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ConfusedUs posted:I think Pet Sematary is King's scariest book. Pet Sematary didn't truly scare me until I had kids. Once I understood the absolute emotional devastation of losing a child, and the lengths that people can go to in dealing with that kind of trauma....it still makes me shudder.
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Jul 15, 2012 16:55
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Edwardian posted:Pet Sematary didn't truly scare me until I had kids. Once I understood the absolute emotional devastation of losing a child, and the lengths that people can go to in dealing with that kind of trauma....it still makes me shudder. This is one of Pet Sematary's greatest strengths, it plays to the question "What scares you?" at several stages of life. Pet Sematary scared me as a teen because it made me question the loss of everything that propped up my life as a child. I constantly imagined watching my family slowly disintegrate around me in a horrific manner. As a newlywed, it made me question the specific loss of my spouse. Young and in love, I imagined it all slipping away, and what I might do. That was scary. But the book hits home harder than ever as a parent. In many ways, I've come to grips with losing my childhood family--after all, I'm my own man with my own family now. The last few years have brought about the loss of a few of my peers and family near my own age. I've come to grips with the idea that they can--and will--pass on. But the loss of my child is the most terrifying idea of all.
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Jul 15, 2012 17:19
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Speaking of books that are hard to read as a parent, even though I was really enjoying the writing I had to give up on The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I found myself liking it while actually reading it but every time I put it down I had to talk myself in to going back to it. Eventually I put it down for good because it was just too emotionally draining to put myself in those shoes. My son is right around the same age as the boy in the book, so maybe when he's older I can go back to it.
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Jul 16, 2012 00:29
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I'm just reading the Long Walk. It started out a little hokey, but it's become gripping very quickly. That prick of a kid who goaded one of the others into fighting and got his ticket punched for it... Goddamn.
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Jul 16, 2012 10:28
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ConfusedUs posted:I think Pet Sematary is King's scariest book. One of my favorite passages from any Stephen King book is when Louis is walking through the forest to the cemetery and hears a loud noise in the woods. It's such a simple passage, and really shouldn't be frightening, but it scared the poo poo out of me the first time I read it.
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Jul 16, 2012 16:57
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Drunk Tomato posted:One of my favorite passages from any Stephen King book is when Louis is walking through the forest to the cemetery and hears a loud noise in the woods. It's such a simple passage, and really shouldn't be frightening, but it scared the poo poo out of me the first time I read it. There's a lot of little one-offs like that in Pet Sematary. They're never explained, but often hinted at. I really like the book.
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Jul 16, 2012 18:27
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Edwardian posted:Pet Sematary didn't truly scare me until I had kids. Once I understood the absolute emotional devastation of losing a child, and the lengths that people can go to in dealing with that kind of trauma....it still makes me shudder. I don't have any kids but as I may have mentioned before Louis quietly rocking back and forth on the edge of the grave with Gage's mangled body in his arms may possibly be the squirmiest thing I ever read. Poor dead Timmy Baterman quietly staring slack-jawed into a sickly too-orange sunset is a drat close second though. I'm fascinated by the fact that King himself shelved it for years because it was just too much (and more or less autobiographical up to a certain point). Drunk Tomato posted:One of my favorite passages from any Stephen King book is when Louis is walking through the forest to the cemetery and hears a loud noise in the woods. It's such a simple passage, and really shouldn't be frightening, but it scared the poo poo out of me the first time I read it. I keep hearing about attempts to do another film adaptation. This is why they're all doomed to fail, in my opinion, because poo poo like that is both unfilmable and some of the best scenes.
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Jul 17, 2012 00:49
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For The Long Walk ending, wasn't one of the comments "death wish"? I took it literally and figured when asked what he desired most as a reward, he chose death.. It has been a long time since I read it though, so I could be misremembering.
