This right here was where I went from "this is interesting" to "this is deeply unsettling".
"What are you reading?" thread.
- Thread starter HoboNinja
- Start date
I'm reading Everything's Eventual, another Stephen King short story collection, and I just finished the story "1408." Between this story and some other King work, I've noticed a couple things:
1. Stephen King really likes Lovecraft-inspired concepts
2. People adapting Stephen King stories either do not like Lovecraft-inspired concepts or believe TV/movie audiences won't understand them, because they get rid of it in each instance of a King adaptation I've seen. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please.
In this case, the movie Room 1408 is pretty much just a ghost story, a haunted hotel room that makes people kill themselves. In the short story
1. Stephen King really likes Lovecraft-inspired concepts
2. People adapting Stephen King stories either do not like Lovecraft-inspired concepts or believe TV/movie audiences won't understand them, because they get rid of it in each instance of a King adaptation I've seen. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please.
In this case, the movie Room 1408 is pretty much just a ghost story, a haunted hotel room that makes people kill themselves. In the short story
While there is a supernatural effect on the room, the suicides are about people trying to escape what's in the room. Near the end of the protagonist's ordeal, the geometry of the room is changing so that the far wall can open into some "other place" that makes way for some slobbering hungry thing, coming in to devour the protagonist.
I never saw the movie adaptation, though I did read EE a while back and there is definitely a Lovecraftian influence on a lot of his stories. Shame if they took that out.
Yup, it's a pretty common theme with adaptations of his work. I was never a fan of King, knowing his work only through movies. After having read a couple of his short stories I started looking up the stories of the movies, and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm still not a huge fan, but his writing is much better than what movie makers make of it for some reason.
Nooooo
. Knowing his work through movies is the worst way to know it, with exceptions you can count on one hand (The Mist, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). I'm glad you went to check out some of the written stuff. Even his terrible stories are usually well-written (The Tommyknockers). The trouble with adaptation being that a lot of what works is the writing and there's no way to get the prose into a film, unless you adapt a Stephen King story in the same way as Muppet Christmas Carol.The movie in a nutshell
The writer's daughter dies, making him desperate for contact with the afterlife. When he finds out about room 1408, he goes there to spend a night. Then the clock starts counting down an hour, because the hotel manager told the writer that no one's ever lasted an hour, which causes a big problem with the story because any death in the room would've needed more than an hour's investigation, and it can take an hour or so to turn over a hotel room, especially if someone's gotten their blood all over it. This hour thing wasn't in the short story, but it's the central threat in the movie as when the hour is up, the clock starts over. The room changes a bit, the writer sees ghosts, including his dead daughter. A voice tells him to just kill himself because it's the only way this will end. He ends up surviving in the end.
Really, the short story doesn't have enough material for a movie--more like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Dark Side. Most of the story is the build-up before the protagonist even goes into the room. Things go pretty fast from there, but in the story, there's no definite mechanic to whether someone dies or not.
I don't understand why the Lovecraftian stuff gets pulled out. I wonder if the people doing the adapting think "oh, this is just some random weird shit" and have no concept of cosmic horror.
Hollywood tends not to like Bad Guys/Evil/concepts/anything they can't show on screen. The whole point of most Lovecraftian horror is that some things simply can'tbe seen/comprehended/understood/etc. A looming threat in the distance isn't visceral and in your face enough.
See also: War of the Worlds and a million other such movies.
Can't just have a tense alien invasion movie; gotta have Tom Cruise throw a grenade up a spaceship rectum ...
Devil in the White City
Historical crime novel based on the 1893 Chicago worlds fair and the chaos caused by H.H. Holmes. It's pretty fascinating. It switches between talking about the fair and getting it all together - from the perspective of the architects mostly and H. H. Holmes. I thought the fair sections would be boring and..not a lot going on, but it's actually all really interesting! I know...more than I probably should about Holmes' story, but it's so well researched there's plenty in it I didn't know.
It's written somewhat cold and calculating, but I'm definitely on board with it all. I can't read it fast enough!
Historical crime novel based on the 1893 Chicago worlds fair and the chaos caused by H.H. Holmes. It's pretty fascinating. It switches between talking about the fair and getting it all together - from the perspective of the architects mostly and H. H. Holmes. I thought the fair sections would be boring and..not a lot going on, but it's actually all really interesting! I know...more than I probably should about Holmes' story, but it's so well researched there's plenty in it I didn't know.
It's written somewhat cold and calculating, but I'm definitely on board with it all. I can't read it fast enough!
So I finished listening to the READY PLAYER ONE audiobook last night. I couldn't stop. It turned out really well for me because while I listened to it, I went on a cleaning spree. My bedroom looks near immaculate now. I knew I wouldn't be able to surf the internet and pay attention, so I busied myself with things like cleaning. When I wasn't busying myself, I actually pulled out the hard copy of the book and read along to Wil Wheaton's narration.
