The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (CBR-III #15)

Series: The Dark Tower Book II
Cannonball Read III: Book #15/52
Published: 1987
Pages: 480 (5,599 total so far)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

This is the second book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series and I have to say I liked it much better than the first. The story flowed a little better and we added a few much-needed characters to keep the mystery of Roland from becoming too dull.

This book continues right where The Gunslinger ended. Roland wakes up on the beach and immediately enters a battle with these giant lobster-like creatures that results in him losing a couple of fingers and toes. After defeating the creatures, he continues his journey up the coast until he finds a door standing upright in the sand.

The door is labeled "The Prisoner" and enables Roland to enter the mind of a heroin addict named Eddie Dean. Eddie is in a completely different world and time than Roland - 1980's New York City. Roland must convince Eddie to join him in Roland's world and go with him on his journey to the Dark Tower.

There are also two other doors placed in intervals down the beach. The second enters into the mind of a schizophrenic woman in 1960's New York. Sometimes she's the calm, mild-mannered rich woman named Odetta Holmes and other times she's the crazy, white-person hating woman named Odetta Walker. Through the third door, Roland enters into serial killer (or "pusher" as he calls himself) Jack's head.

The purpose of this book is pretty much to set up the main characters for the remainder of the series. King introduces us to some pretty interesting (and unconventional) characters and I'm excited to read the rest of the series now. I wasn't so sure about it after the first book, but this one definitely got me hooked.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King (CBR-III #14)

Series: The Dark Tower Book I
Cannonball Read III: Book #14/52
Published: 1982
Pages: 264 (5,119 total so far)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

I actually tried reading The Gunslinger years ago, but never finished it. I really want to try and make it through the entire Dark Tower series, so I decided to try again. Hey, even Stephen King himself in the forward says that you need to get through the first three books before you can really get into the story.

Roland is the last gunslinger (he's possibly very old - this book seems to be very vague on a lot of things) and has been following The Man in Black for a long time. The Man in Black has information that Roland needs in order to find The Dark Tower. Again, it's very vague as to why Roland wants/needs to find the Tower, but I'm assuming that's what the other six books are for.

Along the way, Roland wipes out an entire town, meets a strange man who lives in the desert with his corn patch and pet bird, and rescues a boy who has vague memories of living - and dying - in New York City before he was deposited at an old coach station in the middle of the desert. The boy joins Roland in the rest of his journey to catch up to The Man in Black.

The Gunslinger is different than most King books (I should know - I've read most of them!). It's an adventure story, but I found this first book to really drag in places. Luckily, it's a short book or I probably would have abandoned it again. I really enjoyed the actual adventure parts and wish it would have focused more on Roland's travels or on some of the things he encountered such as the mutants or the Subway ruins.

Again, I found parts of the book slow or hard to follow because you weren't given a lot of information to go on, although I do understand that this is basically an introduction to the series. Hopefully everything will make more sense as the books go along because the core story is pretty interesting, but I don't know if I can read one of the 800 page ones in the series if it's only 50% adventure, 30% rambling, and 20% vagueness.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (CBR-III #13)

Cannonball Read III: Book #13/52
Published: 2007
Pages: 376 (4,855 total so far)
Genre: Horror/Ghost story

Judas Coyne (how cheesy is that for a stage name?) is a fifty-something goth rock star who likes to collect macabre things. So when he finds a ghost for sale on an auction website, of course he has to buy it. Because he's GOTH you know. However, the ghost was actually sold to him by his ex-girlfriend Anna's sister. Oh, and the ghost is actually Anna's stepdad seeking revenge for Anna's suicide after Judas broke up with her.

So, the ghost wants to kill Judas and anyone associated with him (like his new girlfriend, Marybeth). Judas and Marybeth embark on a roadtrip from New York to Florida with the ghost following until they finally end up at the house where Judas grew up and end up in a weird battle involving dead people, living people, and sometimes dead people INSIDE of living people. I told you, it gets weird.

I don't really like ghost stories. Crazy people who are alive scare me. Dead people do not for some reason. Of course if one ever came after me I'd probably run screaming, but for reading purposes they're not my favorite subject.

