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Centripetal Horse posted:Big Jim is one of the more realistic portrayals of a psychopath that I've seen in quite a while. The cardboard issue is a side-effect of the true shallow emotional depth of psychopaths. I don't want to read too deep into a King story, but I appreciated a psychopathic character who was mostly believable. This is my take on it as well. Seemingly accurate, if somewhat extra villainous, portrayal.
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Jan 12, 2013 16:39
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Roydrowsy posted:I downloaded Throttle. I'll let you know how it goes. finished it a little while ago. I guess it was okay, but ultimately it wasn't anything special. Far from the best of his stories. It certainly wasn't worth the few bucks I spent on it as an "exclusive Kindle story".
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Jan 12, 2013 23:18
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I just found out about Doctor Sleep and didn't know where else to post my excitement about it. I'm going to read The Shining again in anticipation. I also just finished Under The Dome which I liked, but not that much. I stopped reading King after From a Buick 8. What's a good read from that point on to get me back into the King groove?
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Jan 16, 2013 16:42
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schwenz posted:I just found out about Doctor Sleep and didn't know where else to post my excitement about it. I liked the Colorado Kid a bunch but lots of people hate it. Its a mystery. I thought Blockade Billy was good, read it at a library in under an hour or so. He finished the DT series if you read the previous books. Short stories: Stationary Bike N A Very Tight Place are all from Just After Sunset Full Dark has 4 stories in it but I think 1922 is the only one worth reading.
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Jan 16, 2013 16:51
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schwenz posted:What's a good read from that point on to get me back into the King groove?
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Jan 16, 2013 18:45
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jackpot posted:I remember liking Lisey's Story, but the funny thing is I can barely tell you a single thing about it, it's like I have no memory at all of that book. There's an author, and a widow, and a vague feeling that I liked it. That's not much of a recommendation, I guess. It was kind of a weird one, but I really liked it too. Would recommend Duma Key though, which was flat out great in my opinion.
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Jan 16, 2013 21:31
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I second the Duma Key recommendation. I enjoyed the heck out of that one. I couldn't finish Lisey's Story.. it's probably one of my least favorite King books. Under The Dome was entertaining and I inhaled 11/22/63 in record time.. it's that good.
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Jan 24, 2013 01:01
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Crunch Bucket posted:...I inhaled 11/22/63 in record time.. it's that good. Seconding this. It was far from being a perfect book but every page left me dying to know what happened next.
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Jan 26, 2013 03:22
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Crunch Bucket posted:I inhaled 11/22/63 in record time.. it's that good. I read it in two days  I can't remember the last time I did that.
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Jan 26, 2013 07:32
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Look a sunflower posted:Seconding this. It was far from being a perfect book but every page left me dying to know what happened next. I also sped through that one and was left with the same impression as you. I think a lot of it was that I enjoyed the characters, they weren't the most masterfully written ones, but a large part of the worth of a book depends on how you can connect with the protagonist. In my opinion, anyway. Either through love or hate or whatever's in between.
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Jan 26, 2013 08:53
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You only need to connect with the protagonist if you are compelled to read and enjoy every page. 11/22/63 is great when 100 pages go missing. gently caress you, small town Texas and Glenn Miller Orchestra!
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Jan 26, 2013 10:03
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Well I conveniently forgot about that Glenn Miller thing.  Nostalgia works in many mysterious ways. And not so much in others.
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Jan 26, 2013 10:05
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:gently caress you, small town Texas and Glenn Miller Orchestra! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL_x1rRg7mM
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Jan 27, 2013 12:36
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Crunch Bucket posted:I second the Duma Key recommendation. I enjoyed the heck out of that one. I couldn't finish Lisey's Story.. it's probably one of my least favorite King books. Under The Dome was entertaining and I inhaled 11/22/63 in record time.. it's that good. I finished Duma Key, good read, had some old-style King feel to it. I'm going to check out 11/22/63.
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Jan 28, 2013 17:40
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schwenz posted:I'm going to check out 11/22/63. It proves Stephen King can still write an ending if you happened to have read The Dome. 11/22/63 had a really good payoff, and I think it was the best thing he's done in a lllooonnngggg time.
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Jan 28, 2013 20:48
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vacation in kabul posted:It proves Stephen King can still write an ending if you happened to have read The Dome. 11/22/63 had a really good payoff, and I think it was the best thing he's done in a lllooonnngggg time. I did read Under the Dome, but haven't completely read this thread through. I'm going to guess that everyone hated the ending as much as I did?