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Jul 17, 2012 04:02
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jackyl posted:For The Long Walk ending, wasn't one of the comments "death wish"? I took it literally and figured when asked what he desired most as a reward, he chose death.. It has been a long time since I read it though, so I could be misremembering. Ending lines spoiler: "The Major stood in the jeep. He held a stiff salute. Ready to grant first wish, every wish, any wish, death wish. The Prize." ... "The dark figure beckoned, beckoned in the rain, beckoned for him to come and walk, to come and play the game. And it was time to get started. There was still so far to walk. Eyes blind, supplicating hands held out before him as if for alms, Garraty walked toward the dark figure." I think Garraty is either already dead or hoping he can be.
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Jul 17, 2012 04:27
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Yeah, that's close to what I remembered. So the ultimate irony, as 15 year old me understood it, was that your deepest wish at the end was to have been the first one out and saved yourself the trouble and pain of the walk. That wish is the one beyond the Major's ability to grant, but he can do the next best thing, right? And that fits with the foreshadowing of previous winners not exactly having a high profile. I think I'm sticking with that interpretation, since it tends to resonate with the human futility themes in the four stories.
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Jul 17, 2012 10:05
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iostream.h posted:There was also some random spinster who was convinced the streets were crawling with rape gangs, she got her fathers pistol with some old rear end rounds, and killed herself when it blew up in her face. It was then that she noticed, after two years of coming and going down here, that there was no inside knob on the freezer door. By then it was too warm to freeze, but not too cold to starve.
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Jul 17, 2012 15:17
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jackpot posted:I've got two favorite parts of The Stand, and they're 1) Glen's conversation with Stu about what civilization would be like with all the old "toys" (power plants, planes, weapons) just lying around, waiting to be put to use (I think I'd read an entire book of just Glen and Stu shooting the poo poo like that), and 2) the chapter where he talks about all the secondary deaths of people who survived the flu, but died because basically "poo poo happens." "No great loss." That's the single best chapter of any King book.
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Jul 17, 2012 19:43
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Taking all the suggestions from this thread, I ultimately went with Night Shift (I was going to get Pet Sematary, but I do all my reading on the Kindle these days, and they don't have it). I'm only about a quarter of the way in, but holy poo poo. "I Am The Doorway" is my favorite so far. More awesome writers should write huge numbers of short stories. I love short stories.
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Jul 17, 2012 22:24
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ProfessorProf posted:More awesome writers should write huge numbers of short stories. I love short stories. A great deal of quality short stories are being published, but it's largely limited to smaller presses because the major publishing houses aren't interested unless your name is Stephen King.
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Jul 18, 2012 00:43
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Ornamented Death posted:A great deal of quality short stories are being published, but it's largely limited to smaller presses because the major publishing houses aren't interested unless your name is Stephen King. And that is a crying loving shame. I also love short stories, and aside from King or Jeffrey Deaver (heh) it is very rare that I find a good modern collection.
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Jul 18, 2012 01:20
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when worlds collide posted:And that is a crying loving shame. I also love short stories, and aside from King or Jeffrey Deaver (heh) it is very rare that I find a good modern collection. Well there is some stuff that can be found in traditional bookstores. I always recommend Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year and Stephen Jones' Mammoth Book of Best New Horror annual anthologies, both of which can be found in Barnes & Noble. Datlow probably has a keener eye (at least for stories I prefer), but Jones does a fairly exhaustive rundown of things published in the previous year; it's not complete, of course, but he lists more books than you could possibly read in a year. Even books by small publishers are getting easier to track down. All (or at least most) of the trade paperbacks published by Dark Regions Press are available on Amazon. You can sometimes get trade hardcovers from Subterranean Press there as well (and in very rare cases, the signed limited editions). Shane Staley of Delirium Books has consolidated all of his various imprints into one, Darkfuse Publications, and nearly that whole library is available on Kindle or Nook. Ash Tree Press is going back through their catalog and putting their stuff in ebook format as well. Then there are the publishers that fall into a weird in-between area with regards to size. Night Shade Books is probably too large and too widely available to really be considered a small publisher, but they're nowhere near the size of an outfit like Tor. And that's just publishers I'm personally familiar with. The main hurdle to overcome is to find writers, or even just a type of story, that you like. Once you figure that out, tracking down stuff to read becomes a lot easier.
