Trying to force a teenaged boy to read books intended to be from the perspective of a pre-teen girl, written by a middle-aged woman, was predictably a disaster.

Trying to force a teenaged boy to read books intended to be from the perspective of a pre-teen girl, written by a middle-aged woman, was predictably a disaster. Too many layers of indirection there. Stephen King on the other hand... besides a few awkward questions with the father about what a screwdriver was, or what the Combat Zone in Boston was... was incredibly readable.