Perhaps I should read it again when I have kids.

It'll make you cringe.

I really liked the book.
Not as good as others, but hey what is? ;)

For a quasi-sci-fi futuristic twist, find a copy of King's THE LONG WALK (originally published under the psuedonymn Richard Bachman). It's not too long but it is one of those books that you will NEVER forget. A very disturbing kind of book. I have recommended it to several people and have never had anyone that thought it was less than great.

Of course, THE STAND is often recommended as the best King book. It is a fabulous book and certainly worth the read. Some people get turned off by such a large book though.

i picked up an omnibus containing the 4 shorts King wrote as Bachman. Of the 4, Rage and The Long Walk were quite distrubing. Suppose mainly it involved the mindset of twisted kids. Running man & roadwork i've read before .. not that good on a second read.

A better option would be to get Desperation / Regulators and read it back to back. One was released under the Bachman name and the other as King. It's like 2 sides of a coin. 2 perspectives to a story involving the same cast. Quite cool

The only book that I read from King was Carry. It is a good book, but it's not a scary book.

I want to read The Stand, The Shinning and Salem's Lot, though.

Only the first book
 

Carrie was King's 1st book in '74. For a debut, it was good. Shining was better. Did not think much of Salems lot tho.
If u wanna read The Stand try getting the "The Stand, the Complete And Uncut Edition". At 1000+ pages, its a bloody long read .. but remains one of his best.

Its true that not all King's book are great tho. His newer ones are mellower and tend to drag with lengthy dialogs. Books that put me to sleep were Dolores Clairborn, Gerald's Game, From a Buick 8 and the new one - Colorado Kid.

Re-reading the Talisman now, before i move on to the sequel Black House which i just bought.

I may be the only one that actually liked From a Buick 8. Unlike all of King's other books, this one was much less concerned with plot and "good vs. evil". It touched on humanity's basic terror of the unknown and unknowable, which I think is the most effective form of literary horror. No one I've talked to about this book has seemed to have the same sort of reaction to it as I did. Pity.

Not putting down Buick 8 completely. It does have excellent characterization & some of the dialogue being amongst the best i've read. A lot of that also recurs in Colorado Kid. The people in them actually feel alive. But having written so many stories, think King's moving away from plots and moving on to more "human" stories. The plot itself and its endings seem to be secondary.

There was also no "pace" in them. Something lacking in King books since his accident i.e. Dreamcatcher & Girl who loved Tom Gordon. Like flipping thru an album looking at pictures arranged in random order, from past and present. He may be a more mature writer with a greater flair of the language. But of his recent titles, i've only truly enjoyed Bag of Bones.

On blue days, when dark clouds cover the sun, i still find myself reaching out for the old King books on my shelf.

Dreamcatcher

noctuary ..... if u really liked From a Buick 8, u'll LOVE colorado kid. More of the same stuff with more fleshed out characters.

Waiting for my copy of the Cell and teh upcoming Lisey's Story to see where he goes next. ;)

Is this out now? I ask because I've never heard of it. I'll definitely have to check it out though.

Colorado Kid was released mid 2005 as part of a paperback Hard Case Crime's 2nd year series ... King was one the writers involved.

Link http://www.stephenking.com/colorado_kid_press_release/

Found a copy at a local bookshop and bought it for a lark coz it was cheap (its pretty thin, <200pgs) and a pretty quick read. Its in a similar vein as Buick 8, as it involves a bizzare mystery, but to say anything more would be to spoil it.

But i gotta warn u tho, u'll either love it / hate it. There's no middle ground here ... even King says so at the end of it.

The Cell is only out on hardcover here, no paperback yet. And Lisey's Story is only out in October.

i love every king book ive read....ive read about 15 or 16....my faves r It, Salem's Lot, and Desperation...im reading The Regulators rite now...been on page 170 for at least a week now lol....its good so far

Desperation / Regulators still is one of my favorite King combos. I like his darker, more twisted tales. Loved The Dark Half, Pet Semetary, Shining, TommyKnockers, The Stand & It and of course the other Bachman books.

However, his short story collections are also top-notch in my books

King's best work, by far is ON WRITING

it is a memoir, but only of his writing life. Fascinating and inciteflu. The way he recounts his accident with the drunk driver is a harrowing, heart-felt and funny as snything he's ever written.

an absolute MUST for any aspiring (or working) writer:D

Yes, it's a great book, just finished it for the second time recently.

Very interesting stuff for all the wannabe writers.

Havent read "on writing" yet, but i did read King's earlier insight .. Dance Macarbe. Was actually quite engrossing seeing his point of view regarding books and movies on horror.

Also his take on the origins of most horror genres & themes seeding from the mindset of civilization during a particular era .. ie. the depression, the hippie-daze, technology & the cold war.

Not only a good read of the man behind the story but a also a good read in general. Funny at times too.

Re: Stephen King- God of horror
 

I love the shining. no stephen king book is to big if you're a true fan.

