The fact that this is only the second time a book by King has been rereleased with added scenes makes it pretty unique. The other book is, of course, The Stand, and I hope this is a trend that will continue. It would be nice to get other books released with deleted scenes as well.
The illustrations by Uelsmann don’t really have anything to do with the story, but they do give the book a nice feeling. They are very much in sync with the story, perfect for setting the mood.
Lilja’s final words about ’Salem’s Lot: Illustrated Edition
’Salem’s Lot: Illustrated Edition is definitely a book that should be in every King collection…even if you already have the limited. Don’t forget that there is a new introduction that you need to read.
****
The Colorado Kid (audio)
Posted: November 18, 2005
After finishing The Colorado Kid for a second time (this time on audio) I can only repeat what I said after reading the book the first time; it’s one of the best books King has written. I know many of you think it’s a bit slow, but I don’t. I think it’s King’s way of setting the mood of the book. It is a slow-moving story, and this second time I surprised myself with having answers to many of the questions (or at least, I think so) while listening.
Did the Colorado Kid arrive from The Gunslinger’s world through a door? Or was it a thinny? Or was the explanation just King’s way to disguise a mistake?
Well, it really doesn’t matter. It has gotten my imagination running wild. What if The Colorado Kid is connected to The Dark Tower saga? Will he be in the comics that are released next year? Will King do another short story about The Dark Tower and The Colorado Kid? As before, that really doesn’t matter, I see a lot of possibilities while listening to the book. And I love every second of it!
There is only a small problem with the audio version of The Colorado Kid, and that is narrator Jeffrey DeMunn’s accent. While trying to give the characters as believable of a voice as possible, he overdoes it a bit. The accent gets so thick from time to time that it’s sometimes a bit hard to hear what he is saying. You can understand it, but you have to concentrate a bit extra from time to time. It’s a nice accent though. He sounds like a mix of Bubba in Forrest Gump and Sean Connery. Very smooth.
Lilja’s final words about The Colorado Kid (audio)
So, the best thing you can do is go out and get The Colorado Kid audiobook ASAP. Then listen to it—it’s only about four hours long, so you’ll have it done in an afternoon…and you won’t regret it, take my word for it!
****
Bag of Bones (audio)
Posted: December 6, 2005
This summer Simon & Schuster Audio rereleased Bag of Bones on audio CD. I have just listened to it and I must say that I had actually forgotten what a good book Bag of Bones is.
It’s good because of the story, but also because it feels so autobiographical. Sometimes it feels like King is describing his own life. And maybe he is to some degree. Maybe King, like Mike Noonan, has a stash of books in a safety box somewhere and just picks one or two each year…no, I don’t think that is the case, but when you read the book it feels like it’s possible. That’s the feeling King gives you in Bag of Bones.
Another good thing about this audio is that at the end there is an interview with King. It’s done right after the recording of Bag of Bones, so it’s unique for this audio and is concentrated completely on Bag of Bones. Very entertaining and something I wish every audiobook would have.
Bag of Bones was also the first book King released with Scribner and was in somewhat of a memorable place in his career. If I remember correctly, King made a deal with Scribner in which they split the risk and King only got a very small sum for the book, and then a percentage of the sales. This wasn’t the way deals were made, and it made the news back in 1998.
One thing that isn’t so good with this one is that on each CD there are only two or three tracks instead of the seventeen to eighteen that are usually on a CD. Why is that a problem, you might ask? Well, if you, like me, listen to it on your way to work and you have to pause, say, twenty-two minutes into track two, you have to first find track two and then fast forward twenty-two minutes to get to where you left off the next time you’re listening. It’s not impossible, but it gets a bit annoying. It is much easier when the tracks are only five to six minutes.
My guess, though, is that this isn’t something that will appear on other audios. Why? Well, I think (and this is only a guess) that since this is a reissued title and all of the following titles have had seventeen to eighteen tracks on them, this was a mistake by the publisher (or they discovered that it was better with more tracks) that was then corrected in the next book. They left it on the reissued edition, though, since that one is probably identical to the first.
Lilja’s final words about Bag of Bones(audio)
Anyhow, don’t let this stop you from getting this audio. It’s worth all the fast forwarding to hear Bag of Bones. Oh, and I almost forgot, the best part of all is that it’s read by Stephen King himself. This alone makes the book very listenable, and combined with a good story, makes Bag of Bones a very good audio choice.
****
Cell
Posted: January 24, 2006
I finished Cell, King’s latest book, yesterday and I’m seriously thinking about losing my brand new cell phone…well, maybe not, but Cell is a really scary story as well as King’s tribute to the entire zombie phenomenon.
The book starts off with its main character, Clayton Riddell, out walking in Boston, feeling very happy because he has sold his first comic series, The Dark Wanderer. And that’s when everything starts going downhill…
At exactly 3:03 the event that became known as The Pulse happens: every cell phone starts sending out a signal that turns everyone who hears it into some kind of raging zombie. People who overhear the signal only get a small dose of The Pulse, but go totally insane.
