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cycowolf posted:Wondering if its ok to ask since this is a thread for his worst books. What is your favorite book by him? I'm curious as to the difference from one to the other. Also wondering if most people prefer the older stuff. Definitely The Shining, I read it every year. There's something about it that I find hard to describe, maybe it's the pacing. Slow-burn, but kind of methodical, and the scares are spaced out pretty well. It's also pretty psychologically scary, very nightmarish and claustrophobic. Man, the fire hose scene gets me every time.
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Jun 10, 2009 08:35
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Bryan Smith ruined the dark tower series. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Smith Also, am I the only one that gets the sense that stephen king doesn't know many black people? Not only do I cringe every single time Detta Walker opens her mouth, but then in DT VII he has Moses Carver start spouting off "friend of the family talk" (Stephen King's words). I know there aren't many black people in Maine, but I feel like Stephen King saw "Blackula" one time when he was stoned and decided "Yep... that's how the blackies talk" also, Wizard and Glass would have been loads better if you didn't have to wait 400-something pages to see some gunslinging. as for his best? His first six books are awesome, and earned him my constant readership. Chef Bromden fucked around with this message at 09:30 on Jun 10, 2009 |
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Jun 10, 2009 09:27
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cycowolf posted:Wondering if its ok to ask since this is a thread for his worst books. What is your favorite book by him? I'm curious as to the difference from one to the other. Also wondering if most people prefer the older stuff.
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Jun 10, 2009 16:25
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The best King books I've read are Wizard and Glass, IT, Eyes of the Dragon, and the Long Walk. Followed by Misery, Salem's Lot, and Pet Sematary. Misery is the book of his I found to the scariest, due to the fact that everything in it could possibly be real. There's nothing supernatural or magical about it. Which makes it much easier to suspend disbelief. The backstory in Wizard and Glass really should have been it's own stand alone book by itself. If that were the case, it would be appreciated a lot more. People would be a lot more forgiving of it's length. As for me, I couldn't put it down, and I wished it would never end. I became so interested in Roland's backstory that I actually hated going back to present day Roland. King has never done a better job of developing characters than in W & G. You get the sense that Roland, Alain, and Cuthbert changed such an incredible amount just over those few months. The chemistry between the three of them and between Roland and Susan was also very well done. However, where it really shines and separates itself from the others in the series is in the lack of outlandish off the wall sillyness. There's no "number 19" bullshit, no random magic portal doors in the middle of a beach, no Susanna getting impregnated by a gateway demon, no emerald city, no ruby slippers, no alternate dimensions, no Stephen King putting himself into the story. It's just like an ordinary Western done in Stephen King style with great characters and a believable entertaining plot. Dark Tower 5, 6, and 7 has made it to where I can no longer say I like the Dark Tower series, but I'll always love Wizard and Glass. Because it feels like it could be it's own separate individual story.
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Jun 10, 2009 16:47
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cycowolf posted:Wondering if its ok to ask since this is a thread for his worst books. What is your favorite book by him? I'm curious as to the difference from one to the other. Also wondering if most people prefer the older stuff. For the many years since I first read them, I always would have pegged The Stand as my favorite, with It as a close second. However, on rereading them both for the bazillionth time recently, I really have come to think that It has at least drawn it to a tie, and may have taken a slight lead. It is without question scarier, has equally good characterization, and is probably the tighter narrative of the two. The Stand has a more epic feel in scope, but It covers a heck of a lot longer period of time, and ties it all together really well. Really the only knock I've ever seen against It is the infamous "sewer escape," and I think that while it's certainly somewhat uncomfortable, it makes sense in the context of their relationships. Whereas the deus ex ending of The Stand isn't nearly as satisfying. But then again, It doesn't have "No Great Loss." Tough call. (edit: actually, if we include shorter things like novellas and stories, The Long Walk and The Mist are going to have to make the short list, no question.) (edit2: The Stand certainly has a much less annoying title, especially used repeatedly and bolded.) Ortsacras fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Jun 10, 2009 |
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Jun 10, 2009 16:51
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Looking back over the Dark Tower series I have to say Wizard in Glass was my favorite part. I can agree about the stuff with Detta. That always made me cringe when reading it. Maybe it was supposed to, but it was still just a bit too much. I loved The talisman. I liked the follow up alright. It had some issues. I think I was a little let down that Jack never joined up with Roland. King had them cross so close and even mentioned it but it never happened. I know a few people who read the Dark Tower but not much else by King. I love telling them how many other stories connect to it. It just ends up pissing them off.
