The Book: 20th Century Ghosts, by Joe Hill

The Story: This is a collection of short stories by Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box and Horns. There is a lot going on here: a story about a kid locked in the basement of a lunatic with an old phone that seems to be connected to somewhere otherworldly, a story about an inflatable boy, a story about an autistic boy and his dad, a story about a ghost who haunts a movie theater, and a handful of others that I can’t recall off of the top of my head.

Although Joe Hill is mostly known for his horror novels, his scary stuff, not all the stories here are scary. They all touch on deep emotion and fear just happens to be one of them that he comes back to a lot.

What I Thought: If you guys have been around for a while, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I love a good short story collection. I love the idea of sitting down and reading a whole story in one gulp. I know that for an author is quite a challenge to get whole characters, whole plot lines shoved into 20 or 30 pages, so honestly I don’t think that there are very many great collections out there. They are mostly hit-and-miss.

Guys, Joe Hill can write the heck out of a short story. I know that he probably gets so, so tired of getting compared to his dad, but Stephen King is the only other guy alive today that can put together short stories like this. Like I said earlier, they are not all scary. There are more scary ones than not, but there are also super heart-touching stories. The collection was put together impeccably and like a good album just flowed well.

The one story that really stuck out to me is the one that the book took its name from. It’s this story about a girl who was killed in the movie theater and then will sit close to a single guy and try to have a “date.” I know it sounds a bit lame, but the way Joe Hill wrote this ghost was so haunting and beautiful that I reread the whole story.

I’m going to be perfectly honest: I read this around Halloween and with NaNo, I’m just getting around to writing my review. It’s hard because I can’t really remember everything about it, but I do remember just a general love for the collection as a whole. Sorry that this is not super detailed, but here’s what I can say: Read this. It’s good stuff.

Conclusion: If you even kind of like short stories, you should check this out. It’s kind of great.

The Book: A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter, by Peter Straub

The Story: Kevin is very, very young when he realizes that there is something different about him. He has a tendency to be violent and starts to take it out on neighborhood animals.

When his Uncle Till, who stops by every so often, finds him dissecting a cat, he is not angry. He is pleased. He has these same tendencies. He tells Kevin to find himself a secret place that he can take care of his “darker side” and not get into trouble for it.

Kevin takes his advice. As he gets a little older, he connects some dots and realizes that his uncle is a famous at-larger serial killer.

What he decides to do in response is more than a little shocking and disturbing.

What I Thought: I picked this up at the library because I love short stories and I’ve read a couple things by Peter Straub that were pretty good. I usually think that his brand of horror is a little cheesy, but fun to read. That wasn’t the case here.

Guys, this is dark. Dark, dark, dark. I mean… DARK.

It’s a little strange that I’ve read two books about killer kids in the last little bit, but what can I say? I’m twisted. This is maybe what I’m Not a Serial Killer never could have been, mostly because this is in no way YA. It didn’t take a supernatural slant. It stayed grossly, horribly, twistedly human.

It’s weird to say that this was a good read because it was just so sick, but I can say this: I didn’t get up while I was reading. I sat in one place, totally still, totally shocked and read the whole thing. It was very well written and got into Kevin’s head really well, but even in all that it was not a pleasant read by any means.

I really don’t even know what to say about this except for that it is just about one of the spookiest, most real-scary books I’ve ever read. It takes you into the head of a killer and lets you just marinate there for a little bit. Eek.

Conclusion: If you are in the mood for something dark and spooky, this is a quick little dose of this, but seriously not for the faint of heart. I recommend this with caution.

The Book: Schindler’s List, by Thomas Keneally

The Story: Oskar Schindler ran a factory in Southern Germany during WWII.

Because of his place in the “food chain,” he found out pretty early on what was happening with the Jews. He was totally appalled and decided that he was going to do everything he could to protect as many people as he could. Through working them in his factory and housing them there, he saved over 1,100 Jews.

Not only did he save them from work camps and death, he treated them with respect in a time that they were not respected at all. He went to bat for them and was an absolute hero.

What I Thought: This books is called a “documentary novel” because most of it is put together through interviews and documents, of course the conversations are not word-for-word. The fact that even one word of this is true just totally blows my mind.

If you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time, you know the that I usually don’t shy away from the grisly stuff. I even read quite a bit of stuff about WWII, but for some reason this one effected me differently. It was just powerful.

I read this with my jaw just to the floor. It is just absolutely unreal. Mostly it was the stories of kids that just absolutely tore my heart out. It is just so hard for me to believe that things like this happened so recently.

