Was the alliteration of my post's title painful enough for you? Lovely. Now that I have your attention...
A few weeks ago after reading updates on the IT film in progress and realising that my anticipation for the film was growing (post your grumbling in the relevant thread, cause yeah I'm rooting for the film), I knew I had to take a trip back to Derry before the movie debuts next year.
The problem was although I'm doing more reading now than I was a few years ago prior to buying a tablet (and getting the Kindle app), I still don't have the time to keep up with all the unread books I acquired PLUS revisiting old favourites. So I decided to put my three hour commute to and from work to better use: enter the world of audible books. This marks another "first" involving The King:
* The first SK book I ever picked up in a bookstore (when I was 9) was Salem's Lot. I was looking at the cover which had the Nosferatu-inspired vampire featured in the TV series when my brother-in-law (who was dating my sister at the time) reached over my head, plucked the book from my hands and said "You're too young for that." He bought me an Enid Blyton book instead. I never forgot that cover though, or the writer's name (my brother is also named Stephen).
* The first book I stole (shut up, I regret nothing) was The Dead Zone. In all fairness, I stole it from my brother and he didn't care. I was 11. Probably too damn young to be reading SK in the first place. My mother didn't care as long as I was reading something other than a cereal box.
* The first book I purchased after reading that was Salem's Lot.
* The first e-book I purchased for my Kindle app was 11/22/63.
My first audible book is IT. I have not read this book since reading it twice in a row when it was first published and I was just a few years older than the kids in The Losers Club. So it's been over 25 years since I last visited Derry which, coincidentally, is about the same time as the cycle of a certain killer clown that lives in the sewer. The irony is simply too delicious for me to ignore.
So I started on the audio-book this evening. I never liked the idea of audio-books (although my friends have been bugging me to try them) because I didn't think I would be able to focus on the story the same as if I was reading it. Thankfully I was wrong.
The book, I discovered, is narrated by actor Steven Weber (you of course know him as Jack Torrance in The Shining mini-series). Mr Weber is a splendid choice: his diction is easy on the ears, and he hits all the rights nuances in the story's emotional beats. I'm currently at the part where the police are investigating the Adrian Mellon case, and while of course the story is familiar to me, it is joy to revisit Derry and its residents.
I am fast discovering that the appeal here is more than just nostalgia. I first read this book as a teenager, and I thought it was beautiful and tragic and wonderful and scary as hell. Reading it now as an adult has put this book in a whole new light for me. I am rediscovering what I loved about SK's work in the first place: his wonderful, near-conversational tone that eases you into the narrative; the laser-like precision in which he defines his characters, their traits and quirks; the effortless switching between informal tone and the more eloquent prose that delivers the shocks ("George saw the clown’s face change. What he saw then was terrible enough to make his worst imaginings of the thing in the cellar look like sweet dreams; what he saw destroyed his sanity in one clawing stroke."); the way he deftly balances a scene taking place in different locations or periods.
I am also discovering all new things to appreciate here. As little more than a child myself when I first read it, the book to me was about the inexplicable terrors that children face which could not be articulated to adults. I am reading this now from the perspective of an adult who has acclimatised to adulthood, where the memory of childish terrors (be it bullying or a boogeyman in the cellar) is distant and hazy. An adult has more real-world terrors to deal with: family and financial commitments, work responsibility, health, the body failing, the loss of friends and other loved ones. There is no place in that adult's life for supernatural terrors, things now relegated to folklore or entertainment. I am still a part of The Losers Club, as we all once were, but I am now wearing grown-up shoes as they did when they were forced to confront their childhood horrors once more.
I know what's to come as I continue my journey, and I know I should be afraid, but I'm also very, very excited to see what Mr King has to teach me the second time around.
And now my question for those of you who read this book at a young age and re-read it as an adult, what new things have you discovered?
A few weeks ago after reading updates on the IT film in progress and realising that my anticipation for the film was growing (post your grumbling in the relevant thread, cause yeah I'm rooting for the film), I knew I had to take a trip back to Derry before the movie debuts next year.
The problem was although I'm doing more reading now than I was a few years ago prior to buying a tablet (and getting the Kindle app), I still don't have the time to keep up with all the unread books I acquired PLUS revisiting old favourites. So I decided to put my three hour commute to and from work to better use: enter the world of audible books. This marks another "first" involving The King:
* The first SK book I ever picked up in a bookstore (when I was 9) was Salem's Lot. I was looking at the cover which had the Nosferatu-inspired vampire featured in the TV series when my brother-in-law (who was dating my sister at the time) reached over my head, plucked the book from my hands and said "You're too young for that." He bought me an Enid Blyton book instead. I never forgot that cover though, or the writer's name (my brother is also named Stephen).
* The first book I stole (shut up, I regret nothing) was The Dead Zone. In all fairness, I stole it from my brother and he didn't care. I was 11. Probably too damn young to be reading SK in the first place. My mother didn't care as long as I was reading something other than a cereal box.
* The first book I purchased after reading that was Salem's Lot.
* The first e-book I purchased for my Kindle app was 11/22/63.
My first audible book is IT. I have not read this book since reading it twice in a row when it was first published and I was just a few years older than the kids in The Losers Club. So it's been over 25 years since I last visited Derry which, coincidentally, is about the same time as the cycle of a certain killer clown that lives in the sewer. The irony is simply too delicious for me to ignore.
So I started on the audio-book this evening. I never liked the idea of audio-books (although my friends have been bugging me to try them) because I didn't think I would be able to focus on the story the same as if I was reading it. Thankfully I was wrong.
The book, I discovered, is narrated by actor Steven Weber (you of course know him as Jack Torrance in The Shining mini-series). Mr Weber is a splendid choice: his diction is easy on the ears, and he hits all the rights nuances in the story's emotional beats. I'm currently at the part where the police are investigating the Adrian Mellon case, and while of course the story is familiar to me, it is joy to revisit Derry and its residents.
I am fast discovering that the appeal here is more than just nostalgia. I first read this book as a teenager, and I thought it was beautiful and tragic and wonderful and scary as hell. Reading it now as an adult has put this book in a whole new light for me. I am rediscovering what I loved about SK's work in the first place: his wonderful, near-conversational tone that eases you into the narrative; the laser-like precision in which he defines his characters, their traits and quirks; the effortless switching between informal tone and the more eloquent prose that delivers the shocks ("George saw the clown’s face change. What he saw then was terrible enough to make his worst imaginings of the thing in the cellar look like sweet dreams; what he saw destroyed his sanity in one clawing stroke."); the way he deftly balances a scene taking place in different locations or periods.
I am also discovering all new things to appreciate here. As little more than a child myself when I first read it, the book to me was about the inexplicable terrors that children face which could not be articulated to adults. I am reading this now from the perspective of an adult who has acclimatised to adulthood, where the memory of childish terrors (be it bullying or a boogeyman in the cellar) is distant and hazy. An adult has more real-world terrors to deal with: family and financial commitments, work responsibility, health, the body failing, the loss of friends and other loved ones. There is no place in that adult's life for supernatural terrors, things now relegated to folklore or entertainment. I am still a part of The Losers Club, as we all once were, but I am now wearing grown-up shoes as they did when they were forced to confront their childhood horrors once more.
I know what's to come as I continue my journey, and I know I should be afraid, but I'm also very, very excited to see what Mr King has to teach me the second time around.
And now my question for those of you who read this book at a young age and re-read it as an adult, what new things have you discovered?