What's funny now is that once I was done, I continued on reading a Mickey Spillane book I'd started (Vengeance is Mine). Heh, and I kept wondering "Where are the references to The OASIS? Where's the deluge of 80s pop culture references?!"
That ever happened to you? You'll jump to another book so soon after finishing another and you'll accidentally mix them together?
What's funny now is that once I was done, I continued on reading a Mickey Spillane book I'd started (Vengeance is Mine). Heh, and I kept wondering "Where are the references to The OASIS? Where's the deluge of 80s pop culture references?!"
That ever happened to you? You'll jump to another book so soon after finishing another and you'll accidentally mix them together?
So in my continuing quest into the world of audiobooks, I plowed through ALL of the fourth Hitchhiker's book today, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. It was only a little under 4 hours long in total (they're all short books), so plowing through it was easy.
While I've certainly enjoyed the series as a whole, I think I would've enjoyed them even more via audiobook. The ones I "legally obtained" are narrated by the late, great Douglas Adams himself. It made reading along even MORE enjoyable. Aside from how he reads Marvin's voice (who I will forever hear as Alan Rickman), his quick British narration is exactly how I imagined the book being read in my mind.
Did they use some of his narration in the Hitchhiker's movie from some years back? I swear it sounds familiar.
While I've certainly enjoyed the series as a whole, I think I would've enjoyed them even more via audiobook. The ones I "legally obtained" are narrated by the late, great Douglas Adams himself. It made reading along even MORE enjoyable. Aside from how he reads Marvin's voice (who I will forever hear as Alan Rickman), his quick British narration is exactly how I imagined the book being read in my mind.
Did they use some of his narration in the Hitchhiker's movie from some years back? I swear it sounds familiar.
In the Unlikely Event
I just finished Judy Blume's most recent adult novel, and it was bittersweet. I think Summer Sisters may still be my favorite, but this hit me in a different way. She drew very strongly from the actual structure and events in Elizabeth, NJ, and having grown up the next town over, it was like a trip down memory lane. I remember so many of the places and streets she sites, even though the majority of the book takes place in the 1950's. But most of all, I wish I had been able to get my grandmother to read this before she passed in March. Not that she needed to relive those 3 plane crashes, but so much of her life was spent in the area (she also grew up in Elizabeth and by the 50's she was living in Roselle right next door), I think she would have enjoyed the trip down memory lane. She spent so much time in the same social circles and locations, it probably would have been like a time machine, especially because I know she moved out to PA to make my grandfather happy, and she missed her life in NJ.
I just finished Judy Blume's most recent adult novel, and it was bittersweet. I think Summer Sisters may still be my favorite, but this hit me in a different way. She drew very strongly from the actual structure and events in Elizabeth, NJ, and having grown up the next town over, it was like a trip down memory lane. I remember so many of the places and streets she sites, even though the majority of the book takes place in the 1950's. But most of all, I wish I had been able to get my grandmother to read this before she passed in March. Not that she needed to relive those 3 plane crashes, but so much of her life was spent in the area (she also grew up in Elizabeth and by the 50's she was living in Roselle right next door), I think she would have enjoyed the trip down memory lane. She spent so much time in the same social circles and locations, it probably would have been like a time machine, especially because I know she moved out to PA to make my grandfather happy, and she missed her life in NJ.
Man, i keep trying to get through The Forever War but every time he gets an update on Earth is keeps putting me off since he's hung up on how being gay is alright and how that's weird to him and how much he doesn't really like it and OH HEY NOW BEING STRAIT IS AGAINST THE LAW KINDA fuck man, like we get it, you don't like gay people. Move the fuck on with your narrative. Oh and the one black guy in the book "spoke lik dis 'cause U kno dem blak folk don't do much talkin' like dem white folk do, suh"
kinda fuck this guy. At least Starship Troopers kept most of it's crazy to one chapter.
kinda fuck this guy. At least Starship Troopers kept most of it's crazy to one chapter.
GasBandit
Staff member
I dunno, I got a big chuckle about how that one shipmate of his turned out to be closeted straight, but he went through special pains to make sure she didn't ruin her career by being outed.
The sequel is worse. Basically all the surviving veterans get shipped to this barely inhabitable ice planet, they decide this is bullshit and rebel, and while they're in FTL, all humanity disappears. They land on Earth, meet a race of Transformers, then basically God shows up and says, "Yeah, I stuffed everyone into Carlsbad Cavern for some reason, now I'm slightly changing the laws of physics. See ya."
Anyone else a fan of the Dresden Files series? I read two last year and now listening to the third: Grave Peril. I'm really digging it. Even better? It's narrated by James "Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marsters. It's the perfect tone. I get the feeling I'll plow through a few more maybe before the end of the year.
James Marsters only gets better as the series goes on too. There are a few emotional scenes that he just nails so hard.
