A friend suggested I read Salem’s Lot so I did, and I loved it.
Then I read the Dark Tower series, and yes I do mean I slogged through all seven books. I could probably write a whole separate post on that, but the long and the short of it is I thought some parts were fantastic and the storyline as a whole had a lot of promise; however, King’s editor could’ve condensed the good stuff down to two or three books at most (and probably should’ve advised him to lay off the crack).
After that, I made an attempt at Holly. Couldn’t get past the kidnapping scene. The narrative style was incredibly dull and flat.
So, I decided to give it one last shot, and here I am procrastinating finishing The Shining. Now I will admit, I found the story to be engrossing, but again, I don’t care for the narrative style, and on top of that the scary stuff just isn’t…scary. Like, at all. The only part where I felt the slightest twinge off suspense was when Hallorann was driving up the mountain in the middle of a snowstorm. Other than that, I’m left scratching my head as to why so many people consider this to be a masterpiece. To each their own, I guess.
Anyway, I’m done with King.
I read Salem’s Lot in 1976 when it came out. I thought it was really a scary book. I read a few more of his books that came out in the 70s like Carrie, The Shining, The Dead Zone, and The Stand. I liked them as well. At some point his books just seemed repetitive and not very interesting. There probably are a few books that I would have liked, but I wasn’t willing to wade through all of the other stuff. I just don’t read his books anymore. I’m about the same age as he is so I’ve developed this opinion over quite a few years.