Starting "The Dark Tower"

My friend Jeremy has been bugging me to start reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower series for years and I have always said that I didn't want to begin an unfinished series. Well - The last book will be published sometime this month, so I guess it's time. Stephen King is one of the author's that I have always meant to read, but never got around to. When I was in high school he was the "it" writer. Everyone was reading his books and I associated them with cheap horror movies. (Don't ask me why - I have no idea...The Shining is a classic.) For some reason I also lumped him in with V.C. Andrews. Again - I have no idea why. I think it was the same group of friends who were reading both authors. Anyway - I didn't really think about King again until I took a few professional writing classes in college. My professor, Deborah Chester, used several examples of King's work to illustrate dialogue and scene building. Clearly he is a master writer, but even then I couldn't get beyond the horror aspect.

I've decided that I can't wait any more. If I want to consider myself well read - I've got to read at least a little King. I've decided to bow to peer pressure and read The Gunslinger. The rumor is that it is the least of the Dark Tower books and so I'll read The Drawing of the Three also. If I'm not convinced by then - that's all the King for me. I'm about 20 pages into The Gunslinger and I can see why people love it so much. King's sense of setting is remarkable. So far, I can almost feel the desert that the gunslinger is moving through. (BTW - do we ever find out his name? Is King hiding it for a specific purpose?) I'm not hooked, but I am definitely intrigued.