Five Books I’ve Recently Read | Chapter 14

1. THE RUNNING MAN BY STEPHEN KING

I picked this book up in a free little library in Ithaca, New York. I thought I hadn’t read any Stephen King books before but sorting through all of my books at home in Ireland, I had forgotten about reading The Green Mile and The Runaway Jury.

This book was written by Stephen King’s pseudonym, Richard Bachman and was published in 1982 but set in the future, 2025. There were flying cars and a lot of poverty (it seems Back to the Future and Stephen King had high hopes for cars in flight).

The concept of the story was a little bizzare, but also seemed like an early version of The Hunger Games. I’ll need to watch the movie adaption to see whether I like it.

2. HIDDEN BODIES BY CAROLINE KEPNES

Aaaaaaand here we have it! My 52nd book of 2020!

So you know the hit/creepy TV series on Netflix YOU starring Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl being a class A stalker/serial killer? Well this book is the sequel in that story, the second series if you will.

I thought since I had watched both seasons of the series that I could start the second book without reading the first. However, the book is very different from the second season.

The characters are mostly the same except for the beginning with another love interest for Joe. Delilah also doesn’t have a sister in the book and the order of events are a lot different to the TV series.

I enjoyed the book as I could imagine all of the characters, but the twist at the end of the TV series doesn’t seem to happen here. Obviously they’re holding out for a third series.

3. I HEART NEW YORK BY LINDSEY KELK

I thought I would depress myself further by reading about the city that I had just left less than a week ago. The book mentions all of the areas of New York that I had come to be familiar with and it did pain me to read about them.

However, this was probably the most far-fetched book I’ve ever read and the amount of happily ever afters that kept happening just weren’t realistic in the slightest.

Everything I questioned about the book:

1. Runs away to New York without a hotel booked and stays by Union Square for a week or so (who has that $$?) and befriends one of the workers on day one.
2. Has two romantic interests by day two, one a wealthy Wall Street banker and another a lead singer of a band. Mhmm, ok.
3. Writes a blog (for free!!) for a leading magazine and becomes internet famous after one posting.
4. Writes said blog about her two love interests and tells them about it yet hopes that they don’t read it so that they don’t find out about each other – the logic?
5. Works for free, shops in Bloomingdales and Saks and can afford to move into a two-bed flat with her hotel friend in Murray Hill.
6. Gets offered a job and visa help to stay and work for the magazine by the end of week one.

For all the New York and American dreams that I have and I know a lot of other people have, don’t let this book give you false dreams and hopes about New York.

Well I mean, I did meet my boyfriend in New York and keep my job afterwards when I returned to the UK, BUT that took over a year, not one week. Maybe I’m just bitter that I had to leave the city that I love.

4. HOLES BY LOUIS SACHAR

A very famous book that I’ve had in my library for a long time, but never actually read, nor have I ever seen the movie.

The book is more of a children’s book than an adult, but it’s a famous one at that and I was eager to finally read it and add it to my list.

Final verdict: A very easy read and a very enjoyable read. A great twist at the end and I can see why this is a very popular kids novel.

5. HOLD TIGHT BY HARLAN COBEN

This is my second Harlan Coben book that I’ve read as I loved the first and found this one in a Little Free Library in Ithaca, New York. Again, this was a thriller/murder-mystery type of novel and I loved how everything came together at the end.

Harlan Coben writes so well and I can see a lot of his books being made into TV series at some point, just like a few of his others.