Modern Good Reads discussion

Let's talk authors. One who consistently gets mentioned on other threads is the master himself, Stephen King.

What are your favorite King books and why?

Which King books did you dislike or find disappointing?

I don't think King transfers well to the big screen. IT disappointed me the most. I mean a spider?

Louann wrote: "I don't think King transfers well to the big screen. IT disappointed me the most. I mean a spider?"

I agree with you, Louann. IT was one of King's scariest books until the end. That's often a problem I have with King is his make-it-up-as-you-go style doesn't always lead to the most satisfying conclusions.

I love most of his early work, though, like The Shining, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, The Stand, and Firestarter because they don't seem to suffer from those problems.

Brian wrote: "Louann wrote: "I don't think King transfers well to the big screen. IT disappointed me the most. I mean a spider?"

I agree with you, Louann. IT was one of King's scariest books until the end. That..."

Many people feel that he got to such a point of elite status that his books no longer underwent editing.

Christopher wrote: "Many people feel that he got to such a point of elite status that his books no longer underwent editing. "

That's how I felt about Black House, which I couldn't get into and abandoned about a third of the way in. It's a pity, because I loved The Talisman (Black House is its sequel). My favorites are The Stand and Firestarter. Firestarter is the first King I ever read, at a time when I was just starting to read for fun (age 13), and it totally hooked me. It also began politicizing me. Thanks to King (and some high school friends) I went from being a conservative to a liberal! My dad is probably still scratching his head.

Christopher wrote: "Many people feel that he got to such a point of elite status that his books no longer underwent editing."

Yeah, in On Writing, King also confesses that IT was one of the books he wrote under cocaine use and alcoholism. He says that he actually has left publishers because they stopped editing him, but another thing he says frequently in interviews is that he doesn't concern himself with endings. He feels that the ride is more important that how it ends.

I disagree, of course, since I think a bad ending can spoil a great book or movie. Still, it seems that he gets it right often enough keep fans coming back.

I like the older King stuff too. Salem's Lot and The Shining are my favorites. Though, I am a bit nervous about the new "Shining Sequel" pitting Danny Torrance against vampires.

I'm surprised people complain about the spider more than they complain about the kids' gang bang.
The spider at least makes sense; spiders are terrifying to lots of people.
You could even argue that the scary nature of the spider evolved from this ancient evil that wasn't supposed to have crash-landed here.
What was the point of the other?

I was a huge fan of the Stand and Bag of Bones. I think by the time he wrote the latter his writing voice was phenomenal. That's funny to me because even though I think his writing is some of the best out there, I haven't read anything more by him since Bag of Bones. :P

As of now, I will say Nightmares and Dreamscapes. But on my to-read shelf at home, I have Bag of Bones, Salem's Lot, Misery and It. Looking forward to reading them, but it seems there are so many books I want to read and I have so little time!!!! It's frustrating!

Louann wrote: "I don't think King transfers well to the big screen. IT disappointed me the most. I mean a spider?"

Yeah I was told to read the book to be able to get the whole metaphore. But I have to admit I LOVED that movie! Even though the spider was disappointing at the end...

William wrote: "I'm surprised people complain about the spider more than they complain about the kids' gang bang.
The spider at least makes sense; spiders are terrifying to lots of people.
You could even argue tha..."

I agree with you about the gang-bang. I didn't get the point of that either and it was just kind of off-putting.

I love King, but I'll never forgive him for cujo! To be fair, he was drinking heavily at the time!

R.M.F wrote: "I love King, but I'll never forgive him for cujo! To be fair, he was drinking heavily at the time!"

Yeah, according to "On Writing" he was also doing cocaine and doesn't even remember writing that book!

The Dark Tower. Though some were a flop in the series for me, it was a "good ride" with a bit of a twist at the end.

Brian wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "I love King, but I'll never forgive him for cujo! To be fair, he was drinking heavily at the time!"

Yeah, according to "On Writing" he was also doing cocaine and doesn't even remembe..."

Legend!

