Stephen King

[Demented Daisy]

About 100 pages into Mr. Mercedes -- so far, so good. 

 

 

[GaT]

I read The Stand (uncut version) & was so blown away by it, I started reading his other books......and didn't really get into it. I remember actively disliking Insomnia, but I can't even remember the other books I read. I still think The Stand is a masterpiece, but I don't think I will ever read another one of his books.

[Demented Daisy]

I wasn't a fan of Insomnia, either.  He's not an easy read and, like all authors, has his really, really good books and some clunkers.

 

Dr. Sleep, I thought, was incredible.  Mr. Mercedes was oddly flat.  It started well, but lost a lot of steam as it went on.  Had he kept it a short story or novella, I think he would have written a much better story.

 

ETA  I mentioned those because they are his most recent -- an example that, even though they were written around the same time, his stories can vary wildly, IMO.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Demented Daisy

[Etta Place]

I read everything of his I could get my hands on when I was in junior high/high school. Then around the time of Needful Things/Gerald's Game/Dolores Claiborne, I just quit. I didn't read any of his books for years. Now I'm kind of an on-and-off reader. I really liked 11/22/63. I'm on the waiting list at the library for Mr. Mercedes, although everyone whose opinion I've read so far agrees that it's only okay. I intend to read Dr. Sleep - The Shining scared the daylights out of me back when I was 13 or so.

[psychoticstate]

I listened to 11/22/63 as an audiobook.  Overall, I found it very good.  There were a few parts that dragged IMO but the general concept was excellent.  My biggest pet peeve was the character of Sadie being voiced like a man with a ridiculous Southern drawl.  I get that the narrator was a man but geez, it really took me out of the book hearing comments that were supposedly made by a feminine woman in a very male voice.  And it made me not like the character.

[Demented Daisy]

I think his publicity machine did him a real disservice with Mr. Mercedes.  On his Facebook page, Stephen King posted a bunch of videos from his other characters (Pennywise, Carrie, Annie Wilkes, Danny Torrance, Andy Dufresne) talking about Mr. Mercedes.  It generated a lot of excitement, but then the book was published.

 

IMO, your best characters shouldn't be introducing a character that could be from pretty much any episode of Criminal Minds.  

[Ariah]

I'm 100 pages into Mr Mercedes and I must say... 'Meh'. A big, fat 'Meh'.

 

The start was a nice one. Really atmospheric. But then... I don't know, maybe it's the present tense, maybe the fact that I have read the pages and still do not know much about the main character. By this time in the Dark Tower series, i liked Roland. In The Stand, I already felt genuine love for Stu. In Under the Dome I was falling for Barbie. Here... Big, fat 'meh'. Meh Emeritus.

 

Side note: count me in the crowd that loved Under the Dome: the novel and hates Under the Dome: the series. And among those who pray that the incoming the Stand movie will not ruin my vision of the novel (which is the best of the best by King. And I'm in love with Stu).

[Demented Daisy]

I'm not particularly fond of the main character, either.  He makes some common cop mistakes.  Just to be safe:

 

And either doesn't realize his mistakes -- or does but never tries to right them.  Like, he figures out that he's been unfair to the woman who owned the Mercedes, wanting to blame her (perhaps because they can't find the killer), but when he learns that it wasn't her fault at all, he doesn't tell his ex-partner.  Coward.

[Demented Daisy]

https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/476431669139111936

 

Mr. Mercedes part one of a trilogy -- spoilers in link about which characters survive and go on to the next novel.  

 

I must say, I'm disappointed.  I suppose the ending is supposed to be all "Dun dun DUN!!!", but I couldn't help but think,

"He's awake, so what?  He's going to jail, considering how much plastic explosive he had in his possession, not to mention the evidence on his computer and the fact that he killed his mother."

 

To paraphrase Annie Wilkes, Mr. King better not give us a cheat.

[Anela]

I loved Duma Key, 11/22/63, and Doctor Sleep - I read them all over the past year, although Doctor Sleep almost lost me with the ridiculous bad guys.

I liked Carrie, and loved Salem's Lot, when I read it eleven years ago. Gerald's Game, and Insomnia, I just barely remember.

 

I've never read The Stand, because Mum told me that it made her sick.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon... I liked that one. Lisey's Story, and Rose Madder, I made it through those, as well. And that one that A&E made a series out of a year or two ago - I remember one thing really shocking and upsetting me. the book wasn't great... what was that one?

