Night Shift

My first ever Stephen King book that I read that made me fall in love with his writing.

Definitely not a new favorite, but there were some standouts in this collection. The Last Rung on the Ladder in particular had me tearing up at the end. I have to give King credit, because even the stories I didn't like were compelling enough for me to zip through them. Sometimes I can struggle with his writing, but it really worked for me here. I did find myself unsatisfied with some of the pieces and as always the fatphobia (etc.) is rough, but overall I did find it worth reading. My average rating for these stories came to 2.74 stars.

Jerusalem's Lot - 3.5 ⭐️
Graveyard Shift 4 ⭐️
Night Surf - 2 ⭐️
I Am The Doorway - 4 ⭐️
The Mangler - 4 ⭐️
The Boogeyman - 3 ⭐️
Gray Matter - 3 ⭐️
Battleground - 2 ⭐️
Trucks - 2 ⭐️
Sometimes They Come Back - 3 ⭐️
Strawberry Spring - 3 ⭐️
The Ledge - 2 ⭐️
The Lawnmower Man - 2 ⭐️
Quitters, Inc - 2 ⭐️
I Know What You Need - 2 ⭐️
Children of the Corn - 3 ⭐️
The Last Rung on the Ladder - 4 ⭐️
The Man Who Loved Flowers - 2 ⭐️
One For The Road - 2.5 ⭐️
The Woman in the Room - 2 ⭐️

Jerusalem's LotThis was good, but I prefer my ‘Salem's Lot with vampires. 3/5 Graveyard Shift Pretty much all I could think of was: Still, there is a lot of effective imagery here. 3/5Night SurfI really love [b:The Stand 87591651 The Stand Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1674820514l/87591651.SX50.jpg 1742269] so this one worked for me. 3/5I Am the DoorwayDidn't dig this at the beginning, but then it got pretty spoopy. 3.5/5The Mangler“It tried to fold everything.” ABSOLUTELY NOPE! A silly premise executed so well. 3.5/5The BoogeymanVery eerie and so sad...4.5/5Gray Matter4/5BattlegroundAnother silly one with a fun finale, 3/5TrucksStephen King was really all about inanimate objects turning on us in this collection. Very creepy final line, though - he's so good at wham lines. 3/5Sometimes They Come BackNot a huge fan of the constant fridging of women or the kitty death in this one, but otherwise it was great. 4/5Strawberry SpringPredictable ending but the atmosphere in this one is chef's kiss 3/5The LedgeAgain, not a fan of the fridgingbut still compelling. 3.5/5The Lawnmower ManI mean it's probably better than the movie, but this one just didn't land for me. I think I'd just be grateful that someone was mowing the lawn and not question anything else tbh 2/5Quitters, Inc.This one was okay; I don't have a lot to say about it. 3/5I Know What You NeedThere was a lot of good build up in this, and a decent amount of tension, but then it just...fizzled out. 2.5/5Children of the CornVicky deserved better, she was being very reasonable and Burt can kick rocks. But overall, very creepy. 3.5/5The Last Rung on the LadderOh gosh, so good and so sad. 3.5/5The Man Who Loved FlowersThis was another one that was just fine, nothing super memorable. 3/5One for the RoadUgh, I just love ‘Salem's Lot. 3.5/5The Woman in the RoomWhen I initially finished this, I didn't think it was the strongest finish; however, I think I will adjust my rating because it was quite good (and so, so sad). 3.5/5Overall, a generally consistently good collection with some King classics. 4 possessed bits of technology with a lust for blood out of 5.

The first King book of 2023 is finished and unfortunately it was just an ok read for me. If you didn't know I have been reading a Stephen King book every month with a group on Instagram for 2+ years now so at this point I have read a lot of his books. He's my most read author but he's not a favorite author of mine. His books are hit or miss for me and there are quite a bit that fall in the middle like this one.

This is a collection of 20 short stories. Some worked for me and some just didn't. Some were too short and ridiculous but there were some that gave me exactly what I want/need for a short story to work for me. A lot of these felt like a young King. By young I don't really mean age wise I mean like it felt like he wrote these when he first started writing. I hope that makes sense. They just didn't feel like the King writing I've come to know over the years. 

I do have to mention there were some problematic things in here as well. There was a story that mentioned hand controls (which if you didn't know hand controls are used by people who can't use there legs to drive a car using pedals.) I myself use hand controls because I am a double amputee. I loved this inclusion but what I didn't love was how it was insinuated that he wasn't a whole man because he had to use a wheelchair for legs. There were a couple different statements that irked me the wrong way when it comes to people who are handicapped but that is by no means the only problematic things. King pretty much always includes racism which is always a topic of discussion in our group when we talk about his books. It would be one thing if these types of things were challenged in the story but they never are and they are never needed for the plot. 

Overall I thought this was an ok read. I'm glad I've read it but it's easily forgettable and I most likely will never read it again. There are some classics in here though like Children of the Corn and Jerusalem's Lot.

A solid collection of short stories.

Absolute classic and probably the most famous modern horror story collection.

Many stories are known on their own by this point but here are the ones I consider the best:
Jerusalem's Lot
Graveyard Shift
The Mangler
The Ledge
Quitters Inc.