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Old and New Project: 7 by Mab, 2 by RandomFlyer, 5 by JantoJones
Mar. 23rd, 2026 01:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tinturtleFandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Sentinel, Horatio Hornblower
It's been a long time since my last project post, but you see that I have not been idle. Also, I kept notes, thank goodness.
( Read more... )
It's been a long time since my last project post, but you see that I have not been idle. Also, I kept notes, thank goodness.
( Read more... )
Thinner by Richard Bachman
Mar. 16th, 2026 04:41 pmgilda_elise
”Thinner" - the old gypsy man barely whispered the word. Billy felt the touch of a withered hand, gentle on his cheek.
Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered, then turned angrily away. The old woman's death had been none of his fault. The court had cleared him. She'd just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.
Later, when the scales told him he was losing weight, it was what the doctor had ordered. His wife was pleased - as she should have been. But...
"Thinner" - the word, the old man's curse, had lodged in his mind like a fattening worm, eating at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, came violence.
The book is far creepier than you might think, actually one of the creepier King books, imo. The reader is there every step of the way as the gypsy’s curse takes hold. The descriptions of not just Billy’s plight, but that of the judge who cleared him and the sheriff whose report was deliberately, well, thin, can’t help but bring a shiver or two. It’s strange how something that sounds so mundane, no vampire or ghoul to be found, could actually be more frightening.
The story is told from Billy Halleck’s pov, and while the reader might attempt some sympathy for the man, we also know that he hasn’t yet payed for his transgression. He’ll do just about anything to make sure that doesn’t happen, but some things are unavoidable. And it was the gypsies who I ended up feeling for sympathy for.
The story never lets up, as the curse relentlessly does its work. There are some great characters, just as important to the story as Billy, who help it along.
Mount TBR 2026 Book Links
Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.
1. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
4. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon/a>
5. Moon Flower by James P. Hogan
6. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
7. Fires of Eden by Dan Simmons
8. Clytemnestra's Bind (House of Atreus 1) by Susan C Wilson
9. Glory and the Lightning. by Taylor Caldwell
10. Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery by Mark Synnott
11. Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker
12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
13. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
14. Thinner by Richard Bachman
Turned Into film/TV series
Book published in the 60's, 70's, or 80's
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
Mar. 14th, 2026 12:29 pmgilda_elise
My name's Griz. My childhood wasn't like yours. I've never had friends, and in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football.
My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.
Then the thief came.
There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you.
Because if we aren't loyal to the things we love, what's the point?
The book is a book inside a book. Griz, locked in some sort of prison, writes in a journal how it all came to be, how he ended up where he is. It starts with the theft of his dog, Jess. Griz rushes after the thief, taking only his other dog, Jip; the story builds from there. Would I have rushed off, not waiting for any sort of help, to get my dog back? Probably. So it was easy to empathise with Griz.
It’s a book that really should be read nice and slow, so that you can pick up all the little nuances of Griz’s journey. Because what starts out as a very basic journey soon turns into an odyssey through a shattered landscape. There are very few people left, but there is still danger. And while much has been destroyed, much is still untouched.
I do have one tiny complaint; the author kept dropping hints as to what is going to happen (as Griz is writing this from the future.) I really wish he hadn’t done that. It made me want to skim through pages until I found out what happened, which sometimes wasn’t as bad as the reader is led to believe.
But this is a solid, well written novel. And though civilization has come to an end, there is still much to love, still reason for hope.
Mount TBR 2026 Book Links
Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.
1. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
4. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon/a>
5. Moon Flower by James P. Hogan
6. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
7. Fires of Eden by Dan Simmons
8. Clytemnestra's Bind (House of Atreus 1) by Susan C Wilson
9. Glory and the Lightning. by Taylor Caldwell
10. Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery by Mark Synnott
11. Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker
12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
13. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
Recommended by
severina2001