Bune got off to a good start.

There are MANY references to his other works in the DT books

I need a good rec for the 4th of july holiday week.

Great, easy summer reading. You'll either be hooked by the first page or you won't be.

Sold.

I picked up Brad Meltzer's The Escape Artist after hearing him on a podcast with Kevin Smith. He said the main character is like Lisbeth Salander which piqued my interest because I really liked that trilogy. I just started it last night and I'm only on page 47 so I haven't seen this person yet but it's well-written. Maybe a little Dan Brown-y but it's a summer book, that's for sure.

I meant characters moreso than references. Father Callahan was a character in The Dark Tower and 'Salems Lot. Were there any other crossover characters?

Yes. Hearts In Atlantis is a top-five King book for me, and I'm pretty sure it has a character who crosses over into TDT

I’ll have to consult the Concordances. It’s been a long time since I read them.

Randall Flagg, for sure.

this

The only other big "major" character I can think of off the top of my head (it's been a while since I read all of them) is Ted Brautigan. Obviously there are other smaller mentions. But Calahan, Randall Flag/Walter/Man in Black, and Ted Brautigan are the big ones.

Just over half way through. Not at all what I expected.

I remember being excited about those books and then being let down because of some reason or another. I haven't looked at them in a very long time.

Loved this one quite a bit.

Finally tackling this after having it on the shelf for a year:

I know this should go into the Star wars book thread but I'm so upset at it it's going here: Guardians of the Whills was a terrible book. There was nothing in it except for where Dude#2 gets his gun from Rogue One. It took me less than a day to read and I could have been reading something else instead of this crap.

So I started the first Hap & Leonard book Savage Season and it's alright.

I also finished the book FantasticLand and it was less than OK. It's got an interesting Lord of the Flies meets World War Z thing that makes it seem good but the story that is told is actually around a much better story that kept being hinted at but never really delivered. I think that either dropping the WWZ interviews or going into it harder like WWZ would have made a better book. Should have used the interviews to piece together the story instead of telling blocks at a time, it sounded unnatural that these people know just this part of the story that set up the next part.

Lincoln in the Bardo is a good book. The best parts are exquisite and ooze power and empathy. But it's also a tad overlong, I think and too uneven for me to put in the "masterpiece" category in which so many others have placed it. But I really enjoyed it (though not as much as Tenth of December) and would highly recommend it to others.

The Jugger by Richard Stark.

The first chapter of Seeing by Jose Saramago challenges the first chapter of DeLillo's Underworld for best first chapter ever. And the ending of Seeing just caused me actual physical pain. Not even exaggerating, reading the last four pages gave me an immediate uncomfortable feeling in my chest that still persists now. Beautiful book

This is a strange book. Reading it - and the weird book-within-a-book - I can totally see how people can be radicalized to act in certain interests. Also, to bring up Fight Club in the book's own mythology as a book and talk about it and the author was borderline Stephen King.

So far I am 50/50 as to whether I like it. There are some parts that I like a lot and some parts where I'm waiting for the book to explain how this came to be because so far it's all hinging on some weird millionaire paying for everything. There are a few other bits and pieces that I wonder about but too many to just list them all out.

Also: the book specifically states that you have to cut off the left ear for proof of death. You can clearly see on the cover that those are right ears. wtf.

Good to know. Blindness is my second favorite book of all time. I've been nervous about picking up your sequel because I don't want to risk damaging Blindness.

I can understand that. Blindness is amazing