2016 Reading Challenge

A new year is upon us. Isn’t it remarkable to think that we’re in the later half of the second decade of the 21st century now? I know it sounds cliched, but it really feels like just yesterday that we were worrying about the collapse of our civilization because many computers wouldn’t understand the transition from 1999 to 2000. In this new year, I want to try and use this blog more. I’m not making this a resolution, so that if I do end up ignoring it, I won’t feel bad. I’ve spent some time removing the earlier traces and putting in new software and a new theme. I mainly want a space where I can explore ideas and thoughts I get while reading, gaming, working, or just living. I want to dive back into my photography dabbling and share the results of that. I’m meandering my slow way into Maker culture – exploring what other people are doing and trying to tackle new skills. I hope to be able to share that here as well.

For my first real post though, I want to declare the reading challenge I’ve set for myself in 2016. I have decided to attempt reading the complete Stephen King. I have read nearly every one of his books already, so this will primarily be rereading for me, although there are a few random books (like Cujo) which I haven’t read for various reasons. The nice thing about this challenge is that I have nearly every one of his books already and it should be trivial to get the missing ones either from my library or buying them. By my rough calculations this is about 63 books and about 32,000 pages. I also do plan to read other books through the year as well too.

Stephen King bookshelf

Since this is a challenge for me, there are a few rules that I’m setting in order to keep myself both honest and sane:

  1. The books will be read in chronological order as determined on the Wikipedia page for the Stephen King bibliography.
  2. I’m limiting myself to books that have been released in their completed form (so I won’t include The Plant, although I do have everything he wrote printed out in a binder next to me right now).
  3. The books he wrote as Richard Bachman are included.
  4. The collaborations he has done with Peter Straub (The Talisman and Black House) are also included
  5. If King publishes a new book in 2016, it will be included (right now it appears that the sequel to Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers is set to come out in June)

I will do my best to post my progress regularly here, with my insights on the books. I also plan to try and track all the connections between the books that I recognize.

So to wrap up the post, here is the list and order of the books:

  1. Carrie
  2. ‘Salem’s Lot
  3. The Shining
  4. Rage (as Richard Bachman)
  5. Night Shift
  6. The Long Walk (as Richard Bachman)
  7. The Dead Zone
  8. Firestarter
  9. Roadwork (as Richard Bachman)
  10. Cujo
  11. The Running Man (as Richard Bachman)
  12. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
  13. Different Seasons
  14. Christine
  15. Pet Sematary
  16. Cycle of the Werewolf
  17. The Talisman (with Peter Straub)
  18. Thinner (as Richard Bachman)
  19. Skeleton Crew
  20. It
  21. The Eyes of the Dragon
  22. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
  23. Misery
  24. The Tommyknockers
  25. The Dark Half
  26. The Stand (I’m placing this here instead of earlier, because I’ll be reading the complete edition, which was released in 1990)
  27. Four Past Midnight
  28. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
  29. Needful Things
  30. Gerald’s Game
  31. Dolores Claiborne
  32. Nightmares & Dreamscapes
  33. Insomnia
  34. Rose Madder
  35. The Green Mile
  36. Desperation
  37. The Regulators (as Richard Bachman)
  38. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
  39. Bag of Bones
  40. The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon
  41. Hearts in Atlantis
  42. Dreamcatcher
  43. Black House (with Peter Straub)
  44. Everything’s Eventual
  45. From a Buick 8
  46. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
  47. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
  48. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
  49. The Colorado Kid
  50. Cell
  51. Lisey’s Story
  52. Blaze (as Richard Bachman)
  53. Duma Key
  54. Just After Sunset
  55. Under the Dome
  56. Full Dark, No Stars
  57. 11/22/63
  58. The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
  59. Joyland
  60. Mr. Mercedes
  61. Revival
  62. Finders Keepers
  63. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

There we go. 63 books, with about 51 weeks left in the year, and some of these books are doozies. I guess I better get turning those pages!

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