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Jun 10, 2009 16:55
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I like Eyes of the Dragon, and I also like The Dead Zone. Kings' ending are generally the weakest parts of his books, but in these two he nailed in. Eyes of the Dragon has a proper fairytale ending, just as it should, and there is really no other way The Dead Zone could end; the sense of fate waiting to catch up with poor Johnny Smith is overwhelming.
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Jun 10, 2009 21:08
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Probably Misery. As King himself would say, it's salami. But it is loving awesome salami and written incredibly well for a thriller story.
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Jun 11, 2009 09:20
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Women's Rights? posted:Okay I was thinking on this, and I got it: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It is the only Stephen King book that I've only read once because it was so fuckin' dull I put it on the shelf the second I was finished with it and never looked back. I don't remember any details of the book (Girl gets lost, girl hallucinates Tom Gordon walking with her, girl kills a bear? I think?) all I remember is that I hated it when I was reading it. I recently read this, complete crap. Easily the worst King book I've read, but then again I tend to avoid most things from right before his accident until Duma Key. As far as my favorite ones, I'd probably have to say The Shining, and 'Salems Lot. IT is up there as well.
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Jun 11, 2009 09:22
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Echoing the hate for Dark Tower IV-VII. Yeah, there were good moments in all of them, but it's really not the same as the first three. I think the post-modern angle from earlier in the thread kind of amusing but that doesn't help. As far as the rest, Cell is pretty bad, ditto Lisey's Story...actually, he has a lot of stuff that's pretty bad, but when you write as much as he has, you're going to have a lot of bad stuff even if 75% of your stuff is good. (Which it still isn't in this case, I don't know what the percentage is now but it's gotten a lot worse.) A lot of the worst stuff seems to be concentrated in the last 10-15 years though. As far as some of my favorite stuff, there's The Stand of course. Firestarter is also one of my favorites that I haven't heard anyone really mention. Lot of good short stories though: some of the highlights for me have always been The End of the Whole Mess, Dolan's Cadillac, The Ledge, The Ten O'Clock People, The Jaunt, and The Mangler (he has a lot of titles that are just the (noun) for his short story titles, now that I think of it). Overall I'd say that the wheat : chaff ratio is a lot better on the short stories than novels...and he'd probably admit that, too.
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Jun 12, 2009 00:14
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Fraction Jackson posted:Echoing the hate for Dark Tower IV-VII. Yeah, there were good moments in all of them, but it's really not the same as the first three. I think the post-modern angle from earlier in the thread kind of amusing but that doesn't help. As far as the rest, Cell is pretty bad, ditto Lisey's Story...actually, he has a lot of stuff that's pretty bad, but when you write as much as he has, you're going to have a lot of bad stuff even if 75% of your stuff is good. (Which it still isn't in this case, I don't know what the percentage is now but it's gotten a lot worse.) A lot of the worst stuff seems to be concentrated in the last 10-15 years though. DT 5-7, you mean. DT4 is almost universally regarded as one of his best books, for the reasons I said earlier. Just because it's all a flashback doesn't make it a bad book.
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Jun 12, 2009 03:13
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There were a few people earlier in the thread, such as myself, who did not echo that sentiment.
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Jun 12, 2009 03:36
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Wizard and Glass is a bad book because it kills the pace of the story and is the first to really flesh out Roland's world thus removing some of the mystery of it. King also started his ruining of Roland by going through his past. The only part of Roland's past we should have ever seen was in The Gunslinger where you read about his test of manhood. A character with a "mysterious past" is much more interesting.
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Jun 12, 2009 05:30
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muscles like this? posted:Wizard and Glass is a bad book because it kills the pace of the story and is the first to really flesh out Roland's world thus removing some of the mystery of it. King also started his ruining of Roland by going through his past. The only part of Roland's past we should have ever seen was in The Gunslinger where you read about his test of manhood. A character with a "mysterious past" is much more interesting. I don't think revealing some background is bad, but I do agree he went too far and that it messes with the pacing. It's not an awful book by any means; at least not in the way that V-VII are. But it's a major disappointment compared to I-III.
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Jun 12, 2009 07:24
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The Ten O'Clock People WAS awesome...honestly Skeleton Crew and Night Shift have to be my most fondly remembered, if not favorite. Novels are great but the bang to buck ratio of a well written collection of short stories is just too great to be ignored. A story should leave the reader with ideas to think about and expand on in their own mind and I really believe that King's short stories do this exceptionally well in most cases. Anyways, I guess I'm starting to repeat myself. EDIT: From the future. Foppish fucked around with this message at 12:38 on Jun 17, 2009 |
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Jun 12, 2009 14:40
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I think the short story The Jaunt is one of the few texts that has actually scared me. Not necessarily from the story itself, but the implications of the story. Floating in some dark void for trillions and trillions of years.
