Stephen King's Desperation

I was 11 years old when I first got my hands on the hardcover copy of Stephen King's Desperation. It was October of 1996. The book was released in September, but it was already a bestseller, naturally, given the popularity of King.

Also given his popularity, the book was treated with special marketing by King's publisher Viking, presented at bookstores in a special, faux-wood-paneled cardboard display. It was displayed just like this in the best bookstore in my area (albeit a 45-minute drive away), at Kentucky Oaks Mall in Paducah, at Waldenbooks, a bookstore chain that no longer exists. My Mama Jan had spotted the book near the front entrance of Waldenbooks while she was shopping for clothes in the mall.

When my mother and I went over to Mama Jan's house for Halloween, I remember her dumping candy into my pumpkin bucket, then sitting me down in her den. She handed me a copy of the book. "I saw it and thought of you," she said.

At 690 pages, it was the largest book I'd ever held. I didn't know authors wrote books this long. I cracked the novel and turned to the first page. The second word on the page was a dirty word. I slammed shut the cover, lest my grandmother (a good Christian woman), spot bad words in the book she bought me. I couldn't wait to get home and read the thing.

Stephen King's From a Buick 8

My first exposure to Stephen King's 2002 novel From a Buick 8 must have been that same year, at a Thanksgiving lunch at my Mama Jan's house. Family tradition had it that we all gathered at my grandparents' to celebrate, and that year a new cousin on my maternal side of the family who did not normally attend the gatherings came, with a hardcover copy of From a Buick 8 in tow.

Even though we were at least all in our twenties, I and the cousins were placed at the kitchen table, the kids' table, while my grandparents, mother, uncles, and aunts all sat at the long dining table. This new cousin put down her copy of From a Buick 8 on the kitchen table, beside the side dishes.

"What's that?" I said.

"Stephen King," she said.

I asked if I could hold the book. I didn't flip open any of the pages. I just turned to the back and peered at the dust jacket, where the author's photo was. There was Stephen King, positioned in the corner at a cream-colored wall, bearded, his head cocked upward, his eyes toward the ceiling. Seemed typically creepy. What one would expect from a horror author. Head up, away from camera. Adam's apple exposed.

Memento

Memento amoris.

Norah Jones' Come Away with Me

Some music appears on the cultural scene and it feels like it was dropped from the sky. Norah Jones' first album is one of those musical experiences. According to Come Away With Me's Wikipedia entry, it is one of the bestselling albums of all time, the bestselling debut album by a female artist, and the third bestselling album of the twenty-first century.

The songs are comforting, like modern lullabies. They are uplifting. They are hopeful.

It's customary in any mention about how music affects one's mood for the better to say something about how one ought to listen to music because it rewires one's brain for the better. But we already knew that. No one needs a scientific study to know they feel better when they listen to Norah.

A Jury of One's Peers

A jury in New South Wales, Australia once returned a verdict of "not guilty" for a man convicted of cow theft provided, the jury said, the man return the cows he had stolen. The judge ordered the jury to return to session to deliberate further. The jurors returned, this time with a verdict of "not guilty" and, they added, the man did not have to return the cows.

Source: Barbara Holland, "Do You Swear That You Will Well and Truly Try...?" Smithsonian, March 1995, 108-117.