Stephen King

You knew we'd reach that sooner or later. Who has read his books, what did you read, and what do you think of them?

I liked Carrie, the movie was better though, it made a bit more sense, but I love in the book how Carrie when she goes ballistic doesn't just kill a few classmates and turn over a few cars, half of the town is on fire because of what she did, I liked that.

I also liked Misery, but it really freaked me out when I read the original method Annie had for hobbling Paul, I read that and immediately reached back to feel my right foot to make sure it was still there. LOL

And Thinner...interesting but I wouldn't call it good.

How about everybody else?

I have read:

The Shining
Geralds Game
The Tommyknockers
Misery
Pet Semetary
The Stand
Salem's Lot
Firestarter
Cujo
Dolores Claiborne


The book The Shining was better than the movie, I hated the movie.
Misery is probably my favorite, I hope I never meet an Annie Wilkes anytime in my life!!
My second favorite is Cujo, made me very wary of dogs after reading that and seeing the movie.
Firestarter movie would have been better if they had a better little actress then Drew Barrymore. (I like her a lot now)
Loved the Salem's Lot movie, there is a edited version and a longer version, I liked the longer version.
Carrie, what can one say about such a masterpiece, the movie was great, Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were fabulous in their roles of mother and daughter.

It great how you guys remember all the S.K. books you've read. I've read so many I've lost count, but the one's that really stand out for me are It and the The Stand. Two of my favorite all time books ever.

tmontyb wrote:the one's that really stand out for me are It and the The Stand. Two of my favorite all time books ever.

LOL!

I have never read much of his work and I've seen very little. I hear as talented as he is, he's overrated at times.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:I have never read much of his work and I've seen very little. I hear as talented as he is, he's overrated at times.

It's true, he really is, his writing isn't all that great, but damn some of those stories just suck you right in...especially (in my case anyway) if you've seen the movies first. But then again if you think about it, most famous authors ARE overrated if for nothing else because they ARE the famous ones. If they weren't famous they could never be overrated.

I love The Shining and Misery, but I agree about him being overrated because of his fame.

There are probably only a handful of his books that I haven't read excluding anything he did under a pseudonym making him the author I’ve read the most but he’s not my favorite. No one mentioned The Dark Tower series? I just read that there are plans to make it a TV series and a three-part movie version. My favorites by him are his short story collections and Different Seasons. I think he tends to run out of steam by his typical longer works and I’m often a little disappointed. I felt that way with Dark Tower. Couldn’t wait for the next book to come out and had to see it through to the end but I think he kind of limped to the finish line.

Shining
Misery
Thinner
Pet Semetary

I have a problem reading him though. In my opinion he is overly descriptive. He can take 20 pages to describe the setting with no action going on. As a mostly non-fiction reader, in my fiction I need conversations and actions to keep me interested. Other writers tho such as James Patterson dont seem to be as descriptive and hold my interest more

wants2laugh wrote:Shining
Misery
Thinner
Pet Semetary

I have a problem reading him though. In my opinion he is overly descriptive. He can take 20 pages to describe the setting with no action going on. As a mostly non-fiction reader, in my fiction I need conversations and actions to keep me interested. Other writers tho such as James Patterson dont seem to be as descriptive and hold my interest more

It's like my mother, she likes detective stories but she could NOT get into Rex Stout's books, what detective did he have? Nero Wolf I think or Mike Hammer...the one she tried reading through it was too descriptive, had to tell what EVERYBODY was dressed like. Now, I can see my own writing being heavily criticized because it is a lot of dialogue and conversation and not quite as much action and details, but some people seem to like how I write so maybe it would work.