Let me tell you something about myself and commitments:
We don't see one another all that often.
Oh, we'll run into each other at the mall sometimes, or down at the salon.
It's all terse conversation and downcast eyes, though.
As if we fucked one another's husbands before they were our husbands.
I don't have a problem with commitments.
I just have trouble (you guessed it!) committing to them.
I'm re-reading King's Needful Things.
This happened accidentally, but perhaps that's alright.
Most of you may not know this, but I read Stephen King (exclusively) for about...grade seven...five years.
Jesus, is Stephen King on Twitter, I wonder? I hope not.
I'm kidding, I hope so. Let's get him on over here!
I couldn't tell you why I read this man and no other.
The novels made me feel adult when I was young.
They were adult for a twelve-year old, I suppose. Especially when my classmates were still reading Fear Street.
Beyond grade nine, though...I guess I continued reading only Stephen King because I didn't get that there were other books
(Karma Sutra!)
to read.
Also, I read The Stand and It, both of which, at my pace, likely took a year.
I 'grew out of him', as they say, but I'm glad I'm revisiting Castle Rock.
That much macabre, you'd think I'd be writing about ostracized girls telepathically killing the cheerleading squad, but here we are.
Talking about me.
However, there are minute stylizations that I now realize I borrowed (stole) from him.
(My love of parentheses probably being the most obvious.)
I like Stephen King. That is, within the only capacity I have ever known him.
I'd like to meet him one day, shake his hand.
Thank him for teaching me the importance of reading during math class, without his ever having to tell me so.
All this time dreaming of being a novelist, and I have never read his non-fictional On Writing.
It's the next paperback I'll pick up...
We used to travel to Maine a lot when we were young. Back when we were still a Motorhome Family.
When the sun rose on September, I would tell my classmates that we drove to Stephen King's house, although we never did.
We didn't have his address.
2 comments:
Needful Things was my favourite book for a long time, but I read it when I was 14 so, does it hold up?
(Also, On Writing is definitely still in my list of favourite books. Do it.)
It sorta does, ya. The little town Castle Rock vibe reads really hokey, but other than that it's still compelling. Tough to put down, and all of the creepy 'good stuff' is still great.
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