Bear’s Book Blog

Alas. According to dictionary.com, ‘alas’ is an interjection used as an exclamation to express sorrow, grief, pity, concern, or apprehension of evil.

This was my reaction when Stephen King, my erstwhile favorite author, whose moniker Constant Reader was seen by me as a badge of honor, quoted Mao’s Little Red Book somewhere in the first 50 pages or so as if The Little Red Book were simply another part of American literature and not the writings of one of the most murderous, most salacious, most morally and physically filthy pieces of insectile intelligence to ever stand upright and pretend to possess humanity.

I struggled the better part of the day on what to do because ‘Under The Dome’ was my Christmas treat to myself. I wanted to read the book and badly. The question on the floor was was I willing to pay for the privilege of hearing another celebrity sitting on many tens of millions of dollars procured through the wonders of capitalism tell me I should willingly surrender more of my check for the greater good.

No, I am not.

Mr. King, I am sincerely tired of your shit when it comes to politics. You sit up there in Maine, in your own words a Maine Yankee liberal, and you pontificate on the beauties of liberalism. Up until this last tome, which I am sure is as fine a read as all those before (except Eyes of the Dragon) you have pretty much kept your politics out of your books which was fine by me. I paid to be entertained and you are good at that. I will not pay to have some Communist insect quoted to me. I am done with you.

One more time, I thought, when I bought Under The Dome, one more time I will indulge in my favorite fantasy world created by the Talented and Ever Popular Mr. King. I have been laid off for ten weeks this year, leaving a hole in my finances that, though I was not entirely unprepared for, was no fun at all. I have given up watching the news, even the programs I agree with, because I cannot spend all my time worrying about what that bastard president we have now decides needs to be destroyed today.

Now, I cannot even read a damn fiction book without Communist bullshit being quoted at me.

As I struggled all day with what to do, mainly because I was trying to convince myself that the rational thing to do was to read the thing and report on it. It was paid for after all and I probably could not return it for a refund. Two hours of wrestling with that thought and I was on the road to Books-A-Million to ask for a refund. Even though I did not have my receipt, they were good enough to look it up on my discount card and refund it to my card. Some will say I should have finished the book before returning it, but that would have been tantamount to stealing. I returned Under The Dome for the same reason I sent Mr. King my dollar when I downloaded that electronic book whose name I cannot recall.

I encourage you to do the same and remind Mr. King that while 50% and higher tax rates and healthcare rationing may not impact HIS lifestyle with the rate at which money flows into his account, it does affect Constant Reader’s finances and badly.