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Jul 18, 2012 04:00
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On the note of Pet Sematary, it looks like it was just recently announced that it's coming to blue-ray and has been remastered a bit.  http://www.thehdroom.com/news/Stephen-Kings-Pet-Sematary-on-Blu-ray-in-October/10915 Also, a short story recommendation: they're difficult to find, but Thomas Ligotti has done some very amazing short story anthologies. Many of his stories have a distinct nihilistic, Lovecraftian theme without ever really overtly mentioning anything by name, and one of my all-time favorite short stories is from his book, Grimscribe, and is called 'The Last Feast of Harlequin'. e: \/ Augh my brain is dead and spelling is very hard. Fixed. 
That Damn Satyr fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Jul 19, 2012 04:47
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That drat Satyr posted:On the note of Pet Cometary, it looks like it was just recently announced that it's coming to blue-ray and has been remastered a bit.
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Jul 19, 2012 04:58
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when worlds collide posted:And that is a crying loving shame. I also love short stories, and aside from King or Jeffrey Deaver (heh) it is very rare that I find a good modern collection. Try and track down Arthur C Clarke's short story collections. He is a very, very entertaining writer at times - not all of it is impossibly deep sci-fi, a lot of it he just writes good, fun short stories. Tales from the White Hart? I think is one of them - basically written as a collection of stories told down the local pub.
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Jul 19, 2012 05:52
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Two Finger posted:Try and track down Arthur C Clarke's short story collections. He is a very, very entertaining writer at times - not all of it is impossibly deep sci-fi, a lot of it he just writes good, fun short stories. Tales from the White Hart? I think is one of them - basically written as a collection of stories told down the local pub. Yeah, he's one of the names I always look for when I troll thrift stores. I'm also very into Bradbury and have lucked out a few times there. Matheson, as well, and of course I love Shirley Jackson and have most of her books. It's just a shame that a lot of publishers won't touch collections unless they're already a big selling name. Ornamented Death posted:Well there is some stuff that can be found in traditional bookstores. I always recommend Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year and Stephen Jones' Mammoth Book of Best New Horror annual anthologies, both of which can be found in Barnes & Noble. Datlow probably has a keener eye (at least for stories I prefer), but Jones does a fairly exhaustive rundown of things published in the previous year; it's not complete, of course, but he lists more books than you could possibly read in a year. Some good info, thank you. I have to limit myself to secondhand or thrift for books, but I'll keep an eye out for those. I did find a hard cover short story book from the 70s awhile back, I forget who edited it or what it is even called, but it's waiting for me to get back to it. They are out there, just have to be lucky. That drat Satyr posted:On the note of Pet Cometary, it looks like it was just recently announced that it's coming to blue-ray and has been remastered a bit. Will totally keep my eye out for these. Pet Sematary was a bit cheesy but it still scared the hell out of me. I love Fred Gwynne so much, that probably had something to do with it. I want to sell short stories, but there's such a small market for them. Grr. You guys totally came through with great recommendations. Cheers.
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Jul 19, 2012 07:02
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11/22/63 was the first King book I've read since the Dark Tower's ending, and I liked the first 2/3 of the book but I thought the book went to poo poo once he returns after killing Oswald. Throwing in Time Cops and trying to explain the room just killed the book for me. All that dilly-dallying in the past doesn't amount to a pile of poo poo in the end. Maybe I am just a weirdo but I spent the whole book thinking 'change the future.' The unintended consequences of time travel are cliche, time travel never works. I went into this book thinking, maybe King will surprise me and time travel will actually work for once in fiction. It seems like King just wanted to write a nostalgic period piece fetishizing how great the 50's were and tossed in the business about Kennedy to trick people into reading it. I did enjoy a lot of the book, and if it had been trimmed up a bit I probably would not have such negative feelings about that. What King would you guys recommend if my favorite thing by him is The Bachman Books? Is The Stand worth slogging through? In my experience the shorter the better when it comes to King but who can say for sure? furiouskoala fucked around with this message at 11:23 on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Jul 19, 2012 11:12
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So I finished The Long Walk. Hmmm. That's about all I can say. Grim as gently caress, depressing as hell, and it ended pretty much the only way it could have. I don't know if enjoyed was the right word, but it definitely had an effect on me.
