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Stephen King

Everyone tends to recommend The Shining, and I think I'd agree with that. "It" and "Carrie" are also very good. If you like more of a fantasy slant to your reading, try the Dark Tower series. :)
 
Yeah i read some of my sisters copy of It years ago, the only one of his that ive read - scared the bezeesus out of me :)

Thanks for the advice :p
 
I love his older books so much more than his newer releases, I have yet to read "The Stand" (it's sooo long, but it's on my "to read" pile). I loved Firestarter, Christine, Carrie, Dead Zone, Cujo. I am not terribly fond of his short story collections, but then again, I am not terribly fond of short stories.
 
Originally posted by phil_t
Now ive hardly read any Stephen King - what would be a good book to read to get a general feel for his writing?
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Never liked horror movies myself so always thought the same would apply to King's books but read Desperation a couple of months ago and I'd really recomend it (though obviously I can't say if it gives a good general feel for his work). The Gunslinger is now on my bookshelf and I've an inkling it'll be read pretty soon, if not next.
 
I've read The Stand, and I just finished Insomnia. After I'm finished with the HP series, I'm planning on reading the Dark Towers.
 
I love King's short stories, albeit in small doses. His novel plots sometimes seem formulaic to me, but I never think that of his short stories. I haven't read any of his recent novels, I read a lot of his stuff when I was 13 and it's amazing how well his stuff sticks in my head. Love, love Christine.
 
I used to love Stephen King, especially Different Seasons, The Stand, The Talisman, Pet Sematary, Salem's Lot and Misery.
I think his best stuff was written during his cocaine days (I hadn't known this until about a month ago!).

After Misery, everything I read by him just seemed to get really stupid...it seemed his writing got to be very juvenile, like in Rose Madder when her husband was spouting off stuff like "Foo banna-fanna-banna".

I had gotten Insomnia as a gift and despite hating it I still stuck with it and still resent the time wasted on it.
I vowed never to read him again.

However....

One novel that I felt I should give a try was It. So the urge hit me last weekend and I bought it. I already know that a lot of people felt the ending was stupid but from all accounts they also felt it was still worth the read.
I just finished Part 1 and am loving it! The old Stephen King, great characterizations and storyline...life is good :)
 
Actually, It was my favorite one of King's novels. It and Insomnia take place in the same town, don't they? I was wondering, do they make reference to each other?
 
i really haven't read any of his books yet.. it's probably because i've watched the movies and i didn't quite understand the plot... are the novels like the movies?
 
The movies are hardly ever like the films, with the exception of Firestarter, The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me. Generally, King's novels translate very poorly to film, mostly because films do not have the time to explore the in-depth characterisation which is a feature of King's work. In short, the novels are much better than the films, so give them a try! I recommend It, The Stand and The Talisman, plus the Dark Tower series if you like a fantasy leaning in your reading. :)
 
Originally posted by Halo
The movies are hardly ever like the films, with the exception of Firestarter, The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me. Generally, King's novels translate very poorly to film, mostly because films do not have the time to explore the in-depth characterisation which is a feature of King's work. In short, the novels are much better than the films, so give them a try! I recommend It, The Stand and The Talisman, plus the Dark Tower series if you like a fantasy leaning in your reading. :)
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thanks a bunch! :D i'll give it a try.
 
King is awesome. I'll say that first. My favorite book by him is The Talisman, which was written with Straub... by himself, I'd say The Long Walk.

There is only one book that was a huge disappointment to me that he wrote; Black House. This book just wasn't what it was meant to be, to me. It should have been a sequel to The Talisman, but instead it was a spin-off from the Dark Tower books. *shakes his head* It was written totaly different from the book before it, which with any sequel is bad, and it was just... well, it had as little to do with The Talisman as was posible, in my opinion.
 
The first Stephen King book I ever read was The Green Mile, but I've read more since and enjoyed most of them, Hearts in Atlantis was, ummm, different, shall we say - I just didn't get that one :eek:
 
His short stories are definitely much better than his novels. Maybe because with a short story he has to focus on one idea and, due to the this, the story is refined to a good read. His early novels were good because they were written - sort of - before fame. As he's dominated the horror market, his bricks - for the most part - have became boring.
 
The big problem with King that I have are his endings. He can (or could) write some really gripping stories. I'd race through them to get to the ending, only to have a big bunch of birds sort it all out, or the baddy turn out to be a spider, or turn into a mythical being, or generally be pants. The endings could destroy the whole book. I agree with Mile that his short stories are where his real talents lie. He doesn't have the opportunity to lose his train of thought and forget what it was he was trying to acheive with the story.

Having said that, some of his older novels were great. Misery was fantastic. But books like The Dark Half could have been excellent, if he hadn't destroyed them with the ending.

I haven't bothered reading any of his work since Gerald's Game. He's been going for too long and it feels like he's run out of ideas. The books have been become trite and pointless as far as I'm concerned. I have to admit that horror was a genre that occupied me during my adolescent years, and is one I've mostly grown out of. But even so, I can still appreciate the older King books. Just none of the new ones.
 
I agree totally about the short stories. Haven't read a novel of his since The Dark Half, but have caught a few short stories and they're excellent.
 
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