The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, a review?

Yes the question mark is there on purpose. This is my first review of a book I’ve DNFd. That right there tells you a fair bit about this book. I tried it and ended up decided I wasn’t going to read anymore of it. (DNF = did not finish)

This was my second work by King, the first being The Outsiders (see my review here), and my first collection of short stories from him. I was trying to read these around Hallowe’en cause I heard they could be spooky.

The concepts for the stories I did read were so interesting. But unfortunately the execution was just lacking. None of the stories gripped me, even for their short page spans, and I found myself putting off reading even one story a day.

Originally I had planned my DNF to only be temporary and that I would try to go back to this collection again later. But in playing my Balancing the Books game for my tbr in February I had to unhaul some books. This was one that got the chop.

Sadly this book was just a disappointment and it’s left me not all that excited to read 11.22.63 (which I still have on my shelves). Let’s just hope I enjoy that more

First Lines Friday! #26

It’s time for another First Lines Friday! Hosted by Wandering Words!!

What if, instead of judging a book by its cover or its author, we judged the book by its opening lines?

Here is how it works:

– Pick a book and open to the first page.

– Copy the first few lines without revealing which book it is.

– Reveal the book!

So… do these first lines entice you?

I’ve made some things for you, Constant Reader; you see them laid out before you in the moonlight. But before you look at the little handcrafted treasures I have for sale, let’s talk about them for a bit, shall we? It won’t take long. Here, sit down beside me. And do come a little closer. I don’t bite.

Except… we’ve known each other for a very long time, and I suspect you know that’s not entirely true.

Is it?

Scroll down to reveal the book!

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King

A short story collection which I picked up second hand purely because of the cover and the authors name! I really do need to get around to this one cause I bought it in December 2019, so maybe this is a contender for this years Spooky Season!! I’ve only finished one of King’s books before, and whilst I enjoyed it I did also find it quite problematic so I’m looking forward to being able to make more judgements on this, and on 11.22.63 to make up my mind about him. Have you read this one before? What did you think?

My first Stephen King!

I’ve finally read something from Stephen King!! It took me damn long enough to get to something by him! My friend, who picked this for my tbr, still hasn’t read this one, but once she does I’ll update with her opinion!

As for me, I really enjoyed this book! For quick a while it’s “just” a gripping thriller, where the wrong man is being convicted because all of the evidence points to him. But he’s got a solid tight alibi which says he wasn’t even in the area when the crime happened. What’s the truth?

Turns out it’s weirder than the detectives expected with a horror twist as you get further into the story. I really was engaged throughout this book and the audiobook is good too. I will say that there were sections which made me uncomfortable. Some of them were obviously supposed to, describing the crime scene and such. Some of them, however, weren’t supposed to. Descriptions of women, or of POC, seemed crude and kind of derogatory, which I didn’t enjoy.

I can look past that for a story well told, however, I feel like I have to mention it. Not doing so would make me feel like I was saying I was fine with it. Especially given that this book was published recently it’s just unacceptable and I hope that King changes his writing style to not objectify people.

An interesting read, which stayed in my head for a while, and a discombobulated review, because this book is a madhouse!