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Jun 13, 2009 01:31
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"Longer than you think, dad, longer than you think!" Yeah, that one got to me too.
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Jun 13, 2009 01:43
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Hennergy posted:I think the short story The Jaunt is one of the few texts that has actually scared me. Not necessarily from the story itself, but the implications of the story. I got seriously creeped out by "Mrs' Todd's Shortcut" and "Survivor Type" from the same collection. Man, King could really scare the poo poo out of you in those days. e: Wait. there's supposed to be a movie adaptation of The Jaunt? http://www.thejaunt.net/main.html Fall 2008? Guess not. There's nothing on the IMDB and the last login on the MySpace page was 10/1/08. Mister Kingdom fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Jun 13, 2009 |
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Jun 13, 2009 03:12
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John Irving takes something like five years to construct his novels. He says he sees himself as a craftsman. King on the other hand is happy to just write something in a couple of months. Perhaps John Irving doesn't have the ability to churn out material quickly, but there's no denying that a novel like "A Prayer for Owen Meany" is all the more richer because it feels as if Irving put his heart into it over the course of years. King on the other hand simply relies on his natural ability to disguise what are really generally horrid stories. He generally focuses so much on the situation that his novels never have any sort of admirable structure (save "IT," and that was probably just an accident or something.) I was leaving through Larry McMurtry's recent memoir ("Books") the other day and McMurtry mentioned that he went through a period of about 8 years where he felt like he wasn't capable of writing anything fresh anymore, that that there wasn't a sentence that wouldn't occur as if he's never written it before dozens of times. McMutry is a drat fine writer, but maybe King needs to go through something like that for about the next twenty years.
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Jun 13, 2009 08:05
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Mister Kingdom posted:I got seriously creeped out by "Mrs' Todd's Shortcut" and "Survivor Type" from the same collection. Good, theres no good way they couldve stretched that out into a movie.
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Jun 13, 2009 10:03
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-abe- posted:You got the wrong thread man.
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Jun 13, 2009 12:02
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the_american_dream posted:Good, theres no good way they couldve stretched that out into a movie. I imagine it would have been one of the "dollar baby" short films.
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Jun 13, 2009 13:59
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Sporadic posted:I imagine it would have been one of the "dollar baby" short films. That's what they spent on the clip you saw. It looks awful.
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Jun 13, 2009 14:11
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Foppish posted:You got the wrong thread man. I'm sorry. I thought the point of this thread was to bash Stephen King. -abe- fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Jun 14, 2009 |
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Jun 13, 2009 20:41
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Wilem DaFoe is on The Graham Norton Show on BBC America right now and I still believe he (not Norton) would make a great Roland.
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Jun 14, 2009 03:36
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Mister Kingdom posted:I got seriously creeped out by "Mrs' Todd's Shortcut" and "Survivor Type" from the same collection. Yeah, I think those work on the same level as The Jaunt. It's whats implied rather than said that makes them terrifying.
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Jun 14, 2009 06:16
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Hennergy posted:Yeah, I think those work on the same level as The Jaunt. It's whats implied rather than said that makes them terrifying. That's what was so good about The Mist (the uncertainty), and what the film lost with it's truck-wide holocaust ending. I'm still genuinely surprised that King liked that ending.
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Jun 14, 2009 19:50
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I am currently reading the last tower book and I am enjoying it so far. I've really enjoyed the entire series overall. There were moments and stretches in each book that I hated. And I really didn't enjoy most of Song of Susanna, primarily because I can't stand that character and all the internal monologue/split personality bullshit. I am halfway through the last one and it had one very emotional moment that completely surprised me. Beyond the beginning, there was no action but I am liking it so far.
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Jun 14, 2009 20:03
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Foppish posted:That's what was so good about The Mist (the uncertainty), and what the film lost with it's truck-wide holocaust ending. I'm still genuinely surprised that King liked that ending. I think it's interesting but takes away from the hopelessness of the original.
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Jun 15, 2009 04:31
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I'm going to defend "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon", but maybe that is because I read it when if first came out, but I remember it having some good atmosphere and no retards in sight. The worst one that I've read of his was probably Salem's Lot, because I didn't find it particularly memorable, entertaining, or frightening to read.