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Jan 28, 2013 20:55
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schwenz posted:I did read Under the Dome, but haven't completely read this thread through. I'm going to guess that everyone hated the ending as much as I did? I just started reading this thread too. I can't speak for everyone else, but I was so pissed off over Under The Dome I came really close to not bothering with 11/22/63. Under The Dome wasn't the best thing he's ever written, but it had me hooked all the way up until the end and I was pretty upset that I wasted my time getting to that point.
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Jan 28, 2013 20:58
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vacation in kabul posted:It proves Stephen King can still write an ending if you happened to have read The Dome. 11/22/63 had a really good payoff, and I think it was the best thing he's done in a lllooonnngggg time.  Original ending Under The Dome's ending bothered me because I really liked part of the explanation of the dome and then it went to hell. The brief band of radiation to keep out people who were not crazy/brave was super interesting but hardly seemed necessary since the dome generator was a magic box that can't be harmed in this dimension.
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Jan 28, 2013 23:06
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Under The Dome's ending bothered me because I really liked part of the explanation of the dome and then it went to hell. I would have preferred no explanation of how the device got there to the, "It was a little kid alien playing pranks on little earth people but felt bad after we scolded him and went away" explanation. It would have been better to come up with a plausible destruction of the device and ended it with "We'll never know where it came from". But then, I can't write a paragraph, so who am I to suggest a better ending
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Jan 28, 2013 23:16
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schwenz posted:I would have preferred no explanation of how the device got there to the, "It was a little kid alien playing pranks on little earth people but felt bad after we scolded him and went away" explanation. It would have been better to come up with a plausible destruction of the device and ended it with "We'll never know where it came from". Yeah, that "it wasn't pity, but mercy" schtick was weak as all hell, too.
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Jan 28, 2013 23:22
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schwenz posted:I would have preferred no explanation of how the device got there to the, "It was a little kid alien playing pranks on little earth people but felt bad after we scolded him and went away" explanation. It would have been better to come up with a plausible destruction of the device and ended it with "We'll never know where it came from". Well the whole book's ultimately kind of about the fragility of life, it makes sense that the being that's causing all of the suffering is doing so because they're too young to understand what harm they're doing.
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Jan 31, 2013 13:52
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scary ghost dog posted:Well the whole book's ultimately kind of about the fragility of life, it makes sense that the being that's causing all of the suffering is doing so because they're too young to understand what harm they're doing. I thought it was awful at first, then upon reflection thought that it was kind of an awesome departure. Aliens in movies/books usually fall into one of two categories - they are either bent on our annihilation, or are these kindly, benevolent, enlightened beings who want to help us evolve. I can't think of any other work where the aliens are so like us, right down to our flaws and mistakes. I mean, just screwing around and ending up hurting a lot of people? So totally human.
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Feb 1, 2013 20:19
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I'm about 2/3 through 11/22/63 right now, and I'm really enjoying it. I haven't read much of King's recent stuff besides TWTTK and Under the Dome, but this is great. There sure are a lot of nineteens in this book. (Example: Jake gets a safety deposit box, number 775 - add those together and you get 19). Looking forward to seeing where this one goes.
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Feb 5, 2013 03:32
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11/22/63 was a great book, and I think I'm going to pick up Under the Dome and read it next. The Gunslinger series was just... ugh it got so bad at the end.
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Feb 5, 2013 16:15
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vacation in kabul posted:Under The Dome wasn't the best thing he's ever written, but it had me hooked all the way up until the end and I was pretty upset that I wasted my time getting to that point. Just figured I'd put in my two cents as a long-time King fan. The first book I read by King was the unabridged version of The Stand when I was about 14 or 15 years old. I was sucked into the story and excited to see what was going to happen next, unable to put down the book for hours at a time. Considering the type of books I read before that were pretty much all from the Goosebumps series, the whole experience was indescribable. King wrote simply enough, told a good story, and fleshed out a small world with dozens of interesting characters. Reading Under the Dome has to be the closest I've ever come to recapturing the feeling of first reading The Stand. That includes the climax. Hell, especially the climax. Those were two huge stories that I slogged through, enjoying every minute, only to reach a certain point near the end that killed it for me. In both cases I stopped, reread a few paragraphs, and then physically recoiled from the book wondering how the resolution to the threat was so goddamned insultingly stupid. In The Stand it was the hand of god and in Under the Dome it was aliens symbolically handing over a sweater to represent pitiless mercy or something? I'll probably read both books again for everything else in them, but I hated those parts. No Butt Stuff posted:11/22/63 was a great book, and I think I'm going to pick up Under the Dome and read it next. I agree with this, too, for similar reasons. The last few books took an interesting world and then made exploring it a chore. I can't even read anything referring to the Crimson King without imagining Clyde, the red ghost from Pac-Man, in his place. Then again, I suppose that's better than a giant loving catfish, of all things.
