This is My Kingdom Come

ryn: this last time i was there i was amazed at how much kinky shit they have at the dollar store: rope, clothes pins, lube, cable ties, candles…almost as good as home depot!

ryn: well now i’m curious…what’s the question? i may decide that you can’t know until you’ve read it, but you have to ask the question!

ryn: well, i’ve read this book just about once a year, every year since i was in 6th grade so i’ve contemplated these characters a bit more than a first time reader might. it’s a more in-depth ginger/maryann type of thing. i think men read it from Wil’s perspective though–they want to make the choice for him one way or the other. most women i’ve recommended it to have had strong feelings, as they read it, who Wil should choose and it usually coincided with how they see themselves. not sure if that answers your question or not though?

ryn: yes, that is more appropriate for after you’ve read it. However, I will say that at different times in my life, I’ve approached the book with different perspectives and found myself wishing/wanting very different things, even though I know the outcome.

ryn: what? which phrase did i turn? don’t leave me hanging!!! ryn2: I felt that the last two-thirds of TGWTDT made the first part worthwhile in the end. And sadly, I can’t advise just skipping it because he uses that entire set up to do something in the end–which I quite liked. He just takes it WAY too far and lets it go on WAY too long. The first third of that book is almost unreadable. Once he gets going though, it’s like an entirely different book. The pace picks up and the story rolls. And best of all, it leads into the next two books which do not have the same problem as the first. The Girl Who Played With Fire was my favorite in the trilogy and it was good from start to finish. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest was good too, but in a completely different way. Book 1 is like a murder mystery/detective book. Book 2 is a thriller. Book 3 is like one of those courtroom drama books (which I don’t normally care for). I liked them all though. You just have to find a way to plow through the front half of the first book. It takes the right time, place, frame of mind and bottle of wine.

and why couldn’t you recommend a book to me????

that’s all you needed to say. if your favorite author is me then you definitely have bad taste and i couldn’t trust anything you recommended. 😉 as for your thoughts on recommending books to me, i would give you a hard time if you recommended something and it sucked, but only in jest. and i don’t take recommendations and just read them. i look them up on Goodreads or Amazon and read the reviews and star counts and sometimes, you can read the first chapter for free. So, I check them out and see if they match me–and my current mood, which is always important for me when choosing a book. But this idea that I only read impressive stuff is just silly. Three of my favorite writers are Terry Brooks who writes about elves and magic and sword fights; John Sandford who writes serial books about detectives (in Minnesota) who chase bad guys and kill them/arrest them & Christopher Moore who writes about…well, a small town whose doctor takes them all off of their anti-depressants, attracting a long-dormant sea monster that is attracted to depression who comes ashore and humps a trailer home thinking it’s a mate…

…so, my reading list isn’t exactly what you’d call, “Impressive.” I just like a good, fun story. I’m open to trying/reading anything.

ryn: see, those are perfectly good recommendations! i’ve never read The Screwtape Letters. In fact, I’ve never even heard anything about it before now and it seems pretty interesting, so I added it to my Goodreads list of books to read. I think it requires that I be in the right mood for that kind of book though, so I’m not sure when I’ll actually read it, but I imagine I definitely will. <br> As for I Know This Much Is True…I’ve had that recommended to me before. It’s the page count that turns me off. I’m of the opinion that a story that takes more than 450 pages to tell is probably not being told well. There are exceptions, of course–even a few of my all-time most favorite books. I’m going to have to circle it for a while before deciding though. But…just from the synopsis on each, I can tell you that they were both great suggestions. They fit into the kinds of books I’d read. See! Was that so difficult?

as someone who is severely disenfranchised with organized religion, but who is still deeply spiritual and personally religious, that appeals to me. i just put myself on the waiting list for my library’s e-copy. and i’m tempted with the other one…i looked for it but my library doesn’t have it. so i’ll have to wait until this summer when i tend to read more and maybe just devote a solid week or two to it.

ryn: thanks for the offer, but i’ve done a 360 in the past couple years and now i really can’t imagine reading a book in any other format than on my Kindle. I was SOOOOO against them but now I get so aggravated when I can’t set the font size & spacing to the way I like it! Hi, my name is hoops and I’m a Kindle addict.

I Know This Much Is True was only $1.99 in the Kindle store on Amazon so I got it. Even if it sucks now I won’t be upset! But I’m not reading it right away…900 pages…I need to be ready for a marathon. Thanks for the suggestions!