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.

No! Shame!

It was a bad 'un my friend named her DD after as well.

I'm really pleased it feels authentic to someone who knows Cheerful, that's one of the things I like about it

Lola - have never seen him interviewed. I really want him to be lovely.

He is Mini. Very humble and seems kind. :)

The Talisman is the only book EVER to have made me cry.

Wolf!

Stephen King is a bloody genius, I read Carrie when I was 13, and it ignited a love of reading in me that's never really gone away. I was delighted that 11.22.63 was such an amazing return to form recently.

The bbc interviewed him not long ago, he was so lovely.
And he did the ice bucket challenge and that's on YouTube.

sanitary

Every time I see popcorn I think of wee

It's so funny, I really think he is a genius, and he has so much going on in his head all the time, and he has note money than God, and yet...he seems so normal. Like the ice bucket challenge, he just seems like any other grandad in shorts and high socks. :o

I so want to meet him while I'm pregnant this time so I can have a shirt with "4th Generation Constant Reader" with an arrow pointing to my bump.

*more money

Oh, count me in! I've been reading Stephen King since my late teens when Carrie was published. His books are utterly engrossing - top 5 -

The Dead Zone
The Stand
11-22-63
Firestarter
Lisey's Story

And then Duma Key, Pet Sematary ....................

Rufus, me too! I have never been able to eat "buttered" popcorn in an American cinema!

Another lifelong SK fan here (as you might guess from my user name).

I genuinely think he is a genius. My favourite is IT; I honestly think it's the best book about childhood ever written.

My DD is also named after my favourite character in a SK story.

The film of the Mist? Loved it and especially loved the ending - utterly unexpected and utterly shocking. But brilliant. Frank Darabont is the only director apart from Rob Reiner who really seems to 'get' SK.

It will be very interesting to see how Ben Affleck fares with The Stand.

Oh me too please - I've loved his writing for many, many years. I adore The Talisman but was most frightened by Library Police which is a short story in Four Past Midnight.

Oh GOD yes. He is just so good at what he does. All my Stephen King books have sweaty hand prints where I've clutched the booked, unable to put it down.

Affleck is out and Josh Boone is in, MrsTodd. I think BA is a talented director so I'm sad.

I love IT. I've read it four times and I think it might be due a re-read. I also loved The Stand and The Shining, although I didn't rate Cell much. Also liked Carrie but didn't enjoy Pet Sematary or the vampire ones much.

I agree with whoever said his short stories translate better to film than his novels; the novels are too packed with plot and characters! I was so disappointed with the tv adaptation of IT.

What are Rose Madder and Dolores Claiborne like - worth reading?

I've never read anything written by him but I'd like to give it a go - especially love a twist!
What would you recommend starting on?

He's a very very nice man. I mean, clearly totally warped and twisted, but terrifically warm and humble in person smug

I read The Tommyknockers once when I was travelling and it wins joint prize (with American Psycho) for Worst Book Ever that I wish I could un-read. Thank goodness for Kindles now and not running out of books on holiday. So that's put me off, but I'm sure some of his other books are much better.

Both good Alma, both focus on domestic violence and strong female characters (and some bad men). I loved them both. Rose madder quite upsetting in places.

I love that he writes in Dolores' voice the whole time.

I really love Rose Madder, very unpleasant and harrowing in places but incredibly powerful stuff.

Did anyone else really love the first half of Needful Things then get terribly bored and struggle to finish?

I really enjoyed rose madder alma although it gets a bit strange in places (a bit like liseys story) and I agree that it is quite graphic in places, and so a bit upsetting (I once loaned my copy to my grandmother, completely forgetting about this...oops)

I always loved that joey (in friends) had to put the shining in the freezer when it got too scary

I think his writing changed after his accident In 1999. If anything it got deeper and in my opinion better.
The vampires and stuff like that disappeared and his novels became more serious and, I think, darker. More about human monsters than the less scary made up kind.