Any Stephen King fans here?

I grew up on King, so I always will have a soft spot for his stuff. The Dark Tower series is fantastic, and I enjoyed It and Salems Lot quite a bit. I think I have read almost all is stuff up through Needful Things, and I obviously devoured the Dark tower books when they hit.

Looking back on it though, once I ventured out, there is only a handful of his stuff that really measures up to all the other work that is out there.

you should check out the comic in feb then, it is totally new material, side stories or something

well, he is very different the CP, CC, and WCB - but i think a great storyteller - i wouldn't say any of his stuff sucked, but i enjoyed some more then others

i loved the stand. what i really liked was how the book didn't have the typical flow...what i mean the book instead of peaking at a climactic point and then working down to the resolution, just carried on like a wavy line...right to the end.

i also read the first dark tower book....gunslinger i think it was.

my mom reads a lot of his stuff. it made it real easy to get her gifts when he was pumping out those last few dark tower books.

you should read the whole gunslinger series, very good, only gets better after the first one, which is probably the hardest to get through IMO

kings big in jail, him and kootnz, i used to read his stuff but now i think he's poisonous bitch, a hack, him and ann rice.

Never been much of a fan, purely based on what I've heard and his crappy movies made outta his stories (which coincidentally always star a writer in some creepy circumstance).
I've always wanted tog et into his stuff but could never find the right jump-board.

well, some of his movies are very good

shawshank, green mile, stand by me

and i've always like dead zone with christopher walken and the shining by nicholson

spielberg is adapting talisman for a TNT miniseries

try the gunslinger series, it is very different

or just dial up some lists on amazon or rank by customer ranking, but most people say the stand, it, the shining, salem's lot are good

I like probably 15% of his stuff
the rest just seems to be recycled stuff from that 15 %

also, I haven't read any of the Dark Tower stuff which most seem to say is his best
so maybe he's 20 % good

I haven't read much written by him but one book I enjoyed was The Long Walk....it was very interesting. So creative.

[QUOTE=Madelyn;904067]I haven't read much written by him but one book I enjoyed was The Long Walk....it was very interesting. So creative.[/QUOTE]

one of his best, and short - great idea

I love his stuff, i even named my cat CUJO!

I've read some books of him. I really enjoyed Misery and Insomnia. Especially Misery is very good. Do you think so?

[QUOTE=paranoid android;904183]I've read some books of him. I really enjoyed Misery and Insomnia. Especially Misery is very good. Do you think so?[/QUOTE]

i liked both of those

I used to read the KING man when I started reading when I was a kid. I really enjoyed some of his books. MYSERY, APT PUPIL, IT, RUNNING MAN Haven´t read nothing from him in a while tough... I agree that a lot of his stuff is recycled... and that the movies based on his work sucks (altough a lot of book´s based movies really sucks)

[QUOTE=Barca Boy;904157]I love his stuff, i even named my cat CUJO![/QUOTE]

YES! I have forgotten about CUJO.. That's an awesome book!

Pet Sematary
I may dig it out and give it a re-read to see if it holds up as one of the creepiest books I've ever read

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;904382]Pet Sematary
I may dig it out and give it a re-read to see if it holds up as one of the creepiest books I've ever read[/QUOTE]The thing I find interesting about that one - which is mentioned in On Writing - He doesn't remember writing it. He was such a drug addict and drunk at that point that he wrote Cujo and he doesn't remember it. Imagine just waking up one day and realizing that you have a completed book waiting to be published...

that'd be interesting to see all the books he wrote whilst fucked up and a list of all the books everyone seems to agree are his best
I wonder how similar they are

[QUOTE=PGoutis01;904407]The thing I find interesting about that one - which is mentioned in On Writing - He doesn't remember writing it. He was such a drug addict and drunk at that point that he wrote Cujo and he doesn't remember it. Imagine just waking up one day and realizing that you have a completed book waiting to be published...[/QUOTE]Bullshit he's just trying to again credibilty by claiming drug addiction, and isn't the old woman dead now, didn't some do-gooder mow him down? You can drag this thread on forever but he's not gonna come back to life, move on people!!

