The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

[Lena]

Good idea

[Nick]

Kandice wrote: "When I review a short story collection I try to record thoughts for each and take an average. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Maybe we should just all try to wri..."

Very nice set of reviews Kandice. We agree on quite a few of the tales, but not all.

[Kandice]

I can't remember if I mentioned it in this thread, but I'm not usually a poetry fan, but find that if I read poetry out loud I (almost) always enjoy it more than if I read internally. It's somehow just meant for a voice.

[Summer]

Charles wrote: "Finished only skipped two stories both poems not my kind of read, but brilliant book gave it 4 stars.
Top 4
Bad Little Kid
Afterlife..."

Afterlife was excellent! That was one of the best (view spoiler)[conceptions of the afterlife I've seen. I've always imagined eternity would be hopelessly tedious, and it was really interesting to see that in action. It definitely left me wanting to know more about the processor and all the people he'd worked with. And why would someone choose to live your life again knowing you couldn't make any meaningful changes? That was a fascinating idea to me. (hide spoiler)]

[Summer]

Nick wrote: "Summer Thunder is terrific. ...."

Agreed. (view spoiler)[The final apocalypse, definitely. I love post-apocalyptic stories, but most of them focus on survival rather than the actual end of the world/species/etc. Reading a very fatalistic take on it was very different, and I think it'll become one of my favorite in the genre. Because honestly, if the apocalypse hits, most of us are going to die. Reading stories about that is just as (if not more) interesting than reading about the small percentage that will survive. (hide spoiler)]

[Nick]

Esse wrote: "Charles wrote: "Finished only skipped two stories both poems not my kind of read, but brilliant book gave it 4 stars.
Top 4
Bad Little Kid
Afterlife..."

Afterlife was excellent! That was one of th..."

I'd do it all again in a minute in spite of the bad times and the questions about what lies ahead.

[Nick]

Esse wrote: "Nick wrote: "Summer Thunder is terrific. ...."

Agreed. [spoilers removed]"

Totally agree.

[Stevo]

I thought the fireworks story and the final one were great. I genuinely laughed at the fireworks one then the post apocalypse short was so bleak.

[Annemarie]

finished The Dune am I the only one who wanted it to continue

[Nick]

Annemarie wrote: "finished The Dune am I the only one who wanted it to continue"

Maybe... :-)

[Bernadette]

Just finished Mile 81-WOW! Mr King can really make you look at cars in a different way. I loved Christine and From A Buick 8. This story had a lot to live up to and it did.

[Kerry]

Kirstin wrote: "The stories get better and better! The Dune was excellent. Bad Little Kid was chilling.

I didn't mind the first poem. I think it would be much more enjoyable to hear it read out loud."

Agree about the first poem. I didn't really like it as I read it, but I think it would have a totally different effect if I heard someone else read it aloud, with emphasis where it was supposed to be...

[Kerry]

Nick wrote: "Esse wrote: "Charles wrote: "Finished only skipped two stories both poems not my kind of read, but brilliant book gave it 4 stars.
Top 4
Bad Little Kid
Afterlife..."

Afterlife was excellent! That ..."

Me, too!!

[Kerry]

I've read up to UR, so I'm about halfway through the collection. Two questions, up for discussion...

1. As I read "Bad Little Kid," I kept having a sense of deja vu - like I had encountered that kid (or someone like him) in another King work. Any thoughts on who I might be thinking of? I feel like it's on the tip of my brain, but I just can't quite pin it down. I initially thought of Pennywise, but he didn't seem quite to be it, and then thought of Atropos from Insomnia, and he seems to be the closest, but am I missing some other character??

2. As I am reading through the stories, I keep thinking that some of the more successful movie adaptations have come from King's short stories rather than the full length novels (Shawshank Redemption, The Body/Stand By Me, etc.). Which stories from this collection would you like to see made into a full-length movie? My picks (so far): "A Death" and "Morality."

[Kandice]

Kerry wrote: "I've read up to UR, so I'm about halfway through the collection. Two questions, up for discussion...

