Stephen King novels [Archive]

inbetween days

11-02-2005, 10:38 AM

The Shining (WAY better then the Kubrick film...the shitty TV movie was more accurate to the book, actually, but it was poorly made and acted out)....SALEM'S LOT, Misery, Christine, the Stand, the dark half, it...that should get your started. alot of those were made into shitty movies that i would not recommend watching, too.

Intern Kate

11-03-2005, 10:52 PM

Originally posted by LOST_kitty_k
Desperation.

scary!

It (holy crap, disregard that funny movie with John-boy from the Waltons), The Shining, good n' frightful. those are the ones that stick out. but hello the Kubrick film is really great too, it was his interpretation and it doesn't have to be by the book, and how feckin' lame and unscary would it be to try showing hedge animals attacking people.

oh and, i liked the Talisman for non-scary. fantasy. ha ha. "D:"

Nick K

11-06-2005, 07:18 PM

i read Carrie and liked it guys!

milpool

11-06-2005, 07:26 PM

Originally posted by Intern Kate
scary!

It (holy crap, disregard that funny movie with John-boy from the Waltons)

IT is effin awesome. well..the first half.

DrHibbert

11-07-2005, 08:26 AM

I thought The Stand was way too long and really preachy. Still a good book, though.

I like the earlier ones better. Like Firestarter and The Dead Zone.

Nick K

11-12-2005, 02:10 PM

guys, i bought the complete edition of The Stand, first printing, for only eight bucks at a used book store yesterday. i figure it'll take me a year or so to read it. it's longer than the fucking bible.

Nick K

11-13-2005, 01:51 PM

guys, i finished 'Salem's Lot last night. i'd give it a B+. it's an enjoyable read, especially when the shit hits the fan in the last hundred pages or so. some of the dialogue is really corny though, but i guess that's to be expected when it's just his second novel.

kendra

11-17-2005, 11:38 AM

Didn't like Salem's Lot so much; the scenes that always stand out in my memory are the dead baby with the chocolate pudding (the spoon against his teeth...) and the guy dressing up in women's underwear.

The Stand is decent; it has connections to his Dark Tower series which is pretty darn awesome.

It is good, except for the last third or so . . . tooooooooo loooooooooong. (Don't get me wrong, I am a total Stephen King whore. But he gets rambly.)

As mentioned before, The Dark Tower series are very good :yes:

Carrie is a good one, but very different from his other work.

One of my favorites is The Tommyknockers; another long one, but worth it. His novellas written as Stephen Bachman are really nice as well (The Long Walk, Rage, etc.) Some of my favorites are actually short stories of his; he's released quite a few collections (Four Past Midnight and Skeleton Crew spring to mind.)

I basically have liked all of his stuff except for Christine (boring) and Dreamcatcher (uhhhhh. what.)

Intern Kate

11-17-2005, 04:19 PM

Originally posted by milpool
IT is effin awesome. well..the first half.

clowns ARE really friggin' creepy. unless you mean it's awesome as in hilarious.

yeah, Salem's Lot was ok, and only ok because i used to be a lame turd obsessed with vampires.

hello Hello HEllo is anybody out there who has read the Talisman? if so, what did you think? :(

Nick K

11-19-2005, 01:03 PM

guys, i'm almost done with The Shining and i like it a whole lot. i'm reading his books in order and he improves as a writer with each one. so far.

Osceana

11-19-2005, 10:40 PM

Check out Misery. It's a great read and gives a surprising amount of insight into the world of writing.

Nick K

11-20-2005, 01:21 PM

i finished The Shining. (A-) loved it. my only complaints were the scenes with the hedge animals. seemed a little ridiculous to me. the guy in the dog costume was creepy, i liked that touch.

vaya con dios

11-22-2005, 01:55 PM

After seeing The Shining at age 13 and it scaring the hell out of me (only one of 3 movies that have ever done that to me), I had to read the novel. I was absolutely obsessed with everything involving that movie/book at that time...

I was astonished by the differences, but that has to remain my favorite by him. It's terrifying, just in prose and how he makes the visuals come alive in your mind.

kendra

11-29-2005, 12:04 PM

Originally posted by Intern Kate

hello Hello HEllo is anybody out there who has read the Talisman? if so, what did you think? :(

Yes, and I think I liked it. I bought Black House (I think it's the follow up?) and it was also good. I don't know though, I feel slightly intruded upon by this Peter Straub fellow that King has allowed to come into our intimate author/reader relationship :cry:

& Jack seems like such a similar character to Jake (from the Dark Tower series). Wait, maybe that was the point :darn: So many of his books have threads connecting them to each other, but the sheer amount of material prevents me from keeping track of it all in my mind. It'd be a fun project to do; I think thedarktower.net gets into some of it. http://www.thedarktower.net/connections/

