Finally, an excuse.

I love reading. I have been doing it since I was three, and my mother got me a subscription to "Barbie Magazine."

I also love talking about what I'm reading. So guess how jazzed I was to learn that my grade depends on doing just that!

Right now I am reading "The Shining" by Stephen King.

I have been a King fan since I finished all of my mother's V.C. Andrews books (remember "Flowers in the Attic?") in 4th grade. She handed me "Rose Madder" and I was hooked. In sixth grade I got to sit outside of King's house in Maine, imagining all the genius happening behind that wrought-iron fence, inside those deep maroon walls. And I have loved the movie version of  "The Shining" for almost as long. But I have never read the book.

King just released "Doctor Sleep," a sequel to "The Shining" with Danny Torrance ("REDRUM!") as an adult. I knew I would be remiss to skip the first book, and I'm desperate to read the second, so now, every night, I find myself confined in The Overlook in Colorado with Danny, Wendy and Jack.

It's suffocating, but fascinating.