On Writing
Author: Stephen King
Publication Date: 10/3/00
Publisher: Pocket

Blurb (GR): "Long live the King" hailed "Entertainment Weekly" upon the publication of Stephen King's "On Writing." Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999 -- and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, "On Writing" will empower and entertain everyone who reads it -- fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told. 


Review:
I have tons of highlights on my Kindle after reading this book. I suppose this is an indication of how much I enjoyed it and how much I took away from King's advice. From the get-go, I loved reading the anecdotes and stories King shares about his life growing up in Maine. His humor gets me nearly every time and I really appreciate the way he can recollect and/or recreate memories without making them seem fake. (I'm talking to you, Chelsea Handler--though you are funny) 

"I remember an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given leave to open any I liked. There were more doors than one person could ever open in a lifetime, I thought. (and still think)" (Loc. 220 on Kindle version) This sums up one of the biggest reasons I love reading--originality. There is nothing quite like the thrill of reading something that feels fresh and like nothing I've ever read before. I wish it happened more than it does! 

King spends a significant amount of time in this work speaking about another of my loves--a great story. He describes writing a draft and giving it, after a little tuning, to his wife/reader. If she thinks a part is boring, he might take it out. Just the way he describes it is perfect--Cut out the long descriptive sections and get back to the story! (description issues are usually what cause a reader to say "it got boring") This is a major gripe I have with a lot of books and it becomes especially apparent in audiobook format. I find myself spacing out during bouts of boring description and I'm in a state of constant rewind to try to concentrate on what is going on in the story. My book clubbers know I will skim through these sections in regular books. (gasp!) I feel like Stephen King might not chastise me for doing so. I mean, I don't give a &*($ what someone is wearing in most instances, I want to know who the killer is! King writes, "Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's." (Loc. 2077)Exactly. 

Obviously, I'm not going to retype all of my saved highlights. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys King's work (I loved how he wove the creation of many of his works in so we found out some of his inspirations and experiences) and/or anyone who has an interest in writing. 

4/5 stars

_I loved the 1990s. There was great television, Pogs, scrunchies, and the Pittsburgh Penguins were amazing at hockey. (obviously Jaromir Jagr's mullet contributed a significant amount to this last part) And although I totally loved playing Seventh Guest, Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego, and the like on our old Macs, I'm happy with the advancements in technology. Okay, moving on, I also love crime novels. When they are set in ye oldey times, I get caught up in the story, seeing how Sherlock could deduce his way to victory. Or when they are set in the future, I like seeing Eve Dallas use new-fangled technology to find her man. (Or woman. Or robot!) Even when books are set in current times, or in the past few years, it's great! BUT Postmortem lies in the bottom of awkward valley for me at the moment. I read over and over and over about how "maybe" someone should change their words-only password on a networked computer and how "secure" the network was. Every time I read about dialing in from home to a network that was left in answer mode, I could hear the dial up noise in my head...and how grating is that? (Side note: do kids today even know what a dial-up noise is? I feel old.) I'm sure, nay, positive that I will enjoy the Scarpetta books further down the line as technology catches up but I was frustrated throughout this novel. There was many a dramatic eye roll and "Oh, brother" muttered. The printer paper still had those holey side parts and DNA evidence was new. They spend at least half of the book talking about some glittery substance and I couldn't figure out why they didn't just test it to figure out what it was. (Did I miss something here? Why couldn't they do chemical testing?)

In terms of the plot, I was entertained throughout. I wasn't sure whodunit until the big reveal and I suspected, as I'm supposed to, several side characters along the way. Cornwell definitely knows the building blocks to a successful medical crime thriller. It is easy to tell that she comes from the medical side of things and those were definitely my favorite parts of the book--the autopsies, discussions of injuries, etc. The least successful (read: most annoying) sections of the book for me were Kay Scarpetta's interactions with her precocious niece. Evidently her niece is the Doogie Howser of the computer hacking world but without his boyish charm. (and lab coat)

The book is entertaining but it didn't do much for me overall. I will keep going in this series though because my dear friend Maja is in love with it and I think it will get better as I get out of the dated technology era. I bet I would really enjoy this if I read it in twenty years!

At this point, I'm just going to rehash a few plot points for people who may have forgotten. As I keep following series for years (I'm on number thirtysomething with Eve Dallas!), I realize how much I forget about early books. This will serve as a reminder to me (and you?) about the events of book one in this series. Don't read on if you don't want to absolutely spoil the book!

SPOILERS
Several women are murdered by someone with a glittery substance on their hands. The perpetrator comes in through open windows. Simultaneously, Kay is near-raped by her psuedo-boyfriend, who'd done something similar to the local newswoman. (whose sister ends up being the last victim) Though she and Marino suspect a few other people first, Kay figures out that the link between all the women is that they'd all called 911 weeks/months before their murder for minor things. The 911 operator is the killer. The glittery substance was borax-based cleanser at his work that he used all the time because he had some random syndrome that made him smell like maple syrup all the time. (seriously) At the end, Kay's niece leaves her window open and the rapist gets in and is going to kill Kay but Marino arrives and shoots him before he can.
END SPOILERS