Best of Stephen King

[markulous]

1. Dark Tower series
2. The Talisman
3. The Stand

 

[Bob Gray]

Hmmmmmm.....I actually havent read Talisman since I was a kid. Been meaning to go back and read that and the sequel now that I finished Dark Tower.

 

[T Rollie]

Honestly, I've never read a Stephen King novel that was truly scary. But I'd say the safest would be the Dark Tower series which is definitely not scary at all. I can tell you what not to read by Dean Koontz though - avoid Intensity. That book was scary as eff.

I'm not a big fan of Koontz but Intensity was great.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

I wonder if the shear length of King's Novel were dictated purely on how much cocaine he had available at the cabin.

for instance -for the Stand he probably procured a full brick of cocaine in a sweetheart deal

In Different Seasons, clearly supply was low in Maine and he had to go out several times to downtown Portland and stand around the whoopie pie shack with the teenagers to score a fix -no cell phones back then -just lots of wasted time.

Stephen King's Real Horror Story: How the novelist's addiction to drink and drugs nearly killed him.

 

[Shot]

I can't disagree more.

ewl.. I hated Bag of Bones. King trying to write romance was terrible. King can't write good dialogue for women and children.

You and I have opposite tastes I guess. DT 5,6 and 7 were horrible. Bag of Bones was a mess.

I don't have a ton of criticism for anything else he wrote. Cell was a cheap the Stand rip off. Other than that, his earlier stuff was solid.

I liked Bag of Bones because it was a different take on what King normally likes. The book wasn't really about romance as much as it was about dealing with loss. I think King's dialogue is fine. I think if anything, his weakness is his symbolism and the length of his works. He's a bit too blunt with much of his themes, they feel artificial at times.

I enjoyed how DT ended mainly because of the more subtle themes and how it was foreshadowed from the beginning. Sure, I thought the Crimson King show down was weak, as well as how the Man in Black fell, but the awesomeness of the series as a whole more than makes up for it.

Cell I don't see as a The Stand rip off at all. I just see it as a lackluster zombie book. Under the Dome is much closer thematically than Cell is.

 

[IcyBlue]

I'm not a big fan of Koontz but Intensity was great.

Koontz is a hit or a miss for me. Life Expectancy was REALLY good also. VERY light hearted read, not scary at all like Intensity.

 

[redjako]

Under the Dome was good. Just finished it. Its like 1400 fucking pages that FLY by. The ending dissapoints a bit, but to the degree of standard "Oh, its a Stephen King ending" type.

So, rare, to find a book so large that you can just fly through. Kings a damn genius / brilliant author.


Outside of that though, The Stand vs Swan Song (which most claim he ripped off of King)?

I remember liking Swan Song better... but I read them both so long ago.

 

[nhbbear]

Under the Dome was good. Just finished it. Its like 1400 fucking pages that FLY by. The ending dissapoints a bit, but to the degree of standard "Oh, its a Stephen King ending" type.

So, rare, to find a book so large that you can just fly through. Kings a damn genius / brilliant author.


Outside of that though, The Stand vs Swan Song (which most claim he ripped off of King)?

I remember liking Swan Song better... but I read them both so long ago.

Swan song is awesome. Swan, the stand, and the passage are my three favorite books. I wish mccammons other books were as good. Boys life was great, stinger was better than expected, but other than that, mostly disappointing.

King is by far, my favorite author.

 

[Luger]

I am really mixed about him.
Sometimes he writes like a silly teenager. At other times he writes way too much about things that are not relevant to the story and are just in the way of the main story.

But I really liked all of the Different Seasons. The Body, Apt Pupil, The Breathing Method and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

Pet Sematary was pretty good but it took 3/4th of the book to get to the juicy bit.
The Stand was good but, as I said above, I thought he got sidetracked way too much.
The Shining was good. The atmosphere was pretty intense at times.
I found The Dark Half to be pretty silly.
Misery was fun. That woman was a keeper.
I gave up on Gerald's Game. I actually tried two times.

He has written some good short stories. I liked 1408, Strawberry Spring and a few others.
Then there were some really awful. The only one that I can recall was Battleground. Made me wonder if a grown up had written that story. Could have been written by a 12 year old. It was so silly.

King has said that he is the Big Mac of writers, or something like that. So I don't take him too seriously. I tend to pick up his stuff when I have been reading something heavy.

The Dark Tower series get so much praise, I ended up getting them on audio format. So I will be listening to them on long drives in the near future.

I am currently reading Koko, by Peter Straub. It is a fun book. Maybe I'll pick up The Talisman and Black House, as Straub co-wrote it with King.

 

[Guestx]

I've only read Carrie and Firestarter, but I enjoyed both. I tend to read VERY slowly so many of his books are simply too long for me. Those two are good though and just the right length.

 

[Crazyced]

I own Salem's lot. Never finished it. Maybe I will.

 

[chunglii]

I've only read one of his books, and it was about a Buick or some shit. It sucked ass. I was not impressed.

 

[Frylock]

Until I read A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dark Tower was my favorite series of all time. It's freaking epic and pays off more so if you have read a lot of King's work before you read it as he refrences a lot of other books.

The stand is great, one of my other favorite of his. The long walk and the dead zone are also very underrated. Misery, Carrie, 11/22/63 were all enjoyable.

I've never read a "bad" King book. Though some drag on a little more then others. When I was little "The Eyes of the Dragon" was one of my favorite books.

 

[Mondo Freaks]

Thinner book and movie

 

[Luger]

I've never read a "bad" King book. Though some drag on a little more then others.

You should try reading The Tommyknockers. It has been a while since I tried reading it and it was really bad.

 

[Frylock]

You should try reading The Tommyknockers. It has been a while since I tried reading it and it was really bad.

I haven't read that one. Maybe I'll avoid it now and the streak will continue!

 

[Seano]

Until I read A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dark Tower was my favorite series of all time. It's freaking epic and pays off more so if you have read a lot of King's work before you read it as he refrences a lot of other books.

.

When

Spoiler

King wrote himself into the story

, that was the last straw for me. That series started with so much potential and the last 3 books were just phoned in.

People who complain about the ASOIAF series taking so long to complete, I experienced that with the Dark Tower and the payoff was not worth the wait. So many letdowns.

 

[Frylock]

When

Spoiler

King wrote himself into the story

, that was the last straw for me. That series started with so much potential andthr last 3 books were just phoned in.

People who complain about the ASOIAF series taking so long to complete, I experienced that with the Dark Tower and the payoff was not worth the wait. So many letdowns.

Spoiler

I'm not an overly critical person so while it was a little egotistical of him to write himself in, I didn't mind it. The ending though...I'm not entirely convinced King knows how to write good endings. Though in hindsight how should he have ended it? how do you creatively end long epic stories without it seeming like a let down?

 

[Seano]

Spoiler

I'm not an overly critical person so while it was a little egotistical of him to write himself in, I didn't mind it. The ending though...I'm not entirely convinced King knows how to write good endings. Though in hindsight how should he have ended it? how do you creatively end long epic stories without it seeming like a let down?

Spoiler

No showdown with Walter was another WTF in that series. All that buildup, the character goes all the way back to Rolands childhood and he gets eaten by a spider? The fuck? Santa Claus ending up being "the final boss", Harry Potter references.... Its almost like he was trying to piss people off.

 

[RJ43]

IT and The Stand are my two favorites by far, though I have never read the DT series but always meant to.

After reading Seano's spoilers I think I might pass hahaha.