What am I thinking? WHAT am I thinking? I know what I’m thinking. I’m thinking I want to read a book with all my friends. And all my friends want to read The Stand. By Stephen King. An author who scares the stuffing out of me, despite the fact I’ve only read ONE of his scary books (Misery) and his book about writing (which I actually enjoyed!). Yes. My name is Heather and I am a Stephen-King-Wuss.
Trish’s Standalong Get to Know You
1. What makes you want to read The Stand?
All the cool kids (my very best blogging buddies) are doing it!
2. Describe your preconceived notions of The Stand.
My preconceived notion of The Stand is the same as my preconceived notion of Stephen King and that is, mainly, SCARY.
3. What was the last scary(ish) book you read or movie you saw?
I don’t normally go in for such things. Actually, I avoid them at all costs.
4. Which version of the book will you be reading from?
I got the uncut version. *gulp*
5. What are you previous experiences with Stephen King?
I read Misery when I was a teen, to see what King was actually about. Scared the pants off me. I’ve also read his book On Writing, which I actually enjoyed quite a lot.
6. Anything else you’d like to add (bonus points for being extra random).
HOLD MY HAND PEOPLE. HOLD. MY. HAND.
So, if you have the balls to join us, we’ll be reading The Stand this summer. Here are all the deets. Do join us. So you can hold my hand.
You will be fine. I normally don't do horror of any kind. The Stand was my first Stephen King. Not only did I make it through the entire uncut version (on audio), I LOVED it! Seriously, it was probably one of my favorite reads of the year, if not of all time. I know you can do it!
Guess what, Heather darling–you're going to be fine!!! Seriously. If you can make it through Misery (I've read several of his books, and to me, that one is by far the scariest), you can easily make it through The Stand! I know when people think of Stephen King, they automatically think "horror" but I totally consider this one more of an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic kind of read. Not that there isn't scary shit going on, of course. But really, I do think you'll be fine. And I will hold your hand all the way through!!!
*reaches out hand and grasps it* I'm crossing my fingers that this one isn't scary in the sense that his other books are scary. I think I'm more intimidated by the length than the story–though there are some gruesome looking illustrations in my copy! But YAY for joining! You're right–there are a lot of cool kids joining.
I NEED to do this…I NEED to do this. I was a King reader long ago…LOVED Misery! But, about the time the scary clown mess came out, I gave up. Maybe if we all hold hands?
Don't be scared! I'm not afraid to say I'm a literary snob, but I'm also not afraid to say 'The Stand' is my FAVORITE book of all time. It's really less scary and more an epic "what if," a showdown of good vs. evil and a look at how people deal with the unexpected (sorry if that's a very bad summary). I'm always pushing 'The Stand' on people even if they're not Stephen King fans because it's really not one of his horror novels, but just a really, really good book.
Welcome to the madness! I'm joining in too and I don't do well with scary. I did really enjoy On Writing though. At least we're all in it together!
YAY
What you're thinking is that you're going to have so much freaking fun you're going to SPLODE! 
I'm joining in too! I'm really excited. Don't be too scared. King can be scary, but, in my mind, not terrifying. And I'm a wimp!
I will hopefully join in, but I am horrendous with read-alongs…
I read this many, many years ago, and it scared the snot out of me. It was really good, just scary. I'm not doing the read along, but I'll hold your hand if you need it!
I'm so glad to see you are doing this too! I'm actually very excited to start this; I was a huge fan of Stephen King in my teenage years but I haven't read him in so long.
The great thing about doing this as a read-along is that we'll have plenty people to talk about it with if things do get scary!