Wednesday Reads

Life has slowed down (finally). It’s all writing and reading. Nothing wrong with that, right? Anyway, here’s what I read during the week:

Jan 14: “Doctor Sleep” by Stephen King. This is a horror book and was a "must read" for me since King is one of my favorite authors. Blurb on cover: On highways across America, a tribe of people called the True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless--mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, the True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the steam that children with the shining produce when they are slowly tortured to death. Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel, where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant shining power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.” Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. When this book finally grabbed me, it refused to let go. But warning: it took me a bit to get there. Whether it’s because I had to get used to reading omniscient again or it was slow, it’s hard for me to tell. Still, I really enjoyed learning all about Dan and wished I’d have been able to read this book faster! I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads (but technically, if it existed, I’d have given it 4.5--like a good accountant, I rounded up).

Have you ever read “The Shining”? I remember I began reading it in 1980, after having watched the movie. I got a few chapters into the book when our new puppy, Natasha, chewed the back end of the paperback. Saw no sense in reading a book I couldn’t finish (oh, we were stationed in Alaska at the time, so I’m sure I couldn’t find a replacement). It was several years later, probably in the mid 90s, when I finally bought another copy and read it. Man, I sure liked it better than the movie, but I still consider “The Stand” my favorite King tale.

Happy reading!

Stacy