November 2019 ScaredyKIT: Stephen King and Family

In what is becoming a tradition for the ScaredyKIT, it is time for Stephen King month, in which you are invited to read something by the master of horror or one of his very talented family members:

Stephen King
Tabitha King (his wife)
Joe Hill (his son)
Owen King (his son)
Naomi King (his daughter)
Kelly Braffet (his daughter-in-law)

Pick a classic or something new, a collection of short stories, a graphic novel, or even some nonfiction, or just finally get around to reading The Stand. We're here for all discussion of the King family, who have contributed so much to this genre.

I have a brand-new Stephen King, The Institute, which I will certainly be reading this month. What are you reading, and be sure to add your selections to the wiki!

I am also reading The Institute this month

I have Strange Weather by Joe Hill on my shelf so I will most likely read this collection of 4 novellas.

I wasn't aware that King had so many writers in his family! Dreamcatcher and The shining have been on my wishlist for ages. I was actually considering dreamcatcher for my next book but may wait a bit until November.

I'll have to check what's currently on the tbr.

ETA: I may have others, but I've been wanting to get to this one for a while:

- Blaze / Richard Bachman/Stephen King

I'll be reading The Gunslinger.

I think I will read Hearts in Atlantis, short stories by King.

I've had The Bachman Books, which contains 4 of Stephen King's novellas written as Richard Bachman, on my shelves for a long time. I'd already finished The Running Man and Rage from it, and this month is the perfect opportunity to read Roadwork and The Long Walk.

Here is a thread for planning ScaredyKIT 2020: https://www.librarything.com/topic/312530#

I am reading The Langoliers

I finished The Institute. Solid King entertainment. It took me a while to get into the story, and I wouldn't rate this up with my-all time favorites by King, but true to form, once I was hooked I couldn't put it down. King gives his characters heart in a way that so few other popular authors can do. Overall, though, the plot did remind me of a novel-length treatment of Ursula K. Le Guin's well-known short story, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas."

Finished The Langoliers, will see if I can get to the rest of the series.

>13 Kristelh: Even the summary of the books is scary! :)

I started out reading Hearts in Atlantis because it came highly recommended, especially the audio which is narrated by William Hurt. Love William Hurt as an actor, but not so much as a reader. He voice was too soft and he drops his voice even more at the end of the sentence. Even with my tablet on the highest sound I could not hear him and struggled to follow along. Therefore, the only other King I have on hand is a short story, Mile 81 which I will read.

Didn't have Mile 81 like I thought I did, but read Throttle by Stephen King and Joe Hill. Not a fan of the short story, so this fell really flat for me, but it was intense in places. It was a duel between a trucker and a group of bikers. 3 stars 54 pages

Blaze / Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
3.75 stars

Blaze and George are best friends and (mostly) small time criminals. Blaze was abused as a child, and is now a bit “slow”. Unfortunately, after beginning to plan their biggest crime, George passed away, but Blaze wants to go it alone (with George in his head, egging him on). Blaze is about to kidnap a baby…

The book actually goes back and forth in time, so we also see how Blaze grew up, first abused by his father, then in a home for orphaned boys. I didn’t find the back story quite as interesting as the current-day kidnapping. Well, I found Blaze more interesting as he was younger and a teen, with his best friend (and his only other friend besides George, ever), Johnny, more interesting, but it was less so once Blaze met George (at least for me). The end of the story was really good, though, and had me eagerly turning pages to find out how things would end. Waffling between 3.5 and 4 stars (good and really good), I did not come to a decision and averaged it out.

I read Mr. Mercedes for this month, the first in the Bill Hodges trilogy. I'd intended to read The Gunslinger but it didn't take long before I lost interest in that story, which was a first for me and King.
I liked Mr. Mercedes. Not a bit of horror in the supernatural way, but horrific in an "evil guy crime spree" way.

Dreamcatcher was off to a good start and the beginning made me very uncomfortable and I really wanted to know what was going to happen. Then towards the second third of the book I started to realise I felt it was a bit too long and I wished the story would progress more quickly.
Still I really liked the way the story was told: the main characters are a group of adults who are friend with childhood, and something special happened to them during their childhood. The story goes back and forth between the different characters, past and present, in a very interesting way.