Horror Aficionados discussion

The winner for the June 2017 Group Listen is NOS4A2.

NOS4A2

Please join us in the discussion and please use spoiler tags.

This is one of my favorite audio books ever!

excellent, read it a long time ago, but haven't listened to it yet, though I have it already downloaded on my iPhone ready to go

Darn! I am reading this now. I bet it would be great on audible....

Excellent book! I'm yet to listen to it on Audio, I have caught a snippet and it sounded great, don't forget to read the continuation comic book "The Wraith" also by Joe Hill!

Omg it is sooooooo good on audio

I'm going to listen to this again with you guys. 🙂

100% agree with Latasha this is an excellent audiobook.

I just saw on Twitter: Joe Hill says NOS4A2 is in development with AMC. Not sure if it's to be a movie or a show, but I hope they don't mess it up.

Very excited to listen. one of the better books I have read recently.

I started reading this one back when we originally did it for the Group Read when it initially came out. I read about 150 pages and stopped. Not that it was bad life just got in the way and once I put a book down for too long I usually don't get back to it. Glad to give it another shot though I picked up my copy today. I really enjoyed Kate Mulgrew's narration of The Fireman so I'm looking forward to this.

I just need to put the finishing touches on Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Which quickly became one of, if not my absolute favorite book of all time. Easily the best read/listen I've experienced in a long time and I highly recommend it. I only have a few more hours left to the audio book and I'm a little disappointed it's ending even after 36 hours.

Greg
I have heard that more than once about Lonesome Dove. Good to hear that it is great on audible. I think I will make that my next one. (A good book makes me stay on the elliptical longer!)

I had a friend strongly urge me to read Lonesome Dove. I resisted because westerns aren't my thing. Once I read it though, it became one of my top 5 books of all time. Who narrates the audio?

Done by an actor named Lee Horsly. I didn't recognize him as an actor and he only had minor roles but he does a phenomenal job narrating. He does Augustus great justice that challenges Robert Duvall's portrayal in my opinion.

I have listened to Lonesome Dove and NOS4A2. Both were great audiobooks! I bought the books after listening to the audio, too.

Finished the book I was listening to yesterday morning so I started in on NOS4A2 and am already 10 hours in. Love the book when I read it when it first came out and enjoying it just as much now. Have to say I wasn't sure if I would enjoy Kate's narration or not. I never know if I am going to enjoy a 'famous' narrator or not, but I must say she does an excellent job.

Well finished up listening to it today...so basically listened to the entire thing in two and half days. I wanted to stretch it out, but I just couldn't stop listening. I loved the book when I first read it, and listening to Kate Mulgrew's incredible narration was like experiencing the story for first time all over again. This is a book I will not only read over again in the future, but one which I would gladly listen to over again as well.

I really enjoyed Kate's narration. She brought the story to life for me.

Same with me. I actually gave this book 4 stars and then, months later when I listened to the audio, I raised my rating to 5. I adored Kate Mulgrew's narration SO much.

So did I. She's fantastic.

I read NOS4A2 and loved it. Kinda sad I didn't audiobook it now since Kate Mulgrew did so well with The Fireman. I hope tv does the book (and ending) justice

Just started, downloaded both versions, easier to keep track and highlight that way.

He’d be happy forever in Christmasland. The world can’t ruin him there, because it isn’t in the world. It’s in my head. They’re all safe in my head.

This is sounding highly messed up!

I'm at 5% in and the audio is different from the book. I downloaded a 19 hour 17 part version and the kindle version says it's almost a thousand pages but it's different!

They both agree here:
A snowman in a top hat gestured with one crooked arm at a line of type, framed by snowflakes.

But then the kindle says:
Bing liked the ads in the back of the pulps: ads for tin lockers filled with toy soldiers (Re-create the thrill of Verdun!), ads for vintage World War II equipment (Bayonets! Rifles! Gasmasks!), ads for books that would tell you how to make women want you (Teach Her to Say, “I LOVE YOU!!”).

And the audiobook:
"Do you believe in a place called Christmasland? What would you do for a lifetime pass to a place where every morning it's Christmas morning and unhappiness is against the law?

The audible version is 19hours 41 minutes. It reads right along with the kindle edition.

But it doesn't. That's my point.

I've gone over it again it and the audio version adds a full advertisement for Christmasland that is only implied at in the book. It's not a bad change/addition but I don't like it. Audiobooks and dramatization should be different categories.

Odd I distinctly remember hearing all of the lines that you mentioned but I guess I could be mistaken.

And I agree unabridged should be word for word no exception.

Greg wrote: "Odd I distinctly remember hearing all of the lines that you mentioned but I guess I could be mistaken."

