Back to the Stephen King re-read.
22. Cujo by Stephen King
Another one I have in paperback. So, I noticed this time that the book begins "Once Upon a Time". The introduction promises a fable with monsters and princes on horseback and damsels in distress. You get that. Kinda. We definitely get the monsters. Cujo is a GOODBOY who turns bad through no fault of his own (always blame the bats), and in the end he is as much a victim as are his victims. The book is suspenseful and reads quickly (do you remember the days when Stephen King novels were less than 300 pages long?). The characters seem to be amalgams of people we have seen before (namely the family in The Shining). I do feel like this book is the first time I realized that there was a greater Stephen King universe (and this is made clear from the opening where there is a strong connection to the events of The Dead Zone). The book is a good read and moves quickly to its inevitable conclusion!
23. The Running Man by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)
This is the last of the four Bachman Books prior to Thinner (which is when the whole Bachman / King thing blew up). This one has more of a sci-fi feel. Set in the far distant future (2025), it tells the story of a poor man who desperately participates in a TV game-show which may end up in his death. I don't want to give too much away, but as the inevitable conclusion draws near I kept on hoping for some kind of "magic door" or other way out. It was well-written, fast-paced, and much better than the Arnold Schwarzenegger film adaptation.
And the beat goes on...
24.
Creepshow by Stephen King
So this might be a cheat, but given how lo-o-o-ong some Stephen King novels are, I'm counting it.
Creepshow is a graphic novel presentation of the ideas from the like-titled movie. Presented like a comic and in the form of a "Weird Tales" -like adaptation, this collection of tales is wonderfully interesting and entertaining. This was a quick read, but a fun one.
25.
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
OK, it is time to admit a deep, dark secret that I have been hiding for years. I've been reluctant to acknowledge this, but here it is. Once, when I was in high school (circa 1984), I stole a book from the library. The specifics are this: I actually checked the book out, I just never returned it. I did pay the lost book fee for it, but I kept the book in my personal library. It was this book! Only 10,000 copies were printed and I knew it was a limited edition book. There was no place to buy it; no Amazon.com or eBay. And to makes matters worse, I really didn't like the book. It felt like a loosely connected series of western/sci-fi stories with no real direction and no sense of a through-put story. Boy in retrospect was I wrong! Reading this now that I know the rest of the Dark Tower cycle, I can see how the seeds for what was to come were laid in this book, and I really enjoyed reading back through it this time now that I had a clear vision of the total story. For someone new to the Dark Tower cycle, just bear with it! It may seem like snippets from a weird dream, but the connection is coming; I promise! This tine through I also enjoyed seeing the construction of the giant universe King was building, and seeing the connections he was planting early on (The Dark Man from
The Stand returns in this collection; is it the same man/mythical creature?).
26.
Different Seasons by (you guessed it) Stephen King
If you don't like "Stephen King" stories, this may be the book for you. Have you seen and enjoyed any of these movies: "The Shawshank Redemption", "Stand by Me" or "Apt Pupil"? Then you've been exposed to a Stephen King story! Long before these were made into hugely successful films, this collection of novellas provided a wonderfully broad exposure to King's excellent prose and (with the exception of "The Breathing Method") doesn't have a supernatural element in them. I also loved the small connections between stories: the prisoner in "Shawshank" is the banker of the old man in "Apt Pupil"; Constable Bannerman in "Apt Pupil" is Sheriff Bannerman in
Cujo and
The Dead Zone. A very satisfying collection of longer short stories, and a worthwhile reread. These stories fit like comfortable pajamas; and King is at his best with each of them.
Now off to read a book about a haunted car.... Oh, my life.