Stephen King Fans discussion

Well, constantly reading has brought us finally to the point that we're just about done with Sai King's library.

For September, we had a tie in the voting between the last two King books (Roadwork & Cycle of the Werewolf) that we hadn't read, so we decided to just put them both up as BOTM selections. That will then complete us on our first pass as a group through the entire library...

And then we have King's newest novel coming out September 26th, Sleeping Beauties, co-written with his son Owen King. Since new releases always overwhelmingly win the first voting period after they come out, we'll just pencil this in for our October read.

So then in November...*insert drum roll*...we will start over. Yes, all of the previously read SK books will roll back into the eligible pool and we'll pick a fresh re-read to begin the cycle once more. Perhaps this time...well, we'll just see :)

So here is the near future schedule:

August: The Troop by Nick Cutter (a King recommendation)
September: Roadwork & Cycle of the Werewolf
October: Sleeping Beauties
November: A new-old Stephen King book TBD by member poll...

It's pretty momentous to begin rereading as a group! I wonder how that will change our choices.

Kandice, that will only confuse the choice as you have in excess of 57 books to choose from if you have 57 members in the group you stand a good 70 to 80 percent chance of having 57 different books put up for the poll. Why don't we do the read chronologically first to last or last to first.

mrbooks wrote: "Kandice, that will only confuse the choice as you have in excess of 57 books to choose from if you have 57 members in the group you stand a good 70 to 80 percent chance of having 57 different books..."

What happened last time is just that the more popular books get picked first. So most likely.. Salem's Lot, IT, Carrie and so on will be first to be read. I think we tried chronological before but everyone gets so excited to read a new book as a group that we didn't go that way so when a new book came out we could read it as a group (like the upcoming Sleeping Beauties).

Plus, there are soooooo many books that if we do one a month, about three years into it new people will be coming in and wanting to start over....

There are always buddy read options for these things too. There are of course, other plans than these ;)

I like the idea of reading chronologically. If a new book comes out, we can always make it a priority, and then go back to the chronological list.

Wow... why you don't try to pick a new work?

Deyth wrote: "Wow... why you don't try to pick a new work?"

I'm not sure what you mean?

No I mean to try to go around books which you haven't read... why you make cycles by reading one book over and over?


Still the story is the same... the end is the same.


...

Stephen King likes the books of Jack Ketchum, has Somebody been around Jack Ketchum works?

I have been around Jack's works...

Deyth wrote: "No I mean to try to go around books which you haven't read... why you make cycles by reading one book over and over?


Still the story is the same... the end is the same.

As a group, we have read ALL of King's books. That's Angie and Chris' point.

For a while we have been alternating between a King book and a King rec. What if 10 months of the year we read in chronological order, but in November and May we make it a given that we will read his newest release. He seems to always release in those months, so it would be a pretty safe bet.

The issue would lie with people having a hard time laying hands on some of his work, but with the library, ILL and Overdrive, that is somewhat simplified.


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Stephen King likes ..."

mrbooks wrote: "Kandice, that will only confuse the choice as you have in excess of 57 books to choose from if you have 57 members in the group you stand a good 70 to 80 percent chance of having 57 different books..."

Chris and I have been chatting back and forth and think that reading King's books in chronological order is a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion. When a new book comes out we will just replace the book that month with the new book. We are thinking about keeping the King recommends books going. Might do a poll on that and see if the group only wants to read King books, or mix in other books like we have been doing.

Hmm, I think it could be interesting to read them all in chronological order, I've never done that. Do you include the short story compilations also based on publication date?

Sorry, Angie. I meant to post in here about that....

Yes, Amber. We'll have those included.

mrbooks wrote: "Kandice, that will only confuse the choice as you have in excess of 57 books to choose from if you have 57 members in the group you stand a good 70 to 80 percent chance of having 57 different books..."

Yes, I think chronological would be a great idea. When I started reading King, I only could read them as they came out. Then I had less time to read and fell behind and started reading out of order.

Just to point out
...

Under plan don't you mean to read what Stephen King has read?
https://twitter.com/StephenKing

That's what Angie was mentioning, Deyth. We'll probably still read some books that King recommends. Just getting a feel for what the group wants.

I've read his in order of release since the beginning, so can't wait for others to do so as well.

So have I all but the two or three I haven't read that is.

