The Regulators - 2nd Mar 2013

Right then. I'm in two minds going into this one. On the one hand, I'm eager to find out how the book ties in with Desperation, even though I've been told it's not that much. Having gotten all sloppy over Cynthia from Rose Madder showing up in Desperation, it's a bit gutting that in The Regulators, the names will all be familiar, but the characters are all different. I'm sure I'll get over it.

The other vibe I've got for The Regulators from the internets is that it just isn't very good. Exciting.

In my post for The Green Mile I talked about whether I had become numb to graphic descriptions of the horrors of physical violence. While Desperation didn't really get under my skin in this regard, a story told in The Walking Dead comic last week did. One of the characters talked of a guy that, before the rise of the dead, had sucked out and eaten the eyes of his four year old son. Fuck.

So I'm not totally dead inside.

Desperation - 4th Feb 2013

I didn't know the first thing about this book other than that the next one in line, The Regulators, was published under the Richard Bachman name and acts as a sort of companion piece.

As I write this, I'm already more than halfway through Desperation and have read a little about The Regulators, so know that any assumptions I had about the relationship between the two books is completely wrong.

I'd imagined the two books being two perspectives on the same story and highly anticipated seeing how King would handle this approach. While it turns out that it's completely unrelated, I'm still going to bluster ahead with a recommendation of Lucas Belvaux's 'La Trilogie' - three films with interlocking plots and characters that are played out in different genres - Cavale/On the Run (thriller), Un couple épatant/An Amazing Couple (romantic comedy/farce) and Après la vie/After the Life (melodrama).  They're not perfect films either individually, or even as a whole, but they're mightily impressive and very powerful.

Now I've got that out of my system, I'll get back to reading Desperation, as it's treating me very well so far.  There are some echoes of The Stand, except I'm actually enjoying it and hammering my way through it.  Sweet.

The Green Mile: 28th Jan - 4th Feb 2013

 I don't have a good reason for having taken a week to write this.  I loved The Green Mile and know exactly why, I just didn't get around to writing it down until now.

Without really thinking about it too much, I'm going to say that The Green Mile has been the most enjoyable read so far in this trip through the King library.  Not necessarily my favourite of his books (although it is high up the rankings), but more in the reading experience.  I've spoken of my sometimes very simplistic approach to reading novels and my willingness and belief in the act of submitting to the narrative.  In this respect, The Green Mile was made for me.  He just takes hold of you and guides you through the a story which, I find it easy to forget, is pretty fucking dark.

I was happy to find myself so attached to the book and especially happy to find that I can make the time to dedicate to the book.  I knocked it off in a week around all of my usual commitments (I'm sure it being written as a serial novel helped with the pacing and keeping the whole thing going) a probably a lot less farting around than I'm used to. Same again please Matthew.

I've noticed that my posts are getting briefer and briefer and have questioned whether I should have more to say about the books and, more importantly, what I'd actually say.  Any sort of plot synopsis seems a little redundant, as I'm not writing a book report or reviews per se.  It must be pretty clear that I'm not casting much of a critical eye on them, either.  You'd be better of heading over to James Smythe's series on the Guardian book blog - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/rereading-stephen-king  Previously, I've looked at how well a book got under my skin and whether they managed to scare me.
The Green Mile didn't really do either.  Maybe because I've already seen the film, maybe because even the grisly description of Delacroix's demise didn't even make me flinch.  I'm aware that this sort of talk is a stone's throw from sociopathy.  Shit.  Nah, it can't be that.  It must be due to overexposure and an increasingly logical and matter of fact approach to the effects of gross acts of violence on the human body.  Fun.

So, my future goal is to find out a way to make these intricately described physical violence shocking again.  Ideas and suggestions will be warmly received.

Other media fascinations:

Ears
Pure Love - Anthems
Baroness - All
Torche - All

Eyes
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
Downton Abbey

Words and Pictures
Y: The Last Man