LIBRARY COLUMN | Recommended books by the ‘King’

• “The Shining”: Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote and sinister. The only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted child.
• “Misery”: Paul Sheldon is a bestselling novelist who has finally met his number one fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes, and she is more than a rabid reader—she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also furious that the author has killed off her favorite character in his latest book. Annie becomes his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house. Annie wants Paul to write a book that brings Misery back to life—just for her. She has a lot of ways to spur him on. One is a needle. Another is an axe. And if they don’t work, she can get really nasty.
• “The Mist”: David Drayton, his son Billy, and their neighbor Brent Norton head to the local grocery store to replenish supplies following a freak storm. Once there, they and other local citizens are trapped by a strange mist that has enveloped the town and in which strange creatures are lurking. The Mist is a quick little journey into the frightened mind, and the way fear plays itself out within a group of strangers.
• “Bag of Bones”: This recounts the plight of 40-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife, Jo, and who can no longer bear to face the blank screen of his word processor. Noonan receives paranormal visitations and unknowingly falls in love with a young woman and her daughter. He then becomes involved in a very ugly and violent custody battle.
• “The Girl who loved Tom Gordon”: Trisha McFarland was to spend Saturday with her older brother, Pete, and her recently divorced mother on a hike in the Appalachian Trail. When she wanders off to escape their constant bickering. Trisha strays deeper into a wilderness full of peril and terror. For solace she tunes her Walkman to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games and the performances of her hero, number 36, pitcher Tom Gordon. This story explores our deep dread of the unknown and the extent to which faith can conquer it and a girl’s steadfast spirit.
• “Dolores Claiborne”: Forced by overwhelming evidence to confess her life of crime, Dolores Claiborne, a foul-tempered New Englander, describes how her fractured marriage years before caused her heart to turn murderous. Suspected of killing Vera Donovan, her wealthy employer, Dolores Claiborne tells police the story of her life, harkening back to the suspicious death of her husband, thirty years earlier. Dolores also tells of Vera’s physical and mental decline and of her loyalty to an employer who had become emotionally demanding and vindictive.
• “Gwendy’s Button Box”: There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson had taken the stairs, up the cliffside to find solace and escape the teasing of peers. A stranger calls to her. There on a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head was a small, neat black hat. He gives her a beautiful button box. He explains that the button box can cause both chaos and good. Bewitched by the box, Gwendy takes it and goes home to hide it from her parents.
• “Later”: Sometimes growing up means facing your demons. The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Jamie has the ability to see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine—as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave. It is a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. It is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.

Victoria Lafean is adult programming librarian at Manhattan Public Library.