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There's a lot of King's writing to pointedly complain about, but Jesus Christ. Don't poo poo on the things you make up and then attribute to his work in order to have a higher standing among members of an internet forum
Asbury fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Jun 19, 2011 |
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Jun 19, 2011 02:11
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I was commenting on the age of the girl and Roland is 14 at the time of some of his sex stuff. If I was going with weird sex it would be The Kid sodomizing Trashcan Man with a gun in The Stand
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Jun 19, 2011 04:53
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Ridonkulous posted:I was commenting on the age of the girl and Roland is 14 at the time of some of his sex stuff. I agree with you completely on that one. I read The Stand for the first time when I was in middle school, and that scene made me extremely uncomfortable. I mentioned in this forum about the gangbang in It before, and I will mention it again because that just seemed completely unnecessary. As a whole, King doesn't write sex/romance good at all in my opinion.
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Jun 19, 2011 18:47
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To me the worst from what I've read is Under the Dome. Why? Because it's too goddamn slow. I haven't even finished that monster of a book and whenever I pick it up again, I can only read it for a couple of days before I get tired and put it down again.
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Jun 19, 2011 19:09
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Adonis Gunther posted:To me the worst from what I've read is Under the Dome. Why? Because it's too goddamn slow. I haven't even finished that monster of a book and whenever I pick it up again, I can only read it for a couple of days before I get tired and put it down again. Really? I read through it in a weekend or so. I did almost say "gently caress it" and stop out of rage whenever things went too well for Big Jim, though. He'a the most hateable villain in any of King's books.
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Jun 19, 2011 20:39
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Ugly In The Morning posted:Really? I read through it in a weekend or so. I did almost say "gently caress it" and stop out of rage whenever things went too well for Big Jim, though. He'a the most hateable villain in any of King's books. Yeah. I don't know. I think it didn't kick off fast enough for me and I just dropped it. The only engaging moment was the lesbian sex. Heh.
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Jun 19, 2011 20:43
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Ridonkulous posted:The Kid sodomizing Trashcan Man with a gun in The Stand  Did I repress this? I read that Volkswagen-sized hunk of garbage in high school and remember no such scene.
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Jun 19, 2011 21:16
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Knight of the
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Sir Prancelot posted:
I think it got added in the unabridged version. But I'm not sure about that.
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Jun 19, 2011 21:18
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It did. It was obviously important for the understanding of Trashcan Man's psyche 
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Jun 19, 2011 21:32
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Just got to the end of Under The Dome, and the whole thing where they need a tube to breath out of the tires is pretty silly. I mean, sure, using some sort of tube is a good idea, but the present Rusty's wife bought him for his 40th birthday and that she kept in the van for weeks so he wouldn't find it was a 50-count spindle of blank CDs?! That's the kind of thing you just go pick up at the store when you think you need some. It's like giving someone a roll of tape for their birthday.
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Jun 19, 2011 21:40
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Creflo Chronicle posted:Just got to the end of Under The Dome, and the whole thing where they need a tube to breath out of the tires is pretty silly. I mean, sure, using some sort of tube is a good idea, but the present Rusty's wife bought him for his 40th birthday and that she kept in the van for weeks so he wouldn't find it was a 50-count spindle of blank CDs?! That's the kind of thing you just go pick up at the store when you think you need some. It's like giving someone a roll of tape for their birthday. This strengthens my view that Under The Dome simply isn't as witty as some of Stephen King's other novels.
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Jun 19, 2011 21:46
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Creflo Chronicle posted:Just got to the end of Under The Dome, and the whole thing where they need a tube to breath out of the tires is pretty silly. I mean, sure, using some sort of tube is a good idea, but the present Rusty's wife bought him for his 40th birthday and that she kept in the van for weeks so he wouldn't find it was a 50-count spindle of blank CDs?! That's the kind of thing you just go pick up at the store when you think you need some. It's like giving someone a roll of tape for their birthday. I think it's just another symptom of King being an increasingly-old fart. He started out on real typewriters, wrote books on black-and-green screens, at this point in his life writable CDs and laptops with built-in cameras are the coolest thing imaginable. Under the Dome was just the first time it was really apparent to me, with his totally botched handling of how the internet magically works from within the dome and how its presence was almost a footnote in the plot.
