Rediscovering the classics

[medjay]

So, I spent almost all of last year re-reading books I hadn't cracked in over 10 years. In every occasion they were better the second time around. I'm currently halfway through Stephen King's It and it's way more well-written and engrossing than I remeber which is a pleasant surprise. Next up will most likely be Heinlein's Puppet Masters.

Some others I've knocked out recently are To Kill a Mockingbird, Flowers For Algernon, Bio of a Space Tyrant (Piers Anthony at his best, IMO), A Simple Plan, Neverwhere, Imajica, The Dark Tower series.

I think I've read less than 10 new books in the last 12 months and I'm backlogged on old stuff I want to revist. Also on that list are Childhood's End, Slaughterhouse Five, American Gods, The Talisman, The Hyperion series.

What books do you find improve with age and repeated readings? Any you thought were good but kinda sucked the second time around? Which book can you read over and over and it never gets tired?

 

[Queersetti]

I reread Imagica recently, and concluded that it is not as good as I felt when I first read it.

What were your feelings about it?

 

[Effigy]

I can read everything of Kings bar the dark tower for some reason. Talisman, and the followup were close but still enough story for me to go through.

Why is Dark Tower so different?

 

[medjay]

I reread Imagica recently, and concluded that it is not as good as I felt when I first read it.

What were your feelings about it?

The strange thing is I got all the way up to the last 10 pages and stopped. I was enjoying it -- more than the first time around -- but I just ran out of steam. I put it aside for the night and didn't pick it back up. Guess since I knew how it was going to end I didn't feel to compelled to cross the finish line.

I also re-read Galilee last year and that one wasn't as good as I remembered. Seemed kind of like a second draft in need of a final retooling.

 

[Killswitch]

I reread Imagica recently, and concluded that it is not as good as I felt when I first read it.

What were your feelings about it?

I loved that one.


I'm especially fond of the part where the scary clowns drag unsuspecting citizens into the sewers of New York to be eaten alive.

 

[Effigy]

I loved that one.


I'm especially fond of the part where the scary clowns drag unsuspecting citizens into the sewers of New York to be eaten alive.

Did he deliberately rip off Stephen King?

 

[medjay]

Why is Dark Tower so different?

Probably because the style of the writing is so different from what he usually does. Plus, the first one is kind of hard for a lot of people to get through. But if you get past The Gunslinger and experiece the rest of the books in the series, it really pays off because it's the best stuff he's ever done.

 

[Queersetti]

Did he deliberately rip off Stephen King?

I think that when I said "it", he thought I meant It.

 

[Effigy]

I think that when I said "it", he thought I meant It.

Ah

Why did he think New York?

Talisman is the lead in to the gunslinger... and the one I just read leads into chapter 5 or 6.... it was Rolland Gilliad that gave it more than anything else (I'm pretty sure it was a Straub shared)... I read both, and I tried to read the dark tower IV: Wizard and Glass... I believe, but the fantasy language I couldnt get past.

My favourite King thing is the reporting of Owen getting to the state championships, so its noy like I'm against his genre swapping... is there something I totally miss?

 

[Spinaroonie]

I feel the same way when I watch Ocean's Eleven (Sodebergh version)

 

[Parklife]

medjay started it, last person that posted in it was spinaroonie... i thought this was going to be about classic movies...


anyway, Camus's The Fall and The Stranger reward me every time I read them. As does Nietzsche's Thus Sprach Zarathustra. I think as I get older, I can pull something different from each reading.

can't think of a book i've re-read and been dissappointed the second time around... though I tend to re-read the same books over and over.

 

[MWG]

The Color Purple, my favourite book ever, just gets better every time I read it. It seems I discover one or two new things, however miniscule, with each re-reading. I wrote my junior AP English final on that book, about the positive effect of the reversal of the masculine and feminine roles by the novel's end. I was so proud of that paper (it landed me an A).

I've been meaning to read The Scarlet Letter again, because I remember enjoying it so much during high school. Same for Flowers for Algernon and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

As for more recent stuff, I'm currently in the midst of Carter Burwell's The General's Daughter, and after that, I plan to re-read The Firm (a fucking incredible book) and A Time to Kill. I think Grisham's work, another 30 or 40 years down the road, will be noted as classic.

 

[Wilben]

I've read both It and The Stand twice, liked the two of them both times I read them. I also liked Skeleton Crew by King, and The Shining. I've haven't read much else by King, although I have 4 seasons and Dead Zone on my waiting to read table.

 

[medjay]

I've read both It and The Stand twice, liked the two of them both times I read them. I also liked Skeleton Crew by King, and The Shining. I've haven't read much else by King, although I have 4 seasons and Dead Zone on my waiting to read table.

To me it seems that King is the most accessable and easy to read/re-read. His critics bash him for writing pulp and trash. I say the measure of an excellent author should be how palatable his/her work is to common folks, not how cerebral or metaphorical his/her prose is.

