I've read everything King has written (including some as yet unreleased stuff - benefit of having a friend from Bangor), and I didn't care for Fairy Tale, mostly because I felt it had an extra 200 pages of fluff that was unnecessary and REALLY slowed the book down - King needs someone to edit him sometimes.

I'm reminded of The Stand, which I read both as the original release and as the release with (as I recall) roughly 350 pages put back in that King hadn't wanted taken out in the original publication. Of those 350, perhaps 50 were quality stuff - the rest deserved the cutting room floor.

that is really cool. Being a librarian, can you give some book suggestions?

I'm sure that's happened for a few people. But there's a reason it's the same couple names referenced over and over again for unfinished series - they're the exceptional cases, not the rule. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

When series are ongoing, they're unfinished for everyone - even if the new book is coming out the next day. People find other things to read in the meantime. Some "meantimes" are longer than others. As long as you can jump around, you can read a partial series and still find enjoyment.

If you want to learn from the book, you’ll buy a copy and read with a highlighter. A really important book for anyone who’s trying to better themself.

It’s not new but it’s more authors are writing this way, especially in mystery/thriller, because of the popularity of the “unreliable narrator” trope.

Yeah, it makes me feel better when I see from time to time here that others have the same issue, and I am not the broken one.

I don't think it's obscure because it literally won the Newbury Medal but I've never forgotten The Twenty-One Balloons (by William Pène du Bois) since I read it as a child.

It takes about 90s and the sound is filtered out as background noise and I will focus on something completely else. I can't listen to podcasts either for the same reason. Gaining knowledge through an audiobook seems impossible to me.

Not sure if it is obscure or not, but back when I was in middle school I had read "Collusion Course" by Nigel Hinton and it's just an old read I think about from time to time.

There's another book that I remember reading back then, but not sure of the title, I think it might be "My Name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok, but not sure.

Personally I'm far more interested in the regular people of the setting so I've always kind of avoided the space marine/primarch material. But Dan Abnett has plenty of series about guardsmen and fighter pilots and inquisition folks to go around.

Good progress

The Dangerous Angels series by Francesca Lia Block. I grew up in San Diego and LA in the 90s and early 2000s with hippie surfer parents and their friends. The series felt so personal and magical and torturous as a kid and the memories of those feelings stayed with me for a long time.

Another was The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. The first one, Sabriel, caught my eye bc the name is similar to mine and the girl on the cover looked like me. This one was the escape from real life into fantasy. It inspired me to have more courage and confidence in myself as well.

Everything else I read was really not for kids, but I happened upon both those series in the cool looking YA section of the library.

I’ve noticed this as well. Music, books and art in the last 10 years or so have just become kinda soulless because it’s all about making a lot of it and selling it for money.

Did the author intend me to burst into laughter at the summary of their book?

There’s a lot of new books I read with lots of stream of consciousness or tell instead of show or going to a place and talking to a person to get information for like 5 chapters. I feel like some older books had a better variety of action, pacing and dialogue.

I thoroughly enjoyed 11/22/63 (more for the unexpected love story than anything else), and thought Finders Keepers was by some margin the best of the Hodges books, and the last truly decent book he published—but I consider them outliers in his recent work.

I was thinking about it too 😃

#NEEDS MORE DAKKA!

When I listen to audiobooks I just capture the big picture I don't remember the details.

I think some of his best work has been in the last decade. For me, his low point was the 90s and early 2000s. The Mr Mercedes / Bill Hodges Trilogy and 11/22/63 were fantastic.

I found it easier than War and Peace, which was a real slog.

You'll know within a couple.of chapters. It's a good book

I use audiobooks to sleep. Originally, that was not my intent, but it works so well, that’s the only reason I listen now. Podcasts, though, like you say, are just fine and keep me engaged.

I enjoyed Dark Matter and Recursion, but really disliked Upgrade.

I have the same problem with audiobooks and podcasts. I'll hear people telling me they listened to this audiobook or this podcast while they were doing something else (driving/working out/cooking etc.), and I always ask myself how they're able to retain what they heard, or even engage with it. Apparently it's a non-issue for some people, but trust they you're not alone OP. These flavors of content delivery are just not for everyone. I gave up a while back and consumed my books the old fashioned way. As for podcasts, I don't listen to them.

11/22/63: A Novel from Stephen King is on my tbr since my 16th Birthday (i`m 25 now). I really want to read it but its just so thick and i cant get me to pick it up and start reading.

But this year will be the year i wanna read it.