Greetings freaks. I doubt many people have noticed, but I have been alternating between posts on fiction and non-fiction since the beginning of the year. I had a big non-fiction post planned for this week, but I’m on holidays at the moment, and I haven’t had time to finish it, so I’ve got to switch it up. I’ve had the following post on the backburner for a long time, and I figure now is a good time to unburden myself. I’ve got something really juicy for you next week, but for now, here’s some more books by Stephen King.

Misery

I have never seen the movie version of Misery, but my mom saw it when I was a kid and told me all about it. I had heard that this was one of King’s better books, and it did not disappoint. I knew that the author was going to be “hobbled”, but I didn’t realise the book was different to the movie. Jesus. I literally winced when I got to that part. This is one of the best books I’ve read by Stephen King. I didn’t like The Longest Walk because it felt like it stuck to one track (excuse the pun). Misery is even more confined, but it works a lot better in my opinion. This was a really good book.

Different Seasons

Different Seasons is known as King’s non-horror collection, but one of the tales, The Breathing Method, is very definitely a horror story. The way it’s framed, as a bunch of old men telling scary stories, reminded me a bit of Peter Straub’s Ghost Story. It’s not nearly as ambitious as that book, but it’s not a bad story at all. It’s the only of one the four stories in here that hasn’t yet been turned into a big Hollywood movie. I watched The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me many times as a kid, but the stories they are based on are excellent, and I quite enjoyed Apt Pupil too. I know some high brow literature snobs look down on King, but he really is a talented writer. I loved this book.

Christine

I read Pet Semetery a couple of years ago, and I didn’t really like it, so I gave King a break for a few years. I really enjoyed Misery and Different Seasons, but they contain little of the supernatural fiction that drew me to King in the first place. I thought I’d better read one more book for this post, and Christine, King’s evil haunted car book, was next on my list. (I’ve read nearly all of his novels and story collections up until 1983 so far. ) I found Christine unbearably drawn out and overwritten. I’d imagine it would have been a much better book if it was 200 pages shorter. Honestly, it could have been a short story or a novella. I know some people love this one, but I wasn’t that interested.

Just in case you’re interested, here’s a link to the many other Stephen King books I’ve written about.