[QUOTE=morey;904415]Bullshit he's just trying to again credibilty by claiming drug addiction, and isn't the old woman dead now, didn't some do-gooder mow him down? You can drag this thread on forever but he's not gonna come back to life, move on people!![/QUOTE]

the mow down didn't kill him and guess what he pumped out a new novel about some writers getting run over with spooky results shortly thereafter

I have started many a Stephen King book but only managed to finish Insomnia, Rose Madder and Thinner. I gave up on The Shining about 2/3s in, Needful Things I chucked about 10 pages from the end, The Dead Zone got halfway through, repeat until dizzy...no regrets! The guy's books are barely readable and when I do read them I don't feel like I've gotten anything from them, it's like eating sand, which is what I think I said about Brett Easton Ellis also.

Having said that they do translate astonishingly well to film, The Shining is one of my all-time favourite movies and don't even get me started on Rose Red.

how in the world do you quit a book 10 pages from the end? even if I hated it, if i got that close I'd finish it off out of spite

yeah well he was one of those writers who write with the movie rights in mind.

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;904436]how in the world do you quit a book 10 pages from the end? even if I hated it, if i got that close I'd finish it off out of spite[/QUOTE]I do that a lot, why finish when you know how its gonna end.

[QUOTE=morey;904440]I do that a lot, why finish when you know how its gonna end.[/QUOTE]

yeah, but why go that far into a book? i can see bailing out half way through, but 10 pages from the end?
I'm flabbergasted

It wasn't even like I just put it down and forgot about it either I just closed the book and threw it across the room. I do weird things sometimes! Everyone does.

every once and awhile I'll smoke a cigarette through my nostril just because

I used to be a fiend for Stephen King's Mc'Novels. I don't know why, I guess it's just because it's so easy to enjoy them when you're working the night shift at a gas station, and plus you want something you know you're going to like, and that's exactly why I call them Mc'Novels, cause it's like reading nothing, except it's somewhat enjoyable...This goes for most of his work, anyway. A lot of it is decent: Cujo, From a Buick 8, Thinner, Dark Tower ...Some is crap: Needful Things, Christine, Tommyknockers, Dark Tower IV, Dark Tower V, Dark Tower VI, and then there's some good stuff: Dark Tower I, Dark Tower II, Dark Tower III, The Stand, Desperation.

I get tired of the same old Stephen King bullshit, like how he takes so long to build up a scene that you don't really care about. Then you have to sit there any wait for everything to settle down, and he waits until you're bored before he adds in something else to happen, and once you know something is gonna happen, you just feel dread knowing you're going to have to go through the building up phase again. Nothing ever seems to just happen, and most of his books are twice as long as they needed to be because of this.

His characters seem very one dimensional, like he picks a part of them and then works their entire persona around that one thing, like chewing a toothpick. Like the shopkeeper in Needful Things, he sees life as a metaphor that relates to shopkeeping, he lives his life by the values learned through shopkeeping. If somebody is a cop, they're just a cop and nothing else. They live by that glamorized cop's instinct and gut feelings. The Artist in the final Dark Tower novel, he never says or does anything that isn't related to being an Artist.

Over the span of his 60+ books, how many people has he created? I find it to be an insult to humanity to assume that one writer can properly understand the workings of so many minds, of artists and hands on workers and criminals and serial killers, cops and thieves, whores and priests, women unhappy in marriage, girls going through puberty, men growing old and frail, people dealing with the loss of family members...one man cannot grasp so many mindsets, and as a result his work suffers because his characters are weak and simple. He's a jack of all trades, and master of almost none...

But there are a few characters that he writes very well, and these seem to resurface in most of his stories. No I don't mean the super human negros. Did King have a horrible father? He writes very well from the point of view of a mean hearted man...drunks, mad husbands, horrible fathers, characters like Cujo's owner, Dolores' husband, even side characters like the guy whose house they broke down in front if in Christine, where the guy came out yelling and screaming that he was gonna beat them up if they didn't get that piece of shit outta there.

He also writes well when his character is a writer, something any good writer can do and most have probably considered. I myself turned the idea down simply because it's just too obvious.

I'd like to say I'm done with King, but then again I'd like to say I'll never eat another hamburger...

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;904436]how in the world do you quit a book 10 pages from the end? even if I hated it, if i got that close I'd finish it off out of spite[/QUOTE]

I quit on The Celestial Prophecy with 12 pages left. I just couldn't take it anymore, it felt like the book was fiending on my soul.

