My very favorite insane blogger Trish is hosting a read-a-long of Stephen King's The Stand
. It starts on June 1st and we have two months to read the entire behemoth of a book. I am really still debating if I want to do this at all (I have already read The Stand, but it was literally half a life ago), but I love Trish and she's nothing if not infectious (and as I type this, I have pinkeye, so I KNOW infectious!) so I'm signing up. I checked out a copy from my library (same copy Trish has) and it clocks in at a massive 1153 pages and 4 lbs (yes, I weighed it.) Trish asked that we answer a few get-to-know-you questions before we join, so here goes:1. What makes you want to read The Stand? Trish does!
2. Describe your preconceived notions of The Stand. Well, I've already read it, so I have a vague memory of the plot and a clear memory of how much it scared the pants off me.
3. What was the last scary(ish) book you read or movie you saw? I don't watch scary movies. The last one I saw was The Ring, well before I had kids. I read A Monster Calls, which some people find scary, and you can see my thoughts here.
4. Which version of the book will you be reading from? My copy is a massive hardcover from the library, the uncut version. The cover is similar to the on in the picture above, but with a big red band marking it as uncut. It looks like it only gets checked out once or twice a year, so with any luck I will make it all the way to the end of July before I have to return it.
5. What are you previous experiences with Stephen King? In high school and college I was a big fan of King. I read quite a few of his books (The Shining, Cujo, Christine, Firestarter, The Stand, It, possibly more) but the last one I read was The Tommyknockers
, which I really disliked. I moved on to Dean Koontz after that, and then stopped reading anything scary at all.6. Anything else you'd like to add (bonus points for being extra random). This is my first readalong, so hopefully I won't bail on it, but I refuse to feel guilty if I don't make it to the end. Also, I think Trish will owe me a pack of post it notes by the time I finish marking off where I should be (roughly) at any given date.
I actually blame The Tommyknockers for why I think I don't like Stephen King. That was the first and only book of his I read, back when I was a junior in high school. I managed to get through the entire thing, but I've since been convinced I don't like his writing.
ReplyDeleteYa--I don't do scary at all but I'll be curious as to what you found scary since so many people are trying to convince me that this one isn't. I'm baffled.
ReplyDeleteSecretly I'm thinking that two months will be a breeze. How's THAT for insane. And no...no guilt.
The Tommyknockers isn't my favorite of King's at all, but I sort of got the time that he was writing it and the presence of nuclear power plants, Chernobyl, and all of that. Well, not to mention he was also on drugs through that period, he has said, so that explains some of his scenes in that book. Otherwise, I've really enjoyed his storie, even The Tommyknockers, so heck, I'm ready for The Stand (I think). I also have the hardcover version for the library and it is HEAVY.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading much more Stephen King this year for The Project I'm co-hosting, so it's been a great reading year thus far, can't wait to see what everyone else thinks on his writing!
I think I'm more nervous about reading this book after hearing that you found it scary :) I'm kind of wimpy though. I admit it :) Good luck with the read-a-long! I'm excited to get started!
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