The Book Thread Book • Page 167

Two different people told me to try The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. I’m weary of stuff like this that’s on the front of a bookstore table with a pretty generic plot summary.

I read it in a day and a half. It’s not great writing and it’s nothing groundbreaking at all… but it flowed so easily and with such pace. Sometimes it’s nice to read simple stuff with a bunch of twists and turns and not have to overanalyze it. I’m glad I gave it a try because I really enjoyed it.

 

Currently reading this. Holly as a character is one of my favorites he’s done, and had been used so well before … so I was excited. Obviously love King. But having a very hard time getting through this as well. The trump/covid references pull me out instantly when used.

 

Make any progress this week?

 

Oof. Ten pages. It killed my reading momentum. I need to sit down and just plow through to see if it grabs me or bail.

 

That’s how I felt with it too. I read like 200-250 pages then put it down for like a month or so and read a few other things before coming back and finishing it up.

 

I did the same thing lol it feels so strange to feel that way about a King book because I usually devour them. I’m not sure what he was thinking with this one.

 

I just ran through the second book in this series in basically two days. As I get older, I’m learning to just accept that some stuff, even when it’s really basic, is still really enjoyable. I feel like I used to be so picky with everything I read. It’s so freeing to just pick something up and try it on a whim.

 

I have been reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time, and while I've been in awe of the writing and storytelling, it has not been easy to read in bed at night and has been taking me forever to get through. I decided to make it a daytime or early evening book only, and made The Psychographist by Carson Winter my bedtime read. It's...something. Haha. After that, I'm going to do Maggots Screaming by Max Booth III which sounds very fun.

 

Doing LOTR is on my list. I just know between finishing The Dark Tower and that, I’ll need to be in an uber focused mental space, haha.

 

I've been alternating among LOTR, The Dark Tower, and Mistborn. I'm on book Return of the King, and I don't want it to end, so I keep sticking with Mistborn (currently in the middle of The Hero of Ages).

I've put off reading The Dark Tower because I'm up to Wizard and Glass, which everyone has said is the best one of the series, so I want to savor that experience all the more.

 

I just finished Wizard and Glass and it’s a masterpiece. Definitely wait to savor it.

 

Finished Jason Schreier’s Press Reset. Phenomenal book. I cannot wait for his book on Blizzard Entertainment to release.

 

Liked Only Good Indians enough, but am really disliking the voice of My Heart is a Chainsaw about 10% in. Bad fan fic with forced horror references all over the place. Does it get better? Will I really have to put up with a character named Letha Mondragon throughout the book?

 

I’m over 100 pages into the third book and there’s been many horror references so far. I find it pretty fun but he is overdoing it a bit lol

I thought the first two books were good but not quite favorites and yeah, Letha is a major character

 

Letha is very good actually

 

Hopefully, she was just introduced but I hate that name haha

edit:
Specifically the last name, but maybe theres meaning behind it

 

I read Blood, Sweat, and Pixels earlier this year and loved it. The Blizzard book should be crazy.

 

that book rules and got me to finally play pillars of eternity (and tyranny) after I read it. right now I’m playing enter the gungeon since the last part of press reset is about mythic entertainment and some of those guys went on to form dodge roll. very interesting stuff but the wildest shit was curt schillings studio

 

I need to read Press Reset, still. And an obligatory fuck Curt Schilling lol

 

my girlfriend is from Rhode Island she fucking hates him hahahah

 

The character development in Chainsaw is great. I felt the same way but it does get better. I think most people are saying the third book is the best one but I actually liked Chainsaw the best.

 

has a book ever genuinely terrified you? like, make you look over your shoulder at night? House of Leaves was super unsettling but also kinda gimmicky and I never finished it.

Anyone have some recs for stuff that will make me want to hide under the covers at night as a grown man?

 

King’s The Running Man and The Long Walk have gotten the closest because of the real world nature implications.

I don’t really scare all that easily, though.

 

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis had a few scenes that genuinely scared me

 

There’s a scene in Kafka on the Shore by Murakami that stands out in my mind. Which is also somewhat similar to another nightmarish scene from Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, both involving cats. A number of scenes and eventually the totality of Bolaño’s 2666 disturbed me. I wouldn’t call any of these books “horror” though. I’ve read a handful of books with characters that disturb / frighten me.