Actually Reading the Book I’m Named After (And All of Stephen King’s Other Work)

Before reading: This is King's third Hard Case Crime novel. I enjoyed the other two and these tend to be quick and easy reads. I know absolutely nothing about the plot. Let's see what this is all about... After reading: Alright, not too much to say. It was a Hard Case Crime novel. Of the three, I liked it just as much as Colorado Kid. I thought throughout that it would definitely be my favorite, but as I finished it didn't quite get there for me. This one did give me more King vibes than the other two. It felt like it could have been something he had written on his own, rather than writing it for Hard Case. It had more of a horror/supernatural vibe right from the beginning whereas the other two either didn't have it at all or randomly sprinkled it in at the end.  I enjoyed the narrator and the overall story. I thought it had a really great mother/son relationship, as well. I was surprised when it tied in with It. The connection was almost too in-your-face for me, though...

Before reading: We are officially in a new (and the most recent) decade of King. I feel as though the 2010's were fairly strong so I'm excited to see what these newer ones bring. If it Bleeds is a collection of four novellas which I am excited about because I thought it was a short story collection. It consists of two stories that have already been made into movies that I have seen: Mr. Harrigan's Phone and Life of Chuck. I don't know what If it Bleeds  is actually about plot-wise but I do know it is the next installment in Holly Gibney's story. The fourth story in this collection, Rat, I know nothing about but we do know that SK loves writing about rats. As is typical, I will give each story their own review as well as the collection as a whole.  After reading: I think this format is my favorite of King's. This thought kept popping up as I reading, but I was ignoring it because obviously King's novels are his best work. However, when I realized that my favo...

Before reading: Another one I know nothing about! I know that it is short, so that's exciting after a long read. I also know that when I watched The Curse  I saw someone compare it to this book so I have a vague idea (iykyk).  After reading: I'm not too sure what to say quite yet about this one. Even though it was very short and super quick read, I feel like I need to sit with it. With it being so short, there also isn't much to say about it. First and foremost, this was set in Castle Rock. We got familiar views and some quick mentions of familiar people, even as recent as Gwendy. There were a couple things that kind of annoyed me with this story. The main character had people constantly referring to his weight and calling him fat and that just didn't feel realistic (yeah I know this isn't a realistic story). I just don't go up to people and mention their weight, personally. Also, there was a gay couple and a lot of the book had to do with the entire town basica...

Before reading: This book was written alongside Owen King, Stephen's son. I have not read any of Owen's work but I do know that Joe is the more prolific son. I have heard some not so great things about this one but I have also heard people say they really enjoy it. The biggest complaint I've seen is that it is much too long, and that is usually a negative for me. As far as the content goes, I have absolutely no idea what this one is about. Let's find out. After reading: I want to start by saying that I did like this book. I legitimately think this was a good book. I had a couple qualms that I will get into in a moment, but I want to start off with why I think other people don't like this one. This was a very pro-women and almost anti-men book. I've mentioned before that I have noticed that typically when people say they don't like a Stephen King book...it usually has a female main character. As soon as I opened this book and saw the dedication was for Sandra...

Before reading: I feel like I know a lot about this one but also nothing about it. I know nothing about the content and am going in completely blind. What I do know is that this is the first book in a trilogy. Additionally, this was co-authored by Richard Chizmar. This is only the second time we are getting a co-authored book so I am interested to see how it compares. Now what is slightly annoying about this trilogy is that King only worked on the first and third book. The second book is solely by Chizmar. That means for the purposes of this blog, I will only be writing about the first and third. However, I will still need to read the second one. That being said, I will include some brief thoughts of the second in my next blog. Luckily, this past year they released all three books together in one binding so at least it will be a little easier to read that way. Anyway, this is a short book and I've probably taken more time writing this than it'll take me to read so I'm going...

Before reading: I am so excited. This is the final book in the Bill Hodges trilogy. I'm expecting good things plus this one delves into the supernatural so I'm excited to see how that ties inn. Let's go! After reading: I felt like that was a great end to this trilogy and a great beginning to Holly's story. I don't have too much to say about it and I definitely don't have much to complain about. This was a super solid trilogy. I gave each book four stars. I thought each one was really great and had its own unique story while keeping everything tied together really well. We don't get many trilogies (or even sequels) from King so this is a bit of a treat. I thought the story was very well done and captivating. It kept the original stories going while not just being a copy of them. It dipped its toe into the supernatural in a way that kept the serious tone but opened up doors for Holly's upcoming adventures. The ending was expecting but I thought it did what...

Before reading: If you want to know my thoughts on short stories, please refer to my previous posts. I don't have high hopes but I'm not completely put off anymore. Per usual, I will be discussing each individual story and then the collection as a whole.  After reading: Well. That was definitely a short story collection. Here are my thoughts... Mile 81: This took me forever to get through. And somehow, King had it in him to write yet another evil car story. It was well-written, it had good characters, but it was so boring. It also literally referenced Christine  like...we get it.  Premium Harmony: Meh. (I start a lot of these with 'meh' for the record). This one was set in Castle Rock which was fun-ish. This was specifically styled after an author that I am personally unfamiliar with so it didn't really click for me. It was super short but basically pointless. This one also managed to call every woman character 'fat' about a hundred times each.  Batman and R...

