Beast Posted November 30, 2010 Posted November 30, 2010 I think Stephen King is such an awesome writer and I really enjoy reading his books and so, this is a thread made for any other King fans out there who may want to discuss his work. I have 30 of his books (funnily enough, I don't have all of the Dark Tower books, just the very first one which I won't read until I get them all) and I want to get his newest one. Has anybody read it yet?
The Bard Posted November 30, 2010 Posted November 30, 2010 I weirdly haven't read any Stephen King. What is the best/ would you reccomend to start off with?
jayseven Posted November 30, 2010 Posted November 30, 2010 I've read a few of his books. The Dark Tower is extremely engrossing! I don't think you should wait to have them all before you read them - start now! You'll be forced to buy them as you go. You can read the first book in one sitting, and you won't regret it. Aside from that I've only read the Shawshank short-story and the Dead Zone. Saw his new book in the shops and was Oh So Tempted. I suppose The Stand aught to be next, I dunno. But yeah - start with Dark Tower. It's the core of all his work that came before and after, and it's his self-admitted best work. Oooooh actually Green Mile was the first book of his I read. Fantastic stuff.
Paj! Posted December 1, 2010 Posted December 1, 2010 I enjoy that loads of his books have now got a standardised design, with colour and image-on-the-cover variation. My favourite design concept/thing. Variation within conformity. Never read his stuff, but I was tempted by the new designs. *judging by the covers* And the fact The Shining cover has a bee on it?! I'm so intrigued.
Razz Posted December 1, 2010 Posted December 1, 2010 (edited) I've only actually read Misery but then obviously seen a lot of the films based on (and I stress based as Misery and as far as I'm told The Shining too was very different from the book). Fantastic read nonetheless, but that's probably very subjective as I read in tandem with a friend, and we had lols-a-plenty at the absurdity of the situation. Edited December 1, 2010 by Razz
Beast Posted December 1, 2010 Author Posted December 1, 2010 I weirdly haven't read any Stephen King. What is the best/ would you reccomend to start off with? IT. My first ever Stephen King book and it literally scared me, it's my favourite out of the lot. Salem's Lot was a great read as well as Needful Things. Carrie and The Green Mile were pretty cool. I would start with IT. Never has a book scared me so much! By the way, I have three Dark Tower books (just looked on my BISH photo and spotted them). I have The Gunslinger (Vol. I), The Drawing of the Three (Vol. II) and Wizard and Glass (Vol. IV).
enchantress Posted December 1, 2010 Posted December 1, 2010 Stephen King was my favourite author for as long as I can remember until I discovered Matthew Reilly, but Stephen King will always remain one of my favourite authors no matter who else comes along. I don't have all of his novels, but I do have an awful lot of them and still enjoy reading some of them again from time to time. The most recent ones I've read are Insomnia, Rose Madder, and the Green Mile, although some of his most memorable in my mind are IT, Carrie, and The Stand. His short stories are also worth reading. One in particular that has stuck in my mind is Dolan's Cadillac from Nightmares & Dreamscapes. There are so many of his books I love that I don't know where to start, but this topic has prompted me to pull all of my novels out of storage, dust them off, and pop them all back on my bookshelf ^-^. Now I want to read them all again as well :p
Wesley Posted December 1, 2010 Posted December 1, 2010 I would say my favourite King book would be Lisey's Story. Although the first half of IT nearly swings it.
dwarf Posted December 5, 2010 Posted December 5, 2010 I read a few of his books when he wrote under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, I think he did so because he wanted to see if he could achieve success again from scratch or something, as well as publish more books without coming across as a cunt. The Long Walk is quite a different read, but really good, as is The Running Man. The latter is basically a horrific game show (totally unlike the bullshit Arnie film) in a future America where everything's corrupt and totalitarian, where a man is tasked with surviving for 30 days whilst being hunted by hitmen, and at the same time everyone in the country will be rewarded if they find him or kill him. It's pretty damn awesome. Thing is it's been a long time since I read it so I had to rejog memory on Wiki.
Oxigen_Waste Posted December 5, 2010 Posted December 5, 2010 The Stand > Dark Tower, IMO. And beyond those he's overrated (not much, but still not the "great american author" he is made out to be). But yeah, The Stand or Dark Tower and you can't go wrong. For simplicity's sake, The Stand first, as it's only one book.
Pit-Jr Posted December 5, 2010 Posted December 5, 2010 I weirdly haven't read any Stephen King. What is the best/ would you recommend to start off with? I couldn't pick a 'best' out of these because they're all amazing. They are all self-contained novels/novellas so id recommend any of them to start Desperation Needful Things Rose Madder Gerald's Game The Green Mile Dreamcatcher Also, as Dwarf said, his Bachmann work is also very good. I loved The Long Walk and The Regulators* *This is like an alternate reality version of Desperation. Reading one after the other could melt your brain
ipaul Posted December 5, 2010 Posted December 5, 2010 I've only read Cell by him, but I quite enjoyed it. Dragged a bit though, first half considerably better than the second in my opinion.
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