My Long Walk Through Stephen King's Lot

Over the last couple of years, as I’ve looked at various lists and rankings of Stephen King’s top books, I kept seeing a certain, somewhat surprising title popping up: Hearts in Atlantis .   I call it surprising because many such lists placed this one in the top ten, and at least one reviewer I saw on YouTube selected it as the very best King book of them all.   Increasingly, it became obvious that I needed to read this one. As I say, for a long time, this book was never on my radar.   I remember the film version being released and seeming generally well received, but nothing about it grabbed my attention.   Maybe it was the film’s poster, or even the book’s cover design, both of which struck me as mildly bland and hard to interpret.   The title seemed odd and somewhat unappealing, and I just wasn’t hearing enough about it from other people to be intrigued.   Lots of people talk about The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, IT, Carrie, Pet Sematary ...

  One of the coolest and most noteworthy things about Stephen King’s writing is just how many great books he’s written.   That statement probably sounds obvious, given his popularity, reputation, and the lengthy span of his professional career.   But what I mean to get at is that King has written a substantial number of great books that don’t spring immediately to mind.   He has produced a fair number of “gems” that are far less discussed or lauded than stuff like Carrie, The Stand, Pet Sematary, The Shining , etc.   A lot of authors have a relatively small number of great books to their names, and that’s nothing to shake a stick at.   But one of the pleasures in exploring King’s literary oeuvre is that you keep finding yourself impressed by books you might not have expected.   I recently had this experience with Duma Key .   This was a first read for me.   My essential, immediate reaction is that it’s a book which holds true to m...

    Recently, a few of my coworkers were interested in starting a book club, and (knowing I am a big King fan) they elected to begin with something by him.   The selection?   Needful Things .   Now, this is a book I had already read—roughly ten years ago—but I was interested in revisiting it.   I remembered the book having at least a few excellent characters, an intriguing tone, and the premise is one that I continue to find fascinating.   Plus, this is “the last Castle Rock story,” or at least had been at the time.   And with the Hulu series “Castle Rock” in development, I’m eager to refresh myself on the goings-on of that particular locale within King’s literary universe.   With all those factors in mind, I figured I might enjoy a reread.   So…did I?   You bet I did.   Needful Things is a book that begins with a highly intriguing premise.   In effect, the Devil sets up shop in a small town with the i...

( Warning: Some spoilers for the book follow.) Currently, I’m reading The Dead Zone .   This is a first read for me; somehow I never read it, despite owning a paperback when I was younger.   That copy is long gone, so I had to reacquire it.   (As the image above suggests, I opted for a decently-priced paperback, but I am sure I'll eventually track down a hardback.)   I have about a third of the book to go, but already I suspect this will end up being among my all-time favorite King books.   Johnny Smith feels more real—and more affected by his circumstances—than a lot of King’s characters.   And somehow, King managed to solicit my emotional investment in him in very short order.   By the time he suffers his car accident, a mere two chapters in, I was already establishing some hopes and worries for Johnny.   Added to that is how quickly and tenderly King begins to build a connection between Johnny and Sarah.   King was dra...