Before reading:  This is the second book in the Bill Hodges trilogy following Mr. Mercedes. I'm very pleased we get to read these so close together. I enjoyed the first one and am looking forward to reading this one. I know that "Finders Keepers" is the name of their business since this was mentioned in The Outsider  but other than that I have no clue what the plot is. Let's get to it then! After reading: I found this to be a really nice sequel to the first book. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting because we do not meet up with our characters from Mr. Mercedes until well over one hundred pages. At first this annoyed me, I was ready to get back into this series and back to familiar characters. However, this annoyance left quickly as I really enjoyed the new characters and story that was unfolding. Similar to the first book in the trilogy, the story went back and forth between the protagonist and antagonist POV which I enjoy. I think King does a great job at giv...

Before reading:  In all honesty I have no idea what this one is. I got it confused with Elevation . I'm also not even sure what that one is. There is a church on the cover and it is called Revival  so I have some clues but other than that I have no idea what I'm in for. I feel like I've heard positive things about this but I don't hear about it often. So...yeah. Here we go.  After reading: I don't exactly know why, but I really really liked this one. Like I feel like it isn't as good as I think it was? This was probably one of my favorites. I wouldn't necessarily say like "this was so good!" but I would say that I really super enjoyed it. Something that I bring up often is how great of a character writer King is and I think that was really the crux of this one. The characters were so great and so vivid. It was simply a very readable and enjoyable book. Beyond the characters, this was a take on a classic horror tale and I found it to be well execute...

Before reading:  I have been waiting for this day for a long time. We are beginning the Bill Hodges trilogy! I love getting a series from King and this is supposed to be a good one. In addition, this is our first introduction to Holly! I met Holly in The Outsider  so I'm excited to officially begin her "series" as well. There is also supposed to be a really good TV show version of this, as well. Lots of good stuff so let's get into it! After reading: No surprise here, this was a good book. This was one of King's grittier tales and I would place it more under the thriller category. I was looking back at his other titles and I believe this is our first real detective/thriller type novel that isn't a Hard Case Crime book. I really enjoyed it! I know we get quite a few more from this genre after this one so I guess King enjoyed it, as well. This was a great intro to the Billy Hodges trilogy. I really liked his character and I'm glad we get to see more of him. ...

Before reading:  I'm quite excited for this one. In case you were unaware, this is the sequel to The Shining.  Which, if you refer to my ranking list, is one of my favorite King books. I have not seen the movie yet and I have somehow managed to dodge any major spoilers. I know certain aspects of this book but I am, for the most part, going in blind. Let's go! After reading: As expected, of course this was a good read. It was definitely interesting, I would say. Technically, you would say this is a vampire story, however, it is completely turned on its head. It does not feel like a vampire story and you don't really get any of your typical vampire tropes. Per usual, we get great characters that are well developed and very likable. There is a unique yet familiar plot line that is, overall, a lot of fun. We get great villains with battles of good versus evil that isn't as cut and dry as you might think it should be. On top of all of this, we get a King sequel, which we don...

Before reading: Joyland  is the second story King put out under the crime/noir Hard Case Crime books after The Colorado Kid. I ended up liking TCK more than I expected to so I'm hopeful for this one. I know literally nothing about the plot but I do enjoy a little palette cleanser.  After reading: This is quite a short book so sadly this will be quite a short review.  This book, along with King's other Hard Case Crime stories, are some of the rare ones that have absolutely nothing to do with other King books. Yes, there are mentions of Maine in this one, but if you're just a crime/noir genre fan, you could completely read this as your first King book.  However...is this a crime book? I don't know, I guess technically it is butttttt. Going into this expecting a mystery/crime story, I was pretty disappointed. Let's start with the positives. This is Stephen King. The characters are great, the setting is detailed and immersive, the prose is great, and the story has a lot...

Before reading: I don't really feel like saying anything here, I'm just so excited and my heart is so full to get to have a little kinda sorta journey back with the Ka tet. I'm not crying, you're crying. I'm also crying. After reading: And one more, I don't really feel like saying anything here either. So this one should be short and sweet for you. So good. It was so much fun to go back into this world and revisit these characters that we have spent so much time with and have been through so much together. It is a super quick read (it took me a hot minute because I took a vacation in the middle of it). It is just in-your-face fantasy and adventure. It really takes the more fantastical elements of the DT series and runs off with them. There is a lot of lore and world-building built in so that you're immediately back into this specific series. So much fun. We all know I'm a sucker for a story within a story. Well, this is a story within a story within a st...

