Apt Pupil, by Stephen King

This is the second story in Different Seasons by Stephen King.  While I didn't like it as much as The Shawshank Redemption, it was still very good.  In typical King style, he draws us deep inside the main characters and, although we don't learn to love them--or even like them--it's hard not to be at least interested in them.

Even though this novella is about 70,000 words long, it moves quickly and the pacing is excellent.  I'm looking forward to reading the next story, The Body, upon which the movie Stand by Me was based.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

I can't believe this is an international best seller.  The dialogue is wooden, there's way too much description (how many times do we need to hear that the protagonist had coffee?  and why do we care what chair he sat in?), and the murder mystery never builds any suspense.

I read on Wikipedia that Larsson wrote this and other books just for himself in his spare time.  This one read like it, and it's shocking that the book wasn't heavily edited before publishing.  At 100,000 words instead of 200,000 the book may have been more bearable.

The Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King

This is a great novella in the compilation Different Seasons.  The story starts out slow but then really draws you in and keeps you reading.  I don't know how King does it, but he is really a great story teller.  I should read it again to get clues to his method.

While My Pretty One Sleeps, by Mary Higgins Clark

This book was cliched and contrived.  Mary Higgins Clark does not have an original or creative writing style.  The book was set up as a who-dunnit with multiple characters who could all have committed the crime.  However, it was so obvious that these suspects could have done it that it was obvious that none of them did it.  The real killer ended up being one of the minor characters with no real clues pointing to him until the last third of the book.

This was a very disappointing read.

Misery, by Stephen King

I really enjoyed this book, perhaps because it is about a writer and King gives many insights into the writing process as well as the life of a writer.  It wasn't as scary as I thought it might be but it was funnier.

The novel was plotted well with good pacing.  I enjoyed the metaphors such as the author's pain as pilings that were exposed by the tide being pulled by Annie as the moon.  I think one of the most enjoyable aspects was getting deep inside the character of the author and King did a good job of not interrupting the magic.

I saw the movie years ago and almost didn't read it because I didn't like the movie.  I'm sure glad I gave the book a chance--it's one of my favorites.