Have you started buying your summer reading books?
I absolutely had to buy “From a Buick 8”. It is my favorite Stephen King book, hands down. I have taken it out from the library so many times it is ridiculous, and I finally bought it! I dare you to read this book and tell me you did not love it!
I also got another book by Mr. King, which I have never heard of. It is pretty small, and I am betting that I can get it read in a day. Any takers? A 9 year old girl gets lost in the woods with nothing but her walkman (yes, dated). Are you familiar with Tom Gordon? Me either. I will be reading this on Sunday.
And then as I love shopping the bargain shelves, and this is where I find my favorite books, I found this little history book, which I will be reading right away. I love history anything and everything, and I cannot wait to tell you what is in this book!
I absolutely loved this book! I can honestly say this is one of my favorites by Stephen King. I have not read all of his stories, but I have read most of them. I still think my all-time favorite of his is “From a Buick 8”. Have you read it? If not, you need to go to your local library and check it out (pun intended)! From what I understand, this is not the only story we will be seeing involving Bill Hodges. That makes me a very happy reader!
Bill Hodges is a retired detective, not coping well with sitting at home. When the perp (perk if you’ve read the story) decides to send him a letter, it gives Bill a new sense of purpose. This is one that he cannot let go, nor turn over to his former partner.
He goes back over everything he did involving this case, and the things he ignored that he shouldn’t have. You get to see Bill come to terms with the mistakes he has made, both at work and in his personal life. He tries to right the wrongs, when he can.
Brady Hartsfield (the jacket sleeve said Brady Hartfield, the spelling error surprised me. On the sleeve? Really?) is a brilliant mind from a troubled childhood. Still living at home with his alcoholic mother, he works two jobs while planning his next big kill.
Bill has two unlikely people working with him, which makes this story even more interesting. It is full of suspense, mystery, and even a few laugh out loud moments. I was literally holding my breath more than once while reading this! There were a couple spots where Mr. King mentioned two of his previous books; it fit right in with the story and was a nice touch.
If you haven’t read this, I highly recommend it. If you have, I would love to hear what you thought about it!
After a Thursday I would rather forget, and a Friday spent at home that I was not happy about, I managed to get motivated and get some things done around my house.
Yesterday we had a Winter Storm Warning starting at 11 am and I seriously considered leaving work to beat the storm, since I had to stop and get cat food and milk. Against my better judgment, I stayed for my whole day, and left work at 3pm. By now we had 50 mph winds, white-outs, and as I was cleaning my car off to leave work, my driver’s side wiper broke off my car. Already frozen after 4 minutes outside (wind chills were about -15) I was in the parking lot, cussing up a storm, holding my windshield wiper in my hand.
I am in Muskegon. It is a blessing being this close to the lake in the Summer, and a curse in the Winter.
I found someone who was able to zip tie it onto the arm, and scared out of my mind, I began my treacherous journey home. I was afraid to leave the wipers running for fear it would break off while I was driving, so I would turn them on when I absolutely could not see anything, which was basically like leaving them on non-stop.
I got to the nearest auto parts place about 30 minutes later, and half-way to my home. I bought a new set of wipers, but they could not put them on for me. He really wanted to help me out, but it was against company policy. So by now I am in tears, frustrated, stressed, and angry. I get back in my car and continue my journey heading home, still knowing I have got to stop and get milk and cat food.
After that horrible journey home, I just needed to hug Benny!
After an hour and a half, I made it home. I can get home from work in less than 15 minutes on a warm day. So after only working 4 days in this new year, I had to use a vacation day for today. I would not be able to get my new wipers put on before today, and I was pretty sure my car would be snowed in anyhow (it was).
So after avoiding doing anything for the majority of the morning, including getting out of bed, I figured I had better get some use out of the day. After doing some cleaning and organizing, I was able to finally begin reading Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King. I am not very far into it, but I am loving it so far. I have read mixed reviews about this story for the past few weeks, but until I get further into it, I will not have a good idea of what I really think about it.
So my chores are done; unfortunately for my girls, who have had school closed for the last two days, I cannot say the same 🙂 I am making a big pot of spaghetti and garlic bread, and then I have nothing to do the rest of the night except continuing to read Stephen King!
If you are under a Winter Weather Warning yourself, I wish you warmth, comfort, and a great story to keep you busy!
This is a very good book so far; I think I am a bit more than halfway done. Things are getting very interesting for Conner, Risa, and Lev.
Now on the run, all 3 manage to pick up a storked baby (a baby that was not wanted; it can be placed on anyone’s doorstep, those people have to keep that baby). I mean, the cops aren’t looking for 3 teenagers with a baby, right?
Risa and Conner have no idea, but Lev is still determined to get back to his parents, and be the tithe he was groomed to be for the last 13 years. So at first opportunity, he makes a run for it, as well as revealing where Conner and Risa are hiding. Of course he realizes after the fact that this probably was not his smartest move.
