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A couple of short stories by Stephen King read for the King’s March challenge
Abandoned service station on major stretch of highway (I have never entirely understood what a turnpike is so forgive me US friends if I’ve got that wrong), boarded up, magnet for youngsters up to no good. Small boy mildly misbehaving through boredom. Particularly suspicious looking abandoned car. Tiny (but smart) children in peril. Very clever use of magnifying glass. Moral of the story – don’t approach strange cars, keep on driving, it will only end in tears. One of King’s specialities is this type of story where extreme weirdness happens in a very ordinary setting with no rhyme or reason. Liked it.
In the Tall Grass (written with Joe Hill)
Abandoned (sort-of) church along a relatively lonely stretch of highway. Brother and (pregnant) sister on road trip before she has baby. Pull off the road after hearing cries from the tall grass that seems to stretch for miles. Small child in peril. Getting lost. Disorientation. Ancient evil (probably). Moral of the story – don’t stop for strange cries, keep on driving, it will only end in tears (sound familiar?). An accidental companion piece to Mile 81, totally unplanned in that I didn’t really investigate the plot of either story before I started to read them. Very very dark and ultimately depressing.
Interesting to compare standalone King to a story written in collaboration with his son, whose work I have also read but have found problematic in the past (see N0S4R2 for a start). King can be very nasty on occasion but I find him to have greater humanity in his stories than Hill. Without giving anything away, In the Tall Grass seems to offer no hope at all, whereas Mile 81 gives us the possibilities of human ingenuity in fighting off the bad stuff.
Another stressful week interrupted by a bout of illness which left me unable to read much 😦
Challenges:
No increase in my tally for the TBR Double Dog so still at twelve books (although I have actually read fourteen in total). I didn’t finish anything this week and didn’t really make huge progress on those books I did start.
I read a couple of short stories on Kindle for the King’s March challenge.
In progress
As planned last week, I have made a very very slow start to Vanessa & Her Sister which I would really like to finish this coming week in preparation for the Bloomsbury event on 24 March, and I’m also about a quarter of the way through Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge.
The Jane Eyre Update
Haven’t started it yet because of illness but I have re-worked my reading plan and still think I can finish it in the six weeks before the book club discussions.
New Books
No new books this week, the embargo is holding with only two and a bit weeks to go 😀
This should be the last of the really horrible work weeks coming up and I feel much more inclined to read so hoping to make lots of progress.
Bride of the Book God 