. It's so insanely creative. Just remember it's 7 books long lol and the books are huge. But awesome. The first one is good, but the weakest of the series (in my opinion) so don't judge it by "The Gunslinger". It's good, don't get me wrong, but it gets way better.
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I agree about the Dark Tower Series. I'll have to read those over eventually. I hardly remember the first one.
How sick is SK's mind when he thinks this story is a quick, fun read? lol
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LMAO pretty sick! But I can see his point... it's not very long, compared to a lot of his other books, and it does move pretty quick, whereas you can tell a lot more development of plot and characters and setting went into the other books of his that I've read. But it's definitely an entertaining read!
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I agree about the Dark Tower Series. I'll have to read those over eventually. I hardly remember the first one.
How sick is SK's mind when he thinks this story is a quick, fun read? lol
Pretty sick, and I love that about him lol.
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I feee-nished! And I loved it and I will definitely check out more SK in the future. So, when everyone catches up to me, let me know!
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Time to start reading the next part of Cell. Try to read all of Gaiten Academy this week and then don't forget to post your thoughts about it as you read.
I only have about 15 more pages to go before I hit the end of that part and it's been the most intense part of the book so far, for me anyway.
Also, now that we are about halfway through this month, it's time to start thinking about next month. Does anyone want to host next month? Or if not anybody have any good idead about a theme or do we just want to throw rnadom book titles out there and pick in a poll? Suggestions would rock.
Personally, I like the idea of a theme or one author with many different books to choose from by that person.
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I had an idea for a theme, and a couple of books I'd like to suggest. I wouldn't mind doing next month, but then I've already done it once, so if someone else wants to do it instead, by all means, speak up!
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^ you haven't really done it though lol I think it's safe to say your month wasn't really your month.
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Oh, that's right. That was the month I got real sick. Well then, I'll just claim next month if that's alright. I have a theme and a couple of suggestions, but I'll compile more of a list, and post something soon.
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Can we do an Anne Rice month? Pleeeeeeeeeeee eeease.
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We can do an Anne Rice month at some point, sure. Do you want to be in charge of it?
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If I am, it'll have to be a summer month then LOL.
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We can do that lol I mean, it doesn't matter to me. I don't mind hosting it, but i'd rather it be from the person who is the die hard fan. LOL
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Yeah, I'm addicted to her Vampire Chronicles, read and reread them a million times. It's sad lol. It'd be best if I hosted, I know her books by heart. I'm just sad she's gone completely religious fiction now, cause none of that appeals to me.
Anywho, so are you still liking Cell Mare? Or is it too similar to his other end of the world fics now that it irks you? I really liked the fast paced-ness of it.
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I'm still on the Gaiten Academy section, and I agree, Mare, definitely more intense! It's eerie, because nothing bad has really happened, yet you sense that it's about to, and that makes it really suspenseful. It's getting very interesting too, how their behavior is changing. The story is deeper than what I expected in the beginning.
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I am actually enjoying it. It's not my favorite by far, but it's not bad either. I think as far as his end of world stories, The Stand is still up there for me lol
I'm curious where he's taking this one. I just can't get past the fact that he left his cat at home. LOL I literally had a really hard time with that. I know...but to me my pets are my babies. I would have figured out a way to take him with me.
The girl is annoying me, but I think maybe she's supposed to. I do enjoy the new additions of the headmaster and Jordan. I hope they stick around. It's nice having some more characters around.
I really enjoyed the Mayfair Chronicles by Anne Rice. I like the vampire chronicles too but the witches were my favorite ones.
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I'm still on the Gaiten Academy section, and I agree, Mare, definitely more intense! It's eerie, because nothing bad has really happened, yet you sense that it's about to, and that makes it really suspenseful. It's getting very interesting too, how their behavior is changing. The story is deeper than what I expected in the beginning.
Yeah, SK is so good at making things suspensful all the while nothing has even really happened yet. You keep feeling it's just around the corner. The whole cd thing is creepy weird lol
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I am actually enjoying it. It's not my favorite by far, but it's not bad either. I think as far as his end of world stories, The Stand is still up there for me lol
I'm curious where he's taking this one. I just can't get past the fact that he left his cat at home. LOL I literally had a really hard time with that. I know...but to me my pets are my babies. I would have figured out a way to take him with me.