R.M.F wrote: "Brian wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "I love King, but I'll never forgive him for cujo! To be fair, he was drinking heavily at the time!"

Yeah, according to "On Writing" he was also doing cocaine and doesn'..."

In "On Writing" I got the feeling that he will never forgive himself for Cujo either but that was more about not remembering the process than the work product that was the problem for him. Frankly, Cujo was a bomb in my mind too. Didn't like the book or the movie.

My favourite S.K. books (other than "On Writing"): The Stand and The Dead Zone.

I thought the Dead Zone had a powerfully controversial premise: can you be doing the right thing by killing someone, no matter how bad they are? (I think it's a neat fit into the capital punishment debate.)

The Stand was such an epic story that it was a no-brainer for me. I really felt as though I got to know the characters well by the end of the book, even the ones I would cross the street to avoid in real life.

Leigha wrote: "I thought the Dead Zone had a powerfully controversial premise: can you be doing the right thing by killing someone, no matter how bad they are? (I think it's a neat fit into the capital punishment debate.) "

[Dead Zone Spoiler below.]

I don't think that in the end we're supposed to think it *would* have been right for Johnny to kill Stillson. It's kind of a "happy ending" (note the quotation marks) because he *doesn't* kill him, and his assassination attempt led to Stillson revealing himself to be morally flawed by using a child as a shield. Essentially, Johnny won, even though he dies, because not only did he stop Stillson from bringing about the horrible future he saw, but he did so without ruining himself by becoming a murderer.

Where I see a flaw in the story, if you want to nit-pick, is that Johnny himself doesn't choose to spare Stillson. So he didn't choose the moral path. It's more that he was a pawn in some higher game. Brings to mind Greek tragedies where the actions of people trying to avoid a prophecy coming true bring it about, except reversed, sort of. It's like someone up there wanted to stop Stillson, so they set Johnny on his path to stop him. That makes Johnny a passive cog in a larger machine, which isn't very satisfying to me.

But then, I'm reading into it a bit. It's more that King wanted to stop Stillson, wanted Johnny to do it, and wanted for him not to be a murderer. So the author engineered this whole denouement. It still feels like Johnny was a puppet, though, and I'm trying to figure out why I think that more so for Johnny than any other character I've ever read.

Gunslinger was great (Dark Tower 1), the Stand was epic, Needful Things was good, my favorite ending award goes to Tommyknockers, which, in my mind movie maker machine stars Bruce Willis

Leigha wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "Brian wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "I love King, but I'll never forgive him for cujo! To be fair, he was drinking heavily at the time!"

Yeah, according to "On Writing" he was also doing coca..."

At least he admitted his mistake :)

Still, King on autopilot is better than most people's A game.

Brian wrote: "Let's talk authors. One who consistently gets mentioned on other threads is the master himself, Stephen King.

What are your favorite King books and why?

Which King books did you dislike or find d..."
He is the master, and my favourite has to be the dark tower series. But if I had to pick a poor one it would be Lisey's story

Leigha wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "Brian wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "I love King, but I'll never forgive him for cujo! To be fair, he was drinking heavily at the time!"

Yeah, according to "On Writing" he was also doing coca..."

the dead zone is a good call

I would mention The running man and teh longest walk as two books under his pseudnym Richard bachman as intriguingly good

Some great answers! For me, it's Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, The Shining, and Firestarter. I think that King held himself to a higher standard early on, but has let himself become a little self-indulgent in his later books. Still some great stories, but those early works are tight and electrifying.

Brian wrote: "Some great answers! For me, it's Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, The Shining, and Firestarter. I think that King held himself to a higher standard early on, but has let himself become a little self-ind..."

i think under the dome is a pretty fine read

David wrote: "Brian wrote: "Some great answers! For me, it's Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, The Shining, and Firestarter. I think that King held himself to a higher standard early on, but has let himself become a l..."

I agree, David. Under the Dome was a nice shift back to the kind of stories King gave us in the 80s. I enjoyed it. Also, Full Dark, No Stars was very good.

