The Stand by Stephen King (#55 in 2020)
A deadly mysterious illness with flu-like symptoms, suspected of having been created in a lab, is initially downplayed by the government. This “flu” infects the human race and wipes out a large chunk of society... [Sounds a little too close-to-home for 2020, doesn't it?] But then two leaders emerge: a 108-year old woman and a "dark man" from the dark side... and chaos ensues. FIRST: I'm a huge nerd and I check the publication page when I start to read so I can see when the book was written. This one confused me a bit because there are two dates listed: 1978 and 1990. The story's setting is 1990, which confused me because I couldn't figure out for the life of me how King would have been able to conceive an accurate setting for 1990 while writing in the 1970s. Fun fact: The Stand was first written in 1978 with a setting of 1985, but Doubleday told King that the length would make it too costly to print. King was forced to cut 400 pages from his original work to make it marketable. In 1990, when King re-published his book at the original length of 1,440 pages, he updated the setting to the 90s (ahhh makes sense now). I literally have a full page of notes in my phone titled "OMG Notes" so that I wouldn't forget all my favorite OMG moments to share with my fellow buddy-readers. There are a TON of characters (think George R.R. Martin-style), and each one is so well-rounded that it's hard to determine if each character will be a main character or not. A LOT happens within the pages of this book-- probably too much for me to even capture in a review-- but it's clear why this is one of King's most popular books of all time. Just read it. 5 stars
Also major tip: DO NOT get the mass market paperback or it’ll look like you’re one of the Newsies working all up in William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper factory in 1899. Gross as hell.
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