Tag: stephen king

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Song of Susannah

The suspense is building. I finished the penultimate book in The Dark Tower series. I started in Jan of 2015 and am plowing through the series to finally reach The Tower. And to put it simply, this series is a masterpiece. Few authors are the caliber of Stephen King, especially in this series. The Stand is still my favorite, but The Dark Tower is what he should be remembered for. What’s sad is that most of his readers haven’t ventured into this series because it isn’t his typical genre. But that is what is so spectacular about King. He. Can. Write. Anything.

 

The Ka-tet is still alive (I apologize if I misspell things in this review. I’m listening to the series and am unsure how certainly MidWorld words are spelled), but Susannah is in our world set to give birth to the chap. She, Mia, Odetta, and Detta together must work together to deliver the baby safely and return to MidWorld to continue the journey.

I am so lucky to have found this series after it was finished. I’m not sure I could have waited years in between the books, especially between these two. Instead, I waited one minute for the book to download for me to listen to. And, of course, the movie comes out soon (see picture below…. thanks Idris Elba for tweeting this).

And on a side note, I have no issue with Idris being Roland. He will be fantastic. I have seen much of his work, and he has yet to disappoint. He is gruff and serious. He is focused and purposeful. And he is wonderful. I can’t wait for this movie.

ClUVPvSXEAAoaOy

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End of Watch

I’m to the point in my reading journey that I will read everything Stephen King writes. We are slowly amassing a collection of his work in hardback. I used to buy his stuff at Half Price books for $1/paperback, but for an author as wonderful and prolific as he is, I think it’s worth it to buy his work in a more lasting format. Still from Half Price books, of course!

However, I received Mr. Mercedes as a gift for my Kindle, and once I start in series in one format, I usually keep buying it in the same format. Just a habit, I guess. Once I finished Mr. Mercedes, I immediately purchased Finders Keepers, and preordered End of Watch. The wait was finally over, and on my birthday I got the download.

I had no idea what Mr. Mercedes was about when I started it, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was absolutely nothing like King’s usual books. Basically, it’s a police detective novel. Retired detective Bill Hodges is mulling over the one who got away when said person contacts him and taunts him. The rest of the novel is Bill trying to find the identity of the person (Mr. Mercedes) and stop him from committing any further crimes.

The second book in the series, Finders Keepers, doesn’t involve Mr. Mercedes at all, but rather follows Bill in his new work as a private investigator. But we return to good old familiar Mr. Mercedes in this final book.

I really enjoyed this series. The last book was a satisfying conclusion and tied up all loose ends.

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books and reading

Wolves of the Calla

There is just no denying what a master storyteller Stephen King is. I admit he has his misses, and he doesn’t always have the best endings. But overall, he truly is one of the most gifted writers of our time. And the Dark Tower, along with The Stand, are easily his masterpieces. I have yet to be disappointed with a book in this series.

This story is a bit of a side track mixed with some important plot events. The side story involves Roland and his ka-tet helping a town protect their children. Their cause is noble, but one they don’t enter lightly. The town must prove they are willing to do things Roland’s way, and it doesn’t take long for them to realize how valuable the ka-tet is to their cause.

The main plot of traveling to the Dark Tower is woven seamlessly within the town’s struggle. We get to revisit the world we know, where Jake, Eddie, and Susannah come from. The most interesting plot is Susannah and “the chap” which I will not elaborate on. However, the story leads directly into the next book, and I believe, Stephen King himself makes an appearance in this next book. I can’t wait.

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books and reading

Wind Through the Keyhole

For the book challenge, I have to read a book and its prequel. What this means is open to interpretation. Is it the first two books in a series? Is it a book and then the prequel that was published after the original? So, my challenge, my rules. I went with the latter here. Instead of reading the Dark Tower books as they were published, I went ahead and read book 4.5 (as SK puts it) between books 4 and 5 even though it was published after the series was finished.

Much like Wizard and Glass, this one is a story about younger Roland. And much to my surprise, it is a story within a story within a story. Did you follow that? We have Roland and his ka-tet, then he tells them a story about the Skin Man, and within the Skin Man story, he tells another story about the Wind Through the Keyhole. This isn’t nearly as confusing as you would think. The story is layered masterfully and doesn’t jump between all three.

I listened to this one read by the author, which was great. He might not be the best speaker, but just having an author read his own words is more powerful to me than another person reading them. This was one of the shorter books in the series, which was a nice break, but still an overall enjoyable addition to the story. King is just the best storyteller of our time.