The girl is annoying me, but I think maybe she's supposed to. I do enjoy the new additions of the headmaster and Jordan. I hope they stick around. It's nice having some more characters around.
I really enjoyed the Mayfair Chronicles by Anne Rice. I like the vampire chronicles too but the witches were my favorite ones.
I liked the Mayfair Chronicles too. Have you ever read Blood Canticle...I think it's called... the two series actually crossover in that one.
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I am actually enjoying it. It's not my favorite by far, but it's not bad either. I think as far as his end of world stories, The Stand is still up there for me lol
I'm curious where he's taking this one. I just can't get past the fact that he left his cat at home. LOL I literally had a really hard time with that. I know...but to me my pets are my babies. I would have figured out a way to take him with me.
The girl is annoying me, but I think maybe she's supposed to. I do enjoy the new additions of the headmaster and Jordan. I hope they stick around. It's nice having some more characters around.
Aww, I know, the cat part made me sad too! :(
Alice doesn't really bug me, but the creepy little sneaker thing is weird LOL. I like the addition of Jordan and the headmaster too.
And I agree... the mellow music blaring from all the boomboxes at once - and seemingly from inside them too - is totally creepy.
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I liked the Mayfair Chronicles too. Have you ever read Blood Canticle...I think it's called... the two series actually crossover in that one.
No, I haven't read that one. Interesting. I was on an Anne Rice kick kind of like ym Jody Picoult kick now. I couldn't get enough and then I got sick of her and took a break and never went back lol
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Aww, I know, the cat part made me sad too! :(
Alice doesn't really bug me, but the creepy little sneaker thing is weird LOL. I like the addition of Jordan and the headmaster too.
And I agree... the mellow music blaring from all the boomboxes at once - and seemingly from inside them too - is totally creepy.
I know! Super creepy lol And how he describes the stench of the place. Yuck!
Did you get to the blowing up the stadium part? All I kept thinking for that is "If they make this into a movie I am NEVER going to see it!" lmao
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Aww, I know, the cat part made me sad too! :(
Alice doesn't really bug me, but the creepy little sneaker thing is weird LOL. I like the addition of Jordan and the headmaster too.
And I agree... the mellow music blaring from all the boomboxes at once - and seemingly from inside them too - is totally creepy.
The boombox bit definitely creeped me out.
I didn't get sad about the cat lmao. Maybe I would have had it been a dog instead.
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I will not let my cats know you said that! lol
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LOL sorry, I'm just not a cat person. But that's cause I'm horribly allergic to them. I adore dogs though, I have two of them. If I was in Cell, I'd bring my dogs with me lol.
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lol I didn't get sad about the cat either. But I did think he would take it with him and was surprised when he didn't.
I think the time at Gatian Academy was by far the most suspenseful/intense part of the book. I'd just finished that section the night I was all creeped out and didn't want to go to sleep. lol.
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Wow, Gaiten Acedemy's part was mega intense. lol
Let's read up to Worm this week or even try to finish the book off. I know I probably won't be able to because it's a busy week for me.
Anyone else's thoughts on all the crap that happened at the Academy? lol
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Time to finish this book off!
Don't forget to come in and give your thoughts on this. Whenever we start talk of the next month's book, we always forget to come back to the one we're currently talking about lol
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I'm still reading... I'm being really slow at this one LOL. It's bathroom and before bed reading, so I'm reading it in short spurts... I just haven't had time to really sit down during the day and read a lot of it at once. So I'm still not done, but I am enjoying how it keeps getting deeper and creepier.
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I am almost done. I would have finished today because I FINALLY had a free period but we had a freaking fire alarm during my free period and spent most of it outside! UGH!! lol
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aww, that's a bummer. Is anyone else done yet?
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I hate how those "free periods" never end up being free. Even on my art day, where I get an hour of plan time instead of the usual half hour, I never manage to get as much as I thought I would get done. It goes by so fast, and someone else always comes up. Grr.