Brian wrote: "Some great answers! For me, it's Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, The Shining, and Firestarter. I think that King held himself to a higher standard early on, but has let himself become a little self-ind..."

After seeing the film version of Salem's lot, it's hard to take the book seriously. The film came across as comedy number, especially the tapping at the window!

Im reading King's newest novel, Joyland. Im 3rd of the way thru and absolutely nothing has happened, but I'm loving evey word. He's so good a writer he can hook you with nothing but thin air. Quite frankly, many of his books have been nothing but that, but boy, can he write!

Of King's early works, The Stand was amazing. Of the recent novels, I enjoyed Under the Dome (okay, ending a little week, but enjoyable overall) and 11/22/63, which I wish I could magically forget so I could read it all over again.

My favorite is always the stand. I also like Pet Semetary.

Funny thing, the best film from a Stephen King book isn't a horror: Shawshank!

My favorite is by far the Dark Tower books. Following Roland on his journey, much of which passes through other King worlds, is a wonderful journey. As for the one that disappointed me the most, it would have to be the ending to The Stand. It seemed rushed after such a long read.

Fatman wrote: "Funny thing, the best film from a Stephen King book isn't a horror: Shawshank!"

True words.

Robert wrote: "My favorite is always the stand. I also like Pet Semetary."

Pet Sematary is great... hey-ho here we go again!

"The Stand" was by far his best book. Surprisingly, they did a pretty good job when they made it into a miniseries. In fact, I think that on the whole miniseries based on his work turn out a lot better than the films - probably because trying to cram his books into two-hour time frames isn't adequate for translating his novels.

Kevin wrote: ""The Stand" was by far his best book. Surprisingly, they did a pretty good job when they made it into a miniseries. In fact, I think that on the whole miniseries based on his work turn out a lot ..."

I agree, for the most part The Stand was a satisfying adaptation. I also really liked The Shining mini-series that they did. The Kubrick movie is good in its own way, but the mini-series captured the feeling of the book much better!

Brian wrote: "Kevin wrote: ""The Stand" was by far his best book. Surprisingly, they did a pretty good job when they made it into a miniseries. In fact, I think that on the whole miniseries based on his work t..."

For me, nothing really comes close to the gravitas of Nicholson's performance in the Shining. The caliber and the force with which he plays the character really transcends the boundaries of book adaptations or genre films and takes us into the realm of art in its purest, stripped down sense.

I'm going to buck the trend and name a non-horror as my favourite Stephen King book. Dolores Claiborne is the best female character written by a male. I also love some of his very early stuff written under the name of Richard Bachman.

A.C. wrote: "I'm going to buck the trend and name a non-horror as my favourite Stephen King book. Dolores Claiborne is the best female character written by a male. I also love some of his very early stuff writt..."

Don't forget on writing, as well. That's non-fiction and pretty good too.

Why is the stand rated so highly? I couldn't get into it, his words didn't capture me the way they do with his other books. I read the uncut version, which to me, was far too long. Misery is my favourite Stephen King novel, I couldn't finish a sentence without wanting to know what happened next.

R.M.F wrote: "Don't forget on writing, as well. That's non-fiction and pretty good too."

Oops! You're so right. On Writing is the only one of his books I've read multiple times.:)

That's a tough one. I would have to say ''A good marriage'' which also includes the story 1922 as a bonus. It gave me chills till the last page!

Vardan wrote: "Brian wrote: "Kevin wrote: ""The Stand" was by far his best book. Surprisingly, they did a pretty good job when they made it into a miniseries. In fact, I think that on the whole miniseries based..."
While I loved ''Shining'' the movie, ''Shining'' the book, was a let down for me. I found it to be very slow and filled with unecessary info...I started getting interested in it from page 200 and forward.

I also loved Stephen King's ''Full Dark, no Stars''. The stories were as the title indicates, totally dark, and as a lover of dark writing, I couldn't put it down.

I finished ''Mile 81'' last week and I highly recommend that one as well. An electrifying short story.

Misery was the best for me. I couldn't get through IT and what part I did gave me terrible nightmares.