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shinanaitako posted:I've read most of King's books by now, and I'd have to say the one that I had most trouble going through was Hearts in Atlantis. The first story was great, but the rest were just too.. 'normal'. Oddly enough, Low Men in Yellow Coats was my least favorite in that collection. The others are an indictment of the Baby Boomers, while that one is--like so much of his later work--shoehorned into the Dark Tower. Thematically it doesn't fit at all, unless he's trying to show how people become what they become in middle age.
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Apr 23, 2011 22:38
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Ensign_Ricky posted:Jacket art for 11-23-63's been released: I don't get why the front picture is in color and the back picture is not, but I'm psyched about this; this sounds the most science fictiony he's ever been and I'm interested to see what happens with it.
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Apr 23, 2011 23:14
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Cityinthesea posted:I don't get why the front picture is in color and the back picture is not, Talking out of my rear end: Maybe because it was more expensive to print color newspapers and they saved it for the really, really important news. (*) JFK alive < JFK dead? I just finished The Stand mini-series. My god, Stephen King is a lousy actor, and the "special" effects are just that. But all in all, it's a decent way to spend a couple of nights. There are some short cuts and changes of course, but the basic premise is there. Harold Lauder is horribly miscast, though. For a Stephen King fan like myself, it's a solid 7/10. Casual viewers is around 5-6/10, I would think. (*): Or maybe the publisher wanted some color on the front of the book? brylcreem fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Apr 23, 2011 |
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Apr 23, 2011 23:36
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The early Bachman books were set in an alternate history.
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Apr 24, 2011 02:35
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This is pretty cool! http://www.liljas-library.com/article.php?id=2310&ref=rss Bardem nails 'Tower' saga Javier Bardem has officially signed an epic deal to star in the movie and TV adaptations of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" book series. The Oscar-winning actor will play Roland Deschain in the eagerly awaited Ron Howard and Brian Grazer adaptation of King's beloved seven-novel saga. It's a momentous deal because each of the three movies in the series is to be followed by a TV miniseries. A well-placed source confirmed to Page Six, "Bardem has signed on to the first movie and the miniseries, but the intention is that he will star in all three movies and each of the TV series. It's an enormous deal for any actor, but Bardem was always the first choice." The story follows "Gunslinger" Deschain as he travels through an Old West-like landscape in search of the mythical Dark Tower to save civilization. The first movie is expected to go into production in September with Howard directing.
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Apr 26, 2011 14:14
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Hedrigall posted:Bardem nails 'Tower' saga
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Apr 26, 2011 15:04
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Yeah, that is actually a pretty great choice. Makes me wonder who else they will be able to get.
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Apr 26, 2011 17:39
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I'm just not sold on Bardem as Roland. I believe that he has the acting skills, but something about his look just doesn't work for me. I can't put my finger on it, though. Maybe I just always pictured Roland looking scrawnier? Also, if anyone is interested, I just found this new short story by Stephen King: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/05/herman-wouk-is-still-alive/8451
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Apr 26, 2011 20:35
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Maybe because when people seem to depict Roland, he looks like Clint Eastwood. At least, from what I have seen! Though, I think Bardem should be loving excellent.
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Apr 26, 2011 21:18
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VideoTapir posted:The early Bachman books were set in an alternate history. Is this something King himself has stated, or just your interpretation? I don't really see anything in the early Bachman books that smacks of alternate timelines. Rage, Thinner and Roadwork are all standard works of fiction, The Running Man is clearly set in the future (at least the future from the time it was written) and while The Long Walk could be construed as an alternative present, it seems kind of timeless.
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Apr 26, 2011 21:20
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HorseHeadBed posted:Is this something King himself has stated, or just your interpretation? I don't really see anything in the early Bachman books that smacks of alternate timelines. Rage, Thinner and Roadwork are all standard works of fiction, The Running Man is clearly set in the future (at least the future from the time it was written) and while The Long Walk could be construed as an alternative present, it seems kind of timeless. I have a vague recollection of mentions of historical events that were different from actual events. I think there was mention of a Nazi invasion of the east coast or something like that.
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Apr 27, 2011 06:24
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VideoTapir posted:I have a vague recollection of mentions of historical events that were different from actual events. I think there was mention of a Nazi invasion of the east coast or something like that. In which book? I never saw that in Thinner or Roadwork or Rage and I'd also always assumed Long Walk was near future.
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Apr 27, 2011 06:50
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There was a Nazi (not-see) fighter plane that slipped out of our world (or another one, idk) and into Midworld where it was re-branded by some duke or baron who then proceeded to crash it. I think Jake found it outside of Lud with the leader guy's sigil peeling off of the swastika on the wing. My memory of this is vague and I thought perhaps there was even an illustration, but now I think my young brain just imagined one.
