Melissa’s Comments (group member since Dec 14, 2017)

Melissa’s comments from the Stephen King 2025 read-along group.

Loved the pun!

Hello and welcome, Constant Readers, to the month of October.

This month, we follow along with Lala and her Buzzwordathon, featuring the book cover theme of weapons. Depending on the edition you have of each book, you will find an ax, a scythe, and a sword. Ashley and I have again chosen a variety of books for you to peruse this month.

Let us start with the book Misery, published in 1987. This novel is considered a psychological horror that follows two characters: Annie Wilkes, a former nurse, and Paul Sheldon, a writer. The two meet on a snowy roadside after a car accident. Paul awakens to find himself in a farmhouse and, unfortunately, held captive.

The movie Misery, directed by Rob Reiner, came out in 1990, starring Kathy Bates and James Caan. If you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend. Kathy Bates won an Academy Award for her performance.

Next up, we have The Stand. A novel that I have never once picked up do to its sheer size. It intimidates me. Although I have read the novel IT, which is 50 pages longer. However, according to Wikipedia, in 1990, The Stand was restored and reprinted from the original published book. This uncut version apparently has 14 more pages than IT. So who knows, they are both long.

The Stand is a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy published in 1978. The Stand focuses on different factions that have pocketed this world after an influenza pandemic. Each faction is led by either good or evil. We are introduced to Randall Flagg in this story, who will become a recurring antagonist in future books, especially in The Dark Tower series.

Two television adaptations have come out for The Stand. One was the miniseries in 1994 starring Gary Sinise. The other miniseries came out in 2020, starring James Marsden. The 1994 version can be seen on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. As for the 2020 version, if you have Paramount Plus, you can watch it for free on Amazon Prime or with YouTube if you have a primetime subscription.

The last book we have on our list for this month is Never Flinch, a crime novel published just this year, May 27, 2025. This story follows Holly Gibney. We have seen her before in several other books. The Mercedes Trilogy, The Outsider, If It Bleeds, and the book with her namesake, Holly. This story has Holly signing up to be a bodyguard to a celebrity feminist activist. While Holly is protecting Kate McKay, a killer is threatening to kill 14 people as retribution for the death of an innocent man in prison.

I always enjoy finding easter eggs in King's novels. I wonder what we will see in this new one.

Well, my Stephen King friends. I hope all is well with you, and we start this October right with more riveting reads. Good luck to all of you, and as always, Happy Reading!

Excited for this reading month. I too will be continuing on my Dark Tower read. I put down book 7 near the end of Roland’s journey. This is the best series I’ve ever read. I don’t want it to end. I’m also nervous about the ending. I have loved King for 30 years! I will die if it ends like Under the Dome. Wish me luck as well.

Good luck to all our friends here and Ashley… you go girl!

Welcome and Salutations, Constant Readers!

It's August. As a teacher, it's a dreaded time of year. Back to school. I love teaching, but the butterflies and anxiety of meeting my new students for the first time always get to me.

This month, Ashley and I chose two books for the buzzwordathon cover theme (transportation). You can either read From a Buick 8 or Charlie the Choo-Choo. From a Buick 8 is about 496 pages, depending on your edition. This, like Christine, is about a car that may or may not be a real car.

Then there is the children's picture book Charlie the Choo-choo that is referenced in King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower series. I haven't read From a Buick 8, so I'm interested in learning more about this book. The latter is a delicious and delightful story of a scary train that only wants to be a train forever.

Let's get to the details. From a Buick 8 was written back in 99. King stopped at a gas station that gave him the idea for part of the story. He later got struck by a car and almost died, so he didn't get to finish the book until 2 years later.

The story is written in recollections by Troop D, Pennsylvania Police Officers. The blue 1953 vintage Buick Roadmaster was found abandoned at a gas station and had been in storage since 1979. A boy by the name of Ned is curious about the car, and so the story begins with the police officers telling him the story of the car and how they don't think it's a car at all.

