Is it wrong to read Stephen King now?

[cantdothisnow1]

I agree with JKR not SK on the issue of whether it is possible to change sex. I am horrified at the abuse that JKR has received and believe that trans rights should never be at the expense of women and girls.

I recently read a Stephen King book and enjoyed it and posted about enjoying it on a book thread on here. Someone suggested I shouldn't be reading Stephen King because of his views.

Surely this is just as bad as people trying to erase JKR for her views and does women's rights no good? Am i missing something, am I wrong for enjoying these books?

Oh god not this again. Only on MN. Yes, I read both.

I’ve no problem with ppl boycotting jkr - that’s their choice, no one has to read books they don’t want to

I have a massive problem with pol demanding everyone else boycott jkr, trying to get bookshops not to stock jkr, & sending death threats & abuse to jkr

@Saucery

Posters on here do that all the time.

Not biting. Name’s not Barlow

Oh come on. This forum is awash with posts about how much nicer, empathetic, conscientious women are. See the thread about political lesbianism for example and the posters wishing they were lesbians.

I was thinking Gary but I don’t get it either.

Read whatever the heck you want.

If we start filtering art by the composer's purity of life, we will have no art.

I guarantee if you read literature, you've read books by abusers, gaslighters, cheats, alcoholics, people who beat their kids, raped their wives, pedophiles, thieves, hypocrites, tax cheats, law-breakers....you name it.

SK is a dick....yeah...so what...read him if you want.

A book is not its author. Buy it second hand if you don't want to give him your pennies.

Barlow....bite

Salem?

Its salems lot

Isnt it

Yep it is...isn’t it 😀

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer

Its salems lot

Isnt it

Yep it is...isn’t it 😀

I think you've got it!

I'm ashamed-I earlier declared myself a big fan of his books, but I too was thinking of Ken, Deidre or Blanche Barlow

I think you've got it!

Yay me! 😀

SK isn't for me, whatever his views, because I don't do horror. But I don't think anything of anyone else reading him or not reading him. I don't do book burnings nor author burnings.

Never been much of an SK fan. It's not that his books are too long, it's that about ⅔ of the content is filler. I can read a Michael Crichton of the same length quite happily.

Neil Gaiman is a bit adolescent for me so his views don't surprise me much. I used to like him but grew out of him years ago.

I would probably be put off by their views though if I had liked them. Hard to say.
I do know I can't listen to Michael Jackson anymore. But I wouldn't tell anybody else what they should or shouldn't read. Or watch. Or listen to.

@BlackWaveComing

I guarantee if you read literature, you've read books by abusers, gaslighters, cheats, alcoholics, people who beat their kids, raped their wives, pedophiles, thieves, hypocrites, tax cheats, law-breakers....you name it.

SK is a dick....yeah...so what...read him if you want.

A book is not its author. Buy it second hand if you don't want to give him your pennies.

Stephen King had problems with drug and alcohol addiction, which he talks openly about and for which he was successfully treated.

He's been married to the same woman for a very long time and co-writes with one of his sons and his daughter has worked on audio versions of his books so I suspect cheating on his wife and beating his children are unlikely.

On paying taxes, he is vocal that the super- rich are not taxed enough and although he and Tabitha make substantial charitable donations he is critical of the super-rich doing so rather than paying their fair share of tax.

All irrelevant as to whether or not his books are any good but if one were to apply a moral code to authors before one reads them King wouldn't do badly.

I actually resorted to googling barlow in conjunction with bite and got this:

The heartwarming tale of a telepathic blind vampire and her sarcastic dachshund

www.kickstarter.com/projects/robstanley/the-bite-of-brenna-barlow-1

[quote PotholeParadies]I actually resorted to googling barlow in conjunction with bite and got this:

The heartwarming tale of a telepathic blind vampire and her sarcastic dachshund

www.kickstarter.com/projects/robstanley/the-bite-of-brenna-barlow-1[/quote]
Sounds absolutely fabulous ! Thank you.

Read what you like, no one is policing you.
Like any author he has his moments.
In JKR’s case, her art reflects her values and her integrity. Every word is her.
In Neil Gaiman’s case, other people’s artwork makes his overblown fountain pen bleeding words better. Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale was made better by the tv series, I find her books sterile and a chore
King is being a twat right now.
I have a stack of his books I need to get through which I’ll do when I feel like reading them.

We have to act like people even if the other side aren’t. They would love it if they could find a thread on Mumsnet with us all threatening to kill King and burn his books and pretend IT wrote them.

Also, This also makes me think that free speech means I can see even though he’s signed this idiotic letter, that he is allowed to live in peace. I’m not shouting DIE SK or threatening to rape him because he doesn’t agree with me. He’s flip flopped a couple of times already. We have to act like people even if the other side aren’t. I wonder how it must feel for him to be on the side of the jeerers the bucket of pigs blood.

Stephen King has always been for human rights.

Stephen King has always been for human rights

As are we. I'm glad we live in a country where every humas has 'em

*human

I've never read any of his books and have no desire to since I'm not a huge horror fan.

What I've personally done with authors who are against Rowling/women's rights is make a commitment to not directly buy their books (perhaps borrow from a library) even if I really wanted to read them, and for the books I already bought, finished, and liked, I edited my Goodreads reviews to say something along the lines of, "I liked this book but do not recommend you buy it because the author is a misogynist."

I'm not going to tell anyone else what books they read. If reading SK gives you the enjoyment and emotional energy to advocate for feminism in real life, great!

Picasso was an arsehole but also one of the greatest artists of all time. I seperate the art from the artist (to a certain degree) unless they start introducing their objectionable views into their art.

We have that conversation here a lot around musicians, artists, authors - seems to be a higher % of ‘difficult people’ shall we say than the general public.

Separating the creator from their creation can be very simple in some cases but difficult in others (when the creator is thought of as a genius). But that’s probably more selfish - not wanting to walk away from something that you love perhaps?

I think it’s what you are comfortable with and where you are comfortable spending your money. There is one particular cafe chain that I won’t spend a penny in since 2016. At the weekend I was out and ravenous and one of their branches was there in front of me, but I just just walked past - I cold not bring myself to give them a penny.

My view is that one can enjoy reading the works of Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Joanne Harris, Neil Gaiman et all and also think that they are a bunch of numpties.

I would probably also buy their books secondhand from a charity shop because then no money is going to them directly from me. Petty? Yes but the money goes to a good cause and not them.