You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

I'm starting this thread for anyone interested in an October Buddy Read for Swan Song by Robert McCammon. The plan is to start October 26th, after the October Toppler.

Thanks for setting the thread up Theresa. I need to read A Discovery of Witches (plus another chunkster) before I start this one so it is more likely going to be the end of October that I get to this one.

Sarah, I had some library books come through quicker than expected, so I wouldn't mind starting later myself. The Toppler is 10/18-25, so would you want to start it before or after that?

I m in, no mater what (before or after the toppler)

After the toppler is preferable for me.

I'm still planning to start Swan Song on Sunday 10/26. Sarah & Mariab, are you still planning on this one? Anyone else?

I'm still going to be reading this but I might be two days late starting as I still need to read my Madame Tutti Fruiti read by the end of the month.

I m still by it

I read it in the spring, but will follow along. I might even throw in a comment or two.

One of my all time favourite books! I must be due a re-read - it seems to be becoming an annual event for me. Last time around it was on audio, so I'm very tempted to join you and reread the paper version....

I'll start Swan Song today.

After the Toppler ended yesterday, I started Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan, Book 10 of the World of Time series. I'm 8 chapters into that, so I haven't decided how I'm going to juggle these two. I guess I'll just play it by ear.

I'll be another couple of days - maybe start Tuesday?!

This one was a 5 star for me. I'll be checking in to see what others think.

I must start today and read so much as possible. The comming week will be busy an I dont want to hang to much behind (And you all are speed- readers!)

I am not a speed reader Mariab - I wish! So many of my GR friends have rated this 5 stars - it's my first McCammon book too! I have high expectations for it!

Couple weeks ago I read They Thirst. McCammon made me laugh as he referenced about 3 of his earlier books even went as far as having the woman say she read a few chapters of one and was disappointed with it and gave up.

Kat & Roz, did you like Swan Song from the beginning, or did it take quite a while to really hold your interest. I'm almost 1/4 done, and I'm just not getting into it yet.

Oh no Theresa! I have about 100 pages left of my current book so I will finish it today. Going to start Swan Song either later tonight or tomorrow.

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Kat & Roz, did you like Swan Song from the beginning, or did it take quite a while to really hold your interest. I'm almost 1/4 done, and I'm just not getting into it yet."

On paper I loved it from the first page. On audio it was definitely much more of a slow burner. I'm going to start my re-read tonight which will really test it out ;)

I am listening to the audio and think it's getting better now. So much setting up characters in the beginning! The 2 chapters I listened to on the way to work were much better.

I started it last night - read about 10 pages then had to go to bed. I am curious about why everyone has started bombing each other. Do we know when this is set? I know the first chapter has a date but no year. I'm presuming near future?!?

Sarah, it would probably be the recent past to us. Definitely after Vietnam and prior to 9/11.

Sarah, it would probably be the recent past to us. Definitely after Vietnam and prior to 9/11.

I've read on a bit now and realized that it was more likely recent past. Very reminiscent of cold war times. I've just met Sister Creep and Josh The Wrestler (up to end of chapter 3). I just realized a neat function my kindle has for book called x Ray which you can scroll through to see character names and a brief description of who they are also a list of terminology and definitions. not seen this before.

So, I'm enjoying the book so far. Very intriguing and I'm curious about what and how things will unfold.

Seems pretty bleak so far.

Just popping in to say this is one of my favorite books. It has been compared to Stephen King's The Stand. It definitely holds it's own. I hope everyone reading Swan Song is enjoying it. As Sarah says, it can seem pretty bleak for the main characters in our story. A post-nuclear world is certainly a difficult place to survive in. But you will be rewarded if you hang in there.

I've finished Part 1 so I am presuming I've met all the "main" characters - a character per chapter in Part 1. So in addition to the ones I already mentioned, I met Swan and The Croningers.

(view spoiler)[I have really enjoyed each of the chapters focusing on each of the characters - they are all very different people.

I found Sister Creepy's story a difficult one to read - I have a real fear of becoming homeless and how unsafe it is on the streets so this chapter freaked me out a little. And if an attempted mugging and beating weren't enough for her, she finds a dead kid in the street! Sounds like a nasty neighbourhood!

I like Swan. Her familial situation is not ideal. I love her garden and how she talks to her plants to keep them alive. It must be awful being able to hear the Earth dying! That made me sad considering the state of our rainforests and seas etc. I liked all the fireflies congregating on her window pane. Swan clearly has some supernatural abilities, those already mentioned, as well as being able to sense things about to happen?!?

I love books set underground (eve if only partly) so I was pleased to read they have an underground survivalist bunker. It doesn't sound ideal though - you just know it's not going to hold and nuclear blast if the roof is already crumbling.
(hide spoiler)]

I have seen all over the place that it has been likened to The Stand. I've not read the book yet but I did see either a film or TV series about 20 years ago not that I can remember a huge amount about it though. I'm pleased I am reading this one first though.