I kept reading reviews about how scary this book was but honestly, I was bored and really struggled to finish it. It kept dragging on and on with nothing really new (or scary) happening. The only part that really kept my attention was when Judas and Marybeth confronted the ghost's stepdaughter (Anna's sister), who sent him the ghost.

I'd recommend it if you like ghost stories. If not, don't let the good reviews fool you into thinking this will finally be the ghost story that scares you. It probably won't.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (CBR-III #12)

Cannonball Read III: Book #12/52
Published: 2003
Pages: 374 (4,479 total so far)
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

This is the second Margaret Atwood book I've read (the first was The Handmaid's Tale) and I seem to have the same reaction to her books. The premise sounds promising, but I keep putting it off. When I finally get around to reading it, it starts off slow and throws you right in the middle of some world you know nothing about. The rest of the book slowly gives you the bigger picture until it abruptly ends with no real resolution. At the beginning, I want to give up, but by the end I am completely drawn in and end up loving it.

Oryx and Crake is oddly named because the title characters are actually secondary characters. The main character (our narrator) is a man called Snowman. He lives on a post-apocalyptic earth with a group of genetically modified people he calls "Crakers".

The entire book is mostly flashbacks of Snowman (back when he was known as Jimmy). Jimmy grew up on a Compound where his parents worked at splicing animals together and doing various other experiments for financial gain. Most of the rest of the world lives in the pleeblands, where crime runs rampants. We follow Snowman through his life and his relationships with his best friend Crake and his lover Oryx as he uncovers for us the horrifying truth as to who the Crakers are and why there are no more humans.

I don't want to give too much away, because the beauty of this book really lies on how everything is eventually brought together in the end. It's a little slow at first, but once I got into it a little further, I couldn't put it down.

The Last Victim by Jason Moss (CBR-III #11)

Cannonball Read III: Book #11/52
Published: 2001
Pages: 320 (4,105 total so far)
Genre: True Crime

The Last Victim is about an 18-year-old college freshman named Jason Moss, who decides to take up a rather unique project for his senior thesis (apparently he likes to start early). He wants to form a relationship via letters with various infamous serial killers. Of course he uses different fake personas with each killer he writes, trying to write as someone he thinks they will want to form a bond with. I don't think Jason could imagine how deep this project would go or what damage it might do to his psyche.

The first (and main) killer that Jason formed a relationship with was John Wayne Gacy. It started with frequent letters, then bloomed into weekly phone calls and eventually to an ill-fated trip to the prison to meet Gacy face to face.

The book reads like a cross between The Silence of the Lambs and a true crime novel. It's a gripping read, especially when Jason meets Gacy face to face. Jason barely escapes with his life, although most of it is because of his own stupidity. The guy was pretty arrogant about the whole thing. I think he KNEW there was something fishy about the whole thing (Gacy paid for the entire trip plus bribed the guards into giving them "privacy" with minimal security precautions), but he decided it was worth it to try and get into Gacy's mind. He even goes back for a second meeting with Gacy after the first one went so terribly wrong.

Jason also wrote and received responses from Jeffery Dahmer, Charles Manson, and Richard Ramirez. The letters he got back were chilling, filled with violent drawings and sexually explicit prose. However, he never got as close to any of them as he did with Gacy.

The book included a preface from a professor of Jason's. He said that he pushed Jason to write about his personal and family life during this time instead of just focusing on the letters. Although Jason sometimes came across as an egotistical young man (he was only eighteen), it really fleshed the story out to hear how it affected him internally and with his family. He put his family in danger by giving out his home address and phone number to killers who could easily find outside people to do their dirty work. He almost lost his relationship with his brother due to the project as well.

Perhaps the worst part is learning that Jason Moss ended up committing suicide in 2006. In the book, he speaks about the nightmares and psychological damage that had occurred since he started the project. I guess he really did end up Gacy's "last victim".