1. As I read "Bad Little Kid," I kept having a sense of deja vu - like I had encountered that k..."

King himself has said that the most successful adaptations are from stories at about 100 pages, so novella length. I agree with him.

[Nick]

Kerry wrote: "I've read up to UR, so I'm about halfway through the collection. Two questions, up for discussion...

1. As I read "Bad Little Kid," I kept having a sense of deja vu - like I had encountered that k..."

Morality would make a hell of a creepy movie.

[Nancy]

Ugh! I haven't started this yet.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

I just finished The Bad Little Kid! Just the thought is creepy and I totally understand why Hallas did what he did!!

So far though, my favorite is Mile 81 but we shall see if that changes :-)

[Nick]

Not sure I mentioned that I posted a review of Bazaar a few days ago.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Rochelle]

Late to the game.. I just ordered this book, can't wait for it to get here.

[Keyser Soze]

COULD BE SPOILERS, but I don't think so really.

I just finished BofBD. Loved it. It was the best set of short stories I have read. Usually I prefer novels, but having finished it, I think I'm keen to dig out some other King short stories I no doubt have on the shelves.

My favourites, I think, were: Mile 81, The Dune, Bad Little Kid, Ur, Under the Weather, Obits, Drunken Fireworks and Summer Thunder. Summer Thunder was quite depressing and sad, but perhaps that's what also made it good; it moved me.

Blockade Billy I found too heavy on baseball (I'm in Australia, where you'd be hard pressed to find baseball even on pay-tv, and I'm not too familiar with the lingo). I thought the same could have been achieved with less 'ball-play'.

I didn't find any 'scary' though; more moving and thought-provoking.

Anyway, onwards and upwards.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Nick]

Andrew wrote: "COULD BE SPOILERS, but I don't think so really.

I just finished BofBD. Loved it. It was the best set of short stories I have read. Usually I prefer novels, but having finished it, I think I'm keen..."

You know, I was pretty hard on Blockade Billy. But here's another interpretation that might make a little more sense. It's in there, but I think King kind of buried it. (view spoiler)[One of the most famous old time calls by fans at a baseball game when the umpire makes a bad call is "kill the umpire." I think what King is getting at is that Billy is so simple that when he hears the call he takes it seriously and actually does "Kill the Umpire." The problem with that is I don't think Billy has to be a homicidal maniac with such a horrific history of murder to actually do it. Being simple and literal may be enough. Basically, I think there's too much going on in Billy's background and motivation to make the story really intriguing. Imagine if Billy killed the umpire because of the jeers of the crowd and had never before committed a murder. He would have been a much more tragic figure then. (hide spoiler)]

[Kandice]

Nick, I completely agree with your spoiler and thought the same thing! Did you find that somewhere or is it just your opinion?

[Nick]

Kandice wrote: "Nick, I completely agree with your spoiler and thought the same thing! Did you find that somewhere or is it just your opinion?"

Figured it out for myself... but surprisingly it took me a while. That's why I think he could have been clearer about the whole thing.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

I loved this book, not all of the stories but I loved almost all of them :-)

[Randall]

Read this last month. Ur was probably my favorite, but that's subject to change in five minutes.

[Jimmie]

I completed The Bazaar of Bad Dreams today. I have enjoyed reading all of the groups remarks regarding this great book. In my review, I mentioned choosing my favorite story from this collection was like choosing my favorite child. But I have to say I enjoyed Blockage Billy as much as any Stephen King story I have ever read. As a true horror book and avid sports fan, I really related to Blockade Billy. So I guess I can choose my favorite child. I can see why it is not a favorite story for other readers, but I was glad this story found it's way to me. All of these stories moved me in some way. I even enjoyed the poems, mainly because of the back story provided prior to these stories. Overall, I felt this was not just a horror story collection. This was a collection of stories that helped the reader reflect on life.

[Nancy]

I haven't gotten very far yet but I am enjoying the little bits about his inspiration etc for each story.

[Jamie]

When I first learned that this book was coming out, I was SO excited. I loved the way the cover art was revealed...piece by piece...

A handful of my favorites include Bad Little Kid, Blockade Billy, Morality, Obits, Drunken Fireworks, and Summer Thunder.

