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

Before reading: Well well well, here we are at the beginning of the Dark Tower series. I have not been looking forward to this day. I enjoy reading Stephen King because he is the king of horror. I've always seen the DT books as being glorified Westerns. In all honestly that does not sound appealing to me in the least bit. I am, however, going into this with an open mind. Stephen King has proven to me before that just because I don't think I'm going to like a book of his doesn't necessarily mean that is what will happen. While I might not be too excited about the genre, I love King's writing style. He is, at his core, a really great author. So I am hopeful that I will end up enjoying this book as well as the many sequels that come after it. Rather, I better enjoy this book because there are many sequels that come after. I also know that this is a very well-loved series. It must be for a reason. Okay, less talking and more reading. Here we go. Yee-haw? Is it even a ...

Before Reading: This is the last of the four original "Bachman Books" and the last of the two that I have never bothered to read. Most of what I know of The Running Man  is from the horrible Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from the 80s. I'm going to erase that from my mind and assume that it took a lot of creative liberties. I'm actually excited to read this one. I love dystopian stories and I've always thought of TRM to be an older version of the Hunger Games. Let's find out.  After Reading:  Well, I finally finished the original four Bachman books, but don't worry...we will meet him again. While I wouldn't rank this as highly as The Long Walk  or Rage  it was definitely leaps and bounds better than Roadwork.  So three out of four isn't too bad Mr. Bachman. This definitely had a lot of similarities to TLW which I obviously am a fan of so that was exciting. However...the racist and homophobic elements almost made it too hard to read. You could argue th...

Before reading:  Ol' Cujo. I've never been interested in reading or even watching  Cujo . I know the plot. I know what happens. It is, however, a classic. I will feel at least some sort of accomplishment by finally being able to say, "yes, I have read  Cujo ." I am hopeful that King's writing abilities will leave me satisfied and being a fan of the book. Well future Shayla? Did it? After reading:  It did. I loved it. It had everything that I have grown to love and recognize as being peak King. I don't feel like I really need to make a million blog posts discussing how good Stephen King is at writing characters but if I didn't at least mention it then that would be a crime. Most of the book is not about the incident with Cujo, it is just simply about the characters. The good ones and the bad ones...and the furry ones. It was just a really good book. Your run-of-the-mill good read. Also, personally, I really loved the cyclical aspect of it beginning and endi...

Before reading: Surprise! I'm reading two books at once. I know this is a normal thing that people do but for me I just cannot handle two books at once without getting plots and characters mixed up. Luckily for me Danse Macabre  just so happens to be King's very first nonfiction book. This means that I can read Roadwork  at home with my hard copy and DM  on the go with a digital copy. I'll be honest, I am not a fan of reading nonfiction. I can very rarely ever get into it. I had never heard of this book before. I knew that Stephen King had some nonfiction titles under his belt but I wouldn't have been able to name a single one if you offered me a million dollars to do so. I'm excited to see how King does nonfiction and if it is something that I'll enjoy or if it'll just be another boring nonfiction book to me. From what I can gather it is just about horror, in general, in film and in books and why people like the genre. It sounds like something I can get int...

Before reading: We made it 10 books in! Sorry I'm so slow! I am hoping to zip right through this one because it is our 3rd installment of the Bachman Books and I have it sitting by my bed nestled right in with The Long Walk and Rage. Now I know you're probably thinking that this is probably one I've read before because TLW and Rage are two of my favorite books and I've had the Bachman Books for many years on my bookshelf...yeah well you're wrong. As much as I hate to admit it, I have never read this one. In my defense...when I first read the other two I was in high school and both of those stories are about high schoolers. The other two stories are about middle aged men, so excuse me for not being interested. It is wild to me that I've literally had this one sitting on my bookshelf for many years and never even thought about reading it. I honestly don't even know what it is about...I'm guessing...roadwork? I'm excited to find out so let's do this...