Stephen King - The Stand or It?

[jofeb04]

Hiya,

I like the sound of both of them, but can only afford the one.

Has anyone read them? Which did you prefer?

Thanks

Really Kerry? Wow I thought it was fab (tho' not as good as the Talisman) but I thought the 'Dont read any further' bit was awful......of course I was going to read on.....and then cry

Oooh, yes, the Long Walk: absolutely unforgettable. I remember rereading that when I was in hospital having DS, which probably wasn't the greatest of ideas as I was all trippy and odd after the gas and air and my head was like an echo-chamber for days.

Have you tried Richard Laymans books? I love Stephen King although he's done a few recently I couldn't get on with. Richard Layman is brilliant if you like horror and the other author I like is Graham Masterton.

The Stand used to be my favourite all time book. (Not a big fan of It.) The first King book I read was the Stand and I have never found another that I like quite as much.

I tried a Graham Masterton book but couldn't get into it. I enjoyed I am Legend by Richard Matheson & also some of Christopher Fowler

Kerry, The Long Walk is the one where boys sign up for a walk but can't fall below a certain pace or stop. It doesn't stop until there's one left

My first King book was Carrie and I read it when I was far too young ...has anyone read 'Eyes of the Dragon?'it was actually quite good.

I've forgotten a lot of SK's books , also enjoyed Eye of the Dragon!

The Dead Zone is a v good film adaptation too.

After The Stand and the Dark Tower books (gosh, I LOVE those) my favourites are:
The Green Mile (sob) and Bag Of Bones and the short story 'Survivor Type' which I think is in 'Skeleton Crew.'

Dean Koontz has a couple of okay books (One Door Away From Heaven and the one about the little boy and his eyes are the best of his I've read) but they get very samey and his writing isn't a patch on King's imho.

Tis Survivor Type - bloomin' brilliant!

janeite - the one with Bartholemew (re Dean Koontz)??? That was a blardy good book. The psycho nutter main character was genius!!!

I loved The Stand - I didn't want it to end. Read it on a holiday once when I was young, free and single. Sigh. Happy days. Brilliant storytelling.

I can't remember sorry. Something about a blind boy who then got his sight back? Was it called From His Eye or something like that?

I've read eyes of the dragon and really enjoyed it

Koontz is very sentimental - the only one of his I really enjoyed wa LIghtning Road.
Richard Laymon is great on set-up but rubbish at finishing a book, he;s only about two steps away from 'Oh, and then we woke up and it was all a dream' as an ending.
Masterton is deeply creepy and a bit too visceral. I'm not wild about Christopher Fowler except for Roofworld, which I love (and still look upwards when I'm in the West End...)

ANyone read much Shaun Hutson?

Solidgold, Roofworld was the one I read & liked, tried one of his short story books but couldn't get into it really.

No-one's mentioned James Herbert, I'm not a fan but someone must like him?!

Other SK books I liked: Christine & Dolores Claiborne. I don't mind Gerald's Game but it always makes me feel a bit ill

not a big fan of herbert
his books always read like a script, too descriptive, while King is more suggestive, if you like.
With Herbert all the work is done for you, with King you have to use your imagination. He does tend to go off on a tangent and I love that about him. He is like Dickens in that respect. Whole pages of not much happening except in someone's head. Love it.

I have read Hutson and like him too.
One of my fav books is Clive Barker's weaveworld.
I must get a copy and reread it.

I also like the Dean Koontz Christopher Snow series - STILL waiting for the 3rd book!

I like Koontz when I am in the mood for more black humour than out and out horror - love it when the animals in the stories have something to say! Tick Tock is one of my faves - totally barking, really weird and unbelievable but fun all the same.

Pure thank-you for reminding me about Weaveworld. Read it years ago having borrowed it from someone. Must now visit Amazon...

The Stand is by far the best. It is his best. I have read it 3 times over the past 15 years and I never get bored of it.

janeite, do you know who the author of the Survivor Type that KM mentioned is?

I don't like James Herbert, Clive Barker or Peter Straub. Not heard of the others mentioned. In fact, King is probably the only horror I read really unless a particular title happens to grab me in the library.

Survivor Type is a Stephen King short story. I think it might be in "Skeleton Crew' but not sure.

I always found Herbert to be very good at the anti-climax. He sets everything up and then lets the reader down with something that wasn't nearly as bad as the imagination could come up with on the way.