Author Archives: Kimberly Muller

Mar 18 2010

The Positive and Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen King

Last April, I began the epic task of listening to the entire book, The Stand, by Stephen King. Although I don’t think King is a big religious fanatic, I found it interesting to see how much my faith in God grew through the reading of this book.

Let me begin by saying that I tend to question my beliefs. In fact, I question them on a near daily basis. However, the way that King brings about the idea of God in this book and His interaction or lack thereof at times with the survivors truly inspired and amazed me. At one point, an agnostic speaking to Mother Abigail (who basically represents God’s chosen One) “says” (he’s mute) that he doesn’t believe in God. She simply laughs at him and responds with “that’s ok. He believes in you.” Although it isn’t a long response, it seems to sum up what I needed to hear about God at that moment.

In a later chapter, when four main characters are sent out to face Randall Flagg and his disciples, it is well-known that they will all probably die before accomplishing this. One of the main characters, Franny, is furious that her lover is one of them and yells at Mother Abigail saying that this God is a sadist who enjoys causing people pain. He allowed millions to die, and now he is continuing to call for death. In response, Abigail heals Franny’s back, and Franny insists that it’s a bribe. Abigail responds that it’s just God’s faith in her.

It fascinates me to see an author like King, who tends to be so much gloom and doom, opening his mind to more optimistic ideas about our world and beyond. Perhaps he didn’t mean to do this, but it influenced me more than I initially thought. It speaks that not everyone believes in a God who chooses to destroy things, but He rather lets Man make the final decisions, such as the case in this book with men choosing to create a superflu that is accidentally released.

Continuing with King, I used to praise his horror-writing ability, but I am finding that after reading The Dark Tower, The Stand, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and his newest not-as-scary short story collection, After Sunset, I tend to enjoy his non-horror writing even more. He’s descriptive and humorous while telling tales of sorrow and tragedy, and his messages in most of those books listed are those of hope and mystery instead of horror and pessimism. I guess if you’re reading this and wrote the guy off based on a bad horror book, i.e. Rose Madder. I would gently push you into trying one of the non-horror books and see what I’ve seen, a man who tries to find meaning in some unlikely places.

Mar 18 2010

Why are we becoming “Aliterate?”

I’ve read chapters of Mark Bauerlein’s slightly pessimistic book, The Dumbest Generation, and one of the better chapters brought up the idea that Americans are becoming “aliterate” instead of illiterate. This reminds me of Twain’s famous quote, “A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.” Although some of Bauerlein’s ideas are debatable, in my opinion, this one is the exception. People, not just kids and teens, are not reading like they used to, and I was one of these people just two years ago.

I am ashamed to say that as an English instructor, I only read about three or four books a year back in 2007. However, I was lucky enough to pick up King’s On Writing, and I was struck by his ability to read about 60 books a year. I came up with my own goal to read twenty-four books that next year, and I read twenty-six.

Although not every book was a classic or one I would recommend to friends, I felt like with each book, my brain was beginning to use a few millimeters more than before. I began to think differently about situations and apply some of the ideas I found in those books to my own theories and beliefs. What helped even more was challenging myself to try new authors. Up until a few years ago, I had never read a Carl Hiaasen book or even wanted to bother with Dickens again, but I tried both of them, and I found a new appreciation for the latter of the two because I never gave the book my full attention.

Books can be so much more than a story on paper. They connect us with other people as well. I love the ding that goes off in my head when I see someone reading one of my favorites at the beach or hearing a student interpreting something we both read in a totally (and valid) way than I had thought about it. I love the nostalgic feeling that comes along when I read Corduroy to my son, or when I see books I had as a child that I know I want to read to him. During the breaks at my job, I have had many conversations with colleagues about The Road, and they have always resulted in different interpretations that all had serious merit. Although film conversations can be similar, authors don’t always have deliberate roads they want you to go down, and films usually do.

So why are so few people reading? Books are cheaper than a video game (even an old, used one,) a movie ticket, a computer, or a cell phone, and yet they still collect dust in libraries and bookshelves. Have we become a culture so engrossed in instant gratification that we don’t want to put in a few hours to read a novel because “there isn’t time for that?” It’s amazing to me that so few Americans have little time for books, but they DO have time for all of the other things I’ve listed. In my humble opinion, none of the previously mentioned options of entertainment can stimulate a mind like a book, and these are what people are choosing.

The final quote I end with is one I included as an essay choice on a final for my high school class. Though most of the students attempted it, only about 1/4 of those who did received an “A” on it. Of course, the irony of it was that those with the A’s all read above and beyond the required books, and those who didn’t possibly read one entire book all year.

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”- Ray Bradbury