 

I've never read the Dark Tower series. A friend told me that I should. I still want to read The Shining, and "It".

[Demented Daisy]

Bag of Bones?

[psychoticstate]

I've never read Bag of Bones but I hated the minseries or whatever it was from a few years ago.  Boring as hell.

[Demented Daisy]

I watched it, but remember absolutely nothing about it.  Weird.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Although it's rarely mentioned, I highly recommend UR, his Amazon-exclusive e-novel about a haunted Kindle. Great, fast read that reminds me of his best. And if you don't have a Kindle, free Kindle apps are available for your cellphone, tablet, etc.

[Princess Sparkle]

Oddly, just like his movie adaptations, I find that I like Stephen King's short stories and more "realistic" (for lack of a better term) books more than I like his horror books.  I think Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic short story, and I love Stand By Me.  

[Mountainair]

A co worker let me borrow 11/12/63 and I loved it! I have always been an avid reader but that was my first King book. Since then I've read a handful of others. Though I've strayed away from the horror ones. The same co worker lent me some of his Bachman stuff but I find the writing style too different... Or something?

Anyhow, went to the library today and they had one King book available, "From a Buick 8" so far I am enjoying it.

Edited July 3, 2014 by Mountainair

[psychoticstate]

I think Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic short story,

 

 

I agree.  Incredible story and fantastically awesome movie.

[Lovecat]

I think Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic short story, and I love Stand By Me.

Just a nitpick, but the story that the movie Stand By Me is based on is actually called "The Body."  Both it and "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" appear in a 4-novella collection called Different Seasons, as does "Apt Pupil," which was also made into a movie.  The remaining story is called "The Breathing Method."

[Demented Daisy]

Which has been in development since 2012.

[millennium]

Stephen King hasn't written anything worth a damn since Pet Sematary.   And Pet Sematary was actually written years earlier.   

 

He forgot what it was to be hungry.   He lost touch with the blue class working world he rendered so effortlessly in his early novels.   That was his appeal: you felt like you knew him, or someone like him.   He could create characters who had money problems or were alcoholics or came from broken families and it all sounded real.   Because he'd been there.  His monsters were metaphors for the real-life problems that keep us lying awake at night, worrying.

 

IT was a freaking mess.   INSOMNIA cured mine.   DESPERATION and its marketing gimmick counterpart, THE REGULATORS, both beyond awful.   And every novel since then, a complete disappointment.   Overwrought, overthought and devoid of the strong sense of regionalism that flows through his early work.  His characters became cardboard -- an artist's rough sketch, mere outlines compared to the layered personalities he once committed to the printed page.

 

I used to hang on his every word.   I'd be there at Waldenbooks on the day his novels came out.  I still have his autograph in a frame on my wall, with the note he wrote to me back in 1980 in response to a letter I sent him.   

 

Today, if I read him at all, it's because I find used copies of his books at a local library sale for fifty cents (the last one I read was UNDER THE DOME, just plain garbage).   The only reason I bother is because I keep hoping that someday he'll find a way to get the lightning back in the bottle.   At this stage of the game, it seems unlikely.

 

Still, SALEM'S LOT, NIGHT SHIFT, THE STAND, THE DEAD ZONE, DIFFERENT SEASONS and PET SEMATARY remain some of the best books I've ever read, even after all these years.   Can't take that away from the guy.

[Demented Daisy]

I'm sorry you think so.  I loved Under the Dome, 11/22/63, Doctor Sleep, Blockade Billy, and his short story collection Full Dark, No Stars -- all written within the last five years.

 

But that's the magic of the internet.  We can share these opinions.  :-)

[Mountainair]

So, I liked From A Buick 8. As I mentioned above, I'm a King newbyI was hoping for more of an explanation at the end though.

My local library only seems to have one or two King books on hand at a time. This week I could choose from The Cell or Duma Key. I chose Duma Key and am only 30 pages in. This one already seems past my creepy meter! I'm going to try and stick with it though.

I read The Cell after I read 11/22/63 and rather enjoyed that. I was late to the game on watching The Walking Dead but for some reason that very first episode made me think of The Cell and see similarities. The Cell was my first foray into zombie land vernacular and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

[Mystery]

The Stand is still my favorite King book but I didn't care much for the uncut version (though I was happy to read it)-- I think he needed the editing. I loved Doctor Sleep. Salem's Lot, the first one I read, kept me up for months. 

[King of Birds]

I think he needed the editing.

