01 Oct Book Club – Misery

It is finally here. October is my favourite month of the year and I am so excited for all the things to come. I celebrate my wedding anniversary and my daughter’s birthday. Mother Nature is at her absolute best with her sexiness making the leaves a symphony of rich colours. Walks in the woods when the autumn sun is setting is so beautiful I almost can’t cope with it. Most importantly, Its Halloween.

I was raised in a Christian family and as I child I was not allowed to acknowledge or celebrate Halloween. I never went to any of my friends Halloween parties. I didn’t watch any scary movies and I carved my very first pumpkin at the age of 16.

For book club, I had to choose a horror. I am a massive horror fan – probably as an act of stubborn rebellion from my religious upbringing – and rarely get scared in movies and books but this book is something else. This book scared the absolute b’jesus out of me.
I saw the movie first and had nightmares for weeks. When you watch horrors, they tend to be far-fetched gore fests or supernatural tales but not Misery.

Annie Wilkes is the most terrifying villain I have ever encountered.

You can have your serial killers that keep coming back to life in the most ridiculous ways, they just make me laugh but if I ever came face to face with Annie I would lose all control of my bowels.

What Stephen King does in this book is create a monster that is real. This is just a woman that could be found in any place in the world. A woman that is blatantly a psychopathic, bipolar sociopath that becomes obsessed with an author and his stories. I watched a documentary on The Directioners (One Direction’s superfans) and I turned to my husband and said, “Every one of these girls is on the cusp of becoming Annie Wilkes.”

Here’s a little synopsis. Paul Sheldon – a successful author of the Misery Chastain novels – crashes his car and when he wakes up he isn’t in hospital but in a remote cabin with a giant snowstorm (metaphoric for a shit storm I reckon) raging outside. He is being cared for by former nurse Annie Wilkes who also just happens to be his number one fan. Then just LOADS of shit goes down.

The tension in this book is off the scale. It makes me all squirmy and I tend to shout at the book you just want him to escape and be okay. It is tense.

Snuggle up in a cosy jumper with some hot chocolate and ginger biscuits. Remember the rules of the second-hand book club. It must be a pre-owned, pre-loved book. Tag all the pics with #nbgshbc tell your friends, partners, your biggest fans to join in too.

Have fun you dirty birdy.