Room by Emma Donoghue (CBR-III #10)

Cannonball Read III: Book #10/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 336 (3,785 total so far)
Genre: Adult Fiction

I kept putting off reading Room because I didn't think I'd be able to stand the fact that is is written in the voice of a five-year-old. However, I figured since I made it through Precious (which is written in the voice of an illiterate teenager), then I could probably handle Room. It helped that I've read so many positive reviews as well.

Room is told through the eyes of Jack, a five-year-old boy who has lived his entire life inside Room (he refers to everything as Room, Rug, Bed, since he has no sense of anything beyond the one room). His mother, known only as "Ma", has done her best to shield him from the situation they are in. Ma was kidnapped by a man Jack calls "Old Nick" when she was only nineteen. For the past seven years, she has been held captive in a backyard shed-turned-prison. The room has all the basic necessities such as a bathtub, toilet, bed, and a small kitchen, as well as a small TV, which is all Jack knows about "Outside".

When Jack turns five, Ma decides that he's old enough (and asking too many questions she can't answer) to know the truth. Prior, she had told him that everything on TV was fantasy and their room was the only reality. Jack has a hard time grasping the reality of "Outside", but eventually he agrees to help Ma start planning their escape.

(possible spoilers ahead)

However, only half the book takes place in the room. The rest takes place after their escape/rescue and how Jack adjusts to a world he's never seen. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to have never seen grass or trees anywhere other than on TV, but you really felt Jack's sense of wonder (and fear) about everything he encountered. Jack has to adjust to everything from the sunlight to grandparents that didn't even know he existed. Ma has quite a bit of adjusting to do as well, but it's mostly focused on Jack.

(end spoilers)

Based loosely on the Josef Fritzl case, I thought this book was very thorough and well done. The characters were sympathetic and well-rounded. Ma tries to be strong for Jack, but in reality she was just a kid herself when she was taken by Old Nick. Some days she can't even get out of bed and Jack has to fend for himself. I was also impressed that Emma Donoghue somehow managed to make Jack sound like a child without the dialogue turning TOO simple to where it turns off adult readers.

I'd rate Room as 4/5 stars. Definitely worth reading.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Cannonball Read III: Book #9/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 448 (3,449 total so far)
Genre: Young Adult

I picked up this book after seeing the trailer for the upcoming movie. I love sci-fi movies and I always feel the need to read the book before I see the movie. I Am Number Four is about a fifteen-year-old boy, John, who came from the dying planet, Lorien when he was a toddler. His cepan (kind of like a guide/guardian), Henri, came with him and is his pretend father on Earth. Mogadorians from their rival planet are hunting down the nine Lorien teens and killing them. Oh, and they have a spell put on them so they can only be killed in order. John is Number Four (in case you weren't aware from the title).

This was kind of a throwaway book for me. I just found out that "Pitticus Lore" is actually James Frey of the Million Little Pieces scandal. I read that book years ago, and this book is a TOTALLY different direction that one. However, this book fell a little flat. The characters weren't BAD, but they weren't exactly that memorable or interesting either. The story was interesting, but I kept finding myself wanting to skim through pages just to get to the end. I was very disappointed that they kind of left the end hanging for the second book to pick up with. I don't really want to read a whole other book, but I kind of do want to know what Henri's letter said.

Also, he's fifteen freaking years old. They should have either made him a little older (17 or 18 maybe) or just killed the whole romance subplot. It's hardly believable (and actually laughable unless you actually are fifteen) to have two fifteen year old totally in love from the second they meet at school, one of whom just got out of a serious, long-term relationship with the school jock. What, did they date all through Jr. High?? And the way she and his friend Sam took the news that he was alien; like he was telling them he was actually from Russia or something completely normal.

There were other things I found completely implausible. First of all, there was a huge final battle at the high school with the Mogadorians and a bunch of giant "beasts". Did no one in this entire town notice any of this? There were no law enforcement, no ambulance, no news helicopters or reporters, no spectators, nothing. And don't get me started on the whole WTF moment of Mark (the jerk ex-boyfriend) becoming an ally with no reason behind it whatsoever.

All in all, it wasn't the best book ever, and wasn't the worst either. I doubt I'll pick up the second in the series unless my curiosity as to what Henri said in his letter gets the best of me. Which is entirely possible.