Lucien21 Books 2015

[Diat60]

Ah yes, body switching - an ancient and honorable tradition.

[Lucien21]

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams - Stephen King

The latest collection of short stories by the master of horror.

Some of King's best work has come from his short stories. He is probably one of the few authors who can still get this kind of book published. Short Story collections are rare.

His latest collection contains 20 stories, some old some new, almost all of them interesting in their own way. They vary in subject - a man who keeps reliving the same life, repeating the same mistakes over and over again, a columnist who kills people by writing their obituaries, a poignant tale about the end of the human race and a firework competition between neighbours which reaches an explosive climax. There are also intriguing connections between the stories; themes of morality, guilt, the afterlife and what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past.

Each story is prefeced with a page of autobigraphical whimsy from King about how the idea for the following story came about. It's an interesting insight into where his ideas come from. A brief glimpse at least.

I like his short form stuff. He likes to paly with the medium and his twists can be pretty creepy. Just when you think one story is going to go one way he jinxs the other way and pulls the rug.

Overall a decent collection of high standard

4/5

[draclvr]

Hmmm.... haven't read any Stephen King for a long time. Might have to check this one out.

[Diat60]

I'm also in the middle of reading Bazaar of Bad Dreams and enjoying every bit of it. Lately Mr. King has been hit or miss, but this one is a definite hit in my book! Agree with your rating.

[Lucien21]

Epic Fail for 2015

Set a target of 30 books in this year, but only managed 14.

Need to make more reading time in 2016.

[draclvr]

It's all about time! After I retired, my #1 favorite thing is staying up late and reading as long as I want!

[LadyKestrel]

I managed 32 books this past year, which is low for me, but a lot of my reading time was spent keeping up with my periodicals, including The Economist, Scientific American, Scientific American Mind, Rubberstampmadness, and Architectural Digest. I also just subscribed to The New Yorker. Since I hate to be interrupted when I'm reading a book, I usually cart around a magazine that I can nibble at while in situations where I have to wait.

[Jude]

I don't keep track, and my house looks like a library, anyway. But I can count the ones (fiction and non-fiction) that I took out of the library in the past year (59) of which I read all but a couple which were unreadably bad. So, add those to books I own that I read, and I would guess it is somewhere around a hundred for last year. That's not counting magazines and online stuff.

I'm a compulsive reader, though. I read the signs on buses, the sides of cereal boxes, even instructions and rulebooks, etc. (which I don't count, either).

[draclvr]

Jude, I'm so bad too... I will cheerfully read the cereal box if there is nothing else!

[Lucien21]

I managed 32 books this past year, which is low for me, but a lot of my reading time was spent keeping up with my periodicals, including The Economist, Scientific American, Scientific American Mind, Rubberstampmadness, and Architectural Digest. I also just subscribed to The New Yorker. Since I hate to be interrupted when I'm reading a book, I usually cart around a magazine that I can nibble at while in situations where I have to wait.

Love the eclectic mix of high science, economics and Rubber Stamps LOL.

[LadyKestrel]

Multi-faceted, that's me.