First Lines: Nightmares & Dreamscapes

Years ago I read the Dutch, two volume edition of Stephen King’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes. I remember sitting in an airplane over the North Sea, on my way back home from my first trip to London, talking about why I read the Dutch translation. Probably because it was easier at the time. Nowadays, I read a lot more English-language books than Dutch ones.

On my list of 100 things to do before I go to clearing at the end of my path there’s “read all novel’s by Stephen King”. I reread Nightmares & Dreamscapes as part of that quest (which in my head I’ve slightly amended to add “in English”, which means that I still have a few more to go, until mr. King releases another book, that is).

Not all stories in this collection did a lot for me, but as a whole, it’s an entertaining bunch. I mean, a story about a finger sticking out of your bathroom drain? C’mon, gimme a break. On the other hand, stories like Dolan’s Cadillac (a guy getting revenge the hard way), The Ten O’Clock People (only a few people can see the signs of an upcoming hostile vampire takeover) or The House in Maple Street (where a house in Maple Street slowly changes into a spaceship), well, I can suspend my disbelief far enough to see that work.

The next Stephen King novel to be read is The Wind Through the Keyhole, when it finally decides to show up.

Book Read
Stephen King — Nightmares & Dreamscapes
First Line
When I was a kid I believed everything I was told, everything I read, and every dispatch send out by my own overheated imagination. —from Introduction: Myth, Belief, Faith and Ripley’s Believe It or Not!