well its almost a novelette to begin with ..

i remember it being one of the first books that changed the way i looked at literature (catcher in the rye, one flew over the cuckoos, the pearl, and the pigman were the others ..

i thought it was compelling .. i was too young to appreciate the 'man against nature' metaphor (something that is still pretty timely...)

a book like this - that well written - speaks to me in ways that king has no hope to.

You're right, King has no chance of writing a book that speaks in volumes but he does tell a good story. Funny you mention Catcher in the Rye because I read that in the same week as Old Man... maybe that's why I wasn't impressed. Catcher was such a brilliant book, I'd like to read it yet again sometime. Anyway the only reason I mentioned that book in context with King's is that I read Old Man, Catcher, Needful Things, and Animal Farm back to back and somtimes overlapping and really the only one I didn't enjoy was Old Man. To each his own. :)

i find King to be a crafty story teller ... more than a good one ..

i'm just tired of his tricks ..(jumping back and forth in time, feeding you a little bit.. making you plod on for the next tidbit ...)

probably any one of his books i would have liked ok (well, maybe a few anyway - some are just terrible) .. if i hadnt read any others ...but after reading the majority of them as they were released like i did at one point .. it just became the same thing over and over again ..

I lost all respect for the guy and it began to taint how i saw the ones i kind of did like in the beginning.


what can i say .. my tastes changed

Really?

I mean...Really ?!?!? :confused:

Anyways...My favorite King stuff would have to be The Dark Tower series, the uncut version of The Stand and Salem's Lot.His story telling style can be hit or miss sometimes, but he has a way with characters and dialouge that manages to keep my attention. What can I say? People more screwed up then me just captivate me. :D

I could never hate King...Now Anne Rice, on the other hand, that's a different story. ;)

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i like his The Tommyknokers and Dreamcatcher....
i think hi is GOOD! dut some of his novels and stories r boring....
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loving Helga U.
http://www.everica.com

Yes, really. Straub's command of language and characterization is definitely in a higher class than King's. His style is very baroque and gothic (in the classic sense) and much less action-oriented than King's, but the payoff is much more satisfying, in my opinion. In Ghost Story, there are no real heroes, no black and white battle between good and evil. All the characters, even (perhaps especially) the protagonists are deeply flawed, and there is no happy ending. In any case, try it out. Straub's work may not be to your taste, but I thing that everyone should read this book, at the very least.

Oh, and I totally agree about Anne Rice. Wretched hack.

I liked Desperation. Dreamcatcher wasn't bad either.

king peaked with IT and has been slowly going down hill ever since. . . he should just retire

I'm like you Urgeok, I read Carrie and Salems Lot in grade school and then read each new book as it came out.
I love SK and I've read and still own everything that he has ever written just because I'm that faithful reader he talks about. He's a masterful storyteller but I have never been horrified while reading one of his books.
The closest I ever came was The Long Walk one of the Bauchman books. If you guys haven't read that, you should, it's very inventive.
All of the books he has written since he got hit by the van have pretty much sucked in my opinion. Cell would be the best of the post accident books but it starts out great and then sinks into a bunch of crap. It seems like he quit writing his books for readers and started writing them to be made into movies.
The only time I have been scared while reading a book and had to put it down and come back later was when I was reading The Exorcist. I hadn't seen the movie yet and there was a scene in that book that was the most terrifying thing I had ever imagined.
When I finally worked up the nerve to see the movie that scene wasn't even in it and I'll have to admit I was a little disappointed.

There is probably a reason the scene wasn't in the movie. Oh and what is the scene that you are alluding to.