I could go on and on, but here’s the thing that really stuck out to me: Oskar, at times, was a pretty big jerk. He cheated on his wife, he lied and stole… but there was just this part of him that was absolutely horrified about the Nazi camps, so he did everything that he could do to save Jews. There is just something powerful about that. It makes you reconsider the judgement that we place on people from just a few facts or a few interactions.

Here’s another crazy thing: I’ve never seen this movie. I can rarely stay awake through a movie so when I watch one, I like them short and sweet. And generally cheerful. I know that this i one of the most acclaimed movies… well…. ever. Have you seen it? Have you also read the book? What did you think? Should I tough it out and give it a go?

Conclusion: This is not an easy read by any means, but it is worth your time and tears. Really wonderful.

The Book: It, by Stephen King

The Story: In 1958, a group of seven friends came together to fight off a terrible evil that was haunting their town.

In 1985, the evil is back and the friends had made a pact to return and fight again if It ever came back.

Things have changed and they are all different people than they were back then, but they are the only chance that Derry has. Loser Club to the rescue!

What I Thought: This was a re-read for me. I remember reading it when I was younger and then again maybe 3 or 4 years ago. My book club is discussing this book on Halloween, and while I think I probably could have discussed without re-reading, I jut wanted to.

I’m so glad I did. There is something so comfortable and wonderful about revisiting an old favorite.

Here’s the thing: Stephen King can write about kids in a way that other authors just can’t. He respects kids and knows what they are capable of. A big theme of It is that just believing, just KNOWING that something is going to work often does the trick. These kids are, like all kids, rambunctious and messy and crazy. Most authors stop there. Not Stephen King. He added layers and layers to these kids: they are witty and smart and loving and loyal and scared and fearless. They are vulnerable and tough…. and all these other things that kids just are without meaning to be. I love it.

Childhood fears are just so real and vibrant and lasting. The book talks a little about the persistence of memory. It is persistent. I still peek behind the shower curtain before I use the restroom in the middle of the night. I still squeal when a spider sneaks up on me. These are just these really normal childhood fears that fade but leave a lasting impression. Because of the nature of It, all of these fears (and about a zillion others) are brought to light in these 1,100 pages. It even made me think about things that I had never even CONSIDERED being scared of. Good work, ol’ Steve.

I feel like Stephen King’s real strength is writing full bodied characters. The seven childhood friends are, of course, fleshed out until they are real people, but the real magic is that their families, the bullies, even the pharmacist at the drug store become these real people. Derry, Maine was also a pretty prevalent character here and sometimes I have to remind myself that Derry isn’t real…. (Wait… is Derry real?)

In perfect Stephen King fashion, there were several small nods to his other books which made this fangirl squeal with happiness. These little nuggets are maybe my favorite thing ever.

I could go on and on. I think that this is one of the more well crafted, well thought out and most meaningful books that has been written recently. I know that isn’t literary and that a lot of people will crack up when they read that, but seriously. There is a lot of truth here. And a lot of screams. Seriously, I freaked myself out more than once reading this bad boy. I will not even bother telling you about when I was reading this in bed and my book light flickered off. I MAY have screamed a little. Just a little.

Conclusion: This book is amazing from page one on. I love it. I neglected my other duties to read it. You should too.

The Book: Desperation, by Stephen King

The Story: This is the companion novel that goes with The Regulators. They aren’t a “series” exactly and can be read in any order, but the do have some characters that overlap and a similar storyline. Just so ya know.

Desperation is a town in in-the-middle-of-nowhere Nevada. Their main business is the mines out the outside of town. One day, people just keep… ending up… in Desperation. They are passing through and one thing or another makes them stop…. and they can’t leave. There is something crazy happening in the town and a group of strangers have to band together to fight it before it takes their lives.

What I Thought: I really, really love how Stephen King slips things from his other books into a lot of his books. It is like being in on a little “inside joke” that only Constant Readers get. I love the idea of books being related but not in a series or anything. The idea of Tak comes up a lot in this book, and if you have read the Dark Tower series, you’ll know why this was a little bit exciting for me. The characters that are reoccurring in Desperation and The Regulators was pretty fun too, but mostly I loved the Dark Tower nod.

The thing that keeps me coming back to Stephen King is well written, thoroughly explored characters. There were maybe 7 or 8 main characters here, and each one of them was written spot-on. I could see them, related to them and pick out people in my life who they reminded me of. This was a huge, fat book and it took place over just a couple of days. The rest of this was getting into the lives of these characters, and it was never dull or tedious. That was the highlight of this book for me, meeting these wonderfully written characters.