As much as I love Stephen King, this idea is often in my mind after reading some of his novels.

 

I was hoping for more of an explanation at the end though.

With stories tied into the DT universe, endings are just something that happens, without a period necessarily involved in the sentence.   Go then, there are other worlds, etc.

[GaT]

The Stand is still my favorite King book but I didn't care much for the uncut version (though I was happy to read it)-- I think he needed the editing. I loved Doctor Sleep. Salem's Lot, the first one I read, kept me up for months. 

I've only read the uncut version, so I can't compare, but I remember thinking WORDS! while I was reading it. Some of his paragraphs exhaust you they're so full.

[millennium]

The Stand is still my favorite King book but I didn't care much for the uncut version (though I was happy to read it)-- I think he needed the editing. 

 

Yes!

As much as I love Stephen King, this idea is often in my mind after reading some of his novels.

 

 

And yes!   I read many years ago that Stephen King began to include it in his publishing contracts that his work could NOT be edited by anyone but himself.    Hubris, I thought at the time, and nothing since has disabused me of that reaction.

 

 

With stories tied into the DT universe, endings are just something that happens, without a period necessarily involved in the sentence.   Go then, there are other worlds, etc.

 

IMHO, King allowed The Dark Tower to pollute far too much of his work.   It felt like retconning.    And cheap.    I believe that somewhere along the way, King forgot the all-important maxim from The Breathing Method: "It is the tale, not he who tells it."    As he became more and more famous, his work subtly shifted in focus to be more concerned with he-who-tells it, to the extent that (as I understand it) he finally inserted himself into the Dark Tower saga and retroactively made that series the hub around which his other stories revolved.   (For the record, I never finished The Dark Tower series.   The absurdity and boredom stopped me in my tracks a little more than halfway.)   It reminded me (though on a larger scale) of the tragic changes he made to several of the best stories included in Skeleton Crew, just so they could pay lip service to that book's cornball "Do you love?" theme.

 

 

 

Side note: count me in the crowd that loved Under the Dome: the novel and hates Under the Dome: the series. And among those who pray that the incoming the Stand movie will not ruin my vision of the novel (which is the best of the best by King. And I'm in love with Stu).

 

I've read that Ben Affleck is in charge of adapting The Stand to film.

 

Definition of having too much power: being in a position to ruin both Batman and The Stand in the same decade. 

Edited July 21, 2014 by millennium

[Mystery]

Ha! Some of King's books, and PARTS of all of them, seem to me to almost be written for the screen, and yet very few directors do well with them. I really liked the two-part version of "It" that was on TV years ago (one of my favorite King books, and I still don't walk near drains on sidewalks) but so much of The Stand is internal that I'm not sure how I'd like another film version (I wasn't that crazy about the TV version). Jack Nicholson being crazy from the start ruined "The Shining" for me (and would it have killed Shelley Duvall to wash her hair?). 

[Qoass]

 

would it have killed Shelley Duvall to wash her hair?

Well, given how skinny she was, it's entirely possible she would have stepped into the shower and slipped right down the drain!

 

Okay, I'm five.

 

But I agree that what I enjoy so much about Stephen King's books are the internal dialogues that are hard to translate successfully onto a screen.

[millennium]

Funny how Jack Nicholson can ruin so many important films (his scenery-chewing is one of the big reasons I dislike the 1990 Batman movie).   You would think directors would know better than to let him anywhere near a camera.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Count me in as someone who liked the movie of the Shining better than the book. For some reason, the book wasn't as scary in parts as it was on screen.

 

Really liked Doctor Sleep though, thought it was a good sequel to the Shining.

[millennium]

Kubrick's movie left out much of the rich texture and truly scary stuff in The Shining: Jack's long history of alcoholism, his was-it-an-accident breaking of Danny's arm, the hotel's old mob ties, the unspoken dialogue between Halloran and Danny, the wasp's nest scene, the gradual and suffocating onset of winter, and, of all things, the actual conclusion of the book in which the hotel (or the entities therein) were vanquished.    

[AntiBeeSpray]

Good point. But it seemed to fall flat in some parts (book wise, imo). It was a good read, but for some reason the action and the terror just seemed luke warm at times.

[BatmanBeatles]

I found Pet Semetary a lot scarier.

[Demented Daisy]

Gerald's Game has always been King's scariest book for me.

[KHenry14]

I first read the edited version of The Stand, and enjoyed it. Then when the uncut version came out, I got that and LOVED it. I can understand why some people might be overwhelmed by it, but I very much enjoyed it.

