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whats the best Stephen King book?

92 replies

juicychops · 27/04/2012 21:29

I fancy giving one a go as not read any of his since i was a teenager. I read Carrie, The Shining, and some other one which i seem to remember was about a girl walking through the woods imagining herself at a baseball game? can't really remember that one!

anyway, recommendations please...

OP posts:
MNHubbie · 28/04/2012 00:33

Pervy That is very bizarre and should really have happened to me the amount I read in public. Reminds me of a Bill Hicks story "We've got ourselves a reader..."

I secretly liked Dreamcatcher and Cell to be honest but not his best work.

The Stand is exceptional. Desperation was OK but I'm finding it tricky to get into Bachman's Regulators.

No love for IT yet?

To be honest too many to choose from. I used to love reading and re-reading Four Past midnight. There are a couple of tales in there that he expands on a lot in other books. The girl who loved Tom Gordon, Lisy's tale, Gerald's Game, Skeleton Crew... the list goes on.

I haven't tried under the dome yet.

I really, really don't get The Dark Tower series. I tried one of the books, then tried the comicbook adaptation... I don't get it.

I also don't like him being called a Horror writer... he isn't. He is a writer. There is nobody ever (Harper Lee aside) who can bring characters to life in so few words and make you completely know them and care for them like he can. He writes about people. The horror and supernatural stuff is sometimes really crap but you've bought into the suspension of disbelief because every other part of the writing is so good. The genuine reactions of the characters and how their lives will pan out, the texture of the world you are in...

PervyMuskrat · 28/04/2012 00:35

Nottingham Grin and still here! It's our dental health that causes the govt more cause for concern apparently. DS was given two toothbrushes before he was 6m old...

PervyMuskrat · 28/04/2012 00:47

MN Hubbie, you're right, he isn't a horror writer. He writes wonderful stories and makes you believe in (and care about about) the characters.

Re the Dark Tower - try Wizard and Glass first and work back, then forwards. I love the artwork in the comics but haven't read any of them.

No love for IT here, sorry! I enjoyed it but the end was a bit too OTT and not up to his best. The build up was good though!

Duckypoohs · 28/04/2012 00:51

I adore the long walk and running man, although I have tried about a million times to get into The Talisman, I just can't. Really odd because I loved Black House.

Cell is good too, a bit derivative but I enjoyed it anyway.

I can't really be arsed with the whole fantasy series, it's just not my thing.

bruffin · 28/04/2012 00:51

Agree MNHubbie - The character Arnie Cunningham in Christine really revolted my unlike any other character I have read in a book before or since. I have no idea why, except maybe the book is my real name.

MNHubbie · 28/04/2012 01:41

I also love the way that Desperation and the Regulators may be the first time he openly reuses (or rather the late Bachman and he jointly use...) characters but at the same time you can clearly see the same people show up in the background. Sometimes as cameos passing through, sometimes with new names as if he has found an archetype he is playing with but wonderfully he occasionally does it as redrafts of the same idea/character and we get to see him build on the germ of an idea, revisit a character and give them a better/bigger story, throw out things that don't work and reframe the whole thing. It is a real insight into him as a person and writer.

I never had his childhood that I guess consisted of growing up in Maine with long hot summers, riding bikes with playing cards rattling the spokes, collecting baseball cards, playing in quarries and river tunnels, swimming in the lake, avoiding stray dogs, not eating red licorice laces, fearing the library after dark, finding dead bodies, running past the weird neighbour's house, collecting glass bottles and worshipping Coke BUT at the same time I think I did. I lived it with him and it has become so real to me through a host of his books.

Angelico · 28/04/2012 14:11

Thanks Remus - was bugging me not remembering 'Insomnia' :)

Angelico · 28/04/2012 14:13

MNHUbbie I think IT is terrifying. Completely terrifying. In fact Blush I was living alone when I read it and had to stop because I was starting to get freaked every time I was at the sink! lol Kind of book you need a DH to cling on to after each reading session :o

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 28/04/2012 15:55

I love 'It' apart from the the ending - the spider stuff is just a rip off of 'Lord Of the Rings' and I hate that bit with Bill and his wife and the bike etc - just felt unnecessary.

Bought 'Wind Through The Keyhole' today.

bananasarebeautiful · 28/04/2012 20:18

I must admit that I thought of IT too when I saw Lord of the Rings. Although because I read IT first I can't stop myself thinking that IT was the original (when obviously it wasn't)!!

queenrollo · 28/04/2012 20:39

I love The Talisman, and would highly recommend it.
I have read most of his stuff and to be honest like all of it, but find that some of them have a different 'flavour' and I have to be in the right mood for each one.
The Body is possibly my favourite thing SK has ever written, it just had a great impact on me.

I'm reading The Dark Tower series now, I am literally going to finish the last book either tonight or tomorrow. I really want to know more about Wind Through The Keyhole but am too scared to read anything to do with it in case I inadvertently ruin the end of the Dark Tower for myself.

