Old school, New School

I have been reading a few good books lately and trying multiple books from the same author, so the first instalment is Stephen King.

People that know me well know that my favourite author is the afore mentioned genius King. I have a few thing to say about this:

• many people regard Stephen King as a popular horror only writer which puts them off reading if they don't like the genre. 'This is not literature!'
• I read and like many different genres but can always come back to any of Kings novels and love them.
• Stephen King is essentially a great storyteller who drags you into his world from the first page. He writes about good and evil, the human condition, love, friendship.... 

So two reviews today that I have read in the last couple of months. Two very different King novels- an old school and new school.

Desperation- published 1996
This is your traditional horror, gore-fest, good v evil Stephen King old skool novel. This one had by-passed me on it's release so it's the first time I have read it.
Whilst not the best of his horror novels I still couldn't put it down. A brief plot blurb:

'There's a place along Interstate 50 that some call the loneliest place on Earth. It's known as Desperation, Nevada.
It's not a very nice place to live. It's an even worse place to die. Let the battle against evil begin.
Welcome to ... Desperation.'
courtesy of GoodReads.com

I loved the landscape in this novel which became a character, changing and evolving all the time. King always explorers his characters and in this case their personal demons and what they are capable of doing in an impossible situation.
If you also enjoy the odd apocalyptic drama this ones for you... 

11.22.63- published 2011
and now for the new skool.
This definitely is your most mainstream Stephen King novel, being part historical drama, part time travel. If you are skeptical about the Kingster this is your entry level novel. A brief blurb:

'WHAT IF you could go back in time and change the course of history? WHAT IF the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN a young teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, gets the chance to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from shooting JFK in November 1963 is the premise of the brilliant new novel by STEPHEN KING: 11/22/63, the date that Kennedy was shot—unless . . .

King takes his protagonist Jake Epping, a high school English teacher, on a fascinating journey back to the world of 1958—from a world in 2011 of mobile phones and iPods to a new world of Elvis and JFK, of Plymouth Fury cars and Lindy Hopping, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake's life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.'
courtesy of GoodReads.com

Very cool book. Time travel to the 50's- hell yes! I loved concept of this book from the get go. Always love a good time travel novel and this was no exception although at a whopping 740 pages it got a bit lengthy in sections. One of the great things about this novel was the exploration of 'cause and effect' and how the very littlest things may cause consequences in the future, and can some things never be changed? Read it and find out, you know you want to.
King fans look out for the shout out to 'It' and Derry. Always love a hidden reference.