The Wind Through The Keyhole - Stephen King

Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake and Oy are making their way towards the Dark Tower. Oy has been behaving strangely and Roland has an idea why. A sudden storm is about to descend on them. The kind that kills instantly and the only way to stay alive is to take shelter in a stone building. Thankfully one is close by and once they are settled the convince Roland to tell them a story. He tells them of the time he is sent by his father to investigate reports of a shape shifter killing some villagers. The reports turn out to be true and Roland must hunt the shape shifter down and kill him as his hunts are getting larger. One survivor is a young boy and to distract him Roland tells him the story of The Wind Through The Keyhole. A story his mum used to tell him when he was little.

That's right this is a story within a story within a story. To be honest it was disappointing. I was so excited to read this book. I have very fond memories of reading The Dark Tower books. There were so many things I loved about them such as links to this world, links to other King novels and all the other little surprises in there. Of course there was the characters themselves too which I loved. Some of that magic though seemed to be missing. There wasn't much in the way of Roland and his current ka. It was really just a way for Roland to tell a story. Really what is there is just to remind you of these characters and how they interact with each other.  Nothing more.

As for Roland's two stories. I actually found them to be a little dull. Roland's task wasn't particularly exciting or new. I suppose you learn a little more about his relationship with his mother and you learn a little about one of his friends who has been sent with him but not much else. The excitement of the tale doesn't really begin until the second half, after Roland has told his story to the little boy. Even then it's over fairly quickly.

The story Roland tells the little boy is much better. It's a little slow in starting and I do think some of it could have been edited out but it was still interesting. The story of a little boy who shows bravery in order to save his mother. Parts of it was a little obvious such as how his father died and the evil step father. Other than that I was intrigued by the forest and the evil magician.

Each of the three stories are linked together in some way. The obvious link is Roland but there are others in there if you look hard enough. The storm is one of those links although I couldn't help but picture The Day After Tomorrow.

In case  you are wondering the book is placed just after the fourth book in the Dark Tower series although King does say it can be read on it's own. Not the King's best work but still glad I read it.

I heart Stephen King!

So it's near the end of the trimester and I should be doing some work for exams which are next. The plan was to stay away from the computer (other than for research purposes) and concentrate. However, I of course had to check out facebook first (lots of rants going on my year groups nursy page thanks to recent events). Anyways, I came across this. I am posting it here because I would have loved this as a poster back in my teenage years and sort of would like one now. Was created by someone called Tessie who loves to create flow charts. Her blog is Tessie Girl and is worth checking out.

The Mist - Stephen King

David Drayton, his wife and his son are residents of a small lake town. One night the lake is hit with a huge storm which leaves the town with a huge clean up the next day. David is sent by his wife to get some supplies. His son and the pretentious neighbour go with him but before they leave they notice a thick fog travelling across the lake. David has a bad feeling about it and tries to encourage his wife to go with him. Once in the local supermarket that feeling doesn't go away and it seem the mist has travelled with them. It soon becomes clear that anyone who enters the mist is attacked in some way. The three end up trapped in the supermarket with a handful of other shoppers. All of them wondering how long it will be before the creatures outside will get in.

I didn't realise that this was a short story in Kings book "Skeleton Crew" (yes, I know it says so right at the bottom). I actually thought that I had read Skeleton Crew but obviously not because I would definitely have remember this story. This one has the makings of a fantastic King story if only he had expanded on it in true King style. Yes, that's right, I have found piece of writing by Stephen King that is not long enough for me.

So here is what you have a post apololyptic story. A military base nearby is the probably cause (although this is just guess work by a few of the locals), we have a few of those military in the supermarket, there is the pig headed male who won't listen to reason and has his wee band of followers, there is the cute little boy who just wants to go find his mum, there is the artist dad and hero who really just wants the same and lastly there is the crazy lady who develops her own band of followers. Each of these things could have been expanded on to make a fantastic novel. Granted, these are all themes that King has touched on in the past.

The creatures in the mist I am always skeptical over. I am sure that's been done before too and not by King. It goes back to being afraid of what you can't see (or don't understand). Something that King excells at so I was soon able to ignore my skepticism and struggle to sleep without the light on. What can I say, I'm a big wimp. The ending too irritated me although I read in the blurb at the end that this was deliberate. King wanted it to be ambigous but to me that was more opportunity to expand into a bigger novel.

