2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This is where we will discuss the book after we start reading it in June.

Please remember to mark spoilers by using spoiler tags: [spoiler]...[/spoiler], but replace [ by < and ] by >

How much of the rest of Stephen King's bibliography have the rest of you read?

I loved him when I was a teenager, read a lot of his early works in high school. I got tired of him when I was about 16 and didn't read anything again until Fairy Tale last year. I found it disappointing.

I found this one in my building's little free library and thought what the heck, it's a group read on Goodreads this month, I'll pick it up since it's no effort.

Jen, I've had a similar history with Stephen King. I read a lot of his work (and my old fave Dean Koontz) throughout the 90's as a kid. IT was the first big piece that I remember and it scarred me for life, haha. The Shining, Cujo, The Green Mile when it released as little novellas, and several others back in the day. I was a big fan. Through my 30's, I don't think I read a SK novel in at least 10+ years.
Then I read Fairy Tale last year and was also disappointed.

I'm about 220 pages into 11/22/63 and I'm looving it so far.
Mild-ish spoiler for Part 2 regarding location of said story (view spoiler)[ He goes to Derry ya'll! (hide spoiler)]

I just made it to part 3 and I need to get this out so bigger spoilers for part 2...
(view spoiler)[ I was literally at the edge of my seat the whole time as we went through Derry.
Sooo many references from IT.
Everytime there was mention of that damn clown I got chills. And the kids! This felt like old King to me. (hide spoiler)]

I listened to 11/22/63 a few ago because my dad raved about it. Since then, I've recommended it to many people who were happy I did.

It might be time for a reread. (or listen)

Taken me a while to get hold of a copy it finally arrived yesterday, so have only just started to read it, by the reviews I’m looking forward to reading it. I was a big reader of Stephen King in the 90’s and read his books avidly the last one of his books I read was Dr Sleep as I was finding his book’s a less satisfying read ,for some reason, and moved on to other writers. Hoping this lives up to my expectations 🤞

**Questions to Think About as You Read**

1. General Impressions
- What were your overall thoughts on the novel? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?

2. Previous Experience with the Author
- Have you read other books by Stephen King?
- If yes, how does this novel compare to his other works?
- If no, do you plan to read more books by Stephen King after this one?

3. Time Travel Mechanics
- In this novel, time travel always takes you to the exact same date and time, resetting the future as a clean slate. What are your thoughts on the time travel rules Stephen King has established?

4. Influence of King's Background
- Stephen King was a teacher before becoming a full-time writer. Do you think his teaching experience influenced his characterization of Jake?

5. Historical Research
- "11/22/63" intertwines real historical events with fictional elements. Did you learn anything surprising about the events leading up to the Kennedy assassination?

6. Character Analysis: Jake
- How would you describe Jake as a person? Why does he agree to travel back in time? At this stage in your life, would you be willing to travel back in time? What conditions would you require?

7. Cultural Differences Between Eras
- Describe the world Jake from 2011 encounters when he arrives in 1958. What cultural changes have occurred over the 50 years? What has remained the same? Would you prefer to live in one era over the other?

8. Subplot in Derry, Maine
- What significance does Jake's first stop in Derry, Maine, have to do with Dallas, Texas? Why does King include this subplot? What point is he making about the events in Derry? Is this subplot necessary, or does it slow down the main plot?

9. Foreknowledge of Future Events
- In the novel, Jake knows the future actions of certain people. How does this knowledge affect his perception of them? If you knew someone’s future actions, how might it change your interactions with them in the present? Would you feel compelled to change their behavior? Would you consider extreme measures like murder to prevent a horrible event?

10. Moral Dilemmas
- Jake is portrayed as a good and decent man who cares for others, yet he is willing to commit murder and profit from his knowledge of the future. What do these actions reveal about his character? Did his willingness to bend morality affect your perception of him? Do these "bad" acts make him less likable or trustworthy?

if you need or want more let me know
Happy Reading!!

No time travel rules ever make complete sense, so I think you just have to accept them as they're established. I think the repetition is necessary for learning, so Jake has to go back in time once to prove it's real, and the second time to establish Frank Dunning's timeline so he can stop him for real on attempt 3. I do wish it hadn't taken quite so long, I'm up to page 250 or so and very little has happened yet. This was a part of the reason I stopped reading King as a teenager: it felt like his books were getting longer and less rewarding. I picked up Fairy Tale last year and didn't love it, partly because the story got bogged down. I do hope this one will pick up.

Jen wrote: "No time travel rules ever make complete sense, so I think you just have to accept them as they're established. I think the repetition is necessary for learning, so Jake has to go back in time once ..."

