Twelve in 12: January

 I have successfully finished my first book for Twelve in 12.

Title: Skeleton Crew
Author: Stephen King
Pages: 505 (including "Introduction"; excluding "Author’s Notes")
Genre: Horror fiction

Skeleton Crew is a collection of short stories, mostly horror-themed, all of them supernatural in some way or another. The stories are as follows (complete with my personal rating).

• The Mist: 5/5 
• Here There Be Tygers: 2/5
• The Monkey: 4.5/5
• Cain Rose Up: 3/5
• Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut: 4/5
• The Jaunt: 5/5
• The Wedding Gig: 3/5
• Paranoid: A Chant: 4/5
• The Raft: 4.5/5
• Word Processors of the Gods: 4.5/5
• The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands: 3/5
• Beachworld: 1.5/5
• The Reaper’s Image: 3/5
• Nona: 4/5
• For Owen: 2/5
• Survivor Type: 4.5/5
• Uncle Otto’s Truck: 2.5/5
• Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1): 3.5/5
• Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2): 3/5
• Gramma: 4/5
• The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet: 4.5/5
• The Reach: 5/5

This is quite a difficult book to review as a whole as it’s not really a novel but a collection of short stories. I’ll start by naming my top five favorite stories of the 22, in order from least to most favorite: The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet, The Monkey, Survivor Type, The Jaunt, and The Mist. Honorable mentions go to: The Raft, Word Processors of the Gods, Gramma and The Reach.

I thought the book was richly entertaining and interesting which is what I think of most of Stephen King’s books (he’s one of my favorite authors). Some stories filled me with a sickening dread and were very atmospheric (The Mist, Gramma), some were downright creepy (The Monkey, The Raft), some were extremely interesting and had me hooked (The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet, Survivor Type) and one in particular had an ending that just blew me away (The Jaunt). But what all of them had was that quintessential Stephen King-esq humor that I love, very wry and witty. 

My only complaint is the story Beachworld. I thought it didn’t explore anything thoroughly and didn’t really go anywhere. It was pretty anti-climactic.

Other than that, I’d rate the book 4.5/5, would recommend to a friend.

I tried to keep the reviews as short and sweet as possible as there are a lot of stories to get through and so as not to spoil anything. All in all, I thought the book was a very entertaining read. Some of the stories left something to be desired but, on the whole, I thought them to be quite interesting. As one entire book, I give it a 4 out of 5, would recommend. I have a soft spot for Stephen King.