Rereads. Shudder...Right? Maybe Not:

I’m not a reread sorta guy. I have several books stockpiled that I have yet to begin--multitudes of new worlds to delve into, characters to befriend, prose to savor, dialog to enjoy. Life’s too short for rereads, in short.

Speaking of stuff to do before you’re dead, see if you can figure out the pattern to the books listed below, I’m sure it won’t be too much of a hassle.

Anyway, to every rule, there are exceptions. Here are mine.

1. The Stand by Stephen King—This book is unforgettable, and it’s a foregone conclusion that I WILL reread it, someday.

What impressed me: The grandiose scope of the whole thing. I’ll always give authors extra points for undertaking a work of epic proportions, because I know, as a beginner, how difficult it is to write about things on a large scale. As far as large scales go, they don’t get much bigger than the end of the world (a case could actually be made for galactic sagas being easier to write than a post-apocalyptic novel like The Stand). Characterization, but oddly enough, it isn’t one of the main characters that comes to mind but a bits-and-pieces side character that doesn’t appear for more than fifty or sixty pages—The Kid. Anything I said about him would only spoil it—it’s an experience you have to have for yourself. The strongest books have strong villains, and it’s hard to get a better villain than the charismatic Randall Flagg. From the moment he steps on to the page (or off it, as is the case with his levitation trick), he captivated me and stole every scene he was in. Parts where other characters were merely talking about him had a menacing feeling to them. As a teaser—the world according to Stephen King ends with a ‘superflu’ that wipes out 99.9% of the Earth’s population, and the survivors in America find themselves haunted by dreams of a shadowy man, the Walkin’ Dude, as he is called, who sets up his base in Vegas (where else—City of Sin, right?) while others dream of an old black lady who speaks to God and gathers an army of her own in Boulder, Colorado, and it is up to these survivors to decide where to make their Stand…

If everyone felt about reading as I do (I do not care how long a book is, just that it is good), I would recommend this one, but I can understand why many would be put off by its thousand-page length. It’s not to be missed, however—there’s a reason this book is a staple in the Greatest Novels of All Time lists…

2. The Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz—I do not shut up about these books, and for good reason—if I was to develop the idea I’m most proud of into a novel-length manuscript, the result would look very much like this.

What impressed me: Dean Koontz has a writing style all his own, and I could go on for pages about this man, but I’ll try to keep it short. His earlier novels are just that—novels, just like anybody else’s, but his latter work is so drastically different from his earlier stuff that I challenge you to find someone who, when shown excerpts of The Face Of Fear (1977) and Life Expectancy (2004) along with work by some other writers, would be able to identify the above two pieces as written by the same author. His work has humor, more so than other writers I’ve read, and it is always intelligent, and never overdone, like in a parody fashion. His dialogue is to be savored. I will admit it’s unrealistic—very few people talk like that, but I gladly overlook that for the enjoyment it gives me. And of course, great characters, which I’ll mention in the synopsis. Victor Frankenstein is alive, living under the guise of the multi-billionaire Victor Helios, over two-hundred years old and in present-day New Orleans where he is secretly creating a New Race to overthrow humanity…Meanwhile, the monster he created years ago is alive as well, and stalks the streets of the city seeking a way to overthrow the creator he is unable to face directly…

Fantastic, fast-paced, humorous, thought-provoking stuff, as most Dean Koontz’s work is. If you are able to get through the first book in the series (four books out, two to go) and not want to continue reading, you and I differ very much.

3. The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan—The best vampire fiction I’ve ever read.

What impressed me: This was one of the most intelligently-written books I’ve ever read. It reads like a good techno thriller, yet retains all the good chills you expect from a horror novel. I’ll be honest—the characters aren’t memorable at all. Except for the master vampire, and the less said about him, the better. The dialogue isn’t anything special either. What is spectacular are the vampires themselves, how the authors have completely reinvented them, and the situation of the book itself. What if a master vampire got loose in a crowded city, say New York? How fast would it spread, how long would it take before everyone was turned? I find it fascinating to think about, and the book addresses it brilliantly. The opening is nothing short of spectacular—I have this morbid fascination with accidents to do with aircraft, especially commercial airliners (despite the fact that I fly a lot), and the tale opens in such a manner. This book was the first of a trilogy, and you can be sure I’m eagerly awaiting the next two installments.

(Side note: Another excellent book with regards to airplane crashes is Dean Koontz’s Sole Survivor, one of the better thrillers I’ve read. Highly recommended.)

Figured out the pattern yet? Five out of six books on the list are pretty short—around 300 pages, with the Stand at 1141 pages in paperback being the exception, so arguably that’s a pattern. One could make the case for the fact that I want to read these books because they are short and shouldn’t take that long to read. The thing that ties these books together for me, though, is the fact that they all are post-apocalyptic novels at various stages—The Stand is after the fact while the first four books of the Frankenstein series and The Strain deal with the stuff that happens before the world as we know it ends.

Oddly enough, I never knew that about myself, that I had a thing for post-apocalyptic fiction. Not until writing this blog post, at least. Hm. Guess I might have to give Matheson’s I Am Legend a go, then.