I also very much enjoyed Misery. Very intense, and a lot more graphic than the movie, but for a King book, a lot more concise.

I recently read 11/22/63, and frankly was sorry it had to end. A clever idea, King gives a major event a gigantic what if.

[Kalliste]

I've never actually read the Shining and I did like Kubrick's movie, sounds like I'd really like the book. I might give it a try.

 

A few of my favourites aren't listed in this thread, I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. I really love Skeleton Crew, I think King does better with short stories as he doesn't have 200 pages to kill you with boredom. I find it very hard to get interested in his books because the starts are just so long and slooow. Which is why Skeleton Crew was good as some of the stories were only a few pages long.

My favourite stories from it were:

The Mist

The Jaunt

The Raft

Word Processor of the Gods

 

The other that I really love is the Green Mile series. I remember going to the book store on release day for those little books. I can't even remember how old I was now..based on the wiki I was about 13 and they were probably the first books I ever bought myself. I still have all 6 sitting in a cupboard, I thought they did a pretty good job of the movie on this one.

 

Lastly, Pet Sematary oh wow. I never know how to feel about this. I read it when I was far too young (about 12) and it gave me a lot of nightmares. I don't know why my parents let me read it, it was so scary and creepy and I just remember reading it at night before going to bed and scaring the hell out of myself. I'd be interested in trying it now and see if I feel the same.

[Whimsy]

I've been reading Stephen King for almost 30 years.  I LOVED all of his books up until The Dark Tower series.  I liked the Dark Tower series, but didn't LOVE them.  I remember thinking the first time he referred to us "gentle readers" and having past characters be mentioned or recurring it was fun because I felt like he was talking to me.  Then, it seemed like that was ALL he was doing.  He started writing everything the same, if you know what I mean.  The tone and "voice" was the same for every character.  I stopped reading a long time ago.  I keep trying again, but can't seem to get into any of them.  I started Mr. Mercedes but haven't gotten very far. 

 

My favorites of the super popular books are Salem's Lot (scared me so bad!!), The Shining and The Stand.  It has made me afraid of clowns forever.  My favorite of all his stories, though, is the Long Walk.  Admittedly, I'm not 100% sure that's the name, but it was one of the short stories in a Richard Bachman book, I think.  The entire story was pretty much internal thoughts of the main character.  I just really remember liking it.  However, that was read when I was in high school (20 years ago), so it quite honestly not be as good as I am remembering it.  ;)

 

Overall, though, I sadly think Mr. King got too big for his britches and really needed (needs?) some editing.  It saddens me to thinkt that the author I was once obsessed with hasn't written anything I liked in so long. 

[moonb]

I've read only maybe 1/3 of King's books, and most of those are pre-1990s - I think I was done after Desperation. 

Like others, I loved The Stand, but I've only read the Uncut edition and I wish he hadn't updated it to the 1990s - it works so much better as an apocalyptic late 70s America story. 

 

I do think he writes bleakness and poverty in a compelling way - I'm thinking mainly of The Body and the boys' crappy and indifferent families - but  Cujo is another example. It's not really a horror novel at all, just people feeling trapped in their circumstances.

 

I only read Pet Sematary a few years, and it scared me so badly I could hardly finish it, probably because even though I'm not a parent, I had recently lost my dad. Awful read.

[Sharpie66]

I started reading King when I was in junior high back in the late '70s. I even did a paper for my 8th grade language arts class about The Stand, Carrie, and Danse Macabre (I forgot what was the common thread I used). (BTW, I would love to see SK do an updated version of Danse Macabre!)

 

Loved his short story collections of the 1970s and 1980s, read several of his novellas including everything in Different Seasons, and I did like his column in Entertainment Weekly when I was subscribed to that magazine about 10 years ago or so.

 

But, I haven't read anything by him since Dolores Claiborne.

[Mountainair]

I attempted to read The Long Walk a few years ago and couldn't finish it. It started to feel so monotonous and droning and I got bored. My husband liked it when he was younger and thought it was supposed to feel that way, which I get but it doesn't make for good reading.

I checked out Dreamcatcher and made it friggin half way through (400 some pages out of the 800) and just had to quit it. Ugh! It started out so good but then it just fell off the rails for me.

Am reading The Shining now, never seen the movie. I have seen enough clips of the movie to visualize some things. I'm only 40 pages in and am already having bad dreams about two little girls in a hallway and I haven't even gotten that far in yet! I like it though, so far.

