Las Vegas: an Irreverent History; Unholy Night; Dead Zone

"Las Vegas: an Irreverent History" by Michelle Ferrari was a fun look at Sin City that included some beautiful old pictures. I love old pictures, especially of a place like Vegas, which started out as a barren, dusty, desert town and exploded into the light filled city with the oddly shaped, rising buildings that it is today. "Unholy Night" by Seth Grahame-Smith was hilarious good fun. He imagines that the three wise men who attended Jesus' birth were not actually holy men but three thieves on the run from Herod. It was clever and very nicely done. And I finished rereading another Stephen King this morning, "Dead Zone". It was never one of my favorites as a kid, so I don't think I've read it in over 20 years. I remembered a lot of it, but not how *good* it really is. John Smith is in a bad car accident, in a coma for over four years. When he awakens, he has the disturbing ability to see things, things in the future. He is labeled a psychic, and called a huckster by many, but he just wants to be left alone. There is a great little section where Sheriff George Bannerman of Castle Rock calls and asks him to help him catch the strangler who has been preying on women and young girls in Castle Rock for six years. John reluctantly goes and when he tells Bannerman that the killer is one of his own deputies, Frank Dodd, Bannerman is stunned and doesn't want to believe it. John persuades him to go to Dodd's house, and they find Dodd has committed suicide. When I read it last, I didn't like the whole Greg Stillson storyline, it bored me, but now, 20 years older and hopefully a little wiser, I can appreciate the brilliance of it. The ending was so great, just spot on, how John doesn't actually kill Stillson like he wants but still is able to discredit him and make him look like a fool. I have a million library books to read that are all due within the next few weeks, so I might take a short break from SK rereads for a bit. Plus I have his newest "Wind Through the Keyhole" to get through, but I think I'll pick up with "Dark Half" next. I remember liking that one quite a bit when I was younger.