One thing though, is that my memory is rusty for the ones I only read once and The Dark Towere series does make lots of reference to SK's other books. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment at all if you've never read another SK book, but I think I'll get more from it when I re-read it after going through the SK back catalogue again.

pointythings · 28/04/2012 20:58

Duma Key is my absolute stand-out favourite King. It has everything - King writing about his own experience recovering from severe head injury - very warts and all - a beautiful portrayal of a woman with dementia, a fabulous ghost story.

After Duma Key there is a long silence and then there are the others that I like - Lisey's Story. Under the Dome, 11.22.63, It, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Needful Things, Bag of Bones, Insomnia.

Some that I hate: The Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher, From a Buick 8.

I see the Dark Tower as a separate thing entirely, I think it's fabulous and re-read it every 3 years or so.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 28/04/2012 22:10

I wonder if the Dark Tower naysayers have only read Book One? Deffo worth trying book two in that case, and seeing if that one hooks you. I love the series (and re-read it frequently - probably around every 18 months now) but the first one isn't terribly gripping and works better on reflection, having read two and three imho. I think the scene on the plane when Roland 'draws' Eddie is just brilliant because it so clearly establishes these two contrasting characters but shows that they each have that 'edge' that makes them Gunslingers.

SillyBeardyDaddyman · 28/04/2012 22:39

I think people start the gunslinger expecting horror (it's a Stephen king after all!) and get a very different experience. If you aren't drawn in by the first line, you're not going to enjoy the rest.

the man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed

PercyFilth · 28/04/2012 22:42

Yes, the Dark Tower series was nothing at all like what I was expecting. I'm not really into 'fantasy', but this was something different.

It's hard to advise someone where to start with SK because I find him very uneven. When he's good he's very, very good, but some of his stuff just doesn't work for me. And yet some of the ones I've hated are mentioned above by other people as favourites ... I couldn't finish Lisey's Story, for one, it didn't read like a King book at all. Gave up on Under The Dome too, just too much gore too early, and too many characters. Did enjoy the JFK one though.

I'd certainly recommend dipping into the short story collections and the novellas. There you will find Shawshank Redemption, The Body (filmed as Stand By Me ) and other superb tales. I think he's at his best when he doesn't involve any supernatural elements (or only a little - such as in The Green Mile ). And he was well ahead of the game with his early dystopian stories, The Long Walk and The Running Man. Wink

queenrollo · 28/04/2012 22:42

Remus I agree. Personally I found I had to persevere with Wizard and Glass too, but eventually became immersed in it.
I am off to bed now to read some more, I really want to get to the end! but at the same time I don't because I'm enjoying it so much I don't want it to end.
Twice in the last week I have read parts which have had me in tears, which is the mark of a good book for me.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 28/04/2012 22:43

Nope - I disagree. Walter is a cliched and silly character - the books 'wake up' once Eddie comes onto the scene. Jake is one dimensional in book one and then really grows later: I love his final essay, for example. Book One doesn't in any way show the excitement/heartbreak that comes later.

MissPricklePants · 28/04/2012 22:44

As I said earlier, the Dark Tower books are the best. Utterly amazing! I love them, everything about the books I find fantastic!!!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 28/04/2012 22:45

Agree re Wizard And Glass too - the problem with that one is that, because it's all happened already, I found it harder to care than I do about the characters we're literally travelling with in the other books. Also (as I've said before on here!) I'm probably jealous of Susan getting Roland. :)

EnsignRo · 28/04/2012 22:46

Love, love, love King!

If I has to pick favourites: It, Needful Things, Lisey's Story and 11.22.63. But to be honest with the exception of Dark tower and Cell, they are all bloody great. The man writes like a dream IMHO.

MissPricklePants · 28/04/2012 22:47

Oh and the Green Mile is absolutely fantastic!

SillyBeardyDaddyman · 28/04/2012 22:50

remus book one is all about Roland. Any other characters who crop up are purely used as reflections of his obsession. The original story better reflects films by akira kurosawa and the spaghetti westerns, slow burners with beautiful imagery and a clear focus on the lead character.

PercyFilth · 28/04/2012 22:50

When I was reading Dark Tower, I was disappointed at first with Wizard and Glass because I was caught up in the story, and didnt appreciate a book-length flashback. But, as many other readers have said, I soon became equally caught up in that world and was sorry to leave it in the end. I agree that it can be read and enjoyed in isolation from the rest of the series.

DeadRisingPies · 28/04/2012 22:50

Just getting goose pimples all over remembering something of his I heard on the radio. It was about a father whose son had been killed in Viet Nam, wishing he could come back. Well, he did! hung about the cemetery and harassed people in a very unpleasant way, till his father wished he would disappear again. Does anyone know if this is just a short story, or is it from a novel?

thenightsky · 28/04/2012 22:51

Read The Stand while on mat leave (started it whilst in labour to distract me). Fab book.

Pet Semetry haunts me to this day... that is one scary book.

I love SK books but they do seem to follow a formula - ace beginning, but get bogged down about 2/3rds of way through.