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Wizard and Glass

….And 6 months later, I’m finished! I really don’t know why it took me so long to get through this one. I just kept putting it aside. It’s a 700 page book with tiny font, so I just kept dreading it, even though it’s in the middle of a series that I’m invested in. And I should be kicking myself for not finishing it sooner.

The Dark Tower series is arguably some of Stephen King’s best writing. Taking decades between books must have been infuriating for fans, however, some of us are fortunate enough to start the series once it has been finished. This book is mostly a flashback of young Roland and his love, Susan. Susan has been noticeably mentioned, but absent from the first three books of the series, so you know they are separated somehow. And learning the backstory is fantastic. You get to see a side of Roland that you just never expected. And he even cracks a joke in this book. Yep, just one. But it’s progress.

Randall Flagg is back as the Man in Black. The plague from The Stand is mentioned, as well. The Stand is my favorite SK book, by far. And I plan on rereading it again this year. I will be heartbroken if it doesn’t hold up against my memories. But, I have a feeling that it will be just as great as I remember.

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A Head Full of Ghosts

Confession that I didn’t know a single thing about this book when I bought it, other than it scared Stephen King. I assumed it was a horror book, but that was it. So I bought it because SK rules all.

Turns out this book is about demon possession and an exorcism. Sort of. Let me preface all this by saying that I hate the demon possession story line. It has been done over and over again with no new results. Either the possession is real or it isn’t. Either the demon is exorcised or it isn’t. There just isn’t a new or creative way of telling this story. And that holds true for this book.

That said, this book is very well written, but it didn’t scare me at all. I wanted to know what happened to the possessed girl and her family, but I won’t be having any nightmares over this one. Partly, because this type of story just isn’t scary to me. I don’t believe in demon possession, so it’s not something that I actually fear. If a person were afraid of this type of thing, I imagine this book would be quite terrifying. I did enjoy it, though. Mostly because the character, Merry, telling the story was such a fantastic unreliable narrator. She’s 8 and watching her family deal with her 14 year old sister’s possession and subsequent arrival of a slew of cameras and people who are filming this all for reality tv.

The delivery of the story was unique. Present day Merry telling a journalist the story of 8 year old Merry, combined with a blog poster who has watched the series dozens of times and is reviewing it and providing insights for her readers.

I recommend the book for the reasons above, namely the creative way the story is presented, although not for the simple demon possession plot. If that’s your thing, it’s worth reading because the possessed girl is sufficiently creepy.

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A Head Full of Ghosts

Last night, I started A Head Full of Ghosts. One of the many things I love about Stephen King is that he recommends books constantly via media outlets. This particular book “scared the living hell” out of him. And when it went up on Amazon for $2 Kindle, I figured, why not? I don’t buy many Kindle books at full price (or any books for that matter), utilizing my local library, and Half Price Books usually. The rarities are ones that I already own hardback versions of from before I got my Kindle (like the Passage series) and now that I’ve started in hardback, I will continue to buy the rest of the series in that format. And I’m trying to build the entire SK collection in hardback, albeit used copies mostly.

I digress…. I’m very excited about this book. I read maybe 10% last night and am already hooked. It’s not ridiculously long, so I’ll get through it quickly, I think. And it seems to be in a couple formats: 1st person narrative spliced with a different character’s blog.

I like books that are terrifying in an understated way. I’m not a big fan of gross out horror, just because it’s so ridiculous. But I do love a good spooky or suspenseful story. Fingers crossed that this book is one of the latter.

 

 

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Wizard and Glass

It’s not secret that I love Stephen King. He has some weak endings (I’m looking at you, Under the Dome. And you, Revival.) However, he writes the most terrifying books as well (that would be you, The Shining and you too, It.) And my personal favorite of his is The Stand. This book makes my top 10 of all time, and I plan to reread it in 2016. I’ve read it once, almost a decade ago, so it’s about time.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when Captain Trips made an appearance in Wizard and Glass. I’ve been making my way, slowly, through the Dark Tower series, which I’ve never read. I’m not sure I’ve ever been excited to see a fictional superflu in a book, but it made me smile. I know I’ve read somewhere that his books crossover, namely this series and The Stand. And, of course, minor characters like in It and 11/22/63.

I’m looking forward to finishing The Dark Tower series. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. But, given the news yesterday, I’m a little sad Matthew McConaughey has been offered the role of the Man in Black. I just don’t see it.