Conner and Risa end up turning the baby over to a teacher who helps them escape, and Lev ends up on the run on his own, while meeting another teen, known as CyFi. CyFi has his own set of problems since he has part of a brain that belonged to a thief.
It all sounds strange, I know 🙂 But after reading any science fiction books, or any Stephen King books for that matter, I think you may very well get absorbed by this book.
I will update when I have it finished, which hopefully will be within a day or two. I need to get it wrapped and under the tree for my daughter!
One of many interesting things I have read so far:
“Which was worse, Risa often wondered-to have tens of thousands of babies that no one wanted, or to silently make them go away before they were even born? On different days Risa had different answers” (Shusterman, N. 2007, pg 115).
I have read 4 books in the past month, and I am still searching for that book. You know the one; you stay up late reading it, fall asleep reading it, put off chores reading it, skip cooking dinner reading it, forget-the-world-around-you exists reading it. You hate to set it down and cannot wait to pick it back up. The book you think about when you are supposed to be thinking about something else. The book that makes you not hear what is being said to you because you are replaying in your head the last thing you read, and imagining what is going to happen next.
I’ve read a lot of those books. Just not recently. The books I’ve read have been good; just not the stand-in-line-before-midnight type of books. I crave a story that makes me laugh out loud, cry, cringe with fear, feel sick with disgust, believe in miracles, or feel like I will never read a book that good again.
For me, those books were written by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer (yes, those books!), Andrew Greeley, Gregory McGuire, Stephen King, Judy Blume, William Johnstone, V.C. Andrews, James Patterson, and so many others I could fill two pages.
When I was a young girl and teenager I could not read enough Encyclopedia Brown and The Three Investigators books, or The Boxcar Children. I will still randomly go to the library and check out about 10 of these books on that rare occasion when I know it is going to be a quiet, childless weekend.
Sometimes I worry that writing has gone commercial. Do you know what I mean? Someone has a contract, and has to churn out these books, and it turns into cookie-cutter reading that sounds a little like that story you read last year, but a couple things are different so it’s OK.
Where is the creativity? The magic? The unbelievable that is written so you believe it? I need that book.
I finished up the last couple chapters of Dr. Sleep This morning; I really enjoyed this story. I was surprised I was able to get it read in a week with the schedule I was juggling, but it is amazing how much you can read when you have a 5 minute space of free time 🙂 I still intend on getting The Shining and reading it as well. Have you finished yet?
Up next? Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. I have never read any of Bill’s books before, but have been wanting to read Killing Lincoln, which he penned as well. I am a huge fan of Abraham Lincoln, reasons unknown 🙂 I have admired him since I was a very young child, and that has never changed. I read everything I can find about him (except apparently, Killing Lincoln LOL). I am not a huge watcher of political shows, so although I am familiar with Bill O’Reilly and where he stands, I am curious as to his writing.
An interesting fact that a friend told me about the cover of Killing Jesus (pictured here) that had a part in me picking up this book with Dr. Sleep? The picture on the front is not of a crucifix, but instead it is a T, which I wondered about when I saw the cover the first time. The reason for this? I was told it is an accurate depiction, and that when persons were crucified, it was on a T, and not a crucifix. If the person did not die as quickly as planned, on the T, they could easily break his neck and kill him; this could not be accomplished on a crucifix.
Although I tend to not talk religion or politics ) I will be posting some updates on this book, how I think it is written, and the things that are covered.
Is this book on your bookshelf, and if it is, have you started it yet? My goal; finish this by next weekend. It is about a 1/3 of the size of the last book, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
I am just about finished with Dr. Sleep. I am very pleased with this book; as I mentioned before, I tend to run hot-and-cold with Stephen King’s books.
A quote I came across at about 3am that I thought was great: “Billy likes to tell people that the good thing about being old is that you don’t have to worry about dying young.” (King, S. 2013, Dr. Sleep, pg. 303). Profound, right?
How are you coming along with the book, and is it as good as you hoped?
Fitting for while I am trying to finish Dr. Sleep. I am into part two, and still determined to finish it this weekend! Enjoy the weekend, and happy reading!
Hmmm. I have to admit, having to take my 12 year old to counseling would normally be a chore I dreaded, just because of my work schedule and the inconvenience of the appointment time. But, when I am trying to get a book finished, it is my guaranteed one hour of reading without hearing “Mom, she looked at me!” 20 times an hour (OK, a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point, right?)
So, I say “You have to get ready for counseling”, only to hear “I don’t wanna go”, only to say “You have to go. If you don’t I have to pay $50.00 for the missed appointment.” True statement.
More true? “If you don’t go, Mom does not have a guaranteed hour of reading time so she can get further in this awesome book!” Ehhh, the way I see it, we both get a much needed hour of therapy 🙂
Spoiler Alert!
I am not much further, but I did manage to get past the point of Abra crying and her parents dreaming; each seeing a different number carved into her chest, 11 and 175. I was surprised when the September 11th connection was made; I certainly did not see that coming. And as it always does, I immediately thought about where I was when I first heard the news that day.
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