Intern Kate

11-30-2005, 01:50 AM

i bought something by Peter Straub once from a library sale for like, a dime, but could never get past the first few pages.

i never knew Black House existed i'll have to read it. i've never read anything from the Dark Tower series. i always mean to pick it up, but it seems so dauntingly massive. i should though if this Jake fellow is like Jack, i liked Jack.

that site was helpful/interesting. hmm. i thought Desperation was decently scary and think someday i'll read The Regulators.

xangeleso

12-06-2005, 03:02 PM

I'm reading insomnia right now. It's pretty interesting. You should read some of his short stories. They're pretty good. I can't wait until his new one comes out next year, Cell. It's about zombies, and you can't go wrong with zombies! I love good zombie stories.

xo, Stef

Leela

12-21-2005, 02:32 PM

Originally posted by Nak Nak
His best book is the Stand.

Totally.

I like Rose Madder, but I seem to be the only one on that boat.

kendra

12-23-2005, 03:34 AM

Nah it was interesting enough. It actually creeped me out in bits. (And BITING people to death? Jesus Cristo!)

kim

01-01-2006, 06:37 PM

My favorites are The Stand, The Shining, and It. I loved The Talisman - Black House not so much.
I've read I and II of The Dark Tower so far and I like it, but now it's been so long I'll probably have to start over before I can read the third one.
Only books of his I didn't much like were Gerald's Game, From a Buick 8 (it was ok, but...), and The Regulators.

Of his Bachman stuff, The Long Walk and Roadwork are fantastic.

what I think is interesting about The Shining is that he's said it was autobiographical, but he didn't realize that when he was writing it. He was writing about how his alcoholism was destroying his family, and well...it got more literal.

:StephenKingfreak: :-o

kendra

01-28-2006, 12:32 AM

Are you kidding me? Gerald's Game was probably the first novel of his that I read and actually cringed and had to put the book down for a few pages . . . I was dreading reading the words at some point, it was so sick. I kept waiting to get SCARED by Stephen King but it didn't happen for real until that book; and the scenes with that "thing" in her room...fuck D: Mission accomplished, Steve-o.

I agree about From a Buick 8 - I think he knew he was going into old territory there with that "story about a car" and the whole thing seemed a bit lackluster. I did like the passages where the characters were trying to imagine the terror of the creature that came out of the trunk - the flickers of description of the alien world, that was the good bit. Dreamcatcher sucked quite a bit. I was just thinking about that the other day. Maybe I need to reread it, but it seemed so foggy and all over the place (in a bad way). That and it seemed like he was trying to recapture the intimate relationships of the children in It, and it just didn't work as well as before. I didn't give a damn about any of them, even the mentally disabled kid.

Leela

01-28-2006, 03:41 PM

Not only did IT terrify the fuck out of me, but it made me sob hysterically when he talked about that kid who put animals in abondoned refridgerators so they would sufficate, and ended up killing his baby brother.

I cried so hard

kendra

01-28-2006, 05:01 PM

It has a lot of great moments, including Patrick! heh

xangeleso

02-03-2006, 11:20 PM

Personally, I can't read his novels/stories that come from a woman's perspective. I read some of gerald's game and rose madder and had to give them up because he just doesn't know how to get into the woman's psyche. I found them terribly boring.

xo, Stef

Nick K

02-24-2006, 04:04 PM

i finished the uncut version of The Stand and liked it quite a bit. i rented the miniseries on DVD. still waiting to get it in the mail.

didn't like Rage. felt like a kid wrote it.

The Long Walk was fantastic. one of my early favorites of his. i like how much of the back story is left unexplained, and the reader has to draw their own conclusions.

Misery was great too. it never let up.

Cujo was an exciting, though tragic story. very bleak, but i don't mind that.

i'm reading Roadwork right now, and i'm liking it. nothing really supernatural about it, like Cujo, but unlike some fans that doesn't turn me off to it.

i liked about 3/4's of the short stories in Night Shift.

i'd rank what books of his i've read as follows so far:

Thru Alex Mac

02-24-2006, 04:52 PM

I've read all of his novels, and for me his best three are:

1. The Stand (Fucking incredible novel)
2. Hearts In Atlantis
3. The Dark Tower Series. (Which is actually connected to Hearts In Atlantis albeit in a small way)

Sadly, almost every film adaptation of a King Novel is shit. Shawshank, Misery and Kubrick's shining version are the only three worth paying good money for.

kendra

02-25-2006, 12:30 AM

3. The Dark Tower Series. (Which is actually connected to Hearts In Atlantis albeit in a small way)

Sadly, almost every film adaptation of a King Novel is shit. Shawshank, Misery and Kubrick's shining version are the only three worth paying good money for.

