Salem's Lot Readalong Wrap-up

Oh what fun it is to read Stephen King books with other people. This month Trish, Care, and I co-hosted a readalong of Salem's Lot. We had so much fun! Sometimes I forget what an addictive writer King is. I had to put the book down for about a week at one point because I couldn't stop reading and was getting too far ahead. 

Those of you who sent me your address received a set of vampire teeth earlier this month. I loved seeing everyone's photos with them! Before I get to my thoughts on the book, here's just a few of our scary poses. 

Salem’s Lot

By Stephen King

★★★★☆

A small town, a creepy old house, mysterious deaths, this one hit all the right notes. The vampires felt very old school to me. There were definitely no sparkles. 

One thing I really loved about the book is that it struck me as pretty realistic. I felt like this is probably how things would go down if it really happened in a small town. People would be unlikely to believe the truth even if they saw it with their own eyes. They would also have almost no idea how to handle it. Some might know the general superstitions, but would feel silly waving a crucifix around.

Like all of King’s novels, it’s the characters that suck you in. He gives you just enough time to get attached to a few of them before the bodies start to drop. The plot was scary and suspenseful, but it wasn't gory. There were very few parts with where death was described in any detail at all and I really appreciated that. My level for gore is very low, but it was just scary enough to be perfect.

BOTTOM LINE: Definitely makes the list top ten of King books for me. The Stand, The Green Mile, On Writing, and Different Seasons are a few I liked more, but I really liked this one. It was just the right amount of scary for me.

 
WRAP-UP POSTS:
Kay's Reading Life 
The Friday Friends 
Word Hits 
Care's Online Book Club 
 
(Leave a link in the comments to your post and I'll add you in!)

Photos by participants 

Salem's Lot Readalong

Who is ready to be scared silly? I don't remember who exactly started the Stephen King readalongs (Trish? Jill?), but the first big King novel I ever read was The Stand and I wouldn't have done it without a group. 

This month Trish, Care, and I are co-hosting a readalong of Salem's Lot. I might be crazy to do this while pregnant (I already scare easily), but Trish is pregnant too, so if she can do it then so can I! 

This will be a laid back readalong. I will definitely do a wrap up post at the end of October, but I think we will mainly be sharing thoughts on twitter with the hashtag #SalemAlong as we go. Thanks to Trish for the awesome button that she made! Feel free to use it on your blogs, twitter, or instagram.

If you'd like to join in the fun, which you definitely should, just add a link to your blog in the comments. Also, send your address to my email (avidreader25 [at] gmail.com) and I'll send you something silly for participating. Jill started that trend with sunglasses for The Shining and clown noses for It. 

So here's go nothing. You can always put it in the freezer if you get too scared. 

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril X

Every year Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings hosts the R.I.P. Challenge and for two months (September and October) participants read and post about any books that are mysteries, thrillers, Gothic, horror, etc. Except this year Carl passed the hosting baton to The lovely ladies at The Estella Society! You can check out the complete details here.

I always look forward to this challenge and find myself saving books to read during these months. This year I have a great mix of books, including classics, nonfiction, short stories, and more. 

I'll also be co-hosting a readalong with Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity and Care at Care's Online Book Club! We will be tackling Uncle Stevie's classic Salem's Lot and getting scared silly together. We'll be reading it in October and I'll post more details when it gets closer, but I hope you'll join us if you've been wanting to read that one.

Here's my list of potential R.I.P. books:
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 
- Salem's Lot by Stephen King 
- The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection 
- The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule 
- Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft (Vol. 1) by H.P. Lovecraft 
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- The Quick by Lauren Owen (the R.I.P. group read this year)


If you need any ideas for books to read, here's a few of my previous R.I.P. challenge posts:
R.I.P. Challenge IX
R.I.P. Challenge VIII
R.I.P. Challenge VII
R.I.P. Challenge VI

Non-Bookish Things I'm Loving

(Ice fishing in the middle of a lake. 

Yup, I'm done with the cold weather)

You guys, this winter just kicked my butt. I am so glad that it is finally Spring and I can leave work without it already being pitched black. So here are a few non-bookish things I'm loving right now, just because.

TV: Wallander, with its gorgeous landscapes and excellent performance of a troubled detective by Kenneth Branagh is hitting the spot. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was fun and the third season of House of Cards was fantastic!

MUSIC: Seth Avett (from The Avett Brothers) & JessicaLea Mayfield covered some Elliott Smith songs. I had the chance to listen to them and it was a trip down memory lane for me. I adored Smith’s music during my senior year of high school and all through college and these covers reminded me why.

DRINK: I'm on a Scottish Ale kick right now and I particularly love Founder’s Backwoods Bastard and Cutter’s Floyd's Folly. Also, Care told me about a new app, Untappd, and I've been trying to use that to keep track of beers I like.

FOOD: The Huz and I made a spinach, mushroom, and feta quiche and it was so good! We made it a half a dozen times and have yet to get sick of it. You guys have any great recipes to share? I’m also loving Roasted coconut chips from Trader Joe's. Oh my goodness they are delicious. I don't have a sweet tooth, but these are my new favorite snack.

Also, no sock weather is back! I am so sick of wearing socks and boots and constantly feeling like my feet are freezing. This week for the first time I got to slip on ballet flats and go to work.  Bonus, I end up with less laundry to do.

