Entertaining the Alien

25. 'Salem's Lot, Stephen King*#

It's funny how audiobooks can help you rediscover books you already love. There have been several new audiobook versions of classic Stephen King novels recently, such as Carrie as read by Sissy Spacek (amazing!) and Salem's Lot, read by Ron McLarty--whom I had never heard of, before his first novel came out earlier this year, The Memory of Running. I don't know what kind of a writer he is, but he is an incredible audiobook reader. He's the type who does character voices, but does them so well that it's not obnoxious at all, and you can tell who's speaking even before he reads the dialogue attribution. I really enjoyed 'Salem's Lot when I read it for the first time (believe it or not) last year, but McLarty's reading added a whole new dimension. I got weepy in several places, because the characters became so heart-rending. And I finally got to hear the voices of the Maine oldtimers who populate King's books. Definitely worth checking this one out, particularly since it's unabridged.

(As a note, the list for 2005 is updated, but is tremendously out of order, and I doubt I'll go back and fill in comments for each book. It is, however, as complete as I can make it, and I'll add in any books I discovered that I missed along the way.)