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Apr 27, 2011 07:17
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JustFrakkingDoIt posted:There was a Nazi (not-see) fighter plane that slipped out of our world (or another one, idk) and into Midworld where it was re-branded by some duke or baron who then proceeded to crash it. I think Jake found it outside of Lud with the leader guy's sigil peeling off of the swastika on the wing. My memory of this is vague and I thought perhaps there was even an illustration, but now I think my young brain just imagined one. Nope, that's it in a nutshell. Even got the picture thing, it's at the start of that section of The Waste Lands.
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Apr 27, 2011 08:45
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Can they just leave the last two books out of the dark tower movie/tv series? Please? I wish he'd just never come back to the series instead of that butcher job. I still haven't read The Dark Tower and never will. Luckily a friend of mine read it first. I accept that I am better off without any resolution. He took the only writing he'd ever done that I actually enjoyed, ripped it apart, shat on it, wiped his rear end with the poo poo covered pages, pissed all over it and set it on fire. That was my childhood you just destroyed!
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Apr 27, 2011 09:53
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it wasn't that bad
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Apr 27, 2011 12:48
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mith posted:I still haven't read The Dark Tower and never will. Luckily a friend of mine read it first. I accept that I am better off without any resolution. I also am in this situation, except the friend was exhorting me to read it. Is the last book at least better than Song of Susannah?
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Apr 27, 2011 13:41
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VideoTapir posted:I also am in this situation, except the friend was exhorting me to read it. Yes. There were parts of it I really didn't like, but as a whole, its a much better book.
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Apr 27, 2011 16:04
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I wonder if the movies/miniseries will include the new book that's supposed to be in the pipeline.
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Apr 27, 2011 16:54
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VideoTapir posted:Is the last book at least better than Song of Susannah? It was King trying his hardest to write himself out of the multiple corners he'd written himself in to. When compared with what got us there directly (the previous two books), it's a huge improvement, but it's still pretty bad when compared to the first four books.
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Apr 27, 2011 23:11
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I thought the last book did have some really wonderfully written scenes in it. The deaths of Eddie, Jake, and Oy, the attack on the prison, and the part with the giant underground worm. Also I thought the ending was as good as anything that could have possibly served as an ending for a series such as the Dark Tower.
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Apr 27, 2011 23:15
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Chairman Capone posted:I thought the last book did have some really wonderfully written scenes in it. I agree. There were many things I am disappointed with in the last few books, but I can't say that I ever wanted to wipe my rear end with them, or that they ruined my childhood. I read The Gunslinger when I was eleven years old, and even if it didn't end the way I hoped it would, I for one am glad that it did end, and I don't know how else it could have ended.
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Apr 28, 2011 02:15
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Chairman Capone posted:I thought the last book did have some really wonderfully written scenes in it. I would have liked the death of Eddie more if it had come from nowhere instead of being ridiculously and stupidly foreshadowed a few pages previous
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Apr 28, 2011 05:19
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:I would have liked the death of Eddie more if it had come from nowhere instead of being ridiculously and stupidly foreshadowed a few pages previous edit: nm, misremembered the picture in question.
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Apr 28, 2011 09:56
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Duma Key. I've probably read half of King's books, most of them from the glorious booze and coke years. I liked the premise of Duma Key. I got stuck about 75 pages in. I read the spoilers. Whoa, that does sound interesting. I will continue because it's going to get good. It didn't. I stopped at 175 pages in. I just couldn't do it. It bored me silly. I finished Rose Madder, Bag of Bones, Desperation, and The Regulators. I liked Dolores Claiborne. I couldn't finish Duma Key.
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May 5, 2011 07:05
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RC and Moon Pie posted:Duma Key. I was the exact opposite. I really didn't care about the lamp monster, I wanted more elderly retirees struggling with crippling disabilities and piecing together their ruined lives.
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May 5, 2011 07:19
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RC and Moon Pie posted:Duma Key.
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May 5, 2011 10:03
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...of SCIENCE! posted:I was the exact opposite. I really didn't care about the lamp monster, I wanted more elderly retirees struggling with crippling disabilities and piecing together their ruined lives. Man boy howdy, nothing like pages and pages of some old guy looking for Pop Tarts or Metamucil to really draw you into a story. It's hard to believe how much bad fiction I read as a kid solely because it was a Stephen King story.
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May 5, 2011 10:32
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Insomnia is awesome
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May 6, 2011 20:43
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Quantify! posted:Are we talking about Insomnia here? I meant Duma Key, aside from a few nightmares and flashbacks the first 80% of the book is about Edgar Freemantle trying to piece together his life and finding meaning through a talent in art he's suppressed his whole life. Then in the very end it's like he realized he needed a villain so an evil I did like Insomnia too, though. Nearly every book King writes has a protagonist that's roughly the same age as he was when he wrote it and is often a writer to boot, so him going out of his way to make the protagonist and elderly retiree added a little something different.
