Hail to the King is a year-long reading challenge hosted by Cassie at Books With Cass and Leah at The Pretty Good Gatsby. Simply: it is a year long readathon to read as MUCH Stephen King as you so desire. You choose your goals, and its NO PRESSURE. You can find further details at both of the links above, and also sign up there too, but to tempt you, here are a few more details:
- Special posts coming your way for Stephen’s King birthday, Halloween, the halfway point, and the final month.
- Giveaways!
- Fun link up posts to see how you’re all doing! Are you petrified of your book? LOVING it? Tell us!
- Twitter fun! #hailtotheking will be our hashtag on twitter for the next YEAR.
The Levels
Scaredy Cat: 1-3 Novels or Short Stories
Need a Night Light: 4-7 Novels or Short Stories
No Monsters Under MY Bed: 8-11 Novels or Short Stories
Daredevil: 12-15 Novels or Short Stories
FEARLESS: 16 and Up!
The Questions
1. What got you into Stephen King?
It was so long ago now that I actually have no idea. I do remember seeing a battered old paperback copy of IT lying around our house and being completely terrified by the cover alone (I was pretty young at the time). I read the first chapter and as you may know, it doesn’t end well for someone. I can’t actually recall whether I read any further that time around, possibly not, but something grabbed my attention and Stephen King was definitely a name that stuck in my mind.
2. How long have you been a fan? Or are you a newbie?
I’ve been a fan for a few years now, more of a casual reader at first, picking up the odd novel here and there, but I became a more devoted fan since I read 11/22/63 when it was first published.
3. First King book you read? [or plan to!] Did you like it?
I read 11/22/63 when it first came out and I adored every single page. I thought it was wonderful. I especially liked the appearance of some of the children from IT. Reading about them seemed very familiar to me, and it got me thinking about that age-old paperback I recalled from many years ago, and whether I’d actually read the whole story before. I looked up the synopsis online and a great deal of it did feel familiar, but I still wasn’t sure. Needless to say, that was the very next book I went for. LOVED IT SO MUCH! If you’d told me before that that one of my favourite books was going to be a horror novel featuring a killer clown I probably wouldn’t have believed you, but the characters and their friendship and the whole way in which childhood camaraderie was portrayed really drew me in.
4. Level you’re aiming to achieve!
No Monsters Under MY Bed!
Yes, I’m going for 8 -11 in the hope that I’ll manage at least a couple of short story collections (I’m thinking Full Dark, No Stars and Different Seasons) and a few novels. As a little reminder to myself, some of the books I might try to read are Salem’s Lot, Desperation, Duma Key, Dreamcatcher, Insomnia, Joyland, Misery, and Needful Things. I doubt I’ll manage all of these, but I should manage some of them. Anything newly published will go straight to the top of my list too.
This time last year or the year before I would have been going for the highest level, but I’ve read quite a few already including – 11/22/63, Bag of Bones, Carrie, All of The Dark Tower, Doctor Sleep, The Girl Who Loved Ton Gordon, The Green Mile, IT, Mr. Mercedes, Revival, The Shining, The Stand and Under the Dome.
My Progress:
July
I’VE MADE A START!! AT LAST! I was beginning to think it would never happen. This month I read my first King of the year – Finders Keepers.
My current total for this challenge is now – 1
December
Have added two more books to my total, which gives me a grand (!) total of 3 books read:
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
Salem’s Lot
Pages And Tea 