Oops, getting us off topic. So... Cell. Um, Raggedy Man is creepy? I'm at that point where I really just wanna finish the thing and figure out where this is all going before I wrap up my thoughts.
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Yup Raggedy Man is uber creepy and I finished!! :) Woot!
It was a very typical Stephen King book including the ending lol
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Thoughts on the Cell?
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***Spoliers!***
I really enjoyed it and it made me sure that I'll check out more SK books in the future. I will say this though, It lost a lot of it's steam for me after they left gatian academy. It was so incredible scary and intense for so long, and then suddenly, once the raggedy man put the "don't touch" order out on them it's like all that tension he'd created was suddenly gone. It was still intriguing, but it just felt different after that somehow.
Also, I was uber sad when they killed Alice. But did anyone else notice the little notes left randomly throughout the book? Like how it was all, "This is the part where Alice dies" or "The boy is not one, but he will be" or whatever it said. I couldn't understand why he did that. I didn't like it. I would have much preferred to not be given those clues ahead of time. I thought it was weird.
But I did like the end. It was a little "yeah right"-ish to me that he found his boy but I'm glad he left it open ended. And I'm glad no one else died in the end. Plus that last plan was pretty cool. Over all I really enjoyed this book. I'd love to read one of his others where he gets really in depth.
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That's another classic SK move, Kelly. He loves to foreshadow. I personally enjoy that a lot because it always gives me the chills lol
I think one of the reasons I never enjoy SK's movies is because he leaves so much to the reader that when the movies come out they ruin all of that up in the air-ness for me.
*spoiler alert!*
Of course I enjoyed Alice dying although it felt like such a random killing off. lol almost like he didn't feel like writing about her anymore so he killed her. I guess that was the main idea of the story though, how random it was and how at any time any one of them could have been killed.
I wasn't too pleased with the whole Raggedy Man thing either, once again I felt like maybe he was just rushing to get to his conclusion or something. It was creepy though. I usually don't have a hard time visualizing SK stories but for some reason I had to go back and re-read the whole why they ended up going to find Clay part. That was confusing to me, the way he described what was happening.
I was kind of disappointed that he did find his son in the end. It seemed almost too happy for an apocalyptic SK story, but at least he wasn't normal. I know that sounded sick! lol but compared to how he ended The Mist, The Stand, and the Dark Tower, this one was too happy for me.
I did enjoy it overall. Like I said, not the best but not the worst by far.
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I finally finished Cell!
I tend to agree with both of you, Kelly and Mare. I did enjoy the book, although it definitely wasn't my favorite. It started off strong, and it kept me intrigued for awhile because it seemed so suspenseful; I just keep reading waiting for something really scary to happen. While the whole Gaiten Academy part was really creepy and suspenseful in that way, it seemed to drag on forever for me, and after that, I agree with Kelly, the story seemed to lose a lot of its tension. The Raggedy Man was creepy at first, but after awhile, when he never actually did anything to them, he lost his effect too.
I did enjoy the climax with Ray's whole plan going into effect; that was pretty genius, using the cell phones. And I was glad they didn't kill poor little Jordan, after what happened to Alice and the Head before her and then Ray!
I kind of did want Clay to find his son because, yeah, I'll admit it, I like happy endings, but at the same time, I kind of didn't because it did seem a little unrealistic. But then, it's a story, and in stories, why waste all that narrative on his son if he was never going to see him again? I did like that Johnny ended up being half-a-phoner, or whatever you want to call him, cause that made it less of an unrealisticall y happy ending. As for the ending itself... I loved it and hated it LOL. I hated it because I wanted to find out if using the Pulse again would work! And I loved it because SK is brilliant for leaving it like that and making us all wonder and/or just decide for ourselves. Ahh!!
All in all, it was a decent book, definitely not his best that I've read, but worth the read. Also, like I said before, it was interesting for me to read something current by SK... I've mostly only read his old stuff, which is classic and brilliant, but at times dated. It was cool to read something modern and sci-fi from him.