I'm thinking you may have most main characters but you will keep picking up new ones throughout the journey. Much like the Stand in that way. Survivors searching and seeking for each other. Grouping up and seperating to good vs evil. To simplify it into a basic post apocalyptic setting. These things always go that way one way or another. People or zombies or mutant ants seems like good vs evil is always the plan one way or another

Ooh! I like this book! I've read a couple more chapters and things are starting to kick off now. I've read up to the end of chapter 9.

(view spoiler)[Things have taken a turn for the creepy! That guy in the cinema who can change his face/appearance is too freaky and is definitely up to no good! He appears to be a malevolent force who has been behind many atrocities throughout the world and may or may not be behind this current one too. Some of the theatre employees had lash backs to times when younger, bad things happening, etc. and 'm wondering if that has anything to do with this guy. Sister Creepy also had a memory flash (which pushed her over) and I'm thinking that was right about when she passed the cinema.

Talking of Sister Creepy, her down in the underground tunnels when that fire ball came through was awful. Pretty descriptive - I really sensed her fear and the pain she must have been going through as the heat rose. I have a real big fear of fire, house fires in particular and being trapped, so another chapter which affected me more than it would normally I think. Sister Creepy sure is working her way through my fears. Let's hope she doesn't end up in a straight jacket in a mental hospital otherwise it will be a hat trick.

I am pleased Swan has bumped in to Josh at the gas station. That was also pretty thrilling reading about the missiles being launched, the fire spreading and gas pumps exploding. PawPaw's eyes melting made my stomach churn a little.

It's looking pretty dire for these characters at the moment. I'm assuming that they all have survived their respective bombs/fires.
(hide spoiler)]

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Kat & Roz, did you like Swan Song from the beginning, or did it take quite a while to really hold your interest. I'm almost 1/4 done, and I'm just not getting into it yet."

I liked it from the start. I don't do audio so I don't know that would compare.

I've finished Part 2 (end of chapter 11). (view spoiler)[The first line of ch10 cracked me "More bogies at 10 o'clock" Yes I know I'm 5! Sounds like they are doomed in that bunker. I have no doubt that radiation will work it's way in given the poor structure of the place. And if radiation doesn't kill them, sickness will - all that raw sewage!

I always find it weird in end of the world books/films (and probably reality if it were to happen) that the President is always saved! I know he's an important person and that when the shit hits the fan, the country will need someone to lead, make decisions and move the country forward but when it's to this stage of the game, he's just another person - there is no country, no world as we know it, he's a nobody. And at that point, it makes me angry that he has been saved and other people haven't! That plane journey sounded horrific for them though - they all seemed to take it very calmly, especially the sudden 10 thousand feet drops the plane made! I'd have surely have had my head in a sick bag by that point and sobbing my heart out. I'm glad the president wasn't able to complete the sequence on whatever it was he was about to do - it would have been a short book otherwise ;-) And it looks like he's dead now.
(hide spoiler)]

Being my third time reading, I know what's going to happen, but it's still sucking me in - we are preparing for my boyfriend's 40th birthday party today, but I'm feeling resentful that I cannot read instead!

Sarah (view spoiler)[ The airplane scene always makes me feel ill! And yes, president's always seem to be made of titanium and survive these types of books/movies, so I always appreciate an author/screenwriter who takes the story a different way! (hide spoiler)]

I'm away this weekend so won't be commenting - looking forward to catching up on everyone's thoughts when I get back! I'm taking my book with me but I'm not sure how much reading I'll get done.

I have a little over 15 hours to go on the audiobook. I really don't have any plans this weekend other than re-organizing my study, so chances are I'll finish tomorrow.
(view spoiler)[The story has now moved 7 years ahead, and we're finding out what has happened to the characters we've met earlier. I find I really like the story line with Swan, Josh, and Sister Creep. The Colonel Macklin and Roland Croninger thread is what had initially turned me off to the book. I still cringe when the story turns to them. (hide spoiler)]

I must begin to make some comments.
I wasn't taken from this one. It doesn't dazzle me. I'm in a little over the middle now; so, I can be sure I won't change my mind about the book. I must say I am not liking it very much. I'll finish it, but I have found too many flaws in the story.

PART One (Not chapter)
(view spoiler)[ I had to think in the recent (or not so recent) History when I read that speech about "Russes respect only muscle", then in reality it was a russian leader who opened the politics so far, that the cold war could be ended. (hide spoiler)] And the book was written only two years or so before

PART TWO (Not Chapter)
(view spoiler)[The depiction of the rockets going out was very vivid and well made (hide spoiler)]

PART THREE
(view spoiler)[I could buy how Sister got saved from the blast, but not Artie. After all, she was underground, but he was in a hotel room during the bombing, covered only with a blanket and fell to the bottom of the basement in his bed. I have my suspicions about him not being human (hide spoiler)]