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Feb 5, 2013 21:54
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A Terrible Person posted:In both cases I stopped, reread a few paragraphs, and then physically recoiled from the book wondering how the resolution to the threat was so goddamned insultingly stupid. In The Stand it was the hand of god To be fair to King, it isn't explicitly the Hand of God, Ralph just points out that Flagg's floaty-killy-light that he forgot about sort of looks like a hand. S'why it didn't bug me, anyway. Less deus ex machina and more "lol hubris" to me. A Terrible Person posted:I agree with this, too, for similar reasons. The last few books took an interesting world and then made exploring it a chore. I can't even read anything referring to the Crimson King without imagining Clyde, the red ghost from Pac-Man, in his place. ...you...you sonofabitch. I was going to re-read that some day and look what you've done. Look what you've done.
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Feb 6, 2013 02:41
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:To be fair to King, it isn't explicitly the Hand of God, Ralph just points out that Flagg's floaty-killy-light that he forgot about sort of looks like a hand. S'why it didn't bug me, anyway. Less deus ex machina and more "lol hubris" to me. It's the hand of God, because Flagg can do magic because God allowed him to in order to test the faithful, and when they pass that test, Flagg is no longer necessary, so his empire is destroyed and he's whisked off to the next job (this is ignoring the DT stuff, obviously). It's Flagg himself, because he's mentally incapable of handling any dissent which he can't cow immediately and so his magic lights off the nuke because he just set it loose without thinking about it. It's both, because Flagg's magic starts to fail him when people begin acting according to the will of God and stand up to him, and so when they make the ultimate rejection possible of his authority, it turns around and kills him, in accordance with God's promise. Regardless, God is a douche, it's entirely appropriate for an attempt at an American Lord of the Rings to borrow its treatment of evil and of conclusions from the original, and it's a climax (and ending) that basically works with the novel as written up to that point. In my opinion, of course. King does have a real problem with selling his endings, though.
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Feb 6, 2013 05:04
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In The Stand, I dont see why a good amount of people single out the Hand of God as just ruining the book for them. Flagg is a demon/devil whatever, Mother Abigail is a strong believer in God. So at the end, God (maybe) helps out the good guys. Why does this make some people angry?
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Feb 6, 2013 17:45
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oldpainless posted:Why does this make some people angry? Seriously, if the end of the Stand had Roland stepping out of a thinny and shooting Flagg in the face at which point he turned out to be the Crimson King and Larry Underwood was revealed as Stephen King (whom he was, incidentally) so they could have the showdown and Kojak turned out to be Oy you wouldn't hear NEARLY the amount of grumbling that you currently do.
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Feb 6, 2013 18:20
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The Berzerker posted:I'm about 2/3 through 11/22/63 right now, and I'm really enjoying it. I haven't read much of King's recent stuff besides TWTTK and Under the Dome, but this is great. There sure are a lot of nineteens in this book. (Example: Jake gets a safety deposit box, number 775 - add those together and you get 19). You read The Wind Through the Keyhole and not the rest of the Dark Tower series? That book is useless and terrible without any knowledge of the Dark Tower series. Also, 19 is a big Dark Tower thing. He likes to throw little stuff like that into the books he writes now so it seems like they tie into it.