Oh this is so exciting. I have many of his early books so I won't have to buy anything for a while to join the group reads (trying to cut back on buying new books, since I already have twenty unread ones on my Kindle). But I'll probably have to bow out in the months when we read Bachman books since I only have a couple of those, and not all of them are available on Kindle/Kobo.

Only read about ten Stephen King books so far, and am therefore massively excited by the chance of joining you all for take two of his works.

Although I just wanted to point out that by chronologically reading them, we'll be flicking through the barely settled pages of Roadwork again within a year.

Ian wrote: "Although I just wanted to point out that by chronologically reading them, we'll be flicking through the barely settled pages of Roadwork again within a year. ..."

Not a huge deal. We might double up that month (like we're actually doing the first time) so people that don't want to read it again already will still have options. And it will be a great chance for those that miss next month's to catch up with it.

Chris wrote: "Ian wrote: "Although I just wanted to point out that by chronologically reading them, we'll be flicking through the barely settled pages of Roadwork again within a year. ..."

Not a huge deal. We m..."

Fair enough. Makes sense.

Ian wrote: "Only read about ten Stephen King books so far, and am therefore massively excited by the chance of joining you all for take two of his works.

Although I just wanted to point out that by chronologi..."

Thanks for pointing that out!

It's been years since I read through all of SK's books in order, so it'll be fun to have another run, with a lot more to read. As for the Bachman books, everything is readily available except for Rage (which comes up pretty quickly), though used copies of The Bachman Books are fairly easy to find (in Toronto anyway).

Matt wrote: "It's been years since I read through all of SK's books in order, so it'll be fun to have another run, with a lot more to read. As for the Bachman books, everything is readily available except for R..."

I see used copies of The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels at used book stores like Half Price books all the time.

Don't forget libraries. My library has it. If you click on the "library" link on the books GR page, it will tell you what libraries near you have it.

I just started your club at the end of August so I read "ROADWORK" and "CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF" both and loved them. I then watched the movie "SILVER BULLET" that was the film version of "CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF" and really liked it too.
I don't know how I missed it before.
I just ordered "SLEEPING BEAUTIES" so I am ready for October.
In the mean time, I am re-reading the book "CARRIE" while listening to the audible version narrated by SISSY SPACEK who is awesome! Anyway, I am loving the club. Thanks for having me💕

lol well I guess that's why my library didn't have sleeping beauties yet!

Chronological order sounds fun. I never really got into 'Salem's Lot, so this is a good excuse to give it another go!

Someone else asked about the short story anthologies - I personally would vote to include them, but I generally love his short fiction, so I'm biased!

Yes the publication date would determine the order they are read in.

It's been many years since I've read some of his and there are some I haven't read yet. I've had such a good time with these SK group reads that I wouldn't mind revisiting them.

It does make it fun reading it with others who enjoy his works as much as you do. It also makes for some lively discussions.

Matthewcross87 wrote: "surely the short story collections
would be read by release date too ( bazzar of bad dreams , night shift skeleton crew and so on )"

Short Story Collections will be read along with King's other books.

Has everyone started rereading these books in order?

I haven't. I'm waiting until the group reads start in December.

ok I didn't want to miss out on it.

I have a date in December with Carrie.

mrbooks wrote: "I have a date in December with Carrie."

are you taking her to prom? :p

LOL I'm a bit old for the Prom but I have a feeling it is headed in that direction...

mrbooks wrote: "LOL I'm a bit old for the Prom but I have a feeling it is headed in that direction..."

lol uh oh!

Yes she is a sweet girl, and she can make the earth move...

mrbooks wrote: "Yes she is a sweet girl, and she can make the earth move..."

lol!!

I’m already up to Firestarter and can’t stop...

You make the earth move...under my feet!

Just finished reading "CARRIE" for the second time in my life. Still loved it. Now I'm ready to start on "SLEEPING BEAUTIES"

Slow down we don't start until December, some of us are tied up in other groups, no not literally LOL.

Very happy to start a new round of reading King’s novels with this group. I hope you do not change this plan.
Thanks

What a great accomplishment for the group! I'm excited to start round two with y'all!

So excited for december!!!

So we think the new round of old King books will start in Jan 2018?

Jenny wrote: "So we think the new round of old King books will start in Jan 2018?"

In December we are reading Carrie for the group read. It was posted somewhere. It might have been n a group message that went out. I can’t remember now.