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Jun 20, 2011 02:39
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Creflo Chronicle posted:Just got to the end of Under The Dome, and the whole thing where they need a tube to breath out of the tires is pretty silly. I mean, sure, using some sort of tube is a good idea, but the present Rusty's wife bought him for his 40th birthday and that she kept in the van for weeks so he wouldn't find it was a 50-count spindle of blank CDs?! That's the kind of thing you just go pick up at the store when you think you need some. It's like giving someone a roll of tape for their birthday. I finished it today and came here to see if anyone had commented on this in the thread. And viola, it's in the very first post I read. It also pissed me off that he killed off several beloved characters with fanfare that rarely exceeded a sentence simply stating that they had died. It's my theory that the book was so god-awful massive that by the time he was approaching the end he just wanted to hurry and get the damned thing wrapped up. Also, I was impressed by his ability to resist a psychic retard. Until the psychic dog appeared, that was.
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Jul 1, 2011 07:39
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OMG JC a Bomb! posted:I finished it today and came here to see if anyone had commented on this in the thread. And viola, it's in the very first post I read. It also pissed me off that he killed off several beloved characters with fanfare that rarely exceeded a sentence simply stating that they had died. It's my theory that the book was so god-awful massive that by the time he was approaching the end he just wanted to hurry and get the damned thing wrapped up. Also, I was impressed by his ability to resist a psychic retard. Until the psychic dog appeared, that was. King said in On Writing that killing off a character is one of his tricks for getting himself out of a corner when writing a book. Its why in The Stand that deaf kid gets killed. Near the end of Under the Dome he must have been in the hugest corner ever. God drat.
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Jul 6, 2011 18:27
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Having never read a Stephen King novel, what's the verdict for the best one?
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Jul 6, 2011 20:29
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Having never read a Stephen King novel, what's the verdict for the best one? My vote would go to 'Salem's Lot.
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Jul 6, 2011 21:36
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Having never read a Stephen King novel, what's the verdict for the best one? My personal favorite is The Shining, which is about as tightly plotted as King has ever been, though your opinions on the Kubrick movie may influence your reading. Far and away his best received novel is probably The Stand, but it's kind of an investment for a first read. I second Ornamented Death's rec of 'Salem's Lot if you think 1000 pages of Christian Baby Boomer eschatology is too much too handle, since Lot covers a lot of similar thematic ground.
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Jul 6, 2011 21:49
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The worst work that Stephen King has done is Trucks. It's about trucks and other vehicles that take over the world... There's also a film that Stephen King directed based on Trucks, called Maximum Overdrive. It actually isn't that bad. Here's a scene where a vending machine kills some guy, and a steam roller runs over a kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K44PqV2Idk
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Jul 6, 2011 23:30
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Having never read a Stephen King novel, what's the verdict for the best one? I would say the Talisman. If I remember correctly it is about a young boy battling an addiction to cough syrup as he makes his way across the US doing sexual favors for strange men in bars. Or something like that. edit: Ornamented Death posted:My vote would go to 'Salem's Lot. This is also a fine choice.
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Jul 7, 2011 00:05
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I recommend Pet Sematary due to being more scary than Salem's Lot. The Shining is a good one though.
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Jul 7, 2011 00:48
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My favorite is The Stand, but 'Salem's Lot is my pick for the one you should read first.
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Jul 7, 2011 00:52
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I'd vote Misery for being a relatively short introduction to King as well as being gripping the whole way through. It even has a proper ending.
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Jul 7, 2011 00:56
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I'd suggest reading one of his older short story collections like Night Shift.
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Jul 7, 2011 01:20
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muscles like this? posted:I'd suggest reading one of his older short story collections like Night Shift. This is probably the best answer because King is much, much better at short fiction. Skeleton Crew or Night Shift are the best choices. Though I am glad to see so many agreeing with my recommendation of 'Salem's Lot; there are books I like better, but this one is the only Stephen King book I can recommend without any qualifiers or caveats.
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Jul 7, 2011 02:55
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Thirding Night Shift. I honestly think it's my favorite King book, has a lot of his classics, and also if you're just getting started on King it's his first short-story collection so it works as a good intro to his work.
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Jul 7, 2011 03:56
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zedar posted:I'd vote Misery for being a relatively short introduction to King as well as being gripping the whole way through. It even has a proper ending. Misery and The Shining are by far my favorite King books, so I'd say go with one of those. They're both short(er than The Stand) and have actual legitimate endings. Also, no kiddy gangbangs or magical retards. --- Unrelated, but how do you guys feel about Cujo, the book that King was too high to remember writing? I've noticed that it doesn't really come up in this thread very often, as either a favorite or a least favorite book. I was like 12 when I read it and haven't picked it up since, so I don't have a particularly stong memory of it but I do remember some guy jacking off all over a woman's bed and Geroge Bannerman getting killed, which is referenced in, like, every other Castle Rock book.
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Jul 7, 2011 06:02
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If you want someone to get into good, early King, give them a copy of Skeleton Crew with "The Mist", "The Jaunt", "The Raft" and "Survivor Type" marked in the table of contents.