PART FOUR
(view spoiler)[The kid (Roland) is not so small, not to understand all that is not a dungeon game. And to forget so quickly about his parents. Even in shock, something must go through him and wake him up.
Also, is not believable that the old man (Paw Paw) in the gas station could survive the blast (what he saw direct), the others also not. And the big man could not possibly react that fast and shove everybody in the basement so quickly. Such a bombing occurs in seconds
And an mystic/telepathic artifact made of Steuben glass and Tiffany jewels??? (hide spoiler)]

PART FIVE
(view spoiler)[I found this part convincing but for the devil roaming around. If it has power, why bother with the humans? How was it beated if he is so powerful? (hide spoiler)]

PART SIX
(view spoiler)[Again, the kid (Roland) has not thought of his parents, no bad dreams, no regrets? More than one month has past, and he is still in shock or something? Unless he has had a very bad relationship with them (and this is not shown in the beginning), is not understandable.
The town with the light... An abandoned town with an only light... and nobody get suspicious? And only then the old lady comes to mention, there is a MADHOUSE in the neighborhood? And in spite of the "Alvin" warning in the car hood, they still go on??? (hide spoiler)]

PART SEVEN
(view spoiler)[I can't believe the kid (Roland) still thinks in concepts like "the King", "The King's Knight", etc., He was presented to us as a bright kid. Is no explanation for his loyalty toward the Colonel (not anymore, is to much time past for a shock or stress syndrome) (hide spoiler)]

LOL! Lots of questions, Mariab. Re: Roland - (view spoiler)[ I was also surprised that he would forget his parents so quickly. It was really only a matter of hours or days as I recall it. He should have recognized them.

Being a long time reader of horror stories, I decided that there was a supernatural element that was unleashed when the bombs dropped. Otherwise, nothing would be feasible. We couldn't explain anything with what we rationally know to be reasonable. (hide spoiler)]

I finished Swan Song today, but am having trouble with my laptop. I'll write up some notes to morrow.

Wow you guys are whizzing through. Ok, I'm not going to comment like I was then after every couple of chapters as you are all nearer to finishing and/or not enjoying it. I'll get through quicker if I'm not making notes as I read to comment on here.

I didn't get any reading done over the weekend unfortunately.

I really enjoyed this book. It is fiction and the fact that things are happening in the book that couldn't possibly happen in the real world as we know it doesn't bother me at all.

It's a great story!! It has a full spectrum of characters from those with great strength and integrity to the criminally and mentally insane.

This is how I see Roland's perspective: (view spoiler)[ Roland shifted into his preferred reality of the "King's Knight". He was thrilled the old way of life was over and a new way of life was beginning--the real life version of his game. He became divorced from reality....mentally unstable. Quoting, "Nothing was certain anymore but the fact that he was a King's Knight. all that had gone before this moment were shadows, flimsy and insubstantial, and this was real life." Sort of like people with PTSD who have become stuck in their nightmares and don't recognize family members as anything other than the enemy. His parents didn't fit into his "new reality" and he loved the idea of being in Macklin's army!!! (hide spoiler)]

I m only in the middle, Sarah. I plan to read to the end coming weekend. And I will make my comments along (sort of), in the extent of my free time ( wich is lamentably sparse)

I didn't think I'd read much this weekend, but I'm now over 300 pages in - just past Chapter 38. Being on my third read, I can definitely say the paper version pulls me in a lot more than the audio did, but it's personal taste.

Regarding Roland (view spoiler)[ I had the same idea as Lori, that it's related to stress/a coping mechanism. As someone who is obsessed with an alternate world of his own design, it makes some type of sense that he would use it as escapism (hide spoiler)]

Mariab (view spoiler)[ I completely understand where you are coming from with some of the elements that don't make sense - and normally I like my horror novels a little less based in Fantasy, but I quite liked the way it helped me suspend my disbelief on some points (agreed, there is very little reasoning as to why some people survive and others don't, but like those real-life disaster stories where people survive multiple days under rubble without food or water, it's also easy to imagine its random luck :)) (hide spoiler)]

Arghhh! I can't read the spoilers in this app... :-[, will have to wait til evening to get a propper computer

@Lori. I love fiction; and fantasy fiction too. But I need that the story makes sense. There must be a "internal" logic in the plot, congruent with the elements the author gives to the reader, wich may well be created from his imagination, but must form a harmonious and well accomplish whole. When the writter says, for example, there are dragons in the story, I expect they fly and go through the air, but not that they fly below the ground
Do I make sense?
But, again, perhaps is just me

I read a few more chapters (up to end of chapter 18) (view spoiler)[I am pleased to see that the respective groups survived the blasts. I do find it interesting how something this big affects people and how differently too. It has really snapped Sister Creep out of her world - she has clearly blocked everything out and has been living in a bubble for all these years since the accident in which her daughter died. She has been brought back. Others who are stepping up are Roland and Macklin - that was pretty brave of Roland to amputate Macklin's wrist like that especially given the fact that he may have just lost his parents in the blast. (hide spoiler)]

I'm still really enjoying the book.