*adds to his list of audiobooks to get*
I do warn you Poe, that Matsters starts out kind of sketchy in the first book, because he hasn't gotten his footing with reading the series yet.
Just finished listening to/reading THE AMBER SPYGLASS, by Philip Pullman. Given some of its themes and especially its overall moral, I can see why some Christians were critical of it. It certainly doesn't paint Christian doctrine in a kind light. Or more accurately, it's a systematic rejection of Christian doctrine.
In other news, that's the 41st book I've enjoyed this year. Definitely a new record for me by far. I'd hoped to reach 50 by the end of the year, but I don't think that's doable at this point. I should come pretty darn close, though.
(The number of graphic novels I've read so far are 105. Never counted how many comics I read in a year, so that's interesting. I knew it'd be far higher than books, since comics are a faster, easier read.)
In other news, that's the 41st book I've enjoyed this year. Definitely a new record for me by far. I'd hoped to reach 50 by the end of the year, but I don't think that's doable at this point. I should come pretty darn close, though.
(The number of graphic novels I've read so far are 105. Never counted how many comics I read in a year, so that's interesting. I knew it'd be far higher than books, since comics are a faster, easier read.)
I both love and hate reading Mickey Spillane books. Love because, well, it's Mickey Spillane. But hate because he uses all sorts of now outdated terms that need googling.
Ironically enough, he wouldn't understand the term "googling" back then.
Ironically enough, he wouldn't understand the term "googling" back then.
I am currently reading Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates, one of my favorite authors. It's essentially a novelization (actually more like a novellaization at 100 pages) of Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick incident from the point of view of the drowning woman. It is hauntingly terrifying.
Before reading this, I had read her novella called Zombie, which was essentially a fictional take on Jeffery Dahmer, from the point of view of the serial killer as he stalks, aducts and tries to lobotomize a pretty teen boy into a zombie sex slave. That was hauntingly horrific.
Before reading this, I had read her novella called Zombie, which was essentially a fictional take on Jeffery Dahmer, from the point of view of the serial killer as he stalks, aducts and tries to lobotomize a pretty teen boy into a zombie sex slave. That was hauntingly horrific.
I just posted a rather self-indulgent blog, listing everything I read in 2016 (both books and comics). Have a look if you'd like.
https://nickpiers.com/2017/01/01/books-comics-read-in-2016/
https://nickpiers.com/2017/01/01/books-comics-read-in-2016/
The self indulgent bit was book 44, right?
I deserve a fucking trophy for that self-indulgence.
Although, if it's a self-indulgence trophy, I guess I have to buy it myself.
I think I said this back in March or so as well, but if you're reading t he Hitchhiker's Guide, it's worth checking out book 6.
Also, ugh, Great Gatsby. I love a lot of classics and I don't mind dated or old fashioned writing or references, but that's one book I just didn't enjoy. Along with Bonfire of the Vanities.
Also, ugh, Great Gatsby. I love a lot of classics and I don't mind dated or old fashioned writing or references, but that's one book I just didn't enjoy. Along with Bonfire of the Vanities.
I appreciated it more after reading some literary essays on it.
GasBandit
Staff member
Last night was the first time in years I'd cracked open a physical book for entertainment. I started rereading Magician: Apprentice by Raymond Feist. As gaming hasn't been interesting me lately, I tentatively plan to reread all 20-something books I have in the Riftwar series, and I managed to get halfway through the first book in one sitting.
It still feels wierd, not reading out loud. :/
But I'm getting there.
The cat, however, is annoyed that I have apparently invented yet another way to not be paying direct attention to him.
It still feels wierd, not reading out loud. :/
But I'm getting there.
The cat, however, is annoyed that I have apparently invented yet another way to not be paying direct attention to him.
Dave
Staff member
I just started re-reading The Wheel of Time. Because I'm sick and need to feel even worse.
I'm on book #5 right now so I'm about to get into the 900+ page per book slog that is books 6-11. Or whatever book Jordan finally was crushed to death under the weight of his own words and St. Sanderson took over, glory be to his name.
I'm on book #5 right now so I'm about to get into the 900+ page per book slog that is books 6-11. Or whatever book Jordan finally was crushed to death under the weight of his own words and St. Sanderson took over, glory be to his name.
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh you poor bastard. I never finished that series because it took SO long for the final books to come out under the new author that I had long since forgotten too much to follow the plot, and like hell was I gonna suffer through books 6-9 again.
But if you can get through those, the action starts picking up in 10 again because that's when Jordan figured out he was dying. Then 12 on are the new author.
At least I think it was 10... maybe it was 11.
In either case, that's a hell of a slog through some absolutely torturous reading. If only Rand/Matt/Perrin was here, he'd know what to do.
I'm pretty sure the only thing that happened in Path of Daggers was Rand fighting the Seanchan to a stalemate, and establishing which minor characters were fucking.
Yeah he started tying up some lose ends around book 11.