Past the Solstice! Already! Happy summer. Somehow there are all these things I have to do, errands and applications and follow-ups and hours to chase down, and it all feels a bit like maintenance mode. Keeping the wheels spinning, because those wheels, you know. Those wheels gotta spin, and they don't do it by themselves somehow.
Years ago I read The Talisman, a dark fantasy novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Shortly after it came out, I think, which probably puts it back in the latter '80s. I didn't like it much, but when I heard recently that King is publishing a new third book in the series I discovered that I couldn't remember a thing about it, much as I don't recall anything out of its sequel Black House (2001). So I decided to revisit. It took me ages to get through it, and I still don't like it, but now at least I know what it was about.
This key is a few years old, newly revealed, and it really should be perfectly fine - but with publishers these days, who can tell? If you have trouble with it, please let me know.
😂 Pretty much me with most of King's books except The Long Walk.
My wheels are spinning a bit all over the place lately and the crushing heat doesn't do much help. 44°C (111F) in the shade today in Paris. 50°C (122F) in the kitchen. 60°C (140F) in the sun. And the forecast is for another 5 days with a possible increase for a double heatwave.
I hope your wheels keep spinning in the right direction and you have a good sweet summer and lovely non infernal weather.
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I like King's books usually, so it's an exception for me. Usually I zoom through them, but not this time.
The temperatures you're describing are Just Too Hot. I recommend going on strike. With iced beverages and as much shade as possible.
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They're page turners, that's true. I did find The Talisman series in general was a bit of a log for me as well. I was not really engaged by the characters so I had to force myself to finish them.
Heh we have a really good boss who's very concerned about our well being so we take turns at breaks in the cold storage and we have portable mist devices and make sure we drink plenty. He also reworked the shifts so we have only one service every day and our kitchen is in much better shape than most with functioning AC but yeah it's still a kitchen. We prep a lot more and thankfully people seem to want to eat cold mostly so it's not as bad as it could have been. I'll be glad when we're back to seasonal temps if ever.
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Glad to hear you've got a good boss! That can make such a difference, especially when the world is misbehaving.
There are some vivid and interesting things in The Talisman, I think, but the book is so undercut by awkward writing and creepy offensive character moments that it makes the voyage quite hard.
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I must admit that I found Peter Straub's writing hard to like in the couple novels I read from him so it might be that his style and King's didn't mesh as much as their creativity.
Heh some books haven't really aged well I think
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I remember when I was reading Bag of Bones in my bedroom, I was at the spot in the book where he is dreaming, and there is a figure that exits a cabin, and it flutters in the corner of his eye. Suddenly, there is a ghostly figure in front of him! And at exactly that moment when the figure suddenly appears near him, my curtain flutters in the corner of my eye (the furnace kicked on) and I literally jumped up about a foot.
Talk about a perfect moment. The fluttering in the book, and then I see some movement in the corner of my eye. It was one of the most scared I had ever been!! LOL!
Also, The Green Mile is an excellent book as well as the movie they based on it.
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😂 life can make little perfect moments when you read like that.
Bag of Bones if one of my favorite of his "horror" novels.
True. And the Shawshank novella, also excellent. And a great movie out of such short story.
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The Shawshank Redemption is one of my favourite movies ever. I must have watched it almost 10 times (at least). If I was flipping through the channels and it popped on, I would watch it no matter the place it was at in it. So well acted, and the atmosphere was off the charts!
My dad is a retired OPP officer, and he dislikes any movies that glorify prisons,, so when I bought this movie on DVD for his birthday, it took years for him to finally watch it. But he finally did, after I continually told him how good it was.
Here is what he said: "Why did I wait so long to watch this?" He loved it too.
Cell, however, was one of his weaker books, but I thought it was okay. The movie? The ending (different from the book) was horrible. I hated it, and made me dislike the rest of the movie that much more.
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Haha I know exactly what you mean. If I flip through channels and it's on, I watch it too. If my gf is flipping through the channel and it's on and she is pretending it wasn't because she doesn't want to watch it again, I start quoting the rest of the scene it was in so she just has to let me watch instead 😁
Damn, I bet. It's like a nurse watching ER!
Haha I'm glad he finally watched it. It's the strangest movie because in what should be (and is) an oppressive setting, it's actually a movie about friendship and hope. And they manage so well. The ending always gets me choked up no matter how many times I've seen it (which was more than 10 for sure but who's counting besides my gf? 😂)
Oh boy. That movie was easily one of the worst I've seen. The novel felt a little like it was trying to be too "techno-relevant" but that movie? I don't even get how this director still gets work. All his movies are crap.
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Solid choice: we tend to regret that which we did not do more than that which we did.
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Thank you <3
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