Yeah I posted this link (http://www.thedarktower.net/connections/) earlier in the thread; a lot of his books are connected to the Dark Tower. It's quite interesting, check it out!

And I agree . . . the films are awful, with the exception of Shawshank. I actually didn't mind The Green Mile, but It really pissed me off and the Tommyknockers was just abysmally bad.

Thru Alex Mac

02-25-2006, 01:22 PM

And I agree . . . the films are awful, with the exception of Shawshank. I actually didn't mind The Green Mile, but It really pissed me off and the Tommyknockers was just abysmally bad.

Some of the films are watchable, but then the CGI's at the end are ridiculous. The ridiculous monster at the end of Children Of the Corn for instance. And I thought 'IT' wasn't too bad, until that shit excuse for a spider at the end. The worst would proabably have to be the representation of the Langoleirs at the end of that mini-series. Imagine watching that film before you read the book!

And well, Dreamcatcher is hideous. The book wasn't too bad, but fuck, I think we can all agree that that film was a shambles.

kendra

02-25-2006, 06:30 PM

Dreamcatcher was a mediocre book but the movie was SO AWFUL! I actually saw the beginning of the Langoliers miniseries but had to do something or other and this was before the dawn of TiVo, so I missed the rest of it - what did they look like? I always kinda imagined pac-men.

I haven't seen Children of the Corn yet, which I find odd mostly because I like horror and I should've gotten around to it by now!

Thru Alex Mac

02-25-2006, 06:55 PM

I actually saw the beginning of the Langoliers miniseries but had to do something or other and this was before the dawn of TiVo, so I missed the rest of it - what did they look like? I always kinda imagined pac-men.

You're not far off. They're kinda the same, but pacmen are proabably more advanced. To my knowledge, it's the worst CGI effect in film history. You just see these massive black outlines, it's as if a 4 year old kid is messing with the projector at the cinema.

I haven't seen Children of the Corn yet, which I find odd mostly because I like horror and I should've gotten around to it by now!

Honestly, it's not too bad, but like I said, it's just another dissapointing ending.

kendra

02-25-2006, 10:19 PM

Heh @ black outlines. Well to be fair, isn't the miniseries kinda old? And the budget was probably low :D

Aaron

02-26-2006, 01:26 AM

I actually really like his short stories in Different Seasons, which has Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption included in it.

Christine was also pretty decent, about a psycho car.

Mentioned in previous posts, the Stand is probably one of his best stories.

xangeleso

02-28-2006, 12:26 AM

Christine was also pretty decent, about a psycho car.

I didn't think I was going to like Christine at all. I don't care for cars so for the longest time I wouldn't touch the book. Once I did start reading it, I couldn't put it down. It's become one of my favorites of his.

I'm gonna finish Insomnia tonight or early tomorrow. I just passed the climax. All I can say is it's sort of a let down. I thought that there would be more to the novel, something more extravagant, I guess. I keep waiting for the suspense but it's just not there.

I think King can be longwinded at times. There are paragraphs that I only skim through because half the in there doesn't really need to be said. Okay, gonna read now :) Hopefully I'll finish this book tonight.

xo, Stef

ems

03-25-2006, 05:52 PM

Despite his great storytelling skills, my problem with King is that his actual writing pretty much sucks. And actually, his storytelling has gone downhill too... of course, the old ones like The Shining or Pet Sematary were great, but nowadays it's way too commercialised and he has lost some of his talent.

Gerald's Game isn't a bad book.

kendra

03-25-2006, 05:59 PM

Wondering what you mean by his writing sucking?

ems

03-25-2006, 06:05 PM

well, the main reason he's so famous is because his stories are so fascinating and very adaptable to film. But from a literary perspective, his writing technique is often quite flawed and overly simple. He doesn't write very well. WHAT he writes gets him the bucks, not how.

kendra

03-26-2006, 12:36 AM

Hmmm...okay. I was hoping more for a specific example really.

Nak Nak

03-26-2006, 10:52 AM

That kind of criticism is crappy. His writing could perhaps be more concise. I sometimes feel that he makes too little with too much. this does not apply to his shorter works such as Carrie (I actually really enjoyed Carrie for what it was) etc. I do get a little tired of the "tone" in many of his novels. Tone is an inaccurate word for what I think of as something almost undefinable - ambience, atmosphere. King is a mighty writer, it just seems that to speed the production process he puts the book on the writer's runners in his mind and fire it off in his style. Wow that's a bad analogy; it is what I feel about him though.

DrHibbert

03-26-2006, 10:55 AM

I think he was better when he had an editor. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that his books have gotten more and more tedious, and large portions could be cut loose.

ems

03-26-2006, 11:08 AM

Hmmm...okay. I was hoping more for a specific example really.

Sorry, I don't have any of his books with me at the moment so I can't actually give any precise textual details.