I'm pretty sure I heard it as well. Now it'll drive me crazy so I will likely go back and check for myself.

I must have misread the original comment. I was thinking you were saying that the lines about Verdun and whatnot weren't in there. They are in there, but there is indeed lines for the ad for Christmasland that don't appear in the text of the book. So in this case it's a matter of the audio book having more lines than the actual book. (does that make that actual book an abridged version of the audio!!! lol )

I must say that is quite odd. A couple of paragraphs later it comments on Bing reading and rereading the advertisement, but of course now that I am studying the text it seems bizarre because there is no actual description of the ad itself. That's the kind of thing I would have noticed when originally reading it. Makes me wonder if the text to kindle version so how got clipped out. I don't know how often big publishers update the kindle file, but as someone who publishes on kindle myself, I know I've updated the uploaded files for my books on occasion if I've noticed any error that made it through editing. I wonder if they were uploading a new file to get rid of typo or something and somehow someone accidently clipped the paragraph with the actual Christmasland ad copy.

Interesting

Mind isn't whisper synch. They are individually downloaded from the library and I alternate reading along to screwing around on Pinterest while I listen. When I caught this late last night it just drove me nuts, lol!

12% in.
"I have a bed down in Romantic Poetry. I crash here some nights...Hey! I get to sleep in a library and read books all night!"
I might need a part time job at a library.

17% in.
AROUND FIFTY-EIGHT THOUSAND NONFAMILY CHILD ABDUCTIONS occur each year in America...
I didn't know I was so bad.

20% in.
Christmas was almost three months in the rearview mirror, and there was something awful about Christmas music when it was nearly summer. It was like a clown in the rain, with his makeup running.
That slight reference to IT made me shudder.

Lena wrote: "20% in.
Christmas was almost three months in the rearview mirror, and there was something awful about Christmas music when it was nearly summer. It was like a clown in the rain, with his makeup run..."

There are several references to a number of his Dad's work, including the Dark Tower, and Dr. Sleep as well.

23% in. Every few minutes I keep expecting/hoping for this to turn into an episode of Criminal Minds.

27% in. Again Discordance!

Where they agree:
Inside were a pair of license plates—NOS4A2/ KANSAS—and a little card on ivory laid stock, with a Christmas angel stamped into the front.

Then the audiobook says:
"Hold these, I might be awhile. Nine."

The books says:
"Bing had the license plates in the root cellar, where all the rest of his life with Charlie Manx was buried"

The kindle book never mentions what the card says. Or what nine means. Anyone have a physical copy?

31% in. The Wraith seems a nod to Christine.

35% in. Hooper is a St. Bernard, wasn't that the same breed as Cujo?

Lena wrote: "35% in. Hooper is a St. Bernard, wasn't that the same breed as Cujo?"

First thing I thought, too - Cujo.

41% in.
“So tell me about your summer,” Lou asked. “What’s the best part so far?”
"No one is in rehab,” Wayne said.

I wonder if that was a small taste of the authors childhood.

I have no doubt he pulled stuff from personal experience. King's drug and alcohol problems are well documented and he's been pretty open about talking about them. Only natural that Joe would drawn on it.

50% in. I was/am hoping Lou Carmody gets another chance to be a hero.

Lena wrote: "27% in. Again Discordance!

Where they agree:
Inside were a pair of license plates—NOS4A2/ KANSAS—and a little card on ivory laid stock, with a Christmas angel stamped into the front.

Then the a..."

I have a physical copy, but it was an ARC, so I'm not sure that would help, as ARCS are often changed around a bit once the book is actually published. I will try to remember to check for you, though.

Thanks!

52% in.
But that Buddhist-themed therapy group he runs sure is popular on his cell block in Shawshank."
Love the King references!

54% in. Reference heaven.

In Vermont there was a dense forest, built up around a place called ORPHANHENGE; in New Hampshire there was a spot marked THE TREE HOUSE OF THE MIND. A little north of Boston, there was something called LOVECRAFT KEYHOLE; it was a crater in the rough shape of a padlock. In Maine, around the Lewiston/ Auburn/ Derry area, there was a place called PENNYWISE CIRCUS. A narrow highway titled THE NIGHT ROAD led south, reddening the farther it went, until it was a line of blood trickling into Florida... Illinois, WATCHFUL SNOWMEN. In Kansas, GIANT TOYS.

I got IT and The Lovecraft. Anyone know the other references?

56% in.
where tears were against the law and children flew like angels. Or floated. Wayne was unclear on the difference.
Definitely a fun, and scary, IT reference.

The tree house of the mind is a reference to his novel Horns.