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JustFrakkingDoIt posted:Is The Mist a book now? Can I nominate Jerusalem's Lot as being shorter and more Lovecrafty (spooky if eldritch rats really get you going) than the aforementioned Salem's Lot? I think there was a standalone "The Mist" volume when the movie came out. If not, get the collection it's a part of. Thing's a third of the book anyway.
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Jun 27, 2012 01:36
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Ornamented Death posted:There are people that don't like Black House? Haha that first chapter is so incredibly...Wheel of Time-ish. It reads like a horrible 100-page Robert Jordan prologue.
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Jun 28, 2012 17:47
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ImpAtom posted:I loving hate how it's written. Absolutely hate it. The scenes where he describes the 'travels' of the camera or whatever the gently caress made me put down the book every time. It is one of the few books I just found so completely intolerable to read. Most of that kind of thing is in the first chapter. There's very little of it elsewhere.
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Jun 29, 2012 04:08
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ImpAtom posted:I remember it coming up frequently. I admit it's been a while since I read it but I read the entire thing and it felt like it was common enough to drive me nuts. King is always at his worst when he tries to break (or just edge near) the fourth wall. Self inserts, narrator-as-a-camera, whatever. He sucks at it.
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Jun 30, 2012 20:50
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Oh my. I just finished 11/22/93 and it was fantastic. I stayed up until 5am because I couldn't put it down. I haven't done that in ages.
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Jul 4, 2012 18:29
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I just finished The Long Walk for the first time. Great book. But the ending confused me. I re read it twice and I don't get it. Did Stebbins really die? Or did Garraty die and that bit at the end with the dark figure was a 'light at the end of the tunnel' kind of scene? This book kept me up way too late tonight so maybe I'm just tired and missing the obvious here.
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Jul 13, 2012 11:16
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I think Pet Sematary is King's scariest book. Some of his shorts are scarier, but something about Pet Sematary terrifies the poo poo out of me.
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Jul 15, 2012 04:56
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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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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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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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Pheeets posted:The main reason I don't want to re-read the Dark Tower series is that I can't stand the way he makes Odetta/Susannah sound. Like "Sho!" for "sure", and many other sterotypical locutions. I felt she was a sympathetic character, but I hated the way she spoke. It's like King read Uncle Tom's Cabin once and called it good. Detta was supposed to be a caricature of a deep south negro. And even after the two personalities merged to make Susannah, Detta was still there, fo sho.
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Aug 2, 2012 19:49
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Jealous Cow posted:Don't defend him you honkey muhfa. In general, I'm not. He gets it wrong more often than he gets it right. See Speedy Parker in The Talisman and pretty much every black person with a bit part. But in Detta's case, it's deliberate.
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Aug 2, 2012 20:42
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Pheeets posted:I thought her deep south aspect was portrayed more as a grotesque than a caricature. And I don't like it when an author chooses vernacular dialogue for just one character, making all others "normal" by default. I mean he could have given Eddie's speech a stereotypical New York flavor, but in his world all white people are either "plain" or "Maine". I can see this. And I don't really disagree, although I think King gets vernacular better than most authors in most cases. But any way you look at it, Detta's deep south negro dialogue was 100% intentional.
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Aug 2, 2012 23:34
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There are not many people who prefer The Regulators to Desperation, but I'm one of them. Just don't try to take The Regulators seriously. It's a very weird book that revels in its weirdness. It never settles for strange when it can do utterly bizarre instead. Wrap that up with the typical Bachman nihilism and you have a book that's disturbing...but only if you don't try to take it seriously.
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Aug 4, 2012 05:04
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Victory Yodel posted:I recently re-read The Stand and was reminded of how much I love the first 300 pages. Granted, it's getting a little dated but I still think it's a reasonably accurate depiction of what would happen in that situation. I also realized that, for whatever reason, I enjoy reading this "doomsday" type of fiction. The first third of World War Z is about the spread of zombies and the eventual downfall of about 90% of society because of it. If you're not burnt out on zombies, it's a good read with the themes you want. I'm sure the big Sci-fi/Fantasy thread can give you more recommendations.