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May 7, 2011 03:36
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ZoDiAC_ posted:Insomnia is awesome Insomnia is my favorite book of his, if only because it has an ending that is an actual ending. Most of his books end like he ran out of stuff to say, but Insomnia felt like it built up to that conclusion. I believe he's said that it is his least favorite book, because he didn't like how he went about writing it, but I think he should do that more often, so his books don't end like a bad turd.
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May 7, 2011 08:25
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I am jaw-on-the-floor stunned at how many of you guys liked Under the Dome. Never have I been more pissed off/disappointed in the ending of a book than I was at the end of that one. I read it over the course of about two days while I was sick in bed, so I was about as absorbed in the story as is possible. And, yes, as many people have stated in this thread, Big Jim Rennie was a truly loathsome villain. Which is why I was so eager for him to get his comeuppance and furious when it never really came. The worst punishment I could imagine for Jim Rennie would be to have the dome lift and to have him exposed for the lying, evil bastard that he is. Show the town and the whole world what he truly is and make him suffer through every minute of his humiliation. We come so close, so many different times in that novel to someone revealing his true colors to the town, but it never happens. And it ends up not mattering anyway, because every one in the town dies in the last fifty pages of that book. Arrrrgh. After trudging through so much detail and so many insignificant scenes, there is just so little pay off. It killed me. That book ruined my faith in Stephen King. But maybe if I just go back and read 'Salem's Lot and The Shining (his two best, in my opinion) again, I'll forgive him.
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May 8, 2011 09:51
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CobwebMustardseed posted:pissed off/disappointed in the ending of a book than I was at the end of that one. I enjoyed the book up until the last portion of that final act, and at that point I am completely on board with this sentiment. It's certainly not the worst ending to a King book (Cell, The Stand, that book where the girl gets shot for no good reason at the end of the book, <insert your favorite here>) can take that title. However, like you I wanted to see the dome lifted and the real world roll back into the town. Instead we got a nasty Firepocalypse, an anti-climatic end to both dad and son, and some vague stuff about aliens. He could have at least afforded us a reach around in the shape of a victory lap.
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May 9, 2011 22:06
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Under The Dome was a book I felt didn't need an amazing final act. Yeah, I'd have liked to see a more satisfying end for Big Jim, and it does have a bit of an out-of-nowhere resolution for the nature of the Dome itself, but I was more interested in the journey than the destination. I liked watching the town turn to poo poo so much I didn't really care that it didn't have a particularly astonishing ending.
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May 9, 2011 22:41
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Leovinus posted:Under The Dome was a book I felt didn't need an amazing final act. Yeah, I'd have liked to see a more satisfying end for Big Jim, and it does have a bit of an out-of-nowhere resolution for the nature of the Dome itself, but I was more interested in the journey than the destination. I liked watching the town turn to poo poo so much I didn't really care that it didn't have a particularly astonishing ending. I tend to agree. The main theme for me was despair that got worse and worse, and I found it interesting the way the characters didn't react the way I wanted them to. To bring despair to the books conclusion I thought that seeing that the outside world was their salvation away from the dome - and just as, or more importantly, away from Big Jim Rennie - it could conclude that it was there to protect them from a massive meteor bombardment that wipes out most of the Earth. Meaning they may have to live inside of the dome for the rest of their lives. I don't know if that's corny, but I started second guessing the ending when everyone was seeing the "pink trails" and thinking that was a forewarning of what was to come. When the ending came, I was a bit disappointed. Also Bruce Spence is totally the Chef.
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May 10, 2011 06:01
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I hated The Girl Who Loves Tom Gordon
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May 13, 2011 02:56
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Raunchy posted:I hated The Girl Who Loves Tom Gordon cool story bro.
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May 13, 2011 03:35
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There's a reason it's called Under the Dome and not Escape From the Dome  Raunchy posted:I hated The Girl Who Loves Tom Gordon The Guy Who Hates The Girl Who Loves Tom Gordon 
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May 13, 2011 03:49
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...of SCIENCE! posted:There's a reason it's called Under the Dome and not Escape From the Dome I Am Indifferent About the Guy Who Hates the Girl Who Loves Tom Gordon(or IAIAGWHGWLTG for short).
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May 13, 2011 16:31
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Asphalt Engine posted:I Am Indifferent About the Guy Who Hates the Girl Who Loves Tom Gordon(or IAIAGWHGWLTG for short). I am Tom Gordon.
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May 13, 2011 20:41
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