Topic of the Day

Stephen King

I have always loved reading. Ever since I can remember I have had a book in my hand. Of course I read children's books and then as I got older I switched to Sweet Valley High books. I bought and read and kept every single one, unable to decide if I wanted to be Elizabeth or Jessica Wakefield. Then I decided neither because their brother was so cute on the cover of the book, so I didn't want to be related to him. Anywhoooo.....

I got older (it tends to happen). I grew out of Sweet Valley High and needed to move on. But I wasn't sure what to read. I really had no idea what I might like. At the time I was going through a vampire phase. Don't ask me to explain it, I can't... I'm an odd card friends. Long story short, I came across Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. Naturally, it's about vampires so I decided to give it a shot.

It was much longer than I was used to, and more intense so it took more concentration. I read mostly at night in bed, trying to get tired. I remember at one point in the story a character goes into a room and sees a rotting corpse hanging from the ceiling. In the story, it was figment but, in my imagination that night, it was very real. And not only real, it was hanging in my room. It had come to life and was right there next to me!! Oh, wait, that's my imagination. Oops! Well, it seemed real. At least it did from under my covers where I stayed all night. I was terrified and my vivid imagination was my worst enemy. Yeah, I was scared, so what? Well, I'm a glutton. Because the next morning the first thing I did was grab that book and dig into it again. I was hooked. I was scared, afraid of the dark, afraid of ghosts and afraid of dying...and I loved it.

From then on I was done. Stephen King was the bomb, though that term of affection had yet to be coined, so I guess he was 'tight'. I would now only read Stephen King. Over the next few years no other author's words radiated through my tender optics. I read The Shining, Carrie and Christine, mostly the early stuff. The thought of reading someone else felt like a betrayal. I did realize, eventually, that even Stephen King doesn't only read Stephen King and it was okay to broaden my literary horizons a bit, which I did with authors like VC Andrews and John Saul. Yup, I was a horror nut kiddies.

Well, years later (but not too many years), I still am loving Stephen King. Of course, as I've matured I've developed a love of many writers. I love Emily Bronte, Harper Lee, Dean Koontz, Iris Johanssen, Dan Brown, James Patterson, John Grisham and many, many more. I love all types. I am no longer exclusively horror. As a note: I don't always consider Stephen King to be horror. Though I don't know what you might call him. A supernatural-thriller-horror-psychological-dramatic writer.

And I continue to ramble people... make me stop already!

The only times I have not enjoyed reading a Stephen King book is his Dark Tower series. These books have a large following, but I'm not one of them. Everything else... yep, I'm there. It just seems to me that he reaches inside my head and pulls out things in there. His character personalities and the way they talk and move and grow just connect with me. I'm not sure if this makes us epistolary soul mates or I'm just a freak, but I like it.

I'm currently reading Duma Key, his newest book. It seems there has been a bit of a lull recently. Not that his books have gotten bad, they sure haven't, no sirree. But they haven't quite had that zing!! A little piece of I-have-no-idea-what was just missing. He recovered some with Lisey's Story. I finally felt connected again. I finally fell in love with the hero again, or heroine. But, here I am, just over only a hundred pages into Duma Key and I have fallen, fallen, fallen in love with Stephen King again. I don't really have the whole idea yet, it's too early for me to know yet, but what I do know is that Ed Freemantle reaches me just like Fran and Stu and Tom (m-o-o-n that spells moon) Cullen from the Stand, or John Coffey and Paul Edgecomb from the Green Mile, or Andy DuFraine from Shawshank Redemption and John Smith from the Dead Zone (which was turned into a pretty mother flippin good TV show too) did.

I could go on, and often do, but I won't. Just rest assured that a Stephen King novel satisfies me in it's own special way that no one else does, even when I love their novel as much. There is just a special something with Stephen King. He was my first....adult novel writer I read.

Happy Reading,
Sissy