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.

There's a film of the mist I must look that out.

I took It into hospital with me to read in the postnatal ward. The midwife thought it was a very odd choice. I suppose I should have read some chick lit or something rather than propping it up behind ds2's head

Rose Madder is my favourite, close second Shawshank. Dolores Claiborne scared me, fab. Am saving for the Dark Tower series. I enjoy the surprise on faces when I tell people Stephen King wrote Shawshank. YADNU.

He is one of my favourite authors and The Long walk is one of my favourites too, though the Stand is my all time favourite book. Can't wait until his next book comes out.

Thanks to everyone for all the recommendations - haven't read any SK short stories yet so lots of great reading to do down the line.

So nice to see all the other SK fans on mumsnet!

Can't believe I forgot Dolores Claiborne! I'll have to kick one of my top 5 out to make room!

Oh, Nessalina! I'd given up on Rereading Stephen King after checking twice a week for updates for months following his February column, and then your link showed me there were two more up that I haven't read! Happy day! :)

I love Stepehn King. I think he is actually a really good storyteller, as well as being able to write. He's not afraid to try new things out, even if they aren't always successful, and nearly all of his books have something to recommend them (not least being terrifying in some case! I still can't read Salem's Lot at night). His fantasy is as good as his horror, and his characters really come alive. I started reading his works (secretly!) when I was eight or nine, and I've loved his work ever since.

Hate, hate , hate the film of the mist

Hate it!!!!!!!

Fucking awful ending ,,,,,, still so pissed off about that!!!!!!

And storm of the century tv show!!!!!! Hate it!!!!!

And breathe

Ooh, that looks good! I'm glad to hear that 'A Good Marriage' is another one, it's also another favourite of mine (who am I kidding, I liked them all!).

I've seen The Mist and thought it was a good adaption. Also, it has Tom Jane in it so you get horror and some eye candy too!

Agree with Rufus about the ending of The Mist though, horrible.

And please forgive me for the use of the phrase 'eye candy'. Don't know what I was thinking!

Ooh, WeAreGroot, what tattoo do you have?

I'm on my third re-reading of The Dark Tower, which is an incredible series. I can't imagine any other writer being able to put himself into books and pull it off, yet somehow it works. It's almost as if the perceived 'trashy' nature of King's books (as in, what other people might think of them) lets him go "fuck it, anything goes" - and then he pulls it off.

I was going to say I'm amazed how many SK fans haven't read the Dark Tower... but then I love the Dark Tower, but don't particularly like SK. I think they're probably quite divisive.

I don't like his out-and-out horror because I'm a wimp and I don't like horror novels. I read Cujo has a teenager and it scared me absolutely to the point of terror Then again, I read IT recently and wasn't scared at all - the unrealistic fantasy stuff doesn't seem as scary.

11.22.63 was fantastic, and I really enjoyed Under the Dome.

Sometimes the man needs a damn good edit, but I don't think there is anyone out there who writes with the same pace as King. Or can create characters like Roland Deschain you're mine, Roland, all mine...

"My middle name is Christine because my mom was reading it the night before I was born. "

One of my DC was named after a King character - not going to say which one though, it's quite a distinctive name.

I almost named my DD Franny. :)

Oh my goodness I didn't know they were making a film from 'a good marriage' that is IMHO one of the best ever short stories! It pulls you right into her shoes and makes you think 'what if...'

Joan Allen is a great choice for Darcy. Can't wait.

Bigkids I have just reread it.

I remember the GM coming out each month and I would go and buy it and then go straight to the pub and read it with a pint. The story being in serial form was amazing and frustrating all at once I enjoyed The Plant too.

I love The Stand and The Shining. They both make the hairs stand up on my arms at various points!

Me too! I started reading Stephen King books at 13 (IT) and I've been hooked ever since (20+ years!...how the hell did that happen??!)

I re-read them too.

Yanbu, I bloody love Stephen King, just started mr Mercedes a couple of days ago.

I first read Carrie at 13 ish and I've been hooked ever since!

I follow him on Twitter and get pathetically excited when he tweets.

Oh I'd given up on the re-reading thing the guardian did too, I'll go back and look! I re-read all the time, the last one I read was Dolores Claiborne.

I'm not a massive fan of SK short stories simply because they're over too soon! The bigger the book the better in my opinion!

That being said, I loved cycle of the werewolf and the langoliers.

Saskia I am now wondering if you are one of my oldest friends.

< sinister chord of music >

Love him too.

Favourites are The Stand, Pet Sematary, Duma Key, Dolores Claiborne, The Dark Half and On Writing.

Full Dark, No Stars is a great short story collection, as is Four Past Midnight.

Didn't like the JFK one though.

Ooh, WeAreGroot, what tattoo do you have?

I've got the symbol of the Eld from Roland's guns behind one ear.

I'm very tempted to get one of the illustrations of Oy done as well. This one is my favourite.

I too started reading Stephen King as a child and I loved him. My favourite was Skeleton Crew, althougj his novels are long and wordy he is brilliant at short stories and writing them is an art.

He once described short stories as a 'kiss in the dark' and that is exactly how his best ones make me feel.

I'm going to have to hide this thread I think, otherwise I'm going to be on here every five minutes saying how much I loved this book and that book, oh and this one I forgot about!

I love lots of Stephen King: occasionally there's a disappointing one but generally he does it for me. Minifingers - I am also an English teacher and regard SK as almost a guilty pleasure - except I do think English teachers sometimes underrate the power of a bloody good story!

Can't believe no-one's mentioned the film version of Misery which I think is excellent, and Carrie and Stand By Me are also v. good King adaptations.

I sobbed at The Green Mile. Have just read Hearts in Atlantis which was weird because I am teaching Lord of the Flies at the moment, which is a recurring image in Hearts.

There is a brilliant moment in Cujo where King just captured exactly what it sometimes feels like to be a woman and I can't for the life of me remember it. Will have to try to track it down. It's where she's standing in the kitchen, washing up or something, and I felt he had literally looked into my head and lifted the feeling out of there. Amazing.

Loved Dr. Sleep, btw, and also a huge fan of his short stories.

I am meant to be marking, damn you, minifingers!