Later, Clay hooks up with Tom McCourt and a teenage girl, Alice Maxwell, and together they start north toward Clay’s home where his son is. His son, who just got that new red cell phone he’s been pestering Clay about…
During the course of the story the phone-crazies, as Clay and his gang call the zombies, start to evolve, and the rage they show in the beginning starts to fade away…at least for each other. The normies, like Clay and the others, are still fair game though. It’s like the zombies are starting all over again, with brains that are like clean slates. The book has some surprises, one that’s rather big, and the ending is a bit unexpected. Some will be disappointed and some will love it. Personally, I loved it.
Cell was the first book I listened to as an audiobook before reading it. Previously I have only listened to books I had already read. Now finished, I can honestly say that I enjoyed listening to it before reading it. At the same time, though, it really demands your full attention. It’s a lot easier for your mind to wander when you listen to a book compared to when you read (at least, it is for me), but if you manage to keep focused you’ll be very well rewarded.
There is also a bonus with this book (not included in the audio though). At the end you get the first pages from King’s next book, Lisey’s Story, in King’s own handwriting. I liked what I read and it gives me the same feeling I had while reading Bag of Bones: a good feeling…but more on that later this year.
Lilja’s final words about Cell
So, Cell is definitely a book you want to check out. It’s a very strong King book that feels very fresh, but also gives you the same end-of-the-world feeling that you get when reading The Stand.
If possible, I recommend that you try listening to it as well as reading it. It’s actually two quite different experiences, both very satisfying.
****
Stationary Bike (audio)
Posted: May 31, 2006
Ron McLarty. What can I say? The man is a genius when it comes to narrating books. His voice is made for narrating books.
I have liste
ned to him narrate ’Salem’s Lot, parts of Faithful and now also “Stationary Bike,” and as I said, his voice is made for narrating books. It’s dark, but still very smooth to listen to. A joy for the ear!
“Stationary Bike” is about Richard Sifkitz, who is told by his doctor that his cholesterol is way too high and that he has to start exercising if he wants to stay alive. To make Sifkitz understand, the doctor paints him an image of having a work crew inside of him who takes care of all the junk he eats. At this point, the crew is very tired and driven too hard.
The problem is that Sifkitz, being an illustrator with very vivid imagination, takes this very seriously. He starts exercise (“What is the problem with that,” I hear you ask…), and he even draws a painting of the crew and starts giving the four men in the crew names and backgrounds. They become very real to him, maybe too real…
In order to exercise, he sets up a stationary bike in the basement and as time passes he goes from overweight to being in the best shape he has ever been in…but, what happens to the work crew when they aren’t needed anymore? What happens if they are laid off and don’t get their paychecks anymore? What happens if they take matters into their own hands?
“Stationary Bike” is on two CDs and about 1½ hours long, so it’s a fast listen, but is nevertheless a very pleasant listen. It’s a very good story with an unexpected ending, and until now hadn’t been released as a King book; it has only been published in the anthology Borderlands 5. Here you have it with King’s name on the cover.
Lilja’s final words about Stationary Bike (audio)
So, when this CD is released on June 6, make sure you get a copy ASAP....
Oh, and Simon & Schuster Audio, please let Ron narrate more books for you!
****
Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished
Posted: October 19, 2006
After finishing Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished by Rocky Wood, I must say this is every collector and King fan’s dream book. Not only do you get information about every known uncollected and unpublished King story, you also get one story and one poem previously unpublished.
Let’s start with the story and poem…
The story is chapter seventy-one of King’s unpublished book Sword in the Darkness. Before I read it I was a bit skeptical as to why they would publish a chapter from somewhere in the middle of the book. Would the reader be able to follow the plot? But, as usual, Rocky knows what he’s doing. The chapter deals with one of the main character’s background and is totally isolated from the rest of the story.
The biggest surprise, though, was to see how good it was. You have to remember that this was written back in 1970 by a very young King, and even though you notice that the writing style isn’t exactly the same as today, much of the story could have been written yesterday. That was very interesting to see, and I agree with Rocky when he says that King could easily put this one in the next collection without being ashamed of it. In fact, I would be a bit disappointed if he didn’t.
The poem is “Dino” and it has actually been published once in Salt Hill Journal in 1994. It was then lost for some time and just recently surfaced again, and now you get to read it. I’m not a big fan of poetry, but still, it’s interesting to see how King handles it.
The rest of the book deals with uncollected and unpublished works that King has done. The book covers no less then fifty-one unpublished and forty-six uncollected works of fiction. These ninety-seven works include novels, shorter works of fiction, twenty-four screenplays and nine poems. I did tell you it includes a lot, right? The information is so detailed it almost feels like you have read the pieces after reading this book, which is a nice feeling.
