Book #157 – Misery by Stephen King

Welcome to 2020! I’m back on my road trip around the United States, and my first stop is Colorado. “But wait!” I hear you say, “Didn’t you have Stephen King for Maine, too?” I did, and normally, I wouldn’t have the same author twice for this type of challenge, but when the 3 most popular books set partially in Colorado are all by King? I sort of had to go with it. Since The Shining was used for this past year’s Halloween Reads, I decided to go with a book that actually references The Shining and is set in the mountains nearby.

Misery was originally published in 1987, and King attributes the start of the novel to a dream he had while in flight to London. Misery was originally set to be released under King’s pseudonym, Richard Bachman, but shortly before printing started, Bachman was outed as King. (But more on that in a bit!) The book was met with general praise upon release and won the Bram Stoker Award in 1987. The book has inspired at least one film, an appearance in the King-centric show Castle Rock, and several plays. 

Honorable Mention: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

I’ll start by saying Happy Halloween! Then, I will point out that this book is not on the 1000 List, nor is on the 2000 list (yes, there is a secondary, much longer list that I refer to as List Beta). The fact that this book is on neither list is actually pretty sad because it reminded me of why I fell in love with Black’s writing when I was in high school. The Modern Tales of Faerie series takes all of the elements of your typical Young Adult Fantasy novel but makes the fae as they are in the old myths. Which, if you’ve read enough Celtic or Germanic mythology, you probably know that the fae are just as likely to trick you and cause you harm as they are to help you. Similarly, Coldtown takes all that pomp and glitter away from vampires to show them as they would have been perceived in the 1800s.

The book was originally published in 2013, and I think I ran across it for the first time while I was a list for last Halloween. You may recognize the author from her collaborative works, like the Spiderwick Chronicles or the Magisterium Series, the former of which had a rather unfortunately directed movie made in its likeness. Coldtown was originally a short story, published in an anthology called The Eternal Kiss, but followed a different girl in the same universe. Black apparently decided to expand the idea while in the South of France with some other writers.

Book #885 – Bird Box by Josh Malerman

I was sitting in the Library, and thinking “You know what would be awesome to add to the Halloween thrills? An M. Night Shyamalan movie when he could still do an amazing twist at the end.” Well, I couldn’t really find anything that matched the ghostly story of Sixth Sense, so I settled for something approaching his later works, The Happening. That’s right, I’m talking about Bird Box, which took social media by storm last Christmas despite having nothing to do with Santa. It’s on my Netflix to watch at some point, but so are like a hundred other movies and tv series.

Originally published in 2014, the novel actually had a movie deal before it reached book shelves. The novel was met with mostly positive reviews, though some critics thought Malerman bit off more than he could chew with his debut novel. Despite this, the novel received a nomination for the Bram Stoker award for Best First Novel (it lost to a relatively unknown novel called Mr. Wicker). Note to self: find copy of Mr. Wicker. It could be argued that this was more post apocalyptic than horror, but there are certainly moments when the terror of the characters eeks through the pages.

Book #614 – The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

I’d say I’ve kept the fear factor down to a minimum with my reading list so far. I think it’s time to change that. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the creepy crawling gooseflesh like I did with this novel. The Exorcist is partially based on the exorcism of Roland Doe (aka Robbie Mannheim), a 1949 case that could not conclude if the 14 year old boy was having a psychotic episode or was truly possessed, with most leaning towards the more scientific explanation. With the Catholic exorcism rites being modified in 1999, it’s actually even harder now to get permission to get one, and this book may be one of the reasons (just saying). Well, that and the trial after the 1976 death of Anneliese Michel, deemed negligent homicide after her failed exorcism.

The Exorcist was originally published in 1971, and Blatty also worked on the screenplay for the 1973 film. One thing to note is that I’ve rarely heard of the visceral reactions that the film apparently produced. In fact, reactions to the film led to the naming of a mental illness called cinematic neurosis. I’ve seen the movie, and its certainly earned its R rating and while I don’t agree with the video ban that the UK gave it until 1999, I sort of see how it could have earned that too. As for the book, I don’t normally try to persuade people against any book, but this is certainly not something for the faint of heart.

Book #551 – A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

A book about nightmares and monsters is perfect for this spooky Halloween reading list. Apparently the original idea of Siobhan Dowd (author of the London Eye Mystery series), the work was passed to Patrick Ness after her death. Much of the story shows the influence of Siobhan’s own struggle with cancer, and the grief of those that knew her pain in those final years. While yes, the story does deal quite a bit with a young teenager’s nightmares and a yew tree grown sentient, there is much more to this story.

