Bag of Bones in What's the Name of That Book???

Dec 04, 2011 El rated it it was ok

Shelves: 20th-centurylit-late, horror

I don't have too much pride to admit that I read this primarily because the two-part mini-series on A&E started last night. (I had to DVR it but am looking forward to watching it tonight. Don't talk about it yet.) I knew I would want to watch it, but I have ~~a problem~~ trouble watching something I know is based on a book that I haven't read yet. This isn't to say I won't watch something until I've read the book, but my brother and my boyfriend can both attest to the fact that I'm pretty difficult I don't have too much pride to admit that I read this primarily because the two-part mini-series on A&E started last night. (I had to DVR it but am looking forward to watching it tonight. Don't talk about it yet.) I knew I would want to watch it, but I have ~~a problem~~ trouble watching something I know is based on a book that I haven't read yet. This isn't to say I won't watch something until I've read the book, but my brother and my boyfriend can both attest to the fact that I'm pretty difficult about it.

My mom loaned me this copy of her book when she read it, probably back when it first came out. The idea was that I was going to read it and then we'd talk about it. Well... let's just say I can call her up and talk about it now at least. And actually I've already tried but she doesn't remember enough about it to carry on a decent conversation. Not her fault at all. We're never really on the same page at the same time.

This is your typical Stephen King story. Mike Noonan is an author (surprise, surprise) whose wife dies suddenly and he is left dealing with his grief. There's a lake house, he meets a young woman, and things went all super-nova and crazy shit happens. It's Stephen King. Duh.

It was fine. King resorts to some crazy violence when he's not sure what else to write, and some scenes feel reminiscent of other scenes in other King novels. His stories are reliable and sometimes there are no surprises. But that's not what I was looking for with this book anyway.

For December I'm reading primarily easier reads. (What I consider easier reads. Don't get all offended now.) There's already been a YA novel, a re-read, some shorter novels. King fits in there nicely as just a non-difficult read.

And there's that mini-series. It better be as good as I'm hoping it was or I will be pissed.

Couple things:

-I don't understand the casting of the series - Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan? Melissa George as Mattie Devore? Both too old for the characters they're playing. But whatever. Full judgment will be reserved until I watch the first part tonight.

-I caught the shout-out in the book to Noonan's contemporary, William Denbrough, another author. He's not a real author, which is misleading since his name comes up with other real authors like Dean Koontz, Jean Auel, etc. Bill Denbrough is from King's It. Those are the sorts of things I read King for - the cross-overs that are sometimes subtle, sometimes heavier-handed.

I also read him for his Constant Reader letters, but that's a different story. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 18, 2009 emily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers-and-suspense, 2008-to-2010, favorites, horror, better-than-the-movie, ghosts-and-haunted-houses, owned-physical, cw-cancer

it's partially because of my love for Duma Key that i fell so deeply in love with this book. mike and edgar are very different characters, but their stories are kissing cousins-- both tales of catastrophic events that shake up their entire lives, rob them of their former professions, drive them away from their homes and into a new life. i love how this book reminded me of duma key at many points, yet was wholly its own story, in some ways scarier than duma key was because of the complexity of th ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2018 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal, age-adult, 2018

It's funny, because for so long I've thought of this book as one of King's "new" books and then looked at the copyright page to find it's 20 years old! I've had this on my shelves for a long time and I wanted to read it before watching the TV miniseries. Which I now realize is already 7 years old. Yikes. I put off reading it because it's so damn long, but I always forget that even when his books are long, King's writing always goes by so fast.

Mike Noonan has had writer's block since his wife di It's funny, because for so long I've thought of this book as one of King's "new" books and then looked at the copyright page to find it's 20 years old! I've had this on my shelves for a long time and I wanted to read it before watching the TV miniseries. Which I now realize is already 7 years old. Yikes. I put off reading it because it's so damn long, but I always forget that even when his books are long, King's writing always goes by so fast.

Mike Noonan has had writer's block since his wife died 4 years ago. In an effort to get back his writing mojo, and because of some weird dreams he's been having, he decides to head out to his summer home, which is called Sara Laughs. Once there, he feels his wife's presence and he is finally able to start writing. He also meets a young mother named Mattie and her daughter Kyla, and gets involved in a custody battle between Mattie and her father-in-law, the computer billionaire Max Devore. There's more to this custody battle than at first glance, and soon a terrible crime committed in the past comes back to haunt Mike and everyone else in town.

It really took a long while for this story get rolling, and I definitely did not see where it was going. King has such a way of going deep into the characters and everything, including the town and the house, had character. One of my friend has been reading Stephen King recently and was complaining a bit about how he delves into every character's backstory, but this is one thing I really love. You get distracted by the backstory and don't see the big things coming until they hit you in the face. This story had some great atmosphere despite being a bit slow and not really "horror." For example, as Mike is describing the Sara who inspired the name of their house I got this weird feeling about her that I couldn't really pinpoint where I felt uneasy about her. The whole thing was more atmospheric than "scary" which I'd say is more the trend with King's "new" books (I can't even with myself, apparently I haven't read anything he's written since 2010 (aside from a couple of short stories/novellas he wrote in 2011-2012 and I feel like this is an issue I need to remedy immediately).

Anyway, reading this put a serious pall over the next few books I read while on vacation in Greece, so keep that in mind. I wouldn't say this book was better than some of his older works but based on the books I read immediately before and after it, it deserves 4 stars.

(I left my copy of this book at the Hotel Artemis in Mykonos, Greece). ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 15, 2011 Cindy rated it it was amazing

Riveted from the get go, I couldn't put this book down...except of course when I got a bit too spooked and needed a break. ...more

Like · see review

Jul 05, 2007 Maria Elmvang rated it it was ok

Shelves: not-owned, 2-stars, suspense, 2006

Meh... I like some thrillers, but I don't think I'm too much of a Steven King fan... at least I haven't been terribly impressed with what I've read by him so far. It's weird though... I enjoy reading his books, and most of them are definitely page-turners, but once done, I put them down feeling strangely un-impressed. This one more than most though. I found the entire plot quite improbable - even within its own universe. ...more

Like · see review