What I mean is, there's a reason why no one studies King in literature class.

Intern Kate

03-26-2006, 05:13 PM

yeah but i don't think anyone's arguing that he should be included in a lit class. actually they do cover him here in the "Modern Bestseller" course. heh, but yeah, there you go. and he obviously knows he's largely not one to transcend genres, ya know? i think he's skillfully entertaining. and i can at least say i haven't come across any writing of King's that makes me truly cringe. yawn, yes; some tediousness maybe, but like Nak Nak and Bird Breath said, it's a call for conciseness; an editor.

kendra

03-26-2006, 06:57 PM

I agree w/ Craig & Kate & Bird Breath. I've always known he has a tendency to go on and on and on . . . and when the story's good, I really don't mind. When it's not (Dreamcatcher) you just want him to get on with it already.

I think King is quite comfortable with where he is as a writer and how he's viewed by literary snobs and English professors alike (he was one himself). I actually read On Writing and the message I got from that was that although he does pay attention to some detail, he is faaaar more concerned with entertaining the reader as opposed to impressing them with his literary prowess. I admire him for it and I think he's struck a good balance; it's not like he's James Patterson for pete's sake, THERE'S a stinker D:

Osceana

03-26-2006, 07:48 PM

he is faaaar more concerned with entertaining the reader as opposed to impressing them with his literary prowess.

This is true of him and many other writers. I'm trying to get published myself and i think (like with all things) until you get a peek behind the curtain you never really realize how...."utilitarian" it can be. As long as you can write in a concise manner and you have good subject material, you'll get paid. And that's all some writers care about. I'm not accusing King of that, but when reading some of his work i'm reminded in a vague way of R.L. Stine.

kendra

03-27-2006, 12:52 AM

I don't think he's that formulaic at all. R.L. Stine, V.C. Andrews . . . they're just like the cookie-cutter romance writers.

bijaz

04-21-2006, 03:35 PM

The Dark Tower series was really very good. This coming from an admited Sci-Fi Buff who never thought I would pick up a Stephen King Novel. (I'm really not into Horror)
Then, last October, a Hurricane rolls through. No power for five days, Nothing to read, No bookstores open! Just a copy of "The Gunslinger" collecting dust on my bookshelf. The rest is history.
Dark Tower definately does not qualify as Horror though. Not really Sci-Fi/ Fantasy either.
After Dark Tower I read Cell.
I would avoid it if possible. Not because it was too much like Horror for me; I actually found myself really enjoying the concept of zombies walking the streets. The first half of the book was pretty interesting. It just seemed to me like King got bored with this one about half way through. He kills off the most interesting character, and for no good reason that I can see and from there on its all down hill. I honestly barely finished it.
I think I may pick up The Stand soon. I think I would enjoy that from what Ive read here.

figuringitout

05-01-2006, 09:14 PM

pet semetary grossed me out, a lot.

Ninermike

05-16-2006, 10:39 PM

I know he's famous for horror, but I have little interest in anything that's not related to the Dark Tower, to the point that I get frustrated with something like Bag of Bones, which is supposed to be related but has one character from Insomnia in it, and little else.

I've never been more into a book series than I was with the Dark Tower. I started reading it two summers ago and finished it less than a week after VII came out.

I had a cold when I started reading The Stand. That was a bad idea.

The Tourist

06-01-2006, 08:24 AM

I've come a little late to this thread, however...

His writing style is simple, but that also makes it more effective. If you read On Writing then perhaps you'll understand a little better what it is he's doing. There was a time in my teenage years when the only thing I would read was Stephen King. I haven't read everything that he's written, the only book of his that I found dull was Desperation, I read half of it and gave up. Also the collaboration with Peter Straub was something I couldn't get on with. Straub's writing style is quite pedantic.
The Stand is probably my overall favourite, I've only read it twice since it's quite a time investment. I think once I finish this degree I may read it again since I haven't read it since 2001 or so.

Ninermike

06-03-2006, 12:05 AM

Peter Straub seems to be obsessed with pedophiles.
I liked The Talisman and Black House, but I thought it was a little strange when I found out he has at least one more book related to snatching kiddies.

Intern Kate

06-07-2006, 01:54 PM

the only book of his that I found dull was Desperation, I read half of it and gave up.

ha, i found it kind of scary. then recently they made a crap tv movie of it, rendering the content lame, and spoiling it in my brain. although, to be fair, i only watched about twenty or so minutes of it.

i liked The Talisman a lot, but am thinking, right now, that my favorite might be It.

LOST_kitty_k

06-07-2006, 06:44 PM

I'm currently reading Desperation again. It has it's slow moments. I saw the t.v. movie of it as well and I thought it was alright. None of the cursing and all that good stuff but surprisingly bloody for showing at seven in the evening. The book will always be better so I didn't have high expectations.