What I Am Currently Reading And Other Updates

I never seem to be able to say all I want just through my reviews, which is why I am adding this Current Read post on the blog. The idea is to share my thoughts as I read the book instead of just giving you my final review once the read is done. I can also tell you a bit about my other reading updates, how my week is going, what new books and arcs I got recently, etc.

This is not going to be a permanent post. I will try to update it often and change it completely with each new book I’m reading. Nor do I plan to be particularly coherent here. This is just for thoughts and news as they are coming to me, that I’d like to share. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s hang out. If not, you will still get my full review when I finish the book, so make sure to follow my blog if that’s what you prefer.

What’s New In My Bookish Life

I can’t believe it’s the end of August already. There goes my summer TBR down the drain. But that’s ok – there are many autumn reads I’m looking forward to. My fall TBR (that I’m probably going to happily ignore for the most part) is not quite ready yet, but I know for sure I want to find time for:

• • Immortality: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz – I read Anatomy: A Love Story around this time last year and I loved it! It even ended up among my 5 favorite books I’ve read in 2022. Can’t wait to continue the story.
  • Sheets by Brenna Thummler – I have all three graphic novels and they all sound perfect for early fall;
  • Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier – I loved My Cousin Rachel, really didn’t like Rebecca, but I definitely want to read more from this author;
  • The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – I tend to read one of his books every year and they always end up among my favorites;
  • The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield – has been on my TBR for so long, I should start a pile of shame just for it;
  • Home Before Dark by Riley Sager – I’ve never read anything by Riley Sager and this seems like the best place to start;
  • The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab – don’t know much about it, but it sounds like a middle-grade horror and I love those;
  • I also want to try and reread Frankenstein at some point. I didn’t like it the first time, but I feel I’ll enjoy it way more now that I know what to expect.

The Eye of the World, the first book in The Wheel of Time Series, is waiting for the first opportunity to be read, but it’s a long book and it’s a long series, and I have no idea when I’m going to find the time for it. But I want to at least start it soon.

I couldn’t wait anymore to start my most anticipated Stephen King book, so that’s what I’m currently reading (more about it down below).

I’m also fighting my way through a romance I thought would be so much better than it turned out to be. And I’m struggling with a cozy mystery audiobook that keeps failing to capture my attention. I’ll update you on those as well when I find some more time, because we are once again in a super busy mode and I don’t see the end of it.

The Book I Am Currently Reading

As you’ve guessed from the image, I am about to read Pet Sematary by Stephen King. And I’ve been dying to read this book for the past couple of years. I finally have it in my hands. Can’t wait to start it. But the whole day I’ve been making excuses and finding small chores that are delaying my reading.

Why am I this nervous? 😅

Most horrors don’t even scare me. But then, King himself said Pet Sematary is the most frightening book he’s ever written. Apparently, it’s the only book that made him think he finally went too far.

So there’s that.

I think his personal experience that has been woven into this book is what makes it so disturbing for him. I don’t think it’s that scary in the classical horror sense.

But I’m still not picking it up 😳😅.

My Thoughts As I’m Reading Pet Sematary

20% into the book:

Something about this book just grabbed me from the start, I can barely put it down. Super short chapters and simple, approachable writing certainly have a lot to do with it. So far, despite parts that are clearly setting up everything for whatever horror is about to happen, everything seems so normal. Quiet and peaceful.

We are getting to know this family that is average in many ways. Flawed but they’re trying. Good and bad days. They have two kids and a cat. They just moved to Ludlow, a small town in Main so the guy (Louis Creed) can start a new job as a physician at the university.

You know, just normal people. But you can tell the whole time their lives are about to change. More than just lives, it seems. Like all their fears and traumas are about to be brought to the surface, and they don’t even know yet just how scared they really are deep down.

It is clear from the start death is going to be the central point of this story. Not as a jump-scare-style, gruesome, blood and limbs everywhere, typical horror death. But death as a mystery. As the unknown. Death the way a person perceives it when for the first time they realize they are going to die someday. And what it really means.

But something did just happen literally on the last couple of pages I read. And I guess it slowly starts…

40% into the book:

I am so mad right now! Because the description of Pet Sematary I read before reading the book – I didn’t think it contained spoilers, but apparently it does!

The things that it mentioned – I thought it all happens in the first couple of chapters and then we continue on from there. Nope! Some of those things are only starting to happen now, and I’m just so 😡😤. Why?

It’s still a great book, but think I would enjoy it even more if I didn’t already know what’s coming.

I’d also skip Stephen King’s introduction at the beginning of the book until I finished the read because a lot is said there as well. But it’s too late for me now, save yourselves. (It’s a good intro, just read it when you finish Pet Sematary.)

But now I really really wanna talk about what just happened! But I also don’t want to ruin it for you!

It’s just – I don’t even know why I’m finding this part so satisfying. It’s creepy in a way that feels so good, almost comforting.

From the beginning of this book, it was really the juxtaposition between cozy family everyday moments and the impending horror behind their home that makes this book unnerving. The fact that it’s a beloved pet that brings terror – so good!

There’s also something about the fact you can’t quite tell whether Louis kind of knew what he was doing when he followed Jud that night. He didn’t really, but on some level he could feel something was off about that graveyard. But he went anyway.

Almost at the halfway point, so far the story was really mostly about when things bigger than you start going on around you. There’s nothing you can do. Can’t change a thing. The control you thought you had is gone. For the first time, you start to realize how unreliable you are. You could go crazy at any moment. What you want doesn’t matter. What you think is right doesn’t matter. You can scream it’s impossible all you want.

And it’s not even about going crazy. It’s more about that moment when everything still might go back to the way it used to be. You still might be normal. It’s not too late. Everything still could end up being fine.

But with what he did – he kind of knew what he was doing. He did it anyway. And while he didn’t actually make the decision, the whole thing made me wonder at what point you can consider yourself accountable for something.

And now the consequences are here.

60% into the book:

Well, there’s your horror, right there. The worst things that can happen to someone are not ghosts and monsters, are they?

Since my last update, the book started to remind me of Frankenstein. The doctor genius in Frankenstein created something that seemed like a glorious idea at the moment. Later, he couldn’t even look at his grotesque creation.

In both cases, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor things.

But now I’m at the point in Pet Sematary where what happened wiped everything that happened before out of my head. There were books that made me cry before, but Pet Sematary is the only book that made me so shocked and uncomfortable, I had the urge to let out one of those nervous giggles in the most inappropriate moments.

Only now did I start to realize how perfect the setup for this plot point was. So many clues, both subtle and quite obvious, that I completely missed.