In other news, I'm planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law. What are some of your favorite things you've seen at showers lately? I tend to hate bridal and baby showers, but I’d love to find some ways to make this one fun. Any ideas?

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong Wrap-Up

This book is like a bibliophile’s acid trip or maybe their worst nightmare, but in a completely enchanting way. A reader picks up a book and just when it gets good the book ends. No matter what they do they can’t find a complete copy of the text and so they can’t finish the book. Instead they are led to begin reading one new book after another, each one ending before they can finish the text. At one point Calvino is blaming one of his characters for leaving a text unfinished and he says,

“Ermes Marana appears to you as a serpent who injects his malice into the paradise of reading.”

That’s exactly what Calvino was doing and it was hilarious that he was poking fun at himself through the text. At first I wondered if the stories would wrap up in the second half of the book à la Cloud Atlas, but soon I realized that wasn’t the point. The book is an exploration of reading, not of one specific story.

The thing I truly loved was Calvino’s language. He has a way of creating beautiful images, particularly whenever he was talking about the act of reading.

“To fly is the opposite of traveling: you cross a gap in space, you vanish into the void, you accept not bring in any place for a duration that is itself a kind of void in time; then you reappear, in a place and in a moment with no relation to the where and the when in which you vanished. Meanwhile, what do you do? How do you occupy this absence of yourself from the world and of the world from you? You read; you do not raise your eyes from the book between one airport and the other.”

Even the lines of each title are beautiful. They read like a poem, which we find out at the end is, of course, intentional.

In a network of lines that intersect

On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon

Around an empty grave

What story down there awaits its end?

The introduction and the ending chapter were my two favorite parts. Calvino’s love of reading and his descriptions of it are just breathtaking. While some of the other chapters ran together a bit for me, those sections so perfectly captured the magic of being a reader.

I hope you all had fun with this one. It’s a completely unique book and one that I’m glad I finally read. It’s certainly experimental, but I think Calvino’s talent as a writer rises above any tricks he pulls.

What did you like about the book?

What didn’t work for you?

Was it what you expected?

You can check out Care's mid-way post here and mine is here.

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong Mid-way Point

Care is hosting our mid-way check in at her blog, so make sure you stop by and see what everyone else is saying. The first half flew by for me and I’m looking forward to the rest. 

Stop back by here for the final wrap up post on November 30th. 

I’m having serious Cloud Atlas flashbacks with this book. Not only does it have a similar structure (Cloud Atlas was apparently partially inspired by this book) but it has an equally gorgeous writing style.

The book opens with one of my new favorite intros. The author goes through a whole spiel about settling in before you start the book. Get comfortable, let the world around you fade and then dive in. From there we begin the novel “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” set in a train station. Soon we are back to the reader’s point of view as the story breaks off.  

From there it’s a wild goose chase to find the rest of the book. Instead of finishing “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” our reader (as well as the actual readers) are introduced to one new story after another and we also meet the "other reader" who trying to track down the same book. 

First Outside the Town of Malbork, then “Leaning from the Steep Slope” featuring Miss Zwida and a prison break. I particularly loved this section. Then we are introduced to “Without Fear of Wind or Vertigo,” followed by a Parisian murder and Ruedi the Swiss in “Looks Down in the Gathering Shadow.”

It’s like a rabbit hole for bibliophiles. It's a book about the magical experience of reading a book for the first time; not knowing where it will tale you, but blindly following where the author leads. 

So far the stories seem unconnected except for a few elements, but I’m hoping it all comes together in the second half. 

“There are plenty, younger than you or less young, who live in the expectation of extraordinary experience: from books, from people, from journeys, from events, from what tomorrow has in store.” 

“Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be…”

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong Begins

The readalong begins! We've got a great group that's decided to tackle Italo Calvino’s masterpiece, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler together. Care’s Online Book Club and I are co-hosting a laid back readalong of the book starting today. Anyone is still welcome to join in if they would like! 

Here are the details:

1) Try to read the first 5 chapters (114 pages) by November 15 and do a mid-way post if you would like to. Stop by Care's blog that day to see what everyone is thinking so far. 

2) Finish the remaining chapters by November 30th and post about it when you can. I'll be doing the wrap up post. 

3) Tweet your thoughts as you go with #ReadCalvino.

4) Please add a link to your blog (if you have one) using the Linky below if you're participating. 

I can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts as we go along! 

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Readalong

Who is ready for a fall readalong? Care’s Online Book Club and I are co-hosting a laid back readalong of Italo Calvino’s masterpiece, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler. I’ve been hearing about Calvino’s work for years and I can’t help but feel curious. I think this one will be great to read as a group because it will probably help us catch things we might otherwise miss.

A few other reasons you should join in the fun:

1) Entertainment Weekly named it one of their Top 100 All-Time Greatest Books, describing it as…

“A fleet-footed entertainment about the high-intensity sport that is reading. Calvino was a stellar stylist, and this astonishingly inventive novel proved there was no sentence he could not write.”

2) It’s only 260 pages!

3) This fantastic article with David Mitchell’s thoughts about the book. He starts with…

“You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveller. Relax. Let the world around you fade.”

4) It’s a book about someone trying to read a book.

5) It’s on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die List.

So if you’d like to join in, here are a few details. We’ll be tweeting about it with #ReadCalvino. We’re going to start reading on Nov. 1st and try to finish by the end of the month. We’ll post one mid-way post and another wrap up post. Feel free to post in the middle or at the end or just as you go along.