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Jul 19, 2012 11:15
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That drat Satyr posted:Also, a short story recommendation: they're difficult to find, but Thomas Ligotti has done some very amazing short story anthologies. Many of his stories have a distinct nihilistic, Lovecraftian theme without ever really overtly mentioning anything by name, and one of my all-time favorite short stories is from his book, Grimscribe, and is called 'The Last Feast of Harlequin'. Grimscribe, Noctuary, and Songs of a Dead Dreamer are all available as ebooks now.
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Jul 19, 2012 13:01
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furiouskoala posted:What King would you guys recommend if my favorite thing by him is The Bachman Books? Is The Stand worth slogging through? In my experience the shorter the better when it comes to King but who can say for sure? The Stand is pretty much the quintessential King book. Every trait he has or has been known for as a writer (tropes, characters, etc) is put to the show. It's certainly worth reading.
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Jul 19, 2012 22:27
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furiouskoala posted:Is The Stand worth slogging through? In my experience the shorter the better when it comes to King but who can say for sure? As much as I like the feel of real books, I'm gonna suggest you get the eBook version (if you can), because this fucker weighs a ton.
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Jul 19, 2012 23:20
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I'm a little over halfway through 'Salem's Lot and I'm just not feeling it. I haven't read a ton of King but I've mostly enjoyed what I have. This is the first one since The Cell that I'm considering bailing on. Should I keep going? It's not scary and there aren't any interesting characters, and if the protagonists have to sit down just one more time and relay to each other events that have already happened, I might just shred the thing.
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Jul 20, 2012 05:24
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Mister Kingdom posted:As much as I like the feel of real books, I'm gonna suggest you get the eBook version (if you can), because this fucker weighs a ton. And be sure to get the most recent edition, with all the pages that were cut out of the original by his publisher because the book was too drat big. The additional material was worth it. Kolchak posted:I'm a little over halfway through 'Salem's Lot and I'm just not feeling it. I haven't read a ton of King but I've mostly enjoyed what I have. This is the first one since The Cell that I'm considering bailing on. Should I keep going? It's not scary and there aren't any interesting characters, and if the protagonists have to sit down just one more time and relay to each other events that have already happened, I might just shred the thing. There's a lot less talking and more action in the second half, IIRC. Pheeets fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Jul 20, 2012 |
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Jul 20, 2012 05:29
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Pheeets posted:There's a lot less talking and more action in the second half, IIRC. Confirmed.
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Jul 20, 2012 06:25
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Kolchak posted:I'm a little over halfway through 'Salem's Lot and I'm just not feeling it. I haven't read a ton of King but I've mostly enjoyed what I have. This is the first one since The Cell that I'm considering bailing on. Should I keep going? It's not scary and there aren't any interesting characters, and if the protagonists have to sit down just one more time and relay to each other events that have already happened, I might just shred the thing.
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Jul 20, 2012 08:40
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furiouskoala posted:What King would you guys recommend if my favorite thing by him is The Bachman Books? Is The Stand worth slogging through? In my experience the shorter the better when it comes to King but who can say for sure? The Stand is big. It takes on a lot of stuff. Some people worship it as the best thing he's written, others think it's too bloated or that the ending sucks, normal King criticisms. But I've never met anyone who hated the Stand. Nobody dislikes The Stand. It's well worth your time.
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Jul 20, 2012 20:43
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Febreeze posted:The Stand is big. It takes on a lot of stuff. Some people worship it as the best thing he's written, others think it's too bloated or that the ending sucks, normal King criticisms. But I've never met anyone who hated the Stand. Nobody dislikes The Stand. It's well worth your time. Agreed. My only criticism of The Stand is that it really feels like the perfect example of King's "I'm tired of writing now so let's run this thing into the ground in one chapter" schtick.
