Just a few more scares, please?

Just a few more scares, please?, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

So Halloween is over, and with it, the RIP Reading Challenge.

I wrapped up the month (and my personal mini-challenge of 3 more books,) by reading the first two books of The Dark Tower series. Holy mother of pumpkin pie! How did I miss out on this for so many years?

I have nobody to blame but my own stubborn refusal to read it. See, I was convinced that Stephen King novels were like all those bad 80s and 90s fright movies that were short on plot and long on the stabbing with rusty knives.

Dark Tower (for the one or two of you reading this who may still be uninitiated,) is... well, epic. The kind of world-birthing series that creates obsessive, stalking fans. It feels like horror, but it reads like literature. King has a way of making you feel like you are inside the head of the observer, watching what unfolds, absorbing it as they are, instead of just reading words on a page.

I have a bad habit of turning to the back of the book when I'm reading suspense. If it gets too tense, I have to find out if my favorite character survived. (I love "spoilers.") With The Dark Tower, I'll know when I get there. I can't jump ahead, because the characters can't jump ahead. It's a very strange thing for me.

Once again, a huge THANKS to Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings for the reading challenge. I had fallen into a habit of not reading. I'm not sure how it happened, all my life I have been a voracious reader. I blame it on the intarwebs. Too tempting, and that mouse and keyboard sucks all of my time away.

Reading 8 books in less than 2 months really got me back in the habit again, one I didn't realize how much I missed. (I also managed to read Robota, for a total of 8 completed novels. I'm half way through The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands.)

This has been a RIP Challenge.