Cather

I got this as one of the freebies when I signed up for Audible-- I don't know if I would have paid for it, because I'm not the biggest King fan in the world. I figured that if I didn't like it, hey, it was free.

It would have been worth paying retail.

Firstly, this is read by Stephen King himself. I cannot express how much this adds to the work. It's like sitting down at a table with Stephen King and talking to him. He may not be the best reader in the world-- there are several points where you can tell that he's reading from the page-- but the Audible rating system doesn't have an option to give 4.99999 stars.

This is really two short books rolled into one. The writing book is great. He covers all of the parts of writing, including the mechanics, the language, the creating, and even the marketing and selling. I am an aspiring writer, and I got more out of this than some classes and workshops. He doesn't go on forever, like a lot of blowhard writing workshops, he just makes his point and keeps going.

The other book is about King himself. I get the feeling that this is all we'll ever see of an autobiography of Stephen King. That part of it is not very long, and most of it is the story of his career rather than his life. As many King fans already know, he was hit by a van while he was writing this book. He talks about this experience here. I'm not entirely sure I buy that the miniautobiography figures into the theme of the book, but I'm not going to kvetch. It's FASCINATING. It may not have much to do with Writing, but to hear King talk about his own life-- and his near-death-- is worth the price alone.

It's impossible to explain what makes this book awesome without spoiling it for you, but I can be general.

1) Felix Castor is an entertaining fellow.

2) The universe he lives is interesting and well-developed.

3) There is something very, very, wrong with Mike Carey that causes him to think up stuff like this. I'm just saying. This is a knife-twister.

(Disclaimer: If you saw the movie, then you still know practically nothing about this book. They do not share the same plot, or really even the characters. "Griffin's Story" is actually set in the MOVIE universe, not this one.)

What would you do if you could teleport?

This wasn't high-sci-fi or high-fantasy. The world is more or less our world, except for this one kid who can teleport. He's got real problems with his abusive dad, his girlfriend, the cop downstairs who beats his wife.... oh, yeah, and the NSA.

Definitely worth reading. Will inspire a lot of fantasies and daydreams.

If you watch her show, you're expecting this to be about how the Republicans are whizzing all over the Constitution. And it is. But it's also about how Clinton-- and yes, Obama-- are doing the same thing. And about how, in her opinion, it's damaging the country. I don't necessarily agree with every conclusion she draws, but her research is impeccable.

It was a little bit of a surprise to realise that, since Ms. Maddow was not on camera, she was free to use a wider variety of language, but I was very pleased to see that she didn't over do it. The only two times I remember offhand that she used obscenities were situations where a lesser word either wouldn't have gotten the job done, or would have been nowhere near as clever (specificially the crack about the s**t processing plant).

Rachel Maddow is one of my heroes, and I'm sooooo glad she read this herself.

If Mary Roach releases a book, I buy it. I hadn't realised that until I had purchased this one before finishing reading the TITLE.

She did not disappoint. The book is fascinating, honest, entertaining, and FUN. And the reader does a fantastic job as well. If you liked her other stuff, get this. If you haven't read her other stuff, get this, then that. :D

Seriously, the author's obsession is a little disturbing, but the history is fascinating and the humour with which it's presented is great.

I listened to this independently of the series-- I actually thought it was the first of them-- and as soon as it was done I started the series.

This was a nice well-written piece of fantasy, with an intelligent plot and good characters. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

I can definitely see why everyone keeps comparing this to the DaVinci's Code. There are some similarities... several of them. I'm glad I didn't know that, because I hated DaVinci code.

This was not exactly great literature... a lot of stuff was kind of weak. But it was very entertaining, and unlike DaVinci Code, I didn't have the urge to hunt down the author and explain to him his literary sins using a golf club, a chain saw, and a bottle of lemon juice.

I had been waiting for this book when I learned that there was a sequel to _The Devil You Know_, and I was not disappointed.

It loses a single star because there are a couple of points where the plot is just a little too contrived, but the depth of the characters and the skill of the storytelling more than make up for it.

Eagerly awaiting book three.

I've been impressed with this series so far. The concept isn't very original, but it's handled extremely well. The world of the Pretties is well thought-out.

That being said, this book was not as good as Uglies. The character of Shay, in particular, is annoying, and not quite consistent with how she was in the first book. Also, while the first book was a self-contained story that ended with a cliffhanger to set this book up, this one seems to be only half the story.

I do, however, really like the mythology within the world that is being established... I will be reading the third book next.

I know, I know, you read the description and you can already cut the metaphors with a chainsaw. And, yeah, the symbolism is obvious, but surprisingly not as heavy handed as you'd think.

More to the point, it's extremely well done. The universe is well developed without having to have characters stop and explain the history to each other every five minutes. You actually care about the people in the story, and the author succeeds in writing for young adults and about young adults without forgetting that young adults aren't eight years old. Furthermore, the science fiction aspects aren't rammed down your throat, and aren't spread thickly. Lastly, the characters are utterly believable in the culture they inhabit, and the culture is really thought out.

I accidentally had one detail of the book spoiled for me-- a big aspect of the ending-- but I found that I had forgotten about it by the time that it happened.

The reader is talented, although some of the voices can be a little annoying until you get used to them, then you like them. You can HEAR the characters' facial expressions at times.

I was very upset that I finished the first book while 30 minutes from home, then I had to wait while the second downloaded, and now I have to go to bed. I am considering buying the third already so that doesn't happen again.