I have two fun facts for you. Well, I read about it somewhere so may not be fact. The first is that King supposedly wrote this after experiencing a storm in his hometown and he then got sent to the supermarket. The second is that if you read the Dark Tower graphic novels the mist and it's creatures make an appearance there although the Dark Tower world have a name for it. I really should get round to reading those graphic novels. And to reading the rest of Skeleton Crew.

Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King

Four short stories/novellas; 1922, Big Driver, Fair Extension and a Good Marriage. In 1922 a farmer contemplates killing his wife so that he can hold onto his land. In Fair Extension a man with cancer is given the choice of selling out his friend in order to become cancer free. In Big Driver a woman decides to get revenge on her rapist. In A Good Marraige a wife discovers the truth about her husband.

I wasn't sure about this book when I first started it. I was told to stick with it though and you should never judge a book of stories by its first one. At least that's what I tried to tell myself when I started 1922. It wasn't badly written. It was actually well written and was a great start to the theme in this collection, revenge. I just didn't take to it. I didn't take to any of the characters. It's the only one in the book where the main character isn't the one doling out the revenge but is on the receiving end. Despite the fact that it isn't my particular favourite I can appreciate it and overall I did enjoy the book.

The other stories I enjoyed much more. They seemed more characteristic of King. Particularly Fair Extension which was set in that town all King fans know and love, Derry. I was going to say that it was the only tale which had a ring of the supernatural about it. That's a lie though as 1922 did too (although you could say that it was all in the mind of the narrator). But with Fair Extension there was no doubt in your mind although I think both are typical of Kings supernatural horror style.

The two stories I haven't mentioned are also typical of King. Using the darker side of humans as a method to bestow horror on its readers. The rapist in Big Driver and unfortunately to tell you the dark side in A Good Marraige would be spoiling it for you. It seemed obvious what the husbands story was once the wife began searching but I wouldn't take that discovery away from you.

A little brutish in parts but overall I liked this collection. I said that 11.22.63 was the best of Kings latest books but I am going to have to change that opinion to this one.

Oh, and on trying to remember the bonus short story I was looking it up and discovered some facts about 1922 (the story) that I wasn't aware of when reading. It's set in the same place as the home of Mother Abigail in The Stand, Ben from It moved there and it appeared in another short story but I don't remember it.

11.22.63 - Stephen King

Jake Epping is an English teacher in Maine. He is one of the good ones. A teacher who genuinely cares for his students and loves his job. Other than that there is nothing really special about him. Apart from one thing. The owner of his local diner has asked him to do a special favour. He wants him to go back in time and prevent the Kennedy assassination believing it will correct everything that is wrong with the world. Epping is disbelieving of his friend until he steps through the portal at the back of the diner and finds himself in the 1950's. Jake accepts the task but what he doesn't expect to find is love, friendship and a town that he would love to call home.

I picked this book as my one and only Halloween read this year. I would loved to have picked out more but with the readathon and other things I left it too late. I was a tiny bit dubious about this one having been very disappointed with Under The Dome. Despite so many people raving about this one (including my non-horror loving friend) I still had a wee niggle of doubt.

Thankfully I had no reason to worry. True, the book didn't quite match up to all the raving but I still enjoyed it. It wasn't just a simple time travel story. It was a story of friendship, a story of morals and a story of love. Like all King books there are some lovely characters in there and some not so lovely ones. All of them had one thing in common though and that was depth. It's one of the things that keeps me going back to King is his ability to characterise.

I wouldn't exactly call it a horror story. It had some horrible characters, as I mentioned, but it didn't quite follow the supernatural element that King is famous for. There was references to some of his other books mind you. When he does that it always leaves me with a chill. There is a certain town mentioned in this one that all veteran King fans will recognise (I am saying no more).

The only down side is that it dragged a little. I liked the sections of Epping making a life fore himself in a small town. When he would go back to stalking Oswald I felt I was reluctantly dragged with him as I wanted Epping to stay in the town and be happy. Of course that wouldn't make for much of a story. It does pick up again and eventually both lives lead by Epping collide.

If you are like me and haven't been quite so enamored by some of King's newer books then set those doubts aside and read on. It won't be like his classics but it's still a good read.

