What *aren't* you reading?

[Toni]

I avoid reading mystery or horror novels. Not into them. With horror it's because you're only allowed to feel one thing: horror. There doesn't seem to be a lot you can do with horror.

I like horror for the mood. I don't think I've ever been scared by a horror novel. The only one that came close was Blatty's The Exorcist [and maybe King's Pet Sematary]. Even with Lovecraft, there's no actual horror, just lush, poetic, Halloweeny-imagery.

A truly scary novel is something like The Red Badge of Courage.

Or Johnny Got His Gun.

That's horrifying.

I don't read Stephen King. Not because he writes horror but because he's an extremely mediocre writer. Sure, some of his novels make good movies: I liked Stand By Me a lot. The Shining was horrifying and quite good. The rest are either rip offs of better writers (Needful Things is a rip off of Mark Twain, done badly) or.....just crap, as far as I am concerned.