Stephen King ' The Dark Tower - The Drawing of the Three'

The second book in the 'Dark Tower' Series by Stephen King.

King fans are, it appears to be, clearly devided when it comes to the 'Dark Tower' series. They either love them (best of all the King's books), or hate them (Really can't get into them). I sort of joined the latter group, and had trouble getting into the first part. it is just a lot more fantasy than your usual King 'Small Town America' horror. So, I guess, if you are not into fantasy, you might not enjoy it as much as, lets say 'It'. Saying that, the supernatural plays a part in almost all of King's work, so it is certainly worth giving the 'Dark Tower' series a go, and certainly a must if you are a big King fan like me.

'The Drawing of the Three' continues with the story of Roland, the Last Gunslinger, introduced in the first of the series. He continues his journey across the 'Mid-World',  this fantasy world created by King, in his quest to reach the 'Dark Tower'. Here, he finds three doors which will lead him into modern day New York, and he will meet 3 people who will play an important part in his continous journey - the defiant Eddie Dean, the courageous, volatile Odetta Holmes and serial killer Jack Mort.It is this link to modern days which made this book much more interesting for me, und King's ability to draw with words is just, as always, outstanding - here weaving fantasy worlds with modern day gritty realism.

(parts taken from blurp).

Joy Fielding 'Whispers and Lies'

The nurse Terry Painter lives a quiet life in a small town in Florida. Since the death of her mother, she leads a quite life, so she decides to rent a garden flat in her house. The lively Alison moves in, and soon Terry and Alison become firm friends. However, slowly but surely, Terry starts to suspect that Alison is not  all she seems to be, and gets worried when she comes acress Alison's diary. A cat a'nd mouse game starts between the two, and Terry thinks she is slowly losing her mind. What are the reasons for Alison wanted to get close to Terry?

I enjoyed this book, and read it in the German translation. Apart from the silly translation of the book title 'Schlaf nicht, wenn es dunkel ist' which literally translates to 'Dont sleep when it's dark' (??), the book translation was good, and made it a page turner for me. The story was nicely put together, the plot moved along at a good pace, and was believable as was the ending. I will definitely put more of Joy Fielding in my To Be Read pile.

Twin Restaurant Dartford

Went out with Debbie, Claire and Angela on Firday. We went to Twin Chinese Restaurant in Dartford and overall had a great time. The restaurant is a 'all you can eat' restaurant, but much better than some of the buffett restaurants where you can tell they are using the same base for all the dishes and just put different vegetables/meat in it. This restaurant is different as you pay one amount (£15.90 at the time of writing) and can eat as much as you like, but you still order it from a waiter. Desserts and Drinks need to be paid extra.

We went there at 8pm, it is surprisingly big inside. We had ordered a table, but I think one would get away without ordering, as there was space (not a lot though). The waitress came promptly, and so did the food (within 10 minutes).We had a platter of starters and duck/lamb wraps, after which I was basically already full. For the main course, you have the choice of over 50 different dishes - all the usual Chinese dishes eg black bean, sweet and sour... too many to mention. Again, you can order as many different dishes as you want, and we ordered about 15 different ones who all come in small(ish) dished, a little bit like a tapas restaurant really where you can share all across the table. I guess this setup is particularly good if you are with a crowd of people. The service was very efficient , quick and never pestering all throughout the evening.

Than, around 9pm, the restaurant pulled a few tables together to make some space in the middle, and a small band started to play for entertainment (1 man on keyboard, 1 man on guitar, 1 woman singer). Music was mainly 70s/80s, plenty of ABBA. The singing was good in my opinion, and as there were also quite a few birthday parties in the restaurant, the atmosphere was relaxed and happy, people were singing along (including us!)and started to dance - the happy mood was catching.

Two small minus points for me: Once the band started playing, it was almost impossible to hold a conversation, it was just too loud. And we all felt that we had quite a bit to drink (I think I had about 7 or 8 Barcadi with Cola), and we were still completely sober. This is not necessarily a bad point - I don't want to be legless going home, but I guess the drinks must have been watered down a lot which is not really fair as you pay for it, and it is not cheap.
 
All in all though I will definitely be back.