The only negative with the book, though, is the fact that you end up wanting to read all the stories you have read about, and let me tell you one thing up front, you are not going to find all of them. Some are available if you know where to look, but far from all of them. So, even though it’s great to learn about them, I can’t help feeling an urge to get my hands on them.
One other thing that I don’t like about the book is that all of the footnotes are at the back of the book, and it gets very annoying to have to flip back and forth. I would have wanted them at the bottom of each page, which would have made the reading much easier.
The book has been released in two versions. One is a limited edition from Cemetery Dance and the other is a trade paperback from Landmark Press in Australia. Since the one from Cemetery Dance is limited it’s more expensive than the Australian edition. So, if you don’t have that much money and just want to read it, go for the cheaper one. If you want to have a nice book in your bookcase and you can afford it, go with Cemetery Dance’s edition…if they have any left.
Cemetery Dance’s edition comes in a slipcase and is limited to two thousand copies. It’s also signed by all three authors.
Lilja’s final words about Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished
Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished is a book that should be in every fan’s collection. Most of us are really interested in knowing more about King’s work, but even if you’re not you get a brand new (old) story. Not bad if you ask me!
****
Lisey’s Story
Posted: October 23, 2006
Lisey’s Story is one hell of a book. It’s so rich that you almost forget some of the side stories while you read it. There is one story about the past, there is one story about the present, there is one story about a sister and there is one story about a young boy…and they are all connected.
It has influences from both Bag of Bones and The Talisman, and from time to time you get the feeling that King is about to connect Lisey’s Story to any of those books, but just as you think it, the story turns and takes you in another direction.
It’s also very hard to categorize. It’s not a horror story, but it has elements of horror; it’s not a ghost story, but there are ghosts; it’s not a romance novel, but it sure has a love story in it. I guess the only category you can put it in is the “Stephen King books” category.
Lisey’s Story is the story about Lisey Landon who, after the death of her husband, the famous author Scott Landon, discovers there’s a lot she didn’t know about him…or that she didn’t know that she knew about him. As the story moves on we, and she, get the full story of Scott’s complicated life: his childhood with an abusive father, his trips to a place he calls Boo´ya Moon and about Bools, Blood Bools in particular.
When you read Lisey’s Story you get the feeling that while King may not be writing about himself, he’s writing about his own situation. As far as I know he isn’t, but some of the things he says about the fans, the readings, the Incunks—Lisey’s word for the people who want Scott’s unpublished works at any price—make me wonder. It feels like all this could be taken from his own experiences as a famous author…
This time I both read the book and listened to it on audio CD, and both were a very pleasant experience; the book because there is always a very nice feeling the first time you crack the spine on a new King book, and the audio because it’s brilliantly read by Mare Winningham, and as an extra bonus, the afterword is read by King himself. This, combined with the fact that it’s a very good story, really made my day…or days, in this case.
The book is just over five hundred pages long, and on audio it’s about nineteen hours. In other words, you’re in for a treat, so stop wasting time on the Internet and run out to get it…NOW!
Lilja’s final words about Lisey’s Story
Whether you get the book or the audio is up to you, but please know that Mare Winningham has a voice made for narrating, and hopefully we’ll hear more from her in the future.
****
The Secretary of Dreams, Volume 1
Posted: January 29, 2007
The Secretary of Dreams is a big book, and I mean really BIG. It’s big in size as well as in illustrations. Maybe even a little too big? The book contains six stories, half of which are comics a
nd the other half are regular text stories with illustrations. The text on the stories that aren’t in comic format is a little too big in size, though, if you ask me. Text that big makes reading a bit strange…
It’s also a big book if we talk illustrations. Glenn Chadbourne has done a very good job illustrating the book. The illustrations are extremely detailed, though sometimes they are almost too detailed. You find yourself stuck on a certain illustration to catch all the details instead of reading the text…
The three stories that really make The Secretary of Dreams stand out are “The Road Virus Heads North,” “Rainy Season” and “Uncle Otto’s Truck,” since they are the ones portrayed as comics. Glenn has really captured the feeling of the stories and it’s quite funny to see how much Richard Kinnell in “The Road Virus Heads North” looks like King himself. And the way the toads look in “Rainy Season” is just genius.
The only problem as I see it with those three stories is that they have put every single word from King’s original text in there. Some of the explaining words don’t need to be written in text since the situation is clear to you when you see the illustration. I think that in those cases they should have let Glenn’s illustrations do the telling and that would have given the text a better flow…but Cemetery Dance stated early that this book would contain every word in King’s written text, so it did.
The three stories that are illustrated are “The Reach,” “Jerusalem’s Lot” and “Home Delivery.” At first I was a little disappointed that these weren’t turned into comics like the other three, but after reading the book it feels like a very good balance having half of them illustrated and the other half as comics.
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