Books Stephen King Recommends discussion

Final chapters 16-17 comments go here.

Turner Island. Roughing it...but still never as rough as Ketchum lived. Could the City Danny ever be countrified enough for Ketchum?

Not disappointed that Ketchum chose his own method of death. Sure seemed gruesome though, didn't it? I didn't want him to go.

When the editors said: “You know John; I can’t tell from one paragraph to the next whether I am reading the past or the present.” Did he respond: “I know, I want it that way.”?

Danny (and John Irving) composes his books backwards. A retrospective of a retrospective. Maybe I should read them backwards as well.

Amber wrote: "Oh, and Danny's version of 'roughing it' would never compare to Ketchum's."

Yes but, you'll never catch me hauling buckets of water from an ice hole, through knee deep snow, in December.

p.s. Why not just melt the snow from your back door...maybe it was wolfhound yellow?

I wasn't surprised that Ketchum committed suicide the way he did; Irving hinted at it almost from the beginning of the book. I had NO idea that cutting off your hand would not guarantee your death, however. Add some medical knowledge about suicide-by-cutting-off-your-hand to my list of useless information! lol

Danny, roughing it? NOT! He hadn't roughed it a bit since Twisted River. He seemed to soft to me.

Nice that Lady Sky showed up in the end; tidied things up a bit and gave us something hopeful to leave with. Yes, very unlikely, though.

What a strange, strange story.

Irving writes the last line of his book when he begins.

Once done, he starts writing the book.

What would your last line be?

Carly wrote: "Irving writes the last line of his book when he begins.

Once done, he starts writing the book.

What would your last line be?"

I have always kind of liked that trick where the end of the book ties in to the beginning. I wouldn't have changed that.

I had a post-apocalyptic short story (now lost due to cpu crashing) that I had the last line figured out long before I wrote the story itself:

"I'm still catholic and suicide isn't an option" he said handing her the gun."

Lonnie wrote: "I had a post-apocalyptic short story (now lost due to cpu crashing) that I had the last line figured out long before I wrote the story itself:

"I'm still catholic and suicide isn't an option" he s..."

Nice! Sorry about you losing your story, though. What a bummer!