I sat through several creative writing classes in college as we dissected and over-analyzed a bunch of pretentious, boring-ass books and short stories that I would never read again if someone paid me.

If I am ever able to make a living as a writer, best believe I will be writing stories that I like and that I hope other people like. And no, I won't be feeling guilty when I go to the bank to cash my checks.

 

[Wilben]

To me it seems that King is the most accessable and easy to read/re-read. His critics bash him for writing pulp and trash. I say the measure of an excellent author should be how palatable his/her work is to common folks, not how cerebral or metaphorical his/her prose is.

I sat through several creative writing classes in college as we dissected and over-analyzed a bunch of pretentious, boring-ass books and short stories that I would never read again if someone paid me.

If I am ever able to make a living as a writer, best believe I will be writing stories that I like and that I hope other people like. And no, I won't be feeling guilty when I go to the bank to cash my checks.

Amen to that .
I can't stand stuffy shit writing, I think that's why I loved Bruce Campbell's Autobiography.

 

[lilminx]

Probably because the style of the writing is so different from what he usually does. Plus, the first one is kind of hard for a lot of people to get through. But if you get past The Gunslinger and experiece the rest of the books in the series, it really pays off because it's the best stuff he's ever done.

I agree. I finished the 4th one today, and can't wait to get #5.

I can read The Catcher in the Rye repeatedly and don't tire of it. A Confederacy of Dunces was actually better the second time around.

I'm tempted to pick up a copy of It to read again. I also want to rre-read The Regulators, From a Buick 8, and other books by King that are related to the worlds in The Gunslinger series. There appear to be many references to The Crimson King in several of his other novels.

 

[breakwall]

Every couple of years I cycle through some old favourites:

Great Gatsby

The Sun Also Rises

Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy series.

also: the Princess Bride by William Goldman... if you liked the movie, the original book is an absolute must.

 

[SleepingWarrior]

I've read both It and The Stand twice, liked the two of them both times I read them. I also liked Skeleton Crew by King, and The Shining. I've haven't read much else by King, although I have 4 seasons and Dead Zone on my waiting to read table.

It and The Stand I try to reread every year. Whenever I do I always pick up something I missed completely the times before.

I've gone through the Dark Tower series several times too for that same reason. I want to pick up on any subtle things that he has a knack of putting into his work so I will be prepared for any references that come up in the next installments.

I think that shows just how well King can write a story. So many things woven together somewhat simply and all of the little things he puts into his books that have meaning further into that book or plays a part in another book. It's like almost all of his books are just parts of one grand story that has yet to be played out completely.

I'd like to see some of the works he has sitting on his computer or in boxes gathering dust because he couldn't quite finish them or thought they werent good enough to be published.

 

[Wilben]

I agree. I finished the 4th one today, and can't wait to get #5.

I can read The Catcher in the Rye repeatedly and don't tire of it. A Confederacy of Dunces was actually better the second time around.

I'm tempted to pick up a copy of It to read again. I also want to rre-read The Regulators, From a Buick 8, and other books by King that are related to the worlds in The Gunslinger series. There appear to be many references to The Crimson King in several of his other novels.

See I seem to remember a refrence in one of his books to a character that reminded me of Randall Flag from The Stand...

 

[Effigy]

You could read kings stuff forever.... Even Tom Gordon you could at least double straight back on.

 

[SleepingWarrior]

I'm tempted to pick up a copy of It to read again. I also want to rre-read The Regulators, From a Buick 8, and other books by King that are related to the worlds in The Gunslinger series. There appear to be many references to The Crimson King in several of his other novels.

Black House, Insomnia, It, The Regulators, Desperation, The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon and Hearts in Atlantis all pertain to the Dark Tower series.

From a Buick 8 was so hard for me to get into though since it doesnt really have much to do with the larger story other than explaining portals to other worlds.

 

[SleepingWarrior]

See I seem to remember a refrence in one of his books to a character that reminded me of Randall Flag from The Stand...

R.F. shows up constantly throughout his books. Afterall, he is one of the Crimson King's most powerful lackeys.

 

[Effigy]

Thankyou

It was blackhouse that leads into 5 or 6

Buick 8 just hints at portals

I remember reading something pertaining to Flagg is short stories

 

[SleepingWarrior]

Thankyou

It was blackhouse that leads into 5 or 6

Buick 8 just hints at portals

I remember reading something pertaining to Flagg is short stories

Maybe tomorrow I'll go dig through my book case and haul out this King Companion book I bought 6 months ago. Explains what books are directly connected to the Dark Tower and how. Can't remember exactly how much it goes into which characters appear in multiple books and which books they are in though.

 

[Effigy]

When you find it, give me the title so I can hunt it down

If they call Desperation/The regulators 2, they draw a LONG bow.