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Jun 15, 2009 09:32
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Hogarth Hughes posted:The Dark Half is a goddamned terrible book. This is the only King book I've ever picked up and didn't finish. I mean, he has some crap books, but usually I can push my way through them. The Dark Half is just loving awful.
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Jun 15, 2009 21:24
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Steve books I like?? Christine Pet Semetary Salem's Lot The Stand Misery The Tommyknockers (gently caress you guys, I like this one). There's always some gem in the short story collections.
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Jun 16, 2009 16:57
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Hennergy posted:I think it's interesting but takes away from the hopelessness of the original. I think the whole point of "The Mist" was that you should never lose hope, even in situations of uncertainty. Both the movie and the novella carried that message, just in different ways.
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Jun 18, 2009 06:43
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racecardriver posted:I think the whole point of "The Mist" was that you should never lose hope, even in situations of uncertainty. Both the movie and the novella carried that message, just in different ways. It is pretty astounding that the print version of the mist says something along the lines of "we didn't drive out of the mist, the National Guard didn't come to the rescue... and then the movie basically went and changed the ending to just that but after thinking about it, the movie ending could really be looked at as a continuation of the book, taking place after Drayton kisses his son and they head off towards Hartford. That's really depressing though, and I liked it better when the "won't you see a lady home" woman was dead. The movie was really great and all but the book will always be better to me-which is saying a lot.
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Jun 18, 2009 11:55
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The ending to the movie was incredibly awesome. It's so rare you see a good "gently caress you audience" ending.
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Jun 18, 2009 11:59
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I haven't read many King books, but my least fav bounces between Cell and Needful things. The problem with both is the ridiculous dialogue (king sucks are writing realistic dialogue). However as far as endings go, Needful Things wins hands down for worst. After all the build up of this evil demon shop keeper, he's defeated by a childrens snake in a can magic trick, shadow puppets, and flowers. Then he rolls up and turns into... a midget! And flys off into the sunset on his chariot. What?
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Jun 18, 2009 15:19
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ShawnWilkesBooth posted:The ending to the movie was incredibly awesome. It's so rare you see a good "gently caress you audience" ending. But it wasn't...it was just a lazy shock ending and it cheapened the whole "Mist" scenario. Opened the gates of Hell/a portal to another dimension? No worries, the local militia will come by with flame throwers and take care of that demon infestation.  Not to derail too much but I always wondered what happened to the rest of the world. Where did the Mist stop? If it didn't stop how did areas far away deal with the encroaching fog? After all, news of it would have spread and weather agencies would have picked it up via satelite. Were certain areas able to "dig in" and protect themselves? I'd love to read some well written expansions on that story...
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Jun 18, 2009 16:28
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Foppish posted:But it wasn't...it was just a lazy shock ending and it cheapened the whole "Mist" scenario. Opened the gates of Hell/a portal to another dimension? No worries, the local militia will come by with flame throwers and take care of that demon infestation. You assume that just because the military is doing all right in whatever little patch of land their car gets stranded on, humanity is actually going to fully regain control of the world. There's nothing to guarantee this. Also I seem to recall there being an implied (though not confirmed) suggestion that the world as it ends up in The Mist is the same "moved on" world that The Gunslinger begins in. EDIT: Also nothing in the film even remotely suggests a demonic nature for what are essentially giant bugs or aliens. Don't know for certain about the short story. And the nihilistic part of the ending is perfectly in tune with the theme of the rest of the plot, regardless of what you think of nihilistic or "shock" endings in general. Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jun 18, 2009 |
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Jun 18, 2009 19:24
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Foppish posted:But it wasn't...it was just a lazy shock ending and it cheapened the whole "Mist" scenario. Opened the gates of Hell/a portal to another dimension? No worries, the local militia will come by with flame throwers and take care of that demon infestation. They don't specifically say in the story, but we're able to tell where the mist reaches because areas within it seem to no longer be able to run radio broadcasts. The story mentions first the Bangor radio stations and then the stations down to Boston no longer broadcasting. However, when the main character runs out of gas and stops at a hotel at the New Hampshire/Maine border or somewhere around there, he hears a radio broadcast from Hartford, CT, which would seem to indicate the mist stopped somewhere south of Boston and north of Hartford. And that's why the last line of the story is "One (word) is Hartford. The other is hope."
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Jun 18, 2009 19:57
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I've read a ton of King. All of the Dark Tower, Cell, Rose Madder, Misery, Hearts in Atlantis, the list goes on. Lisey's Story is the worst poo poo ever. Namely, I got the book as an MP3 and couldn't finish it. What does that say?
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Jun 18, 2009 20:15
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