Before reading: Eeeek, I'm so excited. This is one of the big guns that I've been wanting to read for a long time. There are supposedly some Dark Tower  ties and this is also supposed to be King's greatest romance novel. I watched a few episodes of the show but other than that, I'm going in fairly blind. Let's gooooo! After reading: Wow wow wow. While this wasn't my favorite book from King, I can easily admit that it is truly one of his best. It is beautifully written, action-packed, sci-fi, romantic, scary, funny...it is literally all the things. I don't know how he did it but he did.  I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say this a million more times...but King's books are all about the characters. Yes, the overall plot of this book is going back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination...but is it really? Jake is the real story here and oftentimes, the plot isn't even on his mind. In my opinion the book was a little long and there ...

Before reading: A new King decade! Weirdly enough, this is the decade we started this journey in so I'm excited to circle back to it. This is a set of four novellas, two of which I am familiar with and two that I am not. This is usually a pretty good format from King so I'm excited to get into them. As usual, I will do an overall review as well as individual reviews for each story.  After reading: Wow wow wow. That was actually so good. Dare I say better than Different Seasons ? At first I would have said no, because Shawshank and The Body  are so so good. However, after stewing for a little bit I would say this one is actually better because all four stories are worth reading. While this is a very hard read because all of the stories are, get this, "full dark no stars," it is also an enjoyable read. In the afterword, King says what ties these stories together is the fact that they are all about dark and terrible situations and how people would respond to them. While ...

Before reading: Here we are again...a short story collection. I will say after the last collection I do have high hopes for this one but I am cautiously optimistic. As always, I will do an overall review of the collection as well as mini reviews of each individual story. Let's do it.  After reading: Guess what, you guys? I actually enjoyed this short story collection. So far, it is my favorite that I have read. Now, the format still is not my favorite by any means, but as far as short story collections go I liked this one. Each of the stories were entertaining in their own right and I didn't find any of them to be too long. If you're looking for a collection of short stories...this is one I would recommend! Willa: I thought this was a great start to the collection. I liked this story quite a bit. The concept was really interesting and I think it was the perfect length for a short story. There was some cringey dialogue but I can forgive it. The Gingerbread Girl: I thought th...

Before reading: Oh Duma Key... I have heard so much about this one and literally have no idea what it is about. I am going in mostly blind. I know many people rave about this one and enjoy it. I know (think?) that it is set in Florida. That's about it soooo, let's find out :) After reading: Alright, I get why people like this one. It was very very good. So far the 2000's King's era hasn't been the strongest but I think this may be a turning point. This was a long book and took me way too long to read it, but it was worth the time. I would describe it as being a mix of Bag of Bones and Black House. It was a great mash-up of horror, surrealism, drama, and heart. It felt like King but also felt different than anything else he has written. This book was very much a stand-alone which are few and far between when it comes to King.  This is a very supernatural book that feels weirdly grounded. It didn't seem to creep into the fantasy realm and wasn't straight up ho...

Before reading: I've heard of Blaze  because it was always listed under the Richard Bachman novels. That is about as far as my knowledge on this book goes. Digging into it, I learned that it was written in the 70's, it is King's version of Of Mice and Men, and he brought it back to life after being inspired by The Colorado Kid. And with that....let's go.  After reading: That was...a book. Okay, okay, it honestly wasn't that bad but it was a real struggle for me to get through. The writing was fine and the characters were enticing, it just didn't do it for me. The fact that it was referencing Of Mice and Men  was so in your face that I wish I was just reading that book instead. That was just a bit much for me. I found the "now" parts of the story to be more enticing than the "past" parts. The story would get going and then all of a sudden we were in the past and it just dragged on. This was a short book and it took me a long time to read and I...

Before reading: Oh, Lisey's Story. I have been waiting a while to read this one. One reason is because it is one of King's personal favorites of his own work. The main reason is that I watched the show back when it came out and got so confused I had to stop watching it to wait to read the book... so I could understand the show...and that was years ago. So finally, I am hoping to understand what the heck this story is about. Additionally, I have enjoyed King's other female-led novels so I do have high hopes for this one. After reading: In all honesty, I was not feeling this one in the first half. It had all the same confusing language the show did and it almost felt like I was intruding on something. It seemed as though I wasn't supposed to "get it." However, by the end I really appreciated and enjoyed it. The story fleshed itself out and got quite deep. Even though it was a little difficult to get into, it became a moving tale about grief, love, abuse, and sib...

Before reading: What do I know about Cell? I know there was a movie that people do not like. I know it's about cell phones. I know people enjoy the book. And that's about it! I guess I'll have to read it to learn more, so let's go.  After reading: Welp. I think this story would be quite different if it were written today and I, for one, would be a goner. I did really enjoy this book! It was an interesting little read, for sure. It definitely felt a little preachy in terms of it obviously being about "phone zombies" but the story was enjoyable, regardless. I've also never really seen this concept done before. I appreciate being able to read something that is unique and unlike anything that I have read before. I wouldn't rave about this story or call it one of King's bests, but I would call it solid and enjoyable.  While this is not a traditional zombie story, it is a zombie story. Which, interestingly enough, this is our first zombie genre book from...