A dog named Cujo

Stephen King is one of my favourite mainstream authors. Now, that is. The first time I tried to read a King novel, I was not impressed at all. The book was The Shining and I just could not get into it. I dismissed King as not my cup of tea. And then along came a novel called Cujo. Everyone was talking about it, raving about it. I liked dogs so I thought I would give King another chance. (Looking back, "liking dogs" as a reason to read Cujo -- a horror novel about a rabid St. Bernard -- is almost hilarious.)

Cujo was out in paperback and so I bought it. It was 1983 and I was pregnant.

The book hooked me in from the beginning. The terror ripens slowly in Cujo and reaches the point where it becomes unbearable. Is it a good book to read while pregnant? Um, no. Absolutely not the ending a pregnant woman wants to read. (I'm sure you've read it but I'll refrain from giving the ending away in case you haven't.)

I devoured the book, reading it as quickly as I could, and went on to become quite the Stephen King fan. But I still have never read The Shining. Great movie, though.

Cujo is my "C" choice for this week's A-Z Wednesday. If you have never read it, you should be able to find the paperback in any good second-hand bookstore for a small outlay of cash; your local library will have a copy as well. I highly recommend it.