Reading List Completists discussion

Please feel free to have general discussion about The Stand here. Please mark spoilers. I will be creating folders for the specific sections - that will allow everyone to read at different paces and still discuss. This is a big one so it will need the section discussions.

This is so awesome! I was planning on starting this one this week and a friend let me know that this group was doing a group read for it. So glad to be able to join in a discuss this!

Holly wrote: "This is so awesome! I was planning on starting this one this week and a friend let me know that this group was doing a group read for it. So glad to be able to join in a discuss this!"

Yes! The more the merrier! I have been meaning to read the Unabridged version - I read the Abridged more than 20 years ago!

Thanks Matthew! I read this a long time ago as well; don't really remember too much about it. I can't even remember what version I read....

When is everyone starting?

I am starting today!

Yay!

You know you want to join us Stephanie.... ;)

Do it! Do it! Do it!

Hehe....:D YAY Stephanie!!

Oh man..... I think I'm in! I read this a while ago and I think it's time to do it again. I'll probably take my time and read some shorter books along the way, too.

Yay Justin and Stephanie!! Woo hoo!!

Yes! I have been looking forward to a really involved discussion in this group. We did pretty good with Lord of the Flies, but I found myself singing "All By Myself" a lot while I was reading War and Peace.

Matthew, you don't have to be all by yourrrrrsellllllf anymooooorrrrrre....

I missed my Stand reading yesterday - sat down with the book around 11pm and woke up at 5am in my recliner with a blanket on my head - only a couple of lines had been read. True story!

Haha! I did the same thing the other night while watching the Rangers game. I sat down to watch the ninth inning and woke up at 2am with all the lights on. I thought it was morning and I was late for work!

After many years of hearing rave reviews, I finally read this one last November. I was not a fan. Perhaps I would have liked it better had I read the original version, rather than the author's uncut edition, but none of my libraries had the old version available.

My main complaint with the book is how it went on and on and the story could have been told in a much more concise, and therefore more enjoyable manner. So, the addition of hundreds of pages did nothing for me.

I initially was pulled into the story during the intro of Captain Trips. However, that really is a very small portion of the book. After that, I just felt like that story slogged along for over 700 pages (or 31 hours of tedious listening for my contemporaries in the audio book crowd).

By the time it finished, I was just glad to see the end. An end, that I found to be lackluster and anti-climactic.

Sigh.

I do think you would have enjoyed the abridged more. I am noticing tons of extra stuff that is cool, but not necessary.

Valerie wrote: "After many years of hearing rave reviews, I finally read this one last November. I was not a fan. Perhaps I would have liked it better had I read the original version, rather than the author's uncu..."

I'm about 900 pages in and I'm feeling the same way. :(

I finished The Stand a couple of days ago and it was killing me and my love of reading. I wish I had read the abridged version. I would have liked it more. There were parts I really enjoyed but I was not impressed by Flagg at all as the villain. I did love Trashcan Man. I'm so glad it's over.

I'm still plugging along at the extended version but very not happy about it. I really hate when writers use their novels as platforms for their political views. King seems to have done this in the extended version getting his little digs in at Reagan (my husband said the president in the original was simply referred to as "Billie") I don't care that a president was mentioned but it's kind of obnoxious to me that he would add that kind of thing in his "updated version". Right now it seems gratuitous and without any relationship to the story so why do it unless you want people to know your personal views. It's his book....he can write anything he chooses. It affects my overall view and review of the book.

I too like the Trashcan Man and am intrigued by the recent changes in Harold.

The politics doesn't bother me too much. I guess I figure with post-apocalyptic/dystopian (two of my favorite genres) you are bound to get a little bit of politics.

What I don't like is if there is a viewpoint shoved into a story and it makes absolutely no sense to the plot so it stands out like a sore thumb. Everyone is allowed to have their viewpoint, but ruining a story with it by forcing it in is annoying.

You said it better than me. (o: I knew King's views. It only bothered me in the way he injected it in the extended version for no other reason than to make it known to his readers. John Irving has been known to do this too. The views don't bother me, but the idea that I won't notice how extraneous these comments are does.

Reached a milestone - I am on page 818 of the unabridged version and there are 817 pages in the abridged version.

Also interesting to note - page 818 in the unabridged version corresponds with page 541 in the abridged version .

I'm in the home stretch now-Extended Version. Traveled from VA to CA today and read the whole way. 50 pages to go.

I'm super late in starting this book, but I'm really looking forward to it. I think I'll read it while you guys read outlander because I've already read outlander multiple times lol.

I am always ready to keep discussing! :)

Yay! Stephen King books usually start out pretty slow for me, but I'm liking this one so far!

My review - covers both abridged and unabridged:

Matthew's Review of The Stand