Stephen King

[Forsaken Lover]

So I have never actually seen The Shining. I know it has Jack Nicholson and an axe and that's about it. I also know Mr. King didn't like the movie version. I figured I'd do him the honor of reading his original version first. It was the first book of his I've ever read and I liked it a lot. I can understand his dislike for the film. From what I understand, in the movie, it's kind of a foregone conclusion Jack is a crazy killer. In the book though I felt really bad for him. He was a genuinely good person who just happened to move to the worst place ever considering his vulnerable psyche. He was exploited by the Overlook Hotel and just as much a victim as anyone else.


But now I've moved onto "It." It and The Stand seem to be widely agreed upon as his best books. I did start The Stand and made it through a good deal of it. Right up until Herold died. But it's so long and a lot of it drags and I just got distracted and wandered off.

It though is pretty great. It's long too but I'm about 18 hours into it (I listen to audiobooks) and I have enjoyed every minute thus far. I'm right after Stan tells them about his first encounter with It.

Any suggestions on what I should look into after this?

Also:

1. What are your favorite King stories?

2. What are your favorite adaptations of a King work?

[Electroshock Therapy]

For his books, I like The Green Mile and Misery. I'm not actually a fan of his style of prose, and most of his "horror" stories just end up as silly. After the first half, I couldn't take It seriously at all. It went in a bizarre direction that took away all the scares and made the story funny. In my experience, many of King's books end up like that.

As for his adaptations, I love the film The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption. I've been meaning to watch The Shining because I really like Kubrick's work, so I'm looking forward to that.

[krissy]

i have all the dark tower books but i dont really do much of his other stuff

i enjoyed the stand
but i think most nerds would

adaptations? the dark tower comics no contest

[sharkythesharkdogg]

For his books, I like The Green Mile and Misery. I'm not actually a fan of his style of prose, and most of his "horror" stories just end up as silly. After the first half, I couldn't take It seriously at all. It went in a bizarre direction that took away all the scares and made the story funny. In my experience, many of King's books end up like that.

I agree with this for some of his work, and IT in particular. The ending, from what I remember, killed it. Where the clown turns out to be some weird spider-alien that's projecting images into their mind? What? It would have been so much scarier just leaving it as what everyone assumed it was, a horrible demonic clown creature. I think I enjoy Cujo a good bit because it avoided that kind of weird ending, and just stayed true all the way through. It was a sad book, but that's what made it good.

I actually like the slower pacing a lot of his books take, and I like the time he takes to describe more mundane aspects of everyday life and the small towns most of the stories take place in. A lot of people don't like it though.

I need to go back and read Firestarter.

[Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World]

i have all the dark tower books but i dont really do much of his other stuff


adaptations? the dark tower comics no contest

This. Dark Tower is amazing. As is the comic adaptation. I have all of both.

The Green Mile is always fantastic read. The first Stephen King book I read was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Great book. The Talisman, he wrote that with Peter Straub, also an amazing book.

I haven't read The Stand or It yet.

[Electroshock Therapy]

I agree with this for some of his work, and IT in particular. The ending, from what I remember, killed it. Where the clown turns out to be some weird spider-alien that's projecting images into their mind? What? It would have been so much scarier just leaving it as what everyone assumed it was, a horrible demonic clown creature. I think I enjoy Cujo a good bit because it avoided that kind of weird ending, and just stayed true all the way through. It was a sad book, but that's what made it good.

I actually like the slower pacing a lot of his books take, and I like the time he takes to describe more mundane aspects of everyday life and the small towns most of the stories take place in. A lot of people don't like it though.

I need to go back and read Firestarter.

I think the silliest part of It was when Bill has his mind warped to some strange dimension and he meets the Turtle, who apparently created the universe by vomiting due to a stomach ache. The Turtle and It, in turn, were created by some "Other." Oh, and the Turtle dies in the Adult Years because he choked on a galaxy or two. I seriously wish I was making that up. I even checked the Stephen King Wikia to make sure I got the details correctly. Yep.

I mean, I guess books like this are fine if you don't think of them as horror stories, but more sci-fi/fantasy. But since King is called the "King of Horror," I have a different mindset when reading his books, and that turns out to be the problem.

[krissy]

he connects a lot of the books together in weird ways
like that poor creature gets mentioned/regaled in the dark tower a lot
the man in black is in a bunch of books/the stand
i think for him, in his head, there's this multiverse of crap he writes about but it's all connected via doors
which is why writing dark tower was so important to him i guess, because it was the glue of his own mind

[Forsaken Lover]

It Spoilers

She looked back again and now her dead father was not wearing the witch's black dress but the clown suit with the big orange buttons. There was a 1958-style coonskin cap, the kind popularized by Fess Parker in the Disney movie about Davy Crockett, perched on its head. In one hand it held a bunch of balloons. In the other it held the leg of a child like a chicken drumstick. Written on each balloon was the legend IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE.

"Tell your friends I am the last of a dying race," it said, grinning its sunken grin as it staggered and lurched down the porch steps after her. "The only survivor of a dying planet. I have come to rob all the women... rape all the men... and learn to do the Peppermint Twist!"

It began to do a mad shuck-and-jive, balloons in one hand, severed, bleeding leg in the other.


I sincerely doubt I will be as disenchanted with the second half as you all are since this is pretty much the start of said second half.
And it's amazing.

King doesn't do just straight horror, he blends in fantasy elements and the like. I saw a lot of that in The Stand and it's even more pronounced in the DT series apparently and in his one "straight fantasy" novel, Eye of the Dragon.

Some of his books aren't even horror at all. Like, the book version of Cujo isn't supposed to be scary, just sad.

[Electroshock Therapy]

I don't like dissing the guy. He seems awesome and he is famous for a reason. And I do admit, he has imagination. I like weird, but I guess I just can't stomach King's kind of weird.

Oh well. I'm glad I gave him a shot because there are some books I really do like.

[Colonel Angus]

IT

[Pumpkin]

My favourite books are Salem's Lot and Needful Things. But I'm a huge fan of his work and there are too many good ones to name.

As far as adaptations, probably the Green Mile

Also I'm like the only person who doesn't like The Shining, written or movie. It's one of two books of his that I've read that I put down before finishing and never picked back up

[Forsaken Lover]

I knew that with a mustache like that you must be evil!

The Shining was great. I'm learning a lot about King from his "On Writing" book and reading others' thoughts o him on various forums. King put a lot of himself into teh character of Jack since King knows a lot about addiction and what it does to a family. As such he could really hammer home the characterization in The Shining as perfectly as can be.

Anyway, I finished IT. I loved all of it If any of you are ever up for audiobooks, check out IT read by Steven Weber. He was amazing.

[Freya]

Yeah i'm reading his "on Writing" currently. I'm enjoying it very much.

[Shiny]

My favorite adaptation is The Green Mile hands down great film and more of an accurate adaptation. I liked The Shinning but it was more of a reimaging than an adaptation. The only thing that bothered me about the film was Nicholson's performance at certain points too early as it was campy and over the top. He is overrated. Only really liked him in two films.

[Night Fury]

I haven't read any of his books but Pheesh says I should as he's a huge fan and his copies of the books are so worn and weathered because he reads em that much. I did make it about halfway through Carrie though, and I was enjoying it I think I just forgot about it and started reading something else.

My favourite Stephen King movie though, as others have said, has to be The Green Mile. Oh my god that movie is just pure perfection.

-think I will download a few mentioned in here for my Kindle!