Am I The Only One? Part 2.....

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misery chastain loves co.

MORE Count Chocula please.....
Jul 31, 2011
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Brewer,ME
So, I confessed to having not read all of Kings work yet. My next confession(and then I'll do 20 hail marys and hopefully be forgiven) is that I have started a book and not finished it. :a24:
I started Insomnia when it first came out and just could not get through it. I haven't tried again since but I feel that I must one day.
Anyone else?
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
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Just north of Duma Key
There are times and places in our life when certain stories/ books just aren't meant to read or finished. Some books are finished and an opinion is made about it, such as disliking it. In another time in our life, those books can take on new meanings and those not finished can be finished.
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
54
Heart of the South
I am a scattered, take a break, put it down for 6 months kind of reader. I always have more than 1 book I'm reading. It took me a while to get through DT #7. I've barely started #8, I was instantly in love with it, but we've got so much going on right now, I can't devote much time to reading - so I'm waiting because I know once I get started I won't be able to put it down. But to answer your question, you're not the only one. That'll be the entire rosary, all five mysteries, ma'am.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
Insomnia is not one of my favorites. I could not suspend my disbelief that Ralph Roberts (in his 80's if I remember correctly?) listened to and knew the words to songs by Eddy Vedder and others in that genre? Really? It was too long and an editor should have stepped in and said 'Cut!'. Maybe they did and maybe the book was originally 1,000 pages long? As others have stated above- there's a time and place when things will mesh and you will be able to finish it.
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
If you started it when it first came out...1994...what is that? Twenty years ago? Be nice to be twenty years younger. Had to see this specialty doc the other day...not one of the three but one of them surely has my number...I say something about aches and pains...be nice to be limber if I ever was. He says those days are gone. Look on the bright side...you have a great story to read in its entirety at some point. I didn't start reading King until...about eight years ago. Read a couple stories before then, two...but once I started I've read most of them more than once...Insomnia about five or six times. I like the Hitchcock feel to the early going, that rear window look...up all night. Lately I think I've had a touch of insomnia...it's not that I don't fall asleep...I don't stay there. You got all those cures in the story...five six seven of them. Everyone has advice for Ralph, hey? The Green Man is fascinating...good bad otherwise? See anything green? All those colors at work in the story. You never finished it? Yeah, I guess that's what you said. You really ought to give it another shot...there's some things happen there. Isn't that always the case?

I have started reading some stories and have set them aside..."ran out of gas" as I shelf them. I've seen at least one listed here in the what are your reading thread, read its praises.
 

MadamMack

M e m b e r
Apr 11, 2006
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UnParked, UnParked U.S.A.
So, I confessed to having not read all of Kings work yet. My next confession(and then I'll do 20 hail marys and hopefully be forgiven) is that I have started a book and not finished it. :a24:
I started Insomnia when it first came out and just could not get through it. I haven't tried again since but I feel that I must one day.
Anyone else?

Give that one another try . . .it's worth it.

I've never left any of Stephen's books unfinished. I have put some other sorry-azz craps down, though. There used to be a time when I would finish all books even if I hated them. Not. Any. More! I have too many books to read to waste time reading what's not enjoyable to me or to do re-reads.

Don't feel bad if you put a book down because it's not appealing to you . . .it's all good, because as long as you always pick up another you are still a constant reader.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
So far I've finished all the sK books I've started except for Black House, which I intend to read relatively soon. I think if I'd read The Talisman by the time I started Black House I might have keep reading, since it's a kind of sequel. I assume one finds a story either interesting soon after starting it or not, or one is in the mood for this type of story and not that. It's only human, and no one here will ever fault you for being that.
 

Lord Tyrion

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2013
1,582
6,257
I started 11/22/63 when it came out and stopped reading it. I've never read many books before, so I was still trying to get into the habit of reading more often. Eventually, I got back to it and finished 11/22/63 a year later.

I don't plan on reading all of SK's books, it's just too much and there are other authors I want to read. However, I have gotten to the point where I will read his new books and I plan on reading the Dark Tower books next year. I've read about the works of ten different authors and SK is in the elite level of writers and his stuff is so easy to get through because it's so well written.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Insomnia is not one of my favorites. I could not suspend my disbelief that Ralph Roberts (in his 80's if I remember correctly?) listened to and knew the words to songs by Eddy Vedder and others in that genre? Really? It was too long and an editor should have stepped in and said 'Cut!'. Maybe they did and maybe the book was originally 1,000 pages long? As others have stated above- there's a time and place when things will mesh and you will be able to finish it.

