A few months ago I read Stephen King's Thinner, which was issued in 1984 under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. I finally got around to viewing the movie version released in 1996. It was very faithful to the book, as I recall. The most interesting aspect was the casting of Michael Constantine, whose most famous role was as the principal on Room 222, as the 100+ year old gypsy who casts a curse on three "white men from town." He got to ham it up and probably had a lot of fun. On a scale of five, I rate it three-and-a-half. Voters at IMDB disagree, rating it only 5.3 out of ten.
Here are the top five stocks of the year:
5. Perrigo (PRGO) +62% (Drugs)
4. Biogen Idec (BIIB) +66%
3. Mastercard (MA) 67%
2. Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) +71%
1. Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) +104%
I don't own any. Do you? Probably only politicians do.
I've had a copy of Somerset Maughan's Of Human Bondage on display at the floating bookshop for a long time. It was reissued to take advantage of the 1964 release of a version starring Kim Novak and Laurence Harvey, whose photos grace the cover of the paperback. The film has been forgotten. The novel, written in 1915, endures. Today a Russian gentleman purchased it along with John Irving's The 158 Pound Marriage. Dawn, a semi-regular, bought Stephen King's The Shining, which has a silver cover. An elderly woman fond of mysteries purchased one by the prolific Ed McBain, whose real name is Evan Hunter, author of Blackboard Jungle. There was once a stigma attached to genre writers. One modern writer of such fare, I don't recall who, said Stephen King, whose stature has grown recently, is this century's Edgar Allen Poe. It wouldn't surprise me. What writer wouldn't want his work to endure? Trouble is, none will be around to enjoy it.
Thanks, folks, and also to Abdul the Friendly Porter, who donated a bunch of books, among them two Nancy Drew mysteries and Betty Smith's beautiful A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Read Vic's stories, free:
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