I hate to be disappointed.

It's a NYT Best Seller, so it must be registering with some folks.

is that certain authors get on it no matter how good or bad the book is. King is one of those authors. That list is only how many books are sold, not how great the books might be.

That, plus in King's case, he set a very high quality level for his earlier short stories; a number of them were made into good movies, "Shawshank Redemption" among them.....

noticed is that there are a lot of people who only read one or two books a year, and they'll generally go for the most hyped book at the time. I've learned to be very cautious about reading those books, because they often disappoint me.

And yes, Stephen King is one author whose books will sell many, many copies. So unless you already happen to like him, you may not want to automatically buy anything of his. For me, his work has become hit or miss, and I get them out of the library, as I do most books. I can't afford to buy all that I read, and I don't have the space for that many books. Just love the public library.

The waiting list isn't too long, generally. Many years ago, I worked part-time in the library system at my university for tuition and beer money, so I have a real appreciation for how libraries are managed and what a continuing service they are to their communities.

Typical of King at this point. And I don't think it's a matter of an established, aging author "phoning it in" (although I have accused King of doing that at times) -- I think he just has so many stories in his repertoire that he wants to get as many as he can out there before time truly passes him by. (I think most if not all of these were all published earlier.)

The only story I think I truly enjoyed -- because of its construction and point of view -- was "Drunken Fireworks". The voice, the characterization, was classic King, IMO. The rest, with a few exceptions, were meh. It was a pretty quick read for me, and when I finished, I didn't feel as though I had wasted my time (unlike with some other books lately), but I wasn't blown away, either. But King has other, better collections, for sure.

I can't say I'm much of a fan of his poetry, though.

I do like his commitment to the short story. I'll give him that, at least.

"Drunken Fireworks" is without question the pick of the litter in this bunch of stories.

interesting Maine accent that I paid attention to that and not the story.