Originally published in 2011, the book has been nominated for and won several literary awards, including winning the Galaxy British Book Award, and a nomination for the Bram Stoker Award. In 2016, the book debuted as a film at the Toronto Film Festival and had Sigourney Weaver and Liam Neeson as part of its cast. Like the book itself, the movie received several nominations and awards.

Book #30 – The Shining by Stephen King

Let’s kick off this Hallows Eve season with the current King of horror. (Yes that’s a pun on his name. No, I’m not sorry). There are certainly plenty of authors in the horror genre (as this month will certainly show), but few are as prolific and beloved as Stephen King. Seriously, of all the authors that made the 1000 list, he’s the only one with more than 20 books; it’s rather impressive. Of course, his vast collection of books are rather derisive. You either have die hard fans that have read at least 10, or you have people that have read one or two and decided to never pick up another. This makes my 5th King novel, and definitely not my last.

Originally published in 1977, The Shining has been turned into a movie, a miniseries, and an opera since it’s release. Small bit of movie history, King hated the film so much, it lead him to create the mini series almost 2 decades later. Having seen the film first some years ago, I was pleasantly surprised at the twists made in the book. I also recently discovered that there was a prologue and an epilogue cut from the original publication, so I’m hoping to find a copy of the deluxe edition published more recently before tackling the sequel, Doctor Sleep.

Book #697 – Dreamcatcher by Stephen King

While I may have taken North Carolina away from Nicholas Sparks, I wasn’t really able to do that with Maine and Stephen King. Yes, there are other authors that set a book in Maine, but none as prolifically as Stephen King. (There were 36 books by Mr King on the List) The book is set near Derry, Maine, a fictional town that Stephen King admits is his representation of Bangor, Maine. It’s also the setting for 4 of his other books, including It, which is referenced in Dreamcatcher.

Dreamcatcher is the tale of four childhood friends, now grown, remembering their past while an alien invasion rocks the hunting grounds North of Derry, Maine. I have a feeling that mixing the mundane with the supernatural/science fiction is going to be a recurring theme in the Stephen King books. What’s that? How many Stephen King books have I read? Including this one and the other one I’ve reviewed for this challenge? Four. Carrie and Under the Dome were my introductions to Stephen King.

Book #884 – The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

I wanted to finish out the Halloween season with one of the largest contributors to the List, and arguably one of the most influential authors of the modern horror genre. However, as I was running short on time and most of the audiobooks I could get a hold of had 5-6 person wait lists, I ended up with one of the shorter novels. Weirdly, this book ended up hitting rather close to home. Stephen King first published this book in 1999, and had my mother read it at the time, my 9 year old self would never have walked in the woods on a family outing again.

Why? Trisha, the main character, is exactly my age, and walking in the woods outside Gatlinburg was a honored summer past time for years. The book, however, takes the simple act of taking a hike, and having Trish become suddenly, and irreversibly, lost. Now, being lost on it’s own is scary, but it can be turned into a survival tale (like the book I read earlier this year, Hatchet). But this is Stephen King we’re talking about here…

Book #340 – Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

First, I want to celebrate a small milestone. With this book, I’ve read 50 books from The list. It’s certainly been a fun year of reading so far. I hope anyone reading these reviews has had as much enjoyment from them as I have had writing them.

This 2003 thriller began the Odd series, about a short order fry cook that sees ghosts. Using his ability, he aids the Pico Mundo police chief to solve crimes or sometimes…prevent them from occuring. In an interesting twist, Odd (yes, his name is Odd) can see ghosts, and they can touch him, but he can’t hear them. This may or may not be so Koontz doesn’t have to give Elvis dialogue.

In thi first installment into Odd, Odd sees the spectres of disasters, which he calls bodachs. Following the foreboding meaning of their arrival in Pico Mundo, he has to stop a possible terrorist attack. In between shifts at the Grille and dating Stormy, of course. So, it’s part mystery thriller, and part mundane look into Odd’s life.

Book #609 – The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Originally published in 2014, the book follows Test Subject Number 1 (Melanie) and her handlers as they move through a world ravaged by “the hungries”. It’s a take on the zombie genre that has the fungus Ophiocordyceps as the main bad guy, making the jump from taking down colonies of ants to vertebrates. If you haven’t heard of Ophiocordyceps, look up Zombie Ants, it’s both fascinating and terrifying. It’s the same fungus that was featured in the zombies of the video game The Last of Us. In fact, if you’ve played the 2013 game, you may notice some similarities.

The book is set in England, and because of my husband and I’s love of disaster movies, I can’t help but compare the book to a mix of Shawn of the Dead (2004) and Doomsday (2008). This is due to a mixture of dry, British humor, and post-apocalyptic horror. I also plan on watching the 2016 movie adaptation of this book, because Glenn Close portrays Caldwell, and it’s like the scientific version of her portrayal of Cruella de Vil.