Dreamcatcher - Stephen King

Jonesy, Beaver, Henry and Pete have been friends since childhood. They may lead different lives but they always look forward to their hunting trip every November near Derry. This year feels a little different. They feel that connection again that they haven't felt in years. Jonesy has just recovered from a bad accident and discovers that his heart just isn't in the hunt anymore. Plus all of them have been thinking more and more about their old friend Duddits and none of them are sure why. Then Jonesy comes across a stranger stumbling through the trees and snow. He's lost and obviously ill. Jonesy helps but as soon as he takes him to their cabin he begins to regret it. There is something strange about this guy. Then there is the lights in the sky, the strange red moss growing over everything and the army closing off the area and creating a quarantine zone. Something strange is going on and it has something to do with those lights. With the help of Duddits it's up to the boys to be heroes and save the day.

So this paperback version was published in 2001 and that's exactly how long it has been sitting on my shelf. Disgusting right? Well since I was humming over what book to read I decided it was about time I read the book sitting on my shelf longest. I don't know why it took me so long as I have read several and re-read a few King books in that time. Anyways, it's done and I can now look at my tbr shelf with less guilt.

Not the best King book I have to say. It has aspects of it that I love about his books mind you. For one thing he has a talent for writing about friendship. Particularly the kind that starts off as kids. Anyone else noticed that? I only ask because I mentioned it to a friend who was a fan and she gave me a look that said I was crazy. It was a big part of this one. Like other books this connection between them makes them different. So that only they can save the world/town. There were lots of flashbacks into the past and what they did with that connection and how they got it in the first place. I enjoyed those because it took me back to some of his other books.

Like a lot of his books he connected this with another. Something else I have always loved about them and to be honest I always found this to be the creepier part of his writing. Sure he can write some scary stories but this connection always gives me the shivers when I come across one. Or at least it used to. When I came across the link (and there were hints through out of what it would be so it came as no surprise) that shiver wasn't there. Possible because I was expecting it and because it was during the day. That didn't mean I didn't like it though. I did.

It was also quite gruesome. I know, it's a King book, I have to expect it. There was many a scene that I found myself wincing at. The one that almost had me putting the book down involved a ball point pen and an eyeball. I am sure you can guess what happens but I'm not giving you the details surrounding it. It will be a long time before that image goes away.

The book itself was too long. I have read The Stand which is probably his longest and it was worth every page. This one though I felt that huge chunks could have been cut out. His detail is normally what I like best but in this story it seemed almost unnecessary. The plot too seemed a little weak/pointless. It's hard to go into reasons why without giving too much away. I think it's obvious that this one is about aliens. The aliens when they arrive at other planets they are benign. Here on Earth though something changes and it's never quite explained why. Then the chase itself whilst a good climax to the story was too long and to be honest also a bit weak. Lastly Duddits too wasn't really explained all that well. We know he is what connect the friends (not giving anything real away here) but it doesn't actually explain how he was able to do it.

I still liked it and it was certainly better than the film version it just won't be high up on my list of King books.

Book Blogger Hop - Spooky

The Book Blogger Hope is a meme over at crazy-for-books. A question to answer every week resulting in book bloggers getting to know each other better.

“What is your favorite spooky book (i.e. mystery/suspense, thriller, ghost story, etc.)?”


Strangely enough I was asking people for scary book recommendations the other day. I used to devour horror books in my early teens and it didn't matter if it was Halloween or not. My favourite scary books back then were dominated by Stephen King. To this day some of those old ones remain my favourites. The Stand I loved in particular although I don't think it was one of his spookiest. Not so long ago I re read some of them and I think the spookiest is probably The Shining. I think the fact that the family is snowed into a hotel on their own with no communication links sets it off.


Some of my favourite classics are fairly spooky too. Rebecca by Dapne Du Maurier probably doesn't spring to mind when it comes to spooky but it definitely has a suspense/mystery side to it. Plus Mrs Danvers is one of the creepiest characters I have ever come across. The more obvious ones are Dracula by Bram Stoker and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It's been years since I have read Dracula but I loved it then. No vampire book has ever quite matched up to it. Frankenstein didn't really scare me. If anything I felt a lot of sympathy for the monster. There was one scene though that I did find spooky. Frankenstein and the monster come across each other at sea. Somewhere near Russia I think and the scene was so well described it gave me the shivers every time I read it.