Other than that? Not much here. The story was a little bit dull, to be real honest. Maybe because I’ve read a lot of Stephen King, but I could see where this was going from a mile away. I never felt like there was a time when I was really surprised or blown away by what was going on. This has all been done before, ya know what I mean? It kind of felt like a throw away story that he “had” to write to partner with The Regulators. It was almost brain candy, in the not-chic-flick way.

So, that’s that. I can’t say that I hated it, because there were a couple of characters (Johnny and David) that I really liked, but mostly this was a dud.

Conclusion: I’m drawing the exact same conclusion that I did with The Regulators, which is this: ” If you haven’t read Richard Bachman/Stephen King, please promise me that you won’t start on this one. It probably doesn’t even make my top ten. For a quick, fun read though, this will get the job done.”

The Book: The Sun Dog, by Stephen King

The Story: Kevin gets a Polaroid Sun instant camera for his 13th birthday, but right away he and his family realize that something is wrong.  The camera doesn’t take pictures of what it is pointed at.  It only takes pictures of a fierce looking dog that’s getting closer and closer and closer and looking much, much more angry. Eek.

What I Thought: So I FINALLY got to the end of Four Past Midnight.  I read all the stories at separate times so it feels like I’ve been reviewing them forever, but now I’ve made it to the end. Woohoo!

I had read this before and I remembered the premise but had no idea how it ended, so I still read this one on the edge of my seat.

While I thought that this was the weakest story in the collection, I did enjoy it. The thing that I loved was that we were introduced (or re-introduced, depending on the order you read Stephen King’s books in) to Pop Merrill.  I love how there are all these reoccurring characters in Stephen King books.  Pop was talked about in Cujo and Ace, his grandson, was a main character in The Body. So that was fun.

For me, what was off was the pacing.  I thought that it really drug in the middle, which seems weird to say about a 150 page story.  I just kind of got bored in the middle and wanted to flip ahead to see where it was headed.

This is one of Stephen King’s stories that is not as scary as it is suspenseful, so if you shy away from the creepy stuff, you may want to give this one a go.

Conclusion: Don’t make this your first Stephen King book or novella, but if you’ve already been initiated, go for it.  This is classic Stephen King and wroth the read, for sure.

The Book: The Passage, by Justin Cronin

The Story: So I started typing a summary and realized that this is a giant 800 pager.  A few paragraphs aren’t really enough to go into what happens, but pretty much we’re looking at a government-created zombie/vampire apocalypse.  The only “savior” is an 8 year old girl who ages very, very slowly.  Most of the action takes place about 100 years after the initial release of the virus that turns people into zombie/vampires.  There is a colony of people in California who have managed to survive this long but things are starting to head south.

What I Thought: So, I loved it.  I got nervous towards the middle because I thought we were going to get this full-blown vampire novel, but while it skirted around the edges, it never really made it… and I am truly grateful for that.

I have a thing for big old huge books.  There’s something about carrying around a mammoth book that gets me all excited.  I also love, love, love dystopian stuff.  The Passage seriously was made for me.

At first there were a lot of stories that were seemingly unconnected and it was a little bit hard to keep the characters straight.  After a couple hundred pages the stories came together, everything smoothed out and this book started moving a long super, super fast.  Even though it was a huge book it seemed like it went by in a blink.  That’s a good sign, right?

There was so much here that I loved: the characters, the pacing, the distorted future, the writing…. I cannot even say enough. I’m starting to gush.

I had no idea going in that this was the beginning of a series, so my only real disappointment came with the fact that it was not tied up at all in the end, but it does make me super excited about what is coming next.

I want to add this too:  the author is pretty hot.  A great picture on the jacket of a book just makes it that much more enjoyable, right? Right

Conclusion: One of the best books that I’ve read in a while.  Go get it. Now.

The Book: Bag of Bones, by Stephen King

The Story: Mike Noonan is a best-selling author.  He’s kind of goy everything going for him: he’s got a wife that he’s crazy about, tons of money, he loves his job, he has an incredible vacation home on a lake, and life just seems rosy.  One day, his wife leaves for the drug store and it all falls apart.  She is walking into the parking lot and has an aneurism and dies immediately.  It seriously destroys Mike.  While he is grieving he gets hit with a pretty serious case of writer’s block.  As he runs out of pre-written novels to give his publisher, he gets more and more frantic.  As a last ditch effort, he heads out to his lake house to try to write in solitude.

