I, like most of the world, am a big Stephen King fan.  I can’t say that I like everything he’s written but I do like most of it!  I’m pretty sure even the horror fans that don’t care for King’s writing (if there are any) liked The Shining. Red Rum anyone? Of course when I heard there was a sequel coming out I had to read it.  I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what it would be about though.

The story follows the son from The Shining, Dan Torrance, into adulthood. How would the son of an alcoholic who lived through the less than nurturing events at the Overlook Hotel and has to live day to day with the shine turn out?  Ya, about like this. Dan grows into an alcoholic just like dad which unfortunately has a ring of truth to it. He seems to have spent his time up to the point where we meet him again  running away from life in general.

We pick up again with Dan just in time to witness one of his life’s lower moments and then to witness his struggle to stop drinking and settle down.  Of course that’s just about the time in life you’d get an unexpected twist. Dan’s twist is his becoming aware of a child with a killer case of shining and then finding out about the evil group of not quite humans that want her shine for themselves.  And how they intend to take it and use it is nothing like pretty.

I don’t want to ruin the story in case you wisely decide to read it so I won’t tell anymore.  But I would definitely recommend this book even if you haven’t read or watched the Shining, this one can stand on it’s own.  But I bet when you’re done reading it you’ll want to see The Shining just to see what all the fuss is about.

Have you read Doctor Sleep and if so what did you think?  If not get to it!

OK, so I said I was a huge fan of books.  What I forgot to mention is I’m a huge fan of science fiction and horror books, and then other stuff.  In my opinion unless the bad guy in a horror story is a human it’s kind of science fiction too.

So my second recommended read is the complete opposite of the first, sorry if you were looking for consistency here of all places. I was handed this book by my sister, whose husband had been reading it.  I asked why there was a bookmark after about the first chapter and she said he didn’t finish it because it was kind of weird. If talked to my brother-in-law for about 90 seconds you would be wondering how that could happen too.

John Dies at the End

Remember Pink Floyd’s the Wall? Bits of it anyways? This book has the same what did he just say – what did I just see? feel to it.  But in this case the fate of the world is in question.

The book begins with such a good riddle that I picked up my phone and started to call my boyfriend to tell him about it then realized it was about midnight so the call might not be appreciated.

The story is filled with just some of the knowledge that you gain after partaking in a fun new drug called soy sauce.  It’s all you need to see the other side.  What’s on the other side you ask?  Just pretty girls bursting into snakes, screechy (not normal screechy) insects, and of course the infamous meat monster.

But that’s not all! You also get the chance to run from the cops (who may be the good guys, hard to tell sometimes) walk into certain death more than once, and if you’re lucky live to fight another day.

John Dies at the End (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One thing about this that will make you either love or hate the story – it’s high energy don’t stop for a minute something is always going on; it’s you really have to pay attention or you’ll miss something, and it’s you really can’t take this seriously at all, all at the same time. If you like that AND you like insanity (kind of the same thing, I know) then go read this book now. If you don’t then, um, you could go either way.

Basically there were a LOT of parts in the story that literally made me laugh out loud, and plenty that were truly creepy. The two coexist pretty comfortably in this book.

If you decide to read this and then decide

you haven’t had enough, good news!  The movie is on Netflix and the website which spawned this tale is right here. You’re welcome.

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I am a huge fan of books.  I read almost everyday, not because it’s something I schedule but because I enjoy it. It’s a glimpse into another world. sometimes one you’d like to really visit, sometimes one you are glad was created out of someone’s imagination!

I just finished reading Wuthering Heights after it was mentioned on a summer reading list  on another blog, Parkesdale. Believe it or not I’d never read it and I couldn’t believe how much I liked it. I decided that with all of the reading I do I should be recommending some of the ones  I really like!

The Barefoot Sisters Southbound is one of a very few books I’ve read that when I was done I realized – hey, I’d love to do that!

the Barefoot Sisters Southbound

This is one of my favorite non-fiction books I’ve read over the past few years.  It’s written by two (wait for it….) sisters who decided to travel the Appalachian trail barefoot. The barefoot part makes it a little more interesting since they candidly talk about it’s ups and downs, but that’s not really what the book is about.

It’s about the journey.  The book reads like you are reading their journals. Like a good work of fiction you can get lost in the book and suddenly realize you’ve been reading for much longer than you intended to . But this is a true story,  reading it made me feel like I knew a little bit of what it’s like to hike the Appalachian Trail. As they attempt to thru-hike the entire 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail you travel with them through excitement, triumph, doubt and fear. You get to meet and know various people they meet on the trail.

The Barefoot Sisters don’t seem to sugar coat the trip, plenty of their trip didn’t go according to plan.  But nonetheless I wasn’t halfway through the book before I decided that this is something that I’d really like to do.  I couldn’t hike the entire trail before my kids are done growing up, but I may have to do a weekend or week hike sometime much, much before that.

If you’ve read this book I’d love to hear what you thought about it, if you haven’t go read it!

Have you ever thought about taking a large portion of time out of your regular life to do something like hike the Appalachian Trail?

The Boulevard Trail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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