November ScaredyKIT: Stephen King and Family

It's that time of year again, when we spend time with the master of horror. This month, read or reread a book by Stephen King or anyone related to him: Joe Hill, Owen King, Tabitha King, or Owen's wife, Kelly Braffet. Earlier this year, I reread The Shining and it was even better than I remembered--so maybe this is a good time to revisit a King novel you haven't read in a while or one you've always meant to read. Tell us what you're reading here and also please leave your selections in the wiki.

Edit to fix the broken wiki link.

I have a brand new book by Stephen King to read--Fairy Tale--so I'm looking forward to that.

I’m slowly but steadily working my way through the backlist. The next two titles I have stacked are Christine and Pet Sematary.

This year I'm planning to read 2 by Joe Hill; The Fireman and Locke & Key: Heaven and Earth.

I snuck my read for this into October as a group of friends are reading SK in publication order. We started with Carrie this month.

I'm planning on reading The Institute.

I read Carrie when it came out in 1974. I was working in a B. Dalton bookstore (now defunct) and borrowed it to take home. I read all his early ones, but quit reading them for a while about the time Christine and Cujo came out in the early 80s. I felt so sorry for the poor dog with rabies . .
My favorite is The Stand. I even re-read it when the extended edition came out, and I rarely re-read books. Recently my book club read Mr Mercedes. I loved it and immediately read the 2 sequels.
I met Stephen King once at a library conference.
I will be reading Dr Sleep this month and maybe Under the Dome.

As much as I love Stephen King, this one gets harder for me each year, as I've already read so many and I don't often add more by him to my tbr...

But, I have put two audio books on hold, so hopefully one will come in for November:
Insomnia - I don't believe I've read this one yet.
The Shining - I have read this, but have been wanting to reread, specifically the audio.

Though Christine is technically next in my #Kingdom stack, I decided to start Pet Sematary (narrated by Michael C. Hall). From what I’ve been able to ascertain from some light google searches, there isn’t any crossover between the two books so it’s okay to read them “out of order.”

I read Carrie last month and Salem's Lot this month.

I'm reading End of Watch. last of the Bill Hodges trilogy.

I have finished two small reads Creepshow and Nightmares In the Sky. I hope to also read Strange Weather this month.

I've started reading Stephen King's memoir On Writing and finding it really interesting so far.

Insomnia / Stephen King
2.5 stars

Ralph’s wife recently (I think) passed away. Now he is having trouble sleeping. It’s not long before he starts seeing “auras”. It turns out a local older woman, Lois, is also seeing these auras. There is a woman activist coming to town to speak, but townspeople of Derry are divided about it.

I listened to the audio, and the audio was ok; I guess I lost interest periodically, but I don’t think it was the narrator or the audio at fault. This is one of, if not the, book I’ve rated the lowest by King (of what I’ve read, which is quite a bit), as he is one of my favourite authors. There were parts that I “liked” (or at least found more interesting), like the domestic abuse situation, but much of it just didn’t interest me.

I've put off reading that one just because of its doorstop size. It sounds like the book is set in Maine. What little I remember of the movie, it was in Alaska, I think.

>15 mstrust: I didn't know there was a movie! Yes, the book was set in Maine (Derry, to be precise).

>15 mstrust: I think you may be thinking of the movie Insomnia with Robin Williams. That wasn't based on the Stephen King novel.

It wasn't? All these years...

I finished End of Watch, which wraps up the Bill Hodges/Mr Mercedes story. A real page turner and time well-spent.

>18 mstrust: Ha, I think if you read one page of Insomnia you would realize right away the movie wasn't based on it. But I wonder how many people have picked up the book thinking it was the same as that movie.

I finally finished Fairy Tale. For the most part, I liked it, but it was almost 600 pages, and even though I tolerate long King books, this one felt too long to me. More fantasy than horror, but with King's trademark endearing characters, including a very good dog.

Have I missed the post for the December challenge?

>21 lowelibrary: I don't think it's up yet. See here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/336260#n7983258

>22 sturlington: Thank you. I have the rest of my reading planned. Was just waiting to chose this one.

December thread link https://www.librarything.com/topic/346135

Sat down and finished Pet Sematary (by Stephen King; narrated by Michael C. Hall) yesterday. This is a story about a doctor's family who moves to an old neighborhood somewhere near Castle Rock, Maine (reference to Cujo early on.) In the back of the lot, there is access to a pet cemetery built on old Native American burial grounds. As the doctor discovers the magic and horror of his new surroundings, King ruminates on death, writes about sex a little more graphically than in previously published works and, has indulged in some rather explicit descriptions of gross things-- but also painted pictures of heart-breaking idylls and raw emotion. This feels like the best mix of Cujo and the novellas in Different Seasons. The narrator, star of cable TV's "Six Feet Under" and "Dexter," nails the Maine accent of a key figure in the book; but otherwise seems pretty deadly neutral. I really, really wish celebrity narrators were not a thing. Anyway, I took this one slow as there are lots of triggers-- but finished before the end of the month! :-)