I watched the show on Hulu while rereading it last year, and it made the experience way more enjoyable. I loved Fairy Tale, but after rereading IT last year, I'm taking a bit of a break from Stephen King. I totally get what you mean about feeling bogged down, though.

I just got to the part where he's met Sadie and he at least says he's now going to stay in the past, despite the racism and the sexism and the worse health outcomes and the bad TV. But there's no mention that he might try to explain the situation to Sadie and bring her to 2011, where she can

The only 2 other time-travel media I consume somewhat consistently are Outlander and Back to the Future, and they're the same: hardly anyone from the past ever ends up going forward in time. There's one episode in Outlander where one character ends up in 1980s Scotland, but all he does is criticise a woman for having a job where she has male colleagues and watch TV, and then they find a reason to go back to the 18th century.

I find that rather a pity, because I'd like to see characters from 50 years ago interacting with our time just as much as it's interesting to think about how neat it would be to go back in time, provided you fit the approved demographic categories.

And then I think what I'd want to travel back to see, and the answer is always the 1896 Olympics because of a contemporaneous article I read about how disorganised it was, like the Americans were already used to swimming in heated indoor pools, so then some of them jumped back out of Piraeus harbour at the start of the swimming races, and no one had actually run a marathon, so they didn't know how to do it.

Jen, right before I read 11/22/63, I read The Ministry of Time, in which several people from the past are brought forward to a point that is a bit into our future. It's interesting to see how they succeed & fail in adapting to all of the things that have changed in the decades or centuries that have passed since their own timelines.

I've been readding Stephen King off & on for 40 years (since I was 5--my first of his books was Pet Sematary, & I really don't know how much I understood as a 5-year-old, but I definitely never tried to bring a deceased pet back to life, so that was one life lesson learned). I don't know how this guy turns out these doorstop books year after year after year...for decades. It's interesting to think about the indelible impact he's had on pop culture. People make Stephen King references & they might not even know they're making Stephen King references.

Anyway. I did think the long interlude in Derry slowed the story down. The scene with the swing dancing kids was bizarre. I kept waiting for them to be timekeepers or something that were going to try to stop him because they just had so much useful information. It reminded me of the scene in "Wayne's World" when the security guard at the Alice Cooper concert gives Wayne & Garth all the details of the music producer's intended route. "Hmmm, they had an awful lot of information for a couple of lindyhoppers, don't you think?" I felt the same way about Frati, the bookie. Like, are you Dunning's personal biographer? Why are you telling this stranger ALL of his business?

I think I personally would pass on traveling back in time. I don't even want to travel to my own mailbox. But if some young person with more pep in their step than I have wanted to travel back in time &, say, prevent climate change, that would be great! Even if they had to kill some people & support themselves by sports betting. What's even the point in traveling back in time if you're not going to make aggressive bets on long-shot sporting events? I'd be more disappointed in a person, morally speaking, if they DIDN'T do that. :D

Aren't the swing dancing kids from IT?

I'm now up around page 400 and it still feels like very little has happened. It's a pretty good book, but it would be great if it was chopped in half. Or if it was more focused. Like, if it started closer to 1963 and he spent more time stalking Oswald and we could get a fictional account of his actions over a few months, rather than the occasional oh, now he's in Moscow or oh now he's trying to give up his US citizenship and now we'll have 50 irrelevant pages of me being a schoolteacher in Florida.

Ciara wrote: "I've been readding Stephen King off & on for 40 years (since I was 5--my first of his books was Pet Sematary, & I really don't know how much I understood as a 5-year-old"

Five years old and reading Pet Semetary?!

Jen wrote: "Aren't the swing dancing kids from IT?

I'm now up around page 400 and it still feels like very little has happened. It's a pretty good book, but it would be great if it was chopped in half. Or if..."

Yep - lots of references to IT in the beginning.

I liked the time we spent with him teaching! :) The play had me all misty eyed throughout.
I do think we could do without the Sadie storyline as I'm about 65% through and they do nothing for me so far. So for me, that's a lot of writing that I don't think is doing this story any favors.

I just finished today. I kept meaning to come on here and share some of my thoughts but basically whenever I had a minute and was thinking about it, I would rather be reading the book than coming on here haha. I loved it! I totally get the complaints about it feeling a little bogged down and a little slow at points but personally I actually really enjoy how much worldbuilding King does in his novels. It's more immersive and makes it easier for me to get invested. I'd rather read a book like this that has more of a slow buildup to the action than one where it feels like everything is happening at once.

I must have read Carrie 20 times as a kid, and it packs plenty of world-building into 275 pages or so. He obviously has a lot of fans who love his world-building and would probably love it if more of his books were a thousand pages. But I stopped reading him as a teenager because the books were getting too bogged down in the weeds. I am enjoying this book, but I'd love it if it were snappier.