The Dark Tower Challenge

I am a Stephen King fan.  I am not ashamed to say it and I have shelves (yes plural) of his works.

It was reading Stephen King's ' Salem's Lot' for a GCSE assignment that got me into him and ever since then, I have been hooked.

Some time ago, I forget when, I found the 'The Dark Tower: Book one - The Gunslinger' and duly read it.  It was different from Mr King's usual style and I loved it.  I wanted the rest but life happened (kids I think) and I didn't think about the Dark Tower series at all.  Book one stayed on the shelf, surrounded by it's brothers in writing (as in IT, Four Past Midnight, From a Buick 8 and many many more) and waited for my own journey to the Dark Tower to continue.

It as always at birthdays or Christmas times where I would be asked, 'Is there anything specific we can get you?' but asking for the Dark Tower series seemed a little over the top - the complete set was cheap!

I considered buying the Dark Tower series for my Kindle.  I read more and faster on my Kindle, but at the time, I think the price was only a few pence less than the physical book.  It didn't feel right.

As I got book one from a charity shop, and as my hometown has several charity shops, I began checking each one on a sort of regular basis.  Finding the other books became a challenge.  I had popped into Waterstones and seen the books, all new and shiny on the shelf, and yet I knew that, if I was patient and tenacious (kinda like the Gunslinger chasing the man in black) I would find the rest of the books in the charity shops.

 Earlier this year, as I wandered back up the high street, I popped into the shop that has the most books and lo and behold, I found books 3 - The Waste Lands, 4  - Wizard and Glass and 5 - Wolves of Calla.  Yay!

So I have read book 1 and was now in possession of books 3,4 and 5.  My own sense of order won't let me jump ahead so they sat on my shelf for weeks,  untouched.  Only looked at.

Now only to find book 2 -  The Drawing of the Three and I can continue reading the story.

Fast forward to last week - while we were in West Wales on holiday, we found a bookshop in Cardigan.  Cardigan is a beautiful place.  A really lovely town with lots of character and some splendid shops.  This particular bookshop was new and packed with books.  But the books were old - or I should say, used.  This shop is exactly what i would like to do as a retirement folly.

Have a shop that stocks used books of all different types and for my own shop (The Reading Room) I would also offer a

This book shop is the personification of my own dream/folly.  A shop full of books that have been loved and read, and then available to be read and loved again.  It was there where I found book 2, The Drawing of the three and book 6, the Songs of Susannah.

My delight at finding this shop was surpassed by the sheer jubilation of finding not only the second book to continue (I was re-reading book 1 again as my holiday fiction) but I could carry on right up until the end of book 6!  I also have plenty of time to find the final chapter Book 7 - The Dark Tower.

The challenge is still on, There is the final book to find and the Wind through the Keyhole - an additional tale.