My wife and I spent part of Labor Day wandering around a flea market. Yes, we are in our 20's, but if you grew up in our families the habit of looking at large piles of aging junk is as genetic as blues eyes and blonde hair.
Anyways, my interest in such excursions usually focus on finding classic records to add to our collection or finding a cheap book to occupy my time. On this Labor Day, being currently without anything to read, I was specifically looking for a good read.
I found it.
But then again, I knew one day I'd end up doing this again.
I found a pristine copy of "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King. For those not keeping score at home, this is the first book "The Dark Tower" series.
Like Snake, who recently returned to the late 90s wrestling scene, I felt drawn to start down the path of the dark tower again.
Before I go any farther, the first copy of this book I had somehow got terribly mangled. The cover was ripped off and at some point the binding cracked and broke leaving the text in two big chunks. It's probably the most damaged I've ever allowed a book to get and I honestly don't know how it happened.
Anyways, I also bought a copy of the fourth book "The Wizard and the Glass," which I never owned. I had borrowed it from a friend for my first read. The two books cost me about $5 (about a $25 savings from buying them new at Borders or Barnes and Noble).
Later that day, I really set out on the path again by opening up the book and following the man in black and the gunslinger across the desert. A few things stuck out to me. One, I am a much better and understanding reader than I was when I first read this book a little over a decade ago. I am sure it took me a couple months to get through the text that clocks in under 200 pages. This reading took me four days and that's mostly because they tell me I have to show up to work on time and stay there.
Second, it's much easier to follow and pick up on all things King is setting up for the series going through it the second time.
Finally, like the Eye of Sauron in "The Lord of the Rings," the image of the dark tower is central to the entire series, but what's interesting is that it takes King 80 pages before it's introduced in this book. That's a pretty long time, but up till then it seems that the pursuit in the man in black is the driving force of the series.
Here is the first reference to the tower, I found it interesting. Plus, this provides a little of style that this book (which is different from the rest of the series) is written. This a scene where Roland (the gunslinger) hypnotizes the boy Jake that he meets at the Way Station in the desert. It's the middle of a long paragraph, so try to keep up.
He (the gunslinger) seemed to hear the sound of wind-chimes. Not for the first time the gunslinger tasted the smooth, loden taste of soul-sickness. The shell in his fingers, manipulated with such unknown grace, was suddenly undead, horrific, the spoor of a monster. He dropped it into his palm and closed it into a fist with painful force. There were such things as rape in the world. Rape and murder and unspeakable practices, and all of them were for the good, the bloody good, for the myth, for the grail, for the Tower. Ah, the Tower stood somewhere, rearing its black bulk to the sky, and in his desert-scoured ears, the gunslinger heard the faint sweet sound of wind-chimes.
"Where are you?" he asked.
What we find out is that catching the man in the black is the end of the beginning. It's a long road to the tower. I am already deep into the second book. I plan on sharing my thoughts and things I notice as I go. It may not interest anyone else, but I enjoy it and sometimes that's all that matters.
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2 comments:
I find it interesting, although some of it seems over my head. I think the difference is still that same for us, we both like reading and music, but the books are your passion and the music is mine. again what probably makes us good compliments. Although this is kinda weird cause I feel like I am rediscovering some of my roots in music here lately. Maybe I should post on it. I like that sometimes I can read books through you.
A lot of it went over my head the first time I read it also. Plus, what you're getting here is ripped out the middle the story, so it's sort of like throwing you into a pool with a boulder tied to your foot.
There are some other aspects of the first book and the whole series that I think you'll be even more interested in that I haven't quite figured out how or when I am going to write about them.
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