Kevin's Watch

???

Guess I haven't gotten there yet...

Do not read this spoiler Menolly. (I mean it...serious Insomnia spoiler.)

Spoiler

Yeah, and when you learn that it's all just levels of the Tower...

--A

...heavy sigh mixed with extreme emotion...

No fair...

...no, I didn't read it...but I want to...

It's like the secret I promised to keep. I can't even tell Fist, and I tell Fist everything...argh...

Avatar wrote:Do not read this spoiler Menolly. (I mean it...serious Insomnia spoiler.)

Spoiler

Yeah, and when you learn that it's all just levels of the Tower...

Oh yeah. That was awesome, especially given when it came out. I gotta see if I can get this book back from my ex, I really wanna re-read it.

...grrr...

May I at least come back and read the spoiler when/if I finish Insomnia?

Of course you can.

OOOOH!!! i'm glad to see others who liked Insomnia as much as i did!!!!

i had not one BIT of trouble reading it and i read it twice through in a row!!

and THEN i went to Ky to visit family and that was when King was doing that little mini tour on his Harley and he actually stopped in Lexington and my brother got us tickets!! so i got to hear him read from Insomnia which was SOOOO cool (and he reads really really good too!!)

i love Ralph. Ted reminds me of Ralph.


(King's strong suit IMO is old people and kids)

I did like Ted in the Low Men story...

*thinking maybe I better stop reading my own thread as it's beginning to get really frustrating*

Of course, then I could stop reading Insomnia and y'all wouldn't know the difference

Even though it is starting to get interesting. Is Ed related to Aaron? Ed doesn't strike me as being Jewish, but if Aaron knew the Yiddish phrase that needed translating, wasn't he Jewish?

It's been too long since I read the book.....Sorry, can't help with that one.

I am seriously not happy.

Fine...yes...King has snared me finally. I care about Ralph and he doesn't deserve all this crap. Getting stabbed at the library? Dreaming of bugs streaming out of his beloved wife's head? Wishing he was dead? WTF, man? No one deserves this crap!

Yeah, I'm only a third of the way through. But I am not a happy camper...

*what a juxtaposition of emotions, compared to real life today, sheesh*

After a week break, it's back to Insomnia. Ralph just confided in Bill MGovern. What a wonderful state of affairs this seems to be...

So...

Given that I currently have no internet access at home (argh!!), I sat myself down and finished Insomnia. I will blatantly admit once I got to Parts II and III it was much better for me. The struggles Ralph goes through in Part I just did not sit well with me at all. I really didn't want to keep reading such.

I am unsure how I feel about what Av mentions in the spoiler I was finally able to read once I finshed. If I was reading the book without knowing anything of the cycle, would it strike me as something totally out of the blue? And the real reason given for Ralph and Lois going up?

*shaking head*

I dunno. I may just have to reread this one and think on it some more...

Oh...and another question.

In the Favorite Tie-In thread, many people say the Jack Sawyer books are their favorite. And King mentions The Talisman in his introduction to The Little Sisters. Yet, neither one is listed on Av's suggested order that I'm following. Truly unnecessary? Or are they books I should read after I finish book VII? Or before I begin it?

I never read Black House, the sequel to the Talisman, and I believe the relationship is explored more fully in that one.

I'm gonna say largely unnecessary. I assume that it turns out that they're set in some part / time of Roland's world. Maybe Jack is a Jake analogue. *shrug*

--A

Wasn't Jake named Jack in the original Gunslinger?

Original as in the serial? Or original as in the first edition? If the 2nd, no. If the first, no idea.

--A

I would've sworn that the kid's name changed. Jake was Jack (or some name other than Jake) in the first book.

Nah, but the first book does mention that "Jake" is not his real name, it's his nickname. His real first name is John IIRC.

--A

Ahhh, OK.

*nod*

In the copies of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction with the serialized stories of The Gunslinger I inherited from my Daddy (he was a charter subscriber and saved all his issues until his death in 1987; I got them because I had enjoyed reading them as he received them when I was teen. My sister had no interest. Too bad I had no idea what I had, as I put them in cardboard boxes in storage and now have no idea where they are precisely.) Jake's name is still Jake, IIRC.

Another thought on Insomnia...

As I pointed out when I read Salem's Lot, nearly every page mentions smoking in one way or another. Once societal change that stood out to me in Insomnia is how Ralph new just about all his neighbors not only by sight but also by name. I remember things being that way when I was a kid. I knew everyone on my block easily for five houses down in both directions from our house, and across the street. That has not been the case anywhere I have lived since returning from my abortive attempt at college.

We moved here in December, and except for our immediate neighbor who shares the duplex with us, I have not met any of my neighbors. And I suspect we only met Roberta, the neighbor I do know, because our landlord made the point of introducing us after we signed our lease.

Is it just Florida that's this way? Is it my own adulthood and personality? Or has society changed that fundamentally with the advent of cable television and the internet since Insomnia was written that it is the status quo everywhere now to not know your neighbors?

I dunno if it's just the internet and TV that causes it, but no, its not just Florida. I barely know my neighbours at all. Only 1 by name, and since I live in a flat, we only live 20 meters from each other.

--A