A Stephen King Summer

I've loved reading Stephen King books since I was a kid, since I was able to choose my own books from the local library.

This summer I've read exclusively from his back catalogue.

And boy, have I enjoyed it!

Stephen King writes brilliant stories. He writes great characters, brilliant settings and amazing dialogue. He is one of a handful of writers who make me forget I'm reading at all, it's effortless.

But what he also writes with incredible skill is ordinary.

Now I don't mean his stories are ordinary, they are anything but. What I mean is, he writes ordinary people, in ordinary places speaking and acting like regular folks do.

And that makes Stephen King an extra-ordinary writer. I don't think there is a better storyteller in the world. Sure, some books are better than others but I've never put one down and thought, meh. I've enjoyed all of them. You know what you're going to get - entertainment, a good time and an experience that's worth every penny of the admission fee.

I re-read 'Salem's Lot at the start of the summer - some of it from a hospital bed and even when I was feeling like absolute crap, he took me away from the situation and dropped me right in the middle of that diabolical little Maine town. The story is as good now as it was back when I was just getting started.

Thank you for a great summer Stephen King!