I liked the story well enough, but it was the music Ed listened to that grated on me. Given the age he was supposed to be in the novel (late 20s or very early 30s), it was way too old. Not saying you can't enjoy music from earlier generations--Otis Redding is my favorite singer and has been as far back as I can remember--but Ed ONLY listened to things that were popular when Mr. King was young :p It's hard to leave that mindset behind, as an author, so I try not to pick, but...
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
If you started it when it first came out...1994...what is that? Twenty years ago? Be nice to be twenty years younger. Had to see this specialty doc the other day...not one of the three but one of them surely has my number...I say something about aches and pains...be nice to be limber if I ever was. He says those days are gone. Look on the bright side...you have a great story to read in its entirety at some point. I didn't start reading King until...about eight years ago. Read a couple stories before then, two...but once I started I've read most of them more than once...Insomnia about five or six times. I like the Hitchcock feel to the early going, that rear window look...up all night. Lately I think I've had a touch of insomnia...it's not that I don't fall asleep...I don't stay there. You got all those cures in the story...five six seven of them. Everyone has advice for Ralph, hey? The Green Man is fascinating...good bad otherwise? See anything green? All those colors at work in the story. You never finished it? Yeah, I guess that's what you said. You really ought to give it another shot...there's some things happen there. Isn't that always the case?

I have started reading some stories and have set them aside..."ran out of gas" as I shelf them. I've seen at least one listed here in the what are your reading thread, read its praises.

I used Ralph's wife's nausea cure (think of an alphabetical list of foods and picture them slowly, one by one, until the nausea passes) during every pregnancy and still use it during my very rare bouts of stomach sickness--it works for me! There's not much I despise more than being sick.
 

Lina

Committed member
Jun 24, 2009
3,356
6,024
Russia
I could not finish Lisey’s Story and I gave up on it. I felt really bad because of it, but I realized I could not continue reading it, so I had to give it up. Maybe, one day I will try it again, but I doubt it will be soon.
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
I read half of the regulators before putting it back, it's not that I didn't like it as such, I read it straight after Desperation - and that was a long book that didn't really hit the heights I was expecting of it. I think I just had a bit of overload with Tak and the rest of the characters. I think a fresh read of it from the start about 6 months or a year down the line would probably go down better.

Misery - I got through about 60 or 70 pages, didn't like Paul as a character, and Annie is the "baddie" so I had no one to root for (I honestly didn't care what Annie was doing to him), throw in the fact that it's basically a secluded limited character novel - which was my main problem with the shining - and I was never really going to like Misery.

I started Cell, read about 40 pages and thought "another time maybe" - it did enough for me to know I want to, and will read it all, but for some reason, that just wasn't the time. I read those few pages quite disjointed, 7 or 8 pages one night, 10 the next, none the night after and so on, and I felt that the initial "pulse" should be read quite swiftly in a few sessions.

Finally, Dark Tower: Wizard & Glass - I know I'm repeating myself a bit here, but I was disapointed with DT Wastelands, didn't like cliffhanger end, didn't like how W&G started as the end of Wastelands, then when it did get going again, and they all got back on the path of the beam, I was just getting into it, then it stopped dead for a huge back story. I know now how good that "Susan" back story was, but at the time it was not what I wanted. I stopped here and reread one of the biggies (11/22/63 or IT, can't quite remember) then carried on.

Sorry about the length, I'm turning into Walter Oobleck :)
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
I could not finish Lisey’s Story and I gave up on it. I felt really bad because of it, but I realized I could not continue reading it, so I had to give it up. Maybe, one day I will try it again, but I doubt it will be soon.
Why did you stop? Was it because it was uninteresting to you, or was it the subject matter, or was it something else? I'm just curious.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
I think my reason for finding Lisey's Story kind of foreign was due to how much of a departure from what I'd gotten used to from sK in my brief time reading him it was. I look forward to a reread and I think it will be my first sK novel reread (I've read On Writing twice), because I liked so many aspects of it. It was just more bizarre than I'd expected. I found Insomnia and Rose Madder each extra bizarre, also, but again enjoyed them a lot and finished them, as well as Lisey's Story.
 

Lina

Committed member
Jun 24, 2009
3,356
6,024
Russia
Why did you stop? Was it because it was uninteresting to you, or was it the subject matter, or was it something else? I'm just curious.
I just could not get through the first 50 pages. It took me about a month to read those 50 pages and after reading them, I realized I did not get the idea of what I have read and I don't have any will to continue making myself read the book. So i decided I'd better spend this time reading another book.