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Aug 6, 2012 01:19
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Most King movie adaptions are bad or worse. Example: Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher, The Running Man* A few are all right. Example: IT, Pet Sematary, The Stand in its various incarnations Good ones are rare. Example: The Green Mile, The Shining And only one is amazing: The Shawshank Redemption *The Running Man is SO SO BAD but it's still fun if you're the kind of guy that likes bad 80s corny Arnold sci-fi action flicks.
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Aug 8, 2012 15:56
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Junkenstein posted:No mention of The Mist and Stand By Me in SK movie-chat? Oh god how did I forget The Mist. I found the movie to be fantastic! I know some people hated on the differences between the movie and the novella, especially the ending, but I found both to be equally valid and engaging.
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Aug 9, 2012 16:46
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Mister Kingdom posted:Just finished The Long Walk. I liked it, but it just sorta...ended. It ended when the Walk ended.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:16
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Mister Kingdom posted:I'm guessing that Garraty snapped right at the end. I asked questions about the ending just a page or two ago. Your guess is as good as several others.
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Aug 10, 2012 03:11
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Edwardian posted:Salem's Lot or The Shining. Both are excellent. I swear I'm the only King fan who doesn't really like The Shining. I recognize that it's one of King's better works, don't get me wrong, but I don't place it at the top of the list like most people. I like parts of the book. The hedge maze in particular is amazing. But overall, I find myself impatient with the book. I want to get past all the boring stuff to get to the awesome parts and they're just a little too far apart.
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Sep 26, 2012 22:34
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DrVenkman posted:I just finished reading The Jaunt again for the first time in a long time, and for some reason I totally forgot it ended in the macabre way that it did. I mean, I remember how it ended, I just forgot that his son then claws his own eyes out while screaming "Longer than you think Daddy! It's longer than you think!" Ironically, I had completely forgotten how long that story was, when last I read it. I was pleasantly surprised when it was longer than I thought.
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Oct 1, 2012 19:37
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schwenz posted:
"Beep beep, Richie" is a recurring line in IT. The other Losers say it when they need Richie to shut up. Jealous Cow is a poster in this thread. I'm not sure how the two are related. 
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Mar 1, 2013 05:45
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Is Salem's Lot regarded as one of Stephen King's scarier work around here? Whats King's spookiest book with a decent audiobook version ? Its not the spookiest but it is really tense and one of his best early works. Personally, I think Pet Sematary is the scariest thing he has written.
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Mar 1, 2013 06:28
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:Dunno about audiobooks, but yes, Pet Sematary is absolutely horrifying. Not in any stupid "OMFG ZOMBIE CAT" way, more of a "hey guess what, everyone you know and love will die one day and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop it" kind of way. I touched on that earlier in the thread. Pet Sematary is the only King book that has remained scary to me over the years. Most of his other stuff is interesting, or thrilling, but only Pet Sematary makes me afraid. I go back to it every so often, and each time I find something else in my life that I'm terrified of losing.
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Mar 1, 2013 18:21
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Canuckistan posted:I think I'd add Tommyknockers to that list. Extra-terrestrial sure but not it's not supernatural. Plus extra points for totally being the product of a coke and booze binge. I have a soft spot for Tommyknockers. It goes through a long rough patch shortly after Gard (hey motherfucker, hey!) appears, but overall, Tommyknockers is one of King's most imaginative works.
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Apr 10, 2013 05:00
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Darko posted:I'm doing a reread of the Dark Tower series, and, actually, the fifth book is pretty good. I have such a love-hate relationship with Dark Tower because each book is so different. I loved the "feel" of The Wastelands the most. It built upon the intriguing themes of The Gunslinger. Drawing of the Three was either really good or really annoying (Eddie was mostly good and Detta was mostly annoying, a trend that continues throughout the series). I wanted the story to move on with Wizard and Glass. I spend half the book, every time, wanting to get back to the present, despite young Roland's awesome story. I hate Song of Susannah, liked Wolves of the Calla, and either love or hate The Dark Tower, depending on which part I'm remembering at any given moment.