This story has been in the works for a movie adaptation since 2005. It has changed hands and directors many times. Most recently, in 2024, it was attached to James Wan. Not sure if it will happen. I love watching King adaptations.

Charlie the Choo-Choo again is a children's book "written" by Beryl Evans. Like I said, it is a book referenced in the Dark Tower series. Jake, one of the side characters who is a part of Roland Deschain's ka-tet, finds the book in a bookstore, and it changes his trajectory. The story itself is creepy. It has a little jingle that Charlie sings to his conductor that my kids hated, but I would make sure to sing it loud and scary. If you haven't picked up this picture book, I highly recommend adding it to your King collection.

I hope you all had fun reading The Cell last month, and enjoy reading these. Let me know which one you choose to read this month, and as always, Happy Reading!

Hello and salutations, Constant Readers!

I hope all of you are happy and healthy. It's JUNE! Can you believe it? I'm so excited to take a break from teaching Math this school year. Algebra 1 to freshman is fun and also wow lol.

This month, we are reading the short and sweet Elevation. We are continuing to follow Lala's Buzzwordathon. This month's cover theme is celestial bodies. The cover has a firework on the cover, but you do see a few stars.

Elevation came out in October of 2018 and is set in our favorite town of Castle Rock. This story follows a man named Scott Carey who has a mysterious illness that makes him lose weight rapidly. Now don't get it twisted. This isn't a rip off of Thinner. This story takes you on an emotional roller coaster. At 146 pages, you could definitely read this in one sitting.

Is there a movie, you ask? Well, according to the internet, it is currently in development and being directed by Jack Bender, the same man who directed King's other show adaptations, such as Outsider, Under the Dome, and Mr. Mercedes. I'm not sure when it will be released, but I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Have you read this book before? Will this be a reread for you? I can't wait to hear how you like it and as always friends Happy Reading.

Good Morning/Evening Constant Readers. If you had spring break off like I did last week, I hope everyone enjoyed it. I hope all are doing well and we are ready to kick off another King book. This month Lala chose Animal for the cover of her buzzwordathon. If you have been with us since 2018, we have read quite a few books with animals on the cover. If you are new to King and haven't picked these books up or are ready for a re-read, Ashley and I have 3 books this month to choose from. Cujo, Pet Semetary, or Dreamcatcher.

Cujo came out during my birth year of 1981. This is a book about a Saint Bernard who has rabies and terrorizes a mom and her son. This book and its movie adaptation freaked me out. I would have hated to be in this situation. The movie titled with the same name came out in 1983 starring Dee Wallace. The scream queen from The Hills Have Eyes, The Howling, Critters, and the mom from E.T.

If you decide to read Pet Semetary, we are graced with a cat on the cover. This book is a treat if you like the living dead. This novel was published in 1983 and is about Louis Creed and his family. The couple and their two children move to a new town that is adjacent to a busy highway. Jud their new neighbor warns the small family about the trucks that race on down this road and shows them the pet cemetery built for and by the local children for their loving pets that have met their doom along the highway. If you decide to watch the movie. I suggest the 1989 version starring Fred Gwynne (the judge from My Cousin Vinny). This movie scared the crap out of me as a kid. If you like adaptations of adaptations, in 2021 Guillermo Del Toro directed a version that includes some parts that he thought were important that were left out of the original movies. Yes movies, There was a Pet Semetary Two (I don't recommend).

Lastly, if you have read both Cujo and Pet Semetary and are looking for a book that you haven't read before, then we offer you Dreamcatcher. This is an alien book. On the cover you will see deer because the book takes place at a cabin in the woods where a group of childhood friends gather every year for their annual hunting trip. This is one of King's books that is much better than the movie version. This book was published in 2001. The four friends share unusual powers and while they are at their hunting lodge there is an alien invasion. This is one of King's books that has stayed with me over the years. Such an awesome book. As for the movie adaptation... the movie came out in 2003 starring Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Morgan Freeman, Donnie Wahlberg, and Timothy Olyphant. I have to admit, the film was okay. I saw it in the theater, however the ending was pretty cheesy and wasn't the same as the book. Fair warning!