As soon as he gets there, he knows something’s up.  What follows is a perfectly Stephen King ghost story that is tied in with the history of the lake house and a custody battle going on in town.

What I Thought: This was a re-read for me, but I only remembered a few little parts.  One of the parts that stuck with me on my first read and seemed even creepier this time around was the refrigerator magnets moving around.  If you’ve read this you know what I’m talking about.  For some reason that is such a creepy, creepy image to me.  Spooky.

Anyway, overall I think that this is one of Stephen King’s stronger books even though it’s usually overlooked.  I think that the writing and the characters are strong, although I always think that with Stephen King.  I also think that the past story and the present story are told at just the right pace.  There are little “clues” and bits revealed at just the right pace to keep you reading.

Something that I caught on to much more this time was that Mike was haunted before he went to his lake house.  It had been years, but he still lived like Jo was coming back.  He was haunted by all of these memories and he lived with them every single day.  Heading to the lake house just gave him an outlet for all of that.  I couldn’t help but think of Lisey’s Song.  I feel like in a lot of ways this is the same story told from a different perspective.  In Lisey’s Song, the famous author died and his wife was left to sort it out.  In Bag of Bones, the author’s wife dies and he struggles with getting it together.  In both cases the spouse has to reach “from beyond” to help and in both cases the wife is pretty much incredible.  It makes me think that as he gets a little older, Stephen King is really thinking hard about what he’ll do after Tabby dies or what Tabby will do when he dies.  Sad stuff.

The only thing I didn’t love about this book was the end.  For some reason it seemed like the last 100 pages drug on and on even though that is where a lot of the action happened and where everything was explained.  I always do that with Stephen King though, I love the story but feel kind of blah about the climax and ending.  This is no different.  Oh well.

But seriously, this is one of the best haunted house stories you’ll find.

Conclusion: Read this snuggled up on a fall or winter night.  Creepy and wonderful.

Cujo, by Stephen King

This is one of the first times that I noticed that not everyone was hugely into reading like yours truly.  I know I’ve bragged on my mom before but she really is the reason I’m a big reader.  She was always reading to me and around me and providing me with great books to read.

When I was in 6th grade, I had made the leap to Stephen King and I was pretty much enamored. This was also the same time that my mom started dating my now-step-dad.  One weekend, he invited my mom and my brothers and I on a canoeing trip with a big group of his friends.  I was so excited.  I knew that since I was young I’d end up sitting in the middle of someone’s boat for the whole day.  Of course, I saw it as perfect reading time. I packed myself a little backpack of supplies that included Cujo in a ziploc bag.   After we were in the water and the novelty had died off a little, I got into my bag, pulled out my book and started reading.  My step-dad and all his friends kind of teased me about brining a book on a canoeing trip, but it hadn’t even crossed my mind to leave for a relaxing day without a book.  It’s logical, right?

Of course eventually the canoe that I was in got tipped and my book (of course) got soaked.  I was heartbroken… mostly because that meant that the whole car ride home I’d be bookless… and I NEEDED to know if the dog devours everyone or if they make it out alive.  I guess that’s the risk you take when you read in a boat or in the bath or whatever… I am one that always considers it worth the risk

To participate in Flashback Friday, head over here to get the info on what’s going on.  After posting your flashback, come back here and comment with a link to your blog so everyone can enjoy!

The Book: Full Dark, No Stars, by Stephen King

Yes, I read yet another short story collection by Stephen King.  It has kind of been my thing lately, huh?  Well this one was new and I couldn’t resist.  We even had some money left over from an Amazon gift card so I got this for free and delivered to my door on the release date.  Bliss.

Anyway, there are four stories here, so I’m going to review them each individually.  Here goes:

1922

The Story: Wilford James lives and works on his farm in Hemingford Home (Constant Readers- ya get the reference?! Squee!).  His wife has just inherited 100 acres from her father.  They connect to the 80 acres that Wilford already farms, so he is excited to be able to farm it and make more money.  His wife, Arlette, has other ideas.  She wants to sell the land to a slaughterhouse that is looking for land in the area, take the money and move the family to the city so she can open a dress shop.  For months and months they bicker about this and neither of them is giving.  Wilford decides that Arlette is never going to relent and will, in fact, ruin their family trying to get her way- so he decides to get his way, no matter the cost.