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May 22, 2013 16:11
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Kaka, more like.
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May 23, 2013 22:49
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Seven Hundred Bee posted:Does anyone else love (and I mean I love) the Bachman Books? I think "The Long Walk" and "The Running Man" are better than anything King has written in the last twenty years. Whenever I talk to someone about Stephen King, they've never heard about "The Long Walk", which makes me deeply sad. I love Running Man and Long Walk. They are leaps and bounds ahead of the other Bachman Books. The other Backman Books are (largely) not any better or worse than the bulk of his work as Stephen King. Except Blaze. gently caress Blaze. It's horrid.
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May 28, 2013 03:29
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Stroth posted:Thread consensus seems to be that people who like Desperation usually don't like Regulators and vice versa. I'm on the Regulators side myself. Yep. I love the Regulators for its sheer surreality. It's bizarre and gives no fucks about it. Desperation strikes me as fairly forced in comparison.
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May 28, 2013 18:31
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crankdatbatman posted:Well, screw it. I'm going to try to read it anyway. The thread seemed to me to favor Desperation, but while I enjoyed it I viewed it as an average King book with a fairly predictable ending. Maybe I'll enjoy the Regulators. Regulator's ending is quite lovely, too, but I love it just for the sheer weirdness of it all. The story gives no fucks about making sense, which makes a queer kind of sense all its own, by the end of the story.
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May 28, 2013 23:43
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Roydrowsy posted:I see what you did there, and I approve. It's the easiest pun in the world. I'm not nearly lax enough to let it slip past!
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May 29, 2013 00:42
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Drunk Tomato posted:Its not that it's a pain. Lots of people prefer the reading experience on kindle I'm trying to get away from physical books for years. I have far too many. They're huge, they're heavy, and they take up tons of space. Five-ish years ago, I had twelve, 4-foot shelves stacked full of books two deep. Now I'm down to half that, mostly books that don't exist in ebook format or I'm too cheap to buy again. Plus the Dresden Files because I'm crazy for the series and like the way they look.  I've replaced hundreds of real books with hundreds of kindle books. I almost never buy anything in Dead Tree format anymore. And I won't be buying Joyland unless it comes to kindle.
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Jun 17, 2013 23:20
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Greggy posted:That's a really interesting theory. I'll have to re-read Pet Semetary soon with that in mind. I was thinking the same thing.
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Jun 19, 2013 04:23
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The dead zone is a good book.
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Jun 27, 2013 15:34
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Install Gentoo posted:He thinks it's stupid for people to zealously attempt to avoid any information whatsoever about what happens in a book they're planning to read. He also believes that any story that can have the reading experience completely ruined just by someone else revealing plot points is a bad story to begin with - a good writer's book will still be an entertaining and engrossing read even if the entire story is recounted in an overview of the plot beforehand. And essentially he's of the mind that if people enjoy his books, they should feel free to discuss aspects of it with other potential fans without worrying about them being insulted for daring to "spoil" something - he particularly dislikes it when people get protective over spoilers for old books, ones that have been around for decades. I believe he is right.
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Jul 13, 2013 18:16
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Hughmoris posted:In The Stand, there is a short chapter that is a running compilation of mundane deaths that random people experienced after the first round of Captain Trips. Does anyone know what chapter or page that starts on? It's one of the best chapters he has ever written. No great loss.
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Jul 23, 2013 15:49
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Pet Sematary is easily King's scariest work, and unlike most of his others, the parts that are scary change as your life changes. I keep posting about it, but I've read the book five or six times, several years apart, and every time I find something else that fills me with dread.
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Jul 26, 2013 05:38
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It's a Takoma Spirit!
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Jul 31, 2013 23:28
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Taeke posted:I really need to read his short stories, I take it? Good thing I've got some time to spare the next couple of weeks. Yes. His shorts are his best work.
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Aug 11, 2013 02:17
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Rainbird is my favorite character in all of Firestarter. He is just so weird.
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Aug 27, 2013 05:32
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