Proud Dorky

So I'm a big Stephen King fan and he recently came out with the 5th book in the Dark Tower series called Wolves of Calla. I've read the previous 4 and have been psyched for a while for this book to come out. It arrived a few weeks ago and I immediately started digging in. Within the first 10 pages I realized I had a major problem. My memory was shot. It's been like a decade since I read the first book in the series and years since I read the 4th. I've pretty much forgotten everything that came before it. All the terms are hazy. The storyline is murky at best. I can't remember names of characters while I'm actually reading books- let alone pull them up years later. I looked at the stack of Dark Tower books on my shelf. They added up to like 3,000 pages or something. I thought about rereading them all but considering that I read about 2 books a year total I realized I wouldn't be getting started on Wolves of Calla till like 2007. I figured I was screwed.

So I did some research online and found this friggin savior book called the The Dark Tower: A Concordance. It's sort of like a reference book for the first four books. So I decided to read that thing before reading the new book. I've been taking it with me everywhere I go to make sure that I read it up and refreshen. It's in with my bag of stuff. 

ANYWAY, tonite I was running around a bit and went to meet a friend of mine for a drink around 6ish at the place around the corner. I got there early and sat down at the bar and took out my book and read it over a beer. The bartender who was way cute came up to me at one point and asked me what I was reading.

I looked at the cover and realized this wasn't going to be an easy explanation. I was immediately embarrassed of my reading material. Not only reading a "reference guide" at a bar but a companion guide to a whole series fantasy adventure series. I started to fumble to explain what it was and realized I was explaining to a cute bartender a nerdy book that explains other nerdy books so I can read the new nerdy book . oy... I realized I was geeking out. Hardcore. I might as well have been reading a D&D guide! There was no way to explain it away cool-like.

But then something else came over me. I do love the friggin Dark Tower series! And why should I be embarrassed because some bartender thinks I'm a dork! Maybe I would be better off reading something "cool" but whatever! And if she's judging me as a "dork" just because I'm reading this book and not be interested in me... That's fine, bartender chick! Don't be!

Needless to say... she wasn't.

ok bye!

tOdd