【georges bataille's theories on eroticism】

If there is georges bataille's theories on eroticismany author that's making a splash at the movies this year, it's Stephen King.

Not only is an adaptation of his classic novel Itscheduled to be released in September 2017, but another King adaptation just hit theaters too: The Dark Tower.

The movie (and the book series) follows Roland, the last gunslinger, as he attempts to protect The Dark Tower, which is the intersection of all the worlds in the universe, and defeat the Man in Black, who is determined to destroy it.

Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey star in the adaptation, and while you may be clamoring to see the movie (or maybe not, considering that the movie has been panned by critics), there is one thing you should do first — read the book.

Seriously, Mashable's Angie Han reviewed the movie and wrote, "The Dark Tower isn't really a movie for people who've never read Stephen King's Dark Tower books ... The movie version is disappointingly lacking in the magic of King's novels."

That's why, this week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger,the first novel in the The Dark Towerseries. (Spoiler alert: two of us really enjoyed the novel and two of us completely hated it.)

Join us as we chat about Roland as a hero, the world Stephen King has constructed, what makes The Dark Tower a compelling novel, and why it might push readers (and viewers) away.

Then, inspired by The Dark Tower, we chat about Stephen King's body of work at large, sharing what other Stephen King works you should read.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• Aliza recommends the show Rick and Morty. "I was literally yelled at last week by a coworker because I had not yet watched Rick and Morty. It's fine, because then I watched Rick and Morty ... It's a good show with a lot references."

• Peter recommends Maximum Overdrive, Stephen King's 1986 movie where all of the machines in the world become sentient and start attacking humans. "It's kind of an anti-recommendation. It is the one movie that Stephen King wrote anddirected. This is a HORRIBLE movie. But so horrible that it is just a joy to watch." He also recommends the podcast, How Did This Get Made, a podcast that watches horrible movies and then investigates how they got made. They incidentally have an episode about Maximum Overdrive.

• Miriam recommends the recent run of You Must Remember This, a podcast that investigates the early days of Hollywood, which is currently looking into Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg. She also recommends reading books by rock climbers. "I'm not going to say they're well written books because they're not. But they're fascinating. Because rock climbing is really scary, and [climbers] have really interesting lives." She's recently read The Pushby Tommy Caldwell and Alone On The Wallby Alex Honnold.

• MJ recommends rereading Harry Potter. "I just finished my Harry Potter reread, and it was the most wonderful time." He also recommends long reading projects. "We all read so much so having a home base to come back to felt like literature was giving you a return hug every time I left and came back."

Next, we're reading Grief Is The Thing With Feathersby Max Porter. And don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter for the latest, greatest book news.