The Next Best Book Club discussion

Loved this book. With King exploring the topic of Time Travel it got me thinking :

If you could go back in time and change a historical event, what would it be? And why?

I enjoyed the book, too. Of course, my mind goes directly to Hitler and trying to stop him.

This was my first Stephen King book. I'm not a big fan of horror is I have stayed clear. A friend highly recommended this one so I took a chance. Wow! What a fascinating and great book! He is a master story teller.

I too, thought of what I would focus on. Hitler was at the top of the list!

Loved this book - bit of a mind twist which keeps me on my toes.

Loved it too. I could not stop reading. I wanted it to go on and on. Sad when it ended!

This was the first book by Stephen King that I read and after this, I never stopped reading his works. Loved the bittersweet ending and the plot twist of this story. :)

I'm about to start the audiobook (30 cds!) and am excited to hear King's take on time travel.

I loved 11/22/63, especially the way the author was able to recreate the sights, sounds, smells, expressions of the time, down to the finest detail.

I have stayed away from Stephen King because I am not a fan of horror. Happy this was an exception.

Hmmm....time travel to change an event? I would have to go with Hitler, because of the atrocities that he masterminded.

Honestly, I would not have the same interest in reading a book on that historical event, because there seems to be so much written on the topic.

Janet - Under the Dome and Joyland are also not horror. Well, there's some parts but not the main crux of the books

More Stephen King books that are NOT horror ...
Dolores Claiborne
Misery
The Green Mile
The Running Man
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The Shawshank Redemption

Oh, and his memoir On Writing ... which, I think, has made me a better reader for reading about the writing process.

i thought this book was a massive disappointment. The title, front cover and blurb all hint that the major point to this story was time travelling to try and stop the JFK assassination when in fact the JFK bit was a side story to a love story.

I dont do romance so felt cheated imo

Heather wrote: "Janet - Under the Dome and Joyland are also not horror. Well, there's some parts but not the main crux of the books"

Thanks for the tip, Heather. I will take a look.

Book Concierge wrote: "More Stephen King books that are NOT horror ...
Dolores Claiborne
Misery
The Green Mile
The Running Man
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The Shawshank Redemption"

Thanks, Book Concierge, I will give Stephen King another try knowing that it is not guaranteed horror. Appreciate the tip.

SK is a brilliant writer/creator, but I did not love 11/22/63.
I ponder many big "what if" questions, and I thought that was what the book would explore, not the time travel love story. The very end addresses the big question - what if JFK had lived - but I'm afraid the conclusion, at least for me, was not believable.

For personal reasons, I would travel back in time to tell my mom not to wait so long to have the lump on her breast checked out. She might not have passed away if only she could have had it checked out when she first found it. She was just scared.

Brittany wrote: "For personal reasons, I would travel back in time to tell my mom not to wait so long to have the lump on her breast checked out. She might not have passed away if only she could have had it checked..."

Interesting perspective, Brittany. I did not think of this on a personal level. I was taking more of a historical perspective. I will give this a bit of thought.

Book Concierge wrote: "Oh, and his memoir On Writing ... which, I think, has made me a better reader for reading about the writing process."

I found that book so amazing. His input on the craft is truly a breath of fresh air.

Pickle wrote: "i thought this book was a massive disappointment. The title, front cover and blurb all hint that the major point to this story was time travelling to try and stop the JFK assassination when in fact..."

Although I agree with feeling cheated that it was more of a love story than an adventure to stop the JFK assassination, I still liked it a lot. It was the best SK novel I've read in a while.

I loved his On Writing. :)

I liked this book a lot, but it would put me off trying to change history through time travel, since part of its point was that any change can result in events you never would have predicted (or wanted).

I really enjoyed this book for the very reason that it did surprise me. King is ever changing in his topics and stories and his ability to juggle so many styles from horror to adventure to sentimental and survival always keeps me guessing. He is definitely a master storyteller. My favorite horror from him was Salem's Lot - that book kept me up for days I was so scared to sleep.

On another note, King's son Joe Hill has definitely taken up his crown of horror and is addictively great to read. I would recommend starting with his Heart-Shaped Box and moving on to NOS4A2.

I've always been a fan SK's non-horror novels. 11-22-63 did not disappoint. It combined many elements that I love: History, JFK, New England and best of all -- time travel!

Charles wrote: "Steve wrote: "I've always been a fan SK's non-horror novels. 11-22-63 did not disappoint. It combined many elements that I love: History, JFK, New England and best of all -- time travel!"

Never read anything by King that I didn't like--fiction or otherwise "

Oh, I'm sure his horror is fantastic and I have read a few of them, but I just don't like horror as a genre!

Charles wrote: "What's interesting I always found in his horror is that everyone refers to him as a master story teller but not like a London or Fitz. I always thought King was incredibly insightful on the human c..."

I think that's so much a part of his success -- his character development is so good and you find yourself rationalizing what the bad person is doing, because you know what they've been through to get to that point!

I think ultimately to stopped Kennedy from being assassinated would completely changed so much that it would have gone the Harry turtle dove route rather than an exploration of choices in life

I tend to be lazy when it comes to King. I tend to watch the movie versions rather than the books. Although I have read a few of his classics. It's hard to get into his newer works because it seems he changes his style at times. Then again I don't read much of his work so maybe my idea is just me.

Hey Justin, you should give this one a go.

Loved it. I'm usually disappointed in his and many other authors' endings, and though I can see why some may not like this ending, I thought it quite nice.

I'm on page 115 so far in this one, and loving every second of it. Already I'm invested in the two characters who've emerged so far, and I want to see them through to the end. That's the best part of a King novel, you get so invested in the characters and you start to think of them as people you know instead of words on paper.

It does beg the question, though: if you could change something in history what would it be? It's so hard to pick! There are sooooo many atrocities humans have committed against one another, nature, and this planet that to pick just one instance in human history to change is nearly impossible for me. I'd want to stop the Inquisition, Hitler, the laws allowing nobles to rape women on their wedding nights, assassinations of good people who had the chance to make a change... there are so many moments. When you really stop to think about it all, it makes you start to lose hope in humanity. These atrocities go so far back in our history that you have to wonder if it's just part of the human condition. And if that's the case, would you choose to stop humanity at the point we started to emerge in the chain of evolution?

This was my favorite book of the past two years (up until Sue Monk Kidd's new Invention of Wings). I have trouble convincing non-King readers that he is a fabulous writer of non-horror. I read all 800+ pages of 11/22/63 twice.

Janet wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: "More Stephen King books that are NOT horror ...
Dolores Claiborne
Misery
The Green Mile
The Running Man
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The Shawshank Redemption"

Thanks, Book ..."

Whoa -- if you're recommending books to someone who doesn't like horror - Misery is still pretty intense. It's a great book - but if someone's approaching it like 11/22/63, expecting a good story with a few dark turns - they might get a little upset when Annie starts doing her thing.

Misery is the King book that stopped me reading his horror. I will never forget sitting on the beach in Hawaii, reading the hardcover, thinking to myself 'She's not going to do it. Surely she's not going to do it. She can't. . . . Ack!!!'