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Feb 7, 2013 07:46
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oldpainless posted:In The Stand, I dont see why a good amount of people single out the Hand of God as just ruining the book for them. Flagg is a demon/devil whatever, Mother Abigail is a strong believer in God. So at the end, God (maybe) helps out the good guys. Why does this make some people angry? Largely, because people don't read epic conflict fiction for massive anticlimax and artistic statements about how evil destroys itself and isn't that scary or cool, and how maybe epic conflict isn't really something we should be looking for, in a book, despite that being what the whole freaking book was about to begin with, and it being a big part of the reason why people liked reading it until they got to the ending. More specifically, people probably were desperately hoping for more out of Flagg after he was a useless anticlimax for the last part of the book, and God reaching down and helping snuff him out is like someone stealing candy from a baby then tipping it over with their boot, at that point. Most specifically, I imagine a lot of people read the part implying God's more or less direct action, then looked back on the book with a predeterministic God's Master Plan added. In The Stand, that is somewhat appropriate, considering it's a biblical thing, but it still beats most of the drama out of the story, much like it did in a certain M. Night Shyamalan movie. iostream.h posted:Seriously, if the end of the Stand had Roland stepping out of a thinny and shooting Flagg in the face at which point he turned out to be the Crimson King and Larry Underwood was revealed as Stephen King (whom he was, incidentally) so they could have the showdown and Kojak turned out to be Oy you wouldn't hear NEARLY the amount of grumbling that you currently do. You're joking, but honestly that's less silly than a lot of stuff that got put into the Dark Tower.
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Feb 7, 2013 15:41
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Anybody with a Kindle read King's new essay, Guns? I've liked all the non-fiction of his that I've read...
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Feb 7, 2013 23:15
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deoju posted:Anybody with a Kindle read King's new essay, Guns? If there's one thing Stephen King has accurately represented in all of his books, it's firearms and firearms law!  I don't know, I think I get enough of that kind of stuff on my Facebook feed. Plus, I'm not paying a penny to the PETA of gun control groups.
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Feb 7, 2013 23:36
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I started the Dead Zone this week and am in love with it. It's always nice to go back to a good King book after an extended break. Without spoilers, Dead Zone's a decent one, right? I've read through this whole thread and remember mostly positive things. But luckily I don't remember the spoilers enough for it to ruin the book for me.
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Feb 8, 2013 02:41
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crankdatbatman posted:I started the Dead Zone this week and am in love with it. It's always nice to go back to a good King book after an extended break. I definitely enjoyed Dead Zone, although I did feel like it had some pretty major pacing issues.
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Feb 8, 2013 02:43
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crankdatbatman posted:I started the Dead Zone this week and am in love with it. It's always nice to go back to a good King book after an extended break. Yes, Dead Zone is excellent. Pretty much everything he wrote up through Pet Sematary is solid and worth reading (minus some of the lesser Bachman books).
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Feb 8, 2013 18:19
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Yeah, The Dead Zone is a pretty good book. The only issue I had with it was that at times it feels like a bunch of related novellas/short stories than a proper novel novel. Like how it jumps from Johnny dealing with the celebrity of his psychic powers to him pretending to be someone else and tutoring a rich kid.
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Feb 9, 2013 00:44
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deoju posted:Anybody with a Kindle read King's new essay, Guns? muscles like this? posted:Yeah, The Dead Zone is a pretty good book. The only issue I had with it was that at times it feels like a bunch of related novellas/short stories than a proper novel novel. Like how it jumps from Johnny dealing with the celebrity of his psychic powers to him pretending to be someone else and tutoring a rich kid.
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Feb 10, 2013 01:37
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Kingnothing posted:You read The Wind Through the Keyhole and not the rest of the Dark Tower series? That book is useless and terrible without any knowledge of the Dark Tower series. I have no idea where you got that from my post, but I have read the DT series about 3 times over. I just haven't read a lot of his recent stuff (Duma Key, Lisey's Story, Just After Sunset, etc.). Kingnothing posted:Also, 19 is a big Dark Tower thing. He likes to throw little stuff like that into the books he writes now so it seems like they tie into it. I know, that's why I mentioned it. If I hadn't read the DT books, why would I be randomly adding numbers together in an unrelated book?
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Feb 12, 2013 16:17
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deoju posted:Anybody with a Kindle read King's new essay, Guns? I got this yesterday and I rather enjoyed it. I don't think that it really adds anything new to the discussion, but I thought it sums up pretty accurately my feelings on the whole gun control issue. It also provides a more detailed explanation of the story RAGE and King's decision to take it out of publication, which I thought was interesting. Once I get through the books i'm currently working on, I think I'm going to have to sit down and do a re-read of a few books. I want to read The Shining again in anticipation of Dr. Sleep. I'm tempted to give The Dark Half another read too. I read it as a kid and it didn't leave much of an impression on me at the time. Might be time to dust it off.
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Feb 13, 2013 00:26
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