I think I may be coming down with something...

I love to read. However, I have a hard time buying books, because there is no way of telling whether the book will be good or not from what the back cover tells you about the story. If I can't tell if I'll like the book, what's the point of spending money on it? It may be a waste.
Thus, I read a lot of the same books over and over. The Harry Potter series I've read cover to cover 9 times, save for the Deathly Hallows which I've only read 6 times. Jodi Picoult is another author that I am a big fan of. My best friend let me borrow several of her books to read over a period of a few years and I became hooked to her writing. Just captivating. So I've bought several of her books now as well.
I don't have a lot of books with me at school though. So once I've finished reading the HP series again, my options for reading are slim. I can borrow books from the Toronto libraries, sure, but it can take me a while to get through a book as I am a student and have other, more pressing matters before reading, and the thought of a due date makes me anxious.
Ok, now for the real point of this entry.
I recently started reading The Stand by Stephen King. Stephen King is a very famous author and good things are always said about him. His books are reknowned.
Now, because I've already said that I don't buy books frequently (especially because funds are limited for me at the present time), I had two choices of Stephen King novels to choose from, ones that my mom already had in the house: The Stand and IT.
I've watched the IT movie and hated it. I thought it was stupid, so I wasn't eager to read that one. My mom told me though that she thinks that The Stand is Stephen King's greatest work.
So The Stand it is.

This book is looooooong. I am reading the the complete and uncut edition that was published years after the ogirinal. It is not a different story, it just includes parts that had been cut from the original. It's 1153 pages long. The book is about a viral illness that quickly spreads, is hard to catch because it presents the same symptoms as a common cold at first and many many MANY people die from it.
Now I've only read approximately the first hundred pages so far so I can't tell you much more at this point. However, I can tell you that I was scared into thinking I had the illness the first 50 pages in. I developed a mild cough, a slight stuffy nose and today had terrible body aches and terrible weakness.
What's my first thought? Texting my mom and asking if you get the mysterious illness from the book just by picking it up.
I refrained from doing that. I have a feeling she would just laugh at me. In fact, I know she would.
But I suppose my message from this blog entry is this:
Be wary of reading this book. It is very interesting thus far but very paranoia inducing (for lack of a more elaborate or effective way of describing it).
But I still encourage everyone to read it. Not necessarily the uncut edition as I know not everyone is the reading type. But pick this novel up. Very captivating.
If I can get my hands on it, Misery is next, followed by The Green Mile. Perhaps I'll write about those as well.