[QUOTE=Vendetta;904448]It wasn't even like I just put it down and forgot about it either I just closed the book and threw it across the room. I do weird things sometimes! Everyone does.[/QUOTE]

I feel ya man. If I had a dollar for every book I put down halfway through. I just did it with Hannibal Rising. I knew where it was going so I stopped.

I also stopped Glamorama by BE Ellis because I hated the characters so much.

As for Stephen King, I drop kicked The Stand out a window. I read something like 800 pages out of the 1200 and just couldn't take it anymore. It was so long winded and dull. But I loved Salem's Lot.

The thing about King is that he's not great but he's hard to beat as far as genuine freak-outery. I think he's good for plane rides and beach reads....

i think a lot of it depends on what you expect out of a novel, and what you like - i happen to like both king as palahniuk, two very different styles - i can read a detective story (ie, f. paul wilson or john stanford) and then sci-fi (philip k. dick) all very different

the stand is one of my favorite books, i like the length, and most king fans will say the stand is one of their fav king books

so people just don't want a 1200 page book - if you like king, maybe you should check out some of his short stories (ie, night shift) or the bachman books which were all shorter (ie, the long walk)

i am currently struggling with BEE Glamorama, but i'm told it picks up soon

it took me probably 6 months to finish the secret history by tartt, but i just couldn't quit, but maybe that's me - even if i think i know the ending, if i like the author, i will finish because i like the writing, language, setting, etc.

king isn't for everyone, but he does have some great books, and some great movies have been made as well

I LOVED A Secret History by Tartt....one of my all time favorite books that no one has ever heard of.

I know that I am in the minority of Stand haters but it wasn't the length. If it had been 1200 pages of good reading, I would have definitely stuck it out. BUT I felt that if I had to read another 20 pages about commitee meetings in the free zone I was going to explode. I loved the concept of good versus evil and a plague that kills all but a few, but the writing wasn't sharp or concise. And to be pulp fiction, that just doesn't fly with me.

I had the re-released, unedited version and King wrote in the intro that his editors cut it down, released it, sold it and then HE re-released it in it's entirety. Let's just say that I understood why the editors cut it down in the first place.

Glamorama picked up, but in a very less than satisfactory way. It just wasn't worth it to me to continue. Too many good books out there to waste time waiting for pulp ficiton to justify itself.

ah crap, got two books confused

i really loved a secret history, but i took FOREVER to read the little friend, her follow up book - seriously, 9 months - you think the stand got slow and into minutae, check that one out, wow

oh yeah? I'll have to look into it. Crime and Punishment has been the hardest to date for me to get through because the story unfolded so slowly. My friend calls it a generational problem what with people my age ( @25) wanting everything to read like The DaVinci Code.

right - the little friend was like that - not that it was BAD, per se, i have no problem dropping a really crappy book, but it was SOOOOOOOO slow, the details were very cool, but almost painful, especially since it was interspersed with this other drug dealing, wild storyline - strange

I remember Skeleton Crew having some great short stories in it
particularly Survivor Type

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;905138]I remember Skeleton Crew having some great short stories in it
particularly Survivor Type[/QUOTE]

I would have to agree, Skeleton Crew is by far the best work he has ever done. In particular "The Mist" [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mist[/url]

These stories capture the true heart and soul of Stephen King's imagination. In this book he creates incredibly detailed action sequences with very vague character development and mostly ordinary setting. This is amazing because you feel as if the character could be anybody, even you. The supermarket could be any supermarket. He'll go into detail describing the misting system for the fruits and vegetables, and it is exactly the same as the one in your supermarket. This eerie familiarity goes on for several different stories. I still get a creepy feeling of deja-vu everytime I see a toy monkey or go to the supermarket on a very foggy day.

[QUOTE=morey;904440]I do that a lot, why finish when you know how its gonna end.[/QUOTE]

That's becaue you are a quitter and a loser. I don't think writers claim to be a drug user to imporve credibilty. He was drinking robitussin, shit. Were you in Jail or just having a conjugal visit with mongo?