Alright, my friends. I hope you find a book that you will love this month. Please sound off below what you think of these books. Are they re-reads for you? Good luck, have fun and as always happy reading!

Good morning/evening Constant Readers. How did you fair last month? Let's continue our ride through Lala's Buzzwordathon (Book Cover Edition) with this month's cover pick theme "skyline". I had to go through many of King's books to find a skyline and I found a couple of publishers that had a decent skyline for The Institute one is from Meijer and the other is from Hatchette.

What is this book about you say? Well, this will be my first time reading it. It came out in 2019 to rave reviews. Doesn't most of King's books? HA! Anyways this is sci-fi post apocalyptic horror following a 12 year old boy Luke Ellis who has been kidnapped after his parents are murdered. He wakes up in an institute for children with telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Sounds like some other books King has written. I wonder if there will be some easter eggs or cameo characters from other books in this one.

What about adaptations? Well MGM has signed on for an eight episode series. Director is Jack Bender who directed Lost and Mr. Mercedes and it is starring the oh so hunky Ben Barnes. He is one of my all time movie crushes. Have you seen The Portrait of Dorian Gray...he was also in the tv show Shadow and Bone. *whispers* still haven't seen that show, but I read all the books.

The post I read for the tv show adaptation is from Forbes, June 2024. No start date yet for this series, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

I can't wait to hear what you have to say about this book. Did you read it when it first came out?

Hope you all have a great rest of your February and as always Happy Reading!!

Chelley wrote: "Happy new year !"

Happy New Year!!

Happy Holidays Constant Readers,

It is December and I can't believe how quickly the time flew by. This month we are following along with Lala's Buzzwordathon and for this month the theme is "holiday 'christmas' specific" Which means that Holly by Stephen King is the perfect book for this theme and for this time of year.

Holly came out last year in 2023. This is a new one for me. I have not read it yet. However, Holly shouldn't be new to us as she has been a character in 3 of King's books so far. You can find Holly Gibney in Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keeper's and The Outsider. In this novel Holly must solve the mysterious disappearences of multiple people in a midwestern town.

I for one am always a sucker for covers with houses on the front and a good mystery thriller.

If you want to see Holly in action there are two adaptations you can watch. Mr. Mercedes was turned into a tv show and can be found on Peacock. You can also watch Holly in action with the miniseries The Outsider on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

Holly the book and character has been said online that it will be adapted, but I havne't found out anything just yet. However, according to Stephen King Holly will make another appearance in 2025. Will it be a sequel or another cameo in a different book?

Can't wait to find out. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you live in the US and I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and New Year if you celebrate.

P.S. Ashley and I will still be here in the new year. I'll be getting our new list ready and posting in the new year.

Happy Holidays and as always Happy Reading!

Hello Constant Readers!

I hope you are all doing well and ready for spooky reads this Halloween season. As always we are following along with Lala's Buzzwordathon and this month's theme is relationships. Ashley and I have chosen two short stories that you can check out this month. Either one or both fulfill this theme. "Father's Day"-Creepshow, or Little Sisters of Eluria-Everything's Eventual. I have read both of these short stories and highly recommend them.

The Creepshow is a comic-style book that holds several short stories. I grew up on the Creepshow and so I'm extremely biased. I love these stories.

Little Sisters of Eluria is in the short story collection Everything's Eventual and is set in the world of the Dark Tower Series. You get to visit Roland Deschain again!

The Creepshow is a 1982 film directed by George A. Romero. Father's Day is the first short story in the film that you get to watch. You can rent it on Prime for $2.99 or you could probably just find the short you are looking for on Youtube.

From what I could google, there isn't a short film adaptation for Little Sisters of Eluria. Even if there was... I don't think I would watch it. The Dark Tower adaptation was horrendous.

I hope you all have a safe spooky season and enjoy these short stories and as always Happy Reading!

wendy wrote: "hola chica miss you on YouTube."

