King

I recently (as in last night) read Stephen King's On Writing. Most of the how-to portion of the book seemed pretty straightforward, and indeed triggered a sense of familiarity, as though I'd read it somewhere before. The main item of interest, for me, was the fact that Stephen King claimed to have little, if any, memory of having written Cujo, presumably because of the booze and drugs. The word-image of him shoving Q-tips up his nose to staunch the coke-induced bleeding, that's a doozie...

But Cujo... It seems unimaginable that one could write a fairly successful novel and not remember it, even if the novel was pretty bad. It's one of my least favorite books of all time, transcending the category of "worst Stephen King novel" and going straight on into the competition for "worst novel ever". It isn't the worst novel ever, but the fact that it's on that list at all tells you what I think of it. It isn't just bad, it's tedious.

But never mind that. Having read the entire Dark Tower series, Lisey's Story, The Stand, On Writing and all of the short story compilations, what King should be next? To be honest, I lean toward From a Buick 8.

Because of budgetary reasons beyond my control, I'm going to be laid off from work for the month of May, which on the one hand opens all sorts of interesting possibilities when it comes to landscaping and reading and home improvements, and on the other hand fills me with bitter stress and uncertainty for the future. But maybe a hefty King novel will get me through part of that dead time when I would normally sit and gnaw my fingernails.