Here’s something for Valentine’s Day.
Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?
This will scandalize the Smock, who loves this author more than he deserves. I was a BIG fan of Stephen King in the beginning. Shocked, aren't you? But I think some of his earlilest works were absolutely terrifying. And surprisingly well-written. I have a horror of walking down basement steps and of looking out of dark windows ever since 'Salem's Lot. Tall bushes freak me out ever since I read The Shining. (And don't get me started on what an absolute travesty the movie made of that book was. Jack Nicholson was absolutely and completely wrong for that part.) And The Stand is one of my favorites in apocalyptic literature.
But about 10 years in, I guess, I think he went off the tracks. A few bright moments--Misery comes to mind (and one of the only movies to actually stand up to a book, thanks to the brilliant Kathy Bates)--but mostly meh.
Could he win me back? Perhaps. But perhaps at this point I have seen enough real life yuck to think I don't need it in my life in a virtual way.
BLASPHEMER! shame, for shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame!
remind me to give you a very harsh tongue scolding when i see you next mamaT! i will tell you this, if you read duma key your heart will go pitter-pat. i'll buy the book at full publisher's price from you iffin' i'm wrong.
E.L. Doctorow. I still think Ragtime is maybe the best novel ever. But when I read (and I don't think I even finished it) City of God the love affair was over. But he lures me back every time I reread Ragtime.