Carrie by Stephen King

I’m continuing along the horror novel vibe for day twenty nine of Blogtober (only two more days to go! I’ve nearly made it!) with Carrie. By wonderful coincidence The Little Contemporary Corner are running a Halloween Carrie Readathon so I’ve started reread of it today! I’m only on page thirty eight though so this will all be from memory when I read it eleven years ago.

Carrie was the first horror book I ever read, back when I was doing my GCSEs. I remember liking the format; the slightly disjointed combination of essays, book excerpts, interviews, reports and narrative that give away that something bad happened, but never the specifics until the end. Carrie’s powers aren’t a twist, but the true scale of the devastation she causes isn’t apparent until the last pages.

It’s not the most terrifying of Stephen king’s book, being his very first, but it’s still a good one and I’m enjoying re reading it! 

Bookshop Day!

I was slightly concerned that I wouldn’t get a chance to go into any bookshops on Bookshop Day but luckily old Hastings town came to my rescue! I stumbled across Albion Books in amongst a hunch of curiosity and antique shops and obviously had to have a rummage. 

I absolutely love second hand bookshops and a lot of the time I’m looking specifically for a certain type of author. At the moment I’m beefing up my Stephen King collection, but previously I’d always head for V or W to find Kurt Vonnegut books or John Whyndham novels. So, to me, secondhand bookshops are great for sci fi and horror books in the cheap.

My local second hand bookshop (Baggins) always had a few Stephen King books, but generally they’re bought up by me fairly quickly. I’ve not found a complete Green Mile outside of the big commercial bookshops though, so I was very excited to pick it up (along with another collection of short stories) for a mere fiver. It’s one of the few Stephen King films I can bring myself to watch because it’s not horror (although I probably should face watching more seeing as I’m an adult).

But Albion Books was a dream for me; completely ridiculously piled high with no real organisation. Perfect for someon who will also happily discover whatever new things are available. I found a whole load of kids books (including Animal Ark and Heartland which were my favourites as a kid) and the longest wall was mainly crime, horror and sci fi. I feel like that’s a general formulas for most of the second hand bookshops I’ve ever visited! 

What bookshops are you visiting this weekend?

11.22.63 by Stephen King

  
I read 11.22.63 alongside watching the Fox/Hulu TV series earlier in the year. I actually started the TV series before the book and loved the promise so much I immediately had to go and order the book from the library. They only had the large print version, hence why it’s so huge.

The book is a bit of a break away from Stephen King’s horror books and an introduction by him talked about how big a project it was to write in terms of research. Historically, it’s good, and I was completely drawn into the 50s/60s political paranoia vibe. But there was obviously still elements of the occult and the end of the world; with Jake’s diner rabbit hole taking him back in time and and butterfly effect of his time in the past.

What I liked about the time travel element of the story was the idea that Jake, the main character, can only travel back to a specific date and that each time wipes away the previous. He can’t just do over if it goes wrong. It added an intensity to Jake’s relationships with people from the past and made the ending that much sadder.

I really, really need to read more Stephen King books. I’ve loved everything of his that I’ve read so far and more and more I’m realised the scope of his writing ability goes far beyond horror and scares. This one is probably a gateway book for those people who are out off by the idea of him only being a horror writer and I’ve been recommending both the book and the TV series!

Stephen King Haul!

  

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with horror as a genre. At twenty four I am basically unable to watch any scary film with an eighteen rating without hiding behind a pillow. I am, essentially, a wuss.

Yet I find horror books to be strangely compelling. One of my favourite things to do at the gym is to put a zombie-esque dystopia book on my kindle, play a creepy playlist and run up stairs like my life depends on it. Recently I started reading Stephen King short stories and was inspired to pick up some of his longer novels. 

I read Carrie when I was about fourteen and absolutely loved it. The film is also one of the few horror films I’ve been able to stomach (presumably because it’s old enough to be able to see the wires that make up the special effects). I briefly read part of The Stand a few years ago but for some reason I never managed to finish it, I think I got caught up with uni work.

So I already own a few of his books. A while ago I decided I’d quite like to start reading all of his bibliography, but it’s taken until now to start building up a little collection of his work. Out of the three books I bought today I’m most excited about The Bachman Books because it’s an older edition that includes his out of print novel Rage. I remember age about fifteen deciding that I wanted to read it because I found the subject fascinating, but disappointed because it seemed to be only available in old editions.

So, a small book haul from one of my favourite second hand bookshops (I urge anyone passing through Rochester to visit Baggins Book Bazaar), but a pleasing one considering it’s essentially seven novels for £6.50!

What’s your favourite Stephen King novel? Which one should I read next?

For the Love of Short Stories

  

Until fairly recently I’d never fully appreciated how wonderful a short story can be. I hadn’t appreciated, more specifically, that there’s a kind of genius in condensing a whole story into such a small number of words or throwing a reader straight into the lives of fully formed characters without preamble.

I remember, quite vividly, reading short stories as a child. Which makes sense as children have a much lower concentration span. Logically, older people should be reading longer and longer novels, I thought. War and Peace or nothing, I told myself.

I think the first time I really started to appreciate short stories as an adult was reading Kurt Vonnegut collections and finding joy in the midst of essays and letters. Next, PG Wodehouse’s stories about the escapades of young crumpets and eggs from the men’s clubs. They’re two of my favourite authors, so of course they were the gateway drug.

At the beginning of the year I read The Greatest Gift by Phillip Van Doren Stern a story that would later become It’s A Wonderful Life (and therefore one of the greatest stories ever told in my opinion). That, in turn, told me to pick up Ghostly, the collection I won late last year on Twitter, and Stephen King’s Bazaar of Bad Dreams and delve into the short ghost and horror stories there. If there’s a more perfect form for horror and scares than the short story, again in my opinion, I have yet to find it.

Short stories, I think, open up a whole new world of storytelling and story appreciation. I still like the occasional longer novel (as well as novellas, short and long novels- basically I’m  not fussy) but there’s something incredibly satisfying about picking up a book and knowing that you’re going to get a complete tale in the time it takes to have a semi-indulgent bath. 

I like the quickness, to little hit of another world before you go about your day. In his introduction to his collection of Jeeves and Wooster shorts, PG Wodehouse urges the reader not to consume too much in one sitting, rather to read one at breakfast and perhaps one before bed. I like the design in that.