I also got Under the Dome because the tv show is just so stupid I wanted to see what the book had to offer.

I still have to say my favorite book is 11/12/63 followed closely by Duma Key.

[Demented Daisy]

If you can find a copy of Rage, I recommend it.  I got it about 15 years ago at a used bookstore -- part of the Bachman books.  It's been discontinued, at SK's request, because of the subject matter.

[Mountainair]

I have it but can't bring myself to read it.

[Demented Daisy]

Understandable.  At its core, it's a study of interpersonal politics of high school.  King, I thought, did an excellent job giving his teenage characters an accurate voice.  Plus, it has a great twist ending.

[simplyperson]

I have tried to read some of the Dark Tower books, but just can't get into them. I re-read The Stand, just about yearly, usually during the summer. The only book that I really really didn't like that I read all the way through was The Tommyknockers, but it might be because I saw the adaptation first, and that thing sucked.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

I loved the Dark Tower series up through Wizard and Glass. The first part was dynamite with Eddie outwitting Blaine the Insane Monorail, but as soon as Roland began telling his big Romeo and Juliet story, I tuned out permanently. Never did read the remaining books.

[Etta Place]

I labored through the books in the Dark Tower series after Wizard and Glass (actually, I kind of labored through that one, too. I have ... issues ... with the Wizard of Oz). Anyway, I even made it through Song of Susannah when he wrote himself into the story. But I tried 3 times, I think, to read book 7, the actual Dark Tower, and I just could not finish it. I love the first three books in that series more than most things, but boy did he run right off the monorail after a while.

 

The other book of his I never finished was Dreamcatcher. There's always some amount of gross expected in a King book, but this one was just pointlessly gross and I quit pretty early on. I was informed that the story does not make it worthwhile, so I feel secure in my decision.

 

I finished Mr. Mercedes last month, and I thought it was pretty good. Not his usual thing, but done well.

[ElderPrice]

I was 12 when Carrie came out. Jesus, what a book. So relatable. Even if you weren't a Carrie yourself, everyone has times when they feel like Carrie. I've been hooked on King since. It's sad that so much of his more recent work doesn't work.

 

If you want a good adaptation of The Shining the TV miniseries King made several years ago is pretty good. It has most of the important elements of the book. Rebecca DeMornay rocks as Wendy. Unfortunately they chose Steven Weber, the guy from Wings, to play Jack and it just doesn't work. And of course the FX are 90s silly. But still a good adaptation with some truly creepy moments.

[LADreamr]

I enjoyed Misery for its ability to be unexpectedly frightening, but other parts of it turned me off.  His description of Annie was a bit mean and rude even before she had done anything besides try to save his life, and also I felt that King sometimes over- and repeatedly explained things that were clear the first time, and it felt condescending to the reader, so it was hard for me to want to read any of his other books.  Did anyone else see him this way?

[Mountainair]

So, I'm probably 100 pages or less to the end of The Shining and while creepy (and a good read, IMO) I can't help but ask why the hell his parents are always asleep (mostly his mom). Seems like a writers cop-out to me as a way to let Danny find himself in trouble. I'm a SAHM of a two and four year old and taking a nap is never a part of my day. Especially after all the crazy encounters you'd think his mom, at least, would stay the heck awake to keep an eye on her kid!

[anstar]

I read everything of his I could get my hands on when I was in junior high/high school. Then around the time of Needful Things/Gerald's Game/Dolores Claiborne, I just quit. I didn't read any of his books for years. Now I'm kind of an on-and-off reader. I really liked 11/22/63. I'm on the waiting list at the library for Mr. Mercedes, although everyone whose opinion I've read so far agrees that it's only okay. I intend to read Dr. Sleep - The Shining scared the daylights out of me back when I was 13 or so.

Are you me?  I could have written that post, nearly word for word. :)

 

I can't help but ask why the hell his parents are always asleep

I thought it was a symptom of severe depression on the part of mom.  Well, aside from the writers device of getting her out of the way.  When I went through a bout of clinical depression many years ago, all I wanted to do was sleep. 

 

I think Pet Semetary, 'Salem's Lot, and The Stand are my favorites.  11/22/63 was a good one and I enjoyed Dr. Sleep.  I suffered through one season of Under the Dome and gave up on it.  I went and found the book to see if it was any better.  800 pages on my Nook and I was underwhelmed.  Better than the series, but that's not saying much.