[QUOTE=Vendetta;904448]It wasn't even like I just put it down and forgot about it either I just closed the book and threw it across the room. I do weird things sometimes! Everyone does.[/QUOTE]

must have been a paperback because I seriously doubt your scrawny ass could throw a hardback 2 feet.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

I think Stephen King's a little better when he limits himself to shorter fiction.

I like King when I want something light that I don't really have to think about. I like to think of his stuff as a kind of transition book. You know, when you are in between books and can't figure out what you want to read next. Kind of like a snack. So my favorite snacks of his would have to be the Dark Tower Series, Salem's Lot, The Shining and the best being Different Seasons.

[QUOTE=ketamineman;907883]must have been a paperback because I seriously doubt your scrawny ass could throw a hardback 2 feet.[/QUOTE]
It [I]was[/I] a paperback! Ten points for you and bottle of ketchup as a special bonus prize.

[QUOTE=Brainfat;907963] You know, when you are in between books and can't figure out what you want to read next. [/QUOTE]

i wish I knew what this was like
I got a stack to the ceiling that i need to catch up on

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;907969]i wish I knew what this was like
I got a stack to the ceiling that i need to catch up on[/QUOTE]

Me too, but sometimes nothing jumps off of the shelves at you.

[QUOTE=wickerkat;904975]right - the little friend was like that - not that it was BAD, per se, i have no problem dropping a really crappy book, but it was SOOOOOOOO slow, the details were very cool, but almost painful, especially since it was interspersed with this other drug dealing, wild storyline - strange[/QUOTE]

donna, oh donna. i LOVED secret history. what was completely idiotic of me was that i read the book entirely based on the author photo. god damn is she creepy looking. i loved her instantly. and then the little friend comes along... and i was so disappointed. that was a book i threw across the room upon reading the last sentence. i still don't even know why it was called the little friend (if anyone wants to fill me in, that would be great).

as far as king goes... i grew up on him, so i will always defend him. misery, pet cemetary, green miles, the shining are some of my favorites. i've read 50-75% of his stuff over the years. as long as he doesn't get too sci-fi i will probably enjoy it. there are times when i really need to read something extremely meaningful, but king is for those time when i just want to read for the love of storytelling.

The biggest problem that I have with King is the poor guy just doesn't know how to write an ending. I thought the ending for the Shining was okay right up until he added that dreaded epilogue. That killed the whole thing. And don't get me started on IT...

Well, King is one of the most underrated writers out there, but it's true there's only so much of his work you can take at a time. You don't want to read too many King books at a time unless you're deficient in short-term memory, but still, if you're craving some King you know what you're going to get. Bag of Bones is one of his most respected books, and probably the one I've most enjoyed as an adult, but growing up I read Pet Sematary, It, and Thinner at a formative age, so I'll always have a fond memory of those.

I never understood the whole Koontz phenomenon, though, other than perhaps that he wrote a lot of books and people like what they're familiar with. Even when I was 12 I knew that the kind of descriptive that King wrote (suspenseful, Everyman prose) wasn't the same as Koontz description (the moon was so eerie! the sky was pink and remorseful!) and I can't understand what anyone sees in a Koontz book, other than a good plot for a movie.

King, at least, rewards a patient reader with intricate prose - it's just not for the A.D.D.-addled minimalist. But surely I'm not the only person who can appreciate both.

Koontz I've never read. Or Grisham. Or Patterson. Or Creighton.
King is really the only guy I've read more than one book of that fits into the 'quanity not quality' column of reading. You know those guys who pump out books like factory workers. As such there's going to be a bad apple here and there and King is no exception.

Obviously I should stay away from The Little Friend. What went wrong, Donna? The Secret History was so good....

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;907969]i wish I knew what this was like
I got a stack to the ceiling that i need to catch up on[/QUOTE]

ALWAYS a stack to the ceiling. Or really what I do is go on buying binges at the used place. Then about 6 months later I wonder why I ever bought The Perfect Storm and the Celestine Prophecy. Then again, they were only 25 cents...

[QUOTE=Brainfat;907963]I like King when I want something light that I don't really have to think about. Kind of like a snack.[/QUOTE]

my aunt calls those kinds of books potato chips for the brain....I think that's accurate.

[QUOTE=morey;904440]I do that a lot, why finish when you know how its gonna end.[/QUOTE]

It's sometimes funny to read half a book, work out where you think it's going then read the last the page.