hallo, club members!
it’s time once again to gather together within the cozy walls of this blog, under the flickering lights of ye olde internet, and discuss what we’ve been reading!
in case you haven’t noticed, i’ve compiled a list from our first meeting and posted it under the “book club” tab, which you can see above. since the point of this club isn’t to read the same title but rather to provide future reading suggestions, i hope the list will be useful to everyone. in addition, Master of Technology matt is trying to figure out a way to make the book club page capable of multiple entries so that people can leave comments and actually even virtually discuss a book together. for now, it’s just a simple list but still a great reference tool for people looking for their next literary meal.
today, i’d like to recommend to you not one book but a series of books. all along, i’ve been planning to write a massive post about this series as soon as i finish (i’m halfway through the last book), but i realized today that it would be impossible to express just how amazing, how EPIC, this story is. and so, instead, i offer up this flimsy recommendation in the hopes that ka will cause yr life to intersect with a ragged but tough band of travelers in search of something called the dark tower.
and yes, ka is from the book, and no i won’t explain it.
(this picture is actually from the graphic novel series but i liked it so much, i had to use it).
before i can go any further, i must publicly thank meredith for recommending the dark tower series to me. it baffles me, now, that i could have spent my whole life ignorant of this literary masterpiece, and so i say thankee, sai, from the bottom of my heart.
stephen king wrote “the dark tower” series over a span of thirty-four years. through seven books, he tells the tale of a gunslinger named roland, who travels across worlds and through time in search of the dark tower, which is (and this is boiling it down to a v. basic, unpoetic level) the center of the universe. part western, part fantasy, the story is full of vivid characters, strange machines, terrifying creatures and fables from an ancient past. this is basically king’s “lord of the rings,” and it is (dare i say it) just as compelling and heartbreaking and inspiring as tolkien’s work and (i will say it) better written.
one of the other reasons i decided not to develop a juggernaut of a post about the series (even though it deserves that, and more) is because i don’t want to spoil a single page for any future readers, and therefore i can’t really summarize it or give you a detailed synopsis. but BELIEVE ME when i say that, if you step foot into this story, you will be lost forever to your former life, when you were ignorant of the Path of the Beam, when you had forgotten the face of your father.
when you hadn’t met roland of gilead, who has a tendency to change every life he comes across:
* * *
Roland of Gilead unfolded his hands and got slowly to his feet. He stood on what appeared to be nothing, legs apart, his right hand on his hip and his left on the sandalwood grip of his revolver. He stood as he had stood so many times before, in the dusty streets of a hundred forgotten towns, in a score of rock-lined canyon killing-zones, in unnumbered dark saloons with their smells of bitter beer and old fried meals. It was just another showdown in another empty street. That was all, and that was enough. It was khef, ka and ka-tet. That the showdown always came was the central fact of his life and the axle upon which his own ka revolved. That the battle would be fought with words instead of bullets this time made no difference; it would be a battle to the death, just the same. The stench of killing in the air was as clear and definite as the stench of exploded carrion in a swamp. then the battle-rage descended, as it always did… and he was no longer really there himself at all.
* * *
there aren’t enough pants in the world to let you know how highly i regard these books.
and so i will simply end this review with what i usually say, courtesy of kathleen kelly in “you’ve got mail”:
just read it. i KNOW you’ll love it.
and now, it’s yr turn!
LINKS
speaking of reading good books, jezebel asks: why don’t kids read about anne shirley in school?
check out this hilarious trailer for the “tropic thunder” mockumentary. “i just beat nature today.”
have you guys seen this pics from the sixth harry potter movie? GAH I CANNOT WAIT.
the onion gracefully captures bill clinton as he packs away his first lady dress.
attention twilight saga fans: have you seen the EW cover?!!!!!!
50 cent has a video game coming out (seriously) with the most awesome story line ever (seriously). still, i think ghostbusters will be better.
Sarah, this post made me cry. I’m going to respectfully decline from recommending any other books in this month’s book club meeting, in honor of saying…
yes. what she said.
The Dark Tower series is ultimately the defining literature of my life, and I recall many of my biographical milestones in terms of what part of the series I was reading at that time. Now I can remember this rereading as the time that I shared it with my best friend, and she totally, completely Got It.
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
p.s. LUNA! Also, Anne Shirley!
I just finished reading my 35th, yes 35th, book of the summer. It was The Host by Stephenie Meyer, better known as the author of the twilight series. I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but I don’t believe I have ever cried so much while reading a book. Definitely a good read.
I would also like to express my high fondness of this series. I started reading it when I was in 7th grade and I didn’t get to finish it until the last book came out a couple of years ago. It’s one of the things Meredith and I bonded over when we first met. I definitely recommend even if you don’t like Stephen King.
i am reading this side of paradise by f. scott fitzgerald; his first novel, which he wrote in his early to mid twenties. it isn’t as good as gatsby or tender is the night, but it is funnier, i think, and the roaring twenties debauchery of it - i would highly recommend it.
dude, is no one else here for the meeting?!! what if i promise to bring donuts next time?
I’ll join in on this Dark Tower thing just as soon as one of you kind fans will record yourself reading the first three books out loud so I can read it in my preferred way - listening to it while I drive or walk around.
I’d really love to be part of it, but Stephen King can’t get off his tush to say, “Hey, we’ve got the last four books on audiobook, but not the first three. Doesn’t that seem kinda messed up?”
So whatever, Mr. King. Have fun in Bangor.
henri, i have good news for you.
http://www.amazon.com/Gunslinger-AUDIOBOOK-Dark-Tower-Book/dp/1402589883/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215723312&sr=8-2
henri’s comment was hilarious.
i’m ALMOST convinced to read them. i’m currently reading … hm, forgot. oh: All Quiet on the Western Front because I have never read it before. But if I were going to recommend something to everyone it would be Zamyatin’s book We, which I mentioned maybe on my blog but am too lazy to look for and also am typing in the bath, which is hard. It’s great, and heavily influence 1984, and written around the same time as Brave New World but is way better than that book.
I know it sounds pretentious, but it’s great! And now I spend all my time thinking about what a contemporary dystopian novel would be like.
I’m also recommending my 37th book that I am halfway through. It is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Since I’m not a verbal person, here is the blurb from amazon:
***
Clay Jenkins returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers 13 cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.
Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.
***
I’m just starting reason 8. I’m going to recommend it to my school librarian as well.
becky, that book has been ALL OVER the YA blogs i read. everyone has been raving about it, but i’ve been too scared of crying my eyes out to buy it.
I definitely cried during 13 reasons why, which is why I read Cindy Ella in between The Host and 13 reasons. It was light and fluffy and gave my eyes a break… While 13 reasons deals with a very touchy subject, I definitely think it should be in my school library. I’m going to make sure that my librarian reads it. It really made me think about the girl in 8th grade that committed suicide. I feel bad because I have forgotten her name, but what has always stuck with me was that she didn’t plan to really do it, she just wanted attention.