The last book that scared the hell out of me was another classic, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I read it last year for Halloween. There is just something about ghost stories that scare me to death if done well and this one was done well. The fact that children were involved just makes it creepier and these were seriously creepy children. I swear I had to sleep with the light on after reading that.


I would class all of these as a favourite. I don't think I could pick just one but I am always looking for others. Any recommendations? What's the scariest book you've read?

What's Next!

Lots more book releases to look forward to so I thought I would share some more. I'm not really intending to turn this into a weekly meme but certainly feel free to join in if you have new releases to share. Next week I have some non fiction titles to share.

Player One by Douglas Coupland released on 1.9.11. I must have missed the boat on this one because it's the paperback that's coming out. The hardback was apparently out last year. Waterstones doesn't even have it listed anymore. A little surprised at this as Coupland is normally an author I try to keep up on. I've read everything else and I usually can't wait for the paperback of his latest. In this case I don't actually have long to wait.

Skulduggery Pleasant:Death Bringer by Derek Landy. This is also out on 1/9/11. I love these books and can't wait for the next installment. Again it's got to the stage I buy the hardback as I can't wait for the paperback. I love them for their humour as well as the story. Plus it shows girls can fight the bad guys too. Was left on a bit of a cliffhanger last time. So I'm really looking forward to this.

11/22/63 by Stephen King out on 8/11/11. All this talk of King here on my blog it seemed only apt that he should be listed here. This one is a bit different from his more recent books as the main character is taken back in time. Okay confession time! I was so excited when Stephen King began to release books on a regular basis again after the Dark Tower series. However, I have been a little disappointed in them. They just aren't as good as his older books and I just didn't enjoy "The Dome" (still makes me think of the Simpsons film). It's put me off a little and I've still to pick up never mind read his most recent. This one sounds a little different but I think I can now wait for the paperback release.

I normally don't mention any goings on in the outside world here on my blog. It's not what it's for. However, the events over the weekend feel a little too close to home. Watching the news it feels a little hard to believe that it's happening in my own country. There have even been threats that it will spread to Scotland. Anyway, I'm happy to say all my friends in the effected areas have checked in and are safe and I hope they along with everyone else continues to be safe.

The Bachman Books - Stephen King

Three books by Stephen King written as Richard Bachman. In the Long Walk Garraty is a young boy who has signed up to walk against 99 other boys. There is a cash prize and another prize of the contestants choosing at the end. Once they start they can't stop or slow down. To do so three times within an hour means a ticket on the fourth. What Garraty didn't count on was that these other boys would also become his friends. In Roadwork Dawes is being forced to relocate his home and business thanks to a road being built right through them. He is reluctant to do so as it would mean coming to terms with the death of his son. In the Running Man Ben Richards has joined one of the games in order to get money to save his baby girl. He is put on the Running Man show which means death if found by hunters. Along the was Richards discovers that there is more to these Game shows and that winning now means more than the life of his daughter.

I feel kind of hard done by as I have read a few reviews of this book and in a fair few of them a fourth story called Rage is mentioned. It's definitely not in my copy. Not to worry there are a few other Bachman books such as Thinner and The Regulators which I have still to read too. I wasn't actually expecting much from them to be honest. I read Blaze a few years ago and whilst I enjoyed it I wouldn't say it was my favourite. This is probably why it took me so long to pick this up and in the end it made my Books I Should Have Read By Now list (my last post didn't prompt me to read this as I had already intended to do so before I saw the guardian article).

Reading this book I was reminded once again as to just how good King is. In all he showed his true strength which is his characters. They all have a depth to them which he manages to do in just a few short pages. King is the only author I know to get you emotionally involved with a character on one page only to kill them off in the next. If you like your strong characters and don't mind a scare definitely pick up one of his books. In this case it was most obvious with the third book "Roadwork". To be honest the subject bored me a little. After reading The Long Walk I was a little disappointed with this one. The only thing that kept me going was the main character. He wasn't even interesting himself. At the end of the day he was just an ordinary man but I began to feel sorry for him very quickly and I wanted everything to turn out well for him. This character alone got me to read a story I found exceedingly dull and at times I even forgot how boring it was. If that isn't talent I don't know what is.