I'd read many Stephen King books over the years before I ever read one of his short story collections. I think my first one was Full Dark, No Stars which I just loved. Now I can see that while his lengthier books are usually always a guaranteed great read, I was really missing out by not reading his short stories.

[Nancy]

I finished Blockade Billy last night. So far this is a nice collection with lots of variety: sweet, weird, sad, creepy etc.

I wonder how many readers took their Kindles and (view spoiler)[ and opened that Experimental to see what is there and hoping for urbooks (hide spoiler)]

[Lenny]

Nick wrote: "...You know, I was pretty hard on Blockade Billy. But here's another interpretation that might make a little more sense. It's in there, but I think King kind of buried it...."

I don't completely agree. SPOILER AHEAD. When I read it, the very first thing that came to mind was this quote from Joe Hill's NOS4R2: "Innocence ain't all it's cracked up to be, you know. Innocent little kids rip the wings off flies, because they don't know any better. That's innocence.”
And I think King did good job of bringing out that dark side of innocence. I do think him taking over Billy's identity was a bit too calculating, and didn't quite fit in with the rest of it. But, again, it would fit into the fact that all he wanted to do was to play baseball, and enjoy playing it. And, like a child would do, he wanted to simply get rid of any obstacles that came in the way of that.
That said, I agree that it should have been a tighter read.

[Lenny]

I just finished this, and it was a pretty mixed bag that went all the way from Meh [Mile 81] to GREAT.
I think Afterlife was far and away the best of the greats. (view spoiler)[We always think of all the things we would do differently if we could do it all again. Not knowing that we wouldn't, because all things being equal, we would be the exact same person. Ka is a wheel and all that :) (hide spoiler)]
Other standouts for me were
The Bone Church - I can see this making a pretty amazing animated horror
Batman and Robin have an Altercation
Sidenote - the above two are striking examples of King's range - from (view spoiler)[sweeping fantasy atmospherics to contained human stories full of heart (hide spoiler)]
Under the Weather. I just love how he turned what is usually seen as (view spoiler)[deranged and creepy into a tender and heartbreaking expression of the denial stage of grief (hide spoiler)]
Summer Thunder. This reminded me a lot of (view spoiler)[this Austrian movie called Die Wand. Once again, he takes this grand setting of a post nuclear apocalypse, and turns it inwards into a story of basic human nature. King is a master of exploring the latter, IMO (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

Bernadette wrote: "Just finished Mile 81-WOW! Mr King can really make you look at cars in a different way. I loved Christine and From A Buick 8. This story had a lot to live up to and it did."

I just read mile 81 and couldn't get into it! I hope I like the other stories in the book.

[Nick]

Alaina wrote: "Bernadette wrote: "Just finished Mile 81-WOW! Mr King can really make you look at cars in a different way. I loved Christine and From A Buick 8. This story had a lot to live up to and it did."

I j..."

A lot of the other stories are better.

[Kit★]

Finished this the other day. My review is here.
I liked it pretty well, though I still want more new stories, since I'd already read half of these before. The desire for more and more is insatiable!

[Michael]

I really enjoyed UR. I'd heard about it before but never had the opportunity t o read it. As for the original stuff, Batman and Robin Have an Altercation was fun. Summer Thunder was thought provoking.

[Nick]

Michael wrote: "I really enjoyed UR. I'd heard about it before but never had the opportunity t o read it. As for the original stuff, Batman and Robin Have an Altercation was fun. Summer Thunder was thought provoking."

I think you're dead right on all counts Michael. Everyone should add UR to the list of books to recommend for non-horror fans who want to get to know King.

[sasha]

I actually bought this book (hard for me as I pretty poor and spend most of my "extra" money on my craft-- art supplies, writing books, bookbinding supplies and bookbinding studio fees) but I bought this book specifically for the extra bits he included about his inspirations and thoughts about the stories. Otherwise I use the library and when it comes up library sales, sometimes used bookstores. I'm thinking of getting an e-reader. I have the free kindle app. But its hard to read too much on my laptop.

