#StephenKing #Castle Rock #Readathon *Update*

*Update blog post*

As I am still struggling to read anywhere near like the normal level of books for me, I am taking a prolonged break from blog tours.

This is for two reasons-one, working as nurse right now, after coming out of one of the worst winter pressures, leaping straight into the COVID-19 pandemic has been a literal trial by fire.

Further to that, we suffered the devastating loss of my dad in March, I had no time off, and am pushing through each day as best I can. It takes everything I have so to commit to, and then let down authors, publicists and blog tour organisers is completely unfair.

This is why any regualr visitor to the blog will have noticed a very sudden drop off of book posts, and why I am returning to old favourites, such as these-

Every now and again I will go back to a certain series of books and take a look at them with fresh eyes.

Having so many around the house, in every room and on shelves(as well as things that shouldn’t be shelves but end up being, hello stairs!)I tend to not so much focus my reading but wildly flail and end up with 5 books on the go, doing justice to none.

Being a HUGE Stephen King fan, I have pretty much all his books (I had them all but some have gone wandering since my eldest went to uni…coincidence? I think not!).

And there is this cool new show out in America based on the town of Castle Rock which uses the over arching mythology of the town and characters which walk through it as it pops up, or as it tangentially features in many of King’s works.

Normally a re-read means starting with ‘Carrie’ and moving through King’s back catalogue chronologically, but I always end up being distracted by ”Salem’s Lot’, move on to ‘It’ and then back to my other books. Epic fail!

This time, I tried to start with ‘The Dead Zone’ ( a much under appreciated novel and frighteningly prescient given the time we are living in) as suggested by the Castle Rock Wikipedia page.

Using this as my ground zero, I have started a #Kingathon (still trying to make that word happen!)

So far, I have read through The Dead Zone, ‘Cujo’, stories from ‘Skeleton Crew’, and now I have made my way to ‘Different Seasons’.

‘The Body’, subtitled ‘Fall From Innocence’ is not only a powerful meditation on growing up , it  is principally set in Castle Rock. It went on to be the basis of the movie, ‘Stand By Me’, an absolute classic, alongside ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (published as ‘Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption-Hope Springs Eternal)

Shawshank and characters who spent time behind bars there, regualrly intersect and pop up in other tales, so it makes sense to read, and review, the whole book.

Castle Rock,created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason and commissioned by the company Hulu, currently has 2 10 episode seasons (fingers crossed for more) .Both series 1 and 2 are available via Starzplay in the UK.

So in the meantime, I am reading and noticing the links across the decades, and the books, and trying to make #Kingathon and #Kingrimmage happen!

It’s a strange little town that marks anyone who lives there, it has a dark and twisted  history with many secrets yet to be revealed…

On my Instagram page (@booksinmyhallway) I have highlighted lots of pictures where connections between different books are made, it would be lovely if you could join in with the bookish chat!

Also, if you have a favourite author that you like to read, or series that you enjoy following, please leave me a comment, or if you have anything to say about Stephen King and his Castle Rock-verse I would love to hear from you!

In the meantime, ask to borrow these books from a friend, check out your library, local charity shops and book sales. There are lots of ways to read without spending a great deal of money and it is pleasantly surprising just how well his books stand up after all these years.