Joyland - Why did I read it, and why did I love it?

I am a self-avowed sissy when it comes to horror.  It's a genre I steer clear of--not into monsters, aliens, gore, twisted psychos, etc.  I'm also not a fan of amusement parks, with the sole exception of Disneyland.  I don't like roller coasters, the midway, creaking rides that feel like they're going to fall apart, or games of chance that you know are totally rigged.

So, why did I read Joyland, by Stephen King?

1. I love time-travel books and read King's 11/22/63 last year and loved it.  I was impressed by King as a writer and storyteller, and have been on the lookout for other King books that might appeal to me.  
2. I read a review of Joyland at Shelf Love this summer, and put it on the short list of King possibilities.
3. It was the October book selected by the Goodreads TuesBookTalk Read-a-Longs group that I am a member of.
4. It's October and everyone else in the book blogging world is reading spooky Halloween books, and while I don't like horror I do like ghost stories.
5. It was checked in at the library when I stopped by a couple of weeks ago.
6. I had just finished Madame Tussaud and I wasn't sure what I wanted to read next.

And...why did I love it?

King really is a good writer.  His books are easy to read, his dialogue sounds like real people talking, and the rhythm of his prose sucks me in.

I liked the premise of Joyland--it takes place in the 1970s, and is nostalgic.  I'm convinced that it's at least part autobiographical.  The protagonist, Dev Jones, is 21, tall (6 feet, 4 inches), a wanna-be writer. King in 1973 would have been just a few years older, is every bit as tall, and was an aspiring writer.  Dev is wonderful--angsty, big-hearted, self-deprecating, charmingly naive.  He's a sweet kid, and I liked the fact that it was a story that he as a 60-something tells--this means that I know he survived the horrors he faced at Joyland, an amusement park on the North Carolina shore, during the fall of 1973.

I liked the world King created in Joyland--the beach town where the Joyland amusement park is the main summer attraction.  I liked listening to the jargon of the carnys and the greenies (the new summer hires).  I may not personally like riding roller coasters, but I love the anthropological and sociological thrill I get when I learn about a different culture or society.

I liked the whodunit aspect of the story--as a mystery, I thought King did a great job of setting up the red herrings, providing the clues, and literally providing the fun-house mirrors that distort what seems to be the truth.

I loved the idea that Dev is a life-saver (literally), while trying to track down the identity of a life-taker.

The pace was marvelous--this was not a hectic book wherein the reader is racing from plot point to plot point.  The story unfolds leisurely. The setup is gradual.  The side stories are intriguing, and the side characters are fully developed people with their own stories waiting in the wings.  The final couple of chapters pay off big when it comes to thrills and tensions--I literally couldn't put the book down for the last 50 pages.

All in all, a very satisfying October book.

Mailbox Monday

Time for my favorite meme: Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued.  Gina of Book Dragon’s Lair will be hosting the meme for the month of October.   It's been a few weeks since I played the game, and have a few new books that arrived recently to talk about.

Joyland by Stephen King - I'm reading this with the Tuesday Book Talk group at GoodReads, picked it up on Saturday, and inhaled the first section.  It is absolutely wonderful.  I haven't read much King, but I'm starting to think I should, even though I don't go much for horror (see my Autumn Tag post, favorite horror story section for evidence). Set in 1973 at an amusement park on the North Carolina coast, it is nostalgic for me.  I was a high school sophomore in the fall of 1973, and while I didn't work in an amusement park, the tone and feel of the novel is spot on for the timeframe.

Bronx Primitive: Portraits in a Childhood, by Kate Simon - my brother recommended this for my NY reading, it's an immigrant memoir, coming-of-age story, focused on life after WWI.

Borrower of the Night, by Elizabeth Peters - the first in the Vicky Bliss mystery series, I found out about this series after Peters (penname for Barbara Mertz) died in August.  Here's a blurb I found that explains why it appeals to me:

Vicky Bliss, a history instructor at a small midwestern college, sets off to Germany to discover a priceless religious shrine that's been missing for hundreds of years. Her quest becomes a competition, but among her colleagues and fellow guests at the ancient castle where the shrine is hidden is a murderer, who will allow no one else to claim the prize.

Heat Wave, by Penelope Lively - I want to read something by Lively, who I've been told on good authority that I will love.  Novel, family angst, England - I'm willing to try.

Through a Glass Darkly, by Donna Leon - the next Inspector Brunetti novel (set in Venice) for me in Leon's magnificent mystery series.  The mysteries are secondary for me--I love reading about life in the city, the Brunetti family, the inner workings of the police department in Venice.  This is a "it's snowing and I'm not moving from this chair today" kind of book.

Interestingly, two of these books have pretty common titles.  Searching on Amazon for "Heat Wave" yielded a plethora of steamy covers and I couldn't find the link I wanted without adding the author's name to the search.  "Through a Glass Darkly" also produced many books, and I suspect it is popular as a title because it is found in the New Testament and drips with poetic possibility--part of why the King James version is still popular and quoted.   You don't get phrases like "through a glass darkly" in modern translations!