Rarely do I buy a hardcover. But I snatched this one up. And then sat on it for a few months. I don't know why. When I finally picked it up i devoured it in a few days. Some of the stories I had already read. and one, Afterlife I think it was, I had heard him read on one of his talk on youtube. The first poem I skipped, because I read a few lines and the set up was not really my style, but the second poem I could get into-- go figure.

I like UR a lot. Maybe because I don't have an e-reader and it's hard for me to read too many books on my laptop. But I'm thinking of one. :)

[Nick]

Sasha wrote: "I actually bought this book (hard for me as I pretty poor and spend most of my "extra" money on my craft-- art supplies, writing books, bookbinding supplies and bookbinding studio fees) but I bough..."

If you have a smart phone, you can put the kindle app on it. I know it seems crazy because you would expect the text to be small, but if you use larger text it works out great. I've read dozens of books on my iPhone, including many King thousand-pagers, with no problem at all. Sure you turn a lot of pages, but you hardly even notice. Give that a try. BTW - I agree with all your comments on Bazaar.

[Rflutist]

Slowly but surely, as I have time I've been picking this up, and finally read UR last night. King seems to have a recurring fascination with going back or forward in time, and changing up events. He does it so well that I'll never get tired of reading his work.

[James]

sasha I saw kindle just discounted their cheapest kindle to 49.99. you might want to check it out.

[sasha]

Well that is something to go have a look at, thanks!
:)

[Daniel]

I've been picking this up now and then and enjoying it in small bites. UR might have been my personal favorite so far, though Mile 81 I really loved (read it before the collection) and Blockade Billy woke up the long-buried baseball lover in me. Still need to read Batman and Robin have an Altercation.

None in particular really scream adaptation to me, except maybe Blockade. That one could be pulled off pretty well, I think, and it would be a really interesting spin on all those old-timey classic baseball movies with the dark edges it has.

[Kandice]

Batman and Robin have an altercation really touched my heart. I think it will mean more to people who have some experience with a parent who hasn't all their mental faculties anymore.

[Nick]

Kandice wrote: "Batman and Robin have an altercation really touched my heart. I think it will mean more to people who have some experience with a parent who hasn't all their mental faculties anymore."

I thought it was one of the best in the collection.

[Daniel]

Kandice wrote: "Batman and Robin have an altercation really touched my heart. I think it will mean more to people who have some experience with a parent who hasn't all their mental faculties anymore."

I bet I'll really enjoy the story. King is always at his best when dealing with the human side of things. I remember one story from one of his collections (can't remember which story or which name) involving the relationship between two brothers under the umbrella of some sort of chemical warfare or science experiment gone awry that resulted in memory loss. Touching and frightening all at once.

[Kandice]

Daniel, sounds a bit like "The End of the Whole Mess", but I'd have to look to be certain.The End of the Whole Mess, and Other Stories

[Daniel]

That's it, Kandice! Thanks. Trying to remember was driving me nuts.

[Travis]

Slowly meandering my way through this collection. Just finished Blockade Billy this morning. Maybe I know more about baseball than I realized because I had no issues with any of the lingo or concepts. And while I agree with Nick's assessment that Billy's background is a bit overdone, I think it still makes sense within the context of the story. (view spoiler)[We can assume "Billy" killed the umpire not only because of the crowd chanting "KILL THE UMPIRE" but also because his friend/mentor/pitcher badmouthed that umpire and Billy was obviously greatly and easily influenced by what other people said. He repeated everything people, particularly Dusen, said. Given all that, we can easily conjecture that someone said something similar about Billy's adopted family that set him off. (hide spoiler)] In addition, (view spoiler)[Billy cuts the very first runner that charges him, showing his use of the razor is not an isolated incident. And likely the only reason he didn't keep using it was because Granny told him to never do it again, which also reinforces how easily swayed/influenced Billy is by others. (hide spoiler)].

[Nicole]

Just finished this book. It was brilliant. I occasionally have a hard time finishing books of short stories, but he is the King. I loved Mile 81, but my clear favorite was definitely Ur. All paths lead to the Tower :)