More King

Hey guys!

Sorry to leave you hanging, but I was busy yesterday. As much as I love blogging, my little cousin had finished her first year of preschool and there was an adorable graduation ceremony. And there was no way I was missing that.

So, to make up for my absence yesterday, how about some more Stephen King? Specifically, Misery.

If I remember correctly, I actually saw the movie before I read the book . . . I think. Okay, I actually really don't remember. But anyway, it's a pretty simple plot and although the book and the movie are pretty different, it's still the same idea. So if you've seen the movie but haven't read the book, I say give it a whirl because it's a pretty good read. And - I said this in my review of Cujo, but I'll say it again: if you've never read King before, Misery is a pretty good way to get started. It is longer than Cujo, but it still has a lot of King trademarks.

Okay, so the basic story is that a writer named Paul Sheldon gets into a car accident in a rural area during a snowstorm after writing his latest book. He went off-road and is in life-threatening condition and is pulled from the car and saved by his number one fan, Annie Wilkes.

Annie, a former nurse, abandons his car in the snow and brings him back to her farm, splinting his broken legs and giving him regular doses of pain medication. She nurses him back to health, and in return he allows her to read his manuscript.

Although she has read everything he has written, Annie is a huge fan of his Misery series, a poorly-written romance saga starring a young woman named Misery. What she doesn't know is that in the last Misery book, Paul Sheldon has killed her off and his new manuscript is an attempt to remove himself from Misery's world and start taking his own writing more seriously.

Once she has read the final installment of Misery, Annie cannot accept that her beloved fictional character is gone. So she keeps Paul Sheldon in her home, letting the world believe he is dead, and forces him to write Misery's Return.

Realizing that Annie Wilkes suffers from extreme depression and a violent temper, Paul Sheldon knows that he must play by her rules if he is ever able to escape. But with his two broken legs, Annie's constant presence and her uncanny attention to detail, how can Paul Sheldon ever get away?

Read the cockadoodie book to find out how he can pull this off.

I'll admit that this post is a bit shorter than usual, but never fear. I am about halfway through The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater, and it will be up and coming in a future blog post. Anyway, if you enjoyed reading my blog, leave a comment and follow my blog if you're a regular reader.

Happy reading!!