Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Stephen King’s sprawling historical time-travel epic

11/22/63 by Stephen King

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At work I have a Book Friend who reads mostly horror. He gives me horror recommendations, and I give him sci-fi recommendations, and we both try to enjoy each other’s genre of choice, to varying success. At the other’s insistence, we have both read genre staples without being convinced of their universal relevance (though I have more right to feel aggrieved about this arrangement because Slaughterhouse Five was like 250 pages and It was fucking 1,200 pages, Dorian). It was not for me. I finished It, because I’m a […]

King’s Dozen

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

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You Like It Darker is a collection of twelve short stories by horror master Stephen King. Five of the stories are being published for the first time, while the other seven previously ran in magazines or on King’s websites. All twelve stories were new to me. The collection’s title would seem to indicate that King has ratcheted up his penchant for the macabre, but if anything I thought he used an ironically light touch for most of the twelve stories. Though there are of course […]

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) by Stephen King

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I rated this four stars the first time I read it. I think that was because I hadn’t read the rest of the series yet, and now that I have in my head what this series can really do when it’s going, this one just feels a little anemic in comparison. Also, it’s such a weird book that I didn’t know what to make of it at the time, but I can see what he’s doing now that I’ve read the rest of it. In […]

“Imagination is hungry, and needs to be fed.”

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

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I have long maintained that, for me, Stephen King’s short stories and novellas hit harder than most of his books. I just like them more; they are snappier. While I do enjoy taking my 1,000-plus-page journey to Derry in IT, sometimes it’s nicer to have a story come in, do its thing, and then leave. You Like It Darker is Stephen King’s latest short story collection and is a mix of previously published stories (something I did not realize until I was like, “Wait… have […]

Remember, It’s YOUR prom; make it one to remember always!

Carrie by Stephen King

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

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I thought my prom was “bad” in that it all felt overhyped, my feet hurt the whole evening, I swear my hair ended up hurting from all the pins I had stuck in it, and I got into a fight with my friends at Safe Grad and ended up walking home from the high school carrying my prom dress in a backpack (I was supposed to get a ride home with said friends).  However, it didn’t end in flames or death so you know what?  […]

In Holly, Evil Lurks Behind Friendly Facades

Holly by Stephen King

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I think part of the reason I was so determined to read the Bill Hodges trilogy was because I knew Stephen King was about to publish Holly, and having met the character in The Outsider I really wanted to learn more about her. It was great getting to know her over the course of the Bill Hodges trilogy, and she’s even better in her own standalone novel. Holly (obviously) focuses on Holly Gibney a few years after the end of the Bill Hodges trilogy. It’s […]



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