Reader's Diary #2270 - Stephen King - 11/22/63

Stephen King was my first literary obsession and in my junior high, high school days I tore through everything from his 70s and 80s output. Beyond that it's been really sporadic. When I do pick one up these days it feels comfortable. I'm also, however, reminded of my issues with his writing.

11/22/63 is a decent book. Seeing King take a stab at a time travel story is fun and as it's backward time-travel, it fits easily into the nostalgia thing he does so well (though he's careful to show how the late 50s, early 60s weren't the good ol' days either). 

But man oh man, this needed an editor. At nearly 850 pages it honestly could have been half that length. The most egregious thing I've noticed in his later works is his insistency of creating a united Stephen King Universe. The first couple hundred pages in this novel sees the protagonist going back to Derry, where he encounters a couple of kids from It. This whole plot is largely irrelevant to the overall story and is just annoying.