Hi Wendy! I know... I keep saying I'm going to come back. I do want to come back. It's just going to be a transition. Since I left, my husband has taken over my side of the computer desk I'll need to clean all of that up and I haven't used my desktop in a few years so it will be a lot of updates and cleaning house on that computer to get back into filming. I am coming up with new video ideas so hopefully soon.

Hello Constant Readers!

It is another month of reading King. I hope you all are continuing to enjoy the ride. Up this month for Lala's Buzzwordathon is "the senses." Our pick for this month is the final book in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, End of Watch.

This is a book I still have not picked up yet. So I'm excited to finish this trilogy. I did pick up Mr. Mercedes years ago and followed it up with Finders Keepers which definitely ended on a cliffhanger.

Have you read the Mr. Mercedes books yet? If you haven't read the first book I highly recommend. If you can read all 3 books this month. You go!! Great job.

This series is about a man who steals a Mercedes and runs over a bunch of people killing them. He is on the loose. A retired detective decides to figure out who the killer is at first out of boredom, then out of necessity.

This trilogy has a drama series adapted for your pleasure. There are three seasons on Peacock, Starring Brendan Gleeson and Harry Treadaway.

I hope you enjoy this read this month and as always Happy Reading!!

Hello Constant Readers!!

Happy 4th of July! I hope all are doing well and are happy and healthy. It's been so hot here in San Diego, looking forward to seeing the fireworks tonight. What are you all up to? Are you ready for this month's pick? Thanks to Lala and Buzzzwordathon our "theme" for this month is "measurement" sifting through all of King's works there were two short stories that fit nicely into this category. In the Tall Grass, or "The Fifth Quarter"-Nightmare and Dreamscapes.

In the Tall Grass is a novella written by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill. It was originally published in Esquire Magazine 2012. I love that King still writes for magazines. The audiobook is read by King as well. A film adaptation of the novella came out in 2015, directed by Vincenzo Natali and started streaming on Netflix back in 2019. Which is still available today to watch. Looking forward to seeing how the adaptations are similiar.

If you do not have In the Tall Grass you are also welcome to read the short story "The Fifth Quarter" found in Nightmares and Dreamscapes. This particular short story was written in 1972 and is the only story King wrote under the pen name of John Swithen. https://www.cinemablend.com/televisio...

The link above takes you to more information on the adaptation mini-series on Amazon. It isn't available in my location to watch, which makes me wish I had that VPN app that puts me in a different country. If you can watch this on Amazon. Please let me know how it is. It's Season1 episode 6.

I hope everyone has a great reading month. Happy Reading!

Chelley wrote: "It’s July! I’m going to start Billy Summers today .. hope you all have a great month ! Happy 4th"

Hey girly pie! Happy 4th of July!! Can't believe how fast the summer is already going by. I'm enjoying my summer break as a teacher and have had a hard time paying attention to the dates lol.

Good evening Constant Readers,

This introduction of this month's Stephen King read is late due to writing a nice detailed message and then having myself accidentally close the tab without saving it. I do believe goodreads should have an autosave in 2025. I was too frustrated to retype this until now.

This month's buzzwordathon challenge is the word "Every". This word can be found anywhere in the title of the book. I have 21 more days left of teaching 9th graders Algebra 1 and I have 2 days left of college. I graduate on the 18th go me!

This month I have selected another short story collection for you all to help catch up with any other reading you might have this month. You as always can read the entire short story collection or just the one story we will be focusing on. "Everything's Eventual" is a short story from this collection. This is one of my favorite short story collections so I hope you enjoy.

Everything's Eventual was originally posted in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1997. It was then added to this short story collection in 2000.

This short story is about a young man named Dinky who has a knack for drawing things that have a negative effect on people and animals. this "power" is coveted by a certain group. Dinky is told to draw pictures for this establishment and he will have a comfortable living. Sounds too good to be true. This sort of reminded me of Duma Key in a way.

There is an Everything's Eventual movie that can be found on IMDB, however, it is made by Dollar Babies an amateur/indie company. If you ever have the opportunity to watch it, please tell me how you liked it. From the comments, it's really good.

