quite comfortable reading

hello reader

for those of you who for some reason read these posts of mine in a chronological fashion, yes indeed this is quite late. normally i would, look you see, reflect on books that i have read towards the end of any given month. not so for August, for a number of reasons. well, two - i was doing a lot of stuff, in particular travelling, which did not allow for much time to read, and the second of the two books i read was somewhat longer than the average 400 page ones i tend to pick up. 

but, we are here now. and (as usual) it is two books i have read since i last did a post of this nature. not just one, and not as many as three, or even five. just the two then. ones which had a familiarity which led to easy, most agreeable reading, but more on that later. 

in furtherance of sticking with tradition (or just how i do these things), yes, an image of the two books i read, complemented by some as spoiler free as possible comments. as for the actual, possibly containing spoiler comments, this is the first time i shall be trying a post of this nature with the brand new blogger interface. i am simply unsure as to if i will still be able to lay it all out as i once did. 

actually, to "mix things up" a bit, so as to try and keep it interesting, the provenance (which for some reason seems important to some of you) for both of these novels is Tesco, and they were, at the time of purchase, their "book of the week" thing. which means each cost me £3.50 a go. well, i think, actually one of them (the second) might have been just £3. anyway, great value. 

it was so that The Liar by Steve Cavanagh wasn't quite so twisty and turny as the previous two novels i had read by him, but remained very good indeed. as for The Institute, this was superb, vintage, grade a Stephen King stuff - a, as someone already else said on the cover, masterpiece. 

right, i am going to have to fiddle about with the formatting a touch, see if i can't work out how to have the text align (or wrap around) the images of each novel, how i used to like doing things, but the new, more better, improved blogger seems reluctant to let me do. for you, in the interim, both novels are excellent and worth reading, and a *** SPOILER WARNING *** for safety now kicks in. well, no, now, or at least in the next bit of writing. 

oh, lovely, it looks like, at last, it shall let me do it. the last time i tried it did not, and i can only hope this looks decent on your side of all of this. 

having dispensed with matters of provenance (see above), we can move straight on to plot. once again the ostensible protagonist is Eddie Flynn, hustler turned lawyer. you don't really have to have read all the stories in sequence before getting to any of them, but somewhat obviously each successive contains details of previous ones. it is very much to my regret that i did not start at the beginning.

for this one, The Liar, Eddie is called upon for assistance by an old friend. he needs someone who can both be a lawyer and a hustler, which is often exactly when Eddie Flynn gets called in on a job. in this instance, there is a rather complex and mostly messy kidnapping, with Eddie (or Flynn, if you like calling people by their surname) required to pull off some variations of blags, sleights of hand and similar to make sure it all works. it does not, alas, all go quite so well as anyone had hoped. at the same time, Eddie is served with a subpoena, or one of them things where you have to be in court, in relation to a charge against another friend of his, with the charge being wilful neglect and not providing a decent defence for a client. the two matters do not seem to be particularly connected, but..........

to be blunt, this was not as good as Thirteen. no surprise there, for that was one of the best, most clever and ingenious novels i have read. mostly it is almost as good as the one by the same author i read after that, Twisted. either it is so that i am now somewhat cleverer than i was or (and this is where my money lands in a wager) the writer got a little of the fatigue with creating stuff, for the twists and turns here were pretty easy to both see coming and successfully work out before they landed. kind of. 

and yet despite that, or maybe even consequentially, this was rather comfortable reading. not comfortable in the sense of content, for again this was quite dark, sometimes scary and remained very much suspenseful. the notion of comfort comes from an immediate familiarity with the central character, or if you like protagonist, and the immensely enjoyable writing style. sometimes one reads a book that is tough work but you wish to pursue it, sometimes one reads a novel from a sense of, well, i bought it and started it so here we are. sheer pleasure is the reason to keep reading this. 

so, on to the one which partially caused the delay with my updates on reading here. that would be the most recent work by (somewhat) legendary author Stephen King to be made available in paperback, The Institute. 

since issues of provenance have been addressed. limitations on discussing plot are now gone. predominantly, then, the plot concerns a young lad called Luke, who is remarkably intelligent and appears blessed with gifts some would consider supernatural. certain authoritarian figures are quite aware of the latter and so, as they have done with many children over many years, abduct him, so as to place him in a place known as the institute, where he is to carry out unspecified work. at the same time as this as quasi drifting chap called Tim, a former copper, ends up in a small town and stays for a while. it would seem unlikely that their paths would cross.......

let us be honest here (as i would like to think is always so), there is nothing new being offered up. much, if not all, of the plot, and for that matter elements of the story, borrows liberally from things seen, read or heard before - often previously from Stephen King. but, in words most commonly attributed to Bono, it's not what you steal, it's what you do with it. and what gets done here is that a wonderful, dark, absorbing, compelling story is created. this really was brilliant. 

yes, indeed, so children are once again at the centre of the horror threads woven by the author. a good friend recently reminded me of something, how (once) Stephen King was asked why he hated children. his response was along the lines of "but, i love them? i have three myself. in my study, in jars, perfectly preserved". leaving aside the linear logic of that, i am confident that you do not need me to draw attention to the metaphorical value of horror placing children in harm. aside (if one can) from the fear parents naturally have, wise, philosophical words are that when children are harmed, it is us wrecking our own future. and so much of The Institute takes this concept as a point of departure.

no, let me not speak (too much) further of it, for fear of "spoiling" what awaits anyone who elects to read this magnificent novel. i really should pick up more Stephen King books. the last one i read, prior to this, was, if memory serves, Doctor Sleep. all too well i can recall considering how brilliant it was, and that i should make the effort to read more of his. that was some 7 or 8 years ago, so if i remain on form and i last that long, roll on 2027 or 2028, then. 

as ever i can truly have no clear idea if any of this has been of some form of interest or value to any of you. from what i can work out there is indeed a kind of comments section, but so few of you use it, and seldom so. maybe it is just them "bot" things looking at all of this, or people here merely to pilfer the pictures. hey ho, writing it gives me something to do, so here we are. 

my fingers remain steadfast and resolute in being crossed with the hope that such a gesture of wishing for luck delivers the formatting i hoped for in the above. but, if not, well, i did my best. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!