The Long Walk is without a doubt my favourite. I was unable to pull myself away from it from page one. Again it was the strength of the characters in part but also the story itself. Another strength of Kings was highlighted in this one. The ability to show bonds between characters. He did it with the kids in "It", "Stand By Me" and even showed it with adults in "The Stand". It's something I always enjoy and look out for in his books. It also makes for some very sad moments and this story proved to be no exception. We learn early on just what ticketed means and it's not a good thing. As the boys begin to bond and even help each other on it makes for some very sad moments and yet you can't help but want Garraty to come out the winner. I actually wanted the boys to band together and rise against the organisers.

The Running Man I enjoyed too and was actually glad that it had very little in common with the Arnold Shwartzenegger film (although it's been years since I saw it and I did like it at the time). The fact that Richards is joining these games by choice in order to get his daughter the medicine she needs makes him more human and easy to sympathise with. He's trying to stay alive just long enough to help his family. It's the only thing he cares about until a teen who helps him shows what they governments are truly trying to hide. He then tries to use his time to teach everyone that they aren't free. This story and the first one showed me just how good King can be and as a huge dystopian fan I wish he would write more. He certainly has a talent for it.

I think any King fan would likes these. Also, anyone who is intrigued by King but not so fond of horror these are a good way to start. They have all the strengths of the author without the scary monsters (unless you count other humans).

I read this as the Books I should Have Read By Now challenge. You can see what others are reading this month for the challenge here.

Stephen King for Teenagers!

I read the guardian quite a lot for it's news and reviews on books. I highly recommend it for book fans as there are often interesting articles. I usually come across one or two that I mean to post about and I somehow always forget. Not this time. I think most Stephen King fans are aware that the author is often slated by many for writing genre, selling millions and having over 30 books to his name. He isn't taken seriously in literature circles. I could go on a whole rant about that but I won't. All I will say that because of this it was refreshing to see someone writing a positive article about him but also recommending him (you can read the article here). I think I have read just about every King book and almost all of them as a teenager. I was 13 when I picked up "It" and I have fond memories of reading it although not quite in the same way as the journalist.

My first attempt at reading the book failed because it scared the hell out of me. I picked it up because I had seen the tv adaptation and since someone I very much liked was in it (Jonathan Brandis) I had to read the book. Sadly I got half way through and after a week of sleepless nights I gave up. Such a shame since I begged my parents for the book for my birthday. It didn't help that my fearless younger sister would cackle saying she saw the clown staring in our bedroom window. I was old enough to know it wasn't true and to scoff at her but it didn't stop me from sleeping with the light on that night (if I had saw Friends round about then the book would most definitely have gone in the freezer). Six months later I tried again and succeeded. I was so proud of myself and I actually enjoyed it. It then got passed on to my mum and King became another author for us to share.

The result was many visits to the library to read the rest of the books. My mum would always read them after me and she then got my aunt to read them. For birthdays and Christmas I would usually get another King book. Pocket money was spent on them too until I amassed quite a collection which got passed round my family too. Unlike the journalist reading them didn't turn my home area into Derry in my mind (thankfully, I'm not sure I could have taken it) but I discovered that I was brave enough to read horror (although not brave enough to watch it). For a change I was recommending books to my mum and aunt which also felt good.

I then happily discovered that one of my friends was a huge fan too. We spent a lot of time talking about them. Our favourite thing to do was to list the books which crossed with each other. This habit of Kings always gave his books an extra edge of creepiness in my mind but I loved it too. I am sure we missed out on quite a few. I tried to re-read them all again years later and note done the crossovers but never finished the project.

I think that as a teenager they kept my mind opened. I was reading classics too. In fact I was reading just about anything I could get my hands on back then. If it was placed in front of my and I was told it was good I would read it. I only really came across book snobbery when I started working with them. I have even been accused of it myself because there are some authors and genres I just don't like. Most book snobs I know though wouldn't touch King or any genre. To me they are missing out as thanks to my teenage reading habits I discovered an author who might be popular but to me he did have merit. I thank king for teaching me not to dismiss someone based on where their books sit on a shelf or how many they have written.

So yes, I would recommend his books to teens. Just so long as they won't scare them to death.