Thursday, July 22, 2010

Bag of Bones by Stephen King


I love Stephen King. But there is a reason that this is one of the very few books of his that I have never read. It's boring. It seriously took me more than a month to finish because I just didn't want to pick it back up. I can't ever just quit a book in the middle, so I toughed it out. But it was rough.

Basically, it's a ghost story. An author (King likes to use authors as characters a lot, doesn't he?) is grieving his wife who died unexpectedly while she was pregnant with their child. He moves into their vacation house on a lake in Maine and learns that he's not the only one living there.

I liked:

-I honestly can't think of anything that I really liked. Mostly it was just meh...

I didn't like:

-I HATED the name of the lake house: Sara Laughs. That is a terrible name for a house and it just made me cringe when I had to read it.

-I was so bored. This was not one of my favorite King books at all.

-The ending was stupid and I felt like I just read the longest novelization ever of an episode of "Supernatural".

-He and his wife thought it would be a good and "original" idea to name their kid "Kia". Like the crappy cars. At least most people that name their kids after cars go for "Mercedes" or "Bentley".

I'd give it 2/5 stars. King is an amazing writer, but I just didn't get into this story for some reason.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

Goodreads.com summary: "Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they're working a sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer." Both men work hard, marry, and have kids because that's what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it."

I liked:

-The movie followed the book almost word for word. I think that is why the movie was so good at capturing the spirit of the story. Since it's a short story (only 64 pages), it translated well to the screen.

-This book is heartbreaking. It's not a traditional love story by any means. For such a short book, I'm shocked at how much emotion could come through the pages.

I didn't like:

-I honestly can't think of anything. It's a quick read and anyone who liked the movie should love the book.