To those who read this in 1991..how did you do it?

[marew1]

Patience is a virtue. No, scratch that. Actually I suffered in anticipation like all Constant Readers!

[Blackbeard]

It was awful! I remember searching for any shread of evidence about when the next book would be written. It was a happy day when I saw the news about the final three books. Of course, I didn't read read them until I had all of the new revised expanded editions and the final three in hand. Then started with The Gunslinger for the umpteenth time.

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. Classic!

[foundationsedge]

to be honest i wasnt to keen on the first book, the first time i read it, roland is just mean in it, lets that kid die and kills all them townsfolk, then in the note king says he may never finnish the series at all!!!!!!
then carried on reading and got sucked in and all the time in the back of my mind, as each book got better and better, i kept thinking "god i hope SK finnishes the series before he kicks the bucket" then came the last and that bloody ending, and for a while i wondered why i had bothered,
but , i re read the series starting with the updated first 2 books, (i had given my original copies away, a decision made in anger and regretted since) and i enjoyed it more even knowing how it would end, so i guess its not the end of the journey thats important but the getting there that counts.
BUT IT WAS HELL WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[phidgt]

I'll repeat what's been said before - IT WAS TORTURE!!!!!!!
You kids have it so easy these days.

[91rewoT]

It was painful. Seriously, I was worried I would get hit by a bus and die without getting to find out what happened next! I spent countless hours re-reading the other books, listening to them on tape, thinking about the Ka-tet...

[wall of fog]

Consider if the Tower series were to start over again with a different set of experiences: What decisions might they make with the cliffhanger at the end of Tower 6 being so similar to the Mansion at the end of Tower 3 book 1! Jake might switch places with Roland and Eddie and be looking for a key under a car mat...

[pike747]

It is late, I am tired and I cannot resist this thread! The first time I read The Gunslinger amid a frenzy of reading all things Stephen King I could get my hands on (It, The Stand, Skeleton Crew...... around 1989) I actually did not like it!
Let me qualify and quantify that statement by admitting here among friends that The Dark Tower almost became a religion for me. A year or so later my future wife and I listened to Steve read The Gunslinger in audio book form and it was a whole new ball game! The Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands ratcheted up my love for the tale of Roland and Eddie became one of my all time favorite characters. By the time Wizard and Glass was in the making, I was attempting to consciously beam my thoughts in Constant Writer's direction to urge him on. It was almost exquisite torture but I would willingly go through that and worse again. Looking back it seems to have flown by. Six years have passed since the tale was concluded? Keep in mind that DT is more than the sum of it's novels. How many worlds next door to the world next door can an infinite universe support? I may no longer willingly serve the Random, may have indeed found a Purpose but Roland still pursues the Man in Black in my imagination.
"He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father! I shoot with my mind ............!

[Fran D'Amico]

It was horrible waiting for the DT 4.I read amd re read all the books.I thought Eddie 0might ask Blaine if he knew the difference between a whore in a bathtub and a nun in a bathtub. one has hope in her soul the other?you figure it out

[RandomMan]

Graduated HS in 1991...so i stayed busy those years...Graduated college in, yep, 1997. I dont think I read for pleasure too much during that time anyways. Hell, I dont even remember a couple of those year!!!!

[Cowboy]

It was tough, believe me....that is why so many of us have re-read the Dark Tower books so many times.