I finished Stephen King’s Cell. Readable, but not up there with his best books; it’s very good to see him back, though. I’ve always said that I love his writing – he’s a very good, plain writer that does people exceptionally well. It’s not the type of writing that wins book awards, but it’s very enjoyable even though he enjoys (and is quite well paid) for writing in the horror/suspense genre. Not that I’m complaining, of course – I love good horror novels. Trouble is, like good scary movies, they’re pretty tough to find.
Anyway, welcome back old friend. :) Almost a decade after the accident, and you’re back. I have to admit, the author photo was a bit scary. You can see the toll of coming back after almost being killed in his face, especially around the old-man eyes. Sad.
The only real issue I have with King is that he over writes; I think he adds in way too much unnecessary detail. Steve, Steve, Steve, unless it’s immmediately relevant to the tale we do not need the entire biography of every walk on in the story. That being said, he does a fantastic job of making his characters seem like real people no matter how outlandish their situations and I think that’s what I like best about his work.
Yeah, he fully admits that he can’t write economically. That’s why you have those books that you risk putting your back out when you take them off the shelves. But his characters are wonderful – especially all of the little-kid stuff, silly and gross as it can be, that still lives within each adult.
Have you seen the made-for-TV Version of The Shining? It’s really fabulous. King never really approved of the Nicholson version, as it got away from his story as told through the eyes of the child (that is why it’s so scary, right?) So he worked with the made for tv version and was happy with it, King actually appeared as the band director toward the end… We watch it over and over at our house (though my 14-year-old has only watched the lady in the bathtub scene once!)