Syllabus #256

 The Maybe the Cujo Ate Your Baby edition.  

Not Cujo

I accidentally skipped last week.  I can't blame it on the alcohol.  I can't blame senility, or an RFK Jr. brain worm.  I just procrastinated until I completely forgot.  Did you miss me?  Mom, don't answer that.  

Truthfully, I haven't been Very Online this summer, because it's been too nice out and I'd rather go on my little walks and sit outside and read my little books, or come inside and pet my little cats.  Or my big dog.  Which brings me to the title of this week's edition.  I finally read Cujo and now I feel bad for all the times I've ever called Charlie that name.  Cujo wasn't a bad doggie!  He didn't exactly ask that rabid bat to bite him on the nose.  He didn't want to go on that killing spree.  He just had to.  

Like Cujo, Charlie is a Very Good Boy.  Unlike Cujo, Charlie is fully vaccinated and will never tear out my throat in a murderous rage over which he has no control.  Also, compared to 200 pound Cujo, our Charlie is just a little guy.

At its core, Cujo was just a helpful PSA about the importance of making sure your dog gets a rabies shot.  And not leaving your kid in a hot car.  Thanks, Steve!

Before Cujo, I finished the Four Past Midnight story collection, then moved on to Stephen King's new story collection, You Like It Darker.  There was a story in there about the dad from Cujo, 30-some odd years in the future.  It wasn't exactly a spoiler to read it before the original story, and like, you can't really complain about spoilers from a book that came out over 40 years ago.  But it was somewhat strange that this revisitation of the Vic Trenton character involved more supernatural phenomena, where the original story had just the barest hint of the supernatural, and really just relied on suspense, psychological horror, and gore.  And even then, minor supernatural blip could be arguably dismissed as happening all in Vic's mind.

Now I'm reading Lucy Foley's The Hunting Party.  I just started it, but her books are always fast paced and seem like they're going to be predictable until she delivers a twist that I never see coming.  

I am going to tentatively declare this the Summer of Steve, though, because I'm queueing up Misery and Pet Sematary to read very soon.