to utterly love Stephen King?

[minifingers]

Ex secondary English teacher, who snootily resisted his books and the whole horror genre for decades, in favour of Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Jane Austen, and lots of serious modern authors like Saul Bellow.

Had children, got too knackered and thick to read serious fiction so tarted on the Stephen Kings.

I find that I absolutely love his books. Love them, and the mind which created them.

Worried that I'm going to end up like that woman in Misery - you know, the Kathy Bates character. Obsessed.

Anyone else got a Stephen King pash or is it just me? He's not very mumnsetty.

YANBU Stephen King is a admittedly warped genius

My OH does, he's pretty much only ever read Stephen King books for the last decade. I quite like some of them but I'm not pashing on him in quite the same way.

He is a genius and I love him. The characters are deep, you care about them, relate to them, and so he sucks you in.

Do, do, do read the dark tower series if you have not already!

I have been saving his latest book for a nights drawing in when I am not in the park or garden of an evening and I can't wait.

I love him too, I've read about 80 of what he's written, even his crap phase, try Dean Koontz is you like your horror a little more realistic

Just never ever watch under the dome, they've ruined it

YANBU. Discovered him myself recently after years of thinking he was just horror stories. he is a great writer, has great plots, he sucks you into believable worlds. I've read pretty much everything in the past year except the Dark Tower series. His memoir about writing is superb.

YAB a bit U.

I dont think hes that good but I do love some of his novels. I just think that if you write 10,00000 books/series/short stories, some of them have to turn up good.

YANBU
He is absolutely brilliant!
IT is a literary masterpiece IMHO and I read it every other year. The Stand is also incredible.
He's not afraid to go right into the dark, and it makes you root for his characters all the more.
I haven't read the Dark Tower series yet, someone sorta spoilered the ending for me, but I've heard it's so good I might have to give it a go

Yes love him, always a bit embarrassed to admit it though and I shouldn't be!

There's a good series of Guardian articles called Rereading Stephen King which is well worth a look. He's been rereading from the start through in chronological order! I've not read anywhere near all of them, so it's been good to see which ones I'm missing out on and which ones aren't worth the effort!

YANBU I love Stephen King!

I love him! The Stand is my favourite book, I'm currently saving up for the graphic novel edition!

I became obsessed with Pet Sematary when I was a teenager, and can still remember whole chunks of it. Can't bring myself to reread it now I have DC though, including a DS who's Gage's age!

There's a sequel to the Stand??

He is one of my favourite authors but I especially love his short stories. My Favourite is The Long Walk.

That looks brilliant Nessa, Im going to look through that. I find him quite hit and miss but maybe I have just picked up more crap ones than good ones!

I do enjoy it but some of the books are a bit too ...wordy... The Stand for example, horrendously long and whilst its a good story there's too much unnecessary waffle.

I've only read The Stand & really enjoyed it. What others would anyone recommend?

I love him and his books, have done since I first read IT when I was 13.

I think a lot of people read his "trashier" stuff (which even I'm not terribly keen on) and write off everything he's written as being in the same vein.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon remains the only book I've ever read in a single sitting because I just couldn't put it down.

I can re-read many of his books (IT, TGWLTG, Duma Key, Lisey's Story, Rose Madder, Insomnia, The Dark Tower series, The Shining) over and over without ever getting tired of them.

I've even got a Dark Tower related tattoo and am considering another

Not much of a fan of his, but I absolutely loved 11.22.63.

God, I loathed Pet Sematery

Brilliantly written, but genuinely horrific. I threw the book across the room when I was finished!
Really interesting to read later that it nearly didn't get published because he thought it was too dark himself, but his wife convinced him to, and of course it was a massive success!
That and Cujo are the only two of his I've read that feel like 'horror'.

I'll be 'reading' the Dark Tower as soon my new Audible credits come through!

(bastard company - holding back the cheap credits until I'm gagging for them)

Thanks for the article Nessalina - will be having a look.

Currently reading 'Salem's Lot'.

I love his short stories too. Also his book, On Writing. If you like him, you might also Dan Simmons.

Dean Koontz used to be okay, but his later books are very strange. He's a very good writer, but his plots and characters are lacking somewhat. Plus, in the last novel of his I read there was a dog driving a car. I threw the book out of the window at that point.

The unabridged Audible version of The Stand is very very good indeed if you've not got it! And damn good value for money, it's over 50 hours long IIRC!