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Jul 20, 2012 22:05
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The Stand has its share of problems, but it is a thoroughly American fantasy epic and captures and comments on the mood and ideas of the country at a specific point in time in a really engaging way. If epics aren't your style, then I can see it wearing thin, but honestly if someone made me pick an American version of Lord of the Rings I'd probably choose The Stand.
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Jul 20, 2012 22:08
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Misery isn't really doing it for me, even after the famous hobbling scene (although that was intense as gently caress). I'm in the final one hundred pages, and I have a feeling not much is going to turn it around. I don't regret reading it, but it seems on a lower level than the books I've read recently by him. I'd put this one below Needful Things on the enjoyment scale.
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Jul 20, 2012 23:39
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Febreeze posted:The Stand is big. It takes on a lot of stuff. Some people worship it as the best thing he's written, others think it's too bloated or that the ending sucks, normal King criticisms. But I've never met anyone who hated the Stand. Nobody dislikes The Stand. It's well worth your time. I really hated how long it took to get going, but given the number of characters he really had no choice but to do a lot of exposition. That said, once it started going, I loved it.
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Jul 21, 2012 02:11
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Two Finger posted:I really hated how long it took to get going, but given the number of characters he really had no choice but to do a lot of exposition. On the other hand, I thought the exposition was the best part of the book. It probably plays a bit into my history/stats geekdom, as I loved the bits of history (such as the Kitchener Ironworks explosion) in It and on one of my rereads of The Long Walk, I kept up with Walker numbers and the order of death.
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Jul 21, 2012 02:29
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RC and Moon Pie posted:On the other hand, I thought the exposition was the best part of the book. I am the same, I love exposition and I love when a really big book goes into history of the setting or characters, it's like having some short stories thrown in as an extra bonus. My dislikes with King are that sometimes his endings are really weak and stupid, or when he goes a bit overboard explaining something that didn't need to be examined that much, like beating a dead horse. A lot of the time it's not necessary and it is a real slog when I've already picked up what he was putting down. Prime example- in IT when they were going through the sewers. I actually skimmed a fair bit of it because I found it uninteresting and took away from the suspense and the atmosphere, it just seemed to go on and on.
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Jul 21, 2012 02:36
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Has anybody mentioned The Talisman? I enjoyed that and really liked the Territories parts of it. I wish he had turned that into a series like he did with The Gunslinger. And if you've read it already, Black House is a good follow-up, the main character is Jack Sawyer, the kid from the Talisman. edit: duh, with this many pages in the thread, I bet it's been mentioned a lot. Oh well... double edit: and just two pages back too. I admit I read through this some time back and now i can't remember everything, so i'm re-reading and catching up. Pheeets fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jul 21, 2012 |
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Jul 21, 2012 02:52
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Pheeets posted:Has anybody mentioned The Talisman? I enjoyed that and really liked the Territories parts of it. I wish he had turned that into a series like he did with The Gunslinger. There is also supposed to be a third book eventually. Hopefully just as "connected" as the first two where (read:barely).
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Jul 21, 2012 03:15
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Ridonkulous posted:There is also supposed to be a third book eventually. Hopefully just as "connected" as the first two where (read:barely). I would love that. I've been hearing rumors that he's ready to retire though, but actually I bet he's got enough extra material in his files he could just publish that stuff forever.
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Jul 21, 2012 03:21
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Greggy posted:Speaking of books that are hard to read as a parent, even though I was really enjoying the writing I had to give up on The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I found myself liking it while actually reading it but every time I put it down I had to talk myself in to going back to it. Eventually I put it down for good because it was just too emotionally draining to put myself in those shoes. My son is right around the same age as the boy in the book, so maybe when he's older I can go back to it. I sent my copy of The Road to my brother, and he said he couldn't finish it because he kept comparing McCarthy's style to the King James bible. I guess it was kind of a mind-worm he couldn't shake. I myself loved that book, but then I really like posr-apocolyptic stories anyway.
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Jul 21, 2012 03:34
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