What I Thought: Spooky as heck.  There is imagery here that really got to me, and if you already have a little rat phobia, probably skip this one.  The thing that was the spookiest though is that when the story starts, Wilford just seems like this normal, down-home guy.  He has a little family, he farms and tends to animals, he knows everyone in his town… just a normal dude.  The whole story is written as a letter from him, confessing to what he’s done, and you just kind of get to witness his decline into total, total madness.  The fact that he brought his son into his madness and kind of destroyed his life too makes it all the more tragic.  This is super dark, even for Stephen King.

Big Driver

The Story: Tess is the author of a semi-sucessful book series about some old lady knitters who are also detectives.  She agrees to do a book talk & signing at a library not too far away.  For the trip home, she takes the librarian’s advice and takes a short cut to avoid the highway.  On a long stretch of deserted road she runs over some debris and her tire blows.  When a giant of a man comes along to help, Tess is thankful but kind of freaked out…. and with good reason.  The guy ends up raping her and leaving her for dead.  Somehow, Tess survives and makes it back to her house.  The next morning, she considers calling the police but starts freaking out and second guessing herself.  After renting a couple movies about revenge, she decides to take care of this herself.

What I Thought: Wow.  I know that some people have issues with how Stephen King portrays women in his books.  If you are one of those people, this may not be the best Stephen King story for you.  The rape scene and all the stuff surrounding it are seriously twisted.  I don’t generally get upset about scenes like this in books, but for some reason this just seemed so harsh that it was almost hard to read.  As the story unravels and Tess starts plotting, then going through with her revenge, I seriously found myself on the edge of my seat.  Super suspenseful and perfectly paced.  This would make a great movie.

Fair Extension

The Story: Streeter is dying of cancer.  He’s getting weak.  He can’t eat.  He’s doing chemo and losing his hair.  One day, he’s driving home and sees a guy at a roadside stand with a sign up that says “Fair Extension.”  Wondering what it is, Streeter stops.  There he meets George Elvid (move some letters around and you’ll see where this is going).  Elvid tells him that he is in the business of selling extensions, including life extensions- for the right price.  Streeter agrees to mail him 15% of his earnings for the rest of his life and to bring him something from the house of someone he hates.  Strangely enough, the person he hates is his best friend who seems to have it all going for him.  Within days his cancer is not showing up on scans.  He’s considered a medical miracle.  Not only does he get his life back, he also gets to watch the life of his best friend start to slowly unravel.

What I Thought: This one didn’t do it for me.  I could tell that there was supposed to be a touch of humor involved here, but I just thought it fell flat.  Streeter didn’t really resonate with me at all.  I thought that he was wimpy and selfish and just kind of boring.  I thought that the whole story was just kind of cheesy.  I don’t know.  It was short though- maybe only 30 pages or so.  The rest of the stories in this collection are really dark and creepy, so maybe this was just thrown in to lighten things up, but for me it just seemed boring.

A Good Marriage

The Story: Darcy is home alone while her husband Bob is out on business.  On a quest for batteries for the remote, she heads to the garage.  While she’s looking for batteries she finds something quite a bit more disturbing:  evidence that her husband is a serial killer.

What I Thought: I loved this.  Absolutely classic Stephen King.  It just brings to mind all these questions:  how did she not know!?  Stephen King talks about in the afterword that where he got the idea for this was from the BTK killer.  When he was caught, his wife was totally shocked.  He had been killing for years and she had no idea.  People speculated that she knew but just didn’t want to admit it, but what if she really didn’t?  And if she had found out before the police, what would she have done?  Darcy is put in just that situation and watching her wiggle out of it was suspenseful and wonderful.  I sort of wish that he would have fleshed this out into a full length novel.  Another one that would make a great movie.

Overall Thoughts: I think that this was a great collection overall.  There are little pieces and thoughts and ideas that tie all four stories together.  It’s kind of this idea of “what are you going to do when the things that you know go up in smoke?”  While I didn’t love Fair Extension, I see how it fits into that mold and I think that it really did break up some pretty hard-to-stomach stories. There are great little tidbits from Stephen King’s other novels and stories mixed in for all the Constant Readers, which is way fun.  At one point someone even says, “long days and pleasant nights.”  Love it \

Conclusion: While I loved this, if you haven’t read Stephen King, don’t start here.  This is good, but it’s not the best.  Four Past Midnight and Different Seasons are both set up the same way:  four novellas in one fat book, and I think that they are both probably better collections than this one.  If you have read Stephen King before though and know already that he’s for you, this is good stuff.  Don’t miss it.