"The Talisman"

My name is Laura, and I am a bookaholic.  Seriously, I am.  I cannot bear to be without some book I am currently reading.  This love of reading surely started very early, with a Mom who would read to my brother and me every day (I still have fond memories of how we used to fill the time waiting for the schoolbus by reading from various stories). 

Well, I just lately found my self in need of my next book to read, and after so admiring Stephen King's open letter, I was put in the mood to revisit a book of his that I have especially liked.  Actually, it is a collaboration between King and Peter Straub, called The Talisman.  It is the tale of a boy who finds himself on a quest to save his mother, and who must cross worlds to do so.  This other world, a sort of alternate version of ours, is beautifully constructed in itself, but even more interesting are the ways this other world compares with our own.  The contrasts highlight the differences between our "modern" life and simpler modes of living, but there is more to it than that.  Certain things endure across the worlds, and these illuminate the authors' perceptions of which truths are universal, which symbols carry deeper meaning, and which things in life are really the most important, and this is done often in very subtle and fascinating ways.

That is why I am giving this book a re-read.  Also, to my delight, I have discovered that a sequel now exists (which, if I recall, was not yet published when I first read The Talisman).  I am very much looking forward to reading that one, too, which is entitled Black House. 

This is, alas, a short post...but I must get back to reading!