Peripheral, by William Gibson

This was a little hard to get into, but I'm glad I got there. Gibson tends to write sparingly, not bothering to explain what things are, or what (made up sci-fi) words mean (e.g. assemblers, cosplay, well, read the review I've linked below, that guy did a better job than I will of explaining this problem) and while frugality is generally a good policy when spraying words upon the page, sometimes I could use just a little bit of guidance, like, what the fuck was that?

All in all, this is a terrific book. Once I got past the abovementioned initiation phase, it was a page-turner, and I was sorry when I got to the end.

There is time travel, of a sort, and some thoughts about the paradoxes that come from that. When Gibson's future characters meddle with the events of the past (the future people are in London, the past people in America, maybe East Kentucky?), it creates a "stub" of time-continuum. That is, a new branch grows away from the future inhabited by the meddlers. A nod to the alternative universe concept.

A review in The Guardian

Lisey's Story, by Stephen King

Completely absorbing, entertaining, beautifully done, as only Mr. King can do it.

Lisey is Lisa Landon, widow of successful writer Scott Landon. We meet her about two years after Scott's death, as she begins the work of cleaning up his study and dealing with his books and papers. Quickly it becomes evident that the Landons have had both a singularly great marriage and an extremely unusual life -- as only Mr. King could imagine.

The story of their love and their closeness of mind and spirit is worth the trip. Yes, there's plenty of otherworldliness, alternative dimensions, fantastic beings, and the kind of reality that most of us don't experience when we're awake, but I don't think it takes away from what is a beautiful story about the love between an imaginative, creative man and his extraordinary wife.

No doubt there's a little autobiography in here. In the author's statement at the end of the book, King points out some similarities between the Landons and the Kings. Lisey's Story is, still, a work of fiction, and one of fantasy.'

New York Times Sunday Book Review