As always when Ashley and I post these monthly book shares on a short story collection you can always read the entire thing or just the short story.

I hope you all are having an amazing month and as always Happy Reading!

Good evening Constant Readers! My how the time flies. It is officially March and we continue our journey through Lala's Buzzwordathon. For March the challenge is Names As Titles. There are two picks for this month that you can choose from. Of course, there is the amazing Lisey's Story which I haven't read about two decades, and Gwendy's Button Box trilogy. Whichever you would like to pick up. It's your choice.

Lisey's Story was published in 2006. It's a psychological horror/romance. This book won or was nominated for several awards, including the Bram Stoker Award for best novel (2006) and the World Fantasy Award in 2007.

This story is about the widowed wife of a famous writer. It's like two stories in one. You follow Lisey in the present and Lisey's husband Scott Landon as she remembers his life. I remember reading this book when it first came out and loving it. I hope you do too.

Lisey's story was also adapted into a miniseries for Apple TV in 2021. Directed by Pablo Larrain and starring Julieanne Moore and Clive Owen.

I haven't seen this miniseries, but it seems intriguing especially since the scripts were written by King and I love the actors. Hoping to see it soon. The miniseries has 8 episodes.

Let me know down below what you are going to pick. Lisey or Gwendy? I hope you have a fabulous March and as always Happy Reading!

Chelley wrote: "Happy new year ! I’m so happy you guys are still doing this book club … I’m going to try to be more active this year:)"

I'm so happy you are still hanging out with us. Cheers to a wonderful reading year.

Hello and welcome to another year here at Stephen King read-along Constant Readers!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. This year we are continuing with Lala's Buzzwordathon/Stephen King mashup. Hope you all don't mind. It helps me choose books to read each month that I might not have thought of.

This month's buzzwordathon "word" is (there,their,they're). Ashley and I have chosen two short stories (I'm still in school for one more semester) The first one is in the graphic novel Creepshow. The title of this story is "They're Creeping Up On You" If you have not yet watched the 1982 film with the same title I recommend it. This story is about a man who has a fear of roaches. This link takes you to a clip of the short story from the 1982 film posted on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t-G5... If you do not like roaches and that is a trigger for you. Do not watch. You might have questions about the Creepshow tv series on Shudder the streaming platform. That series serves as a continuation of the 1982 film and does not showcase stories from Stephen King, but is written in the same style as the original short stories from what I have gathered online.

If you do not own Creepshow and you would like to read the other short story, we chose "Here There Be Tygers" which can be found in Skeleton Crew. In this very short story, a boy believes a tiger lurks in a bathroom. https://vimeo.com/217589081 Click on this link if you would like to watch a five-minute video on Vimeo based on the short story.

Ashley and I are so happy to have you all reading with us this year. Good luck with all your reads and as always Happy Reading!

Chelley wrote: "Hi everyone happy holidays :) I realized today that I haven’t read the tommyknockers! So I’m starting that one tonight. I hope you all have a safe and happy new year"

How did the Tommyknockers go? I still insanely haven't read it fully. I also insanely only finished 5 books this year which is just crazy. I can not wait to finish school.

Hello Constant Readers!

This month we are continuing with Layla's Buzzwordathon readathon and kiling two birds with one stone here at Stephen King read-along. This month we are reading a short story called the "Good Marriage". This can be found in the short story collection Full Dark, No Stars. The Buzzwordathon word of the month is "Good" and I was happy to find a short story to help with those like me who can't commit to a full novel.

Good Marriage was written in 2010. This novella according to Fangoria.com is inspired by a true story of the BTK killer Dennis Radar and his wife Paula.

The movie adaptation came out in 2014 and stars Joan Allen and Anthony Lapaglia. This movie can be found on Amazon Prime with Ads.

Like always, you can just read novella or you can read the entire book it is up to you.

I once again apologize for my late post of this topic. I'm going through mental stress with full time working as a teacher and going to school at night while trying to juggle all the homework. Soon you will get the Missy back that you knew before school, who is obsessed with reading and talking about all the books I've read.