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Jul 7, 2011 06:05
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I have most of the books from this thread  .
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Jul 7, 2011 06:43
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juliuspringle posted:I have most of the books from this thread Man, basically everyone in this thread really likes Stephen King, and I bet most people own a good number of them. We just like bitching about him as we read all of his books.
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Jul 7, 2011 09:04
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Having never read a Stephen King novel, what's the verdict for the best one? When I was a kid I read his books in this order.. IT Misery (after you read it see the movie to understand why Kathy Bates was cast in everything afterwards) Cycle of the werewolf (pretty underrated IMO, it's a nice little werewolf tale) -Find the version with the illustrations in it. Different seasons (The best short story collection he's ever written) The Shining (I'm not as big of a fan as this book as everyone else seems to be, I actually find Kubrick's interpretation to be superior to even the book) The Stand (didn't care for it much. Felt plodding to me.) All in all if you had to live or die by just one or two books i'd have to say IT embodies everything he's ever written (horror, great characterization, and creepy mythos) Different Seasons is probably the most accessible book he's written though.
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Jul 7, 2011 14:32
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It becomes much easier to bitch and critique his output as you move forward through his catalog. Finally, I would also back 'Salem's Lot. Most of his output, I read it once and never feel the desire to return. However, The town of Jerusalem's Lot always brings me back.
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Jul 7, 2011 14:41
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Fourthing Night Shift. I think it's the best of his anthologies, and all his anthologies are among his best work. For best novel I would pick Cujo, but (1) the fact that I love dogs probably made it hit me much harder than otherwise and (2) I haven't yet read Salem's Lot, and I can easily believe it to be his best since the two prequel and sequel short stories in Night Shift are both excellent. Honorable mention to Different Seasons, which is very good but also very unlike his style. To actually address the topic title, I never finished Gerald's Game. The premise could have been interesting, but the rhythm just felt completely off and I found myself frequently skipping pages. I think it would have made for a much better novella.
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Jul 7, 2011 14:52
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Philo posted:Misery and The Shining are by far my favorite King books, so I'd say go with one of those. They're both short(er than The Stand) and have actual legitimate endings. Also, no kiddy gangbangs or magical retards. I liked Cujo, but it does loving drag out a bit with the oh no I'm trapped in a car stuff. As for what King book people should start with, I'd say Skeleton Crew just because he's so much better at short stories. If it has to be a novel, Carrie. I think his "people being dicks" stuff is much more scary than his "oh no, monsters!" stuff. I mean, Carrie isn't exactly supernatural-free, but it's mainly about people being utter cunts to one another.
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Jul 7, 2011 16:34
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I'm curious, which book did everyone start reading Stephen King with? I started with Nightmares and Dreamscapes, which I still think is almost all gold.
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Jul 7, 2011 19:10
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cheerfullydrab posted:I'm curious, which book did everyone start reading Stephen King with? I started with The Dead Zone, then right when I went off to college was when the revised edition of The Gunslinger came out. I grabbed that and well... Dark Tower fanboy fun time.
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Jul 7, 2011 19:15
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cheerfullydrab posted:I'm curious, which book did everyone start reading Stephen King with? The Gunslinger (original version) was my intro to King.
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Jul 7, 2011 19:46
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cheerfullydrab posted:I'm curious, which book did everyone start reading Stephen King with? IT. I had just seen the TV movie version with Jack Tripper, Harry Stone and Venus Flytrap and was curious what the source material was like. Needless to say it was much better than the movie.
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Jul 7, 2011 20:03
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cheerfullydrab posted:I'm curious, which book did everyone start reading Stephen King with? Pet Sematary, then The Tommyknockers. For the suggestions on where to start list, I'll throw in The Long Walk. It's a Bachman book, so it's slightly different in styling. There isn't much supernatural and it focuses a lot on relationships.
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Jul 7, 2011 21:10
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cheerfullydrab posted:I'm curious, which book did everyone start reading Stephen King with? It was either The Stand or It, I remember reading bother when twelve but I cannot remember which came first. Does Firestarter pick up any ? I'm about 75 pages in and it is just so ho-hum so far. The Stand is my favourite King book, I usually re-visit it every other year.
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Jul 7, 2011 21:34
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Safe Driver posted:Does Firestarter pick up any ? I'm about 75 pages in and it is just so ho-hum so far. I'm curious about this too. I kept trying and trying to get interested in this one and finally gave up around the time he starts talking about The Farm or whatever. There are only so many descriptions I can read of a guy having a headache.
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Jul 7, 2011 21:59
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