I am a chapter away from finishing this book, and it's the best one I have read in a long time. I heard they are going to make a series out of it, possible on HBO. As long as they do a better job then they did on "The Stand." it was King's greatest book, but a pretty awful movie. Mostly because of the shitty special effects, and the great parts they left out. The casting was hit or miss. Underwood & Redman were great casting choices, but Nick, Fran and especially Harold were pretty terrible.

As I have been reading this book I have come up with mental pictures in my head of who should play them if the series ever comes to light.

If you have read the book let me know what you think, or what your cast would look like.

Big Jim … John Goodman
Junior … Ben Foster
Barbie … Jeffery Donnavan
Rusty … Jason Lee
Julia … Bebe Neworth
Carter … Jeremy Renner
The Chef … Clifton Collins Jr.
Andy Sanders … Matthew Frewer
Cox … Brian Cox
Jackie … Katey Sagal
Linda … Rachel Weisz
Andrea … Mimi Rogers
Burpee … Peter Stromare

I can't get a handle on the kids, they should probably be unknowns.

OK, now I have finished. Great book. I think the HBO series could be great, if they stick to the material.

for those who have read it:

Spoiler: show

I thought Big Jim died uneventfully. I was dying for Julia, or Carter or Barbie to kill him.

I thought Scarecrow Joe would be the one to figure out how to lift the dome.

it is me, or does king kill lots of babies? it lots of his books.

I heard a rumor that kings was going to write a "sequal" about different dome in a different state...I hope not. This was perfect.

This book sounds a lot like the simpsons movie. Minus the killing of babies.

Haven't seen it, but unless the simpsons movie was written before 1975 (When king started this), I think The Simpsons movie sounds a lot like Under The Dome.

I thought the resolution of the dome plot was extremely underwhelming.

The town and people interactions are great in this book, however. A mini series based more around that and with less emphasis on the dome (assume it's somewhat more porous, perhaps, so the environmental issues aren't quite as sudden) would be intriguing.

Spoiler: show

I kind of enjoyed the way Big Jim finally bought it. That was something I wondered about through the entire book, and I felt like any one character killing him would be decidedly anticlimactic. In the end, he's killed breathing the poisoned air his own hubris created. That's poetic.

I think you've all convinced me enough to make this my next Kindle purchase. I'm on the fence with King. . . I absolutely LOVE him as a storyteller, his movies, etc. But actually READING him. . . no. My mind almost ALWAYS wanders!! It's very annoying to be reading and realize you've breezed through 5 pages thinking about what you're going to buy at the supermarket the next day. . . . lol.

I just got the audiobook from the library. 35 HOURS!! That's nearly a full work-week.