How did I not know this about The Stand?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I have a copy from 1978. It is my all time favourite book.

Why did I not know that it was released as an abridged version? I've just discovered that there are about 300 pages missing that are included in a version released in 1990.

I feel like I've stepped into an alternate reality - how did I not know this?

Is there anything else I'm missing, any secret books that SK wrote that I've somehow not come across?

Yes, the baseball boy :( Awful! I really liked that book. I wasn't sure at all if I would, I just wasn't sure a sequel would work. But I thought it was good and I loved Abra.

I'd love to see a really good quality miniseries of the Stand too.

I have read The Stand probably 5 or 6 times, you always discover a little extra hidden depth each time.

I love the line, when Frannie looks over at Stu 'and she was warmed, for now and forever, by the utter certainty of her love for him'.

Has anyone read "The Fireman"? It's Joe Hill's ( SKs son) version of a plague novel. Very good, atmospheric..... I was hoping for it to be The Stand, but sadly it just isn't. Very enjoyable though.

How are people feeling about The Dark Tower movie? I think McConaughey will be an excellent villain. Idris has a slightly different vibe to my idea of Roland but will probably be great in his own way.

At this point I'm not particularly interested in it. I don't particularly rate Idris Elba as an actor and I don't think he'll do Roland justice. The list of characters that have been cast is pretty random, there's quite a few pretty minor characters who appear in various books in the series. Filming has already started and yet I've not seen any real mention of either Eddie or Susannah. I don't know how much of this is just the media getting the wrong end of the stick but a minor character from the later books is being touted as the "female lead". None of which is particularly inspiring or encouraging......

I could be wrong, it could turn out to be great but right now I'm actually more interested in the new TV movie of IT which is coming out later this year

Don't like Idris Elba and don't think he's a particularly good actor, in fact I'd go as far as to say he's a bit shit. I bet they're going to totally fuck these films up 😡

I didnt know there was to be a Dark Tower film! I think I'll wait for reviews, so much of SKs stuff ends up becoming completely trashed on the screen.

The Fireman is on my kindle for holiday reading. I have a lot of holiday reading planned!

Whenever I have the flu, I still tell everyone I've got a touch of the Captain Tripps and most just look at me like

Best book ever, The Stand.

I am listening to 11.22.63 on my dog walks, I have previously read it and wanted to read it again.

Whooo I didnt realise this thread was still going, thought it would stop after few posts about the Stand!

Love SK books, have shleves full of them..not all read yet but getting there. Kinda got out the reading habit due to kids and life but restarted and want to work my way through them all I kept buying them for the time I could

Just finished 'Revival' loved the characters and how it all drew together, will never look at electricity the same again!

My faves include The Stand obviously, IT (was half way through it and sat up in bed until 3am until I finished it when I was younger, couldnt put it down!) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, The Body and From a Buik 8. But there isnt much he has written that I dont like Saying that I couldnt get going with the Dome as I hated one character and the fact that the good guy got killed in first 10 minutes get annoyed at stuff like that. Same with Dolores. Started reading another collection recently but the story about the car that eats people was freaking me out...had to put it down!

I agree he writes about childhood particularly well there is a real sympathy for how kids perceive the world and are perceived by adults and he doesnt sugar coat it.

I also love his books on writing and himself, very astute and to the point but with self depreciating humour.

Loved the tv version of The Stand, the actors were well suited to the roles (why cant they do this with films?) Love Gary Sinise anyway

I was just coming to say the Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon! I cry through the last chapter every time. "I did it. I got the save." Can't even write that without getting choked up!

I always tell DH I want DD to be like Trisha McFarland :) Such a great character. Funny and brave.

I love TGWLTG.

Very underrated IMO and not as well known as some of the bigger books.

I agree that TGWLTG is really underrated. The first time I read it I did it all in one sitting because I just could not put it down. I still re-read it (and listen to the audiobook) regularly, love it.

Ooh a Stephen King thread!! Love him!!

My absolute complete and utter favourite would have to be Insomnia, but I did also love The Stand. Never managed to get into the Dark Tower, so maybe will like the movie as I adore Matthew mconnahey, (sp) although they never seem to translate well to screen.

I also lived TGWLTG and The Green Mile obv!

O heck The Green Mile, how could I forget. Cried my eyes out. I got it in monthly installments I was demented waiting! Then I leant them to a friend and never got them back grrrrrr.

The Green Mile still gives me goosebumps and is probably the most faithful screen adaption of all time.

I really struggled with Insomnia but after I finished it, it really stuck in my mind for a long time. 'it's a long walk back to Eden baby '!

I adore Insomnia and I really really hope they make a film of it because done properly, the little bald doctors and the world of auras could be AMAZING 😮

I really really did NOT like Revival. It was good but I found it so upsetting!

I think (this is total sacrilege ) that his best film adaptations occur when he doesn't have that much to do with them!

I was so excited for A Good Marriage and i hated the film. His skill as a storyteller is a lot of the characters' inner selves IMO and when he does the screenplays or is heavily involved in the production it just doesn't come across as well as it could.

Hello, fellow Constant Readers. Love, 'The Stand'. Makes me cry big, gloopy, not terribly pretty tears though.

Love, 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' too - I think it's under-appreciated generally and gets lost in favour of the 'big guns'.

Not at all excited by the film. Idris E is totally wrong for Roland, and it messes up all sorts of things with the plot to have a black Roland. And it does sound as if they are taking so many liberties that it's unlikely to be anything like the novels.

Have you read the Talisman?

It has the same 'otherness' as the Stand. I really enjoyed both

The Stand, The Talisman and It were my 'Exercise' books - on every long exercise in the Army there is a great deal of downtime. It's feast or famine. I'd take one of them with me and could always be found with my nose in a book if there were no 'wargames' going on.

Now they've become my 'I've read everything else, what next?" Books for holiday. They were the first books I bought when the Kindle came out. I dread to think how many times I've read them.

I also rate Black House (although I wish I'd stopped reading when he told me too , Under the Dome, Doctor Sleep and The Dead Zone. Oh and I liked The Cell but no-one else seemed to.

Actually you've inspired me, I'm going to check for some 'new' ones now

Oooo Stephen King fans! I have been reading since I was 11, so 24 years of Stephen King!
My favourite was IT, I have read it a few times but now just read the kids parts and ignore the fact they grew up! I can't read Salem's lot of Pet Semetry since having kids, Shining also freaked me out when I tried to read it as an adult.
I love a lot of his short stories, Four Seasons is magnificent and I might go get The Green Mile off my book shelf actually and have a read again. What a sad and emotional book.
Gerald's game haunted me, the man in the corner and the twist at the end freaked me out.
I live Under the Dome and 11-22-63, absolutely adored both and got completely lost in the tale.
I think he creates such brilliant characters that you really care about.

Oh I love the Talisman! Forgot about that.

I also love Firestarter, which is another I think flies under the radar quite a bit.

Yep 'Firestarter' was one of the first ones I read after 'Carrie'. Another good book focusing on a childs experience.