My vote is for 'It', I've read it every year since I was fourteen. There are so many layers to this story, and the perspective of all of the 'losers' as children and adults is great. I particularly love the inserts from Mike's diary, where he discusses the history of Derry. Some of the stories he tells are the creepiest I've heard.

I agree that 'The Long Walk' is one of his best short stories. I find his 'Night Shift' collection to be the scariest of the short story sets i.e. Graveyard Shift, The Boogeyman, Sometimes They Come Back, Children of the Corn etc.

My favourite of his short stories was 'The Ledge'. Not a horror really, but it's interesting to be inside this mans head for the few minutes he is outside walking the ledge.

No doubt, he has created some extraordinay superb stories (like The Dark Half, The Green Mile etc.) but I don't know... why I didn't enjoyed his most of the endings !?!:confused:

he's overrated but cell is really good.....i borrowed it off a friend and he agrees that it was really good......its a must read book of now cuz its so tied up in contemporary culture

Overrrated? hmm, i don't think so. As a storyteller i think he does quite well in laying his work out. (The Dark Tower series & the stand is a good testament to this).

He may have a few stories below par by his own standards, but taking into account the volumes that he has, can u blame him?

When i first started reading King (think Pet Sematary) i didnt think i was reading a "horror" writer, just a good story. In so many different genres / themes, some so far from "horror" (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Colorado Kid) that its strange that he's still on the mantle.

He's gone thru a killed-off psuedonym, collaborations, tv-series, big-screen, radio, screenplays, shorts, online downloads, sports columns and many many avenues to get his work out. Dont think any other writer would be as adventurous.

Just finished the Talisman again, now gonna dig into Black House.

i never said i wasnt a fan.... i love his work but some people hold him up to be better than he is

sorry for the long-winded post. tho didnt mean it to be an attack or anything, just my 2 cents worth. no need to get defensive about being fan / not.

havent got my hands on the cell yet, waiting fot it to be out on paperback here ... still waiting.

biding time now reading ellery queen paperbacks from the 60's

Am reading "From a Buick 8" right now and curiously it reminds me much of Christine...

hmm...

Well I'm currently reading The Book With No Name by Anonymous which is scary as hell because the plot revolves around a book with no name by an anonymous author, and everyone who reads it dies!!
I picked it up because I read on another forum that it was written by Stephen King. Don't know if that's true or not, but it's a great book all the same.

Been checking online about The Book With No Name .. sounds curious. Tho i hardly think its King's doing, still wouldn't put it past him to "branch out". Will wait for further news and see.....

lol you guys are
 

so crazy. Stephen King rocks now and always, i agree Edgar Alan Poe rocked and still rocks but since he past he is a legend but can't write anymore. i miss him and i didnt even know him at all lol. but he will be terribly missed.

Go Angra speak ur mind.




Scaredsilly you rock. hey there i am scaryminda15 or Minda. nice to meet you.

I've read a lot of horror authors, but I keep coming back to King. At the end of the day, I find his books the most enjoyable read. Favourite is probably It.

I also love Clive Barker, but don't count him as horror so much. More dark fantasy, like Tanith Lee. I love Imajica and Abarat (more for his illustrations).

I don't think King's the god of horror, but he is certainly the closest living thing we have. Nobody has contributed as much to horror as Stephen King. Not even Lovecraft, who may have had a great imagination (and I do like his stories), but was an awful writer and pretty mush a failure in his day. His current popularity is due to August Derlith's marketing more than Lovecrafts skill.

Poe was brilliant, but I don't think he contributed as much as King currently has, which is probably more to do with modern communication and marketing.

Managed to watch Desperation on DVD. Has to be one of the better adaptations, quite faithful to the book. However, the pace of the movie was slow. Somehow, something always gets lost in translation. The terror implied by cop Collie just did not come off on screen. Not sure how those who havent read the book will find it tho? Any comments on this

Verdict: The book's still the better read.

Also. the new Lisey's Story is out on shelves last week. Anyone get a copy yet?

I'm a King fan, I used to take the massive ones like The Stand into sixth-form college to keep me going when I was stuck there and had 5 hour gaps between lessons! I find them more entertaining than scary, with the possible exception of The Shining which creeped me out more than the film with those topiary animals, and reading more about the history of the Overlook was interesting. I also rate IT, Christine, Salem's Lot, Misery, loads of others and also all the ones set in Castle Rock eg Needful Things (which was even better imo because of the crossovers with Stand By Me/The Body).

Fav Stephen King Book
 

Im A Stephen King Fan Just Read Hes Newest Book Cell. It Was Pretty Good. But My Favs Are, It, The Shining, Pet Sematary, Short Story Of Jeruselems Lot, Ive Also Read Christine And Carrie, The Dark Half,the Eye Of The Dragon That One Was A Fantasy Base Line ,salems Lot.

I agree with Noctuary about King, but The Reapers Image is a masterpiece of a short tale...