How are horror books scary? (maybe I'm not reading this right)
I picked up a copy of Stephen King's IT after seeing the new movie and remembering loving the Tim Curry version as a teen. I've been going through it and am on page 289 of 1153. My problem though is that it isn't scary, it's not even that suspenseful. I am absolutely loving the story and the details that I never knew before from having seen the hollywood productions but I am not feeling anything related to this being a horror or even suspense book. Now i'm thinking of other horror books I've read and I can't help but ask are horror books actually scary? Is this book just not scary or is it that I already know what will happen so I'm not 'worried' about it? I am enjoying it. I just feel like i'm supposed to be feeling more from IT and I'm not. I've been on the edge of my seat reading books before, most recently an R.A. Salvatore novel about Drizzt Do'Urden had almost sweating because I had no idea how Drizzt was going to escape the underdark. I also remember being in a lot of suspense over what would happen in the novel Parasite Eve by Hideaki Sena, but even that book is a 'sci-fi horror' and I was not scared. I've read through all of Lovecraft and maybe it's the archaic verbiage but not a word of his made me scared. Do books make anyone scared? Is the feeling of being scared by a book a different type of scared from seeing a scary movie or a scary story someone tells you verbally? I don't necessarily want to be scared in life, I'm not one of those people that enjoys that, but I feel like I'm supposed to be feeling more and I'm not and that honestly worries me a little, as if my comprehension maybe isn't what it should be and I am not understanding what I'm reading although I totally understand whats happening.
Thank you for your time.
