Ern reads every Stephen King book. Post 2: 'Salem's Lot

This was my first time reading 'Salem's Lot, and I haven't seen the movie (although Leeard has and gave it a "meh"). I heard that Stephen King has stated that this is his favorite book of his. I don't know why. It's one of the most ordinary books by him that I have ever read. It has a generic love story that never actually pulls at the heartstrings, a writer hero who seems like a regular Joe, and classic vampires. I didn't like that, at the beginning, the end result of the novel is just given away. The rest is just details. It was neat to see Father Callahan of The Dark Tower series. I can see why King wanted to write a sequel to 'Salem's Lot, but was then satisfied with just following up on Callahan in his magnum opus. If I had read SL before DT, I would have been curious to know the priest's fate. He was by far my favorite character.

I didn't like when King would get all poetic with his descriptions of the time of day, weather, or landscape. It sounded like he was trying too hard, and some of it sounded like nonsense. The dark sense of humor he normally displays when he's talking about characters was at a minimum. One of my favorite things about King is how he takes us in depth into the backgrounds of even minor characters, and how their life stories are almost as interesting as the present action. He did this a little here, but not enough. This novel was better than Twilight at least. The vampires sure didn't glitter, which I appreciate. It was an adult book. It's one of the better vampire stories I